A Haunting Affair

by Ursula Bauer

  “You could have a concussion.”

  She was moving again, trying to lever into a sitting position. To stop her, Sam scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the main entry.

  “I’m fine, Sam. I need a change of clothes and a chance to sort out all the stuff in my head. I had some kind of vision but it’s all confused. I don’t need a hospital.”

  “I’m taking you upstairs to get a change of clothes. Then we’re driving to the Adirondack Med Center emergency room in Saranac Lake. We need to get you checked out.” I need to get you checked out. If anything had happened to her because he pulled her into his mad little world he’d never forgive himself. Once in her bedroom, he set her gently on the sofa.

  “You’re being overprotective,” she said. “I’m completely uninjured.”

  Sam sat beside her. Smoothed her hair out. Cupped her chin. “When a doctor tells me there is no concussion, then I’ll accept your okay. This plan is not negotiable.”

  Color flooded her cheeks. Her eyes sharpened. The protest was on her lips. Sam leaned down and silenced Emma with a kiss.

  ~ * * * ~

  She wanted to argue. She wanted to fight. But the riot of sensations firing off with his kiss swamped her brain and sent her out to her own personal edge. Emma thought he’d be gentle and he was. But she never expected the pure heat of him, the strength mixed with control as he coaxed his way into her mouth.

  Her insides turned to liquid flame. She reached her hands to his broad shoulders, pulling him closer. Sam’s response was a pure male sound of satisfaction followed by a ferocious turn to the kiss. He thrilled her to her toes. Hospitals, ghosts, they were last on her list. He was all around her. The scent of clean man. The potent desire. The fire it put in her blood. Sam filled her world.

  He broke the kiss, leaving her breathless. “About those clothes?”

  “You can’t sweet talk me, Tyler, I’m not that easy.” The hungry look to his eyes was all predator. “Did you think the kiss would lull me into cooperation?”

  “The kiss was for me. I’ve spent far too long wondering about it and fighting it. Life’s too short not to take a risk or two.”

  “Is that what I am? A risk?” Her blood rapidly cooled.

  “We’re two very different people, from very different worlds. I bet I’m as much a risk for you as you are for me.”

  Once again she found herself without argument. It was hard to hear the truth. Part of her wanted to preserve a forever after fantasy, even knowing as she did that she didn’t do long term. And that Sam did, but not with someone like her.

  “I’m not a forever after kind of girl,” she said. “You don’t need to worry about any entanglements with me.”

  The shift in him was subtle and curious. His eyes grew distant. His expression, unreadable. “Entanglements? Interesting word. What if I want an entanglement?”

  “As long as it’s casual, it’s fine with me.” She forced a smile, wondering how they went from chasing ghosts to trading kisses to negotiating terms of engagement.

  “Who hurt you in the past, Emma?”

  “No one, and I plan to keep it that way.” She slipped past him on the couch and made for the bedroom door of the suite. She couldn’t bear this conversation, or her own duplicity, a moment more. “I’m freezing. I need a hot shower and dry clothes. We can compromise and go to an urgent care center. I saw a twenty-four hour one on the other side of town when I first drove in.”

  She shut the door on him before he could protest more, then leaned back against it and took a deep breath. She tasted him on her lips. Smelled him all around her. She couldn’t escape. Not him. Not her desire for him. Emma scurried into the bathroom, and stripped down while the shower warmed. As the bathroom fogged with steam, she sat on the edge of the soaking tub and shut her eyes. What had she seen? What was Jen trying to tell her? And who was the dark shape in the kitchen with her?

  Initially she’d thought it was a harmful spirit, but it had broken her fall, and protected her from the flying window glass. She was certain of it. A force beyond the ordinary had scattered the glass so none of it cut her or touched her. Jen might have been screaming a warning or reliving something that happened to her. But the spirit in the kitchen protected Emma from whatever caused the glass to blow. Then again, it had also taken her into a dreamlike state where she almost choked to death. Not exactly happy ghosty kinds of stuff. Unless there was another ghost?

