SPIRIT OF CONSEQUENCE (A Spirit Walking Mystery Book 1) (15 page)

Chapter 15

Dodge sat up. “Yes?”

“Are you all right, Dodge?”

It was Dexter.

I whispered, “He’s worried about you.”

“Wait until I tell him I’m sleeping with a ghost.” Dodge laughed.

“Dodge?” Dexter’s voice was tentative.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes. I’m just getting into the shower.”

“Okay.”

Dodge grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

“Where are we going?” I said as he hauled me across the room and into the bathroom.

“I don’t want to lie to my best friend. I need a shower. How do you like your water?”

“Hot.”

He kissed my neck and nibbled on my ear. “You don’t need water for that.”

“But Dexter’s waiting.”

“Okay, fine.” Dodge reached in and turned on the water.

I stepped into the shower and handed him a washcloth. “I’ll do your back if you’ll do mine.”

He stepped in, turned me around, and pulled me close to him. “I like your front better.”

Several minutes later we heard a knock on the bathroom door.

Dodge jerked his head around and bellowed, “What?”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Dodge?” Dexter asked.

I started to giggle. Dodge put his hand over my mouth.

“I’ll be out in a minute. Can’t a guy take a shower in peace?”

He turned off the water and got two towels. He started drying me off.

I giggled again and he frowned at me. “He can’t hear me, remember?”

Dodge rolled his eyes, threw the towel at me, and then dried himself.

He put his foot on top of the toilet seat and dried his legs. I slipped up behind him and pushed my body against him.

He turned his head, scowled at me, and whispered, “That’s not fair.”

“I know, but it feels so good to have you up against me.” I stepped back and dried his back. “Remember I’ve been dead for a long time. That’s five years without touching or being held by another person.”

Dodge turned around, pulled me close to him, snuggled his face into my long red hair, and whispered, “I’m not letting go, either.”

“Who are you talking to, Dodge?” Dexter called through the door.

Dodge looked at me and then back at the door. He shrugged. “Samantha surprised me with a visit. She’s in here with me.”

“Great, I’d like to meet her.”

Dodge reached over and traced my skin with his fingers. He started at my throat and then went down the middle of my breast. When he got below my belly, I gasped.

He snickered, and said, “Well, she’s not really dressed to meet company.”

I changed immediately into a pair of jeans and tank top. “I’m ready now.”

He frowned at me and shook his head. “I’m not ready to explain you to Dexter. I will someday, but not today.”

I changed back into the red slinky negligee and smiled.

He shook his head, wrapped the towel around his waist, opened the bathroom door just a crack, and slid out.

As I passed through the door and sat on the bed, Dexter moved from standing in front of the bathroom to near the bed.

Dodge pointed to his clothes. “Hand me my clothes, will you?”

Dexter picked up Dodge’s clothes and brought them to him.

Dodge grabbed them, but Dexter wouldn’t let go.

“What?” Dodge said.

Dexter leaned in. “You look better than you have in a month, I’ll give her that. But are you sure hooking back up with her is a good idea?”

I nodded at Dodge.

“It’s fine, Dexter. Don’t worry about me so much.”

“But I do. When she left last time, she ripped your heart out and I had to suffer the consequences.”

“What consequences?”

“A surly and bad-tempered partner with self-destructive tendencies.”

“I was not.”

“Yes, you were.” Dexter threw the clothes at Dodge. “Go get dressed. I don’t want to see your naked body.”

Dodge went back into the bathroom. I stood up and came over to Dexter. He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

“Hey, Jess, guess who’s back in town?”

A pause.

“Yeah, and he’s as happy as a boy with a new toy.”

A longer pause.

“No, I didn’t find out her last name.”

“I will then I’ll call you back. We need to find out who this dame is before she breaks his heart again.”

Dexter closed his phone and put it back in his pocket as Dodge came out of the bathroom. Dodge grinned from ear to ear. Okay, he did look like a boy with a new toy.

“Where’s my gun?”

Dexter tilted his head toward the end of the bed. “On the ground where you threw it so you could jump in bed with what’s-her-name.”

“Samantha.”

“Yeah, what’s her last name?”

“Wait!” I yelled.

Dodge whipped his head around and looked at me.

Dexter drew his gun and pointed it in my direction. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Dodge picked up his gun and shoulder holster. “I though I heard a noise.”

“He doesn’t trust me, Dodge. He called his wife. They want to check up on me. They’ll find out that I’m dead.”

Dodge shrugged. “Her last name is Gerald. Samantha Gerald.” He put on his shoulder holster and inserted his gun.

“Where’s she from?”

Dodge looked over at me and frowned. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t know that much about her. When I find out, I’ll let you know.”

“Well, I’m anxious to meet her.”

“Another time, Dexter, I promise.” Dodge headed for the door.

Dexter bent over and picked up a medallion. “I see you still have your medal from the vendor at the airport.”

Dodge smiled. “Yeah, leave it to Las Vegas to have a guy at the airport who sells good-luck charms.”

“With patron saints for every occupation imaginable,” Dexter added.

“Unfortunately, he hasn’t sold three of one kind to anyone or we’d have our killer and be on our way home.”

“We just couldn’t be that lucky,” Dexter grumbled.

Dodge frowned at him. “Where’s your usual optimism this morning?”

