Demonically Tempted (Frostbite) (6 page)

A young woman, only seventeen or so, stepped away from the group. Her eyes were huge with fright. “But you’re the only one we have to help us.”

Guilt roared up into my soul. I hated that anyone young stood here. Older ghosts were easier to deny. “Y’all keep saying that, but honestly what can I do?”

“We’re merely asking you to investigate it,” Holly replied. “We can’t remain here if this ghost is around, and we want to stay with our families.”

My mouth dropped to the floor. Had I entered a morphed reality? “Are you seriously suggesting that you don’t want my help to cross over?”

She shook her head, glancing out at the group, who all shook their heads, too. “None of us do. We’re happy here, or we were until this happened. We want things to go back to normal.”

I licked my dry lips, and finally said, “You only want me to look for this dark thingy you’re talking of. Then what do you want me to do exactly?”

“Get rid of it,” Holly said concisely.

Maybe my guilt wanted me to agree, but now wasn’t the time to even consider this. I thought much like Max. If this was my life now, I needed to set boundaries. I wouldn’t work myself to death. “As much as I’d like to help you, I’ve got something else to deal with. So y’all will just have to hang tight for a bit. I need sleep since I’m not dead and tomorrow is going to be a day from hell. Literally.”

“For how long?” Holly implored.

“As soon as we close a case we’re working on,” Kipp interjected. “After that, we promise we’ll check this out for you. Tess is right. She needs her rest so it’s best that you go now.”

Nods from the crowd followed, then each of them vanished through the wall. The gentleman stood, bowed at me, showing he was even older than the seventy years he appeared because seriously, who bowed anymore?

Holly stood, glanced down at me and the fear never left her expression. “Please, be as quick as you can. Something is very wrong here. I’m afraid of what will happen if we don’t act soon. We’ll wait for you at Overton Park in the Veterans Plaza.”

Without a chance to respond, she strode through my living room wall. I waited a second to see if any other uninvited guests entered my home. When only silence greeted me, I jerked my head toward Kipp. “What kind of crazy shit was that?”

“Have you ever heard of a dark ghost?”

I pondered that, then nearly laughed at myself for thinking I might have an actual answer. I finally settled on what made the most sense. “Maybe it’s just a really nasty ghost who killed people when he was alive, or something horrible happened in his life, and he’s just miserable. It could be as simple as that.”

His eyebrow arched. “And you’ve seen a ghost like this before?”

“Never.” I shrugged, seeing in his gaze that he’d blow his lid to hear I’d ever been in close proximity to a ghost like that. “But what else could it be?”

“I have no idea. Something, though, has really frightened them.” His jaw clenched. “I hope that doesn’t mean a lot of trouble for us.”

I rolled my eyes. “You mean more trouble than the live criminal we’re going to talk to tomorrow?”

He winked. “Yes, more trouble than that.”

Chapter Six

The three and half hour drive to Nashville didn’t settle the race of my heart. Even after we entered Riverbend Maximum Security Prison, and went through security, the dampness still spread across my palms.

“I don’t want to be here,” I said to Zach.

He made a face at me. “You’re in a maximum security prison. What do you think could happen to you?”

I glanced around the empty room we sat in. The steel table screwed into the floor, and the hard plastic chairs didn’t offer comfort. But the guards stationed everywhere is what unsettled me the most. It meant there were too many psychopaths in this prison that could in fact gut me.

“Who the heck knows?” I wasn’t at all ashamed that my voice trembled. I was damn right scared, down to my very bones. “I’m not made for this type of stuff.”

“What
stuff
is that exactly?” Kipp asked, amusement rolled off his tone, as those unique eyes twinkled at me.

I gave him a look. “Dealing with crazy-ass killers
stuff
.”

Both men laughed, as did Dane, who we picked up at the station on the way. Even he didn’t seem nervous, but why would he be? He worked with the F.B.I.. I assumed that meant he’d dealt with some crazies in the years he’d been there.

“This isn’t funny,” I snapped. “I’m seriously shitting myself right now. I don’t want to meet an insane criminal.” I wiggled in my seat searching out an exit. “Hell, I hate dealing with ghosts who face untimely deaths, but to meet someone who could cause me to become a ghost…freaks me out!”

