Demonically Tempted (Frostbite) (3 page)

Now on to finding a missing ghost…

Chapter Two

At the station, I followed Zach and Kipp in, cursing at myself for not finding Lizbeth’s ghost. My bank account had never looked better, and it seemed wrong that I received a paycheck but didn’t fulfill my side of the gig.

Not to say that I wanted to return to my old boss, Dylan Cobb, Event Manager of Randall Marketing. He acted like a two-year old on good days.

The look on his face when I quit still amused me. I might have felt a tinge bad for leaving him high and dry on such short notice. That is, I quit the second I reentered the building. If I cared, which I didn’t.

Dora, the receptionist, was the only one I’d miss. But we kept in touch via email.

We passed the main desk where Betty sat, and she gave me a wave, which I returned. Busy cops sat at their desks behind her, no doubt working on loathsome paperwork.

Zach headed down the hallway and up ahead, I spied the cubicles where the detectives in the Homicide Division were located.

At the fourth door, Zach entered the meeting room, but Kipp slowed and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Hold up a sec.” He cocked his head, studying me, and finally said, “You seem quiet. That’s not like you.”

I shrugged, not wanting to go there, but knowing he’d never let it go. He’d proved a thousand times over he could be persistent and at most times got what he wanted. “I’m disappointed I couldn’t find her.”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” he replied, soft and tender. “This job will eat you up if you let every failure get to you.”

“It’s not so much of the
not
finding her that’s bothering me, but letting the team down, and I’m only
just
part of the team.”

I’d been brought into the cold case squad as an adviser, and I still didn’t know how Max pulled it off. But I wasn’t about to question him. All he had said was, “a few
important
people know of your ability, which allows this.” That ended the conversation.

“Why do you think you’re failing the team?” Kipp asked.

“Ah, ‘cause I was hired to find ghosts, and on my first case, I found shit.”

His brow creased. “You can’t hunt for something that isn’t there, Tess. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

I smiled, adoring my ghost, but shook my head at him. “I’m getting tired of you always saying the right thing.”

He laughed. “Most women would love that about me.”

“Well, I’m not most women, am I?”

His laughter remained, as he skimmed my cheek with his finger causing a little shiver to speed through me from the icy embrace. “No, you’re certainly not.”

“Would you stop with the endearing shit, Tess, and get in here.” Max’s deep voice sounded from inside the room.

I winked at Kipp, and entered the room. Max, sergeant of the cold case squad, scowled at me. I saluted. “Ready to serve you, Sir.”

He snorted. “Sit down.”

I did, but smiled with attitude. Just because I worked for the man didn’t mean I’d take his crap. He knew it. And that’s all that mattered.

Max’s deep brown eyes studied me as he pushed his dark hair silvered at the temple away from his forehead. “Zach said you didn’t find Lizbeth at the house.”

My gaze flicked to Kipp. He nodded encouragingly. “He’s right. As weird as that is, she wasn’t there.”

“But you expected her to be?”

A big ole’ weight lifted off my shoulders. Max appeared uninterested that I found nothing and more interested in why. “I would have thought so. Even if she had killed herself, suicide is a traumatic death. Her soul would linger until she was settled.”

Max sighed. “Do you have any theories of why her ghost would be gone?”

“I guess she could have found her peace and crossed over.” I shrugged. “Or maybe her suicide was
really
what she wanted.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kipp asked, just as Zach said, “Explain that further.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at them since they continued to ask the same questions all the time. Considering the subject matter, I ignored my amusement. “Sometimes people do things before they think. I’ve seen that in suicide victims before.”

At the blank stares around me, I added, “As in, they thought it was a good idea, that they had no other alternative, but at the time they actually die they regret the decision. Those souls linger. If Lizbeth had been content in her suicide maybe she wouldn’t have had any remorse and her soul could move on.”

Max dropped his head, thoughtful.

Zach cleared his throat. “I hate to bring this up, but would a person who committed suicide be allowed to cross over?”

