It took Zach a few moments to get his car unlocked. After he raced down the drive and zoomed down the highway toward town, Chelsea waited five minutes before entering the house and removing the pennies. When she exited through the garage, she found Josh climbing down the access stairs with the fog machine.
“Well, that went well, I think.” He grinned at her. The man had a million dollar smile. No wonder Ashley seemed to be so hung up on him.
When they got back into the car, she pulled the wig onto her head. Chelsea slipped behind the steering wheel. “Let’s get out of here.” Zach’s pathetic pleading had rattled her, unsettling the gastric juices in the pit of her stomach.
Jordan spoke first. “That was more fun than it should have been. Did you see the look on his face?”
“You were the guy who pranked other kids in high school, weren’t you?” Josh asked with an obvious note of camaraderie in his tone.
Jordan laughed, but it sounded more like an expulsion of pent-up nervous tension than amusement. “No comment.”
Instead of heading out the way the same way as Zach, Chelsea took the dirt road past Halsey’s place and made a loop back to the highway. She took a peek in the rearview mirror as she pulled onto the paved road. They had it to themselves.
Jordan, seated next to her in the passenger seat, glanced behind them. “We broke all sorts of laws.”
“He deserved it.” Chelsea wasn’t sorry one bit. Not for the laws they had broken or the panic they had caused.
“How many more times are we gonna have to do this?” Josh slid down in the back seat.
“I hope the jerk runs screaming to the nearest law enforcement officer and turns himself in.”
Jordan was dreaming. Chelsea snorted with contempt. “Zach was never the kind to admit he’d done anything wrong.”
Josh sat up straight. “Then what was this about?”
Chelsea smiled. “Paybacks are hell.”
****
It was the middle of the night when they returned to the house on Chelsea Lane. Josh McCord had tagged along with them. He suggested they stop by Dag’s BBQ Hut and snag some ribs and coleslaw. Dag’s was the only locally owned joint that had a drive-thru open until one in the morning.
“What kind of name is Dag?” Jordan asked.
Josh shrugged. “Don’t know. The guy comes from Australia. Maybe it’s short for a common name down there.”
As they approached the garage in back of the house, Jordan pointed out the vehicle in the driveway. “We have company.”
Josh leaned forward and squinted. “Grayson.”
There was a surprise. “What’s he doing here?”
As soon as Chelsea slid into the garage, Josh bolted out of the car. “Only one way to find out.”
Jordan and Chelsea trailed Josh into the house. In the living room, they found Grayson pacing.
His eyebrows pulled together as he caught his first glimpse of Josh. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing, buddy.” Josh hesitated and then extended his hand.
The men shook while a weird non-verbal exchange vibrated between them.
Grayson turned his attention to Chelsea. “There’s a woman upstairs. Her parents are on their way to take her home.”
Chelsea stared up the stairs. “How’d she get here?”
“I brought her.”
“Why here?”
“Haskins owns the house.”
Jordan stepped up to the man. “So you’re doing Haskins’s dirty work?”
A storm settled across Grayson’s face. “Did I not just tell you I’d called the girl’s parents and asked them to come get her?”
“So what does Haskins have to do with her being her?” Jordan asked, pushing hard for explanations. The man was being too vague under the circumstances.
“Haskins heard that someone was still living here, and he wanted me to get rid of the squatters.” Grayson crossed his arms. “He expected me to come here, so I did. I thought it might be a good place for her to hide until she could go home. He doesn’t know she’s been cooking meth for his men, and I’d like to keep it that way. Haskins isn’t going to send anyone else over here since he sent me.”
“Are you Haskins’s puppy?” Jordan shook his head. Where had that come from?
“What—”
Josh got between them. “Lighten up, Clark. He’s on our side, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t know what gets into me. There’s something about this house that makes me nuts.”
Chelsea had already climbed halfway up the stairs.
He called to her back. “You shouldn’t go up there alone.”
