Victoria House (Haunted Hearts Series Book 2)

by Denise Moncrief

  He peeked at her. She seemed wearier than before they got some sleep. Her eyelids fluttered over her closed eyes. He hoped she’d open them and glance his way, but she didn’t.

  “I cared about her, but not in the way a man should care about the woman he loves. I think maybe if she’d had that, she might have settled down. She was always sort of wild. We might have made a go of it anyway if that whole mess with Jeremy Haskins hadn’t happened.”

  Her eyes opened but she still didn’t look his way. She ran her fingers through her hair while gazing through the front windshield at the house. Was it rough for her to listen to him talk about another woman? In her shoes, he wouldn’t want to listen to her talk about another man.

  “I’m sorry that cost you both a friendship and marriage. It must have been hard to push Josh away. I can tell how tight the two of you must have been.”

  He snorted. “I didn’t push him away. He pushed me away. Even though it hurt like hell, I understood why she leaned on him and I understood why he tried to come to her rescue. He’s a good person to lean on when you need a friend.”

  Her head swiveled to face him. “But I thought...”

  “He’s bitter. He knows I have a secret I’m keeping from him. He thinks it’s ruined all our lives, and he might be right.” He rubbed his hand up and down his thigh. “I think I need to go talk to old man Haskins. He deserves to know what happened to his son.”

  After his conversation with Caroline’s mother, the idea had implanted itself in his mind and wouldn’t leave. Then, he thought about how her murder would destroy Caroline’s mother.

  “Gray, don’t you think that’s dangerous?”

  Her question shifted his focus away from the heartache he’d have to witness. His heart was breaking for the poor woman, but there was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable.

  “Not as dangerous as letting this all just keep going on and on without end.”

  Tori licked her lips and then pressed them together. Apparently, she had something to say, and she wasn’t sure how he’d take it, whatever it was.

  “What does Jeremy Haskins have to do with Caroline’s death? I’m not getting the connection. It would seem to me this would be more likely connected to Jared’s death since you’re investigating his murder. Maybe you were getting a little too close to the truth.”

  “This is just a hunch straight from the pits of my not-so-reliable gut.”

  “Go on.”

  “I think it’s all connected.”

  “Jeremy Haskins died a long time ago, Gray? Didn’t he?”

  He nodded. She was right.

  “Then how could his death and your involvement in it possibility be related to Jared’s murder or Caroline’s? That’s kind of a stretch.” She was staring at him as if she thought he’d gone over the edge. Maybe he had.

  “It’s just a bad, bad feeling. Maybe it comes from knowing practically everyone in Hill County. Maybe I can pick up on the undercurrents without really thinking about it. I’ve been around it so long. It seems like every ugly nasty thing that happens around here comes back to Fred Haskins and how he controls everyone and everything in this county.”

  Her skeptical expression almost amused him, but he didn’t feel like being amused.

  He needed to switch subjects before they got into an in-depth discussion of Fred Haskins. “How did Michael Palmer die?”

  She flinched. “That came out of nowhere.”

  “I know. I’m ready to change the subject.”

  “Okay. If that’s what you need to do, then I’ll talk to you about it. Michael Palmer slashed me across my stomach, but you know that.”

  “How did he die?”

  “I managed to get my gun out of the nightstand, but he knocked it out of my hand.”

  She gulped once, closed her eyes, withdrew her hand from his, and wrapped her arms around her middle. A protective maneuver, no doubt. He appreciated her delving into her pain in order to relieve his.

  “He stood over me. His face... I’ll never forget the look on his face. That’s what cold-blooded murder looks like. He told me I was about to pay for what I’d done. I’m still not sure what I did besides my job... He raised his knife again. The tip was right over my face. He said, ‘Death is here.’ Then Shaw Bennett broke into my bedroom and shot him in the back of the head.”

  “Wow! No wonder you were in the hospital awhile.” No wonder the message on the EVP shook her so much.

  “Six long nightmare months.” She lowered her arms and straightened the tail of her shirt.

  “There’s no way he could still be alive?”

  She laughed, a noise both brittle and hard. “No.”

  “Don’t you think it’s odd you dreamed about him, heard his voice whispering in your ear, and then we found Caroline...like that.”

  “Are you saying this is my fault?”

  He reached over and retook her hand in his. “Of course not. How in the world could any of it be your fault?”

  Her eyes flitted away from him and then back. “Because I obviously brought the ghost of that psychopath here with me.”

  “A ghost didn’t murder Caroline.”

  “Maybe not, but this house seems to attract...evil.”

  His thumb stroked the back of her hand. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”

  She leaned closer to him. “Can’t a spirit attach itself to an object that once belonged to them?”

  His heart lurched in his chest. How did she know about paranormal attachment theory? Maybe that was how she knew where to find Lipton’s body. Because she’d touched something of his in the house, and he’d spoken to her through it. Gray had already surmised she was a conduit for supernatural energy.

  “That’s one theory.”

  He could see it in her eyes. She was about to tell him something he didn’t want to hear.

  She reached inside her shirt and pulled out a pendant. “This was his.”

