“I’ll forward this to every real estate agency in Weltunkin,” Officer O’Reilly says.
I count the minutes as they pass. Mitchell’s at a computer as well. Every possible hand is working to locate Cassidy.
“We’ll find her, pumpkin,” Dad says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
“Got it!” Officer O’Reilly yells. “Cassidy Holt bought the home at 213 Beverly Drive.”
Mitchell jumps up and grabs my hand.
“O’Reilly, Wallace, go with them,” Chief Johansen yells as we rush out of the station.
I’m not thrilled he’s sending Officer O’Reilly with us, but I also don’t think we should go without backup. I am relieved Dad appears to have stayed behind. I hate when he joins us in times like this. I’d rather him stay at the station where he’s safe. He’s done more than enough on this case as it is.
Mitchell uses his siren and flashing lights again until we get close to the house. Then he turns them both off and parks two houses down from 213 on Beverly Drive. Cassidy’s house is easy to spot even without looking for the house number because it’s the only one with a detached garage.
We get out, and Mitchell motions for me to move behind him. His gun is already raised and trained in front of us. Officer Wallace and Officer O’Reilly split up, going around the sides of the garage, probably looking for another door in case Benjamin Silver tries to flee. Mitchell and I go straight for the door beside the giant mechanized garage door.
It’s risky to try the doorknob because if it’s locked, the jiggling will alert Benjamin that we’re here. I hold my hand up to stop Mitchell. Then I place my hand lightly on the doorknob, careful not to rattle it at all.
Benjamin’s energy is all over it.
Smoke fills the garage, coming from the garbage can where Benjamin Silver lit a bunch of papers on fire with a pack of matches. He watches it burn, a smile on his face. “It’s time, my little niece.” He steps away from the fire and hides behind a shelf on the wall by the door.
The door to the garage opens, and Cassidy waves her hand in front of her face. “What on earth happened?” She rushes for the garbage can, and Benjamin tackles her from behind, pinning her to the floor.
He easily overpowered her, which means he probably didn’t feel the need to lock the door. And he didn’t have a gun in my vision either. We should be okay to go inside. I give Mitchell a small nod.
Officer Wallace appears beside us, which means there isn’t another door. Officer O’Reilly steps directly in front of the large mechanized garage door. Her gun is trained straight forward. If Benjamin hits the button to open that door, he’s not going to get through it without running straight into Officer O’Reilly. We have him surrounded.
Now I have to hope we got here in time. My vision was definitely of the future, but it was the very near future, and time has passed since I had it.
Mitchell pushes me back, and Officer Wallace steps in front of me as well. I don’t argue because I’m not armed. Everything happens in a blur. Mitchell throws the door open and yells, “Freeze!”
He and Officer Wallace rush inside. I can’t stop myself from following. I need to know we got here in time.
Benjamin grabs Cassidy, yanking her head back and using her body to shield his so neither Mitchell nor Officer Wallace can get off a clear shot. “Don’t move, or I will kill her.”
His rage is overwhelming. I step closer to him.
“Piper, get back,” Mitchell practically growls.
But Benjamin can’t hurt me. He isn’t going to let go of Cassidy. “You’re going to kill her regardless of whether these officers come near you,” I say. “Even if it means your death, you’re going to make sure Cassidy can’t turn out like her mother or yours.”
“Who are you?” Benjamin asks me, and he yanks Cassidy’s head back farther by her hair. She cries out.
“I know all about your mother and your sister. I know you killed Janet because you found out she was having an affair.”
“I hated Tony when she dated him in high school. He got her pregnant and then took off.”
“His parents made him leave. He didn’t want to. He loved your sister. And your parents made her give up the baby. Cassidy,” I say, meeting Cassidy’s gaze.
“What?” she cries.
“Think about what that must have done to Janet,” I continue. “She didn’t want to give up her baby. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at Cassidy when she was born because it broke her heart. Seeing Tony again all those years later had to have been incredibly emotional for her. Don’t you have any compassion for your sister and what she went through?”
“She should have told her husband the truth!” Benjamin yells, and Cassidy screams in terror.
“I agree, Benjamin. Cheating is never justified. But she was acting out of pain and loss. Much like you are now. You murdered two people because of the pain you suffered as a child when your mother destroyed your family.”
“Where is your mother?” Mitchell asks, and I realize it’s a great question. What if Janet and Tony weren’t Benjamin’s only victims? What if he started with his mother?”
Benjamin laughs. “Exactly where she should be.”
“You killed her, too,” I say.
“Yeah, and after Cassidy, justice will have been served. My job will be done. There will be no more women in this family to betray their husbands.”
“I’m not even married yet,” Cassidy pleads.
“You’re engaged. It’s only a matter of time before you turn out exactly like your cheating mother.” He raises the tire iron higher in the air.
I turn to Mitchell. We need to move now. Benjamin doesn’t plan to walk out of here. His only plan is to kill Cassidy before he’s shot to death.