Chelsea twisted to face him. “What’s she gonna do to me? She probably needs someone to check on her.” She grumbled under her breath and then spoke loud enough they all could hear her disgust. “Ya’ll are a bunch of jerks.”
“Chelsea?”
Josh placed a hand on Jordan’s arm and shot him a knowing look. “Let her go. You’re going to have to learn the nuances of a woman’s nature.”
Grayson busted out laughing. “Like you are an expert.”
Josh grinned and stuck his chest out. “You know I am.”
Grayson moved toward the back door. “Don’t turn on the lights and move out of here as soon as you can. I’ve got to get going.”
He was gone before Jordan could ask him more questions. Josh coughed, which drew Jordan’s attention his way.
“Strange things happen in this house, huh?”
Jordan sucked in a deep breath. “You wouldn’t believe.”
“I might.”
The two of them headed for the kitchen and the take out meal that was getting cold.
“Should we wait for her?” Josh asked and licked his lips.
The barbecue sauce aroma hit Jordan’s nose, and his stomach rumbled.
“Naw. Let’s make sure we save her some. She’s likely to be up there a long time.”
When she entered the kitchen fifteen minutes later, she gave them the evil eye. “Nice. You could have waited.”
Jordan shot death glares at Josh. He shrugged. “I was hungry.”
“It’s okay. I’m not.” She dropped into a seat next to Jordan. She pointed at his face. “You got a little on your nose.”
He rubbed at the offending sauce.
Chelsea unloaded her feelings about what she’d seen and heard in the last quarter hour. “I can’t believe Haskins has his men kidnapping women to cook his meth again.” Anger rose and fell as she expressed her sympathy for the woman. “He has to be stopped.”
Josh wiped the sauce from his five o’clock shadow with a flimsy napkin. “Grayson is working on it.”
Chelsea pointed toward the stairs. “She was terrified. When he took her out of the lab, he made out like he was going to get rid of her.”
Jordan caught Josh’s eye. He’d have to take the lead on dealing with Chelsea’s emotions. The look on Josh’s face proclaimed Chelsea’s feelings weren’t Josh’s problem.
“Chelsea, honey… He had to pretend like that, or he could have gotten them both killed.”
She wiped her eyes, and he thought maybe she was crying. But her eyes were dry.
“I understand that. She was still scared of him though. She’s been through worse than James or Zeke ever put any of us through.” She folded a paper napkin and then unfolded it, smoothing out the crease. “They kidnapped her to help Brett.”
Josh’s head jerked up. “She’s been with Brett?”
Chelsea’s mouth twisted. She was obviously choosing her words carefully. “That’s what I just said.”
“How deep is he in?” Jordan asked.
She turned watery eyes toward him. “I’m afraid he’s in so deep he can’t get out again.”
Josh shook his head. “I hope he has a way to get out when things go down for Haskins.”
“Are they getting close?” Chelsea’s voice wavered.
“I have no idea.” Josh
pushed his plate back.
If the man had lost his appetite, he’d waited until most of his meal was consumed. Jordan didn’t think he could eat another bite.
Chelsea pointed toward his slaw. “You gonna eat that?”
Was she serious? Now that she’d ruined their appetite was she going to finish up what they’d left on the table?
“Dag makes the best slaw.” She licked a stray piece of cabbage from her upper lip.
The woman was a complete enigma. Would he ever understand her?
****
Chelsea climbed the stairs again. Her feet hurt and her hips groaned from the effort. She was too young to feel so old. When she entered the room where she had left the woman, she found her on the edge of the bed looking a bit green. Her eyes widened when she glanced up.
She scrambled back and pushed her thin body against the iron headboard. “No. Please, don’t hurt me. Just let me go home.”
Odd. The woman hadn’t acted like that before she’d left her to get some sleep.
She whispered through trembling lips. “Please, you have to help me before he comes back.”
