Lifting the Veil (7 page)

Mystic? She knew that name. It had been printed on the bag that Amber brought to her house.

Sophie bit into her fortune cookie and handed the other broken half to her brother. “Did they ask the store owners if they knew her?”

He gestured to the file. “The file says they did. The owners said they didn’t know a Marilyn.”

“Marilyn?” Sophie flipped open the file again. How could she have missed the different names? “I

thought her name was Valerie.”

Max tilted his head. “Valerie? I think you’re mixing files in your head.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” Sophie shrugged to appease her brother. There was no way she could tell

him how she knew the woman’s real name. She rubbed her lips together and started to open the

container of lo mein noodles that Jack had brought back for lunch.

“I didn’t mean to waste your time. I was just curious.”

“Soph, you aren’t a detective. I have full confidence in my team. I’m sure they did a thorough job.”

Yeah, they worked with what they knew. They weren’t the ones dealing with hallucinations of dead

people. “I’m sure you’re right.”

****

“I wanted to check her out for myself.” Marshall chuckled. “She
is
hot.”

“She’s off limits.”

“To you, maybe.”

“Marsh, this isn’t a joke.”

“There is nothing about that woman that’s a joke.”

“Back off.”

Marshall laughed while opening the door of his Lexus. “Touchy for a man with no interest in her.”

“I haven’t said a word.”

Marshall slid into the seat. “Your silence told me enough.” He shut the door and rolled down the

window. “After seeing her, I’m convinced of it.” He slid his sunglass over his eyes. “You might want to make your move. I’m sure that dress has gained her quite a few admirers.”

Marshall gave a full belly laugh as he raised the window and took off down the road.

Jack’s head drooped forward, a headache forming at his temples. Was this what his life was

reduced to? Was he going to have to beat the other officers off her while she was his partner? The first time one of the guys screwed up and hurt her it would have been Jack’s fault for not protecting her.

Jack walked back into the freezer to find Max walking out. He glanced back over his shoulder and

pointed with his thumb. “What did I miss?”

She swallowed around a bite full of noodles. “We were discussing a case.”

Now he could work with this. When in work mode, all thoughts of seducing her would cease in his

head. Or so he thought.

Jack retook his seat, and she slid the file down the table to him.

“What about the case?” He asked. The first impression of the dead woman was that the Ghost

would have chosen her, but the scene didn’t match any of the others. There was no pentagram, no

candles, nothing to indicate that the elusive killer was involved.

“They didn’t have much in the file, and I think they should have dug deeper. He disagrees.”

Jack flipped the pages open and read the file while eating his stir-fried rice and sweet and sour

chicken. “What do you think they missed?”

“Call it a hunch but I think another trip to that shop, Mystic, is in order.”

“Do you now?”

“Sure I do. Can we go?”

“Sophie, we could, but you’re just a temp paper pusher and I’m benched. We aren’t actually

supposed to be on the streets working on anything.”

“Do you always follow the rules?”

He couldn’t contain his sly grin.

She shrugged. “That’s what I thought. We can call it a lunch break and eat in the car.”

Everything in his gut told him this was a waste of time. Every fiber in his body told him he shouldn’t indulge her. But getting her out of the office seemed like a bright idea at the time. Enough guys were walking by the room and rather slow, peeking in to see if they needed anything. He was already starting to see the implications that Marshall suggested.

“Sure. You grab the egg rolls and we’ll eat on the way.”

Her whole face brightened as she jumped from her seat and grabbed some of the containers and

her purse. They made it out of the office without many questions. He unlocked the passenger door of his SUV and she climbed in. He slid behind the wheel, grabbed an egg roll, and started the vehicle. “I’ll make you a deal. If we don’t find anything new, you can let go of the notion that you’re a cop and you’ll start to wear jeans in the office and nothing so revealing.”

“Hey, I never agreed to that.”

He grinned and stopped at the exit of the garage.

“We can always go back.”