Mitchell advances on Benjamin, which makes him raise his hand higher in the air. Mitchell capitalizes on the movement and shoots Benjamin in the hand holding the weapon. I rush forward and grab the tire iron as it falls from his hand, afraid he’ll try to grab it with his left hand in a last-ditch attempt to kill Cassidy.
Cassidy scrambles away from Benjamin, and Officer Wallace grabs her. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. It’s all over.”
Mitchell cuffs Benjamin, who is sobbing. “You can’t let her live. She has to die, or the pattern will never end.” He’s completely lost it.
Officer O’Reilly comes into the garage and looks at the tire iron in my hand. “I’ll take that. It’s key evidence in this case.”
I hand it to her.
“Nice work, Piper, although, I feel the need to mention you never should have entered the garage unarmed.”
“I knew Benjamin only had the tire iron on him. I figured you three could handle that just fine.”
“You couldn’t have known he didn’t have a gun.”
“You couldn’t have known, but I did.” I’ll admit my tone has a “ha ha” quality to it.
She shakes her head. “It’s going to be really interesting working with you.”
“I think that’s the first thing we’ve agreed on.”
Chapter Twenty
Since the entire WPD got involved in this case—a first as far as I can tell—the station is buzzing with activity. Officer Gilbert confirmed that Janet and Benjamin’s mother was found dead in her garage in her Florida home from blunt force trauma to her head about six months ago. Her body was also burned postmortem. The murder had gone unsolved until now. Benjamin Silver will stand trial for the murders of three people and the attempted murder of Cassidy Holt. I have a very good feeling he’ll plead guilty because he believes what he did was justified. Everyone at the WPD is celebrating the victory. Chief Johansen even sprung for donuts and coffee.
“What do you think of Piper’s abilities now, O’Reilly?” Mitchell asks.
Officer O’Reilly takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I stand by my assertion that Piper is a very gifted private investigator.”
“But you don’t mean psychically gifted,” I say, sipping
my coffee.
“No, I don’t. Sorry, but I can’t buy into the idea that you saw something happen before it happened. I think you studied the killer’s behaviors and made a reasonable conclusion based on those actions. That allowed you to predict what he’d do next.”
Totally different kind of predicting, but I’m sure she used that word to try to appease me in some way.
“What about her description of Cassidy Holt? You can’t deny that. It’s what allowed us to find her before Benjamin Silver could kill her, too,” Mitchell says.
“Cassidy Holt is a perfect combination of her parents.” Officer O’Reilly shrugs. “How Piper guessed which features Cassidy would get from each parent, I can’t explain. Maybe she’s a good guesser. You might want to consider playing the lottery.” She gives two short laughs.
“I think I’ll pass on that one,” I say. “And I’m okay with you not believing how I get my information. When push came to shove, you followed my lead. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in my abilities. You trusted I knew what I was doing, and for that I’m grateful.”
Officer O’Reilly dips her head at me and walks away.
“Nicely played, Ashwell,” Chief Johansen says from the doorway of his office. “It’s nice to know you and O’Reilly can have a mutual respect for each other despite your differences.”
“She’s a great police officer. You should make her a detective. Just try not to partner Mitchell and me with her too often.” I smile at him and wave as we walk out of the station.
“I’m so glad that case is over,” Mitchell says. “I’ve had a surprise planned for you, and the case set it back a bit.”
“What kind of surprise?” I ask.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.” He opens the passenger door for me. “I’m taking you home so you can shower and get ready. I’ll be back at your place in about an hour. You’ll find out then.” He shuts my door and walks around to the driver’s side. He looks too happy with himself, so I can’t resist having a little fun at his expense.
“Or I could read you and find out now,” I tease once he gets into the driver’s seat.
“Don’t even think about it. Let me surprise you for once.”
“Fine,” I say, but the truth is Mitchell has surprised me from the start.
Mitchell shows up at my apartment exactly one hour after he dropped me off. He holds out a rose to me. “I know you’re not big on flowers because you’re super sensitive to smells, but it’s only one, and Rose is your middle name, so I felt it was appropriate.”
“Thank you,” I say, taking the rose but not sniffing it like most people would.
Jez wags her tail and sits nicely.
“She’s waiting for her gift,” I say.
“I have one for her.” Mitchell bends down and hands her a dog biscuit. “Are you ready, Jez?”
“Wait. Jez knows what my surprise is, but I don’t?”
Mitchell stands back up and smiles. “Yup.” He grabs her leash off the back of the door and hooks her up. Then he pulls a blindfold out of his pocket.
“Oh, no. You are not blindfolding me.” I grab for the blindfold, but he pulls it away.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?”
I look down at Jez. “You’ll keep an eye on him for me, right?”
I swear she understands every word I ever say to her. She raises her head and gives a soft yip. “Good girl.”
“Turn around.”
I roll my eyes at him before complying. “You’re going to owe me after this.”
“Come on. You have more senses than anyone else. What’s it really going to matter if I take away your sense of sight for a little while?” He ties the blindfold in place.
“It means I can’t see what you’re doing.”
