Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  David held his hand up. “No. No, it’s not that. I would do anything to protect Hannah, and all of you, not to mention myself at the moment. That option is actually the best one we have right now.”

  “No, David, if anyone ever found out about this …”

  “They won’t.” David cut Hannah off before she could say anymore.

  “But, your job?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m happy just to be alive right now.” He shot Aiden a grateful glance and received a nod in response.

  Greg switched his eyes back and forth between the bodies and the group. “Okay. I never thought I would be saying this, but I’m going to have to agree with James.”

  Hannah’s eyes widened, “Greg!”

  He held his hands up, signaling her to stop. “Enough. It’s the only way all of us are going to walk away from this.”

  “I’ll gladly turn myself in, but we have the issue with the guns to work around. I could take Aiden’s gun and tell them I used that.”

  Aiden shook his head. “Nah, that would only cause more questions, like how did you get my gun and now if I testify as witness for Hannah, it links the two incidents.”

  “See.” Greg spread his hands as if demonstrating, “This is our only option.”

  Hannah began to pace. “I don’t like it. This whole fucking thing, from the Re … guy who attacked me to this mess.” She flung her hand out. “It’s one thing for me to have a dead guy on my conscious, but you all don’t deserve it. I’ll take responsibility. I’m already a suspect, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if I killed two more people.”

  The entire room had gone silent, but it was David who first went to Hannah. He stopped her pacing by grabbing her hands and pulling her toward him. Every move sent pain flashing throughout his body, but that was all right, they had to take care of this issue right now. “Hannah, listen to me.” He reached up and tilted her chin so that she was staring up at him. “I would never, never let you or your family take the blame for anything I was responsible for. Do you hear me, if anything happens, if we are ever found out, I will come forward. I uphold the law, but this isn’t about protecting myself as much as it is about protecting all of you.”

  “I don’t know. Covering it up is so dangerous.”

  He flicked his eyes over to Marcus’s body. “They were dangerous. They would have killed me if you all hadn’t arrived when you did. A minute more and I would have been the body on this nasty rug.”

  She closed her eyes, as if trying to block it all out.

  “Hannah?”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “None of us do.”

  “Fine.” She opened her eyes and he stared down into her big brown irises. “Let’s do it. God, when did my life turn into a fucking crime show?”

  David only grinned, his life was like a fucking crime show, and most of the time … well, up until Hannah ended up back in his life … most of the time he liked it that way.

  James stepped up beside David and tapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry to interrupt bro, but that still leaves us with the question of what to do with these guys.”

  Jack had his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. “Yeah … again, this probably isn’t the suggestion anyone wants to hear, but … what about the graveyard?”

  Lucy turned to her man with her eyebrows knit together. “Our graveyard?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it’s fucking perfect. You bury people there anyway so who the hell is going to look for missing people in a graveyard?”

  Greg nodded. “It’s so simple its genius. It’s ours too, so no one is going to go snooping around without us knowing about it.”

  It was true, taking the bodies and burying them in a place no one would ever look was probably the simplest solution. However, in his experience, simple usually meant easy to figure out.

  He ran over every possibility in his mind. Every way that they could possibly make this better, but every solution other than this one was one that would land one of them in jail and he would rather cover this up than see one of these innocent people go to jail for his fuck ups.

  If he thought he would be the only one who went to jail he would go to the cops right now and tell them what happened. But he knew better. It wasn’t his gun that shot the two men, and they would want the man whose gun it was.

  Then it would link them to Hannah … and he couldn’t have that.

  Especially not that.

  He rubbed his wrist where the cuffs had been. “Okay. Turn all the lights off in here except the living room. Where are the cars, are they here?”

  Hannah shook her head. “No, we left them at down at the recreation area and used the trails to get here.”

  “Go get them, do you have one big enough to hold these guys.”

  Liv pulled her keys out of her pocket. “I have my van. Come on, Greg, let’s go.”

  He watched while Hannah’s brother and sister headed out the side door and into the darkness.

  Okay, now, this is so cliché, but I’m going to grab a shower curtain and one of you needs to go out and get the tarp from the woodshed, if it’s still there.”

  Aiden rubbed a boot on one of the bodies. “What about this carpet, it needs to go.”

  “Yeah,” David agreed. “After we get them moved let’s just roll it up. We can move it tomorrow.”

  James took off one of his gloves and scratched his neck. “We have a machine at work that will munch that thing up. I’ll bring it over tomorrow, tell them I’m doing a remodeling job. We can rip a bunch of stuff out and toss it in there. Probably best to burn the segments with blood on them though.”

  “Thanks James, that would be great.”

  Liv glanced around. “I’m going to clean some stuff while we wait. Those guys probably touched all kinds of shit in here.”

  “Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Let’s all help with that.”

  David watched everyone start in on various jobs, knowing that he was the one ultimately responsible for this and his stomach sunk. He felt Hannah’s arms wrap around his waist from behind. “If I’m not to feel that way, then neither are you. We are all in this together now.”

  “I know,” He told her flatly.

