Elemental Enchantment (7 page)

She stayed in the bathroom for a few more minutes, hoping Eli was asleep before finally sticking her head around the corner. He’d shifted, and the sheet had crept lower, revealing the swirls of the darker blond hair that trailed from his navel downward. As much as she wanted to be long gone before he woke up, she couldn’t quite bring herself to leave him yet.

Her hair would comb out and her whisker burns would fade. She wanted something more tangible to remember this night—something to remember Eli by.

Before she talked herself out of it, she squatted down and carefully unzipped her camera case. Lifting the camera from the protective padding, she hit the power button and disabled the flash. As quickly and quietly as she could, she snapped several shots of Eli sleeping, looking gorgeous and sated.

Slinging her camera over her shoulder, she darted closer to the bed and grabbed her shoes. Her underwear were nowhere in sight. She supposed she could waste more time searching for them or she could leave him with a reminder, too. After scooping up the camera bag, she carefully opened the door then shut it just as carefully behind her. She didn’t stop to put on her shoes until she was in the elevator, heading to the ground floor.

The parking lot was as deserted as the lobby had been when she hurried to her sister’s car. As she pulled out onto the street, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was making a huge mistake by running out on Eli. He was sexy, funny, amazing in bed and she actually really liked him. He’d turned out to be far more than a warm body to release her sexual frustrations. And he’d seemed to like her, too.

Sighing, she turned the car toward home and headed out of town.

No, this was the right choice. There was no way someone like Eli would understand the spells and magic portion of her life. There was part of her that wanted to give him a chance, but there was a bigger part that didn’t want to see the look of distrust in his eyes when she told him. It would hurt way worse if they got to know each other better. She was wiser to cut her losses and walk away now.

Chapter Eight

Bright sunlight and insistent meowing woke Meaghan far earlier than she cared to be conscious. Cracking open her eyes against the glare of the sun, she quickly shut them again. Rolling over, she squinted at the clock. It was already four-thirty in the afternoon—way later than she’d thought. It still felt too early to wake up after getting in at six o’clock in the morning. She rubbed her hand over her face and groaned. The warm scent of Eli’s skin still clung to her fingers.

Forcing herself to sit up, she noticed every ache in her body—reminders of everything she and Eli had done last night. Warmth spread through her middle as she remembered how he’d held her down and fucked her, staring into her eyes until she’d had to look away, sure she would drown. Absently petting the kitten that had climbed into her lap, she told herself for what had to be the thousandth time that taking the coward’s way out with Eli was the smartest thing she could have done. Just because they’d had amazing sex didn’t mean they were meant to have anything more than that.

After a quick shower, she fed the kitten, made herself a bowl of mac and cheese and booted up her laptop. She needed to stop thinking about Eli and get those pictures uploaded so she could sort through them and start the editing process. This wedding would be a special kind of hell. The bride had made it clear that even the candid shots needed to edited so not only the bridal party looked good, but so did all of the guests. And between Meaghan and Toby’s memory cards, there were well over eight hundred pictures to sift through. This would be a long day.

Four hours later, she’d made it though the ceremony pictures and had started on the post-service portraits. She squinted at the shot of the bride and groom with their master and mistress of ceremonies—the bride’s aunt and uncle. There was a weird, almost smoky-looking smudge next to the uncle’s pant leg.

Meaghan zoomed in on the anomaly. Every once in a while, she’d see orbs in photographs. Sometimes, they were obviously dust mites, and sometimes, they were spirit orbs, but this was something she’d never seen. Leaning closer, she squinted at it. She supposed it could just be a trick of the light. Whatever it was, she was pretty sure she could edit it out. She clicked to the next picture—a shot of the bride’s entire family. The uncle was in an entirely different position in this one, but the grayish smudge was there, stretching from floor to upper thigh. If anything, it seemed a little more solid in this shot.