He spins me back around and presses a kiss to my lips. “I get it. You already miss my handsome face.”
“You can’t see it, but I rolled my eyes again just now.”
He laughs and takes my hand. “Come on.”
I’m not happy about being blindfolded, so I give Mitchell the silent treatment until we arrive at our destination. “Can I take this off now?” I ask once the car is parked.
“Not yet.”
“But we’re here, right?”
“Okay, fine. You can take it off.”
I don’t hesitate for even a second. “What are we doing here?” I ask him when I realize we’re at the park where we took Jezebel on our first date as a couple. The picnic table where we sat is set up with a table cloth, place settings, food, and tea light candles. “What did you do?” I thought we were taking Jez to the park like always.
Mitchell gets out of the Explorer, opening the back door for Jez, who immediately runs toward the picnic table. Then he opens my door for me and offers his hand. “Come find out.”
I’m not big on surprises, which is almost ironic considering I don’t have many premonitions, so much of my life is a surprise to me. I take Mitchell’s hand. I’ve never had a serious relationship before, so I have no idea if I’m walking into something that would be completely obvious to anyone else. Is it the anniversary of something? Couples celebrate things like that, right?
“Don’t look so nervous,” Mitchell says, but his own nervous energy is rolling off him in waves. I almost wish he was holding my right hand instead of my left so I could read him.
Jez is seated on the picnic table bench, which makes me laugh and eases my tension a bit. She’s never done that before. I take the seat beside her facing away from the table, and Mitchell sits next to me on my other side.
“What’s going on?” I ask him. “What’s this all about?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I wanted to do something special.”
“Mission accomplished. This is beautiful. You even managed to get a full moon in the night sky.” I might be rambling, but I’m so outside of my comfort zone right now, even if there isn’t anyone else in sight.
Mitchell takes a deep breath. He hasn’t released my left hand yet. He dips his head at Jezebel, and she grabs something off the table.
“Jez, no.” She’s never stolen anything off a table before. “What’s gotten into you?” I ask her.
“It’s okay. She’s doing what I told her to.” Mitchell gently turns my chin so I’m facing him again as Jez jumps down from the bench and sits in front of us. “Piper Rose Ashwell, I’ve spent my entire life looking for the part of me that died with my mother on that plane when I was a child. I found it the day I met you.”
“Mitchell—”
“Please let me finish. I have to say this. I’ve tried to hold it in as long as I could, but I’m going to burst if I don’t do this now.”
“Do what? Are you breaking up with me?” My eyes widen, and I start looking all around at the park.
Mitchell laughs. “Only you would think I set all this up just to break up with you. And that’s one of the things I love most about you. Your brain doesn’t work the way most people’s do. You’re the most amazing and unique person I’ve ever met. You challenge me every single day, and you’ve made me a better man.” He dips his head at Jezebel, and she places her head in Mitchell’s lap. She opens her mouth, and at first, I think she’s going to be sick, but then I see she was holding something in her mouth. A small velvet drawstring pouch. Mitchell opens it and removes a diamond ring. It has three stones, I know he picked it because they represent the past, present, and future.
My heart stops.
Mitchell gets down on one knee and holds the ring out to me. “Piper, will you marry me?”
“Mitchell—”
He presses a finger to my lips. “Don’t think about it. Don’t tell me you need time to process it. Just answer with your heart, Piper.” He lowers his hand. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me? That’s all you need to ask yourself. We’ll figure out the rest from there.”
I’ve never envisioned myself getting married, but I never thought I’d be in
a relationship either. I can’t deny what I feel for Mitchell. We both know I tried and failed miserably. When I thought I’d lost him on a previous case, it ripped my heart in two. My heart. That’s what he means by answer with my heart.
“Piper, please say something.”
Never in a million years did I think I’d be in this situation, but I force my senses and my mind to be quiet. To keep their thoughts to themselves. I swallow hard and let my heart do the talking. “Yes.”
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Also by USA Today Bestselling Author Kelly Hashway
Piper Ashwell Psychic P.I. Series
A Sight For Psychic Eyes
A Vision A Day Keeps the Killer Away
Read Between the Crimes
Drastic Crimes Call for Drastic Insights
You Can’t Judge a Crime by its Aura
Fortune Favors the Felon
Murder is a Premonition Best Served Cold
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
Good Visions Make Good Cases (Novella collection)
A Jailbird in the Vision Is Worth Two In The Prison
Great Crimes Read Alike
I Spy With My Psychic Eye Someone Dead
A Vision in Time Saves Nine
Never Smite the Psychic That Reads You
There’s No Crime Like the Prescient
* * *
Madison Kramer Mystery Series
Manuscripts and Murder
Sequels and Serial Killers
Fiction and Felonies
Cup of Jo
Coffee and Crime
Macchiatos and Murder
Cappuccinos and Corpses
Frappes and Fatalities
Lattes and Lynching
Glaces and Graves
Fight Fire with Foresight (Piper Ashwell Psychic P.I. Book 12) Page 17