“Right, I forgot.” Karlee’s cheeks tinted pink.
I took a deep cleansing breath and began to draw circles on my paper. “Let’s start with messages from your guides. They seem to be anxious.”
“Of course.” Her voice cracked as she answered.
I spent the next thirty minutes answering and giving life suggestions that they wanted her to know. About her health, wealth, career, and love life. The last of which seemed to surprise her.
It was only then, when I had Karlee more settled and relaxed, that I opened the floor for anyone who wanted to come through.
I didn’t see spirits like some psychics, just standing around and hovering over my shoulder or in my mind. I liked them orderly in a single file line, and they knew it. They weren’t allowed to talk until they reached the podium, and then the spirits were restricted to only relaying information that could help. I wasn’t here to scare my clients. No doomsday messages would ever reach their ears, only things to look out for and suggestions to keep them safe. I wasn’t a fortune teller, and these spirits couldn’t make me be.
“Your mother’s name was George?” I asked skeptically.
“Yes.” Karlee’s eyes lit up, and she leaned forward. “No other psychic has ever gotten that right.”
I went on to give her messages from her grandmother, mother, and a childhood friend that had died from cancer. I could tell Karlee was torn between being disappointed and hopeful.
Things happened all at once after that. A woman stepped up to the podium. The familiar face belonged to the dead woman in the cave whose face I couldn’t shake from my memory. She stood behind the microphone just as Keaton stepped into the room.
“Karlee, what are you doing here?” he asked.
Chapter 11
Karlee rose from her seat. “Detective Daniels.” Her gaze went from his to mine. “What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”
“Your sister is Erin?” I asked. “Why the different last names?”
“Adams is Erin’s married name,” Keaton answered. “Karlee is the person who reported her missing.”
My brows dipped. Hadn’t Keaton said that Erin had only been missing like one week? That was around the same time Karlee had shown up to ask for references. How could she have possibly known that her sister had been in my town?
I clasped my hands in front of me and smiled. “How about we move this to the kitchen to talk and I’ll make us all a cup of coffee. I think it’s safe to say that each of us have questions.”
“I can’t,” Karlee said, grabbing her purse. She dropped some bills on my table and then hurried to the front door.
“Karlee, wait up,” I called out as I followed her outside.
“Thank you for your services,” she said before she climbed into her car.
“Let her go. I’ll track her down.” Keaton appeared by my side. “I’ll take that coffee if you’re still offering.”
I nodded and went to shut the door, only pausing when I spotted Elenore Bell across the street on the phone. She was pacing in the yard, her hands gesturing wildly.
She met my gaze and stilled her movements even if her lips were still moving. She spun around and stomped back inside.
“Spying on your neighbors isn’t nice,” Keaton whispered into my ear.
“Neither is scaring off my clients,” I answered.
“Karlee is hopeful her sister is still alive, although I’m not sure why she’s here in town, considering no one even knows her sister has been found.”
“When did you say Erin’s missing person report was filed?”
“About a week ago,” he said.
I walked to the calendar and flipped back a week. Karlee’s name was written in a box. “Karlee came and asked for references around that time. Why wouldn’t she have sought someone out in her hometown? How in the heck did she even know to come here?”
“That’s not what troubles me,” Keaton said, pouring us both a cup of coffee. He doctored mine up just the way I like it. “What troubles me is why she thinks she needs a medium to contact her sister. It’s as though she already knew her sister was dead.”
I hadn’t thought of that. The geography was still throwing me. There must have been two dozen psychics and mediums between Greenbridge and my town. Why here, and why me?
I took a sip of my coffee, taking a minute to appreciate the fact that he’d gotten my coffee right. “How did you sleep?”
His gaze turned tight. “Fine.”
The look on his face said it had been anything but a good night’s sleep. If anything, even more worry had settled into the fine lines on his face. Maybe it was because of Karlee, but my gut was telling me it was something else entirely.
“Whatever happened to you never lying to me?” I questioned.
He set his coffee down and crossed the room and took my hand. “You’re right. I had a bad dream.”
“Do you need me to scare away the boogeyman? I’ve got a knack for that.”
He leaned in and was about to kiss me when my cell phone rang. I rested my finger on his lips. “Hold that thought.”
I walked into the foyer and grabbed my cell phone off the table. I answered on the third ring. “Hey, Jimbo.”
“I can’t find Keaton, and he’s not answering his phone. Do you know where he is?”
I glanced in the kitchen doorway. “Yeah, he’s here. It was too late for him to drive, so I let him sleep in my spare room.”
I was met with silence.
“Hang on,” I said and held out the phone to Keaton. “Jimbo is looking for you.”
Keaton put the phone to his ear, and in less than a second, he met my gaze before stepping out onto the porch. As much as I wanted to eavesdrop, I didn’t. I returned back into the sitting room and paused in my tracks. Keaton’s five and Mary stood staring at me.
I met each of their gazes. This was the first time any of them had been in my house.
“You’re all here?” I asked.
