Deadly Dozen: 12 Mysteries/Thrillers (240 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

IT WAS AFTER TWO O’CLOCK when I finally headed home. And, thankfully, I had a day off from Simone tomorrow, which meant I did not have to get up at the crack of dawn, grab her pumpkin spice latte, and get to her place only to find her lounging with her cat, Clooney. She was having what she referred to as a “mental vacation.” I had no idea what exactly that entailed, and I did not plan to ask. She did not invite me. And I was okay with that
.

I had been asking Becky and everyone else at the bar who might have been there the night before Nick’s murder if anyone had noticed a new guy there—the producer. According to the regulars, no newbies had turned up. I hated to think maybe Nick had been stringing me along after all as Simone insisted. No matter what, though, in my heart I knew Nick had been a good guy who didn’t deserve what he’d gotten, and I was driven to get some answers.

As I turned off Sunset and onto Laurel, I noticed a car behind me, following really close. After all that had happened recently, I was instantly on my guard. I turned right onto my street, and so did the car. I gunned the gas pedal, hoping to zip away. Yeah, that didn’t work so well. I wasn’t sure if I should just keep driving past my place and head back into town. The only plus was the automatic security gate at the entrance to the drive that wound up to the house. I figured I could open the gate, drive through, and block the drive until the gate closed behind me. Once inside, I’d set the alarm and have Cass there to protect me.

I clicked open the gate. The car was still right on my bumper. What if whoever it was jumped out and tried to open my car door? What if they had a gun? I double-checked the locks on my doors and waited. My heart was pounding. I inched the van through the gate and waited for it to close, keeping my eyes trained on my rearview mirror. Finally the gate locked shut and the car continued on. From what I could see in the dim light, it looked like some type of wagon. Maybe an older Volvo or Audi. I couldn’t tell. I raced the van up the remainder of the driveway, anxious to get behind closed doors and snuggle up with Cass and Mac.

I bolted for the front door and unlocked it as quickly as I could. Before I had one foot inside, I knew something really weird was going on. I immediately forgot the car that had followed me.

I could not believe what I was seeing

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

NOW, IT’S ONE THING to see a ghost, um spirit. And it’s another thing to run into the spirit of Bob Marley. But to walk into your home to find Bob Marley
and
the spirit of Janis Joplin on your sofa, smoking pot, while your overweight cat is lying on his back on the backside of the couch, seemingly stoned out of his mind, well, it’s probably safe to say you have seen it all.

Bob looked up and smiled through the smoky haze. “Ah, Evie, thank you, sista, for lettin’ us hang out here tonight.”

Janis glanced up from where she sat strumming on her guitar and smiled at me. “Yeah. You’re a cool chick. I like your pad.”

“Uh, thank you.” Mac opened one green eye and let out a soft, contented meow. He stretched a leg out and promptly went back to his happy little slumber. Cass thumped her tail but didn’t move from her spot next to Janis.

“So, you guys been here long?” I know that sounded lame, but what the heck did you say to two famous spirits?

“Oh, you know, we don’t be keeping track of the time here on dis side of tings,” Bob said, his Jamaican accent melodic and soothing.

“Riiight.”

Janis waved a hand at me. “No way, girl. There’s no need for time and all that shit here. Come have a seat.”

I decided I didn’t have a choice, and it’s not often you get to shoot the breeze with Janis Joplin and Bob Marley (even if they are dead). Speaking of which, “You guys are real, right? I mean, this isn’t just one loooong hallucination I’ve been having … is it?” Of course, asking your hallucinations if they are real or not is probably not going to clear things up much in the long run.

Bob laughed, his voice warm and smooth like chocolate. “Do you know I once said, ‘I don’t believe in death neither in flesh nor in spirit.’ And that be the truth, Evie. It’s all the same no matter where you be. And here,” he gestured to me and Janis on the sofa, “… we are!” He laughed.

Well that certainly cleared things up for me. Now I knew how Alice felt trying to talk to that darned caterpillar. I plopped down next to Janis and reached over to pet Cass, who’d drifted off to sleep.

Janis took another hit off of her joint (I was still trying to figure out if the pot was real, and if so, where the heck did they get it?) and then blew a graceful plume of smoke into the air. “He’s deep. Real deep. Just relax and enjoy the moment. Go with it.”

“Is Lucas here, too?” As much as I wanted to get to know these two, and I definitely did, I was hoping he was here and just hadn’t joined us yet.

“Nah. Lukie boy be off doin’ some work,” Bob said.

“Work? You work on the other side?” I asked. Well, so much for spending eternity lounging around playing harps.

Janis laughed. “Like Bob said, hon, there isn’t much difference between here and there, and it really isn’t so much the other side.”

“So, are you still musicians?”

They nodded. “Among other things. We have projects,” she said. Bob eyed her and shook his head. “But that’s up to Lucas to discuss with you.”

“Yes, indeed, and Lukie boy be needin’ to get permission for his project.”

“Permission? From who? What project? I’m confused.” I didn’t know if it was the exhaustion, the lingering smell of weed in the room, or the bizarre conversation I was having with two dead people, but I leaned back into the soft throw pillows and felt my eyes slowly close.

“It all be good, Evie girl. It all be good.”

