It nearly clipped Nate in the face.
The men pulled their guns.
“You shouldn’t creep up on people,” Bob said, raising his hands. “You scared us.”
“Us?” Nate asked, looking around for any other threats to their safety.
“Yeah, us. I was talking to my friend, Matilda. We get together every day and have a really nice time.”
Even the sheriff looked confused.
“Who do you get together with?” he asked, trying to get clarification.
“My friends.”
The man pointed at the graves.
Yeah, he was three days past crazy into bat shit insane territory. This was the possible killer using his mind to destroy women’s lives?
Really?
His brain was a few cells short of normal.
“We need to ask you a few questions,” Nate said.
“About what?”
“Some dead women.”
“Oh. Okay. Are they here? If they are, I know exactly where they are. I memorized all of the graves, and then I check in on them to make sure they’re safe.”
He began reciting all the names.
Nate stopped him. Instead of letting the crazy off the leash, he took control and began rattling off the names of the dead women connected to their case.
“Oh, I cleaned their cabins and cut their grass. I never got to talk to any of them.”
“How about Joann Rice?”
He looked confused. “Who?”
Nate had a better idea. “Did Karl Conway ask you to clean any cabins today?”
He shook his head. “He’s a nice man. He lets me stay in one of them for free. All I have to do is clean up once in a while. I like him. He’s a good man.”
Yeah, so he kept saying.
“Do you know any of these women?” Luke asked, pulling up all nine women on his phone, hoping pictures would shake something loose when the names didn’t work.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He pointed to the first five.
“Where do you know them from?”
“They live here now. I take care of them. I plant pretty flowers on their graves and talk to them. Some of them were young. It’s sad they died.”
Yeah, it was.
“How about this man?” he asked, showing him the picture of the coroner who was dead.
“Oh, he’s over there,” he stated. “He has a pretty marker. His wife made sure his picture was on it. I like it. I like it a lot. I think they should all have pictures. It’s easier to talk to them and see them.”
Wow.
This one was…something.
“When I die, I hope I live here too. The people here are nice. They talk a lot.”
That was odd.
“You hear them talk?” Nate asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Who’s talking now?” he asked.
“Matilda said she likes your tie. Her dead husband had one just like it. He hung himself with it. Matilda is bold. Ignore her. She likes to be sassy.”
Nate lifted a brow.
Was this man psychic or psycho?
They might need to bring Avalon here to meet him. The only risk was if he met her, and was the killer, would he have an advantage?
Damn.
“I need to get on with work. I can’t be late. I have a very important date.”
“A tea party?” Luke asked.
“No, why?”
“No reason,” he said, trying not to laugh. This guy definite fell down the rabbit hole.
Still, he was no Alice.
When Bob Buck walked away, the three men stood there befuddled by the whole thing.
Did they just find the powerful psychic?
None of them knew.
Great.
They were even more confused now.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Morgue
Roxy was busy with the body on the table. As she did her autopsy, her tech was hurrying around and grabbing samples to get things ready.
He was also practically drooling on her.
Jagger was staring at him as if the man had a death wish. Apparently, Dillon Pike was insane. Did he not notice their shiny matching rings?
“Do you need anything else, Doctor?” he asked yawning. “I can get it for you.”
“Are you tired, Dillon?” she asked.
“Today was supposed to be my day off. I went out last night,” he admitted. “I was asleep when you sent the text to come into work.”
“As soon as I’m done here, you can head out. I know it’s the weekend. When I was your age, I liked to party too.”
“You’re only young once.”
She agreed.
“When I’m done, I’m getting out of here anyway. I have things I need to do.”
Or a specific man she planned on doing.
Jagger grinned at her. She could ‘do’ him anytime her little heart desired. In fact, he preferred it.
“Okay, Doctor,” the young tech said, checking out Roxy’s ass in the scrubs.
“Find anything?” Jagger asked, and he wasn’t exactly referring to the dead woman on the table.
His sudden question made the young man jump.
Yeah, he was talking to him.
Poaching a man’s woman was a dangerous thing. He knew. His bruises were still healing from his little motel incident.
It turned his stomach.
Jagger couldn’t imagine touching another woman ever again. His Roxy got him off in a big way.
“Maybe you should go home before you meet some untimely accident,” he threatened.
The boy took off running when Jagger glared at him.
Roxy was amused. “Really, Jagger?”
“Really, Mrs. Armstrong. He was sniffing around my woman. He’s lucky I already marked my territory before, or I’d make him cry like a girl.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“You heard me right, so close your mouth. You’re catching flies,” he teased.
The flush ran up her body, causing her temperature to spike. He was lucky he was so freaking sexy, or she’d smack some sense into him.
Jagger winked at her. “Well? Did you find anything?”
