A Brady Paranormal Investigations Box Set

by Harper Crowley

  Jess stands next to a tall gravestone. She describes what’s known about the person buried here perfectly. I have to hand it to her. Since she doesn’t have her full permit yet, the bulk of the driving falls on Russ and me, but Jess makes up for it in research. She also moderates the forums and boots the idiots who come on to start trouble, not to mention staying up-to-date with her online-high-school assignments.

  “Nobody really knows how many of the graves are actually empty or if those which are occupied contain the right bodies, but there’s one thing we know for certain. The Wild West was a dangerous place, and Tombstone was the center of all that. My sister, Russ, and I have always wanted to come here, explore this town, meet the people, and even sweat to death in the heat, just so we can bring one of the most haunted places on the planet to you.” With her outro completed, Jess takes a step back without looking and trips over one of the many rocks piled onto the grave next to her. Her arms pinwheel out at her sides, and then she lands hard, the rusty brown sand poofing up around her.

  “Ow!” she shrieks, clutching her ankle.

  I sprint through the stones, my heart racing, and set Bear on the ground when I drop to her side. Russ stuffs the camera into his pocket and crouches on her other side.

  “Are you hurt? Did you get bit by a rattlesnake? A scorpion?” Both Jess and Russ had told me all about these desert denizens, and I hope to God she didn’t get nailed by one when she fell. “Where are you hurt?” I reach for her leg.

  She swats my hands away. “I’m fine. I just tripped. God,” she snaps. “I’m cursed, remember? I told you I’ll trip and die in a graveyard one day.”

  I rock back on my heels. Yeah, she’s fine.

  Bear wiggles his way onto Jess’s lap, and she shoves him off. “Gross. You need a bath, dog.” She struggles to her feet, using the nearest gravestone for support. “I guess I do too, now. Thanks.”

  “Can I pick out the quote for your headstone?” Russ quips. He waves his hand. “Here lies Jessica Brady. She tripped and fell in a graveyard so many times she decided to stay.”

  Jess picks up a small stone and tosses it at him. “That was pathetic.”

  He snorts. “Let’s see you come up with something better.”

  She rolls her eyes at him and limps out of the graveyard.

  “Did you get that on camera?” I scoop Bear up so he doesn’t get any ideas about peeing on any headstones.

  He smirks. “Oh yeah.” Russ pats the camera in his pocket. “I’ll trim it up, add bumpers, and put it on the front page.”

  “Awesome. Make sure you post it and lock it so she can’t delete it immediately.” We follow Jess through the gift shop and out into the parking lot. I set Bear on the ground, and he trots along next to us.

  “Got it,” he says.

  Jess lays on the horn, and I wave jauntily, a cheesy grin on my face. “We’re coming!”

  She gives me the middle finger.

  “Upload it to YouTube, too.”

  Russ laughs. “You bet.”

  Chapter 2

  Holy crap. I’m in trouble.

  The cowboy leans against his beat-up pickup truck with his hat pulled low over his eyes, wearing tight jeans and a plaid long-sleeved button-up shirt. Then he pushes himself upright and strides over to us in that easy, rolling gait that people get when they’ve spent the majority of their lives on horseback. A shadow of stubble darkens his square jaw, giving him a rough-around-the-edges look. I gulp down the lump in my throat. We should have come to Tombstone sooner.

  Jess elbows me in the side. “Quit drooling and shut your mouth.”

  Cheeks burning as bright as the Arizona sun, I shake off my sister’s comment and Russ’s chuckle and stride forward with a wide, hopefully professional smile painted on my face.

  “Hi, I’m Meredith Brady, from Brady Paranormal Investigations.” I reach out to shake his hand, and he takes mine slowly. His eyes rake me up and down. Holy crap. At my feet, Bear stiffens and growls. Of course he hates the hot cowboy. It only figures.

  “Ma’am,” he says, and tips his hat. Jesus. Then he crouches, pulls a chunk of something out of his pocket, and holds it out for Bear. Stiff-legged, my dog sniffs the treat before snatching it from his hand. “Beef jerky,” he says before reaching out and ruffling Bear behind the ears. Yup, this guy’s perfect.

