“After you told me about your childhood home and what your family went through, I decided I want to help people. I don’t want anyone to feel helpless the way you guys did, or the way I have. If I can help someone figure out the truth, then that’s what I want to do. I would love to help you guys run things.”
Liam smiled from ear to ear. “The guys are going to be happy. I’m excited and relieved.”
Emily looked at him, confused. “Relieved?”
“Uh-huh. Now I don’t have to leave you as much when we have to investigate out of town. You’ll be coming with us.”
“That sounds wonderful. So amazing and exciting, Liam!” Emily’s voice carried an enthusiasm he hadn’t yet heard. Her eyes were bright with wonder as thoughts fluttered through her mind. “I’ve never traveled before. I always stayed around Seattle before moving here. I want to travel and see the country. Maybe the world too.”
“There’s so much to see, and I can’t wait to share it with you. But first, I talked to the guys this morning. We decided we need to make us a priority right now. We put off booking any more investigations for the next couple of weeks. We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on in this house.”
“Are you sure you can put off investigations? I don’t want it to hurt your business.”
“Yeah. It will be okay. Unless something comes up that might be an emergency, we won’t book for the next couple of weeks. Plus, if I’m going to turn this place into headquarters, we need to figure out what’s going on.”
“That is true. What can I do to help?”
“Keep being cute,” he told her in a sexy tone. She laughed, and he pulled her closer. So close, he was afraid he would crush her. But he couldn’t help the desire within him to feel her pressed against his body. “Seriously, Em,” Liam continued, “just keep being yourself. The best thing we can do is not let that fucker know he’s affecting us. Keep being happy, laugh, enjoy life and each other. I’m not going to let it win, Em. You don’t belong to him. You never did.”
A cold breeze washed over them while Liam stared into Emily’s eyes. Seconds later, a low rumble, similar to the one they heard hours earlier, resounded in the walls, and the door to the bathroom slammed shut. Emily’s eyes widened with fear. Liam squeezed her tight and turned her head back toward him, holding her eyes with his. “He won’t win,” he told her sternly. “We will get rid of him.”
“I know. I believe you. I’m so much stronger with you. We’ll fight him and show him that he can’t hurt us anymore. I’m yours, Liam.”
Without thinking, Liam stood and took her hand, pulling her up with him, and he led her to the bedroom. He moved quickly and with purpose. “Liam. What are you doing?” Emily asked him.
“I’m sick and tired of this asshole thinking he has control over you. Over us. So, I’m going to show him again who you really belong to. And it’s not him.”
“What if we piss him off? What if he turns more violent?”
“His days are numbered, baby. The guys are coming over tomorrow. Trey texted me a little while ago. He has some info he wants to share with us. And he might have a plan on how we can get rid of Banks.”
Twenty-Three
“D
amn. You look like shit,” Luke said as he climbed the stairs to Liam’s house.
“Thanks, asshole,” Liam told his friend before pulling him in for a manly hug.
“Seriously, man. What’s wrong? You look terrible.” Trey came up behind Luke.
Liam held out his hand and excepted the coffee cup that Trey gave him. “I haven’t slept much,” Liam told his teammates, taking a sip of coffee.
“Anything else happen after we talked yesterday?” Trey asked.
“Feeling like we’re being watched, constantly,” Liam confirmed. “Cold breezes. The rumbling in the walls has become more frequent. Em’s nightmares have gotten worse, and she’s having multiple dreams a night now. So am I. I stay awake as long as possible, so I can wake her up when she’s having a nightmare.”
Liam took a seat on one of the steps. “Before we go in, Trey, fill me in on what’s going on. What did you find? I need to know so I can be there for Em as much as possible and not be shocked when I hear. She’s scared to hear what you found out. I wanna give her some time alone before we go in.”
