As it plunged toward his chest, he screamed.
The howl echoed out the window and across the swamp. Yet no one came to save Tennessee. He was on his own.
Lying there, he was forced to listen.
The crickets chirped.
The owls hooted.
The killer left him for dead. On the floor, the young man bled out, life leaving him.
All he could think about were how his wild dreams were abandoning him.
It was all over.
Life was finished.
Yes, Tennessee wanted to make a scary movie, but there was no way he saw this coming.
The house stole it all away.
Tennessee realized something very important. His uncle didn't go missing.
The house killed him.
Like Ralph, he, too, was now dead.
* * *
Present Day
It had to be here.
Somewhere in this run down estate was a fortune, and he was going to find it.
No matter how long it took, Jeffery Lamont was going to be victorious. No longer would he be the dreamer in his family.
He was going beyond that and becoming the one who would be the most successful.
No longer would his brother stare down his nose at him. Instead, he’d be the one they came to for money. When a business failed, or his sister needed cash, he would be their money man.
Why?
Because he’d found it.
All he had to do was locate the damn treasure.
It was here.
It had to be.
When he bought the house, the helpful man swore that it was somewhere in the house. Well, by God, he was going to find it! Come hell or high water, he wasn’t leaving until he had that money in the bank.
He couldn’t.
He’d conned his brother into paying for this ‘investment’. Now, he needed to pay him back and be on his merry way. Screw him and his condescending attitude.
Jeffery was tired of being the family screw up.
He was sick of how he always failed.
Why couldn’t they see that he was the dreamer?
Once he heard about this house, he knew it was his destiny. With a name like ‘The Killing House’, how could it not be? It piqued his interest and called to him.
This was going to be fun.
Thankfully, he had managed to outbid the other buyers and it was all his.
Yeah, he was super smart.
Armed with the map, he began his search that first day. When that turned up nothing, Jeffery made sure to cover all his bases. He moseyed into town and did the research needed to dig up anything else he could find to make this job that much easier.
That was when he hit pay dirt.
Now, it would be so much easier, especially with their help…
God!
He hoped so.
Still, he was wandering through the house trying to find the next object. The first had been a real bitch to locate, and in the end, he’d come across it accidentally. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and that made him nervous.
Was the map useless?
Was the journal bunk?
He couldn’t let it get him down. He was going to be a legend. If anyone asked, he’d say the first clue was found thanks to his excellent sleuthing skills.
Of course they’d buy it when he was rolling in the gold.
Jeffery laughed at the visual in his mind.
Yeah, he’d be the man.
Picking up the map, he decided not to waste anymore time. Already, it had been two weeks of screwing around. Money and time was a wasting. For now, he’d concentrate on the second object and not stop until he had it.
He was one step closer to being filthy rich.
Jeffery could taste it now.
As he headed down the hall, he was confused.
Something wasn’t right.
He’d been a Boy Scout, and yet he couldn’t follow a simple piece of paper.
Then, it hit him.
The map didn't coincide with the layout of the building. It was off. Everything was changed!
Flipping it around, he tried going the other way. Again, that didn't work.
Well, shit!
This sucked!
The man promised him that it was the way to find the treasure. He’d sworn to heaven and back that it was going to be the sure fire route to getting rich. That’s the only reason he paid all that money for this run down haunted shithole. If not for the money, he had no ties to this hellish town.
It was a swamp.
A hole.
Worthless.
Now, he was angry.
Heading back to his room, he stormed around trying to figure out what he needed to do. At this rate, he’d be wearing more marks in the carpeting.
In the back of his mind, he wanted to stay and continue, but he knew that he needed to do the right thing.
Already, guilt was building.
He’d lied to his family.
He’d practically stolen his brother’s money.
Yeah, he screwed up.
Picking up the phone, he called the man who contacted him. As he waited for his voicemail to kick in, he prepared to tear him a new one.
“Hey, man! I don’t know what shit you’re pulling, but this map is bogus! I want my money back. You can’t find jack in this house. This was a scam, and if you don’t call me right back, I’m calling the cops!”
He hung up the phone and slammed it down on the desk in his bedroom.
He was furious.
This had pissed him off so much, that he didn't hear the slide of stone. If he did, Jeffery would have felt so much more than just anger.
There would be fear.
Terror.
Dread.
Oh, and don’t forget so much alarm.
Instead, while he was lost in his thoughts and rage, more than guilt was coming his way.
Death loomed.
As the shadow crept closer, the heavy pipe was swung, making contact with the back of Jeffery Lamont’s head.
The sickening crunch of bone filled the air. Then, there was the scent of pennies. The coppery tinted smell was there.
The killer watched as Jeffery Lamont crashed to the floor.
