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

by Beth D. Carter

  “Miss Perth?” Sheriff Ratcliff called out, and she paused to look over her shoulder. “Be careful.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Every fucking thing hurt. Jonas winced as he shifted on the barstool and brought his pint up for another sip. Damn fight. And damn Nash McKnight. He glanced over at the man seated on his left. How stupid had he been to get into a fight with a fucking tank? Still, all he saw was red when Charlotte had mentioned McKnight’s little game.

  Nash reached over and snagged his pint, gulping it down.

  “That one was mine, asshole,” Jonas told him.

  “Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Nash retorted back. “You’re nursing this beer, and I’m fucking thirsty.” He proceeded to finish the beer. “Another one, barkeep! In fact, give us three.”

  Jonas shook his head.

  “Don’t, Mr. High and Mighty,” Nash muttered. “Fucking hell, I love her. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Really? Because love means doing what’s best, even when it breaks your heart.”

  Nash took the glass the bartender just put in front of him and drank deeply before coming up for air. “Easy for you to say. But let me tell you one thing, Daire. Her mouth may say she chooses you, but her heart is saying something else. You and I both know that.”

  As he proceeded to drink the rest of the beer, Jonas stared at him. Was that true? Would there ever come a time when Charlotte regretted choosing him over Nash? They were closer in temperament, both smart asses when push came to shove. They had history. And fuck, McKnight even had the blessing of her family.

  Tonight seemed to prove Charlotte wasn’t immune to Nash’s charm. When he’d first proposed the sharing idea to gain access to the Here After Club, the detective side of him had thought it a sound notion. But then the boyfriend part of his brain had kicked in, cursing all to hell.

  Just the idea of sharing…ah, hell. He should have seen this coming. He might not carry the Braddock-Masters name, but he still had the blood in his veins, and the secret of his so many times great grandfathers sharing one woman were a family legend. Could the fate of sharing a wife be hereditary? Was he destined to share Charlotte?

  Absently, he heard Nash order another beer, and he sent the man a surreptitious glance under his lashes.

  Ah, hell.

  * * * *

  Her nerves were strung tight the entire ride back to the hotel. Every creak of leather under the deputy’s butt had her jumping, and it felt like she didn’t take a breath until she saw the squad car turn into the hotel’s driveway.

  She had to wait until he let her out of the back, holding the door open so she could exit.

  “Night,” he murmured.

  “Wait,” she said, and he paused, looking at him questioningly. “Who’s the sheriff’s nephew?”

  “Junior Deputy McCoin,” he answered.

  Somehow the news wasn’t that much of a surprise. “Really.”

  “I know,” he said and then, much to her surprise, added more. “When the sheriff made the junior deputy position for him, I had my doubts, but I have to admit the position turned him into a different man. Good night, Miss Perth.”

  Charlotte watched as he drove away. As she walked through the hotel lobby, she heard a distinct laugh coming from the bar and turned her head sharply. To her amazement, Jonas and Nash sat side by side, drinking. And Jonas was missing his sling.

  Even though she had the pull tugging impatiently, she ignored it as she made her way into the dim interior of the hotel’s bar. Soft seventies rock pumped through unseen speakers, and a few people took advantage of the nostalgia to dance on the tiny illuminated floor.

  “Where’s your sling, Jonas?” she asked, interrupting their surprising camaraderie. When they both turned to face her, she gasped. “What the hell happened to you two?”

  “Charlotte!” Nash greeted, a bit too enthusiastically. Actually, a bit too drunkenly. “Imagine seeing you here!”

  “Where have you been?” Jonas asked.

  She closed her mouth, which had fallen open in complete shock when she’d seen the bruises on each face. Jonas had a black ring around his right eye and dried blood at the opening of one of his nostrils.

  “I had a late-night meeting with Sheriff Ratcliff.”

  “What, no name calling?”

  She shrugged as she touched his swollen cheek. “I ran out of insults.”

  “We’ve resolved our issues, Charlotte,” Nash boasted. “Another round, barkeep!”

