Caught Dead

by Patricia Mason

  The shower continued to run.

  The longer Jonah spent in the bathroom, the less sure she became about the mutuality of their feelings.

  Now she wasn’t so certain Jonah did actually want her. Maybe the erection just happened because of him being a guy with raging hormones, and any female body pressed tight to him would’ve had the same effect. Sure he’d called her his girlfriend. And he’d been in a panic about Jessica harming her, but was she reading too much into all that?

  Suddenly, she didn’t know what to think.

  Either his long ass shower meant he was using a little self-help for his erection or he was waiting for her to fall asleep so he didn’t have to face her.

  With a sigh, Belinda climbed into bed. After turning off the bedside lamp, she lay back against the pillows and tried to drift off.

  Finally, the shower stopped. A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened casting a dim light into the bedroom. Jonah emerged wearing sweatpants, his chest bare. He reached up to snap off the light.

  “Can we leave it on?” Belinda asked. “I kinda need a night light, if you know what I mean.”

  Jonah nodded and his hand fell away from the switch.

  As he made a move to head for the living room, she said, “Don’t go.” Belinda sat up in the bed. “Can you sleep in here?”

  “I—” Jonah began and then stopped for a second or two before starting again. “I don’t know.”

  “Please,” she said, pulling back the covers inviting him into the bed next to her. Would he reject her?

  “Okay. I guess.”

  Not exactly the encouragement she’d hoped for, but better than nothing.

  Jonah walked to the bed and stared at her as if reluctant to move.

  What is he thinking?

  Finally, he climbed in, lay back and pulled the covers over himself. They lay beside each other and it seemed to Belinda that Jonah stayed as far from her as he could without falling off the mattress.

  Belinda couldn’t help herself from turning and curling into Jonah, her head going to his chest. He held himself rigid, staring up at the ceiling even as her body pressed against his, her arm resting across his stomach.

  “I hope this is okay,” she said. “I feel safer like this.”

  He snorted. “This isn’t safe at all.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked coyly.

  “Never mind,” he said. “Go to sleep.”

  She rubbed her face against his chest and then shifted to nestle her cheek against his neck. His skin smelled fresh, but underneath the citrusy scent of the soap was the earthy smell of Jonah. She sucked in a breath. Eyes shut tight, she savored that smell, that moment. “Mmmmm. Do you think we aren’t safe? You think Jessica can get in?”

  “Not what I meant. We’re okay. Sleep.” His words were abrupt and impatient.

  “Well. What did you mean?” she goaded, not knowing why she was pushing him except that she loved to taunt him into releasing his inner caveman. She’d finally gotten him to break through whatever barrier kept him from her during their interlude in the kitchen and she longed to do it again. So she nudged him. “Tell me.”

  He gave an angry huff, pulling away from her. He sat up, swinging his legs over the mattress edge and sat facing away from her. “I meant we aren’t safe because I just want to grab you and…and do things.”

  “Like what things?” she said all wide-eyed innocence—as if.

  He growled. “I want to fuck you. Are you satisfied now?” Jonah seemed to have shocked himself with the rawness of his declaration. “I’m sorry, I…”

  When he started to stand, Belinda rose on an elbow and grabbed his arm. “What if I want that too? What if I want you to fuck my brains out, or make love to me, or anything in between?”

  He glanced over his shoulder and did a slow blink as he stared at her. “You do? Really?”

  She crawled over to hug him from behind. “Really.” Her heart pounded as she placed a kiss between his shoulder blades.

  Like lightning he twisted around, his hands going to her waist; he lifted her and placed her in the center of the bed in almost one motion. Then he lay over her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. His mouth, devouring and sweetly searching at the same time, moved on hers. He leaned on an elbow and she almost groaned at the loss, until his hand moved on her, discovering her body, moving from her neck, to her breast and then down over her stomach. The tingles his touch sent through her body were pleasurably painful. Suddenly, just as his hand had reached the Promised Land, he stopped, pulled back, and sucked in a long breath. “This is a really bad idea.”

