Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2)

by Kelley, Morgan

She was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she ever did.

  “Sheriff!” he shouted, the second he saw her heading his way.

  “Yes, Mr. Zimmer?”

  “What you’re doing to my wife is a shame! You should know better! Holly didn’t kill Arron Abrahms.”

  Oh, she was well aware.

  There was no way Holly could hoist Dale Plunkett onto a gate and do what had to be done, but her husband could have. This wasn’t so much about getting Holly to confess, but getting information from her husband without showing their hand.

  His best friend was boning his wife.

  That was never good.

  Before the interview was over, she was going to make sure he realized that she wasn’t screwing around. Plus, she was going to scare him stupid.

  “Well, here’s the issue, Gaylor. If I smell your wife lying, I’m going to toss her to the media wolves.”

  He looked horrified.

  “What? Why?”

  Oh, it was all fun and games for him as a journalist, but when it was his bacon in the pan, he was scared.

  It served him right.

  Karma was a bitch.

  “If she lies, she gets the information leaked to Wendy Lockwood.”

  The man gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Oh, I absolutely would. See, Wendy would love to play this to the public, and I’m more than willing to let you clean up your wife’s mess. I’m more than willing to put out there that you had motive to kill the judge.”

  He blinked. “It’s not what you think.”

  She headed toward her office. This was going exactly as planned.

  “Why don’t you clarify then because now isn’t the time for you to have rumors flying in your direction?”

  He got quiet.

  “Off the record?”

  She laughed. “Remember that one time I told you off the record, Gaylor, and you sold me out?”

  “I had no choice, Sheriff! Wendy got wind of it, and she was going to break it. I had to scoop her. You know how York likes us to be on top of it. It’s survival of the fittest.”

  She supposed he did.

  Keeping his employees pitted against each other meant they would work extra hard to find the stories. It was sick and genius all at once. For a brief second, Bishop wondered if it would work on deputies.

  “This isn’t off the record. If you’re recording this, I suggest you turn it off. I will confiscate it, and then I’ll hand it over to Wendy.”

  He stared at her.

  Then he pulled a slim digital recorder from his pocket. He turned it off and placed it on the desk.

  “Happy?”

  “Yes. Now feel free to confess.”

  “I’m not confessing to killing the judge or Dale. I didn’t do it, but I will tell you the truth about my wife and the judge.”

  “You better. She’d better corroborate your story too. I’m going in there next.”

  “She will.”

  “Okay, spill.”

  She picked up a pen to begin making notes.

  “Holly was sleeping with the judge, and I knew it.”

  She laughed. “That makes you look guilty as sin, and you know it. What gives, Gaylor?”

  “I have issues.”

  She wasn’t getting it. “I need more than ‘issues’. We all have ‘issues’.”

  “I can’t perform unless I see my wife with another man.”

  He turned bright red.

  “Oh.”

  “So, Wendy was sleeping with the judge, but then when he’d leave, I’d sleep with her.”

  “Oh.”

  This was not what she was expecting.

  He kept going. “I’d hide out in the closet in our room, and I’d watch the man screw my wife. When Arron left, I’d come out and Holly and I would…”

  She cut him off. “You wouldn’t happen to have proof, would you?”

  He pulled a disc from his blazer pocket. “Yes. I trust you with this. If this were to get out, Holly and I would have to leave town.”

  Yeah, they’d be the talk of the town.

  “Where were you the night the judge was found dead?”

  “I was at home screwing my wife. He’d taken her to a backroom at the party, had his way with her, and then I rushed us home and jumped her.”

  “You realize this is insane, right?” she asked. “You realize that you’re admitting to using a man to seduce your wife. That doesn’t make you look innocent.”

  “I can’t help it. It’s how our sex life works. I know it makes me a suspect, but it’s the truth. Didn’t you want the truth?”

  Yes, she did.

  “Was Holly sleeping with anyone else?”

  He closed his eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  “Dale.”

  Well, this got worse for the man. Here, he’d handed her evidence that said he had more than motive to kill one man, but two.

  “You have to help me, Sheriff.”

  She laughed at the irony of that.

  Yeah, she really didn’t.

  Seriously?

  “Really? I have no intention to help cover this up. What I do have to do is find the truth. If you’re telling it, you’ll be exonerated. If you’re hiding anything, you’re screwed—like Holly.”

  He swallowed. “Please.”

  She tucked the video into her pocket. It would have to wait until later. She was going to have to watch it, and that was going to suck. Who wanted to watch the judge boning his secretary? Yeah, Bishop would rather make her porn the old fashioned way, with her sex partner.

  Maybe she could pass this one off to a deputy. They’d like that, and she’d be cleared of the craziness.

  “Next, I’m going to talk to Holly. I hope she corroborates what you’ve told me.”

  “Can I come?”

  She had something pithy to say, but she managed to keep it in check. It wasn’t easy. Silas would be proud.

  She deserved a medal.

  “No.”

  “Can I watch from observation?”