“Hey. Chill. You mean the man that brought you here? He’s not coming back. You can stay with us until your parents get here.”
She blinked and seemed to lose some of her fear. “My parents?”
“Yeah. Didn’t he tell you anything?” There was no explaining men or their lack of communication skills. She shook her head. “He rescued you so he could send you home to your parents. He’s probably contacting someone who can contact the cops right now.”
Disbelief covered the woman’s face. “No. She said he’s one of them.” She pointed at Chelsea. “She said you’re one of them.”
“She?” Was someone else in the house? Chelsea was the only woman… “You saw another woman in the house?”
The woman nodded.
“Besides me?”
Another nod.
“I’m the only woman besides you in this house. Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?”
Her jaw stuck out in defiance. “I know what I saw.” She pointed to a spot on the edge of the bed. “She sat right there.”
Chelsea scanned the room. Tried to be still, absorbing the environment. Nothing seemed odd or unnatural. She called out to the spirits in the house despite the lack of obvious supernatural energy. “Sharona? Are you here? Come out.”
Nothing and no one appeared.
“Aw, come on. You can’t scare her like that. She doesn’t know about you.”
A light mist materialized at the foot of the bed, a few feet away from Chelsea. She addressed the manifestation. “Why did you tell her I was one of them?”
Nothing audible. A quiet voice seemed to whisper inside her head.
The woman on the bed gasped. “I don’t understand. What’s that? What’s going on?”
Chelsea ignored her as the mist thickened and surrounded her.
You let us die.
Anger swelled in Chelsea. “You said you forgave me.”
The woman’s panic escalated. “Who are you talking to?”
“Come on, Sharona. I know you can show yourself. You just did.”
The mist cooled her skin. She shook from the drop in temperature. Her core chilled. “Why are you scaring this girl? She’s been through the same thing you have. Scare me if you want, but leave her alone. Come on, Sharona. Don’t play games. Show yourself now or go to the light.”
The mist separated from Chelsea and formed into the opaque form of a woman, Sharona’s image.
Chelsea turned to the woman on the bed. “Is she the woman you saw?”
She nodded, her eyes wide with fright.
“This is Sharona. She’s been dead for four years.”
The woman screamed. Seconds later, the heavy thump of shoes pounding up the stairs came from outside the room. The door slammed against the bedroom wall. Two cops with guns drawn invaded the room.
Chelsea waved them off. “Stop it. You’re going to scare her even more than she’s already scared.”
Sharona’s ghost had vanished.
“What happened?” Jordan asked.
Chelsea guessed he was getting used to asking her that question. He had a weary, not-again expression on his face.
“Sharona, one of the women who…who died here…showed herself to…”
Chelsea turned toward the frightened woman. “What’s your name?”
The woman trembled. At first, it seemed she was going to refuse to answer. Then, a light glowed from her eyes. “She says I can answer you. That she was wrong. You’re all right.” She shook once as if she’d been gone and had dragged her soul back from some other dimension. “Madeline.”
Josh stepped forward. “I don’t know what the other man told you. Probably nothing because he’s trying hard not to blow his cover. But I can assure you that you are safe now. My name is Josh McCord. I’m with the Hill County Sheriff’s Department. My friend here is Jordan Clark. He’s with the Arkansas State Police.” He pointed toward Chelsea. “She’s a woman who was kidnapped to work for the same organization that took you. She escaped. She’s trying to help us help you.” He leaned down and got close to her without touching her. “Are you going to be all right? If you need someone else to help you besides her, then I know someone who will be glad to come over here and sit with you.”
Madeline’s eyes passed over all three of them, as if studying and evaluating them for their ability to tell the truth. “Show me your identification.”
Josh yanked his from his jean pocket and handed it to her. Jordan patted his pockets and groaned. “Must have lost mine when I lost my gun.”
Madeline’s eyes diverted to the gun dangling from his hand toward the ground.
“Oh. This isn’t my service weapon. This is my backup weapon.”
