Dane had the ability, which I had learned when he visited me in Memphis, to read people’s auras. Mine, of course, held a gold hue because of my gifts—still something that seemed slightly strange. But what was stranger was Dane’s statement. “Wouldn’t him taking on someone else’s identity, I don’t know—,” I shrugged, “make him a criminal or something? Shouldn’t that make his aura bad?”
“Like I told you before,” Dane answered on a deep sigh. “Wayde is a great spell caster. He might have found a way to block his real aura and project another. Or he believes he’s not in the wrong and therefore, it wouldn’t taint his soul.”
“Or he’s a psycho,” I muttered.
Dane nodded. “I happen to agree with you there.”
Amelia glanced up at her husband, mirroring his troubled expression. “What would that mean, then? Who is he?”
“I have no idea.” Dane tucked her shoulder-length honey-colored hair behind her ear gently. The concern in his features portrayed his dislike of how much danger his wife had been in being in house with a now confirmed criminal.
He finally turned to Max, his lips pressed into a firm line before he asked, “How will you find out Wayde’s real identity?”
“We need to get a fingerprint,” Eddie interjected, stepping in next to me. “He did stay at this house, right?” At my nod, he added, “Wayde’s prints will be all over this house.” To Dane, he asked, “Will you show me to his bedroom?”
“Of course,” Dane replied.
Eddie turned to Max and continued, “Once I get the print, I’ll run it through AFIS and see if we get a hit.”
Max agreed with a nod. “I’m confident we’ll get a hit. No one goes from nothing to stealing someone’s identity. I have no doubt, once we find out his real identify, we’ll discover a past criminal record.”
I wondered if that’s why Max was so concerned. Who knew what Wayde was capable of if he could steal someone’s identity? Perhaps even Max acknowledged what Dane had, too—I’d been staying in this house with Wayde for days now.
Max paused and regarded me, rubbing his jaw covered with salt and pepper colored scruff. “Zach and I will stay with you and find a safe place to go.” Glancing at Dane, red-hot rage burned in his features. “I don’t trust you’ll be looked after.”
Gretchen chuckled, giving me a hard nudge on my back. “Um…Tess.”
Oh, crap, I hadn’t told him the news yet. Dane had been the enemy at one time, but in hindsight, he was actually someone who tried to protect Kipp and me.
Smiling at Gretchen, I turned my attention onto the boys. “Right, I have an update—Dane is no longer on the to-whack-list.”
Zach arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
Kipp laughed.
I sighed, not finding it amusing at all. I’d have to spell it all out to them and explain the series of events that led to my trusting Dane. I just didn’t want to do it right now. “It’s an incredibly long, very exhausting conversation I’ll get into later.” I smiled at Dane and it even shocked me slightly when I said, “Trust me, he’s a good guy.”
Max again took my word for it and turned to Eddie. “Let us know if you get a hit on who Wayde is. It’s our best shot right now at nailing this bastard.”
“Got it.” Eddie leaned down to me and he smelled like coffee. “Be careful, you hear me? Anyone who hides their identity does so because they are hiding from their past. They’ll do whatever they can to keep their secrets from being exposed.”
Now, I fully understood their concern. They weren’t only thinking of the present, but who knew if Wayde was a serial killer? I took Eddie’s advice to heart, even if I seriously had no idea how to keep my ass safe or what I needed to keep it safe from.
I hoped I wouldn’t be faced with the situation where I’d have to figure it out.
“They love you,” Kipp whispered, dragging my attention to him, which probably looked like I examined the yard to my right. “See how much they want to protect you?” He winked. “They love you almost as much as I do.”
I gave him a small smile, keeping silent because of Amelia. But when Alexander added, “I can see why they do,” I glanced over my shoulder and offered him the smile, too.
Amelia gave me an odd look, which I assumed was because what Alexander said had been so random. Even to me it seemed odd how when I looked at Caley now, I couldn’t see her. The perfectly put together blonde knockout that Caley was would never allow her makeup to run under her blue eyes as it did now, nor would she not remove the pieces of grass I spotted in her hair. But Amelia didn’t know Caley like I did.