  “Why?” she gasped out, panting.

  “I don’t remember. Oh yeah. We need to rest.”

  “I’ll rest afterward.” Belinda reached up, grasping his neck, and tried to pull his head down to hers, but he resisted.

  “Derek and Eliza could be back anytime,” Jonah said. “Derek doesn’t respect boundaries. He’ll just pop in.”

  “We can be quick,” Belinda said.

  “Hell no,” Jonah said. “If we do this I’m not gonna want to stop. We have a lot of time to make up for.”

  “Lots of positions to try.”

  “Mmmm. Yep.” Jonah nodded. “So we agree we wait until Jessica’s dealt with?”

  Belinda blew out a heavy sigh. He was right. She’d have to trust their time would come. Some time when they could just focus on them and not on catching a killer. “Reluctantly. I agree.”

  “Turn over,” he ordered roughly. When she did, he pulled her back against him and wrapped her in an embrace. “Go to sleep,” Jonah said, squeezing her more tightly to him. “I’ll fuck your brains out after this is over and not before.”

  “Yes, sir.” Belinda grinned in the darkness. She hooked her arm over his, clasped his hand and hugged it to her chest. After a few minutes of quiet, she giggled.

  “What?” he asked, clearly as wide awake as she.

  “You like to spoon,” she teased.

  “Don’t tell anyone. They’ll think I’m weird.”

  She laughed outright at his reply.

  “Shhhh. I can’t sleep with you laughing,” he said.

  “It’s my laughing that’s keeping you awake?” She wiggled her butt against him.

  “Yes. When you laugh your luscious ass rubs against my crotch.”

  His words set off a new round of giggles.

  “It’s not funny. I’m gonna need another shower.”

  “Bwahaha. Or something.”

  “Not helping.”

  “Okay. I’ll be quiet.”

  “Thanks.”

  Belinda whispered, “Jonah?”

  “What?” he whispered back.

  “You’re nifty.”

  Jonah buried his face in her neck as his arms tightened around her almost painfully before relaxing again to a snug hug. He dropped a kiss just below her ear. When he spoke, his words were choked. “You’re nifty, too.”

  Chapter Twelve

  In Jonah’s dream, he and Belinda, with hands clasped, walked along a sun-soaked beach next to azure blue water. The warm water gently rolled over their feet as the surf washed up on shore. Belinda pulled him to a stop and placed her hands at his waist in a light hug. Looking up at him with a sweet smile on her lips, she said, “Let’s come here every year.” His dream-self answered yes, but the word faded away as he awakened.

  Without even opening his eyes, Jonah realized he’d shifted to his back during the night, and Belinda lay draped over his chest as if he were a body pillow. Cocooned like this, Jonah never wanted to get out of bed. He reluctantly decided to open his eyes, promising himself that he would always remember how she looked the first morning after spending the night together. Decades from now, when they were an elderly couple using walkers, he’d still have that memory fresh. But instead of the beauty of Belinda, he saw Derek hovering over the bed staring at them from about a foot away. His ghostly brown eyes danced with amusement and his mouth stretched in a w
ide grin.

  “Good morning, little love birds. No time for canoodling,” Derek shouted. “Wake up and smell the coffee. All hands on deck. Rise and shine. Top of the morning and every other idiom for haul your butts out of bed ‘cause we got shit to do.”

  Belinda moved, stretching a bit, cracked open her eyes and lifted her head to gaze up at Jonah. “Mmmmmm. Morning.” Then she glanced over her shoulder at Derek. “You could’ve knocked…or something.”

  Jonah grimaced. “I told you he has no boundaries.”

  “Did you guys do it last night?” Derek sank down to sit on the bed’s edge next to Jonah. “One of the worst things about being a ghost is that I can’t surf the internet for porn. And then the one night I’m not here, I miss a live show.”

  “No boundaries and no filter,” Jonah grumbled.

  “Hey. I filter, man. I filtered about how I miss what I used to do during porn surfing.”

