Nick: Justice Series (5 page)

The man nodded to the book. “It will answer questions as you put them to it. Say you want to know the date, as you’ve been trying to figure out, then it will tell you. If you want to travel, which you can do, it will tell you that as well. Some things it will answer, others it won’t. It’s like that.”

“So you’re here to give me a book that may or may not help me.” The man nodded. “And the other, me wanting to live my life like I had before, I suppose you’re going to tell me that that’s not going to happen either? I’m telling you right now, I am Joel Delaney, and I make things work for me.”

“There will be consequences.” Joel just waved him off. “Each time you go on being the man that you were in life, you will add time here, yes, but you’ll have to pay the price of that time. Do you want me to explain that?”

“No. No I don’t. I don’t want you to bother me again.” The man nodded and faded out. Joel stared at the book and decided that whatever was in it wasn’t going to be all that helpful anyway, so he ignored it. But when he went to his bedroom, the first thing he was going to do was to shower and dress for the day as if nothing had happened.

Standing in the bathroom, he stared at his reflection. The man there wasn’t him. And if he was, there was some trickery going on. The large piece of wood protruding from his neck was a problem with the lighting, or someone was playing a cruel joke on him. Joel went back to the kitchen and picked up the book.

“Who is playing tricks on me? And why does it look as if I have a leg of a chair in my neck?” The book vibrated in his hand and he opened it. On the first page, a white one, a mark appeared. The green page had nothing on it, and the red page had writing on it.

You’re dead
. Like that was fucking helpful.

“How long have I been dead?” The vibration was slight this time, and a second mark showed up on the white page. The green one said eighteen on it. Eighteen what? But he didn’t ask the book. He had a feeling he was going to be limited on the amount of questions he could ask, and he didn’t want to fuck that up should he have a real need for the book. Moving through the house to his bedroom, he stood in front of his closet.

All his suits were there. Reaching out to one of them, his favorite blue one, he was scared when his hand went through it. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t touch them. Not his shoes, his ties, not even his cufflinks. Joel backed out of the closet and stared around the room.

“How am I supposed to go to meetings when I can’t even dress myself?” The book, forgotten in his hand, vibrated again. When he saw the third mark, he turned it to the red page. It said the same unhelpful thing.

You’re dead
.

“This is fucking stupid. What can I do to entertain myself?” He looking longingly at the bottle of drugs on the side of his bed and knew that having sex wasn’t going to happen. The evil laugh behind him had him turning slowly.

“Hey there. You’re the man I’ve been looking to meet up with.” The hair on Joel’s neck stood up, and his body felt like he’d been touched by something moving, nasty and full of things that went bump in the night. When the man took a step toward him, Joel took one back. “No need to be afraid of me. You and me, we’re going to be great partners.”

“In what? And if you want money, I’m afraid you’re going to be shit out of luck. I can’t pick up my dick, much less my wallet.” The man laughed again, and Joel took another step back. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Well, my name is Dane, Dane Glass. Never heard of me, I’m thinking. We don’t exactly go in the same social settings. But I have a feeling we’re going to be the best of friends around here. Oh, and if you’re dead with your wallet on you, you can touch it. Same goes with the shit you have on. Watch won’t work, of course; something about your body being cold I guess. And if your keys were on you, those too you could hold. You can touch them, but not unlock a door…not that you need to unlock a door or start your car. See how much help we’re going to be to each other?” Joel asked him why. “Because I know where your future wife is, and you’re going to help me give some payback to the bastard that murdered me.”

“Addison? You know where…is she dead too?” Joel thought that if she was dead too, then all his problems were solved. He could just torment her for the rest of their days together. “Take me to her now.”

“Now hold your shit there, buddy. We have to come to some agreements, you and me. Like when I help you, you’re going to go over and beyond it to help me right back. Like I said, I got me a bastard to kill too, but I want him to suffer. And you’re going to help me with that.” Joel was liking this plan more and more. The book in his hand vibrated, and he looked inside. This time the green page was written on. “What’s it say there?”

“It says that I should avoid you at all costs or pay the price.” Joel looked at Dane. “Why would it tell me that when I didn’t ask it any questions?”

“Because some dick that wants you to cross over gave it to you. They get some kind of brownie points when they do that. All a bunch of horse shit if you ask me. Why would someone want to leave this place when there is so much to do?” Joel told him he’d thought the same thing. “Right. Shove the thing away. Just, you know, tell it to go away. By the way, you can use that on most anyone. Just say for them to be gone and they can’t bother you no more. They can’t even bother you in a place where they died, either. Some kind of mojo stuff. I heard that you already had someone shut you out.”

“Yeah, the man who murdered me. He was protecting what was his, I guess.” Dane nodded and smiled. Joel had to look away. His mouth looked like he’d never heard of a tooth brush, much less used one. “I was murdered there too, or so they tell me. How do I go back there if he shoved me out?”

