Seer Protector

by Roxanne Witherell

  Chapter Thirteen

  Heath called Ciara to let her know that it would be late tonight before he was finished and that they hoped to catch the killer tonight. She wished him luck and told him she was staying in to watch a movie marathon. It was the safest place for her. He wouldn’t have been comfortable if she had wanted to go out to one of the bars like she did the other night. She was not in the killer’s sight and he’d like to keep it that way. He wanted to keep her safe.

  They were taking a chance that the killer would strike tonight. They were going on the sole basis that the killer was escalating and moving the timeline closer together. He updated Director Normandy on their operation. Though he agreed with it, he wasn’t thrilled they hadn’t identified the culprit first. Before getting off the phone, he warned them about not fucking this up, timing was everything.

  “Are you sure about this?” Amethyst Greystone asked from the back seat of the SUV. Her uncertainty and anxiety rolled off her in waves.

  “There’s already an undercover inside acting as a patron of the bar. Sam here will escort you in like you’re a couple out on the town for the night. Your shift doesn’t start for another forty-five minutes. We’ll get you in early and in the back. When Deputy Carringure comes in posing as you, she’ll meet you in the back and you can start your shift. Go about your normal routine. At the end of your shift just hang out in the back office until Sam comes back to get you. He’ll escort you out. Hopefully, by then, we’ll have the guy in custody,” Heath explained everything to her once more.

  “Where will you be?” she asked as he pulled into the parking lot.

  “I’ll be out in the parking lot, out of sight, waiting for the man to make his move.” Heath parked the SUV as close to the front of the building as possible.

  “What if it doesn’t work and he doesn’t come?” She reached for the handle but didn’t open the door.

  “Then we’ll be here tomorrow and the next day until he does.”

  “I hope he comes tonight, so this will all be over.” She tucked a few strands of her red hair back into the blonde wig. “Good luck.”

  Sam went around and opened the door for her. He held out his hand and together the fake couple walked into the bar. Heath didn’t want to be seen, parking in another spot. Instead, he pulled out of the parking lot and drove around the block. When he stopped at a stop sign, he peered up to the neighboring building. Picking up his phone, he dialed Heather’s number. She answered on the first ring.

  “Agent Rockfell,” she answered in a low voice.

  “Are you in position?”

  “I’m all set. I have a clear view of the entire parking lot. When you come back in, park on the third row, the second to last spot on my side. You’ll be straight across from the target’s car.”

  “Got it. Remember, don’t get trigger happy unless it’s needed,” Heath warned her.

  “Yes, sir,” she said sarcastically.

  Heath could practically hear her rolling her eyes at him. When he turned back into the parking lot, he parked where she suggested. After making sure that no one was watching, he jumped out and got in the backseat. This way, the tinted windows would hide him from any passersby. He watched as cars and trucks pulled in. With the suspect’s van down in evidence, he didn’t know what type of vehicle to look for.

  Deputy Carringure pulled up in Ms. Greystone’s car. She parked directly behind him on the next row. Heath searched the parking lot to see if anyone was watching, but no one was looking their way. The moment she stepped out of the car, Heath couldn’t believe how close she resembled Ms. Greystone. She was dressed as an employee and her wig was an exact match to Ms. Greystone’s hair. His gaze followed her as she made her way to the bar. No one jumped out, no one tried to attack.

  This is going to be a long night. Heath hated stakeouts. It always felt like he was wasting time. He watched as people pulled up. Some he had recognized from the other night when he was here. Aiden went in rubbing his hands together, no doubt on the prowl for women. Now, all they had to do was wait. While keeping an eye out on who came and went, Heath picked up his phone to call Gunner.

  “Agent Gunner,” he answered immediately.

  “Gunner, it’s Cooper. Did you get the files yet on the original coven members?”

  “Most of them, I’m still waiting on Warren County to send the file for the last victim.” Heath heard him typing away on his computer. “I’m sending over the digital files now. When I get the one from Warren county, I’ll send it over.”

