The moment I opened the front door he jumped into the seat and curled up. I threw my bag of clothes and cat items into the back and then went to the driver’s side. I started the car and held my breath. Nothing happened. No sign of something blowing up or magic, just the hum of the engine. Good.
I threw it into gear and headed to the house.
The trees around the property had been trimmed recently, but still did a pretty good job of isolating the house from anyone who would drive by. I parked the Hummer in front of the tri-level house and looked up at it. Three thousand square feet of a custom built home, commissioned by Levi for my parents as a thank you. I got out and grabbed both my old bag and new bag from the back. Osiris jumped out of the open door. Without a second thought the cat trotted up to the house and sat in front of the door.
I pulled out my key and slid it into the dead bolt. With a deep breath, I turned it. The tumbler clicked. I wrapped my hand around the knob. It wasn’t too late. I could go back to the hotel or go stay with Levi. I didn’t have to force myself to face a gruesome past.
Osiris scratched at the door, his claws the only sound in the night. I nodded and opened the door. He ran in and started running around like a crazy cat. Jumping on everything, hauling tail from one room to another and back again. I let him do his cat thing, he wasn’t trying to escape the house so I wasn’t too worried about his reactions. I put my bags down by the front door. There was a thrill of magic, but it wasn’t danger, no, this was magic that welcomed me home. The anxiety I had felt before opening the door faded and I knew that I belonged here.
I turned on the light in the small hall that led to the living room. All the sheets that had covered the furniture were gone now, leaving the very eighties furniture exposed. Dark browns and orange accents stuck out against the white walls. I made note that if this became a more permanent situation that I was going to need new furniture. Even the old tube style television sat on a big media stand with storage for VHS tapes on either side of it. Made me wonder what VHSs were still there and if they still worked.
Osiris had curled himself on the back of the couch and was already fast asleep. Oh, to be a cat. I continued past the door that led to the basement. I didn’t have the nerve to go down there tonight. I knew that all the dry wall had been replaced so that the runes were no longer there. I headed up the stairs where the bedrooms and the office were. I paused at the final step. The last time I was here, Simon was with me. Levi had insisted the wolf watch over me because of the hex, but now Levi didn’t want anyone to visit. Had something changed since?
I shook my head and took that last step. I skipped my room, I wasn’t going to be able to fit into the toddler sized furniture, but I paused outside the door. No. There was no need to go in there, not right now. I walked a few more feet down the hall and opened the door to my parents’ room. Most of the stuff had been removed and new sheets flowed over the bed. Levi had taken some care to get ready for my stay. I appreciated his attempt to help curb my anxiety.
In the closet, a few outfits hung, all work appropriate and clean. I stripped off my dirty clothes and headed to the master bath off the bedroom. Fresh towels and new soap were on the counter. I was going to have to find which one of Levi’s daytime people did this and thank them. I started the water and waited for it to heat up before turning on the shower head and stepping under the hot spray.
I scrubbed at the dirt caked on my skin until it was red. I tried to wash the feeling of the day away, but even as the dirt disappeared, the aches and pains still kinked my muscles. I stepped out and dried off. I looked in the mirror at the dark circles under my eyes and wondered if the person who had gone grocery shopping for me had been wise enough to pick up beer or wine. I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed a set of PJs out of a drawer.
Once dressed, I went back out to the living room where Osiris was still curled up on the back of the couch. I sat down and took a moment to breathe. Silence engulfed the room and I became aware of the lack of sirens, people, and traffic out here. It was one of the things that appealed to people about living in this area, but right now I wanted noise of some sort.
I pulled out my phone. Scrolling for the music, I made a mental note to pick up a blue tooth speaker for the time that I was going to stay here. As I flipped through my choices for music, I added to my list of things I needed. Internet, more clothes, and a ton of other things I had lost.
Osiris meowed and laid his head on my shoulder.
“I know, buddy. Once I know what’s going on with the house we’ll make things a bit more like home here.” I reached back and scratched his ear and selected a rock station on my phone. “Until then, we’ll just have to deal. I should hear back from insurance soon.” Of course, it’d have to be investigated to make sure I wasn’t just simply trying to collect the insurance, but at least with the magical coverage addendum to the policy, it would be covered.
I leaned back on the couch and wondered now what. There was no Internet here yet, no cable, hell the television was even too old to get the local channels without a converter box. I glanced at my watch. I had time to start putting together a timeline for my parents’ murder before I needed to crash for the night, and if I worked until I was exhausted, then I’d probably sleep better.
I stood, grabbed my phone, and then the bags by the door with the office supplies. “Come on Osiris, we’re doing this downstairs.” Chances were no one, like Levi, would randomly visit me here, but if they did, I didn’t want this stuff hanging around in plain sight. Someone was bound to question my sanity and what had caused me to start looking further into this.