They didn’t speak but started to swirl around me like the old hags had. Spinning around me like my own personal hurricane. Their faces contorted, and their screams pierced my ears as Erin’s spirit flew straight at me and into my body. I gasped as my chest caved. I struggled for a breath when the room around me changed.
I was no longer in my home, but a dark, secluded street walking beside Erin, who was looking over her shoulder as she hurried down the dark alleyway. She had a load of books in her hand and a big satchel hung from her shoulder. She held keys in her hand as she hurried to the door of a car. When she climbed inside, I appeared in the seat next to her. She dialed a number on her phone before turning on her car lights.
She whispered into the phone. “Don’t leave. I’m on my way.”
My brows dipped as I heard the one-sided conversation. The books she’d tossed in the backseat were varied in subjects. Everything from herbs to medical books. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
The woman’s hands were trembling as she tossed the car into gear. “No, you don’t understand. We need to do this now before any more get hurt.”
Erin hung up and tossed the phone into her purse, and I felt my spirit slam back into my body. I struggled to breathe as the room came into focus.
I dropped to my knees. My heart raced as Jared circled me. Electricity was sparking around him as he pulled from the electricity in my house. The rooms were now thrown into darkness other than his light show. The spirits glided farther away without turning their backs on him.
“Faith.” My name was screamed from Jared’s lips.
“What the hell did they do to you?” Veronica asked as she paced the room, acting as an added layer of protection from the others.
I had no idea what happened. I clutched my hand over my heart, trying to calm my nerves. I didn’t like sharing my body or whatever the hell that had been. I crawled to the couch, afraid the muscles in my legs would give out if I tried to stand.
It was a unique feeling, as though I wasn’t
officially back in control. The usual synapses weren’t firing for my legs to heed the commands coming from my brain. Using my arm muscles, I crawled onto my couch, just as the feeling of needle pricks riddled my feet and legs as if they’d been sleeping and were just now starting to wake.
I sat back while I processed what the hell had just happened.
Keaton stepped back inside. “I have to run. I’m putting your phone on the foyer table.”
“Okay,” I called out, though I barely recognized my own voice.
The door closed behind him, and I watched through the window as he jogged across the yard and hopped into his truck.
I should have asked what Jimbo wanted, but I was finding it difficult to use my words. I would have been unable to describe what was wrong with me if he’d happened to ask.
Maybe I was losing my mind. Maybe my defenses weren’t as good as I thought. I struggled to stand, my legs weak beneath my body. My vision blurred just as Nina skidded into my driveway. She threw her car door open and ran to my porch.
“Faith,” Nina screamed. It was the last voice I heard before darkness pulled me back into its fold.
Chapter 12
The darkness gave way to moonlight. This time I was with Erin and Mary as an observer. They were sitting at a table just outside her gypsy trailer. She had tarot cards spread out in front of her and sage burning in a nearby bowl.
Boxes sat outside the gypsy wagon. Did she pack everything up herself? Why?
“Why are you packed?” Erin asked.
“Change is coming.”
Erin sighed. “You said you’ve seen the face of evil. Does evil have a name?”
Her long fingernails tapped on the tower card, and she whispered to herself. “It’s too late.”
“I’ll go to the police with you. They can protect you,” Erin said.
The windchimes twinkled on the wind, and Mary quickly lifted her gaze, scanning the trees.
“Who’s there?”
Several birds broke through the leaves and swept passed.
Mary gathered her cards and shuffled again, her eye darting around the perimeter of the woods around her.
“Come on, we should go,” Erin said, glancing around the trees as unease settled in her eyes.
Mary flipped one card and then two. A gasp left her lips as a bullet rang out. Mary fell onto the card table, her eyes open and devoid of life as she stared unseeing into the trees.
Twigs broke, and I turned to find Erin running in the direction of the waterfall. I started to follow, but I spotted a dark figure chasing her. Before I could see the person’s face, I was snapped out of the darkness with a burst of white light.
The witches surrounded me in a circle with their backs to me as if protecting me from some unknown force.
Pain ripped through my body, tearing a scream from my lips.
My eyes shot open, and I blinked. The ceiling above me was definitely not in my living room. The same paramedic from the landfill—Patricia—stared down at me. Determination glittered in her eyes. “Ms. Bennett, can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?”
“Four.” Although two seemed to float in and out.
“You’ve fallen and hit your head again.”
“How did I get here?” I asked as I blinked to clear my confusion.
“Your sister called. Do you remember anything?”
I shook my head, immediately regretting the movement when a hammer-like pain seared through my brain. The overhead light was blinding, and I closed my eyes.
“Oh no, you don’t. Faith, you have to stay up and talk to me.”
“The light hurts,” I said, turning my head to the side, away from the blinding light.
“I’ll turn them off if you keep talking to me,” Patricia said, turning off the light. The only light now coming in was from the sunlight on the back window. Even that dull light strobed viciously behind my eyes.
“Thank you. I remember I was at home doing a reading and then Keaton walked in.”
“Is that a friend?” she asked.
“The detective that was at the landfill.”
“Right, okay, I remember him. Tell me more.”
“He got a phone call and told me he had to leave.”
“Okay, and did he?”