  Oh, the universe hated her freaking guts. Again, he was setting her up for a comment, and again, she couldn’t say it.

  “No.”

  “Show her the disc. She’ll know I told you everything.”

  Well, that she could do.

  “Why don’t you have a seat? There’s coffee over there. As soon as we’re done, I’ll have Holly brought in and you both can leave.”

  “Okay.”

  She headed out.

  This was going to be interesting. All Bishop had to do was keep Holly Zimmer from asking for an attorney.

  Bishop loved and hated her job.

  This was exactly why.

  She was about to talk sex with a woman who was getting off with more men than she’d had in the last ten years. Yeah, she was jealous, but she was also skeeved out.

  The watching part was a little too serial stalker for her. Then again, if she could get Lucian even to look at her, she’d likely do anything he asked, including have sex on her front lawn—or his.

  Yeah, she was that far gone over the man

  Still.

  At the interrogation room door, she signaled the deputy behind the glass to roll the tape. She’d never promised the reporter that she wouldn’t record it.

  In fact, that was her responsibility.

  “Hello, Holly. Welcome to my place of business,” she said. Bishop could see the woman was scared.

  She should be.

  This was serious shit.

  “Where’s my husband?”

  She took a seat and pulled the disc from her pocket. The minute the woman saw it, she burst into tears.

  Yeah, Gaylor hadn’t lied.

  Holly was getting her kitty buffed by quite a few men in Ravenswood.

  Good Lord.

  The woman should be slapped.

  “Tell me about it.”

  Apparently, that was all the woman needed. The floo
dgate opened, and Holly spilled it, and so much more.

  What Gaylor hadn’t realized was that while his wife was having sex with his best buddy, she was falling for him.

  It was clearly on her face, in her words, and in her eyes. Holly wasn’t just fornicating.

  She had been in love with the man. How did Bishop know?

  Yeah, she was a victim of unrequited love too.

  With this new information, it took Gaylor back from the pending list and slapped him onto the suspect list again. His wife was on the verge of leaving him. While Holly didn’t say it, Bishop’s gut told her the truth.

  “So, you had a sexual relationship with the judge.”

  “Yes.”

  “And was it always with your husband watching?”

  She hesitated.

  “If you lie, it’s only going to make it worse.”

  “Arron and I had sex every day. I didn’t tell my husband. I’d go into work, he’d be between court cases, and I’d have sex with him.”

  “You loved him?”

  “Yes.”

  “You love your husband?”

  She hesitated.

  “Yes.”

  That spoke volumes.

  “Holly, I’m going to ask you something, and I need the truth. Was your husband with you the night the judge was killed?”

  She wiped her eyes. “He was, but I was so drunk that I passed out. We came home, he took me on the couch, and I woke up there the next morning, still dressed.”

  That was interesting.

  “Do you think Gaylor could do this?”

  She didn’t answer at first. “Is Dale dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “I slept with him for my husband. I didn’t like it. I wanted to keep it to Arron.”

  She made notes.

  “Do you think Gaylor could do this?”

  Holly stared at her. “Will he find out anything I tell you in here?”

  Bishop saw the fear.

  She’s seen it before, so she did the right thing. She cut the recording with one signal to her deputy.

  “This is off the record.”

  She stood and lifted her sweater. At the same time, she unbuttoned her pants. Across her hips were bruises that looked like fingerprints.

  “Who put those on you?”

  “It wasn’t Arron.”

  It hung between them.

  “Is your husband a violent man?”

  She nodded. “That’s why this has to stay between us. If he finds out…”

  She got it. “I can protect you, Holly.”

  “He’s a good man, but he gets upset during sex. He can’t perform. It makes him…crazy.”

  Yeah, well it didn’t make it right. Putting bruises and marks on a woman was wrong.

  It was very wrong.

  “Do you think he could kill Arron and Dale?”

  Holly started crying.

  “You have to tell me, Holly.”

  She stared at her with tears streaming down her face. “Yes.”

  That was all Bishop needed to know about the man. If his wife thought he could do it, plus she had marks all over her, it spoke volumes. Gaylor was right back at the top of the list, and he would stay there until he could prove otherwise.

  As for Holly, she needed help.

  “You have to leave.”

  “I know.”

  “Want me to make that happen?”

  “I don’t know where I can go. If I leave…”

  “We’ll make some phone calls and get you some coffee. There are places, and you’ll be safe.”

  Holly sniffled. “He’s a good man. Really, he is, but he’s going to lose it. I don’t want to be passed around so he can get off. I don’t know what he’ll do next, and I’m afraid.”

  Bishop couldn’t blame her.

  That wasn’t love.

  Gaylor had some issues, and she didn’t want to find Holly in the morgue. Then she couldn’t help her.

  Now…she could.

  Bishop was going to make sure that she at least saved Holly Zimmer from being part of this mess. It was the least she could do.

  It’s what Miles Killion would have done.

  It was the right thing.

