Victoria House (Haunted Hearts Series Book 2)

by Denise Moncrief

  The impact rattled his still sore ribs. He groaned from the pain that shot through his chest. When he slid a couple of steps down the stairs, pulling her with him, she turned on him with a malevolent glare. Her face blotched with a varied display of reds and pinks. Her eyes popped with sudden fury. “What are you doing? Get up. We have to sneak up there and do this before Gray finds us.”

  What she suggested wasn’t a very good plan. Another indicator that her mind wasn’t functioning properly. What if Gray saw them come into the house? Would things get ugly? Lucy had a gun. Gray had a gun. Gray couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore the handcuffs around Josh’s wrists.

  If Gray was here, so was Tori Downing. Interesting. What kind of relationship did Gray have with the hot new crime scene specialist who had all but taken his place in his lab? Oh yeah, he knew all about the tests she’d been running behind his back. Did Tori and Gray really believe word wouldn’t get back to him?

  Instead of waiting for Josh to comply, Lucy grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him from the stairs, dragging his thoughts back to the current crisis. Where had the woman gotten so much strength? She wasn’t a frail woman, but he was by no means a small man. He’d heard that psychotics sometimes had seemingly abnormal strength. Maybe she’d had some sort of psychotic break.

  They resumed their upward trudge, but then Lucy stopped. “Wait. If Gray is here, then that means he’s here with Tori Downing. Why else would he be at Victoria House?”

  So her mind had finally allowed a bit of reality to slip into her warped plan.

  “I don’t know. The same reason we are?”

  Her high-pitched manic cackle erupted all around them. The two-story high living room obviously had great acoustics. Her shrill voice reverberated off the wood trim, vibrating the crystals in the hanging chandelier. “I don’t think so, darling.”

  She didn’t sound like the Lucy he knew anymore. He shuddered with dread from the first real fear he’d ever experienced in his life, and he’d had some close scrapes. A sudden drop in temperature made him wish she’d allowed him to dress in more than a tank style t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, but at least, it was better than the drafty hospital gown he’d been wearing.

  She pulled him down the hall, stopped in front of the last door, and slammed it with the palm of her hand. When it didn’t open, she let loose a stream of profanities he’d never heard leave a woman’s mouth, and he’d been with some pretty feisty, rough and tumble females in the past.

  Maybe it was time to give up that kind of self-destructive indulgence. His constant bed hopping wasn’t helping him forget that Ashley would never love him. He shook off the stray thoughts. Why was he suddenly focusing on his regrets? Maybe because he sensed he was in a life and death situation. Thinking about Ashley wasn’t getting him out of his current jam.

  Lucy banged on the last door on the right side of the hall with her fist.

  He exhaled slowly and attempted to start a dialogue. “I don’t think anyone’s home. We should leave before we get caught breaking and entering. That’s a crime, you know.”

  “Shut up.” She grabbed the doorknob and rattled it violently, but the door wouldn’t budge. Before he could blink, she had unloaded her firearm into the wood around the lock. Splinters flew past him, missing his bare arms by inches. She kicked the door with her booted heel and it sprang open.

  If Gray was in the house, how could he miss the racket she was making? If he hadn’t made an appearance already, then maybe he was watching and waiting for the right moment to intervene, to catch Lucy off guard. That’s what Josh was hoping anyway. With Lucy in a manic mood, anything could happen very quickly.

  She pulled him with her into the room. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light. Closed drapes. Minimal lighting. Dark colors. When he was able to focus on his surroundings, he recoiled at the scene before him. Caroline’s bloody and lifeless body lay sprawled across the bed, draped over the edge as if someone had just violated her. The slit across her throat attested to the way she had died. Brutally.

  He glanced at Lucy. She didn’t seem shocked. In fact, she acted as if she already knew what she’d find in the room. Was Caroline’s corpse the gift she meant to give him? His blood ran cold in his veins.

  Lucy turned and beamed at him as if she’d just accomplished something marvelous. Still sick at his stomach, he wanted to press a hand to his mouth to suppress whatever was about to erupt from it, whether his horrid hospital lunch or a blood-curdling scream.