  Heath’s phone dinged with the recent files Gunner sent. He glanced at his phone to make sure.

  “Just got them. Let me know when the other comes in.”

  “Will do. There was a fingerprint and DNA found on the one in Warren county. They sent those over since they were already digitized. I’m running them through the software now to see if we get any hits.”

  “Good. We hit a dead end on their social media accounts. They didn’t have many friends in common and there weren’t any that they all had in common.”

  “Phone records came in, but there wasn’t a common number between them other than each other.”

  “I hope tonight pans out because we keep hitting brick walls.”

  “It will. I’ll send the other file when I get it.”

  When Gunner hung up, Heath was able to look at the files on his phone. If it’s the same killer, then judging by the dates of the original coven dying, he had to be over fifty. Probably even closer to sixty. Though there was nothing to tie him to the original member’s death. The last member was the only one that died in the same way as the current victims.

  As the night passed on, Heath kept watch over the parking lot. The bar would be closing soon. Customers began to come out as they finished their last drinks. Aiden came out alone, another failed night. The employees began to close up, and Heath noticed Aiden didn’t leave the parking lot. Heath called Heather to verify.

  “What’s up?” she answered on the first ring.

  “Do you have eyes on a skinny guy with greased back black hair?” He waited for her to respond.

  “Negative, I thought I saw him a few minutes ago getting into the blue truck behind you and to your left.”

  Heath looked in that direction but didn’t see anyone sitting in the truck or standing beside it.

  “You think that could be our guy?” Heather asked from her rooftop position.

  “I didn’t think so, but now I’m not sure. He was inside the bar the other night when Nevada Nickson went missing. In fact, he was her date.”

  “Maybe he lured her out for the killer then,” Heather suggested. “We’ll see what happens. Here comes Deputy Carringure.”

  Heather hung up and Heath looked toward the bar door. Deputy Carringure had put on the red wig once more and began her trek to Ms. Greystone’s car. Heath slid over to the door, ready to spring out if he needed to. She walked slowly to the car as if she had no cares in the world. As she approached the car, a shadow moved from the bushes. A man, dressed in black and a ski mask, jumped out behind her and wrapped his arms around her mouth as she tried to scream. Heath jumped out at the same time she elbowed her attacker in the stomach. Heath grabbed him by the collar and slung him away from the woman. He landed against the next vehicle with a thud. As Heath drew near him, the man slung his hand in the air and Heath was knocked backwards along with Deputy Carringure. He slid against the pavement until he landed behind his SUV.

  “You alright?” he asked Deputy Carringure as he pushed himself off the pavement.

  She nodded and he turned his attention back to the attacker. The man put his hands together and a blue org formed between them. A shot rang out from Heather’s gun. The orb faded away as the man fell to the pavement. Heath glanced up to Heather’s position. He could barely make out her silhouette in the moonlight. Pulling out his phone, he quickly called for an ambulance then ran over to assess the suspect.

  The man was laying on his back, gasping for air. H
eath pulled off the ski mask to use against the hole in his chest. To his surprise, it was Aiden Strider under the mask. Heath had thought it would’ve been an older man. Aiden couldn’t have been over thirty.

  “Who are you working with?” Heath asked Aiden when he opened his eyes. “Where is he?”

  Aiden’s lips curled into a faint smile before he passed out. Damn it! Deputy Carringure ran inside for some towels to use instead of the ski mask. Heather made her way over to them. She put her gun in the back of the SUV and came over to where Aiden laid. Heath narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn’t happy with her at the moment. Before she could say a word, the ambulance pulled in and came to a stop. Heath let go when the paramedics took over.

  “That man is a murder suspect,” he told the paramedics.

  “I’ll ride with them,” Deputy Carringure told him as they were loading Aiden onto the stretcher.

  “Keep me updated on his condition.” He gave her his card and she jumped in the back of the ambulance.

  As they pulled away, Heath eyed Heather. She was leaning up against the SUV, with no remorse emitting from her.