“You’ll do fine,” Kipp said.

“You’ve said that same line a thousand times on the drive up here, and guess what? I still don’t believe you.”

Dane said, “I, too, find it somewhat amusing that real people frighten you.”

I shot a glare his way. “Real people are scarier, crueler, and quite horrible if they choose to be. Ghosts are just fine. I’d rather stick to them, thank you very much.”

As my lips shut, the door clicked opened, cutting off any response from the men, which I assumed would be laughter. I clasped my hands in my lap, as fear coursed through my veins settling a deep pain into my gut. “Oh, God.”

“That ain’t God,” Kipp remarked.

“No shit,” I whispered.

Hector strode into the room with two guards on either side of him. His hands chained together, which ran all the way down to his feet. He sat in the chair across from me, and the guard attached the chains to the table. My nose crinkled scenting a mixture of sweat, coffee, and cigarettes wafting off him.

That exit sounded all too good right about now. Anyone that needed to be chained to a table wasn’t
someone
I wanted to have a chat with.

I stared at Kipp, let my fear show, and hoped he’d agree and tell me to go. Instead, I found him grinning from ear-to-ear. I scowled and hesitantly returned my attention to Hector.

He appeared normal enough, but I learned from the last killer that I’d been face-to-face with that looks were deceiving. The
who
sitting in front of me was a cold-blooded man. His gray eyes scanned the faces in the room, void of all emotion, then settled on me. And I tried my damndest not to show him how afraid I was. Doubtful it worked.

“I’m Detective Zach Foster,” Zach said. “This is Dane Wolfe.” Then, he gestured toward me. “And Tess Jennings.”

“The pleasure is mine,” Hector responded with an alluring tone. He smiled and his toothless grin made that fear wash away to an overwhelming urge to vomit.

“Hrmph,” was my response.

Hell would freeze over before I’d take any enjoyment in speaking to the likes of him.

Hector finally tore his gaze away from me and focused on Zach. “Why have you requested this meeting?”

“We’ve come to ask you about the death of Lizbeth Knapp,” Zach answered, and I admired his firm tone. “Are you willing to discuss that with us?”

Hector shrugged. “Don’t know much about it.”

Zach’s brow furrowed, his gaze searching Hector’s, and for what I wasn’t quite sure.
The truth?
“Do you deny that you were there the night she died?”

Hector moved his hand, causing the chains to rattle, as he shifted in his seat. “I suppose I was there, or so they told me recently. But I can tell ya, I don’t remember being there, and I sure as hell don’t remember why they found me at the house.”

I studied my group. Stunned expressions stared at Hector. I understood, and regardless that I didn’t really want to speak to Hector my brain made the decision to anyway. “What do you mean by that? Like you were drunk or something?”

He shook his head. His eyes that appeared bottomless, and downright scary, zoned in on me. “I don’t remember the past ten years of my life.”

Of all the things I expected him to say that wasn’t it.

Kipp’s icy touch brushed against my elbow. “Ask him why?”

“Can you explain that?” I asked Hector.

He lifted a lazy shoulder. “I would if I could, but I can’t. All I can tell you is that the attack that I’m in here for, I don’t remember. In fact, I can’t remember anything at all.” The chains rattled again as he shifted. “A week ago, I woke up with one of the guards in my cell, and he explained what happened and why I was here.”

Had anything been so confusing? I didn’t need Kipp to intervene since the next appropriate question was obvious. “What was the last thing you remember?”

Hector’s eyes glazed over, lost in a memory. “I remember that one night I was walking home from a bar, and suddenly I felt the urge to walk north. I came up to a house and that same pull made me walk down to a creek.” He blinked, his focus snapped back. “I saw a woman going into the water.”

“So you saw Lizbeth walk into the river?” Zach urged.

Hector’s brow creased. “I remember watching her walk in, yes. But that’s when it all gets blurry. I remember seeing her go beneath the water, but I remember not wanting to help her.”

I snorted. “Wasn’t that kind of you?”

Hector glared at me. “That’s the thing. I would have. I swear to it. I remember fighting against myself, if that makes any sense at all. I told myself to go in and get her out. But I never did. Almost like my feet couldn’t move.”