To Heaven
was left off, but clearly implied. “If you’re asking me the rules about Heaven you’re going to be waiting a while since I have no idea. But I’ve helped a ghost who committed suicide before and she appeared to cross over. I didn’t see Satan and his pitchfork come and take her away.”

Zach chuckled. “I should hope not.”

“So, I’d imagine, like I’ve said before…” I stared pointedly at Kipp since I’d told him the same thing. “…that the rules aren’t what we all think they are.”

Max leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head, and his stare became focused. “So our theories are, she has either found her peace or is missing?”

I nodded. “And don’t even think about asking me which one because I know as much as you do.”

“Know what?” Eddie asked, stepping into the room, coffee cups in hand.

I reached out. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

His baby blues twinkled in amusement. He took one cup out of the box and handed it to me, as his brown hair fell over his eyebrows. “You are easily pleased, woman.”

“Yeah, right,” Kipp retorted.

I ignored him, too interested in the rich aroma filling the air calling to my drained energy. I took a couple sugar packages out of the box then dumped them into the coffee, and swirled the cup to mix it.

“There is the fact, too, that Anna is adamant that Lizbeth committed suicide,” Zach said, reaching for his own cup. He didn’t bother with sugar and raised it to his mouth for a sip.

Max grunted. “I read that in the file, but I can’t see how it’s possible. How would a woman drown herself?”

“Anything is possible…” Kipp said, eyeing our coffees and licking his lips. Touch and smell weren’t the only things he missed as a ghost. The taste of coffee on his tongue made him long for a cup, or so he told me a hundred times. “If someone wants it bad enough.”

I sipped my coffee, a bit guilty for not being able to share with him. “I’m with Max. It’s one thing to hang yourself—and even that is…” I shuddered and gripped the cup tight. “But to hold yourself underwater and take a big deep breath to drown yourself does seems impossible.”

Max said, “Whether she was capable or not, or that her ghost is gone, we need to explore the possibility that Anna is right. There is a lot of doubt around this case.”

I hadn’t looked at the file yet because, well, I had no interest in this part of it. Maybe because I suspected I wouldn’t understand it anyway.

Now, though, I held enough curiosity about Lizbeth to force myself to reach forward and grab one of the files in front of Max.

Kipp arched an eyebrow at me.

I smiled, restraining my blush, and scanned the file. I flipped it open to see a young dark-haired woman, which I assumed was Lizbeth at her prime since the smile on her face looked all too happy. “Geesh, how old is she?”

“She was twenty-three when she died,” Max replied. “Quite young. I remember this case, vaguely. It was just after I joined the force.”

I gasped in fake surprise. “That long ago?” Max’s eyes narrowed. Everyone laughed, as did I. “Just kidding. Sorry. Go on.”

“As I was saying...” He sneered at me before he turned to Zach. “From what I’ve read, her parents said she was a well-adjusted young lady and never showed any signs that killing herself had been on her mind.”

“Until she
did
kill herself.” I retorted. “Parents don’t know everything that goes on with their kids.”

“True,” Zach said. “Did she have any close friends?”

“None said anything at the time as to why she would do this,” Max replied. “But what I found interesting in the file was that there appeared to be a suspect.”

“That Hector guy Anna had talked about?” I offered.

Max inclined his head. “The detective’s notes indicated they held no doubt he was involved somehow.”

“Anna said otherwise,” Zach stated.

“That’s right,” I said to Max. “Anna was adamant he had no involvement whatsoever.”

“She might have thought he wasn’t involved,” Max replied. “But people under stress forget things.”

“Fair enough,” I said, in total agreement. I glimpsed down to Lizbeth’s picture. Her blue eyes were so kind, dark hair flowing over her shoulders. She did, by all appearances, look happy in the photo. I had to wonder what changed. How would anyone as young as her have the strength to drown herself?

“A month after Lizbeth’s death, Hector attacked a young woman around the same age as Lizbeth,” Max said.

Zach lowered his coffee cup. “Yes, I read that, too, but since Tess doesn’t know, might want to fill her in.”

“He abducted a woman and attacked her,” Max explained.

“But didn’t kill her?”

