SPIRIT OF CONSEQUENCE (A Spirit Walking Mystery Book 1) (21 page)

“It’s a name I’ve heard you say when you’re sleeping. Who called you that?”

“Uncle George.”

Dodge nodded.

“Dodge, the people in this room are really upset. Some are angry, others are afraid, and most are both.”

“Perfect.”

“Perfect? How can that be perfect? I’ll never be able to spot the killer with all these emotions running wild. It’s going to be easy for him to hide in all this.”

“Not really.”

“What?”

“If you were the killer right now and you knew that someone in here could sense you, what would you be doing?”

“Keeping my emotions in check.”

“Exactly, you’re going to find the ones that are calm. The ones that aren’t angry or scared.”

I nodded. It was a good plan.

Dodge waved at Dexter, who came over. “Okay we’ve got them all locked in, now what?”

“Let’s separate out this crowd. Some of these people are over seventy years old. I don’t think they’re our killer. Let them go.”

“Okay, anyone else?”

“Yes, there are a few kids here. Let them and their parents go. What killer drags their kids with them?”

Dexter nodded and started toward Marge, who stood at the podium deliberately not answering any questions.

Dodge looked at me and waved toward the crowd, “Go mingle, Samantha. See what you can sense.”

“Okay.” I wandered around and through people. Most people weren’t as afraid as they were angry to be stuck in this room. Many thought about family members or friends who were supposed to be picking them up.

Marge had everyone stand up, and Dexter and the other officers separated out people. Women in one group, men in another. The elderly, parents and their children were released.

“Trying to find me, little lady?” I heard him call to me. It wasn’t a voice, just a feeling. He was much better at channeling his thoughts than I was.

“Yes,” I sent back.

“It’s kind of nice to find someone I can communicate with on such a basic level. Who are you?”

If I told him my name and that I was a ghost, would he believe me? Probably not. So I lied. “I’ve always had the ability to communicate like this, but mostly with animals. I can’t usually talk to people.”

“Not surprising, most people are idiots. Me, on the other hand, I’m a genius. That’s probably why we can talk.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and sensed that he knew it.

“Have you always had such a bad attitude?” he asked.

“Shut up.”

He laughed. God help me, I felt him laugh and it sent a shiver up my spine.

“They’re going to catch you.”

“No.” He laughed harder. “I’m too smart for that. I’ve always got an escape route. That’s why I’ve never been caught and I never will be. God is on my side, not theirs.”

“What happened to that little commandment about not killing?”

“They’re sinners. It’s my calling. I have to save them and I do.”

“You’re insane.”

“True geniuses have always been viewed as crazy. I’m no different.”

I didn’t know what to say to this guy. He was nuts. How do you have a normal conversation with a lunatic? Maybe I could get some information for Dodge. Might as well give it a try, I thought. “Tell me your name.”

“James.”

“I read your note.”

“Then you already knew my name.”

“I knew that you borrowed some lines from the fifth chapter of James.”

“My words, so I didn’t borrow them.”

“You really think that you’re one of Jesus’ disciples? That would make you over two thousand years old. You’re not a ghost, so you can’t be that old.”

“Let’s just say I’m continuing His work.”

“Then you’re a man. None of Jesus’ disciples were women.”

“Yes, I’m a man.” He laughed. “Do the stupid police think that I could be a woman?”

“You didn’t have sex with the victims.”

“That would be rape. I’m not a rapist,” he shouted at me. “I’m a disciple. I saved those women.”

I felt the surge in his emotions and moved closer. If I could make him angry, I might be able to get even closer. I pushed. “I don’t think those women felt saved. You entered their rooms, you violated their world.”

“I did not!” He shouted and his emotions rose.

I stepped closer. “There are all types of violation. You violated them, then you desecrated their bodies.”

“No, I didn’t do anything to their bodies. I laid them out like Jesus.” His emotions dipped, from anger to almost caring. “I gave them a medallion.”

“A medallion of a patron saint doesn’t do anyone any good when they’re already dead!” I shouted at him.

“It was a gift to them, I gave them a gift.”

“Then you tattooed the body.”