  “How much has he had?” she asked Jonas.

  “A few too many.”

  They watched as the bartender placed two more filled glasses on the bar.

  “This is only on my second,” Jonas told her. “He keeps stealing my rounds.”

  “Listen, I never wanted to hurt you,” she said softly to Jonas. “At the beginning of all this I never meant to…cheat.”

  “I know,” he said and then gave a grunt that sounded a little like weariness. “You might not believe this, but I understand more than you can know.”

  “You do?”

  He linked their fingers together. “Yes. And when this is all over, I plan on us really sitting down and talking about the future.”

  Something inside her untwisted, and for the first time since she and Nash had come back, she was able to breathe. It didn’t make everything go away. It didn’t make the confusion and the uncertainty completely disappear, but it gave her a little peace of mind.

  “I’d like that.” Then she turned to Nash, “I never wanted to hurt him, and I never wanted to forgive you. But I’ve managed to do both spectacularly.”

  “I’ve already apologized to him,” Nash said.

  “Yes, I can see your apology all over his face.”

  “Charlotte, I shouldn’t have did…you know…” He waved his hand in the air, as if that explained all he was sorry for.

  “Why? Why would you do that when you know I have conflicted emotions over you?”

  He pinned her with a hard, unwavering gaze, and she wondered if he was as drunk as he acted as he brought his index finger and thumb an inch apart. “I had this much time with you. This much opportunity to win you back. I had to try.”

  As she stared at him, a thousand prickly feelings crawled over her skin, most of them good. But the few that didn’t only reminded her of the predicament she found herself in now…having feelings for two men. Slowly, she shook her head.

  “I can’t do this right now,” she finally said. “I can’t feel guilty right now because I have a little black book to find and a killer to discover, so forgive me, but I have some channeling to do.”

  She turned and left them at the bar. Good for them if they suddenly became all buddy-buddy. She had never wanted to be stuck in a triangle. There wasn’t a future in that shape anyway. And though her feelings for Nash weren’t really resolved or even cleansed, at least she hadn’t lost Jonas.

  Funny how I didn’t realize what I could lose until it was almost gone.

  In the elevator, she punched the button and waited impatiently for the slow moving box to finally deliver her to her floor. And as soon as the door opened, she was greeted by Melody’s relieved face. The woman pulled her out of the elevator and into her arms for a tight hug.

  “Holy Jesus, Mother Mary, and Joseph!” she exclaimed while Charlotte was being squashed between her boobs. She hadn’t realized how tall Melody was. “Where have you been? I’ve been searching all over for you!”

  “Can’t…breathe….”

  Melody yanked her back and looked her up and down. “Jonas and Nash ended up in a brawl. And I think it was over you!”

  Charlotte took a step back and Melody’s arms fell away. “Yes, I saw them in the bar. Whatever caused their disagreement seems to have resolved itself.”

  “Honey, only one thing is gonna make those dogs not hunt anymore is iffen you just cozy on up to both of them.”

  Charlotte blinked. “If that means what I think it means, then I th
ink we’re done here. Besides, I know I’m going to regret this, but I think you can help me with something.”

  Melody’s eyebrows shot up. “Does it have anything to do with the echo standing right next to you?”

  Without really thinking, Charlotte glanced next to her but, of course, saw nothing.

  “She’s on the other side,” Melody replied. “But never mind that. She’s dancing all around like she’s poopin’ purple Twinkies.”

  That was a visual Charlotte did not need. But she shook off the comment. Then she crooked her finger for Melody to follow and continued to her room.

  As soon as she saw her bed, weariness overtook her. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost one in the morning. All she wanted to do was curl up in the covers and close her eyes, but the object in her pocket pulsed with a life of its own.

  So she had to satisfy her craving by tossing off her shoes and sitting down at the small table the hotel furnished next to the window. Melody took the other seat.

  “When I pull this object out, I want us both to touch it,” Charlotte said.

  “What’ll you think that’ll do?”