I went to the basement door and took a deep breath. Going down there and starting this meant there was no going back. I twisted the knob as nerves ate at my stomach. The door opened without noise, leading down the steep stairs. The last time I was here, I’d learned that it was the Cult of Ra who was responsible for my parents’ death, not witch hunters like I was originally told. I didn’t know if Levi knew it or not, but Simon and I had returned to find runes all around the basement that gave us clues as to what happened.
Other than the night with Simon, I hadn’t been here since I was a child and my parents were killed. I took a step down and Osiris rubbed against me, encouraging me to continued down. I continued down, more determined with each step. The stairs opened up to a family room. My mother’s body had been discovered not three feet away from the stairs and my father’s had fallen over the couch. The couch and the blood stains had been removed long ago, but the coffee table and recliner still remained.
An hour later, I had sticky notes and post cards laid out on the coffee table. Each had a person or an event listed on it. The timeline was filled out below those cards and events. I leaned over them and picked up the sticky notes with names, placing them on the events that I knew they had been present for. There were a few people involved that I didn’t know the location of during the actual murder.
Looking at the timeline, there were a few things missing from what I could remember. Who was the witch that let me out of the circle my mother put me in? Levi had gotten one, but I couldn’t remember who it was. How many Cult members were involved? Who were the Cult members my parents had trusted enough to give them time to carve runes in the house? I leaned back on the couch and frowned at the holes. The biggest thing that was missing was the motive behind killing them. Levi had said it was over research, but to kill two people over the research of a coven language seemed a little bit extreme.
My phone rang and it made me jump. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I answered it. “Agent Collins speaking.”
“Abigail Collins,” it was the male voice I didn’t know, the one who had called and left a voice mail the night my house had been destroyed. “I wanted to meet with you.”
“Who is this?”
“I can’t disclose that over the phone. I’d like to meet with you in person, tonight.”
I didn’t really trust people who didn’t want to
talk on the phone. “It’s been a long night and I’m not really in town. Can this wait?”
“Not if you want to survive your week.” His voice dropped a bit. “I’m a friend of Levi’s. You can trust me.”
“I need a name for that to happen. Last person who was connected to Levi that I thought I could trust nearly got me killed.” I looked down at my cards and notes. I put Agent Tomes’ name down on a sticky note.
“I can’t give you that in case he’s listening.” Wow, that sounded extremely trustworthy. He continued. “What if I was to meet you at the PIB office? Public, secure, and a place you’re comfortable with.”
I glanced at the clock. What I really wanted was to go to bed, but I had a feeling that this might help me out in my current mission. I’d have my gun and he was right, the PIB office was more secure than most places. “I can be there in two hours.”
“Thank you.” The phone went dead in my hand and I looked at Osiris. “I must be crazy.” I glanced down at the cards once more before standing up to get dressed and prepare to go back out.
For a moment, I debated on calling Levi, but the man had expressed concern that Levi might be listening in. Though how he thought the vampire wouldn’t recognize his voice was beyond me. With Levi being a vampire, his hearing was exceptionally well, of course maybe he meant someone else was listening in. Oliver had bugged my phones a couple of times, but I hadn’t seen him since I’d gotten a new phone. If the man was a friend of Levi’s, then why was he worried about Levi listening in?
I pulled up to the PIB office. There were only a few other cars in the lot from agents that only worked nights and Kathy, our night receptionist. I got out and looked around. The empty shadows stared back at me, leaving me with nothing but the feeling of paranoia running down my spine. What on earth was I doing meeting this person at a PIB office if he didn’t want to identify himself over the phone? Why would he be willing to meet with me in public?
I walked into the office and waved at Kathy. She held her hand up to stop me as she finished up on the phone. “Uh huh, I’ll make sure to pass on your message to the boss. Yes ma’am, without a doubt, uh huh, I promise that he takes all cases seriously.” She rolled her eyes. “No ma’am, I can’t say we’ve gotten a lot of calls about aliens, but I will pass on the message to my superiors.”
I held my laughter in as she tried her best to get off the phone. She hung up and let out an exasperated sigh. “Sorry, Agent A. But I wanted to warn you before you went up. One of our vampire agents insisted that he was allowed in your office.”
I raised a brow. “In the office?”
“Yeah, I didn’t let him in. He had a badge so I let him go up to wait outside your office without a visitor badge .”
Interesting, it meant that there was no paper record of him being here. “Is he actually one of our agents? Or is he from out of town?”
“He’s from here. He normally works special assignments, so I’m not sure what he wants with you.”
Special assignments were those that the government wanted under wraps. From my understanding it normally dealt with supernaturals in the government itself. “Interesting.”
“Nick was up there earlier too, said he needed to do a few things.” She picked at her black nail. “Said you guys had a massive case you were trying to break open.”
I pressed my lips together. “Nick left a couple hours before I did for the day.”
“And look, here you are, back as well.”
She had a point. “Thanks Kathy.” I walked to the elevator and wandered what I would find waiting for me.
I got out of the elevator and a man stood there, except I knew better. He wasn’t a man; he was a vampire. I could tell by the feeling he gave my aura. He was just about my height, a fedora covered his head and shaded his eyes. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a 1920’s movie in his pin stripe suit and shiny shoes. He looked up and nodded to me. “Abigail, it’s nice to meet you face to face.”
