Hereafter [McKnight, Perth & Daire 2] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Beth D. Carter

“Of course it is,” she replied. “I bet you were the only high schooler who never used CliffsNotes.”

  “I’ve got the whole Shakespeare collection,” he continued blandly. “Sonnets, plays, everything. Didn’t you see it on my bookshelf?”

  “Afraid I missed it in all the…you know.” She made her finger and thumb into a gun and mock shot at him. He frowned at her attempt at humor. She rolled as her eyes and then focused on Danny as he slid behind the wheel and started the car. “So, Danny, you seem awfully young to be lead on this case.”

  “Oh, I’m not actually assigned to the case at all,” he admitted.

  “Excuse me?” Jonas asked.

  “Well, the case has been shelved for lack of evidence,” Danny reported. “The sheriff has said that without bodies, the girls could have easily just left. He seems to think they’ll end up found in New York City or LA.”

  “I take it you don’t agree with that theory,” Jonas asked.

  “No.”

  “Why?” Charlotte asked.

  “Because Candace Hyslip was my girlfriend,” he stated and Charlotte saw how his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.

  “You said ‘was,’” Jonas said softly. “You don’t believe Candace is still alive?”

  “Candace would never have left me voluntarily,” he said and took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t have gone all this time without contacting me.”

  Charlotte didn’t say anything more. She could tell that Danny was holding onto his emotions, and it almost hurt her ears to listen to that control. She turned her head to look out the window, watching the small town of Rock Ridge pass by as they cruised onto the highway. Danny took the first exit off and pulled into the parking lot of an off-brand hotel. It looked nice and neat, and that was all she cared about.

  “We’re booked here,” Jonas commented as he came to stand next to her.

  “I hope Holly remembered no bathtub,” she murmured.

  “Right this way,” Danny replied and led the way into the hotel’s foyer.

  The check-in desk greeted them right away, but off to the right was a small dining area where she gathered the continental breakfast would be served. She spotted a do-it-yourself waffle maker. She loved those things. It was always fun flipping it over and making sure the batter didn’t burn.

  She smiled at the receptionist and proceeded to check in, making sure they got a room without a bathtub. They left their bags with the concierge and followed Danny toward the conference room.

  “Miss St. Cloud is already here,” Danny informed them just as he opened the door and stood back to allow Charlotte to enter first. “I’ll go and get the families. Be right back.”

  Her eyes landed on a woman who was tall, thin, and had a thing for the color green. She wore vibrant green contacts that matched her long painted emerald nails. Her flowing hippie dress looked like she’d been rolling around in a grassy field, and even her hair was tinted sea foam. Charlotte thought she looked like a walking billboard for Ireland. The beanstalk Leprechaun smiled widely and came forward with her hand outstretched.

  “Dear me,” she said in a thick Southern twang, grabbing hold of Charlotte’s hands. “I’ve been skinned alive and deep fried! You’re Charlotte Perth.”

  Charlotte blinked. “Yes, yes I am.”

  “I’m Melody St. Cloud, and boy, let me say, I’m happier than a three-peckered billy goat right now!”

  “A three what?” Charlotte managed to say, not quite sure she heard Melody correctly.

  “I’ve heard so much about you! When I was told you were also going to be here I just about peed myself!”

  “Well, I’m certainly glad that didn’t happen,” Charlotte told her and then frowned. “That didn’t happen, did it?”

  Melody laughed and pulled Charlotte close, giving her a quick hug. “It’s like we’re sisters.”

  Charlotte strained back. “I already have three.”

  “Oh, I know, it’s like…like…” she pulled back from Charlotte to wipe a tear away. An actual tear! “You’re legendary at the conventions.”

  Again, Charlotte wasn’t sure if she heard the other woman correctly. “Conventions?”

  “The Biloxi Parascience Conventions. We have ’em every month back home. There’s a newsletter and everything!”

  “Really? And people, they’ve heard of me?”

  “Heard of you? Are you yanking my dog’s chain?”

  “Actually, I’m allergic to dogs.”

