Dying Wishes: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Shelby Nichols Adventure Book 14)

by Colleen Helme

  “Stay awake Sophie… don’t sleep yet. Are you lying down?”

  Sophie nodded her head, but didn’t speak.

  “Is Brock there now? Is he there in the room with you?” Willow pushed harder, hoping to get Sophie past the drug-induced fog. “Can you see him?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t see. It’s so dark. Brock? Are you here?” Sophie’s eyes were still closed, but she lifted her chin toward the door. The scent of Armani filled the room, and I glanced that way, half expecting to see him walk in. I didn’t see him, but I sensed his presence. Sophie must have too, because she dropped her head and began to sob. “Brock. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.”

  Willow thought Sophie had lost her focus. She needed to get back into that room. “Sophie… open your eyes. Look into the crystal. Focus. Feel the weight of the stones in your hands. You’re safe at home. No one is going to hurt you here.” Sophie calmed down a little, but her eyes were still shut.

  Willow continued. “Think Sophie. You’re in the room at the hotel. There are red roses everywhere. You’re sleepy, and you want to lie down. What happens next?”

  “I… I don’t know… I’m so tired… he’s helping me lie down… he’s pulling off my shoes… he’s… undoing my...” Sophie’s breathing quickened, and her eyes squeezed shut. “Wait… no… st…stop.” Her head began to move back and forth. “No… please… don’t do this…no...” A low keening sound came from her throat like she was trying to scream, but she couldn’t get the sound out. It was just like every nightmare I’d ever had.

  Stop this. A commanding voice boomed into my mind. I don’t want her to remember. Stop this NOW.

  I jerked upright, and my heart hammered in my chest. I rushed to Sophie’s side and grabbed her upper arms. “Sophie. Wake up. It’s over. Wake up now.”

  She began to sob again, and I felt Brock’s hot anger like fire breathing down my neck. “Brock’s here Sophie. He loves you. He doesn’t blame you for what happened, okay? Please don’t blame yourself for this. He wants you to know he’s okay. He’s fine, and he’s watching over you. He’s here right now. Can you feel him?”

  Sophie stopped quivering, and the crystals slid from her palms onto the floor. She opened her confused eyes, and the pain and fear began to clear. A calm feeling flowed over her, and she caught my gaze.

  “You’re right. I can feel him. He’s here.” She fell back against the couch and closed her eyes, taking in the warmth of his aura. Her lips moved in a whisper only meant for him. “I love you Brock. I will always love you.”

  Letting out a long sigh, her head tipped to rest against her mother’s shoulder, and she fell asleep.

  I glanced at Dimples and Willow. Their mouths had dropped open, and they didn’t know what to think. I turned to Mrs. Sanchez and whispered. “We’ll let ourselves out.” She nodded, overcome by what had just happened.

  Willow picked up the crystals from the floor with trembling fingers. She placed everything back in her bag and stood, not daring to glance my way. She’d heard a low, commanding voice, but the words weren’t clear. Still… it seemed like I’d heard it too. And what was that scent… was it cologne?

  Outside, Dimples led the way to the car, thinking that had been a mistake. It freaked him out that he’d smelled the Armani cologne, and there was no doubt in his mind that Brock had been there. He hadn’t heard anything, but… holy hell. The hairs on the back of his neck were still standing up. Worse, we weren’t any closer to solving the case. He never should have let Willow talk him into this.

  I slid into the back seat and fumbled with my seatbelt, grateful Dimples was driving. Before starting the car, he turned in his seat and glanced my way. “What the hell was that?”

  Not wanting to get into it, I asked, “Did the hospital check her for sexual assault?”

  That took the wind out of his sails. “I didn’t see anything like that in the report.” He glanced Willow’s way. “Did you?”

  She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t mentioned.”

  “Maybe Brock interrupted them and Sophie’s assailant killed him.” That was the only thing that made sense to me.

