Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 01 - How to be a Ghost (20 page)
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Authors: Audrey Claire
Tags: #Mystery: Paranormal - North Carolina
“Clark, really,” I said as I entered my kitchen. Clark stooped over Luis, checking his pulse. He looked up at me, and I saw relief in his gaze. “You want to tell me what happened here?”
“She’s a ghost, a
ghost!”
Of all times, Luis awakened, sputtering my secret. Once again, Ian reacted in a flash. He jerked Luis’s chin up to force him to look into his eyes. “Be quiet.” Luis’s teeth clicked audibly together, but his eyes widened in terror. Clark stood up and rested a hand on his weapon. He placed himself between Ian and me.
“What did you do to him?” Clark demanded.
I grabbed Clark’s arm. “Clark, stop. Ian’s not the enemy. He’s only here to help me.”
Ian stood, hands relaxed at his sides. He waited only until Clark, as if compelled, looked into his gaze, and he began to speak calm words of instruction. “You will forget that you heard anything about Libby being a ghost. That goes for you as well, Mr. Riley. Am I clear?”
Both men answered in monotones. “Yes.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Ian shook his head, and I clamped it shut. This was the power of the vampire, and I should be grateful this time he was on my side, and I was not one of the ones he glamoured.
When Ian released both men from his hypnotic stare, Clark arrested Luis, dragging him from the floor. He shoved him out to his squad car and stuffed him in the back. Once he’d slammed the door, he turned back to me. His gaze darted from me to Ian and back again.
“Are you going to be okay?” Clark asked.
I touched his arm. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
He hesitated to leave a while longer, and Ian started to speak, but I shouldered in front of him, facing Clark. “I’ll come down to the station in the morning to give my statement, if that’s okay?”
Clark sighed. “Fine. See you tomorrow, Libby.”
“Good night, Clark.”
* * * *
When I arrived at the station the next morning, it was to find the place in an uproar once again. Clark shouted at anyone within his sight, accusing his men of all sorts of wrongdoing. When he spotted me, the rage in his expression lessened only a little. He crooked a finger at me indicating I should follow him into his office. I wasn’t so sure I should comply but thought the alternative might be far worse.
Clark slammed the door behind me and stomped toward his desk. His office had always been cluttered, but this morning it looked like a tornado had swept through.
“What’s wrong, Clark? Did something happen?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and then downed the contents of his coffee cup in one swallow. The sour expression told me he wished it were something stronger. “The discs are gone.”
I blinked. “What?”
“The discs,” he repeated. “You know, the ones you should have known nothing about? The discs Luis recorded of myself, my sister, you, and who knows how many other people?”
I had been so wrong thinking Clark hadn’t heard me when I mentioned the discs. He had. The clever man had simply chosen to ignore the fact for the time being. I had no words to counter what he thought of me.
“You’re sure? Maybe you overlooked them?”
His nostrils flared. “We are a small station with limited staff, Libby. There
is
no other place I could have placed the discs other than in our lockup. No one claims to have touched them no matter how much I’ve threatened them.”
I wrung my hands in my lap. “Did you listen to them?”
“I intended to listen to all the ones filmed at the hardware store this morning when I got in. Now I have nothing! Absolutely nothing!” He slammed a fist on the desk that made me jump. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk later. I have other more pressing matters.”
“Of course.” I started to rise.
“Libby?”
I swallowed. “Yes?”
“We will discuss your involvement, so please don’t get any foolish ideas.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “Are you telling me not to leave town, Clark Givens?”
He shrugged and picked up the receiver of his phone before punching in numbers. I saw it as my dismissal and left his office. I had to wait the entire day on pins and needles before I was able to blink into Ian’s book room.
Giving no indication of surprise, he glanced up from his book. “What can I do for you, Liberty?”
“I want you to talk to Luis Riley.”
One brow rose on his handsome face. “To what end?”
I explained how the discs were missing, and Clark was in an uproar. “He knows I knew about the discs even though they were supposed to be a secret.”
“You want me to help your police chief to solve his case?”
“No!” I grumbled. “I want you to help
me
. Please. And he’s not
my
police chief.”
“It did not appear that way last night.”
“Are you jealous, Ian?” I grinned.
His expression said all men should be jealous of him and not the other way around. With his ability I didn’t question this view. I had no reason to expect Ian to go on helping me, but I had come in the hope that he would just a little longer. I didn’t approve of his controlling Clark’s and Luis’s minds, and I had let him know before he left my house the night before. Still, I couldn’t deny his covering had kept me from answering a lot of uncomfortable questions.
At last, Ian agreed, and the two of us traveled to the police station. I discovered that while I could travel by will, Ian moved faster than the human eye could distinguish. He arrived in a blur and stood at the entrance of the building, and then we went in together, me invisible.
One after another, Ian commanded the humans to ignore his presence. I led the way to Clark’s office, Ian sensing my location, and we found the chief of police sitting behind his desk.
“What can I do for
you?”
Clark said to Ian with clear dislike.
Ian smiled, fully accepting of Clark’s jealousy. “How about a little chat?”
At the end of the conversation, where Ian did most of the talking, Clark had no recollection of me knowing about the discs or for that matter wanting to question me regarding the case. Ian left Clark’s office, and we headed farther back in the station to the holding cells.
Luis Riley stretched out on a cot, one arm slung over his eyes. He didn’t appear to have heard Ian’s step when he approached. Neither did I.
“Come here, Mr. Riley,” Ian intoned.
Luis rose from the cot and approached the bars. He said nothing, and I knew Ian already had control of him. The fact sent chills down my spine. Who could stand against Ian should the need ever arise? He could even banish me, he said, if he wanted to, and that scared me. I didn’t trust him, but I would let him help me for now because he was all I had.
“Did you kill George Walsh?” Ian asked. “You will speak the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he saw my room. I couldn’t let him tell anyone and ruin everything.” Luis licked his lips and gripped the bars. “I had to keep doing it once I started. I love it. I want to know everything like why my cameras started messing up mostly in Libby’s house.” His gaze shifted away from Ian’s filled with curiosity. I realized Ian had erased his memory of learning my secret but not that he questioned it.
Ian’s eyes blazed. “You will look only at me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you take back the discs?”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
Luis frowned as if he tried to puzzle it out, and it hurt him not to know. “I don’t know.”
“You were working alone?”
“Yes. No one gets to know about me.”
Ian nodded. “Pay attention. This is important. First, you will confess to the murder of George Walsh. You understand?”
“Yes, I killed him.”
“Second, after I ask this question, you will forget about Libby Grace forever. Do you still understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Ian paused and glanced in my direction then back at Luis. He spoke in a clear, strong voice that brooked no holding back. Even I felt like confessing whatever he needed to know.
“Where is Libby Grace’s body?”
The End
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