Evil was once more victorious as the unconscious man’s body was pulled toward the balcony. There was no need to bury him.
Beneath the balcony sat his watery grave.
The green murk sparkled in the moonlight, giving off an eerie glow.
“You failed, Jeffery. That’s a shame. I thought you’d do a much better job than this. I had hope in you.”
With that, he was heaved over the edge and to his final resting place.
“RIP. I have work to do. You need to be replaced.”
With that, one more victim was claimed to the house that swallowed lives and souls.
“Can no one find this for me?”
Creeping back into the shadows, it was left unanswered.
~Chapter One~
Littlemoon Investigations
Across the country
Every day at work started pretty much the same way. Julian Littlemoon and his wife would head down from their third floor apartment to the offices below to get the daily meetings started.
Each morning, they would hand out assignments and get the team on track, and today would be no different.
Their business was booming, and the team was doing the best they could on a limited staff. Christina and Kane were handling the cases that were closer to home, only because they were in the midst of planning a wedding, and Tori wouldn’t screw the woman out of her dream day.
While they seldom disagreed, this was a bone of contention between them.
Julian believed that a woman could work in the field and still plan a wedding.
Yeah, that was easy for him to say. He’d only had to show up at theirs. When Tori stood her ground, Julian relented.
It wasn’t shocking that in the end, Tori won.
How was he supposed to fight that one? There were days that Julian didn't know why he bothered trying. One look from Tori, and he was a puddle of mush.
How could he not be?
The feisty red-haired babe was carrying his child.
Deep within her body was their baby, and he couldn’t even put up a fight. If she wanted him to hang naked from their front sign, he’d do it.
That’s how important this pregnancy was to him. Julian wasn’t willing to stress her out.
Instead, he’d do the worrying.
And there was a lot of that going on…
While the whole place was filled with hormones from knocked up babes, he and the other men were walking a fine line. No one wanted to get them riled up. One crying woman was enough to take them all down.
They weren’t idiots.
The men were trying to be on their best behavior.
Besides, it wasn’t that hard for Julian. He was going to be a daddy. That was a pretty amazing feeling, especially when you had begun to believe that it wouldn’t ever happen.
Yeah, he’d take one for the team and let Tori win on this one. It was all worth it.
So, while Kane and Christina took the simple cases, the rest of the team had to double up on the harder ones.
He’d just hired two new investigators, and still they were struggling to keep up.
Vivian and Justin Littlemoon were currently working a case where the husband suspected the wife was living a secret life. It turned out to be a far bigger issue than they thought. They were in the midst of compiling information to bring back to the husband, and they knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
They were pretty much going to be breaking his heart.
No one liked to deliver the bad news, but in their line of work, it was the norm. That simple investigation was now so much more than they had expected.
Sadly, once they wrapped this one, there were three others that looked to be just as difficult on the back burner.
Julian had to give his brother credit. It never ceased to amaze him that the man, who was once the serial fornicator, was now hell bent on finding cheating spouses.
It was incredibly ironic, and that made him want to laugh.
In fact, everything about his life was turning out to have a twist, handed to them by fate.
Julian was a loner, and then he met Tori.
Life changed.
She changed him.
Then they opened their own ‘little’ business.
Only to have it explode.
Yeah, he didn't see that one coming.
Then, it got to be so lucrative that he handed his brother and new sister-in-law half the business. Why not?
It wasn’t like he was doing this for the money.
No, this was all about keeping a promise to his dead father. He was going to make the Littlemoon name mean something.
And he was.
Well, he and his team were...
Julian knew that behind every great man was a spectacular woman, and that was nothing less than the absolute truth when it came to his life.
His Tori was everything, and he was damn lucky to have her. She was the one who started him on this path. If it were up to him, they’d be running their business off the Rez that he once called home.
Instead, she funded this business, and they were becoming a power couple.
Make that two couples.
With the addition of Vivian and Justin, they were setting the PI world on fire. ‘Littlemoon Investigations’ was born in their blood and shared by the family--how it should be.
Every business should be run like this. Family was truly all that mattered in the world. It was great that he married a woman who also believed that.
So, when his brother and sister-in-law had returned to work from their honeymoon, Julian had a little surprise for them.
The second floor, which once was vacant, had been renovated. Justin and Vivian would now share an office.
While private space was important, Tori and Julian really enjoyed sharing a room.
It was…cozy.
When he’d been able to hand his brother the legal documents, naming him and Vivian as equal partners, he’d managed to catch his brother off guard.
That wasn’t easy, especially since they were twins.
But he did it.
Justin actually stood there staring at the paper with his name on it.
Julian loved every second of it.
