Sidekicks (17 page)

With my sidekicks definitely working big time, I trailed him all the way there. He opened the doors and went right inside. I had to force myself to follow. I hadn't made it two steps before I saw the first apparition, a woman. As always, her lower body had little form, but I knew without seeing that there were bloodstains down her front.

My first instinct--to run--caused me to brake and pivot towards the door. But between me and escape floated another spirit. Female, bloody and bruised, she stared at me in silence. I gasped and fell back against Cooper who'd rushed up behind me.

His arms came around my body; he held me so tightly. I felt another presence behind Cooper and tried to see around him even as I yelled out. "What do you want with us?"

In my whole life, spirits had never been so silent. I could see, but I could not understand. Were their lips even moving? Before I could tell, I experienced a fourth mental tug and then a fifth.

That last spirit swooped toward us. As she briefly engulfed our bodies I began to choke. I felt a searing pain across my neck--pain that cut off my breath. Desperately gasping for air, I turned in Cooper's arm and grabbed a double handful of his shirt. My knees buckled. I'd have gone right down if he hadn't caught me.

The next thing I knew, fresh autumn air chilled my sweaty face. I reoriented to time and place. Thanksgiving. Cooper's barn. But that's not where I was, I realized the moment I opened my eyes. I sat on the passenger side of Cooper's truck. The door stood wide open, with him leaning in slightly, his worried gaze glued to mine.

I touched his cheek. "What happened?"

"I'm so sorry, baby. I shouldn't have come here. Never will again."

"Now that's just stupid," I said, furious with myself. "I'm fine now. Must've eaten too much turkey or something."

His dry laugh told me I hadn't fooled him with my lame lie. "I don't know what's going on, but someone with better sidekicks than us is going to have to figure it out. I say we call Detective Simms tomorrow and turn the place over to him until they've caught whoever is behind these murderers."

"But that could take years. And what if we're seeing these women because no one else can help?" When he didn't answer, I looked him in the eye or tried to. I belatedly realized his attention seemed to be focused on my neck. I automatically put my hand where he looked. "What? Oh, ouch."

Cooper reached over me to nab his flashlight even though we had sun left. He turned it on, sucking in a shocked breath. "Shit!"

"What? What?"

He flipped down the visor so I could see the mirror. I looked into it, tipping my head back for a better angle. A huge red welt stretched clear across my throat, scary as a clown's grin. I suddenly remembered the pain I'd felt. Was that why...? "Move." I pushed on Cooper to get him to step back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going back in that barn."

"Oh no you're not."

"Think you can stop me,
Mel/Patrick
?"

My naming names had the desired effect. "I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I just want to keep you alive."

"A spirit can't hurt me."

"One just did."

He had point. "Well, that was a first, and I'm sure there was a reason. The ones I've known up until now never have."

"These aren't the ones you've known."

"I just want to check on one thing, okay? I'll be fine." I jumped to the ground and slipped past him.

Cooper caught up with me, cursing the whole way. "This is freakin' crazy."

"Probably. Did you bring the flashlight?"

He held it up.

Though my heart jack hammered, I ducked back inside that barn. "I'm not scared of you. I want to help."

From the shadows, a female presence slipped into view. She appeared as a woman made of smoke--whitish, always in motion, impossible to see clearly beyond those almond eyes and all that hair.

"I can't see you very well. You can borrow some of my energy to help you manifest if you want."

"Mia! My God."

"I'll be okay."

"Like hell you will."

"Shh. You're scaring her."

"And you're scaring me."

Though goose bumps danced down my arms, I ignored them and focused on the wisp of a woman beginning to take form before us. The first thing I made out was her body, which came into focus. The dark stain on her blouse took on a pink cast that cost me in strength. Feeling me stagger, Cooper stepped behind me as he had before. His arms slipped around my body. When her face actually had golden-tan flesh tones, she tipped her head back to reveal a deep red gash across her neck.