  He jerked. “Where did you get that?”

  “I’ve kept it...to remind me that strangers can’t be trusted. I never knew what he looked like. I worked in the lab. Never saw a picture of him. When he told me his car had broken down and his cell phone was dead, I felt sorry for him. Went inside to get my cell so he could borrow it. When I handed it to him... As soon as our hands met, he pulled the knife out.”

  “Tori... You’re a smart woman. You should have known better than to open your door to a stranger.”

  Hadn’t she seen enough horror movies to know that? Hadn’t she worked in law enforcement long enough to have that drilled into her head?

  She shook her head and sighed. “I know. But it was raining...”

  He loosened her hand and pulled her head onto his shoulder. The molded vinyl of the console pressed into his side. “Let’s get in the back seat so we can be more comfortable.”

  Without a word, she got out of the car and climbed into the back seat.

  He pushed aside folders full of papers, a ratty sweatshirt he jogged in, and a broken umbrella he never used, and then slipped into the middle seat beside her. “Put your head on my shoulder, baby. Close your eyes. Let’s try to get some rest while we can. By the time Shaw gets here and gets this scene processed, it’s going to be another long night.”

  She snuggled under his arm. “You know I can’t process the scene, and Josh is under arrest.”

  He smoothed her hair. Somehow comforting her kept him from digging too much into his own grief just yet. Finding Caroline had to have been traumatic for her as well. “I know.”

  “That’s why I called Shaw.”

  “You did the right thing.”

  “You want me to go with you when you confront Haskins?”

  It startled him that she had used the word confront. “No. That’s something I should do alone. I don’t want him to associate you with that.”

  “What if he already does, Gray?”

  He ran his fingers through her tangled hair, loosening some of the knots. “I’ll deal wi
th that tomorrow.”

  “That soon?” Fear resonated in her question. She’d obviously heard enough about Fred Haskins to be afraid for Gray.

  “That soon.”

  She was quiet for maybe two minutes. “It must be hard to stay out here when you want to be in there with her.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  She shifted a little to stare up at him. “Gray?”

  “What, baby?”

  “This is going to be hard on us, isn’t it? I mean, as a couple.”

  He studied her tense expression for a long moment. “Do you want to be a couple?”

  She nodded.

  “I won’t blame you if it gets too much.”

  Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “You think things will get that rough?”

  He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, I do.”

  “We haven’t known each other that long.”

  Never was a truer statement uttered. “I’ve never felt this way about anybody else before you.”

  She smiled. “That line is kind of cheesy.”

  He grinned. “I know, but it’s how I feel. I’ve never been so turned on or felt so much affection for someone so fast. The combination scares me a little.” He stroked her cheek. “I’m falling really hard, really fast, and I don’t think I can stop myself. It’s just...”

  “Just what?”

  “I’m not sure how I’m going to handle Caroline’s death. I think I’m probably still in shock. When I finally react, I don’t think it’s going to be pretty. I’m probably going to feel guilty for being so attracted to you when her death is so fresh. I might say or do some things that seem insensitive or unappreciative. I want you to know now that I don’t mean them.”

  She breathed in and out, long deep breaths as if she was trying to suck in enough oxygen. “You know that about yourself, huh?”

  He nodded. “I know that about myself.”

  “Well, at least, it won’t surprise me when it happens.”

  Her attention shifted away from him. Had he already lost her?

  He turned to follow her gaze. A red glow emanated from the upstairs window of Victoria House. “That’s not her room.” His frightened voice startled him, high pitched and unnatural.

  Tori stiffened in his arms. “No, it’s not.”

  “Is it the same type of light you saw the other day?”

  “No. That light glowed kind of bluish white. This is totally different.”

  He yanked the handle on the car door.

  “Where are you going?” Her voice rasped from her, laden with fear.

  He kept moving, her footsteps thudding right behind him.

  “Gray, you can’t go back in there.”

  “I’m going to find out what’s making that light. Maybe it’s not paranormal. Maybe the man who murdered Caroline is still up there.”

  She grabbed his arm, jerking him backward. “Believe me, the last thing you want to do right now is go back into that scene.”

  “I have to know.” He pushed her hand away and continued toward the house. This time she didn’t follow. He twisted and peered over his shoulder at her.

  “Are you coming with me?”

  She shook her head. “I think it’s a bad idea.”

  “Are you gonna let me do this alone?”

  Irritation flashed across her face. “If you are going to go in there no matter what I think, then no, I’m not letting you go in there alone.”

  He turned back toward the house, glanced at the upstairs window. The glowing red light had moved on to the middle window. He blinked. Gone. Then it reappeared in Victoria’s bedroom. He stared up at the phenomena, unbelieving and terrified of what he was about to encounter.

  “That’s not normal, Gray.”

  Her voice shot through him.

  “Nothing about this is normal.”

  He entered the house, released the breath he held when he felt Tori right behind him, so close he could feel her warmth through the thin fabric of his shirt. His heart pounded hard. His mind raced. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, puffed out his cheeks, and then took the steps two at a time.

