Landon: Justice Series ― Erotica Paranormal Romance (6 page)

“Mrs. Phillips?” She nodded and smiled at him. Landon could see the neat little bullet hole in her forehead, and when a little boy peeked out from behind her, he could see that he too had been shot. Landon had to take several deep breaths before he could speak. “Mrs. Phillips, have you been told what happened to you?”

“This nice young man was telling me that I don’t belong here.” Randall started screaming at her to shut up, and she backed from him. “I’m sorry. Randall hates it when I talk to other men. He gets so jealous. I tell him that there is nothing to worry about, but he has always been this way.”

“Don’t be sorry, ma’am. But what Hugh here is telling you is the truth. You should know that your other children, Mac and Beth, they miss you terribly as well. Not so much their father, I’m afraid.” She looked at her husband, then at the little boy at her side. “He murdered you and the little one there with you. I know that you’ve not been told that in all this time, but you and your son have been gone for several years.”

“Randall?” Randall tried to move to be near his wife enough to touch her, but she backed away from him. “What is he saying? You killed us? You said...you told me that I was hurt in an accident. And that this was limbo, and that I’d come out of it. You said that the only reason that Jacob was here with me is because I needed him, and he’s not really here.”

“He’s lying to you to upset you. Get away from my wife.” But she cut him off, probably for the first time in all their married life. Landon had a feeling that for some time now, Mrs. Phillips had an idea that he’d been lying to her all along. “Darling, don’t be this way. You know that I have your best interest at heart when I do these things.”

She backed from him again, this time hiding young Jacob behind her. “When did this happen? This murder?” Landon told her. “Eighteen years? I’ve been...my other two children, you say that they’re all right? That he didn’t...he didn’t kill them as well?”

“They were living with your mother when this report was written. I think the paper said that they had been spending the night with her when this happened.” She nodded and held the little one to her closer. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Phillips. Sorrier than I can tell you.”

“He really did this to us. He murdered his own son and wife without thought to what the other children might have....” Randall started to speak, but she cut him off once again. “You aren’t to speak to me again. Never. And don’t you dare come near young Jacob here either. I don’t know what I can do to you...how could you do this to us? How?”

“It was necessary. You weren’t doing as I said to you all the time. What was I supposed to do when I’d go to work every day and you’d not have the laundry done the way I wanted it? And sometimes there was no supper on the table. I warned you about it. Over and over, I told you to keep the house up. What did you have to do all day anyway?” She didn’t say anything as Randall continued. “It was either kill you, which I blame completely on you, or have to continue to live with your sloppiness. Then after you were dead, I thought I’d have to raise the children. I’ve no time for that either. So I took care of that as well. Had your mother not been such a bitch and called the cops on me, I would have ended all their lives for my peace of mind as well. As it was, I had to leave things unfinished, and I hate myself for that daily.”

“So you planned to kill us all so that you’d live in some comfort. How lovely for you. And what did I do all day? I will tell you, Randall. I worked. I went to my job every day; even on days that you’d beaten me so hard the night before that it hurt to breathe, I went.” He told her that it wasn’t a job. She was only a teacher who did nothing all day. “Well, this teacher was better than you will ever be. And my salary kept us in food and clothing when you weren’t working. Which was most of the time. You bastard.”

When he drew back to no doubt hit her, Landon started to step in, but Mrs. Phillips put out her hand and hit him first. Some ghosts had the power to cause pain, but Landon seldom saw them use it on each other. When Randall went tumbling back, Mrs. Phillips moved to the left side of the line where others were started to fill out, and stood there with her chin held high.

It was a long afternoon. And Landon for one thought that it would go a good deal faster since Mrs. Phillips was telling everyone that would listen what her husband had done to her and her children. Because to her, he’d hurt them as much as he had her and Jacob when he’d killed her for no reason at all.

