Shadows Fall (28 page)

“Uh oh,” he said, squeezing me tighter.

“Those
mule
that I said have been following me… Brandon’s one of them. The other four have the same markings on their necks.”

He sucked in a sharp breath and nudged me so that I would sit up and face him. “I have five victims in the Slayer case, all with those cuts,” he said in a quiet voice.

“I suspected as much. The thing is, Hester says that for them to be following me like that, they have to have some kind of connection to me, but there’s no way to tell what that is without… further investigation. It’s kind of terrifying to me that I might possibly know a murderer. It could be a customer, an employee… even that knob, Jay. Wouldn’t put it past him, except he’s too stupid to pull something like this off.”

“What makes you think it’s the murderer you’re connected to? What if it’s the victims?”

“How can it be? I don’t know any of these people! I never saw them before they were ghosts!”

I was starting to get exasperated. Not at Charlie, really, I knew it wasn’t his fault. I was just so fucking done with the entire situation. I just wanted to forget the hospital and the dead, and snuggle up in bed with Charlie. I wanted a normal life, for it to just be Charlie and Titus for a while, not Detective Hale and his faithful sidekick, Admiral Nutjob.

“Easy, T, calm down. I’m not suggesting you
do
know them, but who knows what kind of connection it would take to get them to latch onto you. It’s not an exact science, right?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Maybe they all came into the shop at one point. Who knows? It’s not your job to worry about that, it’s mine.”

“There’s one more problem.”

“Jesus Christ, what else?”

I laughed at his exaggerated annoyance. “What the hell are we going to tell Detective DeRossi?”

“I was thinking about that. We’re going to need your help, Titus. And in order to get you involved, we’re going to have to tell Sonny something he can get on board with. I know you said you’re not a psychic, but I think we can use that as a cover story. Not everyone in the department believes in them, but I know they’ve used them before. If I can get the captain to sign off on it, Sonny won’t have much choice in the matter. He’ll never have to know it’s the… ghosts giving you the information.”

I looked down at my hands, studiously avoiding Charlie’s eyes. “I tried helping the cops once when I was younger—it was on a kidnapping case that they didn’t know was really a murder. It didn’t go well.” I said, chewing on my lip.

Charlie put his big hands over my cheeks and tipped my head up, forcing me to look at him. “We need to catch this guy, but I’m not willing to do that at your expense. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, okay? But we really need your help.”

“Okay,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure I could deny Charlie anything anyway, not when he was looking at me with those kind eyes of his. “What do I have to do?”

It was Charlie’s turn to break eye contact. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I have a theory… what if the closer you get to the…
mule
, the better you can communicate with them. Like if you went to where they died or….” He paused, flicking a guilty look at my face and wincing.

“Just spit it out, Charlie,” I encouraged.

“Titus, I think I need you to come to the morgue.”

Chapter Twenty

It had been harder than Charlie thought to get Titus brought in as a special consultant on the case. Captain Haywood hadn’t been the division leader back when the department had brought in a psychic to help on a few missing persons cases, years ago. She wasn’t so much skeptical as she was worried about the reputation of the Charlotte police.

There’d recently been a massive rebranding and revamping of the whole department, due to the massive influx of cash from the Democratic Convention, and they’d been trying really hard to get more public support of the police. The captain was leery of doing anything to damage our newly polished reputation.

Only the fact that Titus was a personal friend of Charlie’s, and he was willing to put his career on the line over this, convinced her to allow it. Waking her up in the middle of the night to plead his case certainly hadn’t done Charlie any favors. All in all, that was the easy part. The hard part was crossing the room toward Charlie’s desk at that exact moment.

Sonny DeRossi scraped one of the extra chairs across the linoleum and sat across from Charlie. The twenty-four hours were over. He’d come to collect the information he’d been promised.

Charlie rested his elbow on his desk and propped his chin in his hand, trying to adopt a noncombative posture. Sonny met him with a level stare and raised one dark, bushy brow.

“Time’s up, Hale. What have you got?”

“I can tell you right now, you’re not going to like it, Sonny. But I can also tell you that Titus McGinty is not involved in these murders… not in any way you might think.”

Sonny just kept right on eyeballing Charlie, saying nothing, and Charlie could tell the man wasn’t going to give an inch. He took a sip of his cold coffee to stall, and still Sonny waited.
Fuuuck
.

“Alright DeRossi, here it is. Titus is a psychic,” Charlie blurted. Ignoring the snort of derision that came from his partner, he powered right through without stopping to breathe. “For some reason he’s been getting ‘messages’ or ‘visions,’ or whatever the hell psychics have, about the victims in this case. That’s how he knew to go into that building and find Brandon Meyers.”

Sonny sat back in his chair and narrowed his eyes. “Psychic. That’s what you’re running with?” He crossed his arms over his big barrel chest and shook his head. “You’re losing it, Hale. I don’t know what it is about this kid, but your… friendship with him is clouding your judgment.”

The little pause he put before the word ‘friendship’ caused Charlie’s stomach to flip and his heart rate speed up to a dangerous level. Sonny suspected something, he was almost sure of it. Unfortunately, neither of them had time to deal with that part of things. They had a murderer to catch. Charlie had to get through to his partner, because he really believed that Titus could help them.

“My judgment is just fine. I’m just willing to take any scrap of a lead we come across because we’ve got
nothing else
. I want to bring Titus in as a special consultant, see if he can come up with anything else. Maybe he’ll get a… feeling or something about the next victim, this time before they get dead.”

Sonny surged out of his chair, looming over Charlie, and pointed an accusing finger at him. “This is beyond ridiculous! Captain Haywood will never allow it anyway.”