“Alright. This took a lot of digging. I was able to trace Phil to a distant relative. A great, great, great grandfather, named Charles Randall. He used to live in this house. He was a butler here. But here’s the kicker.” Trey placed one foot on a step in front of him and leaned in. “Remember we learned about Robert Banks in that news article when we were in Carmel?”
Liam felt his face pale at Trey’s mention of Banks’ name but nodded to let Trey know to continue.
“Charles was Banks’ butler and his cousin back in the mid-eighteen hundreds. They both lived in this house.”
“Phil’s last name was Randall. So, it’s very possible that they were distant relatives,” Liam stated. His head spun from the new information he’d received. Phill had been distantly related to a man who killed him and Emily.
“Yeah. I’m still doing some digging with that. It’s a popular surname, so it’s going to take some time for me to sort that out. But that’s not what interested me the most.”
“What did interest you?” Liam asked hesitantly. Not sure he could take any more news.
Trey reached around and pulled a file from his bag. Liam took the file and opened it. He was instantly frozen with shock. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. An old printed photo of himself standing next to a man who he knew as Robert Banks. A man who he had only met in his dreams.
The men in the photo had their arms around each other, each with a cigar in their hand, and they were smiling. Liam was speechless. He flipped the paper over, revealing another photo, one of Emily standing with an older gentleman and an older woman, whom he assumed was Abigail’s parents. They were dressed in party attire, standing outside of the house he and Emily now resided in. Before he could utter a word, Trey said, “Her name was—”
“Abigail,” Liam interjected, finishing his sentence. “Emily was Abigail.”
“Holy Shit!” Luke muttered, “So she’s Abigail from the EVP we caught?”
The bile in Liam’s stomach churned. The validation of Trey’s research confirming his suspicions overtook him. Without warning, he stood, leaned over the railing, and heaved into some bushes below, emptying the contents of his stomach.
When Liam was finished, he sat back down just as Luke walked back over from his truck, carrying a bottle of water. He handed it to Liam. “Thanks.”
“What’s going on, brother?” Trey asked.
Liam dropped his head. “I don’t know. This is a lot. We knew what we were dealing with, but this,” he held up the file to his friends, “this confirms it. It’s surreal.” Blowing out a breath, he took a sip of the water and let his head hang down again.
“What else, man? We’ve never seen you like this. Talk to us,” Luke said while taking a seat next to Liam.
Trey moved in closer, leaning against the railing.
Liam turned his head toward Luke. “I love her.”
“Yeah. We know.”
“I’m scared of losing her again. I couldn’t protect her then. What if I can’t protect her now?”
“You didn’t have us then. You have us now,” Trey stated. “You’re family. That means Emily is family. We won’t let anything happen to her or to you. Have you told her? That you love her?”
“Not yet.”
“You should. Because she feels the same.”
Liam looked at Luke again. He squinted his eyes as he asked, “How do you know?”
“I see the way you two look at each other. You practically undress each other with your stares. She’s only got eyes for you, man. Look. I don’t know much about falling in love and shit. It’s never happened to me. But if it does, I want my girl to look at me the way Emily looks at you.”
/>
“So much has happened these last few weeks. We found out we were lovers in another life. That we were murdered by a man who now haunts this house. Emily’s been tormented by him her entire life.”
“So, tell her,” Luke reiterated. “I’m telling you. She loves you right back.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah! I really think so. The woman’s practically got fuckin’ heart emojis coming out of her eyes when she looks at you.”
All three friends bellowed in laughter for what seemed like several minutes. Leave it to Luke to always find a way to lighten a mood. After they were able to pull themselves together, Liam asked, “Were you able to find out anything about her parents?”
Trey shook his head. “No, I’m still trying. But it’s like she told us. She was abandoned. Left at a fire station. Her mother never stated who she was. I think that’s a dead-end for us.” Trey paused, giving Liam a moment. “From what I can gather, the two men in the first picture are Robert Banks and James Watson. James worked for Robert.”