  “Do you really?”

  “I’ll get used to it, I guess.”

  “It’s going to be all right,” she told him.

  He turned, so that they were face to face. “It’s not going to be all right until you are cleared. How are you out anyway? Bond?”

  “Yeah. The family posted it. I have a good lawyer and we are going to trial. Aiden is going to testify as witness to the murder.”

  At least she was out of the jail and could prepare for the trial with her lawyer as a free woman.

  “I have to get that shower curtain.” He bent down and painfully placed a kiss on her lips and then pulled out of her arms. “Oh,” he turned back, “I just have one more question.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

  “Why are you all wearing black hoodies and gloves?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “We knew you were in trouble and thought it best to come prepared.” Then she followed him down the hall and told him the whole story of how they found him.

  CHAPTER

  25

  HANNAH

  Back at the Estmond property, with only their headlights to give away what was taking place, they traveled up the narrow cemetery road until they reached the oldest part of the graveyard.

  Hannah sighed with relief the minute they rolled to a stop. The sooner they got these guys buried, the sooner she could rest a little easier. She was just glad she could get out of the van. She had been crushed in the back between a guy wrapped in a shower curtain and another in a tarp. Normally, dead bodies didn’t bother her, but these two unnerved her. They had all the windows open and the dead guys weren’t stinky yet, but she desperately wanted to be out in the fresh air.

  As soon as Liv set the van to park, she slid the side door open and hoppe
d out into the night. With a long breath, she gratefully inhaled the crisp September air. Everyone else exited the vehicles quickly too. All of them were tired already, and they still had a big job ahead of them.

  She took a good look around. David was the only one of them who didn’t carry a shimmering aura. The silver light of the Keepers glittered, mixing with the red illumination of the Reapers. She sighed, the auras were so beautiful and should be a badge of honor, but it was a real pain in the ass when you didn’t want to be seen by either. Both the keepers and the Reapers could see the auras of both factions, and occasionally a sensitive caught sight of one, but for the most part, it was only the guardians of souls and the takers of the souls that could see them.

  “Well,” Jack rubbed his hands together, “let’s get this over with, shall we.” With that, he threw open the back doors of the van and hefted the feet of the dead guy in the tarp.

  “Good God,” Liv covered her face with her hands in frustration, “My van is going to need professional sterilization. I have to deliver food in this and now it’s been contaminated with dead people!”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Yeah Liv, we heard you bitching all the way here. We get it.”

  “Shut up. Would you want your muffins delivered to you in a hearse?”

  “I told you, we get it. Okay.”

  James and Aiden reached in and extracted four shovels. “This is all the shovels,” James told them with a frown. “It would go so much faster if we had more.”

  Greg took a shovel. “We’ll take turns. That will make it go by quick, since we can just hand it over when the other gets tired. He accepted another shovel and they started out a bit further, beyond the last of the headstones and markers in the old section.

  Jack, Aiden, Dan and James carried the corpses to the chosen spot and dumped them onto the soft earth. Greg started the first hole with Liv, and then Jack and Dan started the next. “You guys rest up cause you have the next shift,” Dan told them, hefting a hunk of dirt out of the ground.

  None of them felt right about leaving the others, so the ones who weren’t digging just milled around, waiting for their turn. Except David, who leaned against the side of the van with his arm across his ribs.

  About twenty minutes later, a familiar voice popped up. “What on God’s green earth is going on here?”

  Hannah stopped pacing around the shallow graves and straightened her shoulders. She looked to her brothers and sisters, who also suddenly wore worried expressions, but kept up what they were doing.

  They all knew their dad would find them out there sooner or later. What ghost wouldn’t be able to see the mass of sliver and red in a graveyard? “Hello? Any of you want to clue me in on why you’re digging graves and there are two dead bodies here?”

  Still, no one answered.

  Their father had fully solidified and the sparkling blue of his soul illuminated the area for the Keepers and Reapers. David was the only one who couldn’t see or hear him. His expression was to be expected, he looked utterly pissed. Not worried or upset, but straight up pissed.

  Hannah glanced at David and then back at her dad. “So, those guys were the only ones you think might come after you?”

  “Who knows,” David shrugged. “Julian has lots of delivery boys, but these two were his most trusted.”

  Gregory Sr. shook his semi-transparent head, “I need more than that sweet heart. And also, what the hell is he doing here?” He pointed at Aiden. “That bastard kidnapped Lucy and knocked Greg upside the head with his gun.”

  Aiden glanced at Jack, but kept on digging. “Um, Lucy, will you walk back to the house with me for a minute,” Hannah asked.

  David squeezed her hand. “I’ll go with you, no need for Lucy to go.”

  “Oh, uh, I just wanted to talk to her about something.”

  “Yeah,” Lucy nodded, “something personal.”

  “Bring beer.” Jack tossed a shovel full of dirt out of the hole he was in.

  Not to be outdone, Dan tossed his own shovel of dirt and added, “And Whiskey.”

  Their father palmed his face with his shimmering left hand and closed his eyes. “If I wasn’t dead already, you all would give me a heart attack. I swear.”