The weird smudge was nowhere to be seen in shots of the groom’s family. In fact, as she slowly made her way through the remainder of the photos, she all but forgot about it. Then in the darker, candid reception shots, she saw it again. In the low light, there was no mistaking what it was. The smudge had coalesced into the shape of a little girl. A ghostly apparition of a little girl.

Meaghan’s breath caught in her throat, and goose bumps erupted over her skin. She’d only ever seen ghosts once, and that had been with the help of her sister who was more medium than witch. Positive she was seeing photographic evidence of a spirit, Meaghan zoomed in closer, focusing on the child’s face. With sudden horrible comprehension, she realized the child looked familiar. Very familiar. With trembling hands, she minimized the picture and opened a tab on the internet and Googled
missing West Michigan children
.

Rows and rows of missing children popped up on her screen, and as she scrolled through them, her entire body began to shake. She stopped when she came to a photo she’d seen the other day on one of the flyers at the garage—Ava Catherine Billings. Missing from her front yard since September of the previous year with no leads other than her abductor was thought to be driving a tan or gold car. Meaghan’s stomach dropped from her body and didn’t stop until it hit the basement below.

She toggled back and forth between this picture and the one of the ghostly child at the wedding reception. It looked like the same kid. Meaghan was almost sure of it. In the pictures at the reception, the child looked frightened or and maybe frantic. Meaghan wondered if Ava was trying to tell her—or someone—something. Was it something about the bride’s uncle? He was the only person she seemed to appear by. What was their connection? Meaghan had always wanted to have her sister’s ability to communicate with the dead. Now, she wanted no part of it.

If Emma wasn’t in Ireland and unreachable for the next few weeks, Meaghan would already be driving over to her house—computer in hand. What the hell was she supposed to do with this information? It wasn’t as if she could go to the police. She couldn’t imagine anyone taking her seriously. Most likely, they’d accuse her of Photoshopping the girl into the pictures.

She took a deep breath and shut her computer. The first thing she needed to do was catalog all of the shots in which the child appeared. To make sure she didn’t miss any, she’d go to the studio and project them onto the big screen. It would be easier to see all the details that way.

* * * *

Eli sighed and checked his watch. This shift was never ending. Mostly because he couldn’t stop thinking about Meaghan. He’d known she was gone as soon as he woke. He didn’t even have to open his eyes. The room just felt…empty without her.

He’d lain in bed with nothing but the lingering scent of her perfume on the sheets for as long as he could stand it. He’d planned to talk her into heading out to Lake Michigan for a day of sailing before he had to report for his shift, but that obviously hadn’t happened. Instead, he’d spent the day working on the boat. He’d just barely made it back to town in time to drop off his and John’s tuxes before his shift started. It definitely wasn’t how he’d wanted to spend the day.

He adjusted the radar gun and pointed it at passing traffic from his spot behind the sign for one of the local churches. At nearly ten o’clock on a Sunday night, the road was almost dead—at least, it was until a little, red VW bug went tearing down the street.

Whipping the cruiser from his hiding spot, he tailed the car which showed no signs of slowing until he turned on his lights. The car braked and pulled over to the side of the road, and Eli parked behind it. Hand on his firearm, he approached the driver’s side as the window lowered.

“License and registration, please.” He glanced into the car as the driver began rifling through an oversized bag then the glove compartment.
Meaghan
. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the odds of pulling her over after everything that had occurred.

She stuck her arm out the window, holding the requested items then turned to look at him when he took them from her hand.

Her lips parted, and her large, brown eyes widened in recognition. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Is everything current?” When she nodded, he scanned the information she’d handed him. The car was registered to an Emma Boulton—her sister, if he remembered correctly. “I need to run this. Please wait inside your vehicle.”

Walking back to his car, he called in the traffic stop then punched the information into the computer mounted on the center console. Neither sister had priors, bench warrants or anything else. Not that he’d expected there to be any.

