Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) (37 page)

It was like that day she’d buzzed him at the gate and he told her he’d see her in hell first.

That fear was coming back, and she didn’t like it.

Bishop focused on that morning, and what they’d shared. There had to be a huge mistake.

Nate had to be wrong.

Lucian wouldn’t hurt her. She trusted him.

When she got to the door, it was open. Inside, there were bags being brought downstairs.

Suitcases. 

On top of one was a letter in a fancy envelope, addressed to her.

She grabbed it and glanced around. Before she could read it, Bishop knew she had to find him. She had to give him the opportunity to explain.

If he had to leave, she’d go with him. She’d leave everything behind to be with Lucian. All he had to do was say the word. Bishop would hand the case over to the FBI and follow him.

When she saw Maura heading her way, she needed to know.

“Where is he?”

“He’s in his room. I’m sorry, Bishop.”

She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t want her sympathy because there was no reason for it. Lucian wouldn’t do this.

He couldn’t.

She tucked the letter into her back pocket, saving it until later. She needed to see him face to face. For Lucian to leave, something had to have happened.

If he would just tell her, she could protect him, keep him safe, and love him until the end of her life. She raced up the staircase, heading toward his room.

At his door, she stopped dead in her tracks.

He was putting on his hoodie.

“Lucian?”

His whole body tensed at the sound of her voice. It was clear that he didn’t expect her to show up.

He didn’t think she’d come running. When she’d called him on Wendy’s phone, he knew he needed to leave before morning. That one call had escalated his plans. She would think the worst, and for him, it made it easier. He was going to be a bastard, so let her think he wanted his ex back. Wendy would have painted that picture.

“Hello, Sheriff.”

It stung that he didn’t use her name.

“What’s going on? Where are you going?”

He didn’t reply.

What could he say? That he was leaving and he couldn’t see her ever again? That he was about to break her heart, but it was for her own good?

She’d never believe him.

Bishop was a fighter.

He wasn’t. Fate and his past had beat it out of him.

Here was the proof.

Lucian Monroe was about to walk away from the best thing in his life to save her.

Life sucked.

“Is this about the call to Wendy? We can talk about it. I’m sure you have a very good reason. I’m not angry.”

She tried everything she could to get him to stay. Bishop trusted her gut. This was all off.

Lucian knew he didn’t have any choice. He was going to have to say the words.

They damaged him, and he couldn’t imagine what they were going to do to Bishop.

“I do have a very good reason. I asked her to take me back.”

It was as if he stabbed her in the chest.

“What?”

Did he just say…?

“I love her.”

Saying the words made him sick. Well, he wanted a way to make her hate him, to make her leave, to make her…hurt.

Here it was.

“No.”

She wouldn’t believe it. Something was going on.

“I’m leaving, Sheriff. It’s best I get away from you. This isn’t going to work. It was a mistake.”

He tried to keep his voice calm. It wasn’t easy. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to turn and pull Bishop against his body one last time.

He wanted to kiss her.

Lucian wanted to memorize the way she clung to him. It might chase away the long, cold nights coming.

“I need to leave.”

Yeah, he was running. In a few weeks, when the hate was gone, when she was safe, and Bishop wouldn’t be losing her career, he’d mail that letter he’d written her.

It held the truth.

It held his heart.

For now, she needed to believe he was a bastard. Maybe one day, she’d come back. One day, she’d ring that gate bell, and he’d be saved.

Again.

Finally.

Hurting her was going to be the death of him. It was already the death of the newly budding relationship they were trying to construct from two damaged lives.

“Why are you leaving?” She didn’t believe it was for the reason he said. This wasn’t her Lucian.

Something was very wrong.

“I told you, Sheriff. I’m leaving to get away from you.”

Her heart had never hurt this badly before. Never in all her life had she been so blindsided. He wanted to escape her.

He didn’t want to be near her.

“But last night…this morning…”

He had to force himself to say the words. They were the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. He couldn’t even look at her.

He couldn’t face her.

If he did, he’d crawl on his knees through his own blood to get Bishop to see what he felt inside for her.

Lucian had to save her from herself.

From him.

This was the only way.

“What about it?” he asked, trying to sound disinterested. He prayed she’d not come closer. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t beg her to forgive him.

“We made love.”

“It was sex, Bishop. It was nothing more than sex. Don’t get attached. I didn’t.” That lie was so hard to spit out.

The second she heard it, Bishop wanted to be sick.

Still, she fought for him. She fought to give him a chance to explain.

“It wasn’t just sex, Lucian. I was there. I know what I saw and what we shared.”