“Not a damn thing. We’ll run the DNA on the skin under her nails, but it looks to be hers.”
He figured as much.
“Dianna.”
She looked up. “What?”
“I want to name our daughter Dianna. It was my mother’s name. Can we do that?”
She smiled at him. “I think that’s beautiful. Maybe we can add my grandmother’s name as the middle name.”
Jagger was getting excited about the idea of having a little girl. They were sugar and spice and everything nice. “That would be awesome. What was her name?” he asked.
“Eunice.”
Jagger stared at her. “Are you serious?”
Roxy looked confused. “Yes, why?”
“You want to saddle our child, in this decade, with Eunice as a name?” he asked. “Dianna Eunice Armstrong? Really?”
She was trying so hard not to laugh at the look on his face. “Maybe you’re right. What about using my other grandmother’s middle name instead?”
He relaxed. Anything was better than Eunice. “Sure. We can do that.”
“Dianna Prudence Armstrong.”
“What?”
She started laughing.
“You’re busting my ass, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What’s her real name?”
“Mary.”
“Why didn’t you just say that?” Jagger asked.
“Because when you get worked up, it gets me all hot and bothered.”
He started laughing.
Life with Roxy was going to be fun.
“Know the bad thing about working me up, Doctor Armstrong?”
“What?”
“One of us will be walking funny, and it won’t be me.”
&nb
sp; She stared at him.
And flushed.
For Jagger, she’d walk funny all week long.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
General Store
When they went in, there was an older man sitting behind the counter. He looked to be in his late fifties.
Time, thanks to smoking, had not been his friend.
“Hey, Mordechai. How are things?” the sheriff asked, as he pulled his hat off his head in respect.
“Same old,” he admitted. “I can’t keep good help, my son sleeps all day, and I have a trick toe that makes it hard to walk.”
The sheriff laughed. “Sounds like me with the deputies, but my biggest issue is my dwindling eyesight.”
The man laughed.
“What can I do for you?”
“Is Harold around?” he asked.
“Oh, Lord, what has that boy done got himself into now? He’s been home since last night. If he needs an alibi, I’ll give it.”
“No alibi, Mordechai, I just need a word with him.”
Nate let the sheriff handle this. It was clear he had a rapport with the man.
“I swear. That’s all.”
“Okay.”
He picked up his phone and dialed his son. “Come on down, Harold. The sheriff needs to see you.”
When he hung up, he sighed. “Kids today. When I was his age, I was working two jobs and getting ready to start a family. He’s twenty-five and sleeps most of the day. I’m raising a vampire. I swear I don’t know what to do with him.”
Yeah, none of them got the kid thing.
They didn’t have any.
A few minutes later, the man headed down, and he was taking his time.
“What?” he asked.
“Can we go outside and talk?” Joe asked.
“Sure. I got nothing to hide.”
Nate found that odd. What exactly did he think they were going to ask him about? Usually, when the cops arrived to talk to someone, the first thing they asked was what it was about.
Not that he had nothing to hide.
This was going to be interesting.
Once outside, the young man leaned against the wall and pulled out a pack of smokes.
“What’s up?”
“I need to ask you about a few women.”
“What about them?”
“Did you know Raizy Lowery?”
“Nope. Not personally.”
“How about Marian Hawkins?”
He shook his head as he took a drag of his cigarette. “Sorry, no. Those two wouldn’t give me the time of the day.”
“How about Kristine Hendricks?”
“Ain’t that the girl from the ice cream place who died?”
“Yes, are you acquainted?”
“Nope.”
Nate wasn’t buying it.
This kid was lying about all of them—definitely the first two. He could hear it in his voice.
He was arrogant, cocky, and he was full of shit. While the sheriff may buy it, he didn’t.
Liars were his specialty.
“How about Bernice Parry?”
“Yeah, she was a teacher at the high school. I was in one of her classes.”
Okay, so he admitted to one.
“Annie Sherman?”
“Who?”
“She worked at the doctor’s office as his receptionist,” he stated.
“I’m as healthy as a horse. I don’t go to the doctor. The only time I head there is when I’m taking my dad.”
“Kathleen Hale?”
“She’s the reporter, right? She comes in for groceries. That’s how I know her. She’s a snooty bitch.”
Well, he didn’t like her.
That was clear.
“Brianna Moyer?”
“She was my student teacher when I was in high school. I think I had her for a couple weeks.”
They’d connected him to two people.
“Is that the only way you know her?” asked Nate.
He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
“We heard you were sitting outside her house, lingering after you dropped off groceries for your father,” Luke stated.
“I remember that day. I was searching something online, and I didn’t want to drive and do it, so I finished up and then drove home. You know…safety first.”
Really?
He was going with that as his defense? Someone was arrogant as hell.
“What about Joann Rice?”