Charlie cleared his throat and stood—he didn’t like being towered over, especially when it was a means of intimidation. “Actually, Haywood already signed off on it. We’re to handle the whole situation as under-the-table as possible, so the press and the Mayor’s office don’t get wind of it, but she agreed with me—we got nothing else.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. I can’t believe Haywood is buying into this bullshit.”

“She’s not, necessarily. She just doesn’t think we can afford not to check it out. Look at it like any other possible lead.”

“You can run down that lead, my friend. I’m not having anything to do with that absurdity.”

Charlie threw his hands up in frustration. He should be happy all Sonny was threatening to do was not be involved. He could make a big stink and try to push for Charlie’s suspension, although with Haywood on Charlie’s side, it wasn’t likely to happen.

“That’s fine, man, you do you. I’ll handle Titus. I’m getting ready to take him down to the morgue and have Karen show him the bodies. Maybe something will come to him.”

“Whatever,” Sonny said, his eyes shuttered and his posture stiff. He’d already washed his hands of the situation.

Charlie regretted being at odds with his partner over this; they had always worked so well together. They had the perfect give-and-take, push-and-pull that it took to challenge each other and get the best results. Not anymore, apparently.

Opening his mouth to ask where Sonny was going next, Charlie realized he was staring at empty air. Sonny was gone. Charlie sighed and gathered up his case file from his desk. He had to rush over, pick up Titus, and bring him back to the morgue. He could only hope that seeing more
real
dead people wouldn’t be too traumatic.

* * * *

Charlie glanced at Titus as they silently walked down the empty hallway towards the medical examiner’s lab. Titus’s light blue eyes were so wide, Charlie thought he might pop something. He was hugging himself, his fingernails digging into his biceps.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

Titus took a deep shaky breath, casting an uneasy look down the hall to the door labeled ‘Coroner/M.E.,’ but his voice was steady when he spoke. “Yes. I might not like it, but I have this thing inside me—this thing I was born with. If I can’t do some good with it, what the hell is it for?”

Humbled by the guy’s courage, Charlie swallowed and nodded. He quickly brushed his fingers against Titus’s, since they were shoulder to shoulder and hand to hand. He got a shaky smile in return, but it was enough. “I’ve asked Karen to bring out Brandon Meyers, since he’s the most recent victim and his body hasn’t yet been released. Talika Ross and Mara Lewis are still in the cold room; Ross has no next of kin, and we’re waiting on Lewis’ sister who’s traveling from the UK to claim her. We’ll start with Brandon and see how it goes.”

Titus nodded, his shoulders rising and falling with another deep breath. “Um… there’s probably something else you should know,” he said in such a small voice, Charlie almost didn’t hear him.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Yesterday, you remember when I had the seizure—”

“Titus, that’s not something I’m ever going to forget in my lifetime.”

There was a breathless laugh, a swallow, and then Titus was talking again. “Fair enough. When that happened… well, one of the spirits had touched me, and then they were showing me things. I was seeing flashes of their lives. Then Brandon started calling my name, only it was really you, trying to wake me up.”

Charlie came to a dead stop midstep and turned to face Titus. “Are you saying that the visions from these ghosts could have caused your seizure?”

Titus glanced up at Charlie, rather guiltily, through his lashes. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s never happened before and, like you said, it’s not an exact science. But it’s possible.”

“That’s it.” Grabbing Titus’s wrist, Charlie turned and started pulling him down the hall in the opposite direction of the morgue. “We’re leaving.”

Titus dug in his heels and pulled back against Charlie’s grip. “What are you talking about? We have a murderer to find.”

Charlie cast a surreptitious look down both ends of the hall and, finding no one there, surged forward and kissed Titus, quick and hard. “I won’t risk your health, Titus,” he said quietly. “I—I… it’s just not right, to sacrifice you for someone else.”

Christ, he’d almost said something he’d surely regret. When Charlie looked at Titus again, the man was looking at him like a patient schoolteacher, but his smile was genuine.

“The medical examiner… Karen, right?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s a doctor?”

“Forensic pathologist, but yes, she went to medical school and residency just like any other doctor.”

“Well there ya go. If anything happens to me, she’ll be right there. Plus, there’s this.” He pulled the leather necklace with the little charms on it out of his pocket. “I have to put this on in order to hear or see what they want me to now that I have the
sapaśaṭāzho
. So if I seem like I’m having trouble, if I’m seizing or unconscious or unresponsive, just take the damn thing off. That should break whatever hold they have on me.”

“I still think it’s too dangerous.”

Titus’s smile fell away and his eyes took on a sharp quality that was as disconcerting as it was arousing. In that expression, Charlie saw the man who had pulled himself up from nothing, after being cast out by his family to live on the street, to become a business owner and entrepreneur. He was young and he was vulnerable, but he had a spine of steel. Charlie was in awe of it even as he worried that the bravado might just get them both in a lot of trouble.

“Detective Hale, I’ve been signed on as a special consultant to the homicide division by the authority of Captain Haywood. I’m going in there with or without you,” he said in a flat tone, jaw set and shoulders straight.

“All right then, Mr. McGinty,” Charlie said with a smile. “You’re in charge. Just be prepared. It’s not going to be a pretty sight.”

“I don’t doubt it. But don’t forget, I’ve seen them all before. We’re well acquainted.”

* * * *

“Walk me through this one more time, Charlie,” Karen muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. She’d dragged Charlie over to a corner of the lab for a semi-private discussion—which usually meant her yelling at him—while Titus was staring wide-eyed at the body of Brandon Meyers. David, who’d brought the body out of refrigeration, was leaning against the counter, studying Titus.

“He’s a special consultant, a psychic, and I want him to see the bodies and see if he picks up anything from them,” Charlie whispered.