“I was horny, I needed to get off, and you were there. It was just pussy, Bishop. Don’t make more of it. Now I think you should go.”

She stared at him.

She wanted to die inside.

Yet, it didn’t make sense.

“I’m the beast, Sheriff. You just aren’t my beauty. Wendy was right. Now leave and never come here again. I don’t want to ever see you again.”

It was the last slash to her heart.

She moved toward him.

“Tell me to my face. If you want me to walk away, have the balls to say it to my face.”

He knew she was going to see the pain, but he had to follow through. When he turned, there were tears in her eyes. There was a large red handprint on her face.

Someone had hit her.

They’d hit his precious Bishop.

Jesus!

What he wouldn’t give to place his lips on that mark and kiss away the pain.

Still, he couldn’t back down. In his head, he kept hearing Silas’s words. He kept seeing an angry Wendy on the screen. He didn’t want to break her, but he had no choice.

“Go away, Sheriff. I don’t love you.”

There was a quick intake of breath at his words. She couldn’t believe it.

He’d actually said it to her.

Lucian didn’t move.

Neither did she.

It was a standoff.

Finally, she gave up. Bishop had spent two years doing battle for him. There was no way she had more in her. That well of strength had been depleted a long time ago.

Lucian stared at her, praying she’d say that she wasn’t going. If she threw herself on him, he’d crumble. He’d cave and beg to be hers.

She was his beauty.

He knew no one could love him but her. He belonged to Bishop.

He always had.

Finally, she let him win. After waging battle after battle, Bishop threw in the towel. This game of chess was over. The king was on his own.

“If that’s what you want,” she said. Going up on her toes, she took his face in her hands. “It wasn’t just sex to me. I’ll cherish it until the day I die. Thank you for that one moment. I choose to believe in my heart it mattered, even if it didn’t to you. Goodbye, Lucian.”

She left a soft kiss on his lips, and then walked away. When his bedroom door closed softly behind her, Lucian saw his fate sealed.

It was over.

Dropping to his bed, he covered his face. That had been the most horrible thing he’d ever had to do in his life.

He deserved her anger.

She didn’t give it to him
.

He deserved her hate.

She wouldn’t dump it on him
.

He knew what he’d just lost.

Avalon had been right.

He’d lost the woman he was meant to marry. She’d just walked out the door, and like a fool, he let her.

And he’d never get her back.

Never.

He was damned to live the rest of his miserable existence alone, haunted by what might have been, and it sucked.

Bishop got halfway down the stairs when her cell began ringing. It was dispatch.

There was another body.

She couldn’t deal with Lucian right now. It she did, it would mess her up. She wanted to curl into a ball and weep until she couldn’t weep any more.

Only she didn’t have that luxury. She was a cop, and she had her duty to do.

“Are you okay?” Maura asked.

Avalon was beside her, and even she looked concerned for the woman.

“Yeah, I’m peachy. I have a body. I have to go.”

“Lucian…”

She cut Avalon off.

“He told me to go, so I won’t be back. Tomorrow, you’ll have to find me at my place or my office. I can’t come back here. I’m not wanted near him. I won’t chase him anymore. He’s going back to Wendy, and he’s not my problem anymore.”

There.

She said it.

The words were a bitter pill to swallow, but somehow, she managed to get them out.

Maura’s heart ached for her.

Avalon spoke up, “You can’t leave him. Bishop, you need to fight.”

“I don’t have a choice. I can’t force Lucian to love me. I can’t force him to give me more than he can. I’d rather hurt than hurt him. I’m going to give him what he wanted. I’m leaving.”

They heard her pain.

You’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see it.

“You can’t go by yourself to the scene.”

“I have a deputy and the team meeting me there. I’ll be fine.”

Maura whistled for Jagger. It didn’t take long before he exited Lucian’s family room.

“Yo?”

He looked just as miserable as Bishop.

Maybe Graymoor was cursed.

“She needs a buddy on a body find. Are you in for a ride along and protection duty?”

Yeah, he was.

Bishop was going to argue, only Jagger cut her off before she could say a single word.

“Let’s roll. I need some air.”

He headed toward the door.

“Are you coming, Sheriff?” he asked.

She stopped at Lucian’s suitcases. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out the letter. Bringing it to her lips, she left a kiss on it.

She stared at the lip marks from her lip gloss. She’d remember it for the rest of her life. She’d remember his words. She’d never love anyone else. Lucian Monroe had been her soul mate, and she knew it.

“Goodbye, Lucian. I love you.”

Bishop let the note fall from her fingers as she walked away from Graymoor for the last time.

And from the only man she’d ever love.