I folded in two, screaming my horror. Cooper lifted me into his arms and lunged his way out of there. I clung to him when he staggered to a stop outside the door and immediately buried my face in his shoulder, well aware that his heart was beating as fast as mine.

"OhmyGod. OhmyGod. OhmyGod. Were they all like that? No wonder they can't talk to us." Knowing she simply wanted me to feel what she'd felt, I wasn't really afraid. But I was horrified. I wiggled until Cooper set me on my feet and then began to pace in a circle, my cold hands on my burning cheeks. "We've got to tell Detective Simms. He has no idea there are so many. If he did, he'd have the FBI involved."

"A serial killer in Martinsburg?"

It did sound too crazy to be true. But I now knew better. "Should I call him tonight so he can get hold of whoever he needs to?"

"I don't know. Those women all seem reluctant when it comes to the cops. Remember how that spirit disappeared when he got here? Maybe they've given up on that kind of help."

"Maybe, and it's actually too dark to see anything if he does come out here. I mean, we've tried that before." I stopped digging circles in the dirt with my feet and went to Cooper. We hugged, him with his chin resting on the top of my head. "Do you work tomorrow?"

"No."

"Will you go with me to the police station?"

"You know I will. Now let's get out of here."

I broke free of his embrace. "Just one more thing." Steeling myself, I peeked through those double doors into the shadowy interior of the barn. "We're leaving now, but I'll be getting you some help tomorrow. I promise."

It wasn't until we got home that I realized my neck was okay again. Apparently I now knew what I needed to know about cause of death. What I didn't know was who'd done it.

* * * *

On Friday, my parents left pretty early for a second Thanksgiving celebration at my aunt's house in Shreveport. I begged off, telling them my boyfriend and I had plans.

I called to be sure Detective Simms would be in his office before we went to see him just before lunch. He said he would and didn't ask questions, thank goodness. I didn't want to attempt an explanation over the phone.

Sergeant Mark waved us on back as if he knew why we were there. Detective Simms met us at his door and pointed to the chairs. "What's up?"

I told him I'd seen more apparitions in the barn.

He took a small notepad out of his pocket and began scribbling in it. "Apparitions plural?"

"Five."

Detective Simms's gaze clashed with mine. "
Five
?"

"Five. Are there five missing women?"

He sat back. "At the moment, there's one women currently missing in Martinsburg. Then there are the three bodies--"

I caught my breath. "Three?"

"Yes. The last victim died in the hospital. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to give us any information before she passed." He rubbed his buzzed head, frowning slightly. "You were there that afternoon, weren't you?"

"There where?" I asked.

"At the hospital. I just remembered it. You and Cooper, standing in the hall. You didn't, by any chance, see that woman's spirit depart her body, did you?"

I found myself wishing I'd confessed the sighting before. "I might've. I mean, I did see a ghost in the hall, and she looked very...new."

The detective's whole demeanor changed. He leaned forward, his gaze nailing me to my chair. "What did she tell you?"

"Not a thing, and that's the problem. I see these poor women, but they give me nothing. I don't understand why they're coming around at all. If they'd give me a clue, then I could help. Otherwise..." I shrugged, baffled. "Have you called in the FBI?"

"Not yet." Tension suddenly radiated from Detective Simms like heat from Tagliaro's brick oven. "I thought I told you to call me if you had anything to report."

I felt Cooper stiffen beside me. "No, you told us to stay out of it, which we did. When you gave us your card and said to call you, we did that, too."

Was it my imagination, or did the good detective seem a little put out to be corrected?

"You're exactly right," he said with a strained smile of apology. "Sorry if I'm a little short today. I'm getting some heat from the higher ups to call in the feds, but this is my case, and I hate to do that without more evidence that we really have a serial killer on our hands."

"But the FBI handles this type of thing all the time, don't they?"

"MPD is not without expertise of its own." As if hearing his own sharp tone, he gave me a sheepish smile and shrugged one shoulder. "Cops are territorial, Mia, and we're making progress. I've brought in several men for questioning and actually have a couple more coming in today. Naturally I'll call for reinforcements if my leads don't pan out."