  Melody laughed again, her voice sounding like a clear bell. “Honey, no one has a gift like yours. Most of us are just psychics, and that’s always hit or miss, if you know what I mean,” she said, winking. “But you, oh my god! What I wouldn’t give to be able to connect like you do to departed souls.”

  “Well, I don’t talk to all departed souls. Wait, how do you even know—”

  “Sh,” Melody suddenly interrupted. Her head tilted to the side as she focused on something over Charlotte’s shoulder. Melody’s fingers started waving in the air like a manic fan. She looked around until she spotted Jonas, and then she made a beeline for him, leaving Charlotte cold turkey.

  “Hi, I’m Melody,” she introduced herself to him but didn’t hold out her hand. Her smile was a little distracted, her fingers still wildly tapping the air.

  “Yes, I heard,” Jonas murmured.

  “So, I have a spirit coming through,” she continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “Waving his arms, trying to get my attention, and he’s pointing at you. A brother. No, not a brother but like a brother. Someone you loved.”

  Jonas nodded, looking wary.

  “He’s showing me a star in a circle, and that’s my interpretation of someone in law enforcement. You?”

  Again, he nodded.

  “He says that he apologizes for not informing you of his relationship with…hmm. With a married woman? But not to him? Well, he’s sorry that you had to find out that way and wants you to know that he’s at peace now, though a part of him will always be around for his son, who will be born the eighth day of the eighth month. Wow, that sounds all Harry Potter, doesn’t it?”

  Jonas’s wary stance changed immediately. He straightened his shoulders as he stared at Melody.

  “He has one last message to give before crossing over,” she continued. “He wants to say thank you to…you.”

  Her wiggling fingers landed on Charlotte, and she felt herself go cold. She had thought she released Zach from the physical world when his killer had been caught, allowing his pregnant girlfriend to have their baby in peace and love. Charlotte felt her eyes well up with tears, and she turned her head to clear her throat, not wanting to lose it in front Melody and Danny.

  It seemed she had a reputation to protect.

  Just then, the door opened, and in walked Nash McKnight, larger than life. Charlotte blinked, not sure if actually saw him or just a mirage, but by the way her body suddenly snapped to attention, she was pretty sure he wasn’t a figment of her imagination.

  “Nash?”

  “Charlotte.”

  “Nash?” Jonas asked.

  “Jonas?” Nash looked very startled to see the other man.

  Melody waged a finger between all of them. “Let me guess. Y’all know each other?”

  And all of them answered at once.

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Sort of.”

  Silence descended in the room as Melody raised an eyebrow. A knowing smile curled her lips. “Why, that’s just so cute!”

  “Charlotte used to be my girlfriend, but now she’s his,” Nash explained. “Jonas and I are BFFs.”

  “No, we’re not,” Jonas replied.

  “Shut up, Nash,” Charlotte snapped, equally angry that her heart pounded with excitement. Damn it!

  “Why? She’s psychic,” Nash said, pointing to Melody. “Might as well tell the truth.”

  “Oh my god,” Charlotte muttered, rubbing her temples. She had to keep her eyes off him. She just had
to keep her eyes off him.

  “Agent Nash McKnight, Hawke Securities,” Nash said, introducing himself to Melody, holding out his hand.

  She took it. “I have the feeling I don’t need to introduce myself to you.”

  “I admit, when I became involved on this case I did a little background check of all the players,” Nash explained. “Your work on the Taylor case was brilliant.”

  Melody smiled. “Thank you.”

  “Taylor case?” Jonas asked.

  Nash let go Melody’s hand and turned to face him. “A kidnapped child in Des Moines. Miss St. Cloud found the child within a day, alive and well.”

  “Why are you here, Nash?” Charlotte demanded, making sure she focused on his ear. Ears were good. They were almost asexual.

  He dipped his head to capture her gaze. Drat! “I was hired.”

  She crossed her arms and cocked her head. “I find it extremely hard to believe you’ve been hired for this particular job in Missouri when you’re stationed in Washington.”