  Charlotte shrugged. “Not sure. But I need a second opinion, and yours is the only one I can trust.”

  “Mine?” Melody gasped. “I’m…I’m…”

  “Yeah, okay, don’t get overemotional. I need you to focus on channeling.”

  Melody sniffed and took a deep breath. “I’m all yours.”

  “All right. I’m going to dump whatever is in this pouch out, and we’ll both touch it. Simple?”

  Melody nodded.

  With a trembling hand, Charlotte pulled out the pouch Sheriff Ratcliff had given her from her purse, opened it, and dumped. A cell phone fell onto the table with a loud clatter. She looked at Melody, and together they reached forward. She felt Melody’s hand closing over hers, but immediately, she was transported into the vision.

  She was back in the sheriff’s office, and Kendra sat in the seat she had occupied earlier, trembling, obviously scared. In her hands was the cell phone Charlotte and Melody now held, and she could feel Kendra’s desire to call her parents. Tears were in her eyes, her mascara had run, leaving black streaks over her cheeks, and she looked so much younger than her nineteen years. She looked scared, pitiful, and vulnerable.

  Charlotte glanced next to her and saw Melody. Shock had her jaw almost hitting the floor. She had thought, at best, maybe the other woman would be able to hear the vision or talk to the spirit attached. Never in her wildest imagination did she think she’d be able to pull Melody into the vision!

  But there she was, standing out like a sore thumb. And it was obvious Melody was just as surprised as she because her face held wonderment as she looked at Kendra.

  Just then Kendra jumped. Sheriff Ratcliff had just walked in and shut the door, his face hard and his eyes glacial. He looked mean and intimidating. She caught Kendra’s gaze flicker to his gun.

  Though she couldn’t hear anything, the sheriff began talking to Kendra, laying into her enough to make the young girl cringe and shrink in her chair. Charlotte caught Melody’s confused glance and only shrugged helplessly. She was used to the silence of the visions, but she supposed someone who was able to actually communicate with the dead would find the quiet a little strange.

  Charlotte went back to watching the scene, a little sick to her stomach, because it was clear the young girl was being bullied. But the question was why? And then, as if answering the unasked question, the sheriff held up two pictures, one of Janie and one of Candace.

  And then, abruptly, the scene faded to black, and Kendra was whispering in her ear. But Charlotte couldn’t hear her.

  The vision abruptly ended.

  “O–M–G,” Melody managed to say as she blinked and looked around the room, transported back to the very ordinary hotel room. “That was…amazing!”

  “Why didn’t she whisper to you?” Charlotte asked, a bit frustrated. Melody still clutched her hand, so she had to forcibly break the connection.

  “Huh?”

  “Why didn’t Kendra whisper to you? Maybe you would have heard her since technically you’re a medium.”

  Melody shook her head, as if trying to clear it. “I don’t think so. I didn’t hear anything through the entire vision. Why is that?”

  Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard anything when I channel.”

  “So…all the people you’ve found and that guy’s murder, Zach, you did it all without hearing anything?”

  “As you can see, the visions are very detailed. It’s not hard to figure out the details. Except this time it’s frustrating not hearing what Sheriff Ratcliff was yelling at poor Kendra.”

  “Yeah,” Melody agreed. “So Kendra didn’t know Janie and Candace? Is that why he showed her their pictures?”

  “I think we need to check out why Kendra was arrested,” Charlotte said, picking up her cell phone. “I know he’s out of it now, but let me text Nash and see if he can find that out. Okay. Now, let me get some paper. This case has my head spinning.”

  As she got up and found some hotel stationery and a pen in the drawer next to the bed, Charlotte tried to turn on the phone, but the battery was dead. She looked at the where the plug went in and discovered it was the size and shape as her own phone’s charger. She reached down and grabbed the wire from the floor and plugged it in. The phone lit up. Melody sat back down and looked expectantly at Melody.

  “Let’s start with the obvious,” Melody said. “The victims.”