“No, the stone was a symbol of their penance. Everyone has to do penance.”

“You didn’t give them a chance to do penance. You killed them before they could do it, so they died without doing penance which means that they weren’t saved and won’t get into heaven.” Another few steps and I should be able to see him. His emotions were so close, it felt like I could reach out and touch him.

“No, I saved them.”

“No, you condemned them!”

“Samantha?” Dodge called.

“No,” I put my hand up. “Stay away, Dodge.”

He laughed. “Your friend is coming, Samantha.”

He knew my name now.

“It was nice talking to you. It’s time for me to go.”

Dodge came over and stood by my side. “I need you to come and help me do the interviews.”

I shook my head. “It’s a man and he was right here. He could talk to me.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he could use his emotions to send me messages. We talked.”

“Okay, I want to know everything he said.”

“Dodge, he’s got an escape route planned.”

“Where?” Dodge looked around the room.

“I don’t know. He was sure he could get out of here.”

The back door to the auditorium burst open and a dozen firemen came running in, carrying hoses and wearing oxygen masks.

Dodge whipped his head around. “What’s going on?”

Then the sprinklers came on and water streamed down. People covered their heads, running, and screaming. Everyone rushed toward the open door, all in a state of panic. Their fear of being trapped in a fire escalated their emotions well beyond their earlier fears. They all wanted out!

Dodge screamed into his radio and ran toward the open door, “Close the doors. Close the doors! He’s going to get away!”

I followed him and then stopped. When I turned around, I saw one man open the front door. He paused and then nodded toward me. His dark eyes looked right into mine. “Until we meet again, Samantha.”

Then, he was gone.

Chapter 22

Dodge ran around trying to catch some of the people who’d gotten out of the auditorium before the doors closed again. I went over and sat down in the nearest chair. What a strange feeling it had been talking to someone who so clearly was out of his bloody mind! I wanted to laugh, but a shiver ran up my spine every time I thought about the man who had killed ten women in the name of God.

A few minutes later, Dodge came back to me. “Let’s get started on those interviews.”

“Forget it, Dodge.”

“What?”

“He got out during the confusion with the fire department.”

Dodge frowned. “How do you know?”

“I saw him go. He nodded and said goodbye to me.”

Dodge sat down next to me. “Shit!”

“It was a good plan.”

“His was better.”

I shrugged.

“Did you sense him or did you actually see him leave?”

“Oh, I saw him. He made sure of that.”

Dodge’s face brightened. “Could you work with a sketch artist and give us a likeness to work with?”

I laughed.

“What?”

“How many sketch artists do you know who will work with ghosts?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

I reached over and touched his face. “It’s nice that you forget that I’m a ghost.”

He smiled and squeezed my hand. “Can you draw?”

“Stick figures and houses out of shapes.”

“Me, too.”

“Sorry.”

“No, there’s got to be a way to do this.” He got up and paced.

Dexter came over. “Okay, Dodge. We’re ready to start the interviews.”

“Forget it.” Dodge shook his head and waved his hand in the air.

“What?” Dexter asked.

“He got out during the confusion with the fire department.”

“How do you know?” Dexter stared at Dodge and then frowned. “Oh, I know. Your source.”

Dodge smiled. “She saw the guy.”

Dexter’s face lit up. “That’s good. Bring her in and let’s get a look at this creep.”

“She won’t come in.”

“Why not?”

“Just trust me. She can’t. How else can we get the sketch?”

“Once I worked with a victim who was petrified of going out of her house and of people. I sat with her and the sketch artist worked on a computer in another building. He sent the sketches, she’d say what was right or wrong, and then we’d adjust the picture. Would she go for that?”

“Yes, I’m sure she would.” Dodge said without even looking at me.

“Okay, I’ll set it up with the Vegas PD.”

Dexter left and Dodge turned to me. “Why don’t you go back to the hotel? I’ve got to get these people out of here and square everything with the Thorntons and the hotel. I might be a little while.”

“Okay, I could use a nap, anyway.”

Dodge frowned at me. “Don’t sleep too long. It usually does more damage than good.”