  “Ugh,” Belinda groaned.

  The ghost popped over to the other side of the bed. “So. You two. Give me all the dirty details of the horizontal hokey pokey.”

  “Get out, Derek,” Jonah ordered.

  “Mama brought a sundress she thinks’ll fit Belinda. Can I just stay while she changes into it?”

  “Out!” Jonah and Belinda shouted together.

  “I was just joking, sheesh.” After floating to a spot a few feet away, Derek’s body turned to a mist and slipped out under the door.

  * * * * *

  In the next room, Eliza Devoe considered bargaining away her soul.

  Jessica—zombie, demon, revenant or whatever she was—had to be put down. That thing had killed her boy. No punishment could atone, but eternal burning might be a nice start. But Eliza knew her magic alone might not be enough.

  Eliza reached into her bag and touched her grandmother’s diary. The Rayna they’d conjured up yesterday said she could see to Jessica’s permanent end for a price. No doubt at least one soul would be required. But for that soul Eliza could maybe stop Jessica and get Derek a new life. If she could offer Lucifer enough, he’d give her—

  No. She chastised herself. That kinda thinking had twisted her so much that yesterday she’d almost helped her son’s killer move on to another victim. And what would guarantee that Jessica would truly be stopped even if she did a deal with the devil? Lucifer had a way of negotiating loopholes in every agreement especially to help one of his own, like Jessica. Eliza could very well lose her soul and Jessica could still slip away.

  For now she’d stick to Jonah’s plan: find Jessica, take her prisoner, and hold her until the deadline for the ninth killing had passed.

  Eliza opened the map of Ambrosia and placed it on the coffee table. She took a mason jar from her bag and examined the contents. The brownish red goopy mixture had been stewing since she’d prepared it the previous night. She only hoped she’d given it enough time.

  “Did you wake them up?” she asked Derek.

  The paperweight on the desk rose and dropped again, once. Derek was answering yes.

  During the night mother and son had come up with a crude way of communicating. One for yes and two for no. Those little knocks and bumps meant everything to Eliza. They meant her child was with her.

  Just as Eliza unscrewed the mason jar’s lid, the bedroom door opened. Jonah and Belinda came through to the front room.

  “Good,” she said to them. “We’re ready.”

  As they gathered around her, Eliza poured a generous dollop of the jar’s gloppy contents onto the map. It landed on the First Baptist Church with a wet sucking sound.

  “She’s at the church?” Jonah asked.

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” Eliza answered. “Wait.”

  The blob contorted and pulsed for a moment and then moved to center over the cemetery.

  “She’s here?” Belinda’s head whipped around as if the undead one would leap out at them.

  “No,” Eliza said. “The mixture’ll start here. This here’s the last location we know for her so I used it in the spell for this potion. It’ll show us her path since she left here.”

  Sure enough, an offshoot formed and moved in a line down the street from the cemetery, to Main Street and then left, past the diner and then down an alley. Then the line began to cut between houses and continued around. The line moved again to the area of the cemetery, but then it quickly darted away. Eventually, the line reached a house in the town’s most affluent neighborhood and stopped.

  “That’s the mayor’s house,” Derek chimed in.

  Jessica had gone home.

  * * * * *

  Once the four of them arrived at the mayor’s mansion, Eliza continued on past and parked on the next block. No car in the driveway and with the three garage doors closed, Jonah couldn’t tell if any cars were parked inside. He searched the windows of the house for a sign of movement and found none.

  Could the mayor be inside? Surely with a house this big, the man had servants, and they could be here too.

  “Belinda stays in the car while we go inside,” Jonah said.

  Belinda vigorously shook her head. “No way. I’m going with you. We both get on the iceberg, remember?”

  “Not an iceberg, a piece of wood. And you’re staying safely on top of it.”

  “Shut up about the freakin’ Titanic and let’s go get that bitch,” Derek said.

  “Should we knock on the front door?” Belinda asked.