  On one page Charlotte wrote the names and the facts that they knew of each girl. Their parents, their descriptions, and every bit of vision she had accumulated. On the second page she wrote the names of the other players.

  “Danny is the sheriff’s nephew?” Melody asked. She was watching what Charlotte wrote out.

  “Yeah. And the sheriff is concerned that Danny may have had a hand in the killings.”

  “I don’t know. He seemed like he genuinely loved Candace. I didn’t get killer vibrations off him, did you? ”

  Charlotte’s lips twisted as she thought about Danny. “No. But I wasn’t looking for killer vibrations. Still, we need to put him down as a suspect. He works there, his girlfriend disappeared there, and his uncle is suspicious. And Candace did start dating him because of his job.”

  “Let me see if I got this right,” Melody said. “Candace and Janie were friends. Janie disappears and no one believes Candace, so she reinvents herself, latches onto a way into the sex club, and then disappears herself.”

  “Right. And she wrote everything down in a little black book.” Charlotte sighed. “I wonder where that went to.”

  “We can ask her parents.”

  “They haven’t seen her in six months. Remember?

  “But there could be hundreds of places she could have hidden a book.”

  Charlotte went over every vision that Candace had given her. Only one happy moment stood out. “Their apartment. The one she shared with Janie. It was the only happy place they had.”

  “I suppose that’s as good a place to start as any.”

  Another thought suddenly hit Charlotte. Quickly, she rose and went to her coat that she wore earlier. From the pocket she pulled out the three items she had been given yesterday from the parents to help her channel their daughters. She put them on the table and separated them until she was left with the ponytail holder.

  “Tonight I found out that Janie died accidentally, by asphyxiating on her own vomit.”

  “Oh, that’s awful!”

  “Which explains why I never got a pull off her personal item.”

  “But you did. Didn’t you? At the sex club, dressed scantily.”

  “No, I didn’t. The first time I saw Janie was when I was channeling Candace, she was in Candace’s vision. And I never touched her grave. At the club tonight, I didn’t have a vision of her at all, but I felt her ghost. She had me stand in for her, just like Zach used to do, a
s she acted out her last moments alive.” Charlotte grabbed another piece of paper and her pen and started to write. “What if…Janie gets involved somehow in this club and she accidentally dies, but the last thing this Cecelia Duwhite wants is that type of publicity, so she has someone bury the body.”

  “Candace goes to the sheriff,” Melody murmured.

  “Yes, but he declares there’s no missing person because Candace is just whacked out of her mind on drugs.”

  “So Candace pulls herself together,” Melody surmised.

  Charlotte nodded. “And she goes searching for a way into the club and finds it in the form of cute boy Danny.”

  “And Danny thinks it’s true love.”

  “So Janie wasn’t murdered. But Candace and Kendra were. Why?”

  “Well, Candace’s investigation would certainly bring unwanted publicity. This Cecelia Duwhite would have another problem on her hands.”

  “Okay. That’s motive to whack Candace, but that still doesn’t give us a reason for Kendra’s murder.” Charlotte glanced at the phone. “Or why the sheriff took her phone away.”

  “Maybe she saw something and the sheriff was trying to coerce it out of her. Do you think she could have been killed because she talked to the cops?”

  “I suppose. We should talk to the guys.”

  “It’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Or, I should say later today. It’s one in the morning, and Nash is three sheets to the wind.”

  Charlotte sighed dramatically. “How the hell am I supposed to fall asleep now?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  There was no gradual fluttering awake. One minute Charlotte was in la-la land, and the next she was sitting bolt upright, blinking furiously at the harsh sunlight streaming through the blinds. Someone moaned next to her, and she reacted like she’d just stepped on a mine.

  “Ack!” she half screamed, half gurgled and promptly fell off the bed.

  “Are you okay?” Jonas asked, though his voice didn’t come from the bed. Instead, she turned her head and saw him sitting calmly at the table, holding the papers she’d written last night. A brown bag and a white Styrofoam cup caught her attention, and she could only imagine what was in them. She hadn’t eaten last night, and her stomach growled.