Eli walked back to the car where Meaghan sat with her arms crossed over her chest. He handed her license and registration back to her.

“You’re a cop,” she said flatly.

“Is that a problem?”

“You could have told me.”

“If I recall correctly, it really didn’t come up between the sex and you taking off in the middle of the night. I didn’t really think it was an issue since you made it clear you were just looking for a good time and nothing more.”

“So what, you’re stalking me, then?”

“I pulled over a car that was going sixty-five in a residential neighborhood. Seeing as how I’ve never see this car before or you in it, no, I’m not stalking you.”

The fight went out of her, and she slumped down in the seat. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m a little…stressed.” She sighed, staring out the windshield before finally turning to face him. “It was just a surprise to see you—you know—in uniform. And with a gun.”

She dragged a hand through her hair, and he noticed it was shaking.

“What’s going on?” he asked, gentling his voice. “Where are you heading in such a hurry and what’s got you so upset?”

She met his eyes briefly before looking away. “I was going to the studio. There’s a…problem with the pictures.”

“What kind of problem requires forty miles over the posted limit?”

“You know what? It’s nothing. If you’d just give me the ticket so I can get out of here, that would be great.” She took a shuddering breath and tightened her hands on the steering wheel.

“Meaghan, talk to me. What’s going on?”

She shook her head and continued staring straight ahead. “It’s nothing, really.”

He bent down and rested his forearms on her open window. “You’re practically shaking, so it’s not nothing. Let me help you.”

She turned to look at him, her expression troubled, but she didn’t speak.

“What’s wrong?”

She rubbed her hand over her face. “It’s probably nothing, and it sounds crazy—even to me.”

“I spent my last shift breaking up a house party that involved goats. I’m used to crazy.”

He was rewarded with a small smile, but it faded just as quickly. “This is way crazier than that, but I think the ghost of that missing little girl, Ava Billings, was at the wedding.”

Eli straightened and stared at her.

She smiled wryly. “See? I told you it was crazy.”

He’d heard plenty of wild claims during his time on the force—everything from alien abductions to ghosts to buried treasure, but none had surprised him more than this. This involved an open case of a missing child, and if Meaghan was involved somehow…

He didn’t even know how to finish that thought.

“You said
ghost
.”

Meaghan nodded.

“So you have reason to believe she’s dead?”

“I don’t know. I think she is.”

Eli’s stomach sank. “Have you had any contact with her since her disappearance or know of people who have?”

“No!” She turned in her seat to face him as well as she could. “Look, I know how this sounds insane at best and sketchy at worst, but other than the flyers around town and the news, I’ve never seen this kid before going through these pictures today. And I think she’s dead because you can see right through her in the photos!”

Either she was a very good actress or she actually believed what she was saying. Judging by the frantic look in her eyes, he’d bet on the latter.

“I was going to the studio so I could project the pictures on the screen and look for more detail and any other anomalies. I was speeding because I was freaked out at the thought of this poor kid being dead. And also being helpless to do anything about it.”

“I’d like to see the pictures.”

Wariness and hope warred in her eyes. “You would?”

He nodded then spoke into the radio on his collar. “Motorist assist. Will advise when back on road.”

The dispatcher responded, and Eli looked at Meaghan. “I’ll follow you to the studio, but keep it at the speed limit.”

She nodded tightly and waited for him to get in his car before taking off. To her credit, she managed to drive a reasonable speed as he trailed her. He parked next to the VW and followed her to the side door, waiting as she unlocked it. The faint scent of her perfume drifted to him on the night air, and he wanted nothing more than to back her against the wall and kiss her senseless. But now was definitely not the time for that. If she was somehow involved in Ava’s disappearance, that might never happen again. His gut told him that she wasn’t, but
ghosts
?

She flipped on the hallway light as she entered the building. She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Lock the door, will you?”

He reached behind him and threw the deadbolt, feeling the echo in the pit of his stomach.