Supernaturally Kissed (Frostbite, Book One) (22 page)

It actually made sense. Just by meeting him, my life had changed dramatically in ways that could never be undone. I used my ability for good and my heart had opened up to ghosts more than it ever had. If I hadn’t felt the initial feelings for Kipp like I had, I never would have willingly helped him and for as long as I had. So there was the answer I wondered all along—meeting had been for both of us.

“That’s why it’s impossible to regret all of this,” Kipp continued. “Too much good came out of our meeting.”

I blinked away the remaining tears. “Are you one of those annoying people who are always right?”

“Yes.” He stood and waved for me to join him. “Come on, let’s get back to the others. I’d imagine they’ve probably dug deep enough. Any more time here and you’re likely to make me cry.” He smirked. “And I never do that.”

I pushed off the tree trunk. “Too manly to shed a few tears?”

“Yes.”

We headed away from the creek back to the clearing. I stayed lost in my thoughts, as did Kipp. But just as we reached the entrance to the clearing, a thought surfaced. “Am I going to barf when I see this?”

“I’d imagine it will just be bones now.”

The best news I’d heard since day one of the adventure. “Well, hallelujah for that.”

Kipp snickered. “I find it amusing real life scares you but ghosts don’t.”

“Real life is far more disturbing, let me tell you.” I kept my gaze focused on my feet so I didn’t stumble. “Ghosts can’t hurt you—people can be cruel and dead people are just gross.”

“Well, the thing about real thingsif you don’t like them, close your eyes.”

As I stepped into the clearing, I wanted to do exactly that. A pile of dirt sat just left of a four-foot hole. “I’m guessing that’s not a dinosaur?”

Zach glanced up as he knelt beside the hole and dirt smudged across his cheek. “I suspect we’ve found Hannah’s remains.” He reached in with a stick and lifted out what looked like a rag, but the teal color was still visible. “I believe this is her shirt.”

“Where’s Brody?” Kipp asked.

I used my flashlight to look around, but didn’t see him or Duke. “What happened to Brody?”

Eddie stood and wiped his dirty hands onto his pants. “He took Duke back to the car and is notifying Max of our location.” He swiped his hands together to remove the excess dirt and it dusted off into the air. “He’ll be back in a few—”

A cold breeze swept across me and drew my focus away from Eddie as I found Hannah next to me. “Hannah.”

“Yes, we already told you we suspect it’s Hannah.” Eddie made a face. “Who else would it be?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, idiot. Hannah’s here with us.” I pointed to where she stood. “She’s right there.” Eddie and Zach both exchanged a baffled look and glanced to where I pointed. But where they didn’t see Hannah, I did. “I thought you didn’t want to be here?” I asked her. “Why have you come?”

She gazed at the grave in front of her. “That’s me.”

“Er…we’re not sure yet.” My heart sank for her. Nothing about this could’ve been easy. I thought it might be worse to witness her skeleton than if she saw her body the day after she’d been killed. At least she’d recognize herself—this would be hard to accept.

“Do you remember anything now that you’re back here?” Kipp asked her, clearly shifting into detective mode. “Anything at all that could help us in the investigation?”

Hannah pondered, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. I only know what I’ve already told you. I know Percy, or whatever his name is, killed me. I know why he did it, but I can’t seem to remember anything else.”

Zach huffed, appearing annoyed he only heard my side of the conversation and aware a conversation was taking place. “Do you mind filling us in on what you’re all talking about?”

“Kipp asked her if she remembers anything else, but she doesn’t,” I replied.

“Of course she doesn’t,” Zach muttered.

“Hey, cut her a break.” As if he was about to make her feel bad for what she couldn’t control. “Ghosts don’t usually remember much about their lives.”

Zach’s eyebrows shot up. “But Kipp does?”

“Yes.” I nodded in slow manner. “I know this.” I still had to figure out that one. I hadn’t forgotten he remembered everything about his life, but with no answers for why, it’d been put on the back burner.

“Then why can he remember things?” Eddie asked.