“Fine,” she said, relenting, “but…if we do find something, we’ll continue to see this through. Do we have a deal?”

The odds of her finding anything new where nil to none. His grin grew bigger. “Yep, we have deal.”

She leaned back into the leather seat and ate one of the other egg rolls as they proceeded to Main Street. He parked in front of the shop and killed the ignition. A flashing neon Open sign hung from the door. The word Mystic was scrolled in silver on the window.

“This place is weird.”

****

in black pants and a black top and the other in a white dress similar to the one she’d seen in the picture and in her vision. The same scrolled design was inlaid across the bodice. The only difference was it wasn’t soaked in blood.

Sophie grabbed her purse and scrambled out of the SUV, approaching the pair of women. “Excuse

me.”

They stopped and turned back toward her. “Yes?” one of them said.

“I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful your dress is. Is it handmade?”

The woman dressed in black started to pull her friend away, but the woman in white shrugged her

off. “Yes, it is.”

“Can you tell me where I can order one? I’d love to have one myself.”

Jack walked up beside her, his scowl not helping Sophie on her mission to pry information from the women. The one dressed in white hesitated, her gaze going back and forth between Sophie and Jack.

Sophie slid her fingers through Jack’s and squeezed. “Don’t mind him. I think he was born with a scowl.

He’s just my boyfriend.”

Jack coughed but recovered quick. He tossed his arm around her shoulder. “Sorry, I can’t take her

anywhere. She makes friends wherever we go.”

The woman in white smiled. “I’m afraid you can’t order them. They’re made especially for my

coven.”

“Your coven?” Jack asked.

“Yes.”

“Come on, Beatrice.” Her friend grabbed her arm. “You’ve said too much.”

“I’m sorry. We have to go,” Beatrice explained before walking off, her Mystic bag swinging as it

dangled from her fingers.

Jack dropped his arm from her shoulder. “Do you want to tell me what that was all about?”

Sophie’s heartbeat quickened, and she grinned. “I’ve already figured out more in five minutes than your department did during three months of investigation.”

Jack stared at her in disbelief, as if he hadn’t figured the connection. “How do you figure?”

“That dress isn’t sold on the market. That dress is the same one the victim was wearing. That dress design is specifically for her coven. I guess that means I win.”

His lips parted. She left him standing on the sidewalk staring off at the woman who had walked

away. With more bounce in her step, she walked into the store. Arriving at the store at the exact time those women were leaving was divine intervention. She mulled it around in her mind. The new

possibilities might just be worth considering.

The smoke from the burning incense sitting on the counter drifted heavy in the air. The fragrances overwhelmed her when she walked in, the heady smells suffocating and overpowering.

“May I help you?” the woman behind the counter asked.

Sophie shook her head. “No thank you. I’m just looking.”

The bell above the door rang, and she watched as Jack pointed to Sophie, indicating he was with

her. He stepped up next to her as Sophie picked up a purple stone from a basket labeled Worry Stones and ran her thumb across the smooth surface.

“I thought we were here to ask questions, not shop,” Jack whispered in her ear.

“We are,” she whispered back and moved farther around the perimeter. Candles with hand-written

inscriptions and spells for love, prosperity, and luck filled the shelves, along with a basket of jade Buddha’s. Metaphysical books lined the shelves, books on everything from spirits and paranormal to palm reading and past life regressions. Sophie ran her fingers over the spines. She turned around to the display case behind her and couldn’t help but grin. Sitting on the display was another basket of the stick looking bundles that she’d seen in her vision, the same pieces that were crumbled, laying around the body in the picture.

Sophie picked one up one of the bundles labeled sage and the purple worry stone and carried them

to the register. She laid them on the counter. The woman gave her a curious look. “You’re new. I can see that you’re just developing the senses.”

Sophie grinned while Jack looked on. “It’s my aura, isn’t it? I really should look into how to hide it.”