  ****

  When Josh blinked open his eyelids, Lucy Kimbrough’s overwhelming presence startled him. A strange expression covered her face and dimmed her eyes. He was scared to define her mood. He’d never been good with emotions, always stuffed them into a box and tried not to deal with them, so figuring out what was going on with Lucy was difficult at best.

  “Lucy, what are you doing here? Are you my new bodyguard?” His light-hearted attitude fell flat.

  She laughed and the unnatural timbre of her amusement sent a frisson of dread throughout him.

  “Your bodyguard? That’s funny. No. I’m just here as your friend. Jackson is sitting right outside the door.”

  What was she doing here in his room? How had Jackson let her get past him? She had no reason to be here. He would have never invited her to visit him. It still embarrassed him that he’d slipped up and spent a night with her, a night he couldn’t even remember.

  She leaned closer and he inched further toward the other side of his hospital bed away from her. “I don’t think it’s right that Grayson arrested you. I know you didn’t kill Jared Crenshaw.”

  Finally someone was on his side in the matter. Almost every other deputy who’d entered his room since Gray arrested him had given him the stink eye as if he’d stepped in a pile of horse manure.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Her eyes filled with sympathy and righteous indignation. “He deserved it though. Jared should have never beaten you up.”

  As surely as she stood over him, she had come to his room for reasons of her own. What did the woman want from him?

  He smiled his bedroom smile, the one he resorted to when he didn’t want a woman to know what he thought of her but wanted something from her. It was the kind of smile that made a woman want to jump into bed with him. He could get anything he wanted with that million-dollar smile. His heart sank when he realized how much disrespect the smile represented. Had he really sunk so low? Maybe that’s what Ashley had meant when she said he had the charm of a rattlesnake.

  Not a compliment.

  “You’re right. He shouldn’t have.”

  “I know you, and I know you would never have done what he said you did.”

  He was glad somebody thought so. “We know each other pretty good, don’t we, Lucy?” He said her name as if it was milk chocolate melting on his tongue.

  She smiled, a dreamy expression. The woman was attracted to him, and it made him shudder to think about what he’d done to her to elicit such an obvious show of her feelings. She was making a fool out of herself, and he couldn’t do much to stop her without making the situation worse. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He never wanted to break a woman’s heart, but somehow he always managed to dent them a little. Still, some of them came back for more. He’d never understand women.

  “I know everything about you, Josh. Everything that’s important.” She scooted onto the side of his bed. “More than anyone else.” Was the woman actually...cooing?

  Alarm bells blared in his aching head.

  “You don’t need her.”

  His blood ran cold. “Who?”

  “Courtney.”

  His stomach knotted.

  A slightly crazy light glowed from her eyes.

  “No, you’re right. I never thought I did.”

  “The only woman you need is me.”

  She had just thoroughly creeped him out.

  Everything was shifting into place, but not quite fast enough. At the old Jepson place when he’d gone looking for her, Courtney had argued that a woman would kill her if she told Grayson anything. Could she have been referring to Lucy Kimbrough?

  “I’ve come to help you escape, baby.” She stroked his cheek, and he made himself relax so as not to alert her to the fact her touch made him want to throw up.

  He didn’t need to escape from Deputy
Jackson. He’d understood Gray’s tactical maneuver. Arresting him put Josh in a backwards sort of protective custody. Gray had tried to lure Jared’s killer into a false sense of security by arresting the wrong man, but his tactic had backfired.

  Apparently, Gray had failed to arrest the right woman.

  The bright gleam of dementia glowed in Lucy’s eyes. Her smile reminded him of a clown that had scared the mess out of him when he was a kid. She wasn’t quite wired right. He was certain of it.

  “Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here.” He swung his legs over the side of his bed, his eyes trained on her service weapon holstered to her side. A wave of dizziness swept over him, the affects of the concussion still evident. When he glanced up at her, the smile had dropped from her face.

  “You’re not going to cooperate, are you?” She leaned in close, and her breath smelled of peppermint. The odor turned his stomach. She patted her weapon. “Don’t make me have to use this. Now let’s go. We need to go visit Courtney. You have some things you need to tell her.”

  What would he need to tell Courtney Crenshaw? He could only imagine what Lucy had concocted in her twisted mind.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Victoria’s bedroom appeared no different than how Tori and Gray had left it. Tori’s eyes shot around the room, anxiously expecting someone or something sinister to jump out of the shadows.

  Gray had flung the door open as if he’d expected to surprise someone. If the room had been empty of a living human being when they found Caroline, then chances were it would still be just as lifeless. Caroline was still dead.

  Tori hovered in the doorway, unwilling to step further in the room. “Gray, we need to get out of here.”

  “I’m telling you I saw that red light glowing from this room.”

  She had as well, but that didn’t mean she wanted to chase it down and confront it. Some things were better left alone. Mysterious paranormal ghost lights flickering inside a room where there was a dead woman was one of them.

  Tori had always heard the phrase her skin crawled, but she’d never before experienced the phenomena. It was the oddest sensation, as if her flesh was sliding up and down her bones. Her stomach suddenly dropped all the way to her toes. “I’m not feeling good.”