  What if he blew chunks all over Lucy? Would that send her into a frantic frenzy?

  He tried to raise his hand to his face but could do nothing as long as he was still in the handcuffs and Lucy still clutched the link between the hooks tight in her fingers.

  Josh could no longer contain his shock. “What have you done, Lucy?” His words gasped from him one at a time. Hard and syncopated.

  Lucy’s eyes glittered with manic obsession. “She told me she was going tell Halsey who killed Jeremy Haskins. I couldn’t let her do that.” She smiled and the gastric juices in his stomach churned even more. “Anyone who messes with my baby is going to be punished.”

  Her baby? Did she mean him?

  “You mean you killed Caroline to keep her from telling Halsey that I killed Jeremy Haskins?”

  Her bright countenance told him she wanted him to be proud of her for saving him.

  “You did that for me?” He stumbled over the question.

  He’d never had anyone do anything that important or that awful for him. Why would she think he’d want her to?

  He caught movement in the corner of his eye. Someone hovered outside the bedroom door. He wanted whoever was listening to be a witness to what Lucy said. Josh had to draw her out, make her admit things she wouldn’t dare confess in an interrogation room. Things she might only tell the man she called baby. He suppressed a cringe.

  Lucy stroked his cheek, and he almost lost control and gave up the terrible game he was forced to play with her. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from telling her exactly what he thought of her.

  “If she told Halsey you killed Jeremy, it would have ruined our life.”

  Our life. The woman really thought they were together.

  “Wow! That’s... Is that the gift you wanted to give me? My freedom? You were keeping me out of jail by killing her?”

  Would she get the irony? He was still in her handcuffs, and he could thoroughly kick himself for turning his back on her. It was easy for her to overpower him once she’d pressed her gun into his side.

  “Come on, take the cuffs off. We can’t have a good time if I can’t use my hands.” He resorted to his most effective bedroom smile and flexed his fingers, a move that usually turned a woman into a willing sexual partner.

  “You mean in here?” She giggled and the sound revolted him.

  “No, let’s go down the hall to one of the other rooms. I can’t... I can’t look at her anymore. She makes me sick.”

  Actually, he hadn’t glanced at Caroline’s body since the first initial shock. Couldn’t bear to see her like that. Broken and ruined. Lifeless. She hadn’t been his lover, but she had been his friend when no one else thought he was worth the trouble.

  Lucy started to holster her sidearm, but then stopped, stretched to drop the gun on a nearby dresser, and returned to unshackle him. He rubbed his wrists. She licked her lips and pushed her braided ponytail over her shoulder. He winced at the obvious body language. The woman was emitting all the signs of sexual interest. Her eyes flared with unadulterated lust. He couldn’t do that with her. Not again. He didn’t have the guts.

  She no longer had possession of the gun, but she was also between him and the firearm. Could he somehow switch their positions and get to the gun? No sudden moves. He was certain whoever was in the hall was covering him. He could grab the weapon if he waited for just the right moment, so all he needed to do was distract her. “Can I ask you something?”

  She came closer, and her
attitude conveyed how much she wanted him to embrace her. So he did. With a huge lump of disgust in his throat, he forced himself to wrap his arms around her and gaze into her eyes.

  “What do you want to know, sugar?”

  His head was full of ugly suspicions. “Did you... Have you done that for me before?” He nodded toward Caroline.

  Her smile dripped with honey and venom. “Jared should have never beaten you up.” She had taken a sweetly sympathetic tone. Like too much real syrup on something made with artificial sweetener.

  Jared Crenshaw. Had she killed the bastard on his account?

  “Oh, now, baby, you didn’t have to do that.”

  She rubbed her chest next to his. “But I did. Are you pleased?”

  His stomach turned over and its contents threatened to back up his esophagus. He pushed his disgust back down. “He won’t be any trouble to either of us anymore, will he?”

  She laughed, tilting her head back to expose her throat as if she thought he was going to nuzzle her or something. He leaned in to brush his lips against her neck. The bile rose in his throat.