  Emma rubbed her tired eyes. It was confusing. She should be going to sleep, not to see some quack in the middle of the night. She should call Eric and run this by him. She knew she was getting into things beyond her understanding. Except she didn’t want to run for help. So far nothing had harmed her. Shook her up, put a spook into her, yes. She was safe, though, and as long as she was safe even if she was scared, she wanted to see this through to the end. It would make for one hell of a book, especially if she went solo on the whole of the operation.

  But there were other reasons to keep this small for now. Bringing in other energy workers might sever the connection the ghosts had with the living. The wall would go back up and Sam would be at square one. He needed this to be over. It was the only way he’d forgive himself.

  Emma climbed into the shower and let the hot water bring life back into her. She didn’t want to think about Sam or the kind of things he brought to life in her. She certainly didn’t want to consider him moving on without her. She realized it was silly. If she didn’t want a keeper what did it matter that he moved on? She was being irrational. Childish even. She needed to take him at face value and not vest herself in futures and dreams, and it would all work out fine. It always did when she followed that script.

  Heat soaked into her bones as the water sluiced over her skin. She put her confusion and feelings for Sam aside and switched gears, replaying what she recalled of the spectral contact in her mind. More and more the fragments came to her, and by the time she toweled off she was able to piece together critical elements.

  Jen was saying run, again and again. It might have been in warning, but to Emma it seemed as if the word had been bottled up somewhere and released inside an echo chamber. She sensed the word was linked to Jen’s death. That she’d had time to run from the killer. It reinforced an earlier perception that there was a gap between when Jen knew she would die, and when she died. The other spirit may or may not be Keith. There was no way to identify it or really guess its intent.

  The manifestation was powerful. First she’d been choking. The initial sensation was something tight around her neck. Then it changed to more of a gag. She thought there was water all around her and she couldn’t escape. As if she was drowning and conscious of that fact. Reaching into herself, she tried to hone in her intuition around that. Sinking. Down. Hopeless. Those were the pervasive feelings. Probing it at brought more of the same so she let it go at that.

  Emma took a break from the vision to dress. Rain slapped against the windows, rattling them in the panes, so she opted for a heavier wool sweater, jeans and a pair of thick socks. Performing the mindless tasks allowed her to rest briefly. She had finished donning her boots, when all at once, the sensations came back. This time with a vengeance.

  Water was all around, pressing on her, cold, like a grave. She was going under. Emma struggled to hold onto the altered state as she pushed the limits of her psychic ability. A vision struck her, a ledge and the murky surface of Holloway Lake. Awareness spread through her in an instant. “A grave. That’s it.”

  If what she thought she knew was true—

  “Sam!” Emma screamed his name as she raced from the room.

  She banged into his broad chest and his arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling.

  “More ghosts?” he said, not without concern.

  “Worse.”

  “What can be worse than more ghosts?”

  “How about their bodies?”

  ~ * * * ~

  Emma’s revelation blew his mind. “Are you sure?�
�

  “Heath’s in the lake. I saw it. I think I lived it too. Down towards the ravine there’s some kind of outcrop of rock. It’s a big ledge. The lake forms a deep basin beneath. His body’s down there. I think there’s more than one, but I can’t swear to that.”

  He thought he had crazy before. He had no idea how crazy it was going to get. “Heath. In the lake.” He let go and took a step back. “How do you know?”

  Emma look froze him solid.

  “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  What was he supposed to do with this information? There was only one way to prove it. Get divers into the lake. He had a few on retainer he could call. Except if this was real, and that was a pretty big if, better to get the cops involved. Go by the book. His cop instincts came on line. “I’m taking a big risk if we check this out.”

  “You brought me here for this, Sam. It’s your choice. Do what you want.”

  They were at a standoff. If he didn’t follow through, he’d prove to her he didn’t trust her. Worse, what if there was fresh evidence and it went unfound because he didn’t believe her? And if he followed through and it was a bust? Then what?