Chapter 5

Kari held little Aster and tried to figure out what she was doing wrong. Every time she moved her arm, even to try to get the kinks out of it, Aster would scream like it was her job. She supposed it was in a way, but Kari was hurting because she felt like a failure.

“Can I help?” Kari looked up at Dillon and wanted to crawl under the bed. “I could hear her. She sounds really pissed off.”

“Steele had to go and take a phone call, and she started to fuss. I’ve been doing okay with her until...she hates me, I think.” Dillon said that wasn’t likely. “I can’t make her stop crying. I’ve tried everything the nurses told me.”

“Yeah, sometimes they like to stretch their lungs.” Dillon asked to hold the baby and Kari said yes. As soon as she was in her arms, the baby started to fuss less. And more so when Dillon started talking to her like she was an adult, not in that stupid baby voice that Kari had always hated. “My goodness, what’s all this fuss about? You’d think you’ve never been in the world before this.”

Kari watched her with her daughter and tried to study each movement. When Aster quieted down, she kept talking to her in the low tones, but was saying the silliest things. Kari asked her what she was doing.

“She doesn’t care what I’m saying to her, just that she hears it. Sometimes, they just need a little distracting until you can get your own bearings straight.”

Kari nodded as Dillon laid the baby on the bed, still talking to her. “I changed her diaper and tried to give her that sucky thing. Which I hate, by the way.” Kari sat up on the bed as Dillon checked Aster’s diaper and then pulled off her gown. Kari had been stripping down too since she’d woke up, and could see that the baby had a fine mist of sweat on her as well. Why they had the room at this temperature was beyond her.

“The pacifier will come in handy soon enough, I think. But get one that’s not so ugly. Pretty girls need pretty things, don’t they?” As the baby was stripped down to her diaper, she started to close her eyes. When the nurse came in to check on them, she told Dillon to put the baby’s clothing back on. “No. I don’t think so. Her mom is hot, so she is as well. And when they’re hot, like she is, then they’re going to fuss until someone does something about it. You don’t like it, then we can find someone who will.”

As soon as the nurse left in a huff, Dillon handed the baby to Kari. As Aster settled in her arms, Dillon did the same in the chair next to her. Aster was soon asleep, her pretty little lips puckered as if she were still nursing. Kari looked at Dillon with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” Dillon said that no new mother does, but you deal the best you can. “But how did you know she was just hot? I mean, screaming at me doesn’t really narrow it down.”

“No. But my grandmother used to tell my aunt, if you’re hot or cold, then the baby is. If you’ve checked all the normal things and the baby still screams, then it’s physical. Check for hot first, then a pin sticking them. Both, by the way, are easy to fix.” Kari nodded, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. “They’re going to be back about her being almost naked. You know that, right?”

“Yes. And I’m ready for her now. Thank you.” Dillon waved her off. “I’m like a basket case of emotions right now. I feel mean one second and all mushy the next. I hope you know how to deal with that like you did with my daughter.”

“Hormones.” Kari nodded and held Aster closer to her heart. When she was like this, it was easy to think she could be a good mom. “I have a question. Well, a few of them. It’s about the house that Landon has. I have...you know what I can do, right?”

“Yes. Landon told Steele, who told me. I hope you don’t mind.” She said that she didn’t. “So have you found something there that you think is lost? Or someone attached to it?”

“Yes.” Kari had only been kidding, but she could see now that whatever she’d found, it was upsetting her too. “Landon said that there were a lot of things left by the previous owner, Vinnie’s grandmother, right?”

“Yes. A great many pieces, I think. He didn’t keep much on the upper floors, but most of the living room and the two parlors are what she left for him. Is it one of those pieces?” She said that she didn’t think so. “Maybe you should just tell me what it is you found.”

“In the kitchen there is a new—or what looks like its new—coffee maker. It’s one of those kind that nearly drinks it for you.” Kari nodded. And even though none of the men drank coffee, she knew that a couple of them had coffee makers in their homes for guests. “Someone used it to commit a murder.”