“Yeah, I know. He was a bookkeeper. His father was a business partner of Banks. James started working for him after his father died. I remember all of it from my dreams. There are more details now.”
Trey continued, “The man behind them is this man here…” Trey pulled another copy of a photo from the back of the stack of papers. “This is Charles. One of Phil’s great grandfathers.”
Liam stared at the photo. The man bared a striking resemblance to Phil. He felt the stares of his teammates on him when Trey spoke, “You think this dark entity is Banks, don’t you.”
“I’m willing to bet everything I own that it’s him.”
Trey ran his hands down his face. When he looked up, he noticed a woman approaching from across the street. “You expecting anyone?” he asked Liam.
“No. Why?”
The sound of the gate at the bottom of the stairs caught Liam’s attention, and he looked up. A short woman, shorter than Emily, with a dark brunette pixie haircut approached them. She eyed the three men before walking, continuing her strides up the steps. Her eyes fixed on Liam.
“You must be Liam Wesley,” she stated, very confidently. “I recognize you from the photo Em sent me.”
Liam smiled, closed the folder, and handed it to Trey as he headed down the steps. “Lexi.”
Twenty-Four
Emily stared at the photos laid out on the coffee table in front of her. Both Lexi and Liam sat on either side of her on the sofa, acting as anchors to the raging oceans of information and emotions swirling around her. The photos before her confirming the dreams of a past life with Liam, sent shock waves through her.
Emily was overtaken with emotion when Liam called her downstairs, and Lexi stood waiting for her. Having her best friend with her, along with Liam, at that moment was definitely keeping her calm. When Lexi and the guys came into her flat, Liam shared that Trey had more information for them but insisted she eat, have some coffee, and visit with Lexi a bit. Now, everyone was gathered in her living room. The space felt cramped, but she was thankful for the company. The prickling sensation of Banks’ presence had her on edge. Emily wasn’t a person who carried animosity in her heart, but the amount of hate and revulsion she felt toward Banks bubbled to the surface.
“I’m sorry, Emily. I’m still trying to figure out who your birth mother was,” Trey assured.
“I know. It’s okay. Like I said, I’ve made peace with it. I appreciate you trying.”
“So, this Charles. He was a distant grandfather of your now deceased landlord?” Lexi asked while gesturing with her arms in the air. Lexi was notorious for talking with her hands. She was small, but she made a big statement with her presence.
“Yes,” Liam confirmed.
“And he left this building to you? So now you own all of this? The same house where Robert Banks and James lived?”
Liam nodded at Lexi’s statement.
“Wow,” she stated as she picked her coffee mug off the table. The multiple rings on her fingers, clinking the porcelain.
“Yeah. Wow,” Emily agreed with her friend. “So, now what? We have this information. What do we do now?”
Liam broke the silence in the room. “Somethings bugging me.”
“What is it?” Emily asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. He’d picked the photo of Banks up off of the table and stared at it.
“I don’t know. We’re still missing a piece to the puzzle. Why would Banks hang back after he died? It’s almost like he’s been waiting for you.” Liam’s eyes hit Emily. His intense blues warmed her entire body. His hand came up and brushed her cheek before wrapping around, where he gently massaged her neck. “He’s haunted you all these years, and then one day you felt the urge to move here. You showed up, and he became more violent. There’s something else. I think we need to dig.”
Trey and Luke stared at Liam in confusion. “Dig?” They both asked in unison.
Liam looked at Emily again. “Em, you said your dreams were becoming clearer. You saw Banks’ men digging a hole in the basement. They threw you into it?” Emily nodded in confirmation.