  Sam pulled out his Blackberry and speed dialed a number. After two rings a very angry Jake Meyer answered.

  “What do you want at this hour, Tyler?”

  “You said you wanted the authorities to know about any evidence, right?”

  “What do you have?”

  “Nothing yet. But I will. I’m calling in a dive team sent to search part of the lake.”

  “Why the hell for?”

  “My psychic tells me Brad Heath’s body is there.”

  “You can’t do anything until daylight. It’s not safe.”

  “I need someone to secure the scene so it’s all by the book.”

  “You sound pretty convinced you’re going to find something.”

  “You and I both had questions about Heath’s disappearance. It makes sense. Listen, if you get here and I’m not around, I’m at the urgent care just outside of Inlet.”

  “Do I want to know what happened?”

  “Let’s call it the tip off from the great beyond and leave it at that.”

  Jake gave a sharp laugh. “Fine. I’ll roust the law and bring them to your place. I’ll call the Staties too. If we’re going straight with this, we’re going all the way. And Tyler, put on some damn coffee. The real stuff, none of that decaf crap.”

  The line was abruptly cut.

  Emma watched him with a guarded expression.

  “Jake’s going to bring in the locals and the state. Meanwhile, we’re going to see a doctor.”

  A small smile curved her lips and his heart did a double take. “You believe me.”

  “I brought you here. Fighting you or stopping half way seems pretty stupid.” He hated the power she held over him. He prayed she’d never guess the extent of her effect. “So yes, Emma, I believe you.”

  She threw her arms around him and hugged tight. The impact on his libido, and on his emotions, was ten thousand times worse than that kiss they’d shared ten minutes earlier. Tempted by the sweet taste of her and the edge of danger she represented, he kissed her again. She burned through him. He was hard and ready. He was crazy out of his mind for her. And he was worried about her. So many things, all rolled into one. It made the kiss hotter, the passionate need stronger.

  He wanted to possess and to protect. To master her. To bind her to him. But how? She didn’t do forever after. She’d said as much and she wasn’t lying. And when the hell did it become a good idea to think long term about a former con artist who worked as a psychic? She certainly wasn’t the kind of women he’d planned for his own happy ever after. Not to mention he’d known her only a few days.

  Logic didn’t stop him. Wasn’t even a minor speed bump on the road. He kissed her harder, as if to put his brand on her. To kiss away all memory of any men before him. Emma burrowed into his embrace. She was all woman. Soft. Sweet. A perfect fit. If he didn’t stop now, they’d never leave the house. Never leave the suite for that matter. Screw whatever he’d thought his happy ever after would be. He would take happy right here, right now, and to hell with all the risks.

  This time she broke the kiss. “Sam, we keep this up, we won’t make the doctor.”

  He liked the way her eyes were all hazy with desire. The way her pink lips glistened. A man could lose himself in a woman like Emma and never look for a way out.

  “Right. Urgent care.” He had time for casual, but this was racing way out of control, way too fast, to be casual. When in history he’d fallen this hard this fast, he couldn’t recall. The ice grew thinner and thinner beneath his feet with each step. “Let’s go.”

  “There are some things I need to tell you,” she started to say.

  “Is it worse than multiple bodies in Holloway Lake?”

  “I want to explain what happened to me in the kitchen. I heard Jen speak.”

  “Did she tell you who killed her?”

  “No.”

  Wasn’t it like Jen to hold out? Sam laughed in spite of the situation. “You can catch me up on the way.”

  Chapter Seven

  Emma cleared urgent care as she had expected. They returned to the house afterwards, where she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. By the time she woke, it was mid-morning, and the circus had arrived. Ring one was the state police and dive team, and ring two, the local police with a noticeably absent Sheriff Preston. Ring three, the family: namely Wesley Vaughn and his wife Audrey. Presiding over them all was a cranky Jake Meyer.

  It took a few hours to get everyone coordinated, and the entire time Emma felt naked and on display. She stood at the sidelines, observing, while Sam talked with the Mayor and the dive team. It was clear to her from the mix of furtive and outright curious looks from all assembled, they knew to some extent the tip came from her, and that she was a psychic. Not anyone of credible origin.

