Sidekicks (19 page)

I'd never been more confused. "What motive?"

"I'm guessing revenge. Not that any of them did anything to him." Cooper zoned in on Simms. "It was your wife who set you off, wasn't it?"

"You're damned right it was. That bitch took my kids to New Orleans to live with her crazy family. She's even married someone down there. They have a stepdad now who's in their lives 24-7 while I'm stuck in this shit hole with a couple of weeks in summer and one fuckin' holiday."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "But those women were innocent!"

"No woman is innocent. Present yourself as a so-called 'nice' man with a little cash, and they'll all crawl right into your pocket. I figure I'm saving some other guy from needless heartache. Besides, I can't kill my ex without hurting my kids. She might be a terrible wife, but she's a hell of a mother."

"How long have you known?" I asked Cooper, trying to stall even though I had no idea what might come next.

"Just figured it out. Contrary to what he thinks, my sidekicks are taking their sweet time coming back." He stared at Simms. "So what happens now?"

"Now? I dig two more graves in the woods. Ironic, isn't it, that you're going to end your life on the old family property." He chuckled. "Bet your parents will be so moved."

My blood ran cold. "Did you kill those women here?"

"Some of them, but not before they wished they'd never been born."

I shuddered, thinking how close I'd come to driving up on him that night not so long ago.

"I knew it was only a matter of time once you came on the scene." Simms shook his head, obviously thinking things over. "Are they here now? All the women dying to tell?" He chuckled at his sick wording.

"I think they're afraid of you," I told him.

He really laughed then. "They're smart to be."

Desperate to get out of there, I deliberately shifted my glance to the left of him and tensed.

Simms looked over his shoulder even as he drew a gun from inside his rain slicker. "What do you see?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying. Who's here?"

"No one."

Weapon in hand, he started toward me. Cooper intercepted him, throwing a punch that landed on his jaw. Caught off guard, Simms staggered back, but recovered and dove at him, dropping his gun in the process. Screaming, I jumped back to keep from getting mowed down by their fist fight, but then scrambled forward to get the gun. When my fingers closed over it, I threw the thing toward the back of the barn. I did not hear it land.

Though not as tall as Cooper, Simms had brawn and training. He quickly got the best of Cooper, who fell into the hay only to jump up and charge him again. Knowing a teen could never win this fight, I grabbed the heavy metal spotlight off the ground. I wielded it, waiting for my moment. Seeing one, I swung the thing at Simms's head as hard as I could.

It definitely connected.

Yelling a curse and spewing blood, he whirled on me. Cooper grabbed him from behind in a chokehold. Even in the bluish light provided by lightning flashes, I could see Simms's bloody face turning darker. He thrashed around, jerking Cooper all over, but couldn't break free. Wondering if the injury I'd inflicted might be to blame, I hovered just out of the way until the man went limp.

Cooper let him drop to the ground. "Run, Mia!"

I darted toward the door only to stop when I realized he wasn't following.

"Run! I'll be right behind you."

Oh how I wanted to argue. But Cooper had enough on his hands. Ducking into the wet, I charged up that gravel drive. In seconds, Cooper caught up and grabbed my hand. We hauled butt to the truck. All I could think about was how differently this night might've gone if Simms had gotten there after us. He'd undoubtedly have spotted the truck and left. Nothing bad would've happened.

I handed Cooper his keys. He touched a button on his entry remote. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. Once more. Nothing.

"Fuck!" Cooper raised the hood, while I hugged myself and hopped from one foot to the other trying to get warm. "He took the battery."

"What?" I crowded in.

"He. Took. The. Battery."

"Oh my God." Simms
had
found the truck. "What do we do?"

"Run." Cooper grabbed my hand again and we took off, sprinting as fast as we could down the remainder of that graveled drive. Water pooling in low spots splashed up onto our legs, but by then it didn't matter. We couldn't get any wetter.

Just as we reached the road and stopped, I heard something. "Was that a car starting?"

Cooper tried to look back, but that old driveway curved so we couldn't see anything. A motor revved. "Shit!"

Panting, terrified, I could barely speak. "What do we do? What do we do?"

"Hide. There's a cornfield over there." He pointed to a cornfield across the two-lane from us.