“So, yes. I say we dig. I’m not saying we will find anything. But we need to try to find some kind of evidence. What if Abigail’s body was never found? What if she’s still buried here. Maybe we’ll find clues that someone was buried under this house at one time. Maybe we’ll find something else entirely. This is an old fucking house. Passed down from generation to generation in Phil’s family. One of his grandfathers was a butler for Banks. We know that Banks not only had Abigail’s parents killed but also James and Abigail as well. We also know he tricked James’ dying father into signing over this house to him. The minute Em showed up, and I went to the basement, the energy in this house flipped. Like it knew we were together again. So yeah, I say let’s dig. Let’s tear up the ground down there and see what we find. Maybe we’ll piss it off, but I don’t care. The truth has been hidden for far too long. It’s time everything comes out.”
“I’m staying to help,” Lexi stated, matter of factly. “Before you start with me, Em, I’ve already made up my mind. You’ve been living with this bullshit for far too long. You’ve found happiness with Liam. I’ll be damned if I sit back and watch this thing try to rip it away from you again. So, I’m staying here, and I’m going to help in any way I can.”
“But what about your job and your sister?” Emily asked.
“I gave my notice. I have an interview next week at a resort in Napa.” Lexi waved her hand nonchalantly in the air as she sat back on the sofa. She angled her body slightly and crossed her legs. “Em, you know I’ve wanted a change. It’s okay. I have money put away. I’ve already had a few over the phone interviews too. They just want to meet me and have me see the property before I commit to the position. And Tessa wants to move down this way to finish up school.”
“You’re moving here?” Emily asked with excitement and tears in her eyes.
“Yes!”
***
The women hugged again and cried happy tears while they chatted about the logistics of Lexi’s move to the Bay Area. Liam turned to his friends, but before he could say anything, Luke answered for him. “Trey and I will go to the hardware store and grab the equipment we may need. When we get back, we’ll start right away.”
Liam walked his friends to the front door. “Make sure to grab something to bust that lock downstairs.”
“Will do,” Trey said.
“Hey, Luke. You’re cousin still an engineer for the city?”
Luke turned and caught Liam’s eye. He nodded. “Yeah, he is. Why?”
“I need someone to come look at the house. I want to do a lot of renovating. I need to know what I need to do to accomplish it.”
“What kind of renovating you looking to do?” Trey stopped and turned to face Luke and Liam.
“For starters, I want to make this our headquarters.”
“No shit? Really?” Both men seemed excited
at the idea.
Liam continued, “Yes. And I want to expand the upstairs. Emily and I have talked, and she’s moving in with me.”
Trey and Luke congratulated their friend on his statement. “Happy for you, man,” Luke said.
“Thanks. How do you guys really feel about her?”
“Dude, she’s awesome. Really. Why?” Trey asked.
“She wants to come on board, help us manage the office. She even wants to travel to locations with us when she has downtime with her photography business. She said she needs a change. She wants to help people. Wants to travel. She’s serious and wants to learn more about doing paranormal investigations and help us.”
“Tell her we are stoked to have her on board,” Trey said.
As they walked out of the building, Luke turned to Liam. “I’ll contact my cousin. Ask him to help or maybe recommend someone. This place is gonna be awesome. Let’s clean house so we can get started.”
A few hours later, after Luke and Trey had returned with a couple of sledgehammers, shovels, and a wheelbarrow, and got started right away with setting up all of their equipment. Knowing that it would take them at least half a day to break up the concrete slab in the basement, Liam, Trey, and Luke decided it would be best to get into the locked apartment and work on digging the next day. Gathering as much evidence as possible was a top priority for everyone. Luke was in the van parked in front, checking the monitors and ensuring all of the cameras were positioned at the right angles. Trey and Lexi were in Liam’s apartment, setting up some cameras while Liam and Emily were in her flat setting up.
Liam had finished setting up a few cameras in the back of the apartment when he walked into the living room. Emily was taping down cords that were running from cameras that she had just set up. She hadn’t noticed him watching her.
“How are you doing, baby?”
Emily jumped. “Oh my god!” she yelled, her hands pressed to her heart, “You scared me.”
Liam hurried to her and pulled her up and embraced her. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1) Page 16