  From the barns, a black-and-gray flash flies toward us. Beau whistles, and the dog stops, its stumpy tail quivering, right before reaching Bear.

  I freeze, expecting a canine catastrophe, but Bear bows playfully, and when Beau releases his dog, the two sniff and wag their tails. “This literally never happens.” Maybe he can train Bear if he worked such wonders with his dog.

  Beau laughs. “Rocket loves dogs. She’s a good girl.” He shakes my sister’s hand then Russ’s. “I’m Beau Jimenez, and this is the Triple B Ranch. We have a few hundred acres and lease more to graze cattle on. Would you like a tour first, or would you like me to show you to your cabin?”

  I like the sound of that—well, I like the sound of anything coming from Beau’s mouth. That lazy drawl does something to my insides that really bucks at the professionalism I’m trying so hard to maintain. “Yeah, sure, either is fine.”

  The corners of his lips twitch. “All right. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you through the main house, then we’ll hit the guest cabins. You’re in luck—right now, you’re our only guests. We’re busy during the holidays and around round-up. City people pay good money to see how a real ranch is run. Right now, you’re it. It’ll be pretty quiet.”

  Quiet will be nice for a change. “Great, thank you.”

  Beau leads us down the drive, through the wide double-barrel oak doors, and into a huge, open room with high ceilings and white walls with several large watercolors gracing them, all depicting mountains or desert scenes.

  “These are gorgeous,” Jess says, staring at the artwork. “Are these the mountains out here?”

  “Close,” Beau says. “This is actually the Red Mountain outside of Patagonia, about forty-five minutes from here. There are a lot of local artists there who do some amazing work. Every year, they have a fall festival that people come from around the country to see. My mom commissioned these a few years ago, before she died.” He doesn’t say anything after that, and there really isn’t anything else to say, so we follow him through the living room, our feet clip-clopping softly on the red Saltillo tile floors.

  About halfway through the living room, past the oversized dark-brown sectional and wide oak dining room table, Beau stops and gestures to his right. “This is where the kitchen is,” he says. “And my dad’s office is through that, as well as the sun porch. If you take a right, you’ll find the bathroom and three more bedrooms. We don’t usually use those unless we have overflow guests or folks who ask to stay in the main house instead of the cabins.”

  He waves to the left. “There are two more bedrooms that way, as well as Lucia’s rooms—she’s our cook and housekeeper.”

  Russ pulls out one of our cameras and I give myself a quick shake to get back on track, mentally chastising myself for being so easily distracted.

  “Why don’t we start with the paperwork,” I say. “We have some release forms to sign, and we can go over those while Russ and Jess start taking pictures and video.”

  Beau arches one raven-black eyebrow. “Sure. I figured there’d be something like that. Dad’s out in the barn, but I can get him if you want. I’m half-owner anyway, so I can sign whatever needs to be signed.”

  Okay. This officially sucks. What am I doing wrong with my life? Beau can’t be much older than me, and he already owns half of this amazing ranch. Yeah, I bet it’s been kept in the family for eons, but still... If I didn’t have this job, I’d be flipping burgers until I’m sixty. Not exactly where I saw my life growing up.

  “Is there anywhere we should stay out of?” Russ asks Beau.

  Beau shakes his head. “No, the ranch is yours as far as that’s concerned. My dad
wants this figured out just as much as I do, so he says you can have free reign.”

  “Perfect.” Russ turns to me. “I’ll text you when we’re done.”

  “Good, thanks.”

  After they get their gear and leave, Beau pulls out a chair for me at the dining room table. I grab the release forms from my bag and slide one across the table to him.

  “How’d you find out about us?” I ask.

  Beau’s cheeks flush. “I had an ex-girlfriend about a year ago who was really into you guys. I ended up watching a bunch of your investigations and got hooked. I think my favorite one was that haunted house on the west side of Phoenix. Remember that case?”

  My cheeks burn. Oh yeah. I could never forget that case. That’s the one where I smoked my forehead on a low-hanging wooden beam in the basement. My ears rang for days. It wasn’t one of my finest moments. “That was the one where her brother was making everything up, I think, right?”

