Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (25 page)

“Sure, I can do that. Enter the address,” he stated.

Roman did it.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Julian asked. “Do you want to talk?” By now, he should be calm.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Roman.”

“Just drive, Julian. Please just drive. I’m not ready for this yet.”

The man shrugged and followed the chirping directions. Without a major intervention, this wasn’t going to end well.

He was pretty damn sure of that.

When he pulled up to the simple house, he waited for him to get out. “Want me to pick you up later?”

“No. I’ll find my way back. It’s not that far. I can walk.”

“Roman.”

He didn’t wait.

Instead, he headed toward the house. When he got there, he knocked on the door. He didn’t get why Beau would be here, but he was willing to help out.

This was his last case, and he wanted to go out on a high note for the team. Roman wanted to give them something to remember him by, other than the fact that he ran like a chicken.

When the door opened, and there was Mattie, he was three days past surprised.

So much for avoiding her.

“Welcome to my home. We need to talk.”

What the hell?

Yeah, this wasn’t going to be good.

At all.

Chapter Fourteen

Wednesday Afternoon

When Julian arrived at the campus, he had to drive slowly through the horde of reporters at the gate. It was slow moving until he saw the police officer standing there.

That didn’t make sense.

What the hell were the police doing there? Had something happened?

Pulling out his cell, he called his wife, but instead of answering, the call went straight to voicemail.

Julian began panicking.

Driving up the drive, he was in time to see the town ME removing three body bags with apparent victims.

Then he saw his wife and he knew he could stop the freak out.

Apparently, she went on a body hunt, and with the detective. A little part of him was irritated by that, but he had to rein it in. She was his partner, and he loved when they worked a case together.

Crossing the parking area toward her, he knew the minute she knew he was there. Her face lit up, and it pushed away that tinge of the green-eyed monster. As long as Tori always got that look on her face, he would be fine.

They would be fine.

“Honey, what did you dig up while I was away?” he asked, as she hugged him. The scent and feel of his wife helped reconnect them. Julian could feel Veronica kicking as she was protectively housed against his body.

“Bethany led us right to the bodies. Actually, it wasn’t her, but the intruder Beau saw last night. I think it was the killer, checking out his spots. I think we’re making someone nervous.”

Likely, and that made him nervous in return.

“How was your little trip?” she asked.

“Well, Elbert Barber didn’t net anything specific. He told us he wasn’t here.”

“Do you believe him?”

He thought about it. “I don’t know. He looked like he’d just woke up, but we know that if you’re killing someone, you tend to lie and know how to cover up.”

Yeah, she was well aware.

“What are you planning next?” inquired Detective Rose. “I have to head back in with the girls, do next of kin notifies, and make sure the ME has this autopsy done ASAP. The media is going to be all over this.”

Yeah, speaking of which…

Julian told Tori what he’d done.

She stared at him as if he was crazy. “You did what?”

He laughed. “I knew you were going to hurt me.”

Tori thought about it. She knew why Julian had done it, because she would have likely done the same thing.

Well, almost.

She would have picked a different reporter. This one liked to ride Roman’s ass, and that made working uncomfortable and difficult.

“I see why you did it,” she stated.

“So you’re not mad?”

She laughed. “No, because I took a trip to Bethany, and he caught me.”

When she pointed at the detective, Julian’s mouth opened and then closed. “We’re even.”

She gave him a kiss.

Two could play that game.

“Well, to answer you, Detective Rose,” Tori stated, finally answering the other man’s question, “we’re going to do some interviews. We know of three people who were teachers here before the killings, after, and now had contact with the school. That’s where we’re headed.”

“I’ll check in if I find anything, but it might not be until morning. I have a mess on my hands, and I now have to explain how you stumbled upon these three victims a day after the first ones.”

She grinned. “And that’s why I’m no longer a Fed. All that paperwork can make you insane.”

He laughed.

Boy, did it ever.

“Be safe out there.”

With that, he headed toward his ride.

Julian took a moment to stare into his wife’s eyes. “You didn’t fall, did you?”

She hugged him and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m good, but I am keeping something from you.”

He stared into her eyes. “What, Victoria?”

“My ghost is shacking up with Nyx’s.”

He let that sink in.

“They’re doing it?”

She snorted. “Yeah, let that sink in and conjure up pictures in your head. I’ll drive us to the first interview, since I have the address.”

“You realize that I could have lived not knowing that and been perfectly fine.”

Tori smiled wickedly at him. “Babe, so could I, but unfortunately for you, we share everything.”

“Crap.”

That made her laugh even more.

If she had to suffer, so did he.

It was only fair.

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

Inside one of the old dorms, they found a VCR and a TV. It must have been a student lounge of sorts, so they decided to watch the video, and then report back to the rest of the team.

As Beau set it up, Nyx roamed around the room.

“You’re quiet. What are you doing?”

She glanced over. “I’m eavesdropping on the dead.”

“That sounds creepy, and I’m a little bit jealous that you can do that.”

Nyx grinned. “They’re talking about us being here. Some are happy, some aren’t,” she offered.

“That’s an interesting skill you have there, baby.”

She decided to mess with him even more. “The females think you’re sexy.”

“Yep. That’s the epitome of creepy.”