Kari didn’t say anything. She wasn’t even sure what to say. Not that she didn’t believe her, but Kari was still sort of shocked by it. Well, that wasn’t right, she was shocked all the way to her swollen feet. Steele came in then, and he was smiling until he looked at the two of them.

“What’s happened? You all right?” Kari nodded. “The baby? Is she all right? I can call the doctor in if you want. I knew that I shouldn’t have left the two of you right now, but it was—”

“No. It’s...Dillon found something. At their house. I think...we should hear what she has to say, then call the police. I don’t.... I guess we can figure that out as we go.” Kari looked at Dillon and smiled. “Tell us what you know.”

“Just like that. You’re not going to accuse me of making it up? Not going to say that I.... I understand that you guys are different, but I just told you that someone used a coffee maker that I took to Landon’s home to kill someone, and you’re ready to jump in with both feet.” Steele nodded and so did Kari. The woman had saved her ass as far as she was concerned. Right now she could tell them she had two heads and Kari would believe her. “All right then. I was in the kitchen making some tea. I’m not sure how you guys brew yours, but I like to use the coffee maker. It’s stronger. Bracing, I guess. So while I was out, I got myself one at a second hand place. I picked it up when it didn’t seem to be working. As soon as I touched it, I knew what had happened.”

“Did you tell Landon yet?” Dillon told Steele she wasn’t sure how to do that over the phone. “Good point. I just spoke to him and the rest of the team. They’re going to be another day. Tell me what happened and I’ll figure out who we can call to help us.”

Kari listened to Dillon telling them what she’d seen. Then Steele pulled out his cell phone to make a call. In ten minutes, there were two officers there, as well as a retired agent that Ray had used before. The police were helpful to a point when they did things like this, but Steele had said he wanted more backup than just cops. Dillon told the story again.

“There is a middle aged man in a suit standing in the middle of the living room. He’s just standing there talking. In front of him is an elderly woman and a younger man, about twenty or so. The woman is his grandmother. The man—this is from his perspective—is feeling like he’s not getting anywhere with the younger one. He says that he needs to call his office. As he turns to do so, someone comes from his left and hits him with the business part of the maker…the part that holds the water, not the glass carafe. Then as he’s down, the same person uses the machine on his head over and over until it’s over. He dies.” The officer standing next to Dillon snorted. “You can believe me or not, buddy. I don’t give a rat’s ass. But I know what I know.”

“You really expect us to believe that you’ve got this magical power to just touch something and it reveals all? Wow, you should go to all the murders with us, if that’s the case. We’d have them all wrapped up in no time.” The agent, Teddy Drake, told the man to be quiet. “You aren’t believing this, are you? What probably happened is she’s killed this man, if there is one, and now she wants to blame it on someone else. I think we should arrest her for making a false statement. We don’t have time for this bullshit.”