  David knit his brows together, obviously sensing that something was up. He was a detective after all, they notice things like that. “Well, if you’re sure.”

  “We’re sure,” Hannah and Lucy said in unison.

  “Let them go.” James tossed his shovel out of the hole and climbed up beside it.

  Hannah gave David one final glance before leaving him with the others and taking off into the darkness, heading for the trails that were illuminated by the dim lamp posts.

  “Jeez Dad, you know you can’t do that! We can’t talk to you when other people are around.”

  He had followed them to the trails and spoke as they walked. “Really now, you can bury a body … or two, with him, but you can’t talk to your dead father with him around. Oh the irony.”

  “Seriously, Dad!” Lucy scolded him. “It’s hard enough doing what we’re doing out there.”

  He stopped, as did Lucy and Hannah, and narrowed his eye brows. “Speaking of which, why don’t you go ahead and explain all that to me and then you can tell me why that other Reaper is out there helping you dig the goddamn holes.”

  Hannah and Lucy took turns telling him the whole story, all the way back to when Hannah killed the Reaper at the rodeo grounds. There was no avoiding it, and really no reason not to tell him now. She had to go to trial, but things were looking in her favor so far.

  Even though he wasn’t technically breathing, when they finished, he appeared to draw in a long breath and then released it. “Okay. All right. Wow girls, this is one hell of a shit storm you all got yourselves into here.”

  “We know,” Lucy agreed. “But, we’ve taken care of it and things are going to be fine now.”

  Greg Sr. nodded and then shot a glance back to where the rest of his children were busy digging holes for dead delivery boys. “I think you need to tell David about you.” He directed the statement to Hannah.

  “But, wha … you mean about the family business?”

  He nodded. “Yes, if he loves you, he needs to love everything about you and that means he will understand this part of you, as well as the rest.”

  “Dad, I don’t know if I can tell him.”

  “You can, and you will. It’s best to do it now before you two become anymore invested than you already are.”

  Hannah was reeling from the topic change. Her father seemed to take the whole ‘murder a Reaper, go to jail, get out of jail, kill two more guys,’ thing pretty well. Now all he cared about was if she told David she was a Keeper. “Dad …”

  “Tell him, tonight.”

  She nodded. “Okay, but he’s going to think I’m crazy.”

  “You are, and that’s all right. I’m going to be there with you when you tell him, so will everyone else.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “We better go up to the house and grab all the booze. I have a feeling everyone is going to need it when this goes down.”

  “I agree,” Hannah told her. “We’ll meet you back up there, Dad.” With that, they headed down the trails and across the expanse of lawn, into the yellow farmhouse.

  “Dad is nuts,” Hannah claimed as she filled a cloth sack with beer.

  Lucy shrugged and opened the cabinet. “So, we all are.” She reached up and grabbed the whiskey off the shelf. “I agree with him. David needs to know. We can’t keep this from him forever, not with everything going on.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to do this right now. Right when things are good between us.” She closed the sack and put it over her shoulder.

  Lucy stared at her, whiskey in hand. “You honestly think going to jail and saving your boyfriend from murdering gangsters is considered ‘when things are good?’”

  Hannah shook her head, annoyed, not amused. “You know what I mean.”


  Without much else to say, they left the house. On the way back to the group, Hannah practiced what she wanted to say to David in her head. She didn’t want him to think she was a nut case, but really, telling your boyfriend you see ghosts was grounds for a break up. Telling him that he was with two guys in the group that could suck his soul from his body was in the ball park of admitting her to a mental institution.

  This was so not going to go well.

  If both her father and Lucy thought she should tell him, the rest of the family would probably agree as well. And they would be right. If David was going to be with her, that made him part of the family and they couldn’t hide this part of their lives from him.

  They approached and Hannah took a moment to admire the glittering silver, red and blue that shimmered around the graves they were digging. The auras and the souls, all so easy to see in the darkness.

  She noticed that her father wasn’t the only soul who had joined the group. Scattered about, many of the souls had come to see what was going on in their little corner. She smiled, knowing that they got bored with nowhere else to go. Most souls were connected to their physical bodies and unable to go much further than where that body was found. So, they were basically stuck in the graveyard and the only action they usually got was a funeral.

  “Hey, the beer is here!” Jack let his shovel fall heavily to the ground and hurried over to take the clanking sack of bottles from Hannah. “Thanks.”

  She smiled. “No problem.”

  He tilted his head as he extracted a beer from the bag. “You want one?”

  He knew, she thought. They all knew what was about to happen.

  “No.” She shook her head. “But, I am going to take a swig off that whiskey bottle.” Lucy winked and handed her the bottle, which she immediately uncapped and tilted back. The liquid burned her throat and stomach, but she didn’t care. It would help in the long run.

  Jack pushed a beer into David’s hands. “Dude, you’re gonna need this, and sit down for a few.”

  David accepted the beer, but looked to Hannah, searching her face for answers. “Why am I going to need this? Hannah … what’s going on?”