  Beau chuckles low in his throat. “Yeah, that was pretty funny.”

  I lean back in my chair, perplexed. “Do you think this case is a hoax?” Maybe he contacted us because he thinks someone’s pranking him. But that doesn’t really make sense, because Russ never said he mentioned that in his initial email and phone call.

  Beau scratches his head. “I don’t know. It’s strange because I’ve lived on this ranch all my life, except for college, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Let me start from the beginning.”

  I hold up my hand to stop him. “Wait. Do you mind if I record this? It won’t be live, because we’ll want to splice in all the videos and post it tonight, but we might as well record it now so we don’t have to make you repeat yourself later.”

  He nods. “Sure.”

  I set up one of the cameras on a tripod at the perfect angle to record his rough, ruggedly handsome face. It’s not hard. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Beau clears his throat. “All right. Well, a couple of months ago, Dad mentioned seeing these lights out in one of the far ranges. It’s kind of like a low valley before we get out to the lease land. Anyway, I went to check it out a couple of times, but I never found anything. We even set up a camera, and that’s where we got the footage I sent you.”

  “That was pretty interesting video, that’s for sure.” I’ve never seen lights move like that, before. Even the ones in Phoenix were much slower than the ones in the footage Beau sent us.

  Beau grins. “That’s what we thought. I really hoped you’d take the case, but I wasn’t expecting a call so quickly.”

  I shrug, uncomfortable under his questioning gaze. “We had just finished a case in Oklahoma”—a state I hope never to drive through again, thank you very much—“and figured it was pretty close geographically, so why not?”

  He signs the papers without reading them, blindly trusting that we’re not going to take advantage of him. That makes me nervous. I’ve learned that you should never trust anyone without knowing them, first. And even then it could really bite you in rear.

  “Well, I’m sure glad you did.” His deep brown eyes meet mine, and I wonder if he’s talking about more than the investigation. Too bad I have to be a professional, here. A romp in the desert would probably do me good. Except, well, scorpions. Just the thought of the little buggers, followed by big hairy spiders, makes my toes curl. Never mind. No romantic rendezvous in the desert for me.

  I give myself a mental smack and tuck the signed papers into my bag. “I should, uh, go check on Russ and Jess and see how they’re doing.” I click off the video and make a note to edit the footage before Russ sees me make a fool out of myself.

  “Sure thing.” Beau’s cell phone rings. “I’ll be inside for a few minutes before I head out to the barn. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Right. Will do. Thanks,” I say, but he’s already walking away. Travelling to Tombstone was a great idea.

  Chapter 3

  Later that evening, we settle into one of the nicest cottages we’ve ever stayed in.

  “This even beats that hotel we stayed at in Oklahoma.” Russ tosses his bag on the full-sized bed in his room, covered in vibrant Native American–style blankets. Their red, orange, and brown designs complement the rough-hewn walls, enormous windows overlooking a vibrant red-and-orange-and-purple sunset, and wall hangings that look like they were hand woven. Each room also has a wicker nightstand, a walk-in closet, and its own bathroom, complete with a Jacuzzi tub and a shower. Bear sniffs around the foot of Russ’s bed.

  “You better not pee,” Russ says.

  “He’s not going to pee. Are you?” I ruffle my ears. “It was only the one time, anyway, and we’d just found him. He didn’t know any better.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Russ says. “He’s smarter than you think.” Russ grabs the folder with a few stills we’d printed out from the video Beau sent us. “So, do you have any idea how to investigate aliens? I mean, it’s not like we’ve done this before.”

  I lift a shoulder and then drop it. “I don’t know. I was thinking we’d fake it until we make it. That sort of thing. We’re paranormal investigators. We’ve researched stranger things.” I collapse next to him on the bed. “Besides, we captured concrete evidence of Bigfoot, remember? That’s got to be one of the coolest things we’ve ever done.”

  Jess waltzes into the room. “Yeah, except for the fact that you won’t let us post what we found. That kind of sucks.”

  I stand up and pace to the window, trying to figure out how to explain to them what a holy experience that was. Russ had been unconscious and Jess safe from harm, thanks to Atopka’s resident Bigfoot expert, George. “I think I’m going to post the footage we took, okay?”