Not paying Amelia any attention, I turned to the porch as I watched Eddie and Dane trot up the stairs. My mind raced, but I also wasn’t the cop in this equation. I worked for the Memphis cold case division, yes, but I was so far from being a police officer it was laughable.
When Dane and Eddie entered the house, I looked to Max, who now leaned against the porch railing. “What do you think Wayde is hiding from in the past?”
“I have no idea,” he stated.
“Or maybe we don’t want to know,” Gretchen whispered.
I glimpsed at Alexander then, and the pain in his eyes at the obvious implication of what Wayde had done was clear-cut. Turning to Max again, I asked, “Do you think this is the answer to solving Alexander’s death?”
“You must be wrong,” Amelia interjected, and her voice trembled. “Wayde couldn’t have done this to Dad. He was his friend. ”
“We’re on the right track here,” Kipp muttered. “I keep having a thought I can’t push away.” I tilted my head to indicate I listened to him, and he continued, “Nettie’s diary implied if you traveled to the Netherworld, you would die. What if Wayde thought, that first night when you came to White Castle and talked to Alexander, you would find out nothing, and then thought you would die on your trip into the Netherworld?”
I hadn’t even considered that, but Kipp was right. Wayde had shown a slight surprise, and maybe even a tinge of annoyance, after my trip to the Netherworld to see Kipp. Had he thought my traveling there would, in fact, kill me?
What in the hell had I done to Wayde?
However, match that with my going to the cemetery by the house, and how the date of Nettie’s death had been chiseled out of her tombstone, and Wayde’s guilt firmly cemented in my mind.
He hadn’t wanted me to know about Nettie and the finer details of her life, because then I never would have traveled to the Netherworld. Now, I fully suspected he had killed Alexander, and had planned to kill me discreetly, too. But why? To hide this other identity?
Even if I had come to the Animus, I never would have found out his true identity; only with the help from Max and Eddie did this come about. It made no sense he’d think otherwise.
Max paused, maybe at the hitch of my breath while Kipp talked, then he finally said, “To be honest, unless Wayde confesses, we’re still at a dead end on the case. It’s impossible to search for evidence that doesn’t exist. But we can always press him once we have him in custody.”
Part of me felt so frustrated. I had wanted Wayde to piss off since I came to White Castle. Now that he did, and even if he wasn’t who he said he was, or that his presence put me in danger, he knew where the Lux was located. I needed the spell that Wayde said would save Kipp.
Without Wayde, I had no hope in hell of finding an answer to end the craziness that consumed my life. Besides all that, I now realized I made a horrible error in judgment. I had magically bound the promise to Wayde that I would try to help solve Alexander’s murder and Wayde had bound the promise he’d help with Kipp. But did he really promise to help?
“I could promise the power does exist to reconnect your ghost with his body, and I possess that knowledge,” he had said.
Perhaps I’d been so desperate at the time, I didn’t read between the lines. Now, my head was clear, and Wayde, in fact, made no promise at all. Yes, the power existed. Yes, Wayde knew of a way. But that didn’t put t
he book into my hands, did it?
Max hesitated again, and I noticed the dark circles under his eyes, indicating exhaustion. “Cruisers are patrolling the city streets now looking for him, and we’re also keeping an eye on this house and on his home in Baton Rouge. He’s going to have to show his face sometime, especially considering he has no clue we’re on to him.”
I had heard all of what had come out of Max’s mouth and did agree at this point, Wayde didn’t know we knew of his dirty secret. However, one thing Max said made my heart stutter. “Pardon, his what?”
Max’s brows rose. “His, what…what?”
I glimpsed at Kipp, who all but vibrated with what I could only assume was adrenaline, and something close to hope and excitement coursed through my veins, too. I turned to Alexander, and a slow smile spread over Caley’s face.
