“You’ll have to spend the night to find out.”
“Will you be making dinner or should I get takeout?”
“You’ll have to spend the night to find out.”
She smiled.
“I guess I’ll be spending the night.”
He watched her quickly gather some girly things and throw them into a bag. It amazed him how easily she accepted the situation. It was as if it didn’t take thought or effort.
When she tossed in a racy thong, his body reacted. It was purely masculine and a beautiful thing.
“I’m set. We’ll head out.”
He tugged on his black hoodie, but didn’t pull the hood up. She didn’t watch him put the eyepatch on, but she knew he was doing it. He was facing her mirror.
It was a start.
He was going outside and into the sun without the hoodie obstructing his face. It was as if he finally was ready to face the world.
It was progress.
Together, they headed downstairs and toward the door. Before she could leave, he kissed her.
“Be safe at work today,” he offered. “I like having you in one piece.”
“I like being in one piece. The other option sucks,” she teased, thinking about her dad and how he’d died in the safety of his own home.
“I mean it. Please don’t get hurt, Bishop. I can’t…”
She knew he was struggling, so she stepped in and offered him a lifeline.
“Someone likes me. He’s getting all mushy.” Then she made kissy sounds.
It made him laugh.
“Don’t be a pain in the ass. Just promise me, okay?”
She wrapped her arms around his hips. “I swear I’ll be fine, but I want something from you too.”
He waited.
He was man enough to admit that her one sentence had dual effects on him. It warmed and chilled him. Wendy had said that to him a lot. He’d bought her with things just to keep her by his side.
Now he saw it.
Then he was too worried about his public opinion.
“What?”
“Can you start going through your files? Maybe you can pull any cases where you think that you, Arron Abrahms, and Dale Plunkett crossed paths with some drama. Killers like drama.”
He relaxed.
It had been related to the case.
“What?” she asked, feeling his body go lax then tense, then lax again.
“Nothing.”
“At my place, it’s a no lie zone,” she reminded him. “Here, you have to tell the truth.”
He had no choice.
Lucian knew Bishop was laying down the law.
“When you said you wanted something, it reminded me of my past. It wasn’t a good memory.”
She understood.
“I’ll never ask anything from you, Lucian. I need your help with this case and nothing more. I can take care of myself. I don’t look at you and see a man with money. I look at you and see the man I love.”
He believed her.
Why?
It was a no lie zone, and so far, she’d been the one to give everything.
“Okay. I’ll help you.”
He didn’t tell her that the static was kicking up, and that generally meant the visions were coming. While they were far less violent with her, and at that moment, she’d yet to see that happening to him.
He hoped it didn’t freak her out.
“Let’s go.”
She opened her door, and they were three feet outside when the shit hit the fan.
Cameras flashed, questions were tossed at them, and they were bombarded with the media.
She was pissed.
Someone threw them to the wolves.
Well, shit.
Her gut response was to kick their asses. Then she saw them move on Lucian like a pack of hungry mongrels. They were salivating to catch the reclusive Lucian Monroe outside the gates of Graymoor manor.
He reached for his hoodie, trying to protect himself. There was no doubt what he didn’t want them to see. He was back to hiding, and that pissed her off.
“Get back!” she shouted, placing herself between them. “This is private property, and you’re trespassing.”
Really, it was all she could do to protect him.
It made her angry.
This was her home. Lucian had finally relaxed, and this was going to stir him up.
Shit!
They pushed through the crowd to get to her truck. It wasn’t easy. They were relentless. No sooner did they break through the cameras, they ran straight into the last person either wanted to see.
Facing Lucian down was the woman who broke his heart ten years ago.
“Well, well, well. It looks like someone is sleeping with the sheriff. How interesting. I never saw this coming.”
Bishop knew better than to engage the viper. Instead, she hit the locks on her truck, trying to get Lucian clear.
“So, Sheriff, what did you find at the judge’s office? Did Holly Zimmer have something to do with his death? Is she a suspect? What was said during the interview?”
Bishop said nothing.
But Wendy’s words hit a chord. Only she had no choice but to put them on the back burner. Lucian had to come first. She’d vowed to keep him safe.
“Are you two in a relationship?” Wendy Lockwood asked, trying to get any details she could.
Her camera guy was in Lucian’s face, snapping pictures left and right.
It was pissing Bishop off.
When he put his hands on the man, she nearly snapped. “Hands off!” she ordered, shoving the camera guy away from Lucian.
“Awww, she’s protecting him. How sweet. Beauty and the Beast, and the woman has bigger balls. It looks like his eye isn’t the only thing he lost that day.”
Lucian’s hand tensed in hers.
She was going to kill this woman.
“Watch it, Wendy,” she warned, as she got the truck door open and Lucian inside. Thank God for dark tint.
“Or? Are you threatening me, Sheriff Killion? In front of all these people? For him? Trust me, he’s not worth it.”