Max shook his head. “He attacked her in a public place. Stupid, if you ask me. Citizens saw the attack and called the police. When they arrived they found Hector with blood all over his hands.”

“Where is Hector now?” Eddie asked.

“Riverbend Penitentiary.”

I needed to lighten the mood a little. The tension in the air had grown thick enough to cut with a knife. Even with that weapon, I wasn’t totally convinced it would work. I raised my hand to my mouth. “Hector’s still alive?”

Max glared at me. “Dammit, Tess, I’m not that old.”

The men around me laughed.

Max ignored us all, which was classic Max, and glanced at Zach. “I’ve made an appointment for you to go and talk to Hector tomorrow morning. Maybe time in the penitentiary has given the man a conscience.”

He turned to Eddie. “I’ve only skimmed the case file so you and I can dig through it and see if anything else reveals itself. Maybe we’ll catch a lead.”

Eddie groaned. “Is that an order?”

Max’s gave the stern look he had down pat. “You’re still recovering and on restrictive duty. As much as you might hate being here, the choice isn’t yours to make.”

Eddie whispered a curse and raised his cup to his mouth. He had received a shot in the side and returned to work a week ago, but the healing of his gunshot wound that Brody inflicted still affected him. I tried not to let my expression show that I noticed when he lowered his cup, he flinched.

Who was I to point it out? These men had become more than friends to me, almost family, especially Zach. We had been through a lot together in a very short time, which included their believing in ghosts. I might dig at Max to rev him up, but I’d never been closer to a group of men in my life.

“Does that mean we get to go home?” I asked.

This job might not be so bad after all. Great pay, good coffee and weekends off. Well, as off as they could be for me since ghosts didn’t understand the meaning of not working on a weekend.

“Not likely,” Max said, ruining my good mood. “I wanted to have a little chat with you about this, but because you ran out of here after I assigned the case I didn’t have the chance.”

He winked, showing pride in my eagerness to get the job done. “But like I told you before, I talked with some of the higher-ups to bring you onto the team and I’ve brought someone in to help you.”

I blinked. “Help me?”

He waved away my remark, stood from the chair, and approached the telephone on the wall. After a quick call, and instructions to send Dane—whoever that was—in, he smiled at me. “Something
you
need help with, so don’t argue with me.”

My lips parted to find out exactly what he was up to, when the door opened. A wave of heat rushed over my body. A strange sensation stole my breath as tingles fluttered through me.

Then I looked toward the door and my mouth dropped open.

Chapter Three

The man who entered was tall, at least a few inches taller than Kipp. Built like a brick shithouse and with his slicked blond hair and blue eyes, he was worth a second look.

But why did I care?

This wasn’t about attraction. It was something different and whatever it was made me squirm in my seat.

Max strode toward the man, offered his hand, and after a good shake he glanced my way. “This is Dane Wolfe.” He waved out at me. “Meet Tess Jennings.”

Dane gave my body a once over, and grinned. “You were right. She does have the gift.”

“Who is this fucker?” Kipp all but growled.

Dane stiffened, glancing around the room with a disdained expression. “Tell the ghost to back off.”

My mouth practically hit the floor. I blinked twice before I found my voice. “You can see him?”

Dane shook his head. “No, I don’t have the special gifts you do, but I can feel him.” He sat next to me, filled the chair completely with his large body, and that charming grin remained. “I’m a medium who works with the F.B.I.. I hear that you’re uneducated in your ability.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or just plain pissed off. I scowled at Max. “What have you done?”

He snorted, seemingly unbothered by my glare. “Do you honestly think I wouldn’t look into your ability further? You’re part of our team now, which makes you family. You needed answers. I went and found them.”

I pointed at Dane. “In him?”

“He comes highly recommended.” Max cocked his head. “Wouldn’t it be nice to know more about why you can do this, instead of always looking as if you haven’t a clue what’s going on.”

My glare deepened.

Zach chuckled. “What do you do for the Bureau?”

“I’ve been working with them for close to five years now in an official capacity,” Dane replied. “I help much like Tess does, but clearly, I’m not nearly as talented. While Tess here is proficient on cold cases, I assist on present cases.”