I shrugged. “Good question. I have no idea.”

Eddie looked to Zach, knowingly. “Maybe it’s because—”

Zach raised his hand to cut him off and focused back on me. “I think when this is over, you should try to learn more about why you can do this. There has to be like a group or something.”

I scoffed. “What do you want me to do, search others with my gift out on Facebook?”

Zach nodded. “It’s a place to start.”

Before I could respond to how ridiculous the suggestion was, Kipp interjected. “He’s right, you know. There must be others like you. Wouldn’t it be nice not to feel alone?”

What was this, an intervention? “How did this become about me?” I scowled. “Would you all focus, please?”

“It doesn’t even look like me,” Hannah whispered.

I looked over at her and found her peering down into the grave. “Er, well, that’d be ‘cause it’s bones.”

Hannah smiled. “Why hadn’t I noticed that?”

A warm and fuzzy feeling drifted up. The first time I’d seen her smile where it hadn’t looked forced. I looked over at Kipp, and judging by his sweet grin, it appeared he appreciated the sight as much as I did. I returned my gaze to Hannah. “You have a beautiful smile.”

She reached up and ran her hand along her lips. “I think I forgot how nice it feels to do that.” Her form shimmered.

It didn’t surprise me to see her time had come. I suspected her crossing over hadn’t been about solving the murder, but more so about finding her body and bringing her home. “It was nice to meet you, Hannah.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at me before she glanced around to the group. “Thanks to all of you.”

“She’s thanking you,” I told them, “and she’s leaving now.”

Eddie cleared his throat and mumbled something that sounded like, “I’m glad to have helped.”

“Godspeed,” Zach said. Eddie burst out laughing. Zach punched him in the arm. “It seemed like the right thing to say, dickhead.”

“That’s what you come up with?” Eddie laughed harder. “Godspeed—damn that’s funny.”

“Ahem,” I interrupted. “Having a magical moment here, do you two think you could zip it?”

They both listened.

Hannah approached Kipp with her arms raised and ready for his embrace. “Without you, none of this would’ve been possible. I’m sorry for what happened to you, but without it, I’d always be stuck here.”

Kipp hugged her fiercely. “My peace rests in yours, Hannah.”

When she backed away from him, for the first time since I’d met Hannah, she had life in her eyes again. The dream of a future had been stolen from her and always would remain lost forever, but she faced something better now— Heaven, I assumed.

Hannah looked at me as she faded away. “Please tell my mother I’m okay now.”

“Wait! I need more than that.” I couldn’t start a conversation if I didn’t have a little background information. “What should I tell her?”

“Tell her I listened to her read to me every night and I loved it.”

Hannah’s gaze swung over my shoulder and her eyes widened. She screamed something, but she’d nearly vanished now. I couldn’t hear her words.

“What?” I focused on her mouth and tried to make out her words. In one second, it all became clear.

“It’s him.”

Time froze as I spun around to see Brody, with a gun aimed in our direction. My heart pounded in my ears as a wave of fear washed over me, yet confusion made my mind race.

How could Brody be the killer? He didn’t match the description. Then a memory surfaced and clarity came forth. The mark I’d seen earlier on his ear had been hair dye. He’d altered his appearance, which was why he hadn’t been picked out in the police department photos.

Zach had seemed surprised Max sent him to assist in the search. The truth being, he didn’t ask him to come. Brody had clearly come here with one intention—to kill us all.

“Get down,” Kipp shouted.

I didn’t hesitate. I dropped to the ground in an instant as the gun erupted with a loud bang that shuddered into my soul. I covered my ears with my hands and I screamed against the earth-shattering noise.

A body fell in front of me with a heavy thud, and in my line of vision, Eddie stared at me, gripping his side. Footsteps barreled past me and I looked up just in time to see Zach running full speed toward Brody.

Another shot blasted through the night sky and the bullet lodged in Zach’s shoulder. Blood splattered, but he never stopped running. Zach slammed into him with the full force of his body.