Chapter Seventeen

Friday Night

Dark

He waited not far from the bridge.

When the sheriff got there, he was going to make his move. There was only one way to handle this, and he had to make it right. Since the law in Ravenswood didn’t seem to care about punishing those who were guilty, he’d be the voice of the victims.

On that fateful day, when he’d lost love, he knew it was time to take up the charge against what was wrong in society.

He was going to fight for the weak.

He was going to end the tyranny.

It was time.

As soon as she arrived…

She was going to die.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Neither of them spoke on the way there. Jagger rode shotgun, his sidearm strapped across his chest on top of the FBI gear.

Bishop wasn’t in the mood to be entertaining, since all she could think about was what had just happened.

She’d never seen this coming.

She was an excellent judge of character. It was her gift, as it had been her daddy’s before her.

Still…

Lucian had blindsided her.

When this was over, she was going to take a few days off. Maybe she’d go see her brother, the doctor, and lounge by his pool while he was at work.

Maybe she’d hang out with her other brother, the vet. He could always use some help in the country with all his animals.

Hell!

She could go to the Middle East and bunk down with her youngest brother there too. That might help her forget what the hell had just happened in her life.

Who was she kidding?

She’d never forget.

Lucian was the one who got away.

Make that walked away.

“I think this is it,” she said, breaking the silence.

“Are you going to be okay?” Jagger asked. “You look like you’re ready to cry.”

“Cops don’t cry.”

That was total BS. She wanted to weep. At some point, she wasn’t going to be able to hold them back. Bishop only prayed it didn’t happen while she was working.

The men would never let her live it down.

“That doesn’t answer my question. I work around women, I have a sister, and I’ve seen what happens. Just a yes or no will suffice.”

She shrugged. “Yes. For the record, I have to be okay.” Then she changed the subject or she wouldn’t make it. “Why do you smell like Roxy’s perfume? And you have a hickey on your neck.”

His hand covered it.

Yeah, he was well aware. The sexy brunette had given him one hell of a love bite. Oddly, he wasn’t embarrassed about it. If anything, it made him think about her.

“I had sex with her a couple of times.”

That admission broke the tension and made Bishop laugh. “Oh, Jagger, where do I even begin?” she asked, pulling over.

He didn’t know what she meant, but he was curious. When she got out, so did he.

“I don’t see a body,” Bishop offered, walking onto the one lane bridge. It was old, rickety, and a death trap. “Maybe this was a prank.”

That made Jagger nervous.

His gut was screaming, and he didn’t know why. They were out in the middle of nowhere, over a river that looked like a churning brew from hell, and there wasn’t a body.

Something was up.

“Is it over the side?” he asked.

They headed out onto the bridge. Glancing over the side, that’s when they saw him.

There was their victim, swinging. He was hanging from a noose as he dangled precariously over the water.

This was going to suck.

“I’ll have to call in fire rescue. I can’t get to him, and Roxy won’t be able to either.”

At the mention of her name, he had the overwhelming need to touch that spot on his neck again.

“I’ll go over, tether myself to the side of the bridge, and help you hoist him back over.”

She didn’t think that sounded like a good idea.

“If you fall…”

He looked at the water.

“I can swim.”

“Not in that,” she offered. “It’s got one hell of an undercurrent. You go under in that murk, you’re staying under.”

Jagger laughed. “You get the rope and let me worry about how good of a swimmer I am.” He’d trained in the worst situations. He was aware how to handle a rip current. He’d been in more than his fair share.

“Okay, Marine. Suit yourself.”

She headed back toward her vehicle, and when she got to the truck, the hair on her arms stood up. Something was wrong.

She could feel it.

Grabbing the rope, she glanced at her watch.

Where the hell was her team?

As she approached Jagger, he took the rope, tied it around his waist, and then secured it to the side of the bridge.

He hoped it held.

Really, he didn’t want to get wet.

“Are you sure you want to do this? Rescue will be more than happy to save the day.”

“Yeah, I got this.” Part of it was masculine pride, and part was his desire to be the hero for Roxy. It was lame, stupid, and he didn’t understand why he was doing it.

She was just another woman.

He climbed over, and lowered himself down to the body.

“Can you start taking pictures?” she asked. “Use your phone. Roxy hates when we move the body before she sees it.”

He could do that.

“About her...?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s her deal? She’s intense.”

Bishop found that amusing since so was Jagger. The man was like a puzzle inside a puzzle inside two more puzzles. He didn’t speak much. When he did, it was succinct, and she was amused that the two of them had connected.

“She’s crazy and out of control.”