  Russ yawns. “I’m gonna take a nap.”

  Jess covers her mouth, having caught it from him. “Yeah, me too. Do you mind?”

  I roll my eyes. “Sure, whatever.” Maybe that’s not such a bad idea, after all. The more rested we all are, the better.

  At a quarter to nine, there’s a knock on the door. I peek around the faded calico curtains to see Beau standing silhouetted against the setting sun, his thumbs looped into the loops on his belt, and his hat pulled low over his head. If I was writing a romance book, he could be the inspiration. Beau must sense the movement, because his eyes dart up and meet mine, and he smiles shyly.

  “Um, Mer, are you going to let him in?” Jess asks. Russ smirks and laughs. Jerks.

  I clear my throat. “Shut up,” I say ever so maturely, and paste a smile on my face that I hope says I wasn’t just spying on the guy and open the door.

  “Are you ready for me to take you to the site?” he asks.

  “Yeah, sure.” I glance over my shoulder at Russ. “Do you have all of the gear ready?”

  He rolls his eyes at my obviously stupid question. Russ always has the gear ready. “I was born ready.”

  I sigh loudly enough for him to hear it. “Whatever. Let’s go.” I pass Beau closely enough to smell his cologne and hear him chuckle, probably at my expense. I should have brought the twins. Violet would have my back.

  I clip Bear’s leash onto his collar. If Beau wants us to take horses, then I’ll bring him back and drop him off. I don’t want him to freak out and get us bucked off, which with my luck is what would probably happen.

  Outside, we’re greeted by four ATVs. I grin when I see them, relieved. I haven’t been on a horse in like ten years and falling on my butt in front of a hot cowboy would not be one of my highlights on this trip. Rocket dances around our feet, flirting with Bear, who shamelessly prances back.

  “I hope you don’t mind if we take these,” Beau says, gesturing at the machines. Unlike the ones George Smith in Atopka had us ride, these are dusty, dented, and look like they’ve been tossed down a canyon and driven back out again.

  “Oh, no worries,” Jess says. “My sister loves ATVs.”

  Yeah, sure, I do.

  “The ATVs are faster, and I figured your gear might spook the horses.”

  Russ m
imics swiping one hand over his forehead in relief. For a second there, he looked kind of panicked. I don’t know if he’s ever ridden a horse—I don’t know much about Russ’s life before he and I were lab partners in AP Biology. And even then, he played everything pretty close to his vest until his mom’s boyfriend beat the shit out of him and he crashed on our couch one night. That turned into three years.

  “Besides, we use these most of the time when we’re moving cattle, anyway,” Beau says, slapping his hand on the seat of one of the machines, oblivious to where my thoughts have led.

  That’s not exactly what I was expecting. “So you don’t ride horses anymore?”

  “We do,” he says, “but ATVs don’t twist their ankle or break a leg. They don’t get tired, either. We use the horses for roping, branding, and going into areas the ATVs can’t.”

  I never would have thought I would see so many ATVs in my life. I turn to see Russ and Jess donning harnesses with cameras.

  Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, then? They get to wear the cameras, which means I get to be on them. Thanks, guys. I raise my eyebrows. Jess smirks, and Russ doesn’t meet my gaze.

  I pick Bear up and tuck him into my hoodie. He’s used to it by now and snuggles right in, with only his wiry black-and-white head poking out.

  “Looks like you’ve done this before,” Beau says, a question in his voice.

  “Oh yeah,” I say, patting my dog through my shirt. “Bear’s used to this.”

  He chuckles. “I bet.” He swings one leg over the side of the ATV. “I’m glad you could come right now, actually. I’ve seen lights out there for the past two nights in a row, so I hope that we’ll see them tonight.”

  That is great, and just the kind of luck we never get. No, we’ll be lucky if we see them in a month, but I don’t tell Beau that. I’ll let him be optimistic enough for both of us.

  Once on the ATVs, we follow Beau down sloping hills and across grassy plains. There aren’t any cattle on this part of his property, and for that I’m kind of grateful. I don’t imagine that the cattle think too fondly of the ATVs, since they use them for herding, and I don’t want to get trampled by a cow.