“I lost it along with the hundred dollars I left at the blackjack table before I came up here.”

Dodge gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Come on, Dexter. Let’s go see what we’ve got on this latest murder.”

Dexter followed Dodge out the door.

I tried to remember how much I had told Dodge about myself. He didn’t know that much about me, did he? I told him everything I had done since I died, but not before. He knew I used to have money, that my parents were dead, and that I had a pony on my third birthday. That was it.

Dexter would find out more just by putting my name into the Internet. There were probably a few things I should share with Dodge before Dexter told him. I followed the two men down the hallway and as I passed a large diamond-shaped mirror on the wall, I stopped to fix my hair. It was nice to be able to run my fingers through it instead of going right through my skull. My reflection looked strange, a little blurry. The mirror must be in need of cleaning. I pushed my hair behind my ears and hurried to catch up with Dodge and Dexter standing by the elevator door.

When Dodge saw me, he smiled.

Dexter laughed and patted Dodge on the back. “Stop smiling like that, Dodge, or everyone in the conference room will know you got yourself laid while we all worked.”

“They’ll just be jealous. Samantha’s a beautiful woman with skin like silk and,” Dodge sighed, “an ass…”

“Stop! I don’t want to hear about her, especially with Jessica undercover in Virginia someplace.”

Dodge put his arm around Dexter’s shoulder. “Sorry, Dexter. When’s Jessica due home?”

“Some time this decade, I hope.”

The elevator opened and the three of us stepped inside.

Dexter pushed three on the elevator panel. “We’ve got a conference room in the back of the third floor.”

“Our files on the other two cities should be there by now. We can run a comparison among all of the victims and see if we can find anything that ties them together.”

“Besides not following in their parents’ religious footsteps.”

“Yes, there’s got to be more than that. How is the killer finding out about these women’s religious upbringing?”

“We haven’t been able to answer that question, either.” Dexter shrugged.

“The killer’s holding all the cards and we don’t have anything.”

“Don’t tell him that.” Dexter laughed. “He’ll just get a big head.”

Dodge snapped his fingers. “Maybe that’s what we should do.”

“What?”

“Let me think about it for a minute.”

“Okay,” Dexter shrugged and mumbled, “I hate it when I have a good idea and I don’t even know what it is.”

The elevator opened and I followed the two men down the hallway. They stopped in front of a door that said Conference Room 3. Dexter opened the door and we walked in.

In the center of the room stood a large conference table where Marge sat, going through files. She looked up when we came in, first at Dodge and then at Dexter.

“What’s up?”

Dexter shook his head. “I’ll tell you later.”

Dodge didn’t notice the exchange; he walked directly over to a gentleman sitting at the end of the table looking at photographs. He wore a conservative dark blue suit, heavily starched white shirt and black tie. His reading glasses perched low on his large nose.

“I’ve got an idea, Stan,” Dodge told him.

Stan raised his thick, dark eyebrows. “Let’s hear it.”

Dodge tilted his head toward the door. “Walk with me and if you think it’s a good idea, we’ll set it into motion.”

“Okay.” Stan got up and he and Dodge left the room.

Stan must be another cop, so Dodge didn’t need me. Besides, I was more interested in what Marge and Dexter would talk about.

Dexter sat down next to Marge.

“What’s with our boy?”

“Samantha showed up.”

“The girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“That’s convenient, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“She was in San Francisco and now she’s in Vegas.”

“So?”

“I wonder if she was in Charlton and New York, too.” Marge raised her eyebrows.

Dexter yanked his head back. “You think she has something to do with these murders?”

Now, that’s an idiotic suggestion. I guess it is possible now since I can touch things.

“Could be. You know how serial killers like to inject themselves into an investigation.”

Dexter removed his phone from his jacket pocket. “We’d better find out exactly who Samantha Gerald is.”

Did they seriously consider me a suspect? That’s ridiculous!

Wouldn’t they be surprised when they found out I died five years ago? Then Dodge could tell them it was some other Samantha Gerald. As far as I knew, there wasn’t another one.

How long would it take to find out about someone? Not long. I slipped out of the room as I heard Dexter ask someone to run a fast check on Samantha Gerald.

Dodge walked back up the hallway and smiled.

I held up my hand. “I need to talk to you.”

“Later, Samantha. I’m going on television in a few minutes.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to tell the killer that he made a mistake. I’m having a priest brought over from a local church. He’s going to say that Tami was a regular on Sundays.”

“Why?”

“To see what the killer will do. So far he hasn’t made one little mistake. There’s no forensic evidence at the crime scenes. No one has seen him with the girls. So far it’s been perfect. I want to shake him up a bit.”

“That’s fine, but we’ve got bigger problems.”

“What?”

“Dexter and Marge think I could be the killer.”

“What?” Dodge scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, well. They don’t think so. I’ve been in all the cities where the murders took place. They’re doing a check on me.”

“So?”

“I’m dead, remember?”

“I’ll just tell them you’re a different Samantha Gerald.”

“But…,”

“I’ve got to go, Samantha. I’ll talk to you later.” Dodge ran down the hall and entered the conference room.

Okay, Dodge could probably understand the sealed juvenile record, maybe even the three stints in rehab, but what would he say about the fact that I was married?