“Don’t go back.” Dane shrugged. “I go back to my place only ‘cause I’m looking for my dead wife. My stepdaughter is there, but I got no use for her. They’re both dead, and the sooner that stepboy of mine is too, I’ll be a content man.”

“What about my things here? I can’t just leave them. Howard told me that they’d be auctioned off and I’d get nothing from it. What about my money?” Dane just laughed again. It was beginning to sound less and less scary to him, and that made him more afraid of himself than Dane now. “And I want to go to the board meeting. I have some things I need to see to.”

“You do know that you’re dead, right? Some people have to reminded all the time. I had it in my head that I was fine and dandy until I seen my stepdaughter. Mess she was. Anyway, just let it go, buddy. If you do, then you’ll have a better time. You can’t spend it, and I’m here to tell you that the thing where people say you can’t take it with you is true. You can’t. So fuck it and all this shit you think you have to do. You can’t make a difference in the living world. So you might as well have fun being dead.” It made sense, but the book in his hand vibrated again. Putting it on the bed, he left the room after Dane did. But he stopped him just before they left the house together. “You shoved it away, right? That book, you shoved it away.”

“I did. And good riddance to it too.” Dane looked back at him but said nothing. Joel had no idea what the look was, but he didn’t care for it. He nearly went back to his room and got the book, just to keep it with him in case of an emergency, but didn’t. There was fun to be had, and Dane was going to be a good teacher for now.

As soon as they exited the house, Joel could see things he’d never noticed before. Not just the colors, which seemed to be brilliant, but the people milling about. There were so many of them that he had to tread carefully.

“Are these people like us?” Dane turned and looked at him, then continued walking without speaking. “They’re dead too? Like we are?”

“They’re dead, but not like us. They’re the ones that will drop everything to go and help others, the living, for some reason. Me? Not so much. I got me my own rules to fly by. You will too when this thing with that bastard is done.”

“What is his name? Perhaps it will help me help you find him.” Dane stopped and turned to look at him. “You said you knew Addison. What does this have to do with her and him?”

“They’re together. The two of them. He’s one of them necromancers. They try and kill us.” Joel knew what the word meant, but never thought of it as being a real thing. “There are a bunch of them living up there in that house. Got them a real nice place too, but you and me, we can’t go there. We have to wait until it’s time.”

“Time? Time for what?” Dane turned and walked away again. And no matter how many times Joel asked him, Dane refused to answer. Joel decided that for now, he’d let it go. He was going to get to Addison, and that was forefront in his mind right now. Then he was going to see about killing her, so they’d live the rest of their days together. Just as they were meant to do.

Chapter 5

Nick watched her sleeping. It wasn’t like him to remain idle for so long, but he found it peaceful to just sit and watch her. The nurse had told him that she was doing well. He hoped so; they’d taken a great chance getting her here. When Carlton came into the room with him and Aster, Nick got up and left to stand in the hall to talk to him. Nick knew that she was in good care with Aster with her.

“I’m sorry, my son, but your stepfather is around.” Nick felt like Carlton had slapped him, the information was so hard to take. “He’s hooked up with another like him, and the two of them are plotting. I have heard from my sources that the two of them are looking for your dead mother and another woman. Your mother is…if you do not mind me saying, she is as bad as she was when she lived. Sad woman, she is.”

“My sister? Have you heard about her?” Nick had no idea why it was suddenly so important for him to make contact with his family. His stepfather he wanted nothing to do with…nor his mother for that matter. But his sister was all he’d had in the world back then, and now she was about all he had thought about lately. “Her name is Ana Stark. Any word on her?”

“She is lost to me. I have done what I could, but I do believe that she is with someone that is keeping her…safe, I think. I do have my feelings out there.” Nick corrected Carlton. “Feelers. I have my feelers out there. Should you need anything else? I have a reading lesson with Miss Kari. And her baby, she does talk to us, and it is such a joy to hear her.”

“No, you go ahead. But when you find out anything, just let me know.”

Carlton assured him that he would. Standing in the hall, Nick looked at the pictures that were lining the walls and wondered if any of them had this much trouble with their relatives. As he made his way into the bedroom again, Connie, Steele’s grandmother, appeared. She looked in a fine temper, as Carlton would say.

“I should have known you’d have that old buzzard helping you. Should you like the information I have?” Nick smiled and told her he was just coming to find her. “Don’t try to kid an old woman. I’ve been around a good deal longer than you, and can spot a lie when I see it. A good one, but a lie all the same.”

“I’m sorry. I knew that you were helping Aster with Addie, and I thought that she might be safer with you and not Donny.” She smiled at him. “He’s only twelve, but I think he has the mind of a much older teenager.”