She couldn’t be more wrong.
Bishop would kick her ass, lose her badge, and willing hand it to Silas for Lucian.
He was worth everything.
To Bishop, he was her world, and she’d finally managed to catch his attention. She’d fight hard to keep him.
“I will kick your gold digging ass off my property if you put your hands on me or him.”
Wendy laughed. “Lucian likes a woman with balls. I’m not surprised he’s chasing you down. What’s funny is a dead body lands on his doorstep, and he starts sleeping with you. How interesting, no?”
If she was trying to plant doubt, it wouldn’t work. Bishop was stronger than that.
“Screw you, Wendy.”
With that, she hopped into her truck and locked the doors. When she glanced over, Lucian was looking down. His fists were clenched in his lap, and his body was tense again.
This was bad.
Very, very bad.
“Lucian.”
He stopped her. “Just get me home, okay? I need to get home.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” he said, warning her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
That said it all.
Lucian Monroe had come a long way in one night, and now he’d reverted back to day one.
It had started out a good day.
And went to hell pretty damn fast.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
The team was up and working when Avalon wandered her way down to the kitchen. She’d slept in, and Nate hadn’t minded at all.
She was growing him a child, and that mattered.
The second he heard her, he was up and out of his seat to greet her.
She’d had a restless night.
The dreams and visions had kept her busy all night long.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“
No. I’m feeling a little icky.”
He kissed her and held Avalon against his body. “The baby?”
This time, it had nothing to do with it.
“No, he’s got another victim. He’s getting ready. It’s coming.”
They all stopped moving.
“What?” Luke asked. “How do you know that he has another victim. Lucian isn’t around.”
Yeah, Maura didn’t like the sound of this.
“Lucian needed a night off, so I’m trying to cut the visions off for as long as I can.”
“Avalon,” Nate warned.
“He needs this. I’m keeping them on track. He needed one night of peace. I can’t hold them back for long, but I can buy him some well-deserved peace.”
He wanted to ask her when she would get the well-deserved peace, but he knew better. Avalon wanted to run this her way, and they were going to do what she asked. Lucian and Bishop’s fates were joined, and she was doing her thing to keep it that way.
“Where is he?” Maura asked.
“He didn’t come home last night,” Avalon offered. “He’s on his way here now, and he’s angry.”
Uh oh.
That wasn’t good.
Maura placed a cup of tea before Avalon. “Here. Drink this. You look pale.”
She placed her hands around it, and no one missed that they were shaky—especially Nate.
Luke gave him the look.
Somehow, he managed to say nothing. It looked like his best friend was learning.
“Are you seeing the killer?” Maura finally asked. While Lucian only got flashes, maybe she saw more.
“Not completely. I can see the inside of a trunk. The victim is inside.”
Luke began making notes as she described everything she saw.
“Do you know who it is?” Nate asked.
Avalon focused as hard as she could. Finally, she tuned into the man screaming and yelling for help. She could hear him shouting at the killer.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” she whispered over and over again. “I’m Earl Thorpe. I’ll bury you. I’ll see you locked in a cage. Do you hear me? A goddamn cage!”
Maura began running the man’s name.
As Avalon sat there, beads of perspiration forming on her brow, they all felt helpless.
“He’s taking him out. I can see his hand. He’s white. A male. I see a silver watch.”
None of it was anything that would help.
“Come on, Avi, hang in there,” Nate said, touching her cheek. She was ice cold and hot at the same time. Her skin was burning but clammy.
It scared him.
She was at risk, and now so was their small little life. When he thought there was nothing that could scare him more, he’d been dead wrong.
He now had two people to lose.
She gasped and opened her eyes. “He knocked him out. Lucian is back.”
The switch was flipped.
She was back.
“I’m okay,” she offered. “He won’t be.”
“He who?” Luke asked.
“Lucian. These visions are going to be bad. The killer is angry. He’s very angry.”
She wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t already know. This killer was brutal, crazy, and insane.
“Who is Earl Thorpe?” Nate finally asked.
Maura glanced up.
“He’s an attorney. Want the connection?”
They did.
“The case Lucian was working on when he was nearly blown up, he had a co-counsel.”
They knew where this was heading.
“Thorpe?” Luke asked.
“Yep. Lucian is in the middle of this, but how?” she asked.
It was a damn good question.
And they were going to ask.
When they pulled up to the gate, she stopped her truck. “Can I have the code, or do you want to put it in?” she asked.
It was the first thing she’d said to him on the drive there. Frankly, she was afraid to make him even angrier.
“Twelve, twelve, twelve.”
The lumbering gates opened.
As she drove up the drive, she reached for his hand.
He pulled it away.
Shit.
“Can we talk?”
“Not now, Bishop.”