Bob started singing “One Love.” Janis joined in with her raspy vocals. I was blissfully happy, and everything else floated away as I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I HAD NO CLUE what time it was, or how long I’d been asleep, but it was dark in the room and outside when I woke on the couch. There was a blanket over me, and my hand rested on Mac, who lay on top of my chest, splayed out on his back. My other hand hung over the side of the couch, nestled deep in Cass’s soft fur.

I remembered Bob and Janis, the conversation, the music, falling asleep. Had that been a dream? If so, who had put the blanket on me? I stretched out my legs and my feet bumped against something solid at the other end of the sofa. What the hell? I stared hard into the blackness until a faint, glowing form became visible.

“Bob? Janis?” I whispered.

“No. It’s me, Lucas.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“Lucas?”

He slid closer and the room brightened noticeably. At least it did around him. Cass lifted her head and then placed it back down again.

“How do you … glow like that? Can all spirits do that?”

“It’s actually called my Antarjyohi, my internal light. I come by it through those spirits who are in The Bodha.”

“The Bodha?” Suddenly, the
Twilight Zone
theme song played in my head.

“I can’t go into too much detail about all that yet. But maybe someday.”

Okaaay. “Where were you earlier? When I came home, Janis Joplin and Bob Marley were here playing music and smoking weed. In my living room.”

He laughed. “I know. I passed them on my way in.”

“As in on your way in through the front door?”

“Kind of. When we visit here, we come through a portal. Whenever someone has a physical death somewhere, particularly in a place they lived or loved, a portal usually gets placed there.”

“Go on.” Seriously, Harry Potter had nothing on this. “Where is the portal here?”

“It usually only happens when a person dies suddenly, violently. I loved this place. I was staying here because Blake let me rent it until I found my own place. He’s never here. Guy has so much cash and so many homes, who knows when he’ll be back. Anyway, when I was killed here, a portal was created, and now I can come and go as I please. It’s actually in the family room behind the kitchen. That’s where I was shot.”

“Not everyone can do that? Go through the portal, I mean?”

He shook his head. “No. There are many who are ready to move on when they die, and they go elsewhere. They don’t need to come back here. They are content and at peace.”

“Where do they go?” I had to ask.

“It depends,” he said.

“On what?”

“Various things. Like the tiers. The tier you and I are on now is grey.”

“Huh?” I was totally confused.

He ran a hand through his dark hair. “There are many levels of existence. We call them tiers. The human, or Earthbound tier, is grey due to the mixture of energies that exist here.”

“So where do you go when you leave here? Another tier?”

“I can visit the Bodha if absolutely necessary.”

“Oh now it’s clear. As mud.”

He ignored me. “Or I can turn my energy down to rest.”

“You mean you sleep?”

“Sort of. I get drained on this tier, just like you get drained at the end of a trying day. I turn down my vibration and rest until I’m recharged.”

“Do you go anywhere else?”

“I can go through the portals of spirits who have the same or very similar vibration as myself.”

“Like Bob and Janis?” Finally, I understood why I was seeing more than just Lucas in the house.

“Yes. I can go to Nine Miles where Bob passed and sit in his living room where he grew up. I can go to The Landmark on Sunset and hang out with Janis. But that isn’t really a place anyone likes to go.”

“Wow. Can bad people—evil people—leave behind a portal?”

He lowered his voice to a soft whisper. “They can. And they do. They do it more often than the others.”

A deep chill went through me. I stared at him. He reached out again and took my hand.

“It’s one of the reasons I am here and why you are here. It’s also why I was not here tonight when you came home.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Black Tier and the Asat.”

“The Black Tier? The Asat?” Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

“Yes. The reason the Earthbound tier is grey has to do with the mixture of vibrations here, good—white—and bad—black. The black tier is home to the darkest of all the vibrations—the Asat. They are lost souls, the kind which can never move out of the black. As individual spirits, they are referred to as Asuras, as a collective whole, they are called the Asat. The Asat is opposite of the Bodha.”

“Like heaven and hell? God and Satan?”

“Yes. I suppose you could say that if you want.”

“But what does it have to do with you and me?”

“Because there is an Asura in the Black Tier who wants your vibration. You are special, and if the Black Tier can capture your vibration, it’s a victory for them and a loss for the white. For each vibration such as yours who gets captured, the Black Tier gains strength on every level, meaning eventually there will be far more black than shades of grey or white, and the possibility of no other tiers exists. You are what is referred to as a Govinda, someone who gives joy in the whole universe because of your gift.”

“Oh come on. What gift? The only joy I give is to Cass … and Mac, and that’s only because I feed him.”

“No. Not true. I’m here to make sure your vibration is not stolen. And you know what your gift is. The Bodha shared with me.”

“What do you know?”

“I know you can heal people to a point. I know you can take their most painful experiences and place some light in them where there was once only darkness.”

I didn’t say anything.

“As you can imagine, those on the Black Tier don’t like any vibration that can restore light in dark places, and that is what you do.”

I swallowed hard.

He reached out and touched my hand. “Tell me. Tell me how you discovered the gift. It’s important for me to know so I can help you. The Bodha only revealed you have the gift.”

“Gift?!” I laughed.

“It is. Trust me. And it could save your soul.”

I took another deep breath and tried hard to focus. He waited patiently. Finally, I unloaded the entire sad story about my sister.