Marking What's Mine (A Marksman's Tale Book 1)

by Gianni Holmes

  “I know you’re here,” he said softly, walking into the kitchen. “And I’m so sorry we have to meet again under this circumstance but if you continue to hide, I can’t help you.”

  A movement to his left caught his attention. He turned his head to the man who entered his kitchen, and he almost wept. Judge David Wright looked almost like himself, except for the dark and gray tinges of color that shrouded his frame. Colors always shrouded the dead, and it was one way Cooper could mark the manner of life a ghost had when alive. He didn’t need the color to pinpoint Judge Wright’s character. The man despised Cooper.

  A wave of compassion washed through him. Not for the dead man who came seeking his help, but for Lane, the only man Cooper had ever loved, and the man who had left him behind to chase his dreams. Lane and his father never got along well. Cooper had been their major point of conflict. Now that he was dead, Cooper knew it had to take a lot out of the man to seek him out. There were not too many people who listened when the dead spoke like Cooper did.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Cooper apologized and he meant it. Despite the animosity that always existed between them, it was not easy for most ghosts to accept they couldn’t return to life. At least they could, but how wasn’t common knowledge, and Cooper wasn’t willing to share that information with anyone. He had merely stumbled upon that fact a couple years ago.

  “I want you to find him,” Lane’s father, Judge Wright stated. Cooper heard his words although only his lips moved, without actual sound. When the Judge’s words became impossible to decipher, Cooper figured the ghost was talking about his death. Most ghosts tended to do that at their first confrontation with Cooper, until they were disappointed to hear Cooper couldn’t understand them. He could understand everything else they said, but even rules existed with the dead. There was no revealing who killed them.

  “I can’t understand you,” Cooper told him.

  Judge Wright stopped his ranting and glared at Cooper, his eyes full of disdain. “What do you mean you can’t understand me?” he demanded. “I said I want to go back. This is a mistake. I don’t want to be dead. I can’t be dead. I’m working on a very important case, and Lane…” He trailed off as he voiced his estranged son’s name.

  Cooper shook his head at the man. “I mean I can’t understand what you were trying to tell me before about how you died. There are rules. You can’t tell me who killed you or how you died. That’s not how it works.”

  “Why the hell not? Who made these rules and, who can I negotiate with? I’d rather speak to someone in control.”

  Cooper shrugged. “Beats me. I didn’t ask for this. I don’t know that there’s anyone else in control. I just know that you being here right now means you need my help.”

  “I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  Cooper gritted his teeth against the sharp words he wanted to say. Arguing with a ghost would solve nothing. “Whether or not you like me, Judge Wright, the fact is that I’m the only one who can help you. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for Lane.”

  The ghost laughed, a sound that crept up Cooper’s spine. “My son left you. Surely after all these years you don’t harbor feelings for Lane? He only used you until he could leave town.”

  Cooper almost threw in the towel then and tell the Judge to go screw himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose, reminding himself that he wasn’t doing this for the Judge. “Let me get dressed.”

  Cooper ignored the spirit and entered his bedroom. He had seen so many ghosts over his lifetime that they were the norm. The first few times he had encountered them he had been terribly afraid before he now understood more about them. They were harmless and more of a nuisance.

  Dressed in jeans and a sweater, Cooper pushed his feet into tennis shoes to check out the Judge’s house. He grabbed his sketchpad and pencil from the table in the corner of his room before taking up his keys. A glance at his phone screen revealed it was some hours after midnight. He groaned but went where he was needed. There were some who would say that the dead could wait, but this wasn’t so by Cooper’s experience. The longer a person was dead, the harder it was for him to accurately map out how they had died.

  He jumped into his old Ford and backed out of his driveway. As caretaker of the cemetery, he was given the cottage to live. He didn’t mind living just on the border of the cemetery. It made his work easier in taking care of the town’s burial ground. It also kept people away from him, and he only needed to make the trip into town to gather food items he needed to last him a month. He enjoyed the solitude, and not many people died in Maple Pines for him to be bothered by ghosts.

  Cooper drove the distance to Lane’s father’s house. Even though over ten years had passed since he had stepped foot inside, he still knew the place like the back of his hand. He and Lane had always been close. Before Lane’s father had discovered them kissing, Cooper had visited often. He hadn’t been invited over again since getting caught. Although he saw Lane at school things were never the same between them. They had drifted apart for a while and maintained a friendship from a far. Lane was never there until he needed him. Lane would prevent the bigger guys from picking on him and from calling him Cuckoo Cooper. Lane had been there when Cooper’s dad, the closest person in the world to him, had died. Lane had held Cooper that night and made love to him until Cooper felt all was right with his world.

  Then Lane left.

  Cooper scowled as he parked his car at the end of the driveway of the Wright’s house. Unlike the other homes already decorated for the Halloween, the Wright’s house looked the same all year around. Lane had left almost ten years ago, and Cooper should be over his first crush by now. Still, he couldn’t help the heavy beating of his heart as he thought about calling Lane and letting him know about his father’s death. He wasn’t looking forward to meeting Lane under these circumstances at all, especially to advise him that foul play was involved in his father’s death.

  Remembering where the Wright’s kept their spare key hidden, Cooper searched under the potted plants which lined the porch. When he located the key, he unlocked the door and entered. He felt strange walking into this house where he had been told before that he was not invited. The minute he closed the door behind him he could feel the oppressive feel of death clinging to the air. That meant the Judge hadn’t been dead for long.

  Not sure what he would find, Cooper braced himself for any possibilities. He hoped for Lane’s sake, his father would not have died in a horrific way. He found Judge Wright standing over his own body at the foot of the stairs. He seemed to have broken his neck in a fall. His head was twisted at an awkward angle, and blood seeped from a wound beneath his head.

  “How did you fall?” Cooper asked, even though he knew the ghost couldn’t answer his question. The man shrugged, but his eyes pleaded with Cooper to discover the truth. “I’ll need to call the police,” Cooper told the dead man, “They’ll more than likely think it’s an accident, but it wasn’t, right?”

  David shook his head, but beyond that he couldn’t say. Cooper sighed and grasping his notepad and pencil sat at the bottom of the stairs next to the dead man. His fingers flew over the page, sketching. Anyone looking on would have been impressed at the sight. His hand moved almost effortlessly as though guided by an imaginary force. David came to stand by him, but Cooper didn’t look up. In a trancelike state, his focus was entirely on the scene playing out before him on the page. When he connected the last dot, he shuddered then blinked at the page. As though seeing what he had drawn for the first time, Cooper stared in shock at the page. He felt icy tentacles of fear running down his spine.

  It was just as he had thought. David’s death had been no accident.

  Coming to Amazon in October.

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  Review on Amazon

  Complex, beautiful and compelling romance that will keep you glued to your kindle! Part of this story is rather chilling in that we can be very close to evil and not recognize it.

  I loved the writing and the story-telling was beautiful! i so enjoyed how these guys met and how honest they were. I really liked both MC's and found their attraction very tangible and beautiful.

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  About the Author

  Gianni Holmes is a firm believer in love and everything romance. She loves to concoct different ways for people to fall in love, regardless of gender and background. A high school Spanish teacher by profession, she spends much of her time hanging out with her fans in her reader group. She likes interacting with people across the world, loves superheroes, and sitcoms. She’ll challenge you at board games, and secretly still harbors the dream of wanting to work for the United Nations.

  She loves connecting with readers and invites you to follow her at the following social media links. You can also join her mailing list to get information about her latest publications, giveaways, and freebies which she offers to her group. Join her mailing list here:

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