  “No. Go to the back door. We’ll break it if we have to,” Eliza replied.

  “It’d be better to surprise Jessica. But if we break in, and she isn’t there, the mayor will call the cops. We’ll be arrested.”

  Derek huffed. “Arrested is better than being dead. Believe me.”

  “She’s in there,” Eliza said.

  Jonah nodded while thinking that if the mayor was inside with Jessica, he was dead. “Eliza’s right. Surprise is better. And we should have someone outside just in case she gets out of the house. I nominate Belinda to stay in the car and keep a lookout.”

  “Nice try, buddy.” Belinda elbowed him in the gut and then strode past him toward the mansion.

  Jonah wouldn’t let himself think about what could happen to Belinda. He just knew he would place himself between her and any potential harm. She’d be safe because he’d make sure of it. He hurried to get in front of Belinda as they all crossed the side yard and snuck around to the back. A massive saltwater pool and pool house dominated the backyard acreage. A limestone walkway led to a patio. Bypassing what looked like a kitchen entrance, he continued on to a pair of French doors. He put a hand to one knob and it twisted easily. Unlocked. He pushed the door open a crack.

  Taking in a long, calming breath, he glanced over his shoulder at Belinda, Eliza, and then Derek. Jonah saw the same anxiety reflected in each of their faces that knotted his stomach. He blew out the breath and whispered, “Here we go.”

  Stepping inside through the French doors, they found themselves in a family room decorated with comfortable furnishings, including sofas with slouchy cushions, a leather armchair and an entertainment system that dominated one wall with its flat screen television of at least eighty inches. Fortunately, the furnishings were the room’s only inhabitants. The family room opened into a spacious kitchen with stainless steel appliances and white marble countertops. From the kitchen, Jonah could see a formal dining room through one doorway and a hallway through another.

  Still no one. Complete silence.

  Jonah wanted to turn around and run back to the cemetery. He had a bad feeling about this. But then he glanced over at Belinda and knew he had to go forward. Jessica had to be stopped before she could harm anyone else—but really everyone else didn’t matter to him as long as Belinda was safe. Hibernating back at the cottage wasn’t an option. If Jessica somehow made it into another body, Belinda would never be safe. Besides, their best chance to defeat Jessica was as a group. Strength in numbers and all that.

  He motioned at the others to head through the d
oor leading to the hall. As they crept down its length, Jonah looked into each room they passed. Eventually, they’d made a cursory inspection of the entire first floor and found nothing. In the foyer near the front door, they stopped at the foot of the staircase leading to the second floor.

  “Now what?” Belinda whispered.

  “We passed the door to the basement,” Derek noted. “I bet it’s creepy. Quasi zombies gotta love creepy. Jessica must be there.”

  Jonah knew she could just as easily be hanging out in her bedroom.

  Before Jonah could reply, a voice boomed down at them from the landing above. “What are you doing in here? Get the hell out.” The mayor, gripping the bannister with both hands, glared down at them, red-faced with anger.

  At first, Jonah felt incredible relief that the mayor still breathed and Jessica hadn’t completed her cycle. Then relief turned to anxiety at being caught.

  “Ummmm,” Jonah began.

  Belinda stepped forward. “We came by to pay our respects, sir. We wanted to see if there is anything we can do for you. We knocked but—”

  Eliza lurked in the shadows at the base of the staircase and out of the mayor’s line of sight. She silently motioned toward the hall and mouthed the word “basement.”

  Don’t break up the group, Jonah’s inner voice screamed at him. He shook his head, but Eliza nodded firmly and then retreated with Derek following after her. Even knowing Eliza could take care of herself didn’t soothe Jonah’s inner voice. But he couldn’t very well go after her without the mayor seeing him go.

  “Why did you just barge in?” The mayor marched down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he turned to a hall table to retrieve his cell phone. He pushed a button and then swiped at the face. “I’m calling the police.”

  “When you didn’t answer, we got worried and came inside. We apologize, Mr. Bundy.”