His voice matched that on the phone, but I didn’t know him on sight. “Can I have a name to call you now?”
“My name is Grayson Yorkingson. I work for Levi and I work for PIB as one of their Special Assignment agents.”
I unlocked my office and glanced at Nick’s empty desk. I wondered what he had come back for. I went to my desk and found my file opened. I know I had closed it when I left, after I showed Levi the picture of the vampire. I shuffled through the papers. That picture was now missing. My partner and I were going to need to have a talk about taking things off my desk and off property when I swore that I wasn’t going to take it off the grounds.
“Something wrong, Agent Collins?” Grayson asked.
I shook my head. “It’s just been a really long day. You said you could help me survive the week?”
“You’ve had a rough one already, house imploding, car being taken out by poltergeists, falling into a pit of a basement.”
All but two of those happened during the day. “Have someone spying on me?”
“News travels fast in the PIB offices.” He took off his hat, revealing gray hair. He motioned to the chair. “Do you mind if I sit?”
I shook my head. “Feel free. How can you help me survive this week?”
“Step away from the cases. This is going to lead down a road you can’t turn back from.” He met my gaze and I tried to keep my shock to myself. One white eye stared blankly ahead while his brown one met my eyes. “Abigail, this case goes back to before PIB was founded.”
“The thumbs are only ten years old.” I wasn’t going to give away the body count, not right now. If he was honestly worried about the vampire victim case, then he was probably involved in some way. “Grayson, I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself and my case.”
“Your house, that wasn’t the Cult, or case related.” He shook his head. “That was a direct attack on your life.”
I frowned at the change in subject. “We were talking about the case, not the attack.”
“I was talking about both of them. I’m trying to warn you, Agent Collins. Step away from the case and consider retiring early to keep yourself safe. There are people you think are your friends who are not.”
“You’re telling me someone is going to betray me?” I smirked. “Welcome to life.”
“Haven’t you questioned why your house was attacked?” He put his hat on his knee. “Why Levi is suddenly being followed around by Mario?”
Of course I had, but it wasn’t any of his business. “What road do you think this case is going to take me down?”
“One you’ll be lucky to survive. You’ve got, what was it? Fifteen bodies? All possible vampire victims?” He leaned forward. “When people get hint of this, there may be a fight back on vampires and those associated with them.”
I shook my head. “I’m a PIB agent, and those bodies are around a century old.” Or so I hoped. I glanced down at the file where the missing picture should be. Was Nick hiding something from me again? “What do you know about the rest of this case, Agent Yorkingson?”
“I know that there’s two cases in one there and that the agents who crack the case will be the biggest PIB celebrities ever for the department and that Boss Man is chomping at the bit.”
So my theory about Nick wanting all the glory to himself could be true, but again, I didn’t think he’d be willing to risk my life for it. “Boss Man thinks that about all cases.”
“Especially ones concerning you, but this one means that people could fear vampires again. Your position could be compromised.”
“So you want me to step away so Nick can have all the glory? I don’t think so. I’m not a vampire, no one is going to come after me because of this case. Nice try.” I shook my head. “I appreciate your warning, but I’m afraid your time has been wasted.” So was my time and my gas to drive down here.
He stood and put his hat back on. “You are your father’s child. Stubborn without a doubt.” He shook his head.
“You
knew my father?”
He just chuckled before disappearing from the office. I looked at the spot where he had stood and let out a long sigh. What the hell was going on here?
Nick walked in just a second later and I glared at him. “Decided to take the picture, did you?”
He gave me wide eyes. “I was going to have it back before you came in for the day. What are you doing here?”
“I…” I had no idea what to tell him. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you went home for the day too.”
He nodded. “But I wanted another look at the picture and yes, I did take it, but I wanted to compare it to the pictures of the press conference.”
So he had a similar thought to Levi and I. “Any luck?”
“Yes, there was a reporter there who looks identical to this guy. The name he gave his news station is most likely a fake though.”
I groaned. “Let me guess, something like John Smith?”
“Close, Johnny Smiths.”
Yep, most likely a fake, seeing as it popped up before. “Does he happen to have a real address?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“What?”
“It was set on fire right after the press conference.”
I shook my head. “Okay, arson?”
“It’s thought so and that he did it himself to cover some type of tracks. The news station had issues with people being fed from. Employees, visitors, random passersby.” He shook his head. “Who knows what he had been trying to cover up.” He took the picture and put it back on my desk. “Since we’re both burning the midnight oil, why don’t we grab some coffee and brain storm?”
I nodded and closed the folder. “Let’s go.”
“So what are you really doing down here? I thought you were staying at your parents’ place tonight?”
I thought for a moment. “It was too quiet there and I couldn’t sleep. I thought since my mind was on the case, I would come back down and pull an all-nighter.”
The Trouble with Ghosts (Here Witchy Witchy Book 3) Page 10