  “What the fuck, Heather?” He stormed over to her.

  “What? He had a blue orb thing. Did you think I was going to let him throw it at you and just hope he missed?”

  “You could have shot his heart! What if he dies? We’ll have no leads to the person he’s working with.”

  “Please,” she rolled her eyes. “I missed his heart by a cunt’s hair. He’ll live to see another day and so will you.”

  “Why didn’t you shoot him in the shoulder?”

  “Because there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t have been able to throw it. If I dropped him immediately, I knew he wouldn’t have been able to hurt you.”

  “Director Normandy is going to have our asses.” Heath grabbed a water bottle from the back of the SUV and poured it over his bloody hands.

  “He’ll understand. It was him or you. I chose to put him down and save you.” She shrugged.

  “You better hope you’re right.”

  “What was I supposed to do, let him kill you? You weren’t going for your gun. I did what I had to do, and I’d do it again.”

  “Well, when the director asks you about this, try not to look so happy.” He placed the water bottle in a plastic bag and placed it back in the SUV. “On a personal level, thank you for saving my ass.”

  “I won’t let nothing happen to my baby bro.” She punched his upper arm.

  “You’re a whole six minutes and nine seconds older.” He rolled his eyes just as his phone dinged with a message.

  He wiped his wet hands with one of the clean bar towels that was left before pulling his phone from his pocket. It was a message from Gunner.

  “Gunner finally got the file on the woman up in Warren County. It must be an older man helping Aiden. It’s the only way any of this fits.” He scrolled down his screen to read the file.

  He read parts of the file out loud while Heather peered over his shoulder. There were pictures attached to the file. He clicked one open to see a scene similar to the crime scene pictures taken this past week. A woman laid against a dumpster, burn marks across her chest were clearly seen by the camera. The next picture was the woman’s driver’s license. Heath’s face paled when he realized who was staring back at him from his phone. Melinda Harding looked familiar.

  “We need to go,” he told Heather and hurried around to the driver side of the SUV and jumped in.

  “What is it?” Heather asked, jumping into the passenger seat.

  “I recognize the woman in the photo.” He handed her his phone as he started the vehicle. “I saw her in a photo yesterday. That’s Ciara’s mother.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, call her number for me.” Heath pulled out of the parking lot. Every few seconds he would look over at her as if Ciara would answer if he willed it hard enough.

  “There’s no answer.”

  His heart dropped and he pressed his foot harder on the gas pedal. She may have fallen asleep, but he needed to get to her. He needed to know that she was okay. On his way to Ciara’s, he prayed he was overreacting.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ciara sat comfortably on her couch watching the Friday the 13th movie marathon on tv. Heath had called while she was at work to let her know it would be a late night for him. It was fine by her since she had planned to watch the marathon even before she met him. It seemed silly to watch horror movies while there was a killer out there in her own town. She couldn’t help it. She loved horror movies more than any other genre.

  After pausing the tv, she took her empty popcorn bowl into the kitchen. When she opened the pantry door for another bag of popcorn, she saw the opened bottle of wine on the counter. Last night, they didn’t finish the bottle. Changing her mind about the popcorn, she closed the pantry. She grabbed the bottle of wine, and a wine glass from the cabinet. There was only enough for one glass of wine. No sense in saving it. She poured the remaining red liquid into her glass. After pushing the cork back into the bottle, she slid it to the back of the counter. On her way back to the living room, she took a sip of the wine. As she sat on the couch, she pressed play on the remote and pulled a blanket over her lap.

  Halfway through her wine, Ciara started to get a headache. Wine had never given her a headache before. She placed her wine glass down on the coffee table and hoped the headache would fade away without the help of medicine. Her Tylenol was in her purse in the kitchen, and she didn’t feel like getting back up. She’d grab some on her next trip there.