Alexander needed the spell book as much as Kipp and I craved to get our hands on it. He required a spell that would force him to cross over, regardless that his murder wasn’t solved. And he’d spent an entire night searching the grounds and the house for the Lux, since he knew what it looked like, but he came up empty.
No one had mentioned the existence of another house owned by Wayde. In fact, I could hardly believe what Max had discovered without even knowing it. “Did you say that Wayde owns a house in Baton Rouge?”
Max gave me a long look, and then he said with hesitation, “Yeah, he does.” As his lips pressed closed, his eyes slowly widened in full awareness before he grabbed my hand. “Come on. I’ll drive.”
Chapter Three
White Castle had been a lovely little historic town, but Baton Rouge…yeah, I saw the appeal why people lived there. Not only was it pretty, with huge plantations and historical buildings, but the overall feel to Baton Rouge had something special about it, almost magical.
Of course, that meant many ghosts, since Baton Rouge held so much history, which meant I wanted nothing to do with it. Nor did I want anything to do with the house I currently examined.
The rundown home was settled into a thick forest without a neighbor in sight. Wonderful. The headlights of the cars we drove to get here were giving us the only glow in this very dark night. Terrific.
Why did houses I didn’t want to go in always have to look so damn scary?
I wasn’t sure why I kept finding myself in these terrifying situations when I wasn’t built for them. I had never been brave, but somehow ended up forced to be. I would rather avoid the two-story home with cracked windows, no outside exterior except withered wood planks, and an old wood veranda looking about ready to topple to the ground.
“You’ll be all right, Tess,” Kipp whispered, drawing my attention to him. He stared at me with his tender look. “The guys won’t let anything happen to you.”
While I believed him that Max and the others would do anything they could to keep me safe, it didn’t seem to help much. “I know.”
Kipp’s frown indicated he liked this about as much as I did. Once again, I shoved it all away and found a brave face. If the Lux—the answer to save Kipp—was in that damn house, I was going in there—home to a psychopath or not—and that was that.
Focusing away from the house, I turned to Dane, who stood in next to Amelia and Gretchen on the cracked cement walkway. “Did you know Wayde owns this home?”
Dane nodded. “Yes, I knew. But he told me he sold it after Alexander died. After he took over the Grand Master role, he wanted to stay at the Animus to be closer to the members.”
I snorted and pointed out the obvious. “Clearly, he lied to you, since he still owns it.” I didn’t doubt for a moment that Wayde would put the Lux in a place where the book of spells would be safe. What better place than to keep the book at a house no one knew he owned?
Only problem?
The house looked ready to crumble to the ground. Knowing my luck, it would fall on my head and that would be my demise, not the crazy-assed adventures.
I watched Max stride out of the house with a gun in his hand. He trotted down the porch steps creaking under his hard steps and the veranda didn’t crash to the ground. Of course, it probably waited until I entered to do that.
When Max finally reached me, he said, “The house is clear.”
Zach came trailing after him—also holding a gun—and on the way, he added, “There isn’t much to the house.”
Kipp brushed against my arm. “Which means?”
An icy shiver slid through me from his touch and I rubbed my left arm. Max and Zach looked to the spot next to me clearly identifying Kipp’s location. Both were cops and didn’t miss much. “Do you mean there’s no furniture?”
Zach inclined his head in agreement. “There’s some on the main floor and a few things in the basement, but upstairs is completely empty.” He finally settled in front of me. “It’s clear, even when it was lived in, it wasn’t taken care of. It’s old and musky.”
“Great,” I grumbled, just another thing I loved—stinky things. “Let me guess, there’s no power either?”
“You got it,” Max confirmed. “Which I think is almost a good thing. Turn on a light in there, and I suspect it’d burn to the ground.”
I rubbed my temple to fight off my manageable headache I suspected would become unmanageable any second now. Why would Wayde live here? He didn’t seem the type not to take care of him or his things. He’d been clean-cut and clean-shaven, not scruffy or dirty.
After a deep rub of my eyes that didn’t help at all, I lowered my hands and scanned the area. The yard wasn’t overly huge and the forest around the house was easily spotted with my flashlight. But that didn’t comfort me much—crazed murderers could hide behind trees or maybe there was a secret passageway in the house.