Yet again, Cooper took my hand. With our fingers laced together, we ran to that field and negotiated a barbed wire fence. I tried to look back as Cooper charged ahead, parting seven-foot-high corn stalks to let us pass through them. Heavy with rain and long dead, they fell to each side of the path we'd forged. "We're leaving a trail. He'll find us."

Cooper turned to check. "Okay, I can fix that." I realized he sounded muffled, almost as if he had a cold. "You go down this row a ways and keep to the ground. I'll go back and move things around to cover up."

I tightened our handhold. "Don't leave me. Please." A sob escaped, quickly followed by another. In seconds I cried as uncontrollably as I shivered.

He pulled me into his arms. "Okay. All right. We stay together."

Headlights hit the field head on. Simms, I knew. Just exiting the drive.

I gasped and ducked. Cooper ducked, too, urging me forward. We ran in a half squat for several yards before he stopped and motioned for me to stay low. I'd never been as scared as I was kneeling in that field in the pouring rain with lightning snaking over us and thunder reverberating through the sodden earth beneath our feet.

I don't know how long we huddled amongst those brown stalks, watching the headlights of Simms's Jag as he slowly drove past our field, u-turned, and came back, three times in all. When he stopped, I guessed it was because he knew we couldn't have gone far. Or maybe he'd finally noticed the tell-tale path that meant we'd hidden in the cornfield.

Desperate and frantic, I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and checked for bars. Three. I leaned closer to Cooper, keeping my voice a whisper. "We've got signal!"

"Down, Mia!"

The bright beam of Simms's spotlight swept the corn stalks above us. My heart rate kicked up a notch, making me slightly breathless. "9-1-1?"

"We're being hunted by a cop, okay? An off-duty cop who probably has a police radio in his car and a gun in his hand. 9-1-1 isn't going to work this time. Call your parents."

"They're at my aunt's, remember? They can't help. Call yours."

Cooper hesitated, but took the phone and punched in a number, pushing me lower down when that traitorous light beam swept our area again, just about head high. I thought I could hear a rustle that said Simms was getting closer and prayed the thunder would be louder than our voices.

"Patrick?" Cooper kept his voice very low. "I need to speak to Mom." Pause. "I can't talk louder, and this isn't about that. Would you please put on her on?" Pause. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you. Mia and I are in trouble. A cop is chasing us--" Abrupt pause. "Not cops.
Cop
. Just one. He's a serial killer, and--" Long pause. "Could you shut the fuck up and listen to me just this once? Call the sheriff and tell him that two teenagers need help now. Here's the address." He rattled it off. "Did you get that? Patrick? Patrick!" Cooper hissed a curse and killed the call. "I don't know if he'll do it or not."

I took my cell back. "Then I'll look up the number for the sheriff, and we'll call him ourselves."

A sound just ahead made us both duck even lower.

For the longest time, we clung to each other in silence with me holding my phone to my chest even though I'd killed the lighted display that would've given us away. Simms took his time, meticulously moving that spotlight from side to side with the thoroughness of a seasoned investigator determined not to miss a clue. How long had we been hiding? Five minutes? Fifteen? Thirty? It felt like forever, but we dared not move.

I thought I heard the distant wail of a siren. Or was that just the frigid wind? Barely breathing, I buried my face in Cooper's shoulder, waiting for the worst. But what happened next wasn't the 'worst' I'd been expecting.

My phone suddenly began blasting the Batman theme, which meant a call from my parents. I looked at it in horror, too shocked to think. Then I found the wits to mute it. Bright light pounced on us, illuminating our hiding place.

"I can see you," said Simms sounding very close by. "Come out now, or I'll shoot."

Too scared to think, I deferred to Cooper, who softly cursed again and then stood, stumbling just a little. I got to my feet, too. Glancing at him, I realized he had blood pouring out of his nose as well as a bloody lip, details I hadn't noticed in my panic.

Fury consumed me. Fury directed at Simms, who was not the hero I'd believed but a brutal murderer. Well, he wouldn't hurt anyone again--not if I could help it. Seeing that he was stepping closer and held a knife, not a gun, I closed my eyes, shut out the world, and focused inward, opening myself up to any victim that might be hovering just out of sight.

"What are you doing?" asked Simms, his tone wary.

I didn't let him shatter my concentration.