I sighed. “I know, but I can barely keep my eyes open.”

He nodded and walked toward Marge and the groups of people he still had corralled in the auditorium.

I took a cab back to the Circus Extraordinaire and went directly to the room. The bells, whistles, and even the flashing lights of the casino didn’t even interest me. I went directly to the bed and lay down. Sleep came immediately.

I was back in my hospital room, floating above my body. Why did I keep visiting the room where I died? What dragged me back there in my dreams? I must be close to death because I looked terrible - gray skin and more tubes. Maybe that was the point. Maybe I had to relive dying so I could move on.

Jed came into the room. His face was drawn and somber. God, how I wished I could reach out and touch him. He walked over and sat in the chair by my bed.

He took my hand. “I’m so sorry, Ace.”

I smiled. For as long as I could remember, that had been his nickname for me. We had done everything together. In my mind we were siblings. He was my older brother.

Jed stroked the side of my face. Then he shook his head. “This is
not
what you would have wanted, lying here with machines keeping you alive. What was my dad thinking? I’ve fought him, Ace. I’ve fought for the last year for you and finally I think I’ve convinced him to let you go.” He stood and patted my hand. “Remember Ace. Full speed ahead. Fly high, fast, and free. Take what you want and never look back!” Jed left the room.

That had been our saying about everything. We were each other’s best friend, confidant and gossip partner. We never hesitated to try anything or do anything. Jed introduced me to my first drink, my first hit of Zeon, and my first dabble into illegal activities. Now that I looked back on it, we were more than just a little out of control. Each new experience was more dangerous than the one before. Driving with my eyes closed, that was Jed’s idea. I remember the first time we did it. He sat next to me.

“I’ll grab the wheel if you make a wrong turn, Ace.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him.

“Fast and free!” He smiled, then winked. “Trust me.”

I did so I gunned the engine of my Jaguar and took off down the road. The first time he grabbed the wheel a few times, but after the second or third time, I had the rhythm of the road. I opened my eyes once, and looked over at him. His eyes were closed and his hands were in the air. He smiled the way he always did when he was totally zoned, whether it was from drugs, alcohol, or life.

We had so much fun together. Seeing him there reminded me that he was right. I wouldn’t have liked living like a zombie, kept alive with tubes. Obviously, he had won the battle with Uncle George – the tubes had been pulled. I had died. Now I seemed to be finally passing over to another place beyond this earth.

I wasn’t ready to move on, not yet. I needed to help Dodge find the maniac that killed those women, to see something through without running away from it and, maybe, to see myself married to a man that I truly loved. If I could just make it until Friday, I could move on, maniac or not.

Then I was back in the hotel room and Dodge came in through the door. I sat up. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Dodge glanced around the room, his face first showed disappointment, then concern. “Samantha? Where are you?”

“I’m over here, Dodge, in the bed.”

No response.

He looked into the bathroom and shook his head. “Maybe she’s down in the casino getting a jolt.”

Oh no, he couldn’t see me anymore. Now what?

Dodge opened up his laptop on the desk and turned it on. Then he was on his phone. “Yeah, I’ve got my computer on. No, she’s not here yet.”

I got up and came over to where he worked.

An outline of a face came on the screen, but it was very dark.

Dodge adjusted some controls and the picture came into better focus. It was definitely a man’s face, but generic. It didn’t look like anyone and in the same sense, it looked like everyone.

“I’ve got the preliminary sketch. I’ll call you as soon as the witness gets here.”

I waved my hands in front of his face. “I’m already here, Dodge. You just can’t see me anymore.”

Dodge started to pace. “Okay, Samantha. Where are you?” He couldn’t hear me, either.

Now what? I started to pace with him. Mental patients could sense me, psychics, too. Babies and drunks. That’s it. Dodge needed to take a drink! Now how could I get him to take it?

Dodge paced the room and I walked alongside. After thirty minutes, he stopped pacing and sat down on the bed. “Where are you, Samantha?”

“I’m right here, Dodge!” I yelled.