“You can’t hide that. It’s a part of you.” The lady smiled, picked up the purchases, and rang them up. She reached beneath the counter and pulled a stone that looked like a clear crystal. “You’re going to need one of these too.”

Sophie picked it up and held it up to the sun streaming in through the windows. “Really? What does this do?”

“It’s for protection.” Her gaze flew to Jack, and her brows dipped before the smile returned to her lips.

“Can I ask you a question?” Sophie pulled out her credit card and handed it over.

“Sure.”

She held up the sage bundle. “What does this do?”

The woman pulled open a drawer behind her and took out an information sheet. “That has a ton of

uses, and you should keep it in stock.”

“Oh?”

“You can take this with you.” She handed the paper over to Sophie. “It will explain everything you need to know.”

“Thanks.”

“Soph—” Jack started, but she nudged him under the counter.

She picked up a business card on the table for a Madame Helena. It boasted psychic readings and

medium abilities and tarot, among the few services offered. Sophie held it up. “Does she work here?”

The woman shook her head. “No, she works out of her home. We haven’t had a medium on site

since Valerie disappeared.”

Sophie slid the card into her purse. The moment the words left the woman’s mouth, she could see

Jack’s interest peak.

“Disappeared? What happened to her?” Jack asked. He looked as if he was registering the

information and it was starting to make sense.

“No one really knows. She was here one day and never returned. I guess she left town.”

Sophie shoved her credit card back into her purse and grabbed her bag. She entwined her fingers

with Jack’s and tried to ease him out of the store. “Thank you for your time.”

He pulled her to a stop. “Did you file a missing persons report?”

The lady looked confused. “No. Valerie was kind of flighty. We all just figured she left since she came into some money or had that she had made amends with her family. Even as young as she was,

she talked about moving and retiring, of all things. We were all kind of surprised, considering her parents never approved of her abilities.”

Jack pulled out one of his cards and handed it to the lady. “She came into some money?”

“An inheritance.” The clerk tapped her chin before she shrugged. “I don’t recall her telling me who died. She was just excited for an easier life.”

“If you can think of anything else, or if she changes her mind and comes back, could you give me a call?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you.” Sophie held up her bag and started pulling Jack out of the store.

They slid back into the SUV and he started the engine, but they sat there while it idled. “Who the hell is Valerie, and how is she tied to Marilyn?”

Sophie pressed her lips together while debating exactly how much to tell him. “I assume they’re

one in the same.” She pulled the card out of her purse and handed it to him. “If I had to guess, Marilyn didn’t use her real name just like this Madame Helena doesn’t either.”

He turned to her. “How did you figure all of this out?”

She shrugged. “The receipt found in her apartment was from Mystic and the stuff around her body

was sage. I had a gut feeling.”

He gestured toward the store. “Are you into this stuff? The books at your apartment, the

purchases”—he gestured toward her bag—“and just what did the lady mean about you coming into

your abilities? What was that about?”

Sophie pressed her lips together and twisted her fingers. What could she tell him when she didn’t

understand it herself? Would he believe her or think she was nuts? “How about we get a drink later and I’ll try and explain what I can?”

“Are you asking me out on a date, Sophie?”

She rolled her eyes. “In your dreams, stud. Either you want to know or you don’t. It’s that simple.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven.” His lips curled up in a smile. “Feel free to wear that dress.”

He hovered in the shadows between the red brick buildings. A quick glance at his watch indicated

the women would be leaving on time. The witches walked out only minutes later than usual, but even those minutes might screw up his plans for later that night. Today she was going to die.

The damn shop should be burned to the ground. Freaks shopped there, and every one of them

deserved to die. He pulled out his pocketknife and flipped it open, digging at the dirt beneath his nails.

The sharp blade wouldn’t do much damage, but it was always within reach. A quick slice of the wrist or a shove in the chest would slow the fuckers down. It always did. His eyes narrowed when he spotted the two women leaving, each carrying a bag of supplies. He knew their routine. Knew where they were