Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (16 page)

His wife was going off the reservation, and there were going to be casualties.

He could see it now.

Chapter Eight

Wednesday Afternoon

He’d like to say that he was surprised that he’d gotten the call from dispatch, but it was just his ‘luck’. When the call came in, regarding a mass grave at Remington Academy, they all knew who to call.

That was one of the advantages of only having a team of three detectives. He knew why his co-workers had passed it off to him. It was likely a cold case spanning ten years, and they didn’t want to be saddled with it.

Screw that.

They didn’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole. Normally, neither would he, but in this case, he really believed that it was going to relate to his current case.

In fact, he was salivating to get down to it. As a cop, there was nothing like a mystery to keep him working to find resolution. There was something about the thrill of the hunt when it came to tracking down criminals, who thought they had gotten away with some big crime.

This was the same thing.

He already knew what he was going to find.

Those dead girls deserved his help.

As he rolled up to the massive shuttered gate of Remington Academy, he saw her.

Everhart would have liked to say he saw this one coming, but apparently, his little gift had left him out of the loop on this one.

Fate was trying to catch him off guard.

Only, that wasn’t happening. He wasn’t going to be taken down by this woman.

Oh, he knew her.

He’d heard about her.

Not only had he seen her on TV, but she was also beautiful enough to make you look twice when crossing her path.

This was going to be interesting if Victoria Littlemoon had her hands all over this case. A part of him was intrigued, and he couldn’t wait to work with her.

Honestly, she was easy to look at, and he wanted to see what all the hype was about.

Plus, if she was here, so was her Native husband.

Interesting.

How the hell did they get access?

A million questions were going through his mind, and that was the one on the top of the list.

He listened to the tabloid stories about how they were corrupt, and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they were bullshit.

Everhart could feel it. So, instead of taking them for face value, he did a little research of his own.

She had been a Fed and a damn good one. There were article clippings of her with Elizabeth Blackhawk of the FBI. That woman was notorious for solving the hardest cases. If Victoria Littlemoon could hang with her, she was in there with the champ and a worthy investigator in her own right.

Her husband was no slouch either.

He had been a deputy and was familiar with the law. Now he was building a very successful PI business from the ground up.

You had to respect that.

Private investigators didn’t bother him in the least.

Why should they?

If they had a law enforcement background, and ran it by the books, more power to them. Cops, in this country, were grotesquely understaffed and often judged harshly. Sometimes, you needed a little extra help.

Pulling up, he rolled down his window. She was leaning against the gate, boot pressed back against the metal, and a cool look on her face.

Yeah, she had been a Fed.

It oozed from her.

Luckily, gorgeous women, or FBI agents, didn’t intimidate him.

“Hello, Mrs. Littlemoon. I’d like to say I’m surprised you’re the one meeting me, but this old, cold case is right up your alley. Are you singlehandedly trying to solve all the big ones to make us cops look bad?”

She leaned in the window, a wisp of red hair falling across her cheek.

“A girl has to do what a girl has to do, Detective. Since you know my name, how about you tell me yours?”

He grinned and held out his hand. “I’m Detective Rose.”

She shook it.

“We have a mess, Detective.”

“Tell me about it.”

She opened the car door and hopped in. “We were called in to work this case. The owner believes that the killings aren’t going to stop until we find the killer and end this.”

He was checking out her energy. It felt pure.

She hadn’t lied yet.

“How did you happen to get Roman Remington to give you free reign on his property? You didn’t break in, did you?”

She laughed. “I wish. Trust me. It’s not that exciting of a story. People give us too much credit.”

He laughed.

Already, Tori liked the man. She was comfortable around cops, but the buzzing in her head was helping her make up her mind. Bethany kept chanting
‘gift’
over and over again.

Apparently, he was just like them, one way or another. Now it was about finding out what made him tick.

Interesting.

She wondered who would crack first.

“Well? How did you get him to let you onto the property to do this case?”

She pointed up ahead, signaling him to drive. “In a way, he hired us.”

“That’s not completely the truth, now is it?” he asked, heading up the hill.

She shrugged. “He’s also one of our employees. There’s the other half of your truth. What are you, some walking lie detector test?”

He laughed. “I guess you could say that I get that gut feeling—a lot. So, yeah, I’m a walking test.”

Why he told her, he didn’t know.

He was pretty sure it was that warm smile. She put him at ease.

Maybe that was her gift.

“Right over here,” she directed. “We’ll head over, and I’ll take you to the burial site. It was beneath concrete and dirt.”

She hopped out and began crossing through the grass. He wasn’t far behind. He’d been on this campus once for a high school football game, but that was over fifteen years ago.

“How deep are you into this, Mrs. Littlemoon?” he asked, following her over to her husband and team.

“That depends.”

“On?” he asked.

“On how long it takes us to close it. I’m not handing over the remains and the case, Detective. We’re here to wrap this one up.”

“For the glory?” he asked.

Even Julian tensed.