  “I wasn’t hired for the job. I was hired to watch over you.”

  Charlotte’s mouth fell open. “By whom?”

  He raised his eyebrow expectantly, and she almost cursed when the door opened again, forcing her to fall silent. Danny walked in and held the door open for three sets of couples. The three men wore jeans and long-sleeved flannel shirts with bandanas around their necks. They wore steel-toed boots with the pant legs tucked in, and Charlotte immediately recognized that they were some kind of farm workers.

  The three women were variations of the same look, pale and stone faced. Charlotte felt a pull emanating from them, though she couldn’t be sure if it was from all of them or just one.

  “Hello,” mumbled the man who had led the group.

  He was a white male with graying hair and nondescript features. In fact, all the men had that kind of blandness that allowed them to fade into the background, and the women accompanying them were the same. They all simply looked like hard, middle-income workers who were living through a nightmare.

  “Thank you for coming. My name is Doug Gabel, and this is my wife, Sarah,” he said, gesturing to the woman next to him. “That there is Pete and Linda Hyslip, and the last couple is John and Kate Oakley. Thank you for coming to Missouri. I think y’all might be our last hope.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Melody said. “I’m Melody St. Cloud.”

  Charlotte’s eyebrows lifted as she became a completely different person as she addressed the couples. Gone was the flighty, spirited Southern belle. She greeted each person, taking their hands and shaking them, and listened as each person thanked her for coming. When the three families sat, Melody stood in front of them, her face taut with concentration.

  “I want to first say that I don’t see loved ones who have passed as they once looked in life. Rather, I see an echo of the departed,” Melody related. “Right now I have three echoes coming forth, standing next to each of you.”

  Melody’s fingers started their wild dance, and she looked to each person before stepping up to Doug and Sarah. “Okay. I see a girl whose hair is in two pigtails. She keeps tugging at the pigtails that are tied with those types of bands that have those large chunky, eighties beads on them. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

  Sarah didn’t say anything. She just burst into tears. It was Doug, who sat red-eyed next to her, who nodded.

  “Our daughter, Janie, always wore her hair in two pigtails when she was little.”

  “All right. Then take this as a validation that Janie has stepped forward,” Melody said. She fell silent for a moment, as if listening to something that no one else could hear. “She asks that you not blame each other anymore for choices she made. Everyone has a path to take in life, and Janie takes responsibility for the path she ended up walking. Does this make sense to you both?”

  Doug and Sarah both nodded, though they didn’t say anything. Charlotte was finding this almost too painful to watch.

  “Sarah, she wants to say thank you for the poem you read over her grave,” Melody continued, not seeming to notice Sarah swayed a little. “And to please know that while her life in the physical plane wasn’t long, she couldn’t imagine having two more loving parents and is sorry that she didn’t treasure that.”

  Melody blinked and smiled warmly at Doug and Sarah.

  “I miss her so much,” Sarah whispered.

  “Me, too,” Doug said and wrapped his arm around his wife.

  “Janie is stepping back,” Melody told them and turned to the next couple. “And another young female stepping forward. Um, let’s see. What’s with a pair of glasses that are upside down?”

  “Oh God,” Linda said, her voice thick with emotion. “Our daughter, Candace, wore glasses when she was little, but the arms came from the bottom of the lens, making them look upside down.”

  “Okay. Please use that to confirm that Candace is now stepping forward. Did you break a little vase she had in her bedroom?”

  Linda nodded, too overwhelmed to speak, as she wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “She wants to acknowledge that the feelings she had in the physical world have all gone away in the spirit realm. She’s showing me that she had felt shy, uncomfortable…was she bullied a lot?”

  Both Pete and Linda nodded, though they didn’t say anything.

  “She wants you both to know that while these experiences may have forced her into poor decisions she made in her adult years, she never blamed either of you for that. She now acknowledges that she was wrong to let it consume her. Okay?”

  “Yes,” Linda whispered.

  Pete was looking down, trying to hold back his tears. “We haven’t seen our daughter in six months.”