  “Yeah, I think you might be right.” Willow agreed. “We need to find him.” She glanced my way. “What did you mean about talking to the people at the hotel? It sounded like you think you’d find the killer, just by talking to them. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  I huffed out a breath. “You’re forgetting that I have psychic powers. That’s how I do it. Not with hypnosis, but with my abilities. I’ll be the first to admit that you know how to hypnotize someone, but, in Sophie’s case, it was a bad idea. She’s fragile enough, and reliving that experience would have sent her off the deep end. If she hadn’t thought Brock was there, it would have.”

  “What was that all about?” Dimples asked. “Did you make that up? I thought for sure I’d felt something.”

  Willow silently agreed, but wasn’t about to say that out loud.

  “Yeah. It seemed like the best thing for her at the moment.”

  “What should we do now?” Dimples asked, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

  “I want to talk to the bartender and take a look at the videos. Maybe something will stand out.”

  Willow stiffened. “But the chief won’t like that. I’m on the case. He doesn’t need both of us.”

  “Don’t worry. He doesn’t have to know I’m helping. And I won’t ask to be paid for it either, if that’s what you’re thinking.” I knew that was exactly what she was thinking, and it grated that she was such a mercenary. “All we have to do to solve this case is find the person who sat with her at the bar. If you’re convinced it’s one of these men, why don’t you bring each of them into the precinct and let me help you with the questioning.”

  Dimples glanced my way through the rear-view mirror. “Yeah… I should have thought of that in the first place.”

  Willow sucked in a breath, stung that he’d dismissed her so easily. “What in the hell makes you think Shelby will figure it out? Just by questioning these guys, you think she’ll know who the killer is? That’s absurd.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “But, as she’s already explained, it’s what she does. And before you say anything else, you’d better think long and hard about it.” His message was clear. If she said anything nasty about me, she was crossing a line.

  Willow changed tactics. “If you say so. I’m sorry I said anything.” She shrugged. “We all want the same thing, so let’s not get all worked up over it. I’m sure, with our combined talents, we can figure this out.” She glanced over her shoulder at me. “I’m glad you’re here if it helps solve the case. We all want justice for Sophie. Let’s not forget that. An evil man did this, and he needs to be stopped. That’s the most important thing.”

  She knew we had reached the point where we didn’t need her anymore, and she was clinging to whatever she could to stay on. She was even thinking that she’d talk to the chief, before either of us could, and make sure he knew she’d been an asset. Using hypnosis on Sophie had been helpful, and she’d make sure she got credit for that.

  Oh please. Listening to Willow was giving me a headache.

  Dimples did his best not to roll his eyes, but he wasn’t fooled either. “Okay. We’ll track these guys down and bring them in for questioning.” He glanced at Willow. “Do you have their addresses, and where they work?”

  “I’m sure I can get them.”

  “Okay, good.” He glanced at me through the rear-view mirror. “We’ll get all that information and set it up for tomorrow. Will that work?”

  “Sure. Just let me know.”

  He nodded, happy that we’d made some progress, even if it would have been much simpler if I’d been helping him. In fact, we’d probably have the killer in jail by now. That brought a smile to my lips, and Dimples did that little head-nod thing.

  With that settled, now was my chance to ask Willow about the lost girl. “Hey Willow, remember the search f
or the little girl that went missing? You helped with that, right?”

  Relieved to have something good to talk about, she preened. “Yes, that’s right. I’m the one who found her.”

  “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “Of course.” She opened her mouth to talk, but quickly shut it, suddenly suspicious. Her eyes narrowed. “Why the sudden interest?”

  “I just wondered if there was a search-and-rescue team and their dogs involved.”

  “Oh. Yeah, they were there too.”

  “I thought one of them found the little girl.”

  Her breath caught. “Well… that’s not exactly how it happened.”

  “Oh yeah? Then what was it… exactly?”

  “I’m the one who told them where to look, or they never would have found her.” At my raised brows, she continued. “The search wasn’t going well, and we were losing daylight. That’s why my client, Carolyn Brinkley, asked me to help. We’ve known each other for several years, and it was her granddaughter who’d gone missing.”

