Cast the Cards (13 page)

“Mmhmm.
I’m not the only one in this room who thinks that sounds lame.”

“What
were you just sitting around watching us?” Stunned by the words he let fly,
Carey turned his head. A part of him still waited for the other shoe to drop
with Clark. What was the downside to returning? It felt too good to be true.

“Not
that I have anything better to do, but no. I popped in with an update.  Perhaps
I should’ve phoned, or at least knocked.”

Carey
sighed. “I’m sorry, Clark. I honestly didn’t have this planned. It just sort
of… happened.”

“That’s
what they all say.”

The
knife in his heart turned a bit deeper.

“Clark.”

“I’m
just giving you shit. Better you than anyone else. I got a tip.”  He shrugged but
sadness clung to him. “A tip.”

“An
insight on the killers. I heard it through the grapevine. The tarot card
obsession is strange, and where I live folks have a long memory.”

“Grapevine?”
 Carey shook his head.

“Spirits
talk, they hear things you know? I think I pinpointed the men we’re talking
about. I don’t have a name but I do have descriptions and a possible hometown
location.”

“Are
you serious?”

The
stern look he gave spoke volumes.

“Of
course you are. Let’s go out front and meet up with Vannah. I’ll take notes.”

“Fantastic.
Then the Scooby gang can be together again.”

“If
you want her to move on, don’t you think you should take the same advice?”  He
left the room before Clark could answer.
Let him chew on that for a while.

Vannah
was seated on the couch, flipping through television stations, when he entered.

“We
got company. Clark stopped by with some info on the killers.”

Her
eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

“Does
he know?”
she mouthed.

“Yeah,
he figured it out.”

She
winced, and he nodded.

Footfalls
sounded on the floor behind him. He turned. Held his breath as he waited for
Clark to speak.

“Hey,
Vannah.” Hands shoved in his pocket, and his shoulders hunched, Clark looked
defeated.

“Hey,
Clark, what’s up?” Pain flickered in the depths of her dark eyes. 
We went
from the three musketeers to the walking wounded.

“I
think I might have a description and stomping grounds. The tarot card fetish is
a dead giveaway. It’s two Caucasian males mid-forties to mid-fifties. They have
dark hair they tend to keep mid-length and dark eyes. They’re tall, over six
feet and lanky. I don’t know if it’ll help. But I figured it was more than you
had now.” He shrugged.

“How
do you know all that?”  Vannah narrowed her eyes.

“Ghost
hotline.”

“Wow,
thank you, Clark.” She shifted on the couch, and Carey could see her
discomfort.  If it was because they’d been caught in the act or she’d been
reminded he was a ghost, he couldn’t say. The whole ghost tip made him uneasy.

 “I’m
just glad to finally be of some use. It’s been pretty anti-climatic. I come
down and do what? Pop in and out.”

“I
think Carey and I both agree just seeing you changed our lives irrevocably. You
can’t be more poignant than that.” 

“Well,
when you say it that way.” Clark smiled.

For
a brief moment it was like time had reversed and they were as they had always
been. Carey savored the moment, held it close to his heart. Clark’s return had
been an upheaval, unearthing emotions, and unresolved issues that had been
ignored for years. This was the good part, a new happy memory to get him
through the darkness creeping in around them.

Chapter
Eight

“Damnit!” 
Savannah slapped her palms against the desk. Frustrated, she shoved away from
the wooden prison she’d been chained too for what felt like an eternity.
A
week of searching, and nothing!

“It’s
like these guys are ghosts! I can’t find hide nor hair of them. No loose ends,
no cases that line up or bodies that fit the description. If they did all these
kills based on cards, where are the remains?” Not expecting an answer, she
paced the tiny confines of the office.

“Listen,
it’s getting late. Why don’t we call it?” Carey's reasonable suggestion made
her surly.
 I’m like a lion with a thorn in its paw.
She wanted to snarl
and hurl a cutting comment. Instead she walked over to the window and peered
out. The sun had begun to fall from the sky lighting the sun up all golden and
pink. Right now the people of Dale were out enjoying the beauty, blissfully unaware
of the sick bastards who moved among them in the shadows. It gutted her.

She
ran a hand through her hair and nodded. Her nerves were paper thin. The walls
around them seemed to shrink.  The need to escape hit her like a roundhouse to
the chest. On autopilot she returned to her laptop and shut it down.

“You
don’t look right.”

“I
don’t feel it either. Burning the wick from both ends and I’m ready to just … “

“Run
away?”

“Yeah.” 
Pressing her middle finger and her thumb into her temples, she issued a light
massage.

“Let’s
go then.”

“What?” 
She shook her head. “A weekend camped out in your apartment wasn’t what I had
in mind.”

“Me
either but don’t act like you wouldn’t love every second.”

“Hmm.”
Her body hummed with the unspoken promise his words held. Stress release
sounded right up her alley.

“Save
it.” The knowing look in his eyes intrigued her.

“For?”
Confused she furrowed her brow.

“The
lake house.”

The
quaint log cabin nestled in the woods an hour away flashed in her mind.

“No.”

“Come
on, we always had fun up there.”

“That’s
the problem.” Her muttered words were low. His narrowed eyes told her he’d
heard.

“You
promised to put the past to rest.”

“Hey,
I’ve seen your parents and accompanied you to all our old haunts. Don’t act
like I have my word and then sat on my ass doing nothing. ”

“This
is the last step. We both know it.” He countered.

She
bit the inside of her cheek and looked down.
How can I tell the man I’m
sleeping with this is where I feel in love with his twin brother?