He got up again. Great, we’re going to do another million miles around the hotel room. “It’s been too long. If you were just out getting a fix, you’d have been back by now. You said you’d never leave me again, Samantha. What’s this about? Wait. Are you here and I can’t see you?”

“Bingo! Give that man a cigar!”

“Okay. You took a nap and now I can’t see you. That’s bad on so many levels, Samantha. How do I see you again?”

“Take a drink!”

“What did she say? Mental patients, babies, and psychics. That’s not going to help.” Then he smiled and walked over to the small refrigerator in the room. He opened it and dragged out several little bottles. “And drunks!”

He started opening the little bottles and swallowing the contents in just one gulp. After the third, he sat down.

I reached over and touched him on the shoulder. “You better stop or you’ll pass out.”

When he looked up and into my eyes, there were tears in his. “Ah, there you are.”

“I’m here, love.”

“I thought I lost you.”

“I’ll always be with you, one way or the other.” I grabbed his arm and stood him up. “Let’s get to that sketch.”

He stumbled a few times, but I finally got him over to the desk. “Dial the sketch artist.”

“It’s a good thing it was the last number that I dialed, I’m not sure I could push these stupid little buttons in this condition.” He pressed the speaker button on the phone and then pushed redial.

A voice answered on the first ring. “Well, that took long enough. I’ve been sitting by this phone for almost an hour.”

Dodge took a deep breath. “It took me longer to find the witness than I thought.”

“Are you okay, Dodge?” the voice asked.

“Yeah, I might be coming down with a cold or something, so my voice may sound a little strange.”

“Oh, okay, what does the witness think about the sketch?

Dodge looked at me.

“Head is too big and the nose is too big.”

Dodge relayed the information. This went on for another thirty minutes. In the end I nodded at Dodge. Small round head, petite nose, tiny deeply set eyes. Everything about this man was diminutive. Maybe that was the root of his problem.

“It’s a good likeness,” I said.

“Okay, Todd. Get this picture to the local cops and the Feds. Then get it out to all the television stations and newspapers. I want to see this guy’s face everywhere I look. Set up the hotline numbers and list them on the bottom of the picture.”

“You got it, Inspector.”

Dodge closed his phone and stared at the screen. “Have I seen this guy before?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Dodge shook his head and lost his balance. He grabbed the side of the desk.

“You need to get that alcohol out of your system, Dodge.”

He reached over and touched the side of my face. “You might disappear.”

“I didn’t last time you got sober.” I nodded toward the coffeepot on the vanity. “Remember all that coffee you drank trying to get rid of me?”

“Okay, but you stay where I can see you. If you start to disappear, I’m having another drink.”

“You can’t spend your life drunk, Dodge.”

“Sure I can,” he said. He went over and made a pot of coffee.

I sat down on the bed.

He was all thumbs, trying to make the coffee. He dropped the filter twice and spilled an entire package of coffee grounds on the floor. Finally he got the pot filled with water and started. The he leaned against the counter.

When the coffee finished, he poured a cup and brought it over to the bed. He grabbed my thigh. “Now, stay here.”

“I’ll give it my best shot.”

Dodge drank the coffee. Each time he took a sip he would look over and make sure that I was still next to him. When he finished a cup, he would get another. Then he would grab my leg and drink. Like holding my leg would actually keep me from disappearing.

Something must have worked because after two pots he was sober and I was still visible.

He smiled. “Good.” He let go of my leg, reached over to my face and turned it toward him.

He kissed me and shook his head. “Good, all of you is here, not just your leg.”

“I’m all here,” I wanted to add, “for the moment,” but didn’t.

“Tell me about what went on in the ballroom.”

“You mean between me and the killer?”

“Yeah, you said he could talk to you.”

“It was weird. It wasn’t like real words, but sensations.”

“What did the two of you talk about?”

“At first it was general. He was surprised to find someone he could communicate with, and then I started baiting him.”

“Why?”

“You said he did everything right, that he needed to make a mistake.”

“True.” Dodge nodded.

“I told him what he was doing was wrong.”

Dodge huffed. “I’m sure he didn’t care what you thought.”

“It wasn’t just that. I told him that he was doing it in the wrong order.”