When Dillon stood up, so did Steele. Kari could feel her panther run over her skin, and she laid Aster on the bed so she wouldn’t hurt her if she had to take action. But all that happened was that Dillon put her hand on the officer’s and he dropped to the floor. His scream was loud enough to bring the nurses and wake the baby. Kari decided right then and there that Dillon was going to be her newest best friend.

~~~

Teddy tried not to laugh every time he looked over at the officer. He’d pissed himself twice when Dillon had grabbed him, and was now nursing a bloodied nose he’d gotten from Steele when he went after his wife for laughing at him. Things for Dave Parker were not going so well right at the moment. And from what he’d just heard, they might not for some time to come. He looked at Dillon now and smiled at her.

“Did you know what you’d find when you touched him?” When Dillon shook her head, he wasn’t sure she was telling him the whole truth. “I’m not going to attach your name to any of this. And since we never told him who you are, he’s not going to say anything either. Not if he knows what’s good for him.”

“I only meant to scare him a little. What I got was...I had no idea what he’d done, but I knew that it had to be something bad the moment I touched him. He’s not very....” She let out a long breath. “He’s going to lose his job over this, isn’t he?”

“To be sure. Even us retired guys, we know better than to steal the drugs from lock up and sell them to kids on the street. I thought for sure that you were going to tell me he’d killed this other man.” She shook her head. “But you know who it is, don’t you?”

“Yes. The man was there to tell them about some insurance fraud. His name is...I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like Factory. I’m not always clear on all the details. The family he was talking to has the last name of something like Cotton. Again, that’s as close to it as I can get without touching one of them. And the one that did the deed, his name is Mike Collins. His name I know for sure, as my dead man touched him before he died. It doesn’t always work that way, but sometimes I get more than I bargained for.” Teddy was writing down information, but paused when she said the last name. “You know him?”

“Michael Collins?” She nodded. “You’re sure about that? His name I mean? Because he’s dead. Or is supposed to be. Could that be the insurance fraud?”

“I don’t know that. I do know that he is the one that killed the other man. His imprint was on the pot when I touched it. Not that it was precious to him, but he did use it for a crime.” Teddy knew that she was telling him the truth, and he knew the man that had been killed as well. “I can get you more details, I guess, if I can touch the machine again. Right now it’s in the garage in a plastic trash can.”

He looked over at Steele, a man that he’d worked with before. Teddy had always been impressed with the young man. He was calm and poised. Even sitting there with his daughter in his arms while his wife rested was an illusion. The man was as hard and as strong as his name when he wanted to be. Teddy asked him what he thought.

“If she said that’s what she knows, then I’d believe her. I can see if I can find the other man if you want. Try to find out his name.” Steele grinned then, a cold calculating grin. “But I have a feeling that you already know who all the parties are, don’t you?”

“Charles Markey came up missing about two months ago. His wife of nearly thirty years filed the report, saying that he’d been out working. Charlie to his friends was a repo man. Not the sort that came to your home and took your car, but the kind that would try his best to work with you to get whatever it was you were behind on resolved. We had a list of his clients that day, but his wife told us that he had planned to hit a few more that night, so he could get off earlier the next day. He’s not been heard of since.” Steele said that Factory and Markey were pretty close. Teddy nodded. “One of the families that he might have visited that night was Bottom.”

“So you really do believe me?” Teddy looked over at Dillon and nodded. “What is this going to cost me, agent? No one just believes me without some sort of pay off. I’ve been down this road a few times, and no one just simply takes my word for it.”

“Not all that trusting, are you?” She shook her head. “I’m going to go by the house on my way home from here. And yours too, to pick up the pot, if you don’t mind. Then I’m going to go on up to the house and have a little talk to Mrs. Bottom. She’s on parole and will be a little more receptive of me if I tell her we’re opening some other cases. I’ll have a look to see if Michael Collins is there or not. If so, he’s in direct violation of his parole, as is his aunt, Bottom. Do you know where the body might be, miss?”

“Yes. It’s in the well at the back of the property. He sort of told me he was there when I touched the pot. I can’t talk to him like they can, but I can feel things. It’s where he is, trust me.”

Teddy looked at Steele when he cleared his throat. The man was smiling again, and this time it was a little friendlier.

“She’s right. I had someone check, and that’s just where he is. Mr. Markey is here now should you have any questions for him.” Teddy asked a few and Steele got him what he needed, and then when he stood up, so did Steele.

“You’re a good man, Steele. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you’re nothing like your father. But then I think I always knew that.” He looked over at Dillon. “I’m to understand that you’re hiding out for a little while. Well, Mrs. Logan, I sure hope you get whatever it is taken care of. If you don’t, then you give me a call and we’ll work something out. I help those who help me, and you’ve done me a great service in helping me take a murderer off the streets.”

He was nearly to the door when she stopped him. “You know who I am. You know that...who told you that I was hiding out? And if you tell me it was a ghost, I’m going to hit you. There can’t be that many necromancers in one town.”