  She was thinking that Carolyn was a regular client, and came to her monthly for tarot readings. Carolyn believed in Willow’s psychic gifts, so it was a win-win.

  “After I got there, I used my psychic abilities to pinpoint the little girl’s location. The search-and-rescue people followed my directions, and that’s how they found her.”

  I nodded, but I wasn’t convinced. It probably had more to do with the dogs and their handlers than she let on, and she was taking all the credit. “So how do your psychic abilities work?”

  With a pang, it hit me that I was treating her just like most people treated me. Did I want to go down that road? Yes… yes I did. I had to know the truth, and if that meant giving her a hard time, then so be it.

  Willow shook her head, suddenly weary. “Of all the people in the world, I thought you’d understand.”

  I sighed. “I totally do… but you do things differently from me. I just want to know how it works for you.”

  “Well… most of the time, I give psychic readings. In this case, I used a toy the child loved. Carolyn thought I’d have better success if I went to the last spot little Ava was seen. Once I got there, I held her favorite stuffed animal and… let my senses expand, using the toy as a conduit to find her.

  “That’s when I felt where she was, and the distance she’d gone, which ended up being much further than anyone had anticipated. After I directed the search-and-rescue team to that area, that’s exactly where they found her.”

  She didn’t mention that the dogs sniffed the toy as well, but I picked up that she was telling the truth, and the direction she sent them did, in fact, save them a lot of time. I got the feeling the child had wandered all over the place, so directing them to a specific area had made a big difference.

  “Just out of curiosity, do you remember Mack Haywood? I believe he was one of the search-and-rescue people.” Willow tried to remember, but the name didn’t ring a bell, so I described him. “Mid-fifties, good-looking in a rugged kind of way. He had a German Shepherd named Coco.”

  “Oh… yes. I remember him. He’s the one who found Ava. He was pretty happy about that. I think he carried her all the way back to our group and handed her off to her mother.”

  “Did you speak with him?”

  “No, I didn’t.” She remembered watching the scene unfold. Carolyn and her daughter, Misti, were so overjoyed to have Ava back that they were hugging everyone who had helped. Thinking back, it had seemed a little odd that Mack had hung around. He’d spoken to both Carolyn and Misti a second time before they left.

  Misti had hugged him, but it surprised her that Carolyn did as well, especially since she wasn’t a demonstrative person. It irked her that Carolyn had even offered to pay him. Of course, he’d quickly refused, but if Carolyn was paying anyone, it should have been her.

  She’d watched them exchange numbers, and she’d wondered what that was about. But she forgot all about it when Carolyn pulled her into the circle and acknowledged that they couldn’t have found Ava without her.

  Carolyn had offered to pay her as well, but, after Mack’s refusal, she couldn’t exactly accept any money. Still, Carolyn did send her a two hundred dollar gift card, so it all worked out.

  Curious, she glanced my way. “Why do you ask? Do you know him or something?”

  “Yes, you might say that.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to give Willow any information. Who knew what she’d do then? “I might want to speak with Carolyn. Could I get her phone number and address from you?”

  “Uh… I guess… but why?” She was thinking that, if I was checking up on her, she’d have to make up some excuse as to why she couldn’t give it to me. She wasn’t about to let me go behind her back, especially with a well-paying client.

  Now I had to tell her. It should be okay as long as she didn’t go running to Carolyn. “Well… here’s the thing. Mack was murdered last week, and I’d like to ask her a couple of questions.”

  “What? Are you kidding me? Wait… you think she had something to do with it?”

  “No. Not at all. I’d just like to talk to her about the rescue and see if she remembers anything about it that seemed unusual. Mack was murdered only a week later, and that was his last search-and-rescue job. I’m just trying to cover all my bases.”

  “Is this something you’re doing for the police?”

  “No. His son, Austin, asked for my help. I have my own consulting agency, so I do a lot of my own work.”