I tactfully abandoned the touchy topic of federal assistance. "Do you think it would help if we went back to the barn together? There must be a reason they're there. Maybe I can talk them into coming out and telling us who killed them."

"What I want to know is why they hide from the law," said Cooper. "Especially if they're using Mia specifically to get to you."

I thought about that for a second. "Doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Let's do this," said Detective Simms. "Based on the number of spirits you've encountered, I want to check the surrounding parishes for missing persons' cases. Sometimes we don't share information the way they should. I'll call you two once I'm done, and we'll go back to the barn, maybe with some names of possible victims. That will demonstrate our sincerity."

"Sounds good to me," I said with a nod.

We left the detective's office soon after. On the way out, we saw another cop and a man walking down the hall toward the conference rooms. Dressed in a sloppy T-shirt and baggy jeans, he leered at me as we passed him. Cooper sort of flinched. But I didn't ask any questions then.

I waited until we got in the truck before drilling him. "Did you pick up something from that man in the hall?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"He's got blood on his hands."

That took my breath. "So he could be our serial killer?"

"I didn't get anything that specific, but yeah, I guess he could."

I suddenly felt a little better. To cancel out residual ickiness, we decided to eat somewhere and go to a holiday matinee. I suggested Tagliaro's, of course. Why pay when we could dine for free, right? And there was no restaurant warmer in décor or ambiance.

Having helped out with catering that one night, Cooper now knew several of the servers and greeted them by name when we got there. We ordered grilled chicken with risotto and, of course, ciabatta, my fav, which we dipped in olive oil to eat. All came in lunch sized portions. Cannolis with a creamy filling finished off the meal.

I loved that more than one person stopped by to speak with us. They all liked Cooper, and no wonder. What wasn't to like? Dressed in jeans that hugged all the right places and that maroon long-sleeve tee that looked so good with his tanned neck and face, he begged to be kissed. Saving that until we were outside, I pretty much attacked him in his truck, laying on a big fat smooch.

"What's that for?" he asked with a pleased grin.

"Because you're you. When we lost contact with one another, I figured I'd never see you again." I thought about that for a second. "Do you believe in fate?"

"Yes."

"So do I, which means I should probably write the legislators of our amazing state and thank them for interfering in parish business. Because if they hadn't, I'd be going to school in Ville Cachée and have no idea you lived just down the road a piece."

He got very serious. "I'm sorry I never contacted you when we moved to Louisiana. Believe me, I thought about it a lot." Cooper stared at the restaurant for a moment, though I don't think he was actually seeing it. "It's crazy to say I fell in love with you when I was eight, but I swear that's what happened."

"That's probably a little young for a first kiss, too, but we still did it."

Cooper grinned. "Yeah, and don't think I didn't brag about it when I got back home."

That made me grin, too.

"I need to check my PO box if you don't mind."

"Okay."

He twisted the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life. We didn't talk much on the drive to the post office. He left the motor running when he got out to go inside. I saw he had a couple of letters in his hand when he came back out. He held up one and grinned just as he got to the truck.

"Bet this is my deed."

I felt a thrill for him. How very cool to have land and a house, all paid for.

We looked at it together, skimming the legalese until we got to the map and physical description. I saw that all four corners had been defined by GPS coordinates and automatically checked to see if Cooper's unit was portable. It was.

"Do you really want to go to a movie?" he asked as if reading my mind.

"Only if you do."

"Not so much. Why don't we take a drive or something?"

"And where will we be going?" I had a pretty good idea.

"Well, I wouldn't mind exploring the woods around my house. That is, if you want to. We won't go anywhere near the barn."

I guessed his hesitancy stemmed from worry that I'd see more apparitions. Instantly, I needed to set him straight on something. "I'm not afraid to go there, if that's what you're thinking. The place is gorgeous, and I love it. I am sorry that the spirits of those poor women seem to be congregating in the barn, and I sure hope it's not because they died in it. But even if it is, I won't let that spoil everything. I hope you won't, either."