  “It was no big deal. Besides, he was becoming a problem for me anyway. The operation would have been mine when Cooley died, but Jared got in the way. He was nothing but a mule. Who did he think he was trying to take over things...” She pushed him away. Stepped back a few paces. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re playing me. Just like you played Caroline. Just like you played that stupid Rivers woman. You don’t love me. You’re just trying to get me to talk, aren’t you?”

  The gun was in her grip again before he could react. The way she turned on him so fast was frightening. He didn’t like the way Lucy talked in past tense when referring to Ashley. If Gray was outside in the hall, what was keeping him from jumping in and arresting her? Hadn’t he heard enough? She’d practically confessed to two murders.

  ****

  Gray hung back in the hallway, listening to the conversation in Victoria’s bedroom. He held the small digital recorder he used to record EVP sessions. Hopefully, he was capturing every bit of Lucy’s confession.

  At first, he hadn’t been quite certain what Josh was doing. He had seemed to be sucking up to Lucy, playing a rough game, but his ploy hadn’t worked and once again she was holding her weapon on him. She’d never given Gray enough room to get between her and the gun.

  Josh raised his hands as if in surrender. “No, I ain’t playing you, darling. Put the gun away. I promise I’m being real with you.” Josh’s voice wavered.

  Even when Josh was afraid he never showed it. Gray had never seen his old friend frightened, and that scared him. It meant he couldn’t predict the behavior of either Josh or Lucy.

  “Gray will be here any second. He probably heard me blow the lock off.” Lucy moved so that her back wasn’t to the door any longer.

  Gray stepped away from the opening and motioned to Tori to stay out of sight.

  Lucy continued. “Do you think he’s already found my gift to you?”

  Gray closed his eyes. The thought of Lucy offering up Caroline as a sacrificial gift sliced him as if the knife had been drawn across his throat instead of hers.

  “That’s sick. You’re sick.”

  Josh had evidently grown tired of pretending to be her lover or realized the futility of such a thin ploy.

  Lucy sniffed.

  “You killed Caroline for nothing. She didn’t know who killed Jeremy. She couldn’t tell what she didn’t know.”

  Gray peeked around the doorframe.

  Lucy shook her head. “No, she said... She said...” Confusion creased her brow.

  “I know everyone always assumed I had something to do with his disappearance because I was the last one to see him in town and alive, but I swear I had nothing to do with his death.”

  “How do you know he’s dead? His body has never been found.”

  She moved into position between Josh and the door, blocking Gray’s view of Josh.

  Gray sucked in a breath and held it. Everything that happened next could hinge on how Josh answered her question.

  “Because I know how he died.”

  “If you weren’t there and you didn’t do it, how do you know how he died? Wait! Are you telling me Gray killed Jeremy Haskins?” Lucy laughed, a blood chilling cacophony of discordant noise. How had she made that leap of logic when she hadn’t been able to think straight about anything else?

  Josh hiccupped, an obvious burst of nervous energy. “No, I am not.”

  “Of course, you are. No one else would tell you that huge a secret.” She waved the gun at him. “Let’s go. We gotta get out of here before Gray catches us.”

  Tori pressed her hand against her mouth, her eyes wide with alarm. Her body language screamed with urgency. As long as Lucy held the gun on Josh, Gray was reluctant to make a move. Not only would an ill-conceived confrontation put Josh in danger, but Tori as well. On the other hand, if Lucy came out into the hall and found them, they would all be in danger. The situation could escalate quickly, too quickly.

  He shook his head, trying to communicate the need to proceed with extreme caution. A quick flash of understanding in her eyes made him believe she’d read his mind, something she had become quite good at.

  He’d asked Tori to follow him into the house, but once they reached the upstairs, he wished with all his heart he’d insisted she stay in the car and wait for Halsey, but he hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight. As long as he could see her, he knew she was all right. The thought of losing her before their future even got started scared the crap out of him.