“Get up, Tess,” Kipp yelled. “Run.”

I jumped to my feet, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of there, but my feet seemed glued to the forest floor. Held back by exactly what, I didn’t know. All I knew was I couldn’t move.

Kipp’s panicked expression matched his tone perfectly. “Run.”

I glanced at Brody and Zach as they beat the hell out of each other. Zach had managed to get the gun away from Brody and it now lay in the grass next to them. Loud shouts and the thumps of two men annihilating each other filled the quiet forest. It became impossible to tell who had the advantage; it appeared to be an even fight.

Zach suddenly got the upper hand and he straddled Brody while he pummeled his fists against his face. But Brody was a cop and apparently knew how to get out of a tight hold.

In a quick move, he managed to get out from underneath Zach and now had him pinned while he issued blows in return. Zach’s forearms took most of the hits, but a few sneaked in and I saw the ripple of pain across Zach’s face.

“You were responsible?” Zach pushed Brody away from him, jumped to his feet and circled Brody. “You shot Kipp?”

“Hannah would have ruined my life. She just wouldn’t keep her mouth shut.”

“So you killed her.” Zach lunged forward and blasted Brody across the chin. “An innocent woman?”

He recovered from the shot instantly, reciprocating with a hard hit into Zach’s gut. “She left me no other choice.”

“You shouldn’t have been fucking her in the first place, you’re a married man.” Zach coughed, but his hesitation didn’t last long and he ran at Brody, latching on to him around the waist, slamming the both of them into a tree.

I couldn’t look away. I needed to hear the answers for myself, almost to find closure or even to make sense out of why he would end Hannah’s young life. I think I still suffered from shock in discovering Brody had been behind this. It was like a twist out of a Hitchcock murder mystery. Not in any stretch of the imagination did Brody look like a killer.

“Hannah planned to ruin everything, my marriage and job.” Brody gasped as Zach pinned him against the tree.

Zach landed a hard punch on Brody’s face and blood trickled down from his eyebrow. “That was worth more to you than a woman’s life?”

“I couldn’t let her destroy my life.” Brody laid a good right hook onto Zach’s jaw. “Especially since all I wanted to do was fuck her.”

“What about Kipp?” Zach returned the gesture, which sent Brody crumbling down to the ground.

“He got too close.” Brody stumbled back onto his feet. “He knew too much.” Zach lurched forward and pounded into Brody’s stomach a couple times. “If y’all had just stayed out of it,” Brody dodged the hits as best he could, “it wouldn’t have worked out this way. I didn’t want it to come to this. I’ve been following you since I discovered you in the file room, because Betty told me that you received a lead on the case. When you came here, I expected you to find nothing.” He dodged another one of Zach’s hits. “I never expected you’d lead me back to where I buried her.”

Zach punched him in the side, apparently searching for a kidney he could demolish. “If you’d kept your cock out of this, it wouldn’t have happened at all.”

Brody pushed Zach, sending him tumbling back. “I never wanted any of this to happen. I never wanted to kill anyone. But I’ve gone this far to protect my life. I won’t let you destroy it now.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade. After a quick flick, the shiny metal glowed in the moonlight.

I couldn’t see Zach’s expression, but his tense body told me he knew the trouble he currently found himself in. He attempted to lunge forward and grab the knife, but Brody managed to slice deep into Zach’s arm.

Blood splattered onto the ground as Zach backed away, groaning and clutching his arm. He hesitated only a moment, then rushed toward Brody, which landed him a knife in the same shoulder that had been shot.

His scream rang out around me and snapped me out of my stunned state. I gasped and coherent thoughts came back into my mind.

Apparently, Kipp had been in a similar condition because he suddenly said, “What the hell are you doing, Tess? Get out of here.”

Brody jumped on top of Zach and attempted to gouge his eyes out, but Zach did whatever he could to avoid the sharp blade. I tore my gaze from the fight and looked Kipp straight in the eye. “I have to help him.” Then I ran as I’d never run before.