  Melody nodded. “She says she’s sorry. And that she loves you both. Now she’s stepping back as well,” Melody turned back to the parents, focusing her attention on the last couple, John and Kate. “Who is Kendra?”

  “Our daughter,” John said.

  “All right. Kendra is stepping forward now,” Melody murmured. “Was she adopted? Because she keeps pointing out the color of her face.”

  John and Kate both nodded.

  “She indicates that while she’s not your child by birth, she’s the child of your heart,” Melody continued. “She’s the youngest of the girls, right?”

  “Yes. Just turned nineteen,” Kate answered.

  “She wants to apologize to both of you for not listening, especially on the night that she passed. Does this make sense?”

  John cleared his throat before he answered. “We’d had a fight that night, told her that while she lived under our roof she had to obey our rules. She’d always run a little wild and hated the curfew we assigned. She, uh, snuck out her window.”

  “Ah. Well…that’s odd. She’s taking full responsibility for choices she agreed to. I don’t know what that means but asks that you, John, not blame Kate for always being the lenient parent. Kendra states that being headstrong and defiant were traits she couldn’t shake.”

  “They said she was…into prostitution. Into drugs,” Kate whispered. “But I know my daughter, Miss St. Cloud. She’s not who they say she was.”

  Charlotte saw the John and Kate glance at each other out of the corners of their eyes. It was incredibly sad to see two people not know how to comfort each other at a time when they needed each other the most.

  “Kendra is stepping back now. Please know that each girl gives her love and will be with you whenever you think of her.”

  There was a momentary silence as the parents absorbed the fact that Melody was finished.

  “I want to bury my daughter,” Linda said softly. “I want her to be at peace in the hereafter.”

  The other parents looked at her, and Charlotte could read the same wish on each of their faces. How does one tell grieving families there is no rest for the murdered soul? That a part of them lingers, hungering for the life that was stolen.

  “I want the bastard
who did this to our daughters to burn in hell,” Doug said, breaking the grief-stricken vibe in the room. “But to do that we need to find them.”

  Melody fell silent, her fingers waving in the air as she gazed at the space between each couple. “They say the lake, but they don’t know where exactly. I think it’s time I turn this over to my colleague,” Melody said with a gesture at Charlotte.

  Colleague? Charlotte stepped forward. Melody gave her an encouraging smile and retreated.

  “Hello. My name is Charlotte Perth, and I’m clairvoyant. What that means is that I communicate with the dead differently than Melody.” She met each stare straightforwardly. “I communicate only with those who have been murdered.”

  Even though the three couples knew the fate of their daughters, to hear the words spoken out loud felt like an atomic bomb had gone off.

  “Each soul has a natural, predetermined life expectancy, and when that is cut short at the hands of someone else the soul cannot rest. The dead don’t talk like you or I. This isn’t Ghost Whisperer. But they do want to be found, and they communicate with me through visions, so I’ll need you to help me interpret them. I may say things that don’t make sense or wander around looking very silly. You were asked to bring a personal item from your daughters. Please hand them to me.”

  Charlotte took a deep breath and collected each item. A ponytail holder from Janie. A lipstick from Candace. A bookmark from Kendra. She closed her eyes, grounded herself, and called forth the spirits.

  When she opened her eyes she was surrounded by trees. They loomed over her with widespread branches, the leaves slowly wavering in the slight breeze. She saw birds overhead, and the smell of wet leaves wafted up toward her, their musky scent hiding something rotten.

  The unmistakable scent of decomp. Why was it she couldn’t hear a blasted thing but could smell?

  Charlotte sighed and looked around, her gaze falling on two of the three young women. They stood only a few feet from her, looking eerily alive. Janie wasn’t there.

  “You’re nearby aren’t you?” she asked, focusing on the girl closest to her, the one wearing glasses. “Candace?”

  The girl nodded. She had been a brunette, her long hair flowing down her shoulders. She had sad brown eyes that watched her solemnly. Using Melody’s descriptions, it was easy to figure out who was who. Kendra had caramel-colored skin, her wiry hair teased up in a bouffant.