  Maybe Lucy wasn’t the only one not thinking straight. He’d let his heart interfere with his professional judgment. He pointed toward a room across the hall and mouthed the suggestion that she should hide. She shook her head, mouthing back that she wouldn’t leave him alone to fight Lucy.

  “You had me going, Josh, but you know what? You’re messing with the wrong woman, because I’m smarter than that.” Lucy’s voice vibrated with irritation and just a hint of fear. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. This isn’t good.” She paced one way and then returned the other, never moving more than a few feet away from Josh. “I have to take care of this or else old man... You know too much.”

  Josh’s face paled as if he’d already been drained of his blood. “What? What do you mean?”

  “I’ve told you too much.”

  Gray’s blood rushed his brain. Whatever was going to happen was on him. He had to decide how he was going to diffuse the situation in a way that everyone came out alive.

  The barrel of Lucy’s gun pressed into Josh’s chest. His hands flew up in an act of supposed surrender, but Gray knew his life-long friend too well. If he knew anything about Josh, his ex-best friend did not intend to surrender without a fight, but for the first time since they met in the first grade, he couldn’t read Josh’s mind. He had no idea what Josh would do.

  Since they had quit acting like best friends, Josh had become unpredictable. At least, in Gray’s opinion. Josh would argue that Gray had become too predictable. Funny how the aftereffects of tragedy affected people differently.

  Gray hated feeling helpless. If he had to watch his best friend die in the same room where his dead wife lay, well, he didn’t think he could come back from that. And if something happened to Tori...

  He had to make his move. The moment had arrived. He mouthed to Tori to stay put and prayed she would cooperate before he stepped into the room. Lucy’s eyes shot toward him as if she’d heard the rustle of his pants legs or the thud of his footfalls.

  Heaviness pressed down on him from the moment he crossed the threshold. Energy seemed to converge on Lucy and Josh, streaming from the four corners of the room. A bright light started as an orb over Victoria’s bed and strengthened until it had taken the form of a woman.

  Lucy gasped as the apparition moved toward her. She began to tremble while Josh seemed frozen, his gaze apparently riveted on the glowing figure hovering over Lucy. />
  “No more.”

  Though her focus was on Lucy, the apparition’s voice caressed Gray. Her soft whisper comforted Gray and relieved the tension that had wound tight between his shoulders. He glanced over his shoulder at Tori. She seemed to be in awe, engrossed in the scene in front of her. Transfixed as if her gaze was locked on the apparition and could not be broken.

  He returned his attention to what was happening in the bedroom. A glowing hand reached out from the larger brilliant white mass, stretching toward Lucy. She stepped back, nearly tripping over a rip in the carpet. “Who are you?” Lucy’s question chattered out of her mouth between trembling lips, and she began vibrating until her body was wracked with hard and violent convulsions.

  “Victoria.”

  The eerie answer sent a shockwave of foreboding along Gray’s already twitching nervous system.

  One more intense convulsion and Lucy’s countenance morphed into someone who was unrecognizable to Gray. Josh backed away from her, pressing his body against the bedroom wall, seemingly as far away from the ghost and her captive as possible. Josh glanced toward Gray’s position just inside the bedroom door with a beseeching expression on his face as if Gray had any power to stop what was happening.

  “You belong to me.” The voice that came out of Lucy’s mouth was not hers. No, it was masculine and deep. Throaty and edged with raw bitterness.

  “Never belonged to you, John.”

  When the hand finally connected with Lucy’s face, her back arched and her skin seemed to glow with the incandescence of a million candles. Gray shielded his eyes from the blinding light emanating from Lucy. He peeked between his fingers in time to witness the spirit of Victoria Hamilton raising Lucy from the floor, lifting her almost to the ceiling.

  The scene before him drew Gray further into the room. Tori’s fingers wrapped around his upper arm. He wanted her to stay in the hall, but he seemed powerless to stop her from following him.

  One more glance in Josh’s direction revealed he’d slid down the wall and was almost in the fetal position as if someone was pressing his head down into his chest. The moans and cries coming from the man didn’t sound...human. Anguished and broken. His hands covered his head. Sobs poured out of him, wave upon wave.