RetroCog (a Power Up! story) (17 page)

Just what she didn’t need. “I’m really busy right now, Mike—”

He grabbed her arm and all but dragged her with him into the kitchen. Frank and Chloe followed on their heels, but Mike barked at them to leave.

When neither moved an inch, he swore. “Goddamn it. I’m not kidding. This is official business. Just wait outside. I’ll only be a minute.”

Knowing he couldn’t possibly hurt her and get away with it, not with so many witnesses outside, Lara nodded at the others to leave. Maybe she could get him to give her a clue of some sort. Confess his guilt? A long shot, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“I’ll be okay. Go check on the guests, please.”

Chloe frowned and moved only when Frank whispered something in her ear and dragged her out.

“Mike, what can I do for you?” She forced herself to smile.

“Who’s the new girl? She’s cute.”

“She’s gorgeous, and she’s Frank’s cousin. Now why did you drag me in here?”

He mumbled an apology, which surprised her. His gaze narrowed, and he seemed to come to a decision of some sort. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Her heart raced. How could he know she suspected him?

Mike sighed. “Lara, I know the word’s out. Everyone in town knows about the dead girl.”

“The, uh—”

“She looks just like you. I’d be scared too if I were you. But I promise, we’ve stepped up patrols. No one is going to hurt you. You have my word.”

Not what she’d been expecting to hear.

“I’m personally spending my shifts and my off-time watching the inn. Have you seen anyone or anything to make you nervous?”

“No.”

“What about that guy, Noah First? Why’d you ask me to look him up?”

Crap. How much to say without giving away information Noah would want kept quiet?

“Something going on with him? I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Heard about Bill pawing at you too.” Mike sneered. “Fucking playboy. He’s no good for you.”

“Oh?”

“I know what I’m talking about. You know he and I are related?”

“I’d heard. But why is he no good for me?”
Because you’re related
? She wanted to ask but didn’t think Mike would appreciate her lame stab at humor.

“He has a different flavor every week. Last I heard, he was fu—ah, dating some girl from Superior while seeing Shelly on the side.”

“Shelly? But I thought you and she were a couple.”

His snorted. “Shelly? Hell, no. Girl is too young for me. Sure, we had fun, but we were just passing the time. She’s trying to make Bill jealous. Me…” His gaze trailed from her face to her breasts and back up.

“What? What does that look mean?”

“What do you think?” He glanced at the kitchen door, hearing the same garbled whispers she did—subtlety was not in Frank’s vocabulary. “Now I could be like Bill and just grab you, but I’ve got too much class to do that.”

He had to be kidding.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m out here looking after you, Lara.” His voice lowered, and a creeping wariness made her shiver. “You might not see me, but I’ll be watching.”

He left, pushing past Frank and giving Chloe a good once-over.

“What did he say?” Frank was at her side in seconds.

“Just letting me know he’s watching me.” She made a face. “Just what I needed to help me sleep through the night.”

“We heard it all through the door.” Chloe frowned at Frank.

He frowned back. “Hey, I wanted her to have the illusion of privacy.”

Chloe brushed her hair out of her face. “I think it’s interesting he owned up about his connection to Bill. Noah filled me in about the pair yesterday.”

“It’s got to be Mike.” Frank shot a dark look at the swinging kitchen door where Mike had exited.

“Not necessarily.”

Lara still couldn’t see Mike or Bill as the culprit. “What if Noah’s wrong? He said he couldn’t be sure. What if it’s someone else?”

Chloe grimaced. “Then we’re in serious trouble, because I can feel the danger crawling up my spine. My voices don’t lie. Before this thing ends, someone else is going to die.”

On the computer, Noah scrolled through another edition of the
Brownville Voice
from twenty years ago. To his relief, the library seemed deserted. This early in the day, none but the most avid readers were looking for material. He had the computer section all to himself.

For the next few hours, he read through the histories of Brownville that related to Cecilia Fine or Finn Fury. Nothing stood out from his research, so he moved on to more current history. No time like delving into the seedy underbelly of Brownville’s fire chief and deputy extraordinaire.

Something about Mike’s and Bill’s connection nagged at him. History repeating itself… He glanced at the table, where he’d piled the books detailing the relationship between Cecilia Fine and Finn Fury. What was it that connected Cecilia and Finn to Mike Buckman and Bill Knowles? What had he missed?

A whisper of sound drifted over him in a cold breath. The cloying pressure of psychic phenomena settled over him like a suffocating blanket.
Shit
. He’d never liked these rare occasions when the past reached out and smothered him. Knowing what he did about the violence and negative energy in town made his unease worse.

Then a woman’s hand stroked his shoulder. “Beware the jealous lover.”

He tensed and turned, expecting to see Cecilia Fine. To his astonishment, a giant of a man wearing a gun belt, two pistols, and the look of a killer stared at him from a few feet away. He looked familiar. “I ain’t gonna let you hurt her again.”

Noah wondered if he’d fallen into the past or was seeing what he and Lara had witnessed earlier at the inn. A ghost.

“She’s mine.” The bandanna around the man’s neck shifted, revealing a scar, and detail poured into him. It was as if watching an artist fill out his creation. Finnegan Fury.