He’d been able to give something to the man he grew up with and who mattered to him. So now, they were running this kingdom together. For now, Julian and Tori would handle the away assignments, only because she wasn’t quite as pregnant as Vivian.
Granted, all three women who worked there were in the beginning stages, but Julian liked having time away with his wife. It was tough since he liked running the place, but he didn't like to be tied to his desk.
At first, there were nerves. In his opinion, taking Tori out was a dangerous thing, but she was right by his side and reassured him that she couldn’t be safer.
She had a very valid point.
Victoria Christensen Littlemoon was good at working her mojo on him. Each time, he went to tell her ‘hell no’, she touched her torso, reminding him that she was carrying his baby, and he was sunk.
Yeah, maybe that wasn’t a good enough term.
Julian Littlemoon was screwed. Not only did his woman have him wrapped around her little finger, so did their unborn child.
The Littlemoon women were going to own him.
There was no doubt.
Secretly, it thrilled him to no end. Julian and Tori had fought for a year to get pregnant, and he would let them run him over any day. He loved his wife, and he was already crazy about his little girl.
He couldn’t help but grin.
Life was good.
Damn good.
Julian had won the happiness lottery, and he refused to look back. The future was looking bright, and he couldn’t be more content at where they were in life.
Along with his personal life growing, so was their business. With the conclusion of the last case, he’d been forced to hire more staff.
These weren’t just any two employees.
After they had solved the ‘Heir Homicides’ in Kentucky, Julian and Tori decided to hire Beckett Rand to be part of their team. He’d been the sheriff who had assisted them, proving that he was worth his salt as a human being and investigator.
As of yet, he hadn’t been field tested. The next big case where Julian and Tori had to leave town, they planned on taking Beckett with them.
There were a few reasons why.
First, he needed the experience.
Second, Julian liked that his wife would be surrounded by people who could also keep her safe. While Julian didn't like men near his babe, he trusted the man.
He hoped that didn't bite him in the ass at some point.
But, lastly, he was curious. When working the homicide case, he’d noticed that Beckett had a gift. Julian couldn’t shake the memories of the man’s face as he touched Bethany’s skull. He’d gone somewhere, and that intrigued Julian.
Julian was well aware that people with gifts seemed to be surrounding him. Maybe it was a sign from his father in the great beyond. Either way, their team was unique.
Vivian was precognitive through her dreams, and had helped solve the case that put them on the map. Without her help, they wouldn’t have saved the women who were abducted.
She was an asset.
His wife, Tori, had somehow picked up the ability to communicate with a dead victim from their last big case. While Julian prayed that didn't happen anymore, he couldn’t ignore that it did indeed go down.
A part of him wondered if that was going to be a permanent gift, or a passing fad.
He was torn.
Lastly, was their new hire. Julian was curious about Beckett Rand. The man had some psychic power, but he wasn’t sure what his gift entailed. When he z
oned out, much like Tori had, that had given him away.
While he asked on occasion, the man had been able to brush it off. It was like he was embarrassed.
Julian didn't get that.
If he had a gift, why not use it? It was like his tracking skill. Yes, he was Native, but his skill stemmed from more than that. It was a sixth sense, and he knew it.
So, he used it.
Julian could only hope that at some point, Beckett would chill out, trust them, and share what he was holding back. They were a team, and they needed to work as one.
There was also another reason he needed to know what the hell was going on.
Beckett Rand had a new partner, and she was very important to Julian. The man he hired was working closely with none other than one of his sisters. Claire Littlemoon was back from serving her country in the Navy.
While he never intended to offer her a job, he had. One day, she strolled in to visit them. She’d had every intention of reenlisting, and then suddenly she didn't.
It took them all by surprise, since they knew Claire loved being in the Navy.
Something instantaneous had happened, and she needed a job. Since the business was ‘Littlemoon Investigations’, she was an automatic shoe in--her name, her blood, and her opportunity to help make this business something worthy of their family was all there.
So, not only was Beckett a mystery, he was teamed up with Julian and Justin’s baby sister.
That meant something to them.
While Julian hesitated at first, pairing them up, Tori didn't. She saw something that he didn't, so who was he to fight it? Tori not only owned his heart, but she had half the vote. While Justin wasn’t happy about it, Julian would give it a shot.
He just hoped that no one got hurt in the process.
Julian Littlemoon was a pretty astute man. Oh, he could see the shit on the horizon.
It was hard not to notice the way Claire stared at Beckett. She watched him with the same look Justin gave Vivian, and he gave Tori. Did it mean his sister had fallen for the guy?
Maybe, but it didn't really matter.
Beckett was a wall of ice toward the opposite sex. Whenever a woman was near, giving him any attention, he froze them out. That especially included his sister.
Unthinkable Games (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 3) Page 2