“She was the pretty girl who worked at the bar. Didn’t you have the hots for her, Sheriff? That’s what all the gossip says.”
He flinched.
“We were friends.”
“Oh, well, then maybe you should be interrogating yourself and not me.”
The sheriff stared at him, and then refused to let the man rattle his cage. It wasn’t happening.
“Do you go to ‘Lucky’s’?
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yes, my daddy doesn’t like boozing. He said it’s bad for me. I always listen to my daddy.”
He laughed.
The sheriff was getting irritated.
“Next?” Harold asked. “I have shit to do.”
The boy was getting cocky, arrogant, and a little too big for his britches.
“How about Tanya Ware?”
He flicked his cigarette butt toward the sidewalk and wouldn’t look at them. “Nope.”
No one bought that.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going back to bed. I’m beat. If you need anything else, let me know.”
He headed back into the store and to the apartment he and his father shared upstairs.
“He’s a little prick.”
“Yeah, and he’s lying.”
Luke agreed.
“Well, we have to prove it in order to send him to jail,” the sheriff stated.
They both stared at him.
“What?”
“How are you prosecuting this one? Are you telling the DA he’s a psychic?” Nate asked.
“Oh, that’s not going to be fun.”
Neither man said anything else. Avalon and Lucian’s words kept bouncing around in their heads.
This psychic had to die.
Now it was only going to come down to one thing. Who was going to pull the trigger?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Saturday Afternoon
Jagger and Roxy were the first two to get back to the cabin. When they arrived, Lucian was just waking up, and Avalon was still out cold on the couch.
Bishop looked up as they walked into the house.
“Hey, how was the morgue?”
“Uneventful,” Roxy stated.
“Well, my day was a little better,” Bishop offered. “Where are Nate and Luke? I thought you were meeting them at the morgue to give them what you found.”
“We wanted to get back here,” Jagger stated. “There’s safety in numbers,” he stated, stripping out of his gear. “How’s Avalon doing?” he asked.
“She must be exhausted,” Bishop said. “She hasn’t even moved.”
“She doesn’t when she’s in a deep sleep,” Jagger stated. “It’s like sleeping next to a corpse.”
Roxy stared at him and lifted a brow.
“Wait! I didn’t mean that I’ve slept with her.”
She still said nothing.
“Okay, I have slept with her, but not SLEPT WITH as in sex. I was on protection duty. I’ve slept beside her.”
He was all red and flustered.
Roxy started laughing. “There are days you’re way too easy,” she teased. “I get it. You’re close.”
“He actually was my guard dog for a long time,” Avalon stated, sitting up. She blinked a few times until she could focus through Lucian.
“Hey, honey. How are you?” Jagger asked, placing the back of his hand on her face to check her temperature. “You’re a little warm.”
“Yeah, he’s already starting in the chatter. It’s going to be a rough
night.”
“He’s taunting her,” Lucian stated. “We all can hear him. He’s throwing down.”
Shit!
That couldn’t be good.
“What can we do?” Jagger asked, grabbing her some water and a few aspirin.
“There’s nothing you can do. Tonight, it’s on me, and only me.”
Jagger stared at her. He didn’t like how ominous that sounded. He knew that Nate was going to lose it when he heard it.
He was going to freak out.
Now he got why.
“Is he going after Roxy tonight?” he asked, knowing Avalon would tell him the truth. She’d toss him a bone, since the woman meant so much to him.
Roxy held her breath.
“No, tonight he has the last one picked, and then he’s going to try and end me so he can go after her.”
Yeah.
That was shitty all around.
“Basically, you’re all that stands between me and dying,” Roxy stated.
She hesitated.
Jagger caught it.
“Yes, I am,” Avalon stated.
Something was off, and he needed to get to the bottom of it, and fast.
“Can I have a few moments alone with Avalon?” Jagger asked. “I need to talk to you, Avi.”
She held out her hand, and he took it. “When Nate gets back, let’s not hit him with that right out of the gate. He gets weird.”
That was an understatement.
Jagger led her to one of the bedrooms.
Once the door was closed, he needed to know. “Does she die?” he asked.
Avalon stared at him.
“Avi, I need to know. You need to tell me everything you know.”
“You don’t want to know everything I know, Jagger. Trust me on this. I don’t want to know what I know.”
He moved toward her and hugged her. “Please help me save her.”
“Jagger.”
“That day your father took you into that building, you knew it was the end. Still, I took the chance. I'm asking you to take that chance, Avi. Help me save her.”
She took his face in her hands and stared blindly into his eyes. “Jagger, I have saved her.”
“Then why are you…?”
He finally got it.
“I die, don’t I?”
She moved away from him and sat on the edge of the bed. Well, it was more like she fell onto the edge when she walked right into it.
Oracle Saving (The Phoenix Files Book 3) Page 37