Noah studied the outlaw. Like Noah, he possessed a large frame. His arms were corded with muscle, his legs firm on the ground, his stance ready, eager. Finn looked poised to take on any comers. His ghostly face might have been called handsome, but to Noah the scar on his chin and the one that slashed through his left brow gave him a demonic appearance. He had short black hair, a square jaw, and ice blue eyes that didn’t blink. A stone-cold killer.

“I’m talking to you, asshole.”

Noah blinked. “Hell, you’re here with me, aren’t you? You’re not the past.”

Finn drew his gun and shot through Noah’s chest. Then Noah heard a body thud to the ground behind him.

His heart beat so hard, he was surprised it hadn’t leaped from his flesh. Christ, the man was fast. If he’d shot real bullets, Noah would be dead.

“The next one will be in your gut. Blood or not, I’m done with you. And so is she. That’s the last warning you’ll ever get.” Finn kept his weapon trained on the body behind Noah and backed from the room before he vanished.

Eager to see who’d been shot, Noah turned. On the ground lay the body of a man, and blood stained his light-colored trousers. To his immense frustration, Noah couldn’t see any more than that bloodied leg through the fog of the past. He could almost feel Cecilia pushing at him to look closer, to use his abilities and see the truth in front of his face. But something blocked him from doing so.

“Fucker. I’ll get you. Cecilia is mine. That whore is
mine
,” the downed man screamed. He stumbled to his feet, and Noah took a hard look at the man he suspected had shot and killed Finn and Cecilia. He concentrated until his head hurt and wiped at a bloody nose. Damn if he hadn’t pushed himself to the extreme to penetrate the curious vision before him.

Tan trousers, a dark vest over a black work shirt, and scuffed brown boots appeared like magic. Standard western apparel, with the exception of the gun belt slung over slim hips. Noah concentrated and noted the man’s dark hair reached his shoulders. His face remained a blank canvas, which was odd. Noah had never before witnessed a partial scene of the past.

Cecilia appeared and prodded him. She wore the same scarlet dress, the same earrings and bound hair, but her eyes held a worry that reminded him so much of Lara. “Hurry, before it’s too late. Catch him.” Not a vision of the past, her ghost.

She reached out and grazed his cheek. He shivered at the touch and studied the cursing man as he limped from the room and dragged himself down the stairs.

The stairs?

Noah looked around him, stunned to suddenly see the Lady Fine Saloon in all its antiquated glory. Light spilled in from the outside, brightening the scarred and stained tables, over which a few drunken patrons still gathered. Dust floated in the sunbeams, landing on the gnarled hands of miners and men who’d been alone for too long. Men who’d rather drink than find a warm woman to curl up next to.

A woman like Lara
. Conscious of the thought that didn’t belong in the past, Noah trailed the bleeding man out the door. He couldn’t manage a glimpse of his face, for all that he tried. But he swore he knew the man, the way he moved, the way he spoke. He’d seen this guy before. Going on the premise that the murders were cyclic, if this was the same man who’d killed Finn and Cecilia, his present incarnation had to be Mike or Bill. Or was it someone else?

“Mr. Fury?”

Expecting to see Finn again, Noah watched the injured man spin around with his gun in hand. Fury? But this wasn’t Finn. Finn’s brother, maybe?

Fury swore and clamped down on his thigh with his free hand. “What the fuck are you followin’ me for?”

The slight woman shivered and held out his hat. “Sorry, Michael. You dropped this.”

Michael? Michael Fury? Or Mike Buckman
? The past and the present felt all jumbled up. Noah tried to break free from his vision, concerned because he’d left Lara just as Mike had entered the inn. To his alarm, he couldn’t stop watching history unfold. Stuck with whatever he needed to see, he mentally followed Michael Fury down the street and onto his horse. They rode for what felt like several hours, though he knew only seconds had passed. And all the while, Noah fretted about Lara.

Michael found a drunken doctor on the outskirts of a mining shanty who happily removed the bullet and sewed him up for a few coins. As a reward, Michael shot him between the eyes and took back his money and everything else of the doctor’s he wanted. The few miners yelling for help scattered when Michael put a few bullets in their asses.

He grunted and stared down at his leg. “Fucker.” He took a swig of what the doctor had been drinking. “Little brother thinks he owns her. That he can tell
me
what to do. Like I’d let that sniveling little pissant run me around the way he does Mama.”

Noah frowned. A family connection between Michael and Finn, and a family tie between Mike and Bill. First brothers, then cousins. Blood. He could feel the answer within reach, but something was still missing. He wanted to see Michael Fury’s face. That he couldn’t bothered him.

“Little brother, I’m comin’ to git ya. You and that whore o’ mine.” Michael took another drink and slumped to the ground, passed out. The bottle emptied into the sandy ground, its contents absorbed in seconds. The sun shone on the glass, and a ray of light lit Michael’s face. In that moment, it wasn’t Mike Buckman Noah saw…but himself.

He blinked and stared once more at the computer monitor. It was all he could do not to throw up. The nausea gripped him and wouldn’t let go. This wasn’t a past like any he’d ever seen. Spurred by a ghost to see the truth, he’d seen something that made no sense. Noah was the danger to Lara? He would rather shoot himself than ever harm her, but what if Lara had been closer to being right than she’d thought?

What if Noah wasn’t possessed by Finnegan Fury, but by Michael Fury, Finn’s brother? That scene in her office might not have been Finn, but Michael whom Cecilia had pleasured. In hindsight, he realized she’d called him Fury, but never by his first name.