His dismissal was getting on her damn nerves. While she wanted to tell him off, and that he was angry with the wrong person, she let it go.
She’d give him time.
Then she’d kick his ass.
As she parked her truck, he hopped out, and he didn’t wait for her. It was more proof that he was beyond pissed. He’d been sweet, gentle, and very loving.
Now he was back to being cold.
Wendy was going to get her ass kicked. Bishop was going to make her pay.
She chased after him, and at the door, he headed in without saying a word.
He made it ten steps before he grabbed his head and hit the floor on his knees.
Shit!
A vision.
“Lucian!” she shouted, racing toward his side. Gently, she placed his head in her lap as the Feds and Avalon came rushing in to see what was happening.
“He’s having the vision. I’m sorry, Lucian, I couldn’t hold it back.”
He writhed in pain.
“What’s wrong with him?” Bishop asked. It looked like a cross between a seizure and a stroke. Seeing it made her want to be sick.
“He’s seeing the killer harming the next victim,” Nate said as his fiancée took a spot on the floor beside the man.
Avalon glanced up, reading the two auras.
“Bishop, hold his hand. He needs you to help him.”
She would do anything she could for him.
He calmed the second Avalon began readjusting his aura with her own energy. The reds, blacks, and oranges went to cool blues.
He calmed.
“Jesus,” muttered Bishop. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
“Who is being killed?” she asked. The cop in her kicked in as soon as he wasn’t in danger.
“Earl Thorpe,” Lucian muttered. “He’s being tortured.”
That didn’t sound good at all.
In fact, the idea that Lucian was watching that horrified her. “And you’re seeing it?”
He struggled to nod.
“God! It hurts,” he muttered.
Avalon understood. She was feeling it too.
“Can you get me to my room,” Lucian asked, wanting to get away from Bishop. He was angry, raw, and didn’t want her seeing him like this.
Luke and Maura helped him up.
Bishop didn’t want to release his hand. Only she didn’t have a choice.
He pulled it away.
She helplessly watched as Luke helped him up the stairs and Maura escorted Avalon. When they were gone, she glanced over at Nate.
“What the hell?”
“He’s seeing the crimes. That’s how his gift works. Avalon’s able to tune into it.”
She wanted to be sick.
That had to suck for poor Lucian. He was having one hell of a day. First, the Wendy ambush, being called a beast on camera, and now this.
She wished he could catch a break.
“Do you know Earl Thorpe?” Nate asked, as they headed into the sitting area of Lucian’s home.
“Yeah, I do. He works at the courthouse.”
Nate was curious. “Did you know he took over for Lucian after his accident?”
She was aware.
“Yeah, I know. Only he wasn’t nearly as good at his job as Lucian was. He’d had his ass handed to him a few times by Dale Plunkett. Before the explosion, Lucian had won every round against him. He was unstoppable.”
Yeah, because of his gift.
“They’re all connected—a judge, a defense attorney, and a district attorney.”
She knew what that meant.
“Lucian’s in danger.”
She was
probably right. Why he was targeted, was the only thing they could focus on at that moment.
That would give them the edge.
They had to find an answer.
“Likely. If this killer is leaving little clues, all pointing at Lucian, he’s likely the end game.”
That did not make her happy.
Bishop began putting the pieces together. There was no way the media just happened to show up at her place. This had to be part of it.
They were being watched.
That made her want to protect Lucian even more. First, Nate Carter needed to know what had already happened before they arrived at Graymoor.
She told him everything about that morning in her front yard.
“That’s not good,” Nate stated. The killer was screwing with them.
“Yeah, I know. Lucian is going to be distracted. Can you keep an eye on him? He’s safe here. As long as he stays behind the gate, the killer can only torment him in his mind.”
Nate was impressed that after what she’d just seen, she wasn’t even fazed. Sheriff Bishop Killion was more than ready to keep pushing on with what needed to be done to solve this.
“I can do that.”
“What about DNA? Did the FBI lab get anything?”
He pulled out his phone and handed it to her so she could scan the reports. “I’ll send you a hard copy.”
She read.
“There’s a blonde hair on both of the bodies that doesn’t belong there?”
“Yes.”
“No root ball? Shit!”
Yeah, he’d seen that. Basically, because of that, they had no way to get a DNA match.
“I swear I’m batting a big fat zero today. Do we have anything that might bring my average up?” she asked, thinking about Lucian. She wanted to go upstairs to see him in the worst way, but after the media, and what he’d been forced to let her see, she didn’t think he’d handle it well.
He was on the verge of a freak out.
She could tell.
“We do have one thing other than that hair found on both men.”
“What?”
“While digging in the files, one name popped up. Do you recall a Nolan Parker?”
She knew the name. “My father put him in jail. I remember the arrest. Parker was nothing more than a little shit who liked stealing cars, money, and burglary.”
He had the police report.
She had a good memory.
Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) Page 24