“He’s just testing his waters. Poor young man.” Nick leaned against the wall and waited for her to tell him what she knew. “Addie is being hunted. I’m sure the buzzard told you that, but what you might want to know is who your stepfather is hooked up with. It’s Joel Delaney.”

“Why does that name…I think I’ve heard the name before, haven’t I? The dead man from the other day, right?” She nodded and told him to think hard. “I haven’t been able to do that for a few days now. I know I should rest, but there…Addison is here, and I’m scared out of my mind that I’ll hurt her.”

“It’s what your stepfather wants you to think. And Delaney, he was killed in Evangeline Simon-English’s home.” Nick nodded, then when it hit him he stood up straight. “Yes. One and the same. And this man, this Delaney person, he’s got it in his head that Addie belongs to him. No matter what the circumstances of their lives.”

“And now he’s hooked up with my stepfather. Christ.” She only tisked at him, and Nick told her he was sorry. “They can’t come here, not on this property or in the house. Steele did something to it, and now only the ones we invite will be able to come here.”

“Delaney might be able to. She is his, or at least he believes so. And I’m afraid that he might be able to bring Dane here as well.” He was going to talk to Steele about that. There was something there that might help them, he was sure of it. “You should also know that the Wooten woman is on the run now. The police have put out a manhunt for her, but I don’t think they’re having a great deal of luck finding her. I’m working on that too with Steele and his mother, Beth.”

Nick never understood all the things that Steele could do, but recently, since meeting and marrying Kari, his powers had been coming out more and more. Like the protection around the house. Before any and all ghosts could come here. Now only a few could enter, and those were usually very old and related somehow to the ghosts already here. And since Beth had started to help them out with smaller things, he’d noticed that there were more and more ghosts that hung around the yard too. He looked at Connie when she cleared her throat.

“I’ve called in a few favors to have them keep an eye out for them, but you know that sometimes it’s hard to get what you need across to some of the dead.” Nick knew that as well. They had a hard time adjusting to being in a state that rendered them incapable of doing the things they used to do. “But I am working on it. It’s frustrating, but I’m working on it.”

“Does Steele know all this?” She told him he did. As did Kari. “I should maybe leave here, don’t you think? I mean, the type of anger that my stepfather has, it might be too much for Steele to deal with. Especially with his baby on the way.”

“Nonsense. You’re going to stay here or I’ll have to be very upset with you.” She looked at the closed door to the room that Addie was in. “She’s waking. And so you know, there is no knowledge that she has any powers beyond talking to you in her dreams. I’m not sure what she can do, but she’s stronger than she was before. A great deal.”

Nick entered the room by opening the door. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but knew that in time he’d get it. Exhaustion was taking its toll on him. Connie had moved through the door and while he was used to it, sometimes he had to pause and remember that she was gone too. Addie was staring at him when he looked at her.

“Hello.” Her nod had him going closer to the bed. “We’ve moved you here instead of the hospital because of some information that we got that your…that someone is looking for you.” Connie told him to stop being so clinical and ask her how she was. “I’m sorry. Are you hurting? I can get you something for the pain if you—”

“You’re Nicholas Stark.” He nodded and watched her as she sat up on the bed. “I don’t want anything for pain. Where are my things? I had…how did I get here?”

“What do you remember?” It was a question they asked of all the dead they encountered. It helped them gauge how much they knew about why they might be dead. “You were found in a barn. But other than that, what do you remember?”

She looked around the room. “I ran away. A while ago. I’ll have to take off again soon if he’s still looking. Which I have no doubt that he is. Are you still being bothered by the nightmares? You do know that that man isn’t real, don’t you? And that he only kills me to get at you. But I’m pretty sure that it’s just a dream. A bad one for both of us, but a dream all the same.”

“I kill you.” Addie shook her head. “I see it as clear as day. I’m the one that runs you down, I’m the one that took you to that restaurant. I’m the one—” She cut him off by sticking her hand up. “I know what I see.”

“Nope. You might think you do, but that’s not what I see. This dream that we have? Do you know why we can remember so much of it in great detail and that we’re both in it?” Nick sat down and tried to think how to answer. “And that man? What does he have to do with things? I have no idea who he is or why I’d be dreaming about him. And by the way, he’s a prick of the first order.”

“He’s my stepfather, and he’s dead.” Addie nodded and looked away again. “So is Joel Delaney.”

That got her attention. “No. He’s a young man. I’ve…he’s got a lot of money. People like him—bastards too, by the way, and they never die young. They linger and linger around until you want to…. Anyway, he has money to afford whatever to fix whatever is wrong with him. Physically. Not mentally, that’s a done…. Not that I don’t, but he’s…. I’m babbling. And where is my money, anyway? I’m assuming you found it if you found me.”