“Yeah,” I said, turning my head to stare up at the ceiling. “He did, and then next thing I know, I saw my sister Nina running toward me, and that was it. I think I passed out.”
“That’s good,” Patricia said.
My brows dipped. “Good that I passed out?”
“Good that you remember,” Patricia clarified. “Do you know what today is?”
“Taco Tuesday,” I answered.
“It is Tuesday,” she said as if I were a child in need of reward. “I like the tacos at Market Place. What about you?” Patricia asked.
I scrunched my nose. “Market is too dry. You should try Los Angelita on Fifth Street. My sisters and I eat there all the time.”
“I’ll have to do that.” The ambulance slowed in front of hospital lights, which were shining in through the window.
“We’re here.”
“Oh no,” I said, trying to sit up. “I can’t go back in there. Just let me go home.”
If Patricia was annoyed, she didn’t show it. She’d probably dealt with women a lot crazier than me in her profession. She smiled in understanding. “You need tests. This is twice you’ve hit your head in less than a week, Faith. Nina’s following behind the ambulance. Let the doctors take a look at you and then, if you want to go, then you can leave. They can’t keep you here, but I really think that you need to be checked out.”
I dragged in a long, painful breath. I knew she was right, but Lord have mercy, I dreaded having to breach those electric doors. The last time had been mild, but no way was I getting lucky twice.
“The ghosts in the ER don’t know they're dead.” I swallowed hard as the rear doors opened. I wobbled on the gurney as Patricia and another paramedic unloaded me. Ceiling panels flashed overhead as they wheeled me toward the electric doors.
“Just breathe, Faith,” Patricia whispered as she pushed me inside. “I’ll see if they can get you processed and into a room away from the ER since you’re a repeat offender.”
Every spirit in the vicinity stopped and turned in my direction, making it hard to breathe.
I closed my eyes as if that would turn off my spirit magnet personality from attracting the ghosts toward me.
Chapter 13
Patricia was true to her word while updating the nurse on my condition and my previous visit, they’d found a room outside of the ER to hold me in until I could be seen.
The orderlies were helping me transfer to a hospital bed when Brandon strolled in, clipboard in hand. “I saw your name and couldn’t believe it.”
He walked to the bed and took my hand in his, giving a gentle squeeze. “What happened?”
“I passed out and probably hit my head,” I answered.
His look turned serious. “You think you hit your head…again?”
“I was standing when it happened, and when I woke, I was on a gurney.”
He snapped on some latex gloves and leaned over me, gingerly pressing on the back of my head and down to my neck. “No cuts but I suggest we run some more tests. There might be something else going on with you that we’re not aware of. This time, we’re keeping you overnight.”
I shook my head. “You can run the tests, Brandon, but I can’t stay.”
The nurse raised a brow when I used the doctor’s first name, but Brandon didn’t bat an eye. I may have inadvertently just contributed to the hospital water-cooler gossip.
“Faith…”
I rested my palm over his. “You know I hate hospitals.”
His gaze assessed mine before he turned to the nurse. “Susan, give us a minute.”
The nurse walked out, smiling behind Brandon’s back, and shut the door.
“Faith, we really need to watch you. This i
s the second time, and this time, there wasn’t a fall down a hill to contribute to hitting your head. You just passed out without any external cause. That means there’s something going on and we need to rule out any life threatening complications.”
I knew what was going on. It was the damn spirits showing me things. In those moments afterward, I had no control.
“I know you’re worried.”
“Faith.” Brandon’s voice deepened from a caring friend to a doctor in charge. “You need tests, but I’ll make you a deal so you won’t be alone. Reggie is bringing me dinner, and I’ll have him bring you some too. We’ll hang out with you until your test results are in. After that, if the tests are clear, I will release you… with the stipulation you stay in bed and rest for a few days until we can figure out what is going on with you.”
Bed rest. Was that the best he could do? Bed rest meant being home, but would he even know if I wasn’t lying down? “Okay.”
Nina burst into the room. Her worried look landed on me as she rounded the bed, ignoring Brandon as he stood. She stared down into my eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” she demanded.
Heat climbed my cheeks. “I passed out. You saw me through the window,” I said, raising a brow and gesturing to the doctor. “Nina, I’d like you to meet Dr. Brandon Myer.”
Nina pasted on one of her fake smiles. “You’re the man who took Faith on a date?”
He cleared his throat and clutched the clipboard against his chest. “Yes.”
“Um hmm.” Nina’s gaze raked down him and back up before she turned around, dismissing him, and met my gaze again. “You need me to spring you from this place?”
I met Brandon’s gaze before I answered. “If my tests check out, it would be great if you could give me a lift home.”
Apprehension ate at my gut. I was normally a visitor to the hospital and only in dire circumstances. Never a patient. And in the space of a single week, I’d been admitted twice, and worse, wheeled in both times.
If it were up to me and I’d been walking in, I never would have made it through the front door. I’d had to force myself inside when I’d wanted to visit Mary after her heart attack scare. Mortality had smacked her in the face and triggered her giving me the protection bag.
Down and Dirty (Bennett Dynasty Book 3) Page 6