Liar!
“What happened after you watched her go into the water?”

“It all goes black.” He drew in a breath, leaned back against his seat. “It wasn’t until the other day, like I said, that the haze cleared, and to put it simply, I returned.”

I wasn’t a cop. I had no experience with this. But what Hector said, and how he acted, he didn’t seem guilty. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was telling the truth. “Do you understand any of this?” I asked Zach.

“No,” he replied, with a firm shake of his head. “But you did see Lizbeth walk into the water alone and drown herself?”

Hector nodded. “There was no one else there. She killed herself. But as to what happened after that, I’m sorry I don’t know.”

I blinked, still stuck in confusion, and tried to piece it together. “Do you think it’s odd that you have no memories?”

Hector laughed, a low sound of frustration. “I remember walking down a street to a house and the next time I wake up I’m in a prison for an attack I don’t remember committing ten years ago.” He gave me a knowing look. “Do I really need to answer that?”

How strange. Then again, I had the real sense that maybe he was in fact telling the truth. One he’d concocted. Maybe he had lost his mind, then all of a sudden snapped back in reality. Weirder things have happened.

“You have nothing more to tell us?” Zach asked.

Hector shook his head. “If I knew more, then I’d tell you. Believe me, I’m trying to remember so I can find a way out of the hell I’m now in. But I’ve got nothing.”

Zach nodded toward the guards, who removed the chain, unbinding Hector from the table.

I watched every step Hector took as he exited the room. He might not have seemed like the man I expected to encounter, but that didn’t mean I trusted him. He had, in fact, attacked someone. It was enough of a concern for me to watch him in case he decided to turn around and go Hannibal Lecter on me.

The door shut behind the guards, and I exhaled the breath trapped in my throat. “Besides the fact that guy is royally off his rocker, I’m never…” I glanced at Kipp, then Dane, and glared at Zach too. “And I mean,
never
, coming here again. Lesson learned. There’s not a single ghost in this building.” I shuddered. “I mean, why would there be? Who in their right mind would want to stay in this place? So I’m making a big statement right now that y’all come to places like this by yourselves.”

“That was an unusual conversation,” Zach said, ignoring me.

I cleared my throat. “Did you hear what I said?”

“Heard you loud and clear,” Zach grumbled. “I’m choosing not to answer you since I can’t make that promise.”

“Y’all make it very hard to like you.” But I caught Zach’s sternness and doubted my refusal would mean anything now or in the future. No one ever listened to me. “All right. Where do we go from here?”

“I’m a total loss.” Zach turned to Dane. “Tess said she felt nothing here, but did you?”

Dane considered that, a thoughtful expression rose to his face before he said, “I don’t feel any presence of a ghost here. I’m not qualified to make assumptions on Hector, but if you asked me personally, I’d say he isn’t lying.”

“If you’re not qualified, how can you assume that?” I countered.

“I get a sense around people,” Dane answered, all but staring right through me. “As in, I can see their auras, and if you knew more this wouldn’t be such a shock.”

Oh, I had just about enough! “I’m getting really irritated how you continue to insinuate that I’m somehow stupid because I don’t know these things.” I glared at him. “I haven’t met anyone to teach me, so cut me a damn break.”

“Yes,” Kipp practically growled. “Fuck off.”

“Calm down,
ghost
.” Dane heaved a sigh. “When people are being untruthful, or even if darkness surrounds them, it looks like the glow around them pulses. I didn’t see that off him.”

I scrunched up my nose. Maybe I should’ve been more focused on what that meant for the case, but instead a thought formed. “Do you see my aura?”

“Yes, I can see the golden hue around you.”

Never had anyone
living
admitted to that before. “Okay, well, clearly you know your stuff.” I regarded him. “Explain why I have this aura, then?”

“You have the gift.”

“No shit.” I rolled my eyes. “I could’ve said as much, but do you know
why
?”

He shrugged. “Everyone has auras. It’s your soul portraying its energy outward. Yours is unique and golden because that’s who you are. It’s nothing more than that.”

“Oh.” I gave my head a good hard shake trying to accept that he could see such a thing, but had trouble. “Can you tell me more about this aura stuff later? Like at a more appropriate time than sitting in a prison.”