“It’s in the safe. Steele put it in there as soon as he found it. We didn’t even know it was money until one of the gh…the others told us about it.” Addie only stared at him. “We’ve contacted your grandmother too, as you asked me to do.”

“Have you talked to her, really?” Nick nodded and handed her a slip of paper with a phone number on it. “I don’t know this number. Is this…have you contacted Joel and he’s coming for me? That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve told him where I am and now he’s coming for me. Well, I won’t go. I won’t marry that bastard no matter—”

Nick got up and retrieved the paper that he’d been saving for her. Before he handed it to her, he felt he should explain. “He’d gone to your grandmother’s to find you, apparently. He thought she was harboring you or she knew where you were. There was an altercation. He was killed by falling backward onto a tea trolley. He died almost instantly, and his funeral is in a few days. I guess there has to be an autopsy performed first.”

Addie took the paper and read it over. When she was finished, she looked up at him. He could see her fear and disbelief. Sitting down, he waited for her to talk, to say something that he could help her with. He didn’t have long to wait.

“I remember what happened, I think. I was in our house. The one that you and…. There was this woman there, and she tried to kill me. You remember which one I’m talking about, right? Anyway. She was with these two men. One of them was Peter; the other, I don’t know if she ever said his name or not. But I was in the barn by then.” He asked her why she was there. “I was living in the house—I have been for a while—when someone pulled up in the drive about, I guess it was about a week ago. I had this cubby hole in the attic that I would hide in should anyone come by. Anyway, they came to the house, the two men, and they talked about setting up some equipment, something about catching some ghosts.”

“Did they say what ghosts they were hoping to find?” She told him no, that there wasn’t any ghost in the house. “But they thought there might be. Someone that they were going to capture on camera.”

“Ghosts don’t exist. They were just…I’m not sure. Anyway they came back in this van and I’d already gone to the barn. I was going to leave, take on another place, but I thought perhaps that maybe they’d not come back and I’d be okay. I should have known better. Nothing works out for me.” Nick didn’t point out that it had worked out for her, she was alive, but kept his mouth shut as she continued. “The man, I didn’t know his name, he came screaming out of the house. There was blood everywhere, and I didn’t want to believe it, I guess, and watched him. I suppose I thought that he’d…I have no idea what I thought. But as I watched him this woman came out of the house and cut his head off with a sword. It rolled across the yard and just lay there. I might have made a sound. She looked up at me, and I hid in the straw.”

“It was a machete. She removed his head and might have done more to him if you hadn’t made any noise. But we showed up, brought there on a tip. She was gone by the time we arrived.” Addie didn’t say anything but looked at the paper. “If I show you a picture of the woman, do you think you can tell me if it was her or not?”

“I can.” Nick got up to get the file just as Steele came into the room. He introduced himself and sat down. With him were Carlton and Billy. Nick handed the picture of Ellen to Addie and wondered what Steele was up to. “This is the woman. Her hair is shorter by a lot and her…she looks less serene than she does in this picture. Like she’s…I don’t know, sort of manic.”

“Her name is Ellen Wooten. Do you remember her? Or anything about her?” Addie told Steele that she didn’t. “She’s been locked up for a while now. Killed her family and the neighbors on either side of her when she was just a child. By the time she got to the Hicks, the last family that she killed, she had…I guess you could say perfected her method of murder. Her parents had been killed quickly and the others, slower and with more care. She was eight at the time.”

“And they let her out.” Steele nodded and that was when Nick noticed that two other people were in the room. “Why would they do that? I mean, she’s nuts.”

“She is. Her parents are afraid that should she not be caught soon, she’ll continue murdering people. They don’t want that. But they would like to know if you’ll help us.” Addie looked at him, then back at Steele. “You told Nick that there are no such thing as ghosts.”

“There aren’t. But I did noticed that you spoke of this girl’s parents after just telling me that they’re dead. Do you think you can try and prove to me that there are ghosts?” Steele nodded again. “I’m assuming that you think there are. That there are undead all around us at all times.”

“I do and they are. Everywhere. And if I can prove it to you—that there are all kinds of ghosts—will you help us?”

Again, she looked at Nick and he sat beside her on the bed. When she reached for his hand, Nick held hers in his and tried to think why Steele was doing this so quickly after her coming here.

“I need to tell you some things first. And you should take everything I say to you as the truth. It will save your life, and more than likely Nick’s. You have a ghost coming for you. Delaney and Nick’s stepfather are on their way here. I’m not sure that they can get past my barrier, but if they do, they will hurt you. And without you believing us, believing that there are ghosts, there is not much we can do to help you protect yourself. You have to believe that they’re here.”

“How do you think you can make me believe something that no one else believes?” She looked at Nick again. “You can’t think this is real, do you? That there are ghosts all around us?”