  “Oh… I didn’t know that.” She pursed her lips before coming to a decision. “Okay, I’ll give you her phone number and address. But you’d better call her first. She hates it when people just drop by.”

  “Does she live alone, or does her daughter live with her?”

  “She’s alone. Her husband died when Misti was young, and she raised Misti on her own. Misti lives close by with her husband and Ava, and they’re a really tight, close family.” Willow found Carolyn’s contact info on her phone. “Can I text this to you?”

  “Sure.” I gave her my number, and she sent it to me. “Got it. Thanks. I really appreciate this.”

  Willow nodded, but she was wondering if she should call Carolyn and warn her about me.

  “Uh… if you call to warn her about me, do you mind not giving her any specifics about my case? Maybe you could just tell her that I’m interested in the search-and-rescue team, and I want her view on how they worked together, or something like that.”

  Willow sucked in her breath. It was like I’d read her mind. “Okay… I guess.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be nice.”

  She shook her head. How did I know she was worried about that? “I… uh… thanks, I appreciate it.”

  Dimples pulled into the precinct parking lot, which put an end to our conversation. He was thinking that I needed to be careful, or Willow might figure out my secret. Did I want her to know? He sure didn’t.

  We got out of the car, and he glanced my way. “You coming in?”

  I checked my watch, surprised to find it so late. “Uh… no. I need to get going. But you’ll call me tomorrow, right? So I can lis… uh… be there to question those guys?”

  “Yeah. We’ll bring them in, and I’ll let you know.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you then.”

  I headed home during rush hour traffic, so I had lots of time to think. Finding out about Carolyn from Willow had been a huge help, but I wasn’t sure how it was tied to Mack’s murder. It was obvious she’d been grateful to him, and they’d exchanged numbers, but if she’d sent a gift card to Willow, she probably wanted his information to send something to him, too.

  It sounded like another dead end, but it couldn’t hurt to talk to her. I briefly considered telling Detective Williams and Clue what I’d found, but decided against it. I’d tell them if I found a connection to his murder, otherwise, I didn’t want to waste their time.

  Besides, I had tonight to worry about. Ramos hadn’t told me much about the
meeting at the health-and-nutrition store, but I had to believe that they’d set up a meeting with one of the buyers to sell them drugs, and whoever it was could have killed Tommy.

  It made me a little nervous that I’d be part of a drug deal. But if there weren’t real drugs involved, it shouldn’t be that big of a risk, right? Maybe I should have gone inside with Dimples, just to see if Bates had found the owner of the BMW.

  What if Bates had found the kid? And what if they were making a deal with him to catch the ring leader of the drug operation? The kid would be wired and come into the store ready to make a deal that would expose Uncle Joey’s organization. Only, instead, he’d find me, and Ramos… and probably Aaron, the store manager. If Vinny showed up with a bunch of drugs to sell… yeah… that would be bad.

  But… I’d know before he even said a word, so I shouldn’t be so worried, right? I’d make sure nothing bad happened because I was awesome like that, and it would all work out. No one, especially not me, was going to jail for selling drugs. I’d make sure of it.

  As much as looking on the positive side helped, it still didn’t get rid of the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  CHAPTER 10

  I walked in the door, ready for a furry body to come rushing to greet me. As I set down my purse and car keys for the onslaught, nothing happened, and disappointment flowed over me. Where was Coco? Where were my kids?

  Hearing a bark from the backyard, I hurried to the patio doors and stepped outside onto the deck. Savannah sat on the porch swing with Josh’s friend Chloe, both watching Josh and Coco play with the Frisbee.

  “Hey mom,” Savannah called. Chloe sent me a wave, and I joined them on the swing, asking Chloe how her summer had been so far.

  “I guess nothing like you guys,” she said, thinking about the story Savannah had told her. It was amazing I was still alive after a mob boss had put a hit on me. How did I do it? It almost sounded like Savannah had exaggerated most of it, because… how could one person get into so much trouble?

  I frowned. Not her, too. “Uh yeah… there were a few intense moments, but I hope she told you about all the good stuff.”