Nyx headed for the couch and got comfortable. When he’d finally gotten the video and VCR going, he joined her. As they sat there, his arm around her shoulders, it reminded him of how lucky he was.

Beau, while still wary about her gift, was grateful to have Nyx in his life. She was his sunshine.

As they watched the footage, Clifford Remington raced around, setting up the camera. Roman resembled the man. If it had been in color, the likeness would have been even more similar.

“What the heck is he doing?” asked Beau.

“Maybe he liked to record all of his student sessions,” Nyx offered hopefully.

Yeah, somehow, he didn’t think that was it. In fact, he was going with something far more nefarious.

“Your naivety and sweetness is awesome. I’m voting for pervert. It’s usually a given with men. I know I think about some pretty kinky things.”

Nyx blushed. She was still getting used to the fact that Beau wanted her. Guys like him didn’t date girls like her.

Not in her world.

He was ripped, sexy, and focused on some mousy woman. That was a fairytale if there ever was one.

“What no comment?” he asked, as the video continued. It appeared that Clifford was hiding the camera behind some books. Had this been today, he could have just turned on his laptop camera and no one would have been the wiser.

“Why are you just thinking it and not trying it out?”

He grinned and then quickly kissed her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Beau admitted, as they went back to watching the video.

When a woman walked in, they knew who it was. There was the same face and blonde hair.

“It’s got to be Devora,” she stated.

When the woman locked the door and whipped off her uniform shirt, they had their answer.

“Holy crap! They were doing it in his office, and he was recording it,” Nyx stated.

“I’m glad Roman and Mattie aren’t here,” Beau stated. “This would suck for them.”

Yeah, it really would.

As the video played out, they watched a really horny man mounting a teenager on his desk.

It was unpleasant to say the least. It was like peeping into Roman and Mattie’s lives.

“I want to close my eyes, but it’s a train wreck,” Nyx stated. “He’s losing points for creativity. That’s nothing more than rutting.”

Beau just shook his head. “I’m going to need to bleach my eyeballs after this.”

Yeah, her too.

They fast-forwarded it through the moans and groans, and to the part when he was finished. As she slipped into the room adjoining his office, they watched him.

He zipped up.

Straightened his jacket.

And then dug something out of her purse.

In his hand, he held the little journal that Nyx had on her lap.

“Shit! That explains how he got it. She dies tomorrow according to the date, and that’s why we have this. He stole it from her.”

It explained a lot.

“If he didn’t kill himself after the second set of girls, this would damn him enough to put his ass in jail,” Beau stated. “If not for statutory rape, it would have been for murder.”

“I get why he took his own life. He had to. If this had ever gotten out, the whole place would have been destroyed and his family too.”

“Well, I can’t blame Roman’s mother for being a dead, angry spirit. She deserves her anger. Since these three things were in her possession, she must have found them at some point and watched or read them.”

“That’s horrible. What do we do now?”

“We call Tori and Julian and tell them what we found,” Beau stated. “I don’t want to be the one who has to tell Roman about this, or Mattie. This one is above my paygrade.”

Yeah, hers too.

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

Matilda Boyd’s

Home

“Mattie.”

“Roman, we need to talk. Come in.”

He wanted to run.

Roman wanted to turn around, head down the sidewalk, and never come back. Just being near her was hell. What he wanted to do was pull her into his arms, hold onto her, and never let go.

Only, he couldn’t.

If he stayed, she was at risk.

“I should…”

“I need five minutes of your time, and then you’re free to leave. I won’t bother you ever again if that’s what you decide.” It hurt that he didn’t want to be near her.

“This is a bad idea.”

“Stop, Roman. We have a bigger issue to deal with than the fact you shoved me out of your life like I didn’t matter.”

That hurt his heart.

The opposite was true. He loved her more than anyone he’d ever come in contact with all his life.

This was his soul mate.

Already, he wanted her to be his forever. He simply couldn’t do it to her. His life was a shit mess, and he didn’t want to see her covered in scratches and blood from his dead mother.

He wished he could go back in time and change everything—starting with not tying himself to the wrong twin.

“Please.”

He followed her in. Mattie’s house was pretty much what he thought it would be. It was warm, cheerful, and covered in bookshelves.

She was a librarian all right.

When she took a seat on the couch, he tried not to sit too close. He wanted her in the worst way, and he knew she could never be his.

This was going to chase him forever, and he wouldn’t let it pull her down into the muck too.

This was his fight.

His alone.

Mattie decided to jump right in. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she didn’t think he was going to come around and see that this wasn’t his fault.

He had that look in his eyes as if he was going to bolt the second he had a chance.

“Say what you need to say. I have to go.”

Apparently, he had to leave the town. Staying wasn’t an option.

Mattie was here.

Remington Academy was here.

The ghosts of his past were here too.

“When we were searching your parents’ room, we found something.”

“You went back in there? Are you out of your mind?” he asked. “You could have been hurt again.”

“I wasn’t.”

It was more proof that when he wasn’t around, Mattie was safe. Leaving her was going to be hard, but it was best for her.

“We found a locked drawer and three things. There was a VCR tape, a journal, and a letter.”

He didn’t speak.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure where this was heading.

Mattie waited for any sign that he was going to ask about them. Yet, he didn’t.