  Frigid wind blasted across the wide rock ledge that stretched over Holloway Lake. Emma shivered and tried to burrow deeper into the warm folds of Sam’s anorak. Her meager coat was no protection against the arctic weather that had rolled in last night on the heels of the latest departing storm. Sam had insisted she wear one of his, and she was glad this was one thing she didn’t fight him on. The unique scent of him, clean male with a spicy hint of aftershave, gave her an illusion of protection that held her doubts at bay while she underwent the scrutiny and silent judgment of those around her.

  Not that she wasn’t used to this kind of thing. If her vision proved false, if she’d read it wrong somehow, she’d have to endure a lot more than simple stares. The ridicule. Innuendo. Even though most of these people meant nothing to her, the jabs still hurt. She bristled in anticipation, hoping she wasn’t wrong. Hoping that she was here and connecting for a reason, and that her keys would open the right doors.

  The book didn’t even matter at this point. That was furthest from her mind. Emma needed to prove to Sam she could do this. Prove he could trust her psychic skills. It shouldn’t be important to her, but it was. And because it was important it made her even more vulnerable to him. She hated that. Hated herself. Because she wasn’t strong enough to stop wanting Sam anyway, even if being around him made her so uncertain.

  Sam finished up with the state police and the Mayor. That part of the team took a four wheeler down to shore where a boat waited. Soon, those divers would break the water’s surface, twenty five feet below the overhang’s jagged edge. What would they find? She reached out her senses and hit a wall. Emma retreated further into herself and the warmth of the coat.

  He joined her as the crowd began to disperse. “Anything?” The concern was evident in the soft tone of his voice and the way he gently took her arm and stood so close. Like they were already lovers. The intimate proximity and the familiarity of his touch brought heat to life in her.

  “I expected to feel something when we passed the burned remains of the guest annex. I certainly th
ought I’d get a hit up here. But nothing. Sorry. I’ll keep trying.”

  “If bodies turn up on the dive, that’s good enough for a day’s work.”

  The lightness in Sam’s words put her more on edge and reinforced the doubts she had about his ability to accept her and what she did. She sighed and turned towards the path. “I’m cold. Can we wait this out inside?”

  “Sure.” He stayed close as they started walking the winding path through the woods that led back to the lodge.

  “What were they saying earlier, when Jake kept looking my way?”

  “I took care of setting everyone straight. No one’s going to give you a hard time.”

  “I’m used to this, Sam. I can take care of myself.”

  He was about to speak, then stopped. Up ahead Wesley Vaughn leaned against a large pine, waiting. His long legs were crossed and his body language was very casual for a man at the scene of at least one murder, and potentially more. With his boyish good looks and rugged outfitting, he appeared more like a model from an LL Bean catalog than a famous psychiatrist.

  “Looks like we get a chance at interviewing Wes a little earlier than planned,” Sam said. “You ready for him?”

  “Should be interesting.” They’d been introduced earlier that day, but it was quick and public, with no chance to interact beyond superficial greetings. In the brief moments she had the impression that Wesley was easy to talk to, difficult to get to talk. The years in his field made him a formidable opponent. She had the sense she’d need to go with her gut on him and not the normal tells that she relied on when interviewing the average person. Emma pulled herself together and braced for impact.

  “Just like the old days,” Wesley said when she and Sam reached him on the trail. “I had hoped they were behind us.”

  “They are,” said Sam. “This time it’s different. This time we’re checking the lake.”

  Wesley smiled blandly. Nothing in his manner suggested that Sam’s comment riled him. He appeared calm, yet distant, like a man watching a play who had no stake in the performance or the outcome, only an interest in the process. “We had no need to last time. Jen died in the fire. We didn’t expect anyone went into the lake. It was only natural the police turned attention elsewhere. Though I wonder what they’d have found if they looked back then. And I wonder what they’ll find now, after so much time has passed.”