“Screw that. Roman is our friend. We’re in it to the end to make sure he isn’t screwed over. We protect our friends. Money doesn’t have your back in a dark alley. Family does.”

He let her words register.

“You didn’t lie.”

“As a rule of thumb, I don’t. Once you start telling tales, you tend to get lost in them. I don’t like to get lost. It’s bad for our business.”

Julian stared at his wife.

The cop was practically drooling on her. Yes, it sometimes happened, but he didn’t have to like it.

This reinforced one thing.

He really hated this case.

“Are you a good cop, Detective Rose?”

He pulled his sunglasses off, revealing his silvery-colored eyes. “I’m very good at my job, Mrs. Littlemoon, and I always finish what I start.”

Julian had about enough.

“Hello. I’m Julian Littlemoon, her husband. I’m not sure if you noticed me standing over here.”

He put the emphasis on the
‘husband’
part.

Detective Rose shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.”

With that, he crouched down beside the open grave. There was one body nearly cleared, but there was a hand coming up through the dirt from beneath her.

“That’s going to be Devora Boyd,” Tori said, pointing at her. She knew what was coming. If they couldn’t keep this detective on their side, Roman was in for a shit fest. That was goal one in all of this.

“How do you know that?” he asked. “Was she carrying ID?”

“Are you dedicated to your job, Detective?”

“Yes.”

“Are you trustworthy?”

“Yes, and to a fault.”

She could tell. Bethany was practically singing his praises in her head. Well, that and talking about his jean clad ass. Tori would take her word for it.

If she looked, Julian would stroke out.

“I was a damn good Fed, and as a PI, I’m here to solve this. I don’t want the glory, and neither does the rest of my team. You can have it when it’s over.”

“You’re just going to hand it over to me, like that?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re going to learn things on this case, and I’m going to ask, as a professional courtesy, that you keep them quiet when we’re gone.”

“Like?”

“We’ll talk after you get your team to pull the remains. We’ll be up at the main building. Tag her. That’s Devora. If I’m right, you’ll give me a chance and not judge me.”

He grinned. “I love a gambling woman.”

Julian all but growled at the word love. He knew his wife was beautiful, but when other men pointed it out, other outsider men, it put him on edge. After all, he’d lost his first fiancée to an outsider—in their own bed.

“Then you’re going to love our team. We’re making the biggest gamble of our lives.”

He looked confused.

“Mrs. Littlemoon?”

“See you when you’re done.”

With that, they headed up, not another word was said. Tori knew Julian wasn’t happy, and she’d have to deal with that later. He didn’t know what she knew, and if she were right, he’d have Detective Rose on their side.

After all, she wasn’t the only one with a secret.

He was packing one too.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Two Hours Later

When he arrived at the house, his face said it all. He knew the identities of the victims. Out of all of them, he had been the one getting the surprise of his life.

Tori, she wasn’t shocked. This medium thing was becoming second nature.

“Got your ID’s?” she asked. The ME likely did a visual on the dentals in the field, so he was coming with all the answers.

She was glad.

That meant he knew she wasn’t playing a game. That was good, because they had a lot on the line.

“How did you know where they were?” he asked. “You expect me to believe that you show up this morning, and five hours later, you have the first three victims? How is that possible, Mrs. Littlemoon?”

“It’s Tori. Mrs. Littlemoon is my mother-in-law.”

“Fine, Tori. I’m having a hard time with this,” he said, pointing at Roman. “He had, at one time, been a suspect. How am I supposed to believe that he didn’t tell you where they were under the guise of him being a co-worker?”

“Because I don’t lie, and you believe me.”

He didn’t speak.

“It’s the truth, Detective.”

“I’m a cop. I need proof. Give me something. How did you know, Tori?”

Julian went to speak, covering for his wife, but she stopped him. “It’s okay, babe. He can know the truth.”

Everhart lifted a brow at the word ‘truth’.

“What is it?”

“I told my husband where to find them. I’m a psychic. It wasn’t Roman who found them. It was me.”

He stopped pacing.

Yeah, he didn’t see that one coming.

What the hell was wrong with his gift? Normally, his mojo was on target, but this woman had him all kinds of twisted up.

“Be serious.”

“I am. I saw the spirits, and they led me to the grave. I’m a medium. I can’t tell you how it works, but the last few cases should be proof enough that I’m not yanking your chain.”

He thought back to all the news stories and tough cold cases that they’d solved.

It was a logical answer—well, to him. Other cops would call her cuckoo. Luckily for her, he wasn’t just another cop.

Julian hated that she just outed herself to a cop. He loathed that her face was likely going to be all over the news. It was hard to trust people, so why him?

He didn’t have a clue.

Julian knew she was trying to protect Roman. If they pretended they stumbled onto them, he’d be in for questioning.

That wouldn’t work for any of them.

They had a killer to catch.

Roman and Matilda stared at the cop as he weighed it all in his mind. You could see the wheels turning as he studied her. Then he studied them.