  And that was her job.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  It didn’t take long to get everything handled. While one deputy kept Gaylor busy, another got Holly out the back door, and into a woman’s shelter a few towns over.

  For now, she’d be hidden, and when it was over, Bishop vowed to help her get free.

  She’d seen this before. There was no doubt it would be temporary. Most abused women returned to their abuser until they were dead or nearly dead.

  She hoped Holly stayed away.

  In the meantime, she was going to make sure that Gaylor had a little tail of his own. Calling in a deputy, she gave him his duty.

  “Alonzo, I want you to follow him. Get out of uniform, and you’re on surveillance.”

  “Great.”

  “If you need to swap out, you can find a deputy to tag team with him.”

  The man was excited. “Your father always used to let me do surveillance. I loved it.”

  Yeah, that was just sick.

  She hated it.

  No one liked sitting in a vehicle for hours, having to pee, and being trapped.

  It sucked.

  “Thanks, Alonzo. Call me if you find anything that will help us out.”

  He would do that.

  As he left, he ran into the two Feds. “She’s in her office,” he said, pointing at the door.

  The two men headed in, only to find the sheriff making a cup of coffee and rolling her shoulders.

  “Rough one?” Nate asked.

  “Yeah, you?”

  They told her about Dale Plunkett, and how he had been fornicating with anything with a vagina.

  “Well, he was connected to the Zimmers.”

  She took a seat and told them all about it.

  They looked about as shocked as she was when she’d heard it. Then she told them about what Holly had revealed.

  “Did you get her someplace safe?” Nate asked with concern in his voice.

  “Yeah, she’s in Fire Bay.”

  “That’s our home base. When we return, we can help get her situated. We have some resources who can help set her up in a safe place.”

  Bishop appreciated that.

  The Feds didn’t have to do it, and it really showed the kind of people they were. It helped Bishop relax and trust them more.

  “What else did you find?” Luke asked.

  She pointed toward the three cases of files. “I’m going to take one box home tonight, get some takeout, and have myself some fun reading until I get so bored I fall into a coma.”

  They laughed. “We have death threats against Dale to dig through. We know how you feel.”

  Bishop rolled her neck.

  She felt like she’d been awake for three days. It hit her the second she stopped caffeinating and sat down.

  She should know better.

  “Why don’t you head out?” Nate offered. “You look like you’re ready to drop.”

  She wanted that in the worst way—not to sleep, but to get into her sweats, have some dinner, and start combing files.

  Her father’s files.

  “Want us to meet you here in the morning to have a brief meeting?” Luke offered.

  She thought about the FBI trying to lay low for Avalon’s sake. Bishop figured that she’d make it as easy for them as possible. So far, they were playing nice.

  “You should stay out of the public sight as much as possible. Eventually, if the media catches you here with me, they’ll put two and twelve together and make up an answer.”

  The men laughed.

  She was right.

  “I’ll head to Lucian’s home tomorrow. We’ll see what we find, and go from there.”

  Plus, she wanted to take another crack at the man. Apparently, she was going to have to mee
t him all the way. He didn’t seem to want to bend.

  That didn’t bode well for her.

  “That sounds good.”

  “If Avalon picks anything up…?”

  Nate stood. “You’ll be the first to know. She’s usually the early warning.”

  She stopped them. “Can you keep an eye on Lucian?” she asked. “You know…to make sure he’s okay?”

  The men knew what she meant.

  They knew the sheriff was more than just concerned. They’d all been there before.

  “Sure thing, Sheriff.”

  They headed out.

  In the parking lot, they ran into Jagger. Well, actually, he was leaning against their ride.

  He didn’t look happy. Then again, Jagger never really revealed what he was feeling.

  “Did you deliver?” Nate asked, as they approached. Something flickered across the man’s features, and then it was gone again.

  “Yeah, I just got back. The techs said they’ll start sending the information as early as tonight or tomorrow morning. They seemed to have gotten a call from Ethan Blackhawk, the Deputy Director. He put a rush on it.”

  It was good to have friends, or bosses, in high places.

  “Why do you look pissed?” Luke asked.

  Jagger just stared at him.

  “Is that a hickey on your neck?” Nate inquired, seeing the red mark. That was the craziest thing he’d ever seen when it came to Jagger, and that was saying a lot.

  The man was insane.

  He had no self-preservation whatsoever.

  “You jumped the coroner!” Luke accused, rubbing his hands together. “Do tell, my friend. Do tell.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  The men laughed.

  “Come on,” Nate said. “You got laid. You have to tell us old entangled men. We live vicariously through your exploits.”

  Jagger got mad.

  He punched the side of their ride, denting it.

  Then he walked away.

  “Uh, I guess that means he doesn’t want to talk about it,” stated Luke.

  “You think?”

  “That can’t be good,” Luke added. “Jagger doesn’t get mad about anything—ever.”

  Nate was aware.

  This wasn’t a good thing, and honestly, it was the last mess they needed now. The team needed to be on their game. Bad shit was coming.

  He could feel it.

  Chapter Ten