Before I could state those concerns aloud, Amelia interjected, “I’m not sure why this is necessary. How will this help solve my father’s death? Yes, I agree that finding out Wayde’s identity is important. But we should be doing our best to communicate with my father.” She pointed toward the house. “He will not be in there.”
I paused, having no answer for her, but blessedly, Zach jumped in to the rescue. “Any evidence against Wayde is good evidence. The more we gather, the more we have against him, and the sooner we can push him into a tight spot. Once we have enough evidence, there will be an interrogation and hopefully, he’ll fess up to your father’s murder.”
Okay, I liked that theory, so I added, “Besides, I’m not finished. While their doing their interrogation stuff and the danger of Wayde hurting any of us is gone, I can concentrate on gathering more evidence from your father. We need to wait it out and see what else comes up. We may find more evidence here at the house, right?”
Amelia eyed me for a second as if she didn’t believe me. Then she finally gave a slow nod. “You’re right. We don’t know what’s in the house.”
“So…” Glancing to the all-but-firewood resembling a home and using my flashlight to light up the window by the front door, I nibbled my lip. “Time to go in there, huh?”
Kipp chuckled, running his finger down my shoulder. “Don’t look so worried, babe. You’ve been in, and gone through, worse.”
My breath caught in my throat from his icy embrace, and I waited for Amelia and Dane to head up the porch steps before I whispered to Kipp, “How is that supposed to reassure me?”
He hesitated, and then he shrugged. “Because it’s the only reassurance I could give.”
“Terrific,” I muttered. “And it sucked.”
At Kipp’s, once again, low chuckle, we followed in behind Dane, Amelia, Gretchen, and Alexander, while Zach and Max stayed in close behind me. To my happiness, the veranda didn’t fall on my head when I passed underneath it.
The home was exactly as Zach had described it. Furniture was scarce, and dust flew through the air under the beam of my flashlight. The foyer we stood in had what appeared to be a dining room to the left, without a table. And to the right was a creepy wallpapered living room with a stone fireplace.
It looked plucked right out of a horror flick.
I sent the beam of my flashlight up the large staircase that was just past the dining room, and the worn marks on the middle of the hardwood indicated this house had been well lived in. Staying perfectly still and holding my breath, I waited for the inevitable, since old houses always had one thing in common.
The seconds ticked by…
No one else joined us.
That’s when I realized something was very, very, odd. “Okay, what gives? Where are all the ghosts?”
Every head turned to me, nearly blinding me with flashlights, and Zach asked, “Are you expecting any?”
I pondered, and then shrugged. “Well, kind of.” I glanced into the empty living room with the fireplace, and then looked to Zach. “In a house this old, there has to be at least one ghost lingering around.” I drew in a breath, feeling the coldness from Kipp next to me, but didn’t sense anything else. “Yes, it’s weird.”
Gretchen stepped forward and her flashlight angled under her chin, making her fit right in with the spooky atmosphere. “None at all?
I hesitated, listened, and waited. Then I shook my head and said slowly, “None. At. All.”
Chapter Four
Gretchen used her flashlight to study the area, her brows drawn, and lips thinned in concentration. Of course, I wasn’t about to butt in and demand answers, considering she was a witch from a long line of witches, and Gretchen knew her magical stuff.
So, there I stood, looking between Kipp, who gave a shrug, and the others watching Gretchen.
After many more minutes of her humming and hawing, she finally looked to me with a frown and said, “That is weird.” She swept the beam of her light up to the ceiling, showing off gross brown stains, and then she said to me, “Maybe Wayde did a spell to ensure no ghosts are allowed entry.”
While I assumed she was probably right, since Wayde had already proved to be kick-ass with magic, considering if he had killed Alexander, he’d nearly trapped him in the Netherworld. If it weren’t for Alexander’s equal fierce magic, Wayde would’ve succeeded.
Eternally Devoted (Frostbite #4) Page 2