“Yeah, I figured that out.” It was right about the time she’d talked him into bareback sex twice. Jagger, at his wildest, never dared to screw a woman without a condom.

It was…reckless.

“Roxy had a rough childhood.”

“Really?” he said, snapping some pictures. That was funny because he’d had one too. When your dad was a mobster, you had shitty luck like that. His mother, the only woman, other than his sister who he ever loved, was blown up in a car bomb meant for the mob guy.

That was as shitty as it came.

“I can’t give you too much information,” Bishop stated. “It’s really not my place to talk about it.”

He understood.

“You’re her best friend, huh?”

“Yeah, and I have been since she came to Ravenswood. Her granddad took her in and raised her after…”

She stopped talking.

“After what?”

“Can you check his pockets?” Bishop asked.

Jagger did just that.

“I have a wallet.”

He tossed it up to her.

Bishop caught it. Not far away, she heard the hum of an engine. It looked like the team was finally coming. That was a damn good thing because she didn’t want to spill Roxy’s secrets. They were hers to tell.

Flipping through the wallet, she found the license. It was Earl Thorpe.

“I have a note. It’s tucked into his mouth.”

Yeah, this was their killer’s handiwork.

“I bet it’s going to be three of seven,” she said, leaning over the rail to look.

He didn’t doubt it.

“Do you have gloves?”

“No.”

“Don’t touch it. Roxy will dig it out for us when she does the autopsy.”

Jagger agreed.

He glanced up. “Don’t lean over too far. You don’t want to fall from there. You’ll knock yourself out going into the water. Hand me down the other line, and I’ll get it attached to the noose. We can try to lift him up.”

She was good with that.

The engine got louder. It sounded like someone was headed their way, but going way to fast.

Even Jagger heard it.

It registered.

“Sheriff!”

She turned in time to see the lights.

The car was barreling right toward her.

“Shit!”

She had to move fast. Bishop jumped out of the way, hitting the rail of the narrow bridge as the car blew by, clipping her in the hip. It kept going, and so did she.

The hit stunned her, knocking her off balance. Her weight pushed her back, and she began falling over the edge.

Jagger reached for her, his fingers just touching her arm as she fell past him.

He watched her tumble into the swirling water.

At the splash, he pulled his knife and sliced through his safety line.

It looked like he was about to prove a point.

He was taking a swim. He had a sheriff to save.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Lucian was in his foyer, putting down his last bag. All the sudden, he felt the static.

It came fast and furiously out of nowhere.

He heard her scream.

It would haunt him the rest of his life. Lucian knew who it was.

It was Bishop.

He’d know her voice anywhere.

The visions flashed and the colors exploded. He watched her falling, and then he felt the murky blackness cover her. He tasted water in his mouth.

It choked him.

Then he felt her go still as she went unconscious.

It was the most horrific thing he’d ever lived through in his life. Not only had he hurt her, pushing her away, but Lucian was forced to do something no one should ever have to experience in their life.

He felt the woman he loved drown, and there was nothing he could do.

In that moment, his life ended and he prayed that he’d die too.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Jagger fought to find her.

It was one hell of an effort. In the dark, in the swirling black water, it was like finding a needle in a soggy haystack, but he didn’t give up.

Marines didn’t let one go down without fighting to find them. You left no one behind, and he wasn’t going to leave Bishop to die.

That’s not how he rolled.

Tenacity was his middle name.

After going down about ten times, he finally found her.

It was her hair. It wrapped around his wrist, giving him something to hold onto. Pulling, he forced her body to the top, only to see she wasn’t breathing.

The gash on her head was bleeding, and her shirt was torn.

She was a mess.

He knew there wasn’t much time. If he wanted to save her, they needed to get to shore. With everything he had, he started swimming. Her dead weight sucked, but he couldn’t let her die. He focused on each stroke, pretending she was just a rucksack and this was training.

He couldn’t let nature win.

As he pulled her onto the rocky shore, he began CPR. With each push to her chest, he began saying a prayer. If there were a God, he’d save her. Jagger had seen too many good people go down for justice, and she needed a miracle.

“Come on, Bishop,” he muttered, breathing for her. “I need to get you to breathe.”

He kept going.

Finally, his efforts paid off.

Bishop began sputtering. She coughed up the water and opened her eyes. Then she moaned.

“Jesus,” Jagger said, pulling off his t-shirt. He was soaked, but her head wound was bleeding pretty badly.

“Asshole,” she muttered.

“I love you too. I guess we won’t be getting married now. Too bad. I love a wedding.”

He was trying to get her to laugh.

Anything.

He was shaken that she’d almost not made it.