Chelsea snorted. “Cops.” Her derision floated around the room.
Madeline licked her lips.
Chelsea smiled, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. “You look thirsty. Can I get you some water or something?”
Madeline gazed longingly toward the door but remained mute.
Josh laughed. “You smell the barbecue?”
Madeline nodded.
Jordan placed a hand on Josh’s upper arm. “That might be too much for her stomach yet. We should get her something a little less greasy to eat.”
“That would be good.” Appreciation trembled in Madeline’s answer.
“Let’s do this. Chelsea doesn’t come up here to check on you without one of us.”
“Really, Jordan, I’m not gonna—”
“I know that and you know that, but she doesn’t. Let’s give her time to see that you can be trusted.” He paused, and his eyes conveyed his understanding. “You know what it’s like to have your mind messed with by a ghost.”
She did.
She backed up a bit while speaking to Madeline. “I’ll try not to do anything to scare you. I really just wanted to help.”
Madeline didn’t seem convinced.
Jordan took Chelsea’s hand in his. “She’s gone through a lot to help the women who used to live here.” He glanced down at Chelsea, tightened his grip. “I trust her.”
Josh rubbed his upper lip. “I’m not sure I trust any of you, but then my girlfriend says I have trust issues.”
“Really, Josh? I can’t blame Ashley. After all, she knows you pretty well.” Jordan’s jab reeked of good-natured sarcasm.
“Okay, then. I’ll go. Josh can get you something easy on your stomach. I’ll be downstairs if you need anything. Just call out. One of us will come up here.” Chelsea had one foot out into the hallway.
“Wait. What if the ghost comes back?”
She twisted around. “You want me to stay?”
Madeline pointed toward the only chair in the room. “Please. I don’t want to be alone.”
Chelsea knew exactly how it felt to be too scared to be alone in the house on Chelsea Lane.
Chapter Ninete
en
Around two in the morning, Madeline’s brother arrived at the house to take Madeline home. It was the only way his family could bring her home without alerting the FBI. Her brother had told them the feds hovered over their parents so much they couldn’t make a move without the agents knowing.
Grayson had warned them to come alone. When the FBI heard of his involvement, he’d be under even more scrutiny.
Jordan stared at the wall across from the foot of the double cot he shared with Chelsea. She’d finally managed to fall asleep about three-thirty. Jordan’s eyes were wide open. He checked his messages again. Nothing. A restless tension hung in the air like something critical was about to happen. He’d never been good at waiting, which was kind of funny because a lot of police work involved hours of surveillance. Waiting.
He glanced toward Chelsea and made his move, pushing the sage green, plush throw off his legs and swinging them over the side of the bed. She remained immobile, the sleep of the exhausted having drawn her deep into slumber. So far, she hadn’t stirred. Maybe she could get through the remainder of the night without any nightmares. If she could keep her fears of Sharona’s ghost at bay, she might be able to pull out of the funk she’d dove into ever since Madeline had seen the ghost of Sharona.
Pushing the thin curtain aside, he gazed at the street below. No traffic. The night was so still he might have believed he’d entered an alternate universe where everything had frozen. Not a single gust of wind to hint at life.
A Fairview police patrol unit pulled onto Chelsea Lane and slowed as it neared the house. He eased away from the window, peering around the frame. The driver of the car turned his high beam search light on and aimed it toward the house. He had taken Grayson’s advice and left all the lights off. Put all their food away and left the kitchen spotless. Left nothing of theirs in view of the windows. His car had been moved onto the next street, leaving the garage empty.
After another tense moment, the officer moved on down the street. Jordan released the breath he hadn’t even been aware he’d been holding.
Chelsea shifted on the squeaky bed. He studied her sleeping form for a long moment. When he was satisfied she was still out, he eased into the hall and closed the door behind him. Sliding down the wall outside, he punched familiar digits.
Chelsea Lane (Haunted Hearts Series Book 5) Page 23