“Why
are you so resistant to this?”

“Why
are you pushing it?” Shoving the laptop in her bag she placed the strap over
her head, and turned to leave.  His hand shot out and he gripped the door knob,
blocking her.

“Because
I don’t want my brother stranded. I thought it’d be a good place for all three
of us to air things out.”

“And
why can’t we do that in your apartment?” Her gaze trained on the floor.

“Every
time he’s in my place he’s thinking about all the things we’ve done to
desecrate it.”

“Did
he say that to you?” Her chest ached. She closed her eyes against the illogical
feeling that she’d cheated on Clark.
This is crazy—we were never even
together.”

“No.
But trust me I know. It’s in his eyes and the tone of his voice.”  

“Why
didn’t you say that?”  Horror filled her.
All this time we’ve been slowly
torturing Clark, and he never said a word!

“I
didn’t have a plan to fix it then. Will you do it?”

“Go
out into the woods, sit around a fire, sing camp songs, and bond with my dead
bestie and my current fling? Sounds fantastic.”

“Is
that all we are to you?”

He
pressed his body into hers, leaning down to brush her ear with his lips.  “You
make it sound so neatly packaged. It’s not, we both know it.” Wrapping his
other arm around her body, he slid his hand down her waist to cup her pussy
beneath the fabric of her slacks. “Right now you’re wet and aching for me. I
can practically smell you. Are you going to lie and tell me it could be any other
man causing this response? I’m an officer. I know when someone’s lying.”

Unable
to hold it in any longer, she whimpered and rubbed against his hand like a cat
in heat. He set her ablaze like no man ever had. The connection between them
took off the edge, allowed her to function and sleep. This case was personal,
and sludging through the murky waters of the past hurt. When things pushed her
near her breaking point on a weekly basis she turned to Carey.

Wrong
maybe, but in his own way he did the same. There were no whispered words of
love or talks about a relationship. Still, the nameless venture was tangible.

“I
don’t know. My brain is fried and my heart it bruised. What do you want from
me? I’m hanging on by a thread ready to snap if any more pressure is added.
This is why I stayed away from this place.”

He
removed his hand, stepped back, and spun her around to face him. “This is your
home.”

“No.
Not anymore.” She shook her head. This hadn’t been home for a long time. A few
months in town on a case wouldn’t change that.

“You
think it stops being that way because you don’t want to deal with the past?
I’ve got news for you, Vannah. The place you’re at now is not your home. It’s
where you exist. You keep yourself apart from everything and everyone. Since
you’ve been here I think I’ve heard you talk to Amy, your best friend, once,
maybe twice.”

“What
do you know about my life outside of this town? We don’t have deep
conversations, we fuck.”

“Bullshit.”
His jaw clenched. “It’s time we lay all our cards on the table because we’re
not going to get another chance like this with Clark again. Why can’t we make
some new memories, more pleasant ones to hold onto?” Cupping her face between
his large, warm hands he pressed their foreheads together. “We can send him off
knowing he’s loved and we’ll be okay. It’s the greatest gift we can give him.
And for the record we do a lot more than fucking.” He moved his hand down to
encircle her throat. Her pulse raced and her body shook. “I haven’t done more
than touch you and you’re ready to come. You would never give you body to
someone so completely unless you cared deeply.” He tightened his grip just so.
“If I wanted to fuck you against this door right now, you’d let me, wouldn’t
you?”

“Oh
God.”
 Yes, I would and you know it. You bastard.

“No,
he can’t help you now. I should make you pay for those sharp words. Your
tongue’s like a switch blade it cuts so swift. But I’ll wait. I have other
plans for you. Now we’re going to stop fighting, pack, drive to the cabin, and
set things straight.” Removing his hand, he stepped back and released her. Her
body screamed in protest.

“Sheriff
West, silent? That’s one for the memory books.”

“Not
silent—contemplative and scheming. You might want to worry.” She raked her gaze
over his frame, plotting her revenge.

“I
think I’d like punishment from you.”  He smirked. The blood in her veins began
to boil.
I’ll wipe that smile off your face on the drive up.

“We’ll
see. I’ll meet you at your place in an hour.”

After
opening the door, she walked out of the room with a little extra sway in her
hips.
He wanted a weekend to remember… that’s what I’ll give him.

***

“Clark.” 
It felt stupid calling his brother like this in the middle of his bedroom. 
Can
he even hear me?
There was so much he didn’t know about how his ghostly
status worked.
  
Clearing his throat, he glanced around. His packed bag
waited on the couch. Now all he needed was his brother.

 Clark
appeared to his right. “You called me?”  The shock lessened every time he saw
him appear out of thin air. Now he barely batted an eyelash.

“Yes,
Vannah and I want you to go to the cabin with us.”

Clark
frowned. “Why? I don’t need to be the third wheel.”

“This
is the last step for all of us to settle things together, one last hurrah.”

“She
agreed to this?” Clark crossed his arms, resting his weight on the back of his
heels.

“Yes.
You make it sound like we’re the last people you’d want to be around. I thought
it was lonely where you are now.”

“It
is, but that I’m used to.” He shrugged.

Carey
sighed. “You shouldn’t have to be.”

“Hey,
it is what it is.”

“I
hate that phrase, because it never makes the situation you’re in the midst of
any easier to swallow.”

Clark
laughed. “No, it doesn’t. Look, don’t feel like you have to throw me a bone. If
you want to go off into the woods to be alone with your girlfriend it’s your
prerogative. I know you guys have been damn near killing yourselves to find
these bastards.”

“For
the record she’s not my girlfriend.”