"I'm onto that shit," he said. "You won't fool me again."

Fool him? Not this time. I felt the approach of several female spirits and looked. One, three, five... Oh no. There were
seven
, all with those beautiful almond eyes and silky black hair. As one, they swept forward, encircling Cooper and me in soft spectral light. I felt my energy level drop with dizzying speed until I actually swayed on my feet.

Cooper grabbed my arm. "Mia, stop."

"Stop what?" Simms sounded even less confident. He stared at us and then stumbled back as my energy began to give his ghostly victims density, form, and brilliance. "What the hell..." His face twisted in disbelief and then horror. Yelling, he turned and ran as if they might pursue him. But harming Simms had never been the intention. These women simply wanted justice and, at that moment, to prevent two more murders.

Other victims could get revenge.

And they did.

Drained and decidedly shaky, I hadn't even noticed that Simms had his usual hazy aura. Or was it simply too dark to see? As always, it surrounded him, the color of a desert sandstorm in the bright spectral glow. Before Simms made it to the fence, that yellow cloud grew shockingly thick, taking on the shadowy shapes of humans I suddenly knew he'd slaughtered while in the military. Humans who weren't the enemy, but innocent citizens of a country he'd sworn to protect. In seconds, they completely engulfed him.

Shrieking, he wildly flailed his arms and fought attackers without substance. Simms clutched his throat with both hands, bending forward as he choked. I saw his eyes bulge and witnessed sand spraying from his mouth and nose. He fell to his knees, gasping, and then pitched forward onto the flattened corn stalks.

Cooper and I watched everything in horror, waiting for him to get up.

But he never moved.

With a sob, I turned to Cooper. His arms tightened around me; his heart pounded in my ear. The spirits around us began to fade, taking the last of my energy with them. But the boy I adored never let my sagging body hit the ground. Instead, he lifted me into his arms.

I slipped a hand around Cooper's neck and rested my head on his shoulder, one last worry on my mind.

"How will we ever explain this?"

"I don't think we'll have to."

"What?" It took a moment, but my supernatural daze began to ebb even as reality returned. I saw flashing lights--red, blue. I heard sirens, the wind, the rain, and voices. Excited voices.

"What the frick! Did you see that?"

"Hell yeah. Was that what it looked like?"

"Damned if I know."

Cops. At least three. And I didn't have a clue when they'd gotten there.

"Mia? Is that you?"

Knowing that voice well, I experienced a rush of pure relief. "Detective Pence?"

"Step aside, Bates. Haven't you ever seen a ghost before?" The man who'd first used me as a police psychic briefly illuminated Simms's body with his flashlight, knelt to take a neck pulse, and then stood. "One of you jacklegs make sure there's an ambulance on the way." He sidestepped the body and walked straight to us, shaking his head. "Damn bunch of rookies."

"Is he dead?" I asked.

"Yep." He didn't sound a bit upset as he shifted his attention to Cooper. "Detective Pence. You're Cooper Marsh?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are you two all right?"

"Yes." Knowing that his arms had to be aching, I made Cooper put me down. I immediately hugged Detective Pence, who I'd always loved and not just because he believed in me. "Aren't you on special assignment?"

"As we speak." He winked and let me step away.

Dazed and confused, I could only wonder what that was all about.

"Did my stepdad call you?" asked Cooper.

"He called 9-1-1 and Mia's folks. Tug called me."

Cooper frowned.

I realized my boyfriend didn't know my father's nickname. "That's Dad. He and Detective Pence went to high school together." I focused on the cop in question. "We've got so much to tell you, and most of it is going to sound really crazy."

"At this point, nothing could surprise me. I've been secretly investigating Simms for months now."

My jaw dropped. "So you know he's been killing women that look like his wife?"

"I do, and now I've got the evidence I need to prove it. Unfortunately he'll never go before a judge. But some families may finally get closure." Detective Pence raised his flashlight, directing the beam just a little to the left of my head so he could see my face. He sighed. "I think I saw enough tonight to say the two of you aren't considered suspects in the mysterious demise of Simms." He checked Cooper, too, flicking the light so he could watch his pupils react and get a better look at his nose. He also examined the backs of Cooper's hands, especially the right, which was bloody and swollen. "You'd better go to the ER."