  Without warning, her headache became intensely worse. Now, a stabbing sensation was stinging her forehead. Before she could move, her vision blurred. She pinched her eyes shut, hoping it would clear. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in her reality. Instead, she was seeing through the eyes of the killer again. Not again. She tried to will the vision away. She didn’t want to see what horrible act he was about to commit.

  He was looking down into his hands. A small black box was in his left hand, and his right flipped the silver switch on top of the box. She didn’t know what the box was or what it was used for. All she knew was that it wasn’t going to be good. He was in a yard, but it was too dark for her to make out where. He slowly walked up to a porch. Her heart began to race with every step he took. When he reached the top of the steps, a flowerpot was on his right. The flowerpot was dark blue with daisies painted all over it. Ciara’s heart almost stopped. She had painted that flowerpot for her grandmother’s birthday years ago. It was currently sitting on her back porch. He was on her back porch.

  She jerked her head toward the kitchen, but all she saw was the vision of him breaking into her back door. Panic set in. She felt around on the coffee table for her phone. With her phone in hand, she moved around her living room by memory. She could just make herself out in the vision. A blue orb appeared in his hands just before he threw into the living room, hitting the edge of the couch. He didn’t seem to be in a rush to get to her. He casually walked through her kitchen. When she reached her front door, she tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge because she had the double key lock in place. She felt around on the end table for her keys then remembered they were in her purse in the kitchen. There was nowhere to go. She was trapped in her own house.

  Through his eyes, she was able to see her moving by the door. She quietly ran up the stairs, only tripping once. Pinching her eyes shut, she tried to pull out of the vision. She needed her own eyes to see. Another orb hit the wall under the staircase. Reaching the top of the stairs, she ran into the office. Her foot kicked a chair, jamming her pinky toe against the leg. She covered her mouth and cursed into her palm. Blinded by the vision, she felt around her desk. Quickly, she ran behind it, bumping her hip on the side. He was coming up the stairs, humming to himself. While he was slowly making his way to her, she felt around in the drawer of her desk. Her hand grasped a letter opener. Holding it tightly in her hand, she crouched d
own behind the desk.

  It wasn’t a very good hiding spot, but it was all she had at the moment. She was no match for him, not after what she saw him do to the other woman. She tried to call Heath by hitting the redial on her phone, but her call wasn’t going out. Her heart nearly stopped when he made it to the top of the stairs. She held her breath as he entered the room. She might not be able to see him, but she could see what he saw in turn, giving away his position. He formed another blue orb and tossed it at the desk. Some of the wood splintered on impact but the desk held up.

  “I do love a game of hide and seek,” he told her as he drew nearer.

  She waited until he stood beside the desk, then she swung out with her hand, stabbing the letter opener into his thigh. He screamed out and her vision cleared. It was him the whole time, keeping hold of her mind, not letting her go. The room was dark. The only light was coming from the moonlight through the sheer covered windows. She got up and tried to run around him. He tackled her into the hallway. With a thud, she landed on the floor. She punched her way out of his grip, but he was between her and the stairs. If she tried to jump over him, he’d trip her, and she’d break her neck falling down the stairs. Instead, when she broke free from him, she ran into the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her.

  “Ah, you piece of shit.” She fumbled with the lock, but it was stuck from lack of use.

  Giving up on the lock, she ran to the window. There was a tree that grew not far from the side of the house. Her heart dropped when she noticed all the limbs that hung by the house had been cut down after the last storm. She opened the window, hoping to make it look like she went out. Quietly, she ran over to her closet and dug around the back. The baseball bat she used for softball in high school was still there. As she heard footsteps in the hall, she hid behind the door. Suddenly, the door splintered and exploded into the bedroom causing her to jump.

  “I’m getting tired of playing these games,” he said from the hall.

  She gripped the bat tighter in her hands. The second he crossed the threshold, she swung the bat. Even though he blocked it with his forearm, the force still caused it to hit his face. He stumbled backwards and she drew the bat back again. As she swung at him again, he waved his hand in front of her and the bat flew out of her hand. It hit the wall with enough force to cause a hole in the drywall.