Hidden Secrets (The Hidden Series Book 3)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Hidden Betrayals – Sneak Peek!
~Other books by Kristin Coley~
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Hidden Betrayals – Sneak Peek!
~Other books by Kristin Coley~
Hidden Secrets
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
HIDDEN SECRETS
First edition: August 15th, 2017
Copyright © 2017 Kristin Coley
Written by Kristin Coley
Hidden Secrets
Addie wasn’t expecting much when she inherited a cabin on Lake Verret from her father. He’d never done anything for her in life so death shouldn’t pose any surprises.
Except it did.
An uncle she never knew about and a decades old murder mystery await her when she arrives at a place that eerily resembles one of the sketches on Wade’s wall of unsolved crimes.
Ghosts from the past threaten her relationship with Jake as the people she relies on seem to be drifting away. Will one summer on the lake be the final nail in Addie’s coffin as she struggles with the gift she inherited from the man who abandoned her?
This is for my mom, whose continual amazement that I actually write good books never ceases to amuse me.
Chapter One
“Can I just stay here forever?” I sprawled on the couch as I soaked up the AC blasting from the vent right above me. Summer in south Louisiana worked hard to resemble hell on Earth and what little relief we got came from the blessed air conditioner.
“Hell, no. Get your stinky, sweaty ass off the couch. Clients sit there.” Wade knocked my leg off the edge of the coffee table and I forced myself to sit up.
“Why, aren’t you friendly today?” I drawled as I shifted on the couch. It wasn’t the nicest couch and clients weren’t exactly pounding down the doors, which could explain the grumpy expression on Wade’s face.
He scrubbed his hand over his face, casting me a disgruntled glare. My eyes narrowed as it dawned on me something else was going on. Wade had it rough since his grandmother died a few months before. I tried my best to cheer him up and I liked to think it worked, but occasionally I got a glimpse of the shadows that continued to haunt him. He’d lost every family member he had and was close to losing the business his grandmother had built. He didn’t have the same gifts she’d had and the regulars were wary of him.
“I’ve got better things to do than deal with your shit.”
I blinked at his caustic response, slightly stunned, and was seconds from a whole lot of smack down when he apologized.
“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“What the hell, Wade? This isn’t you, so what’s going on? Seriously, I want to help. You’re my friend. The only person on the planet that might come close to understanding me. I like to think I’m that person for you too.”
“You are.” He sank down into a chair with a sigh. He snorted and shook his head, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m grateful you showed up in my life.”
“Gee, thanks.”
My sarcastic response garnered a tiny smile from him, but it disappeared just as quickly. He’d had the fortune, or misfortune, of meeting me a few months before when my best friend, Carly, had been on a quest to expose fraudulent physics. Turned out she’d found the only legitimate one in the phone book.
“I haven’t had any dreams since she died,” he told me quietly and my forehead scrunched as I considered his words. Wade’s dreams tended to be the stuff of nightmares, and I for one would be ecstatic at them disappearing. He had a knack for drawing crime scenes and the room we sat in was covered with the drawings. Some were solved, but the majority were not and all of them had a dark past. Glancing at them you instinctively wanted to look away for fear the bogeyman would find you. He’d drawn whatever he dreamt, trying to banish the dreams, but sometimes they would linger for weeks before finally disappearing.
“Is that a bad thing?” I questioned gently, not really sure if I was going to get surly Wade or sweet Wade with my question.
“Normally, no.” He sighed, deeper this time, and seemed to come to a decision. “The dreams have always been sporadic.” I glanced at the drawings adorning the walls, the art that literally covered all of the walls, and gave him a doubtful stare. His lips twisted in a mockery of a smile as he caught my stare. “Sporadic. I’ve been having these dreams since I was a child, but it’s rare they disappear for so long, and I’ve never had one come back.”
“Come back?”
“Yeah,” he said, glancing at me. “Come back.” I nodded for him to continue, curious about this aspect of his gift. Wade could read auras which was in another level of cool, but it was his dreams that I always found so fascinating because that’s where his gift and mine converged. Wade drew the scene of the crime, but he rarely knew much more about it. My gift...curse…talent…whatever you wanted to call it and depending on the day it could be any of the above, complimented his drawings. I knew the answer to questions, posed to me or just asked within earshot, and it was a subtle thing, but one that worked extremely well when paired with Wade’s drawings. Together, I knew we could solve some of the crimes hanging on his walls.
In fact, I’d already solved two of them. One was a tiny cabin in the woods almost obscured by overgrowth and the first drawing of Wade’s I’d ever seen. I’d recognized it instantly as the place where Samuel Phillips died. I’d been able to tell Wade justice had been served for the crime and within weeks he’d helped me save a group of kidnapped girls with another of his dream drawings.
“Well, are you going to explain?” I finally demanded, curious about this ‘come back’ dream.
His mouth tilted up as he said, “Impatient.”
“You know it, and if you didn’t you’re about to find out,” I retorted, shifting on the fake leather couch so my bare legs wouldn’t stick to the surface.
“Once the dream goes away, it’s gone. I’ve never had the issue of dreaming it again. Except now.” I waved my hand, needing him to continue because it sounded like it was really bugging him.
“You think it has something to do with your grandmother’s death?” I interrupted before he could say anything, the thought sending a cold chill down my spine. His grandmother’s death was difficult for me because she’d saved me.
After she died.
I’d been locked in a coma, my mind lost to my ability and only with her assistance had I been able to b
reak free and return to the living. Her death had altered each of us in its own way.
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I had this dream when I was so young I could almost convince myself it isn’t the same dream, but for one tiny detail.” I lifted my eyebrows and he clasped his hands in front of him. “It’s the only dream I’ve ever had with a person in it.”
I sat back, blinking at his revelation. That would definitely be one for the memory banks.
“Are they….” I wiggled my fingers and then made a slashing motion at my neck. He gazed at me in reluctant amusement and I clarified, “Dead?” He nodded and said, “Yes, she’s dead. At least that’s what I’d assume since she’s face down in the lake.”
“She drowned?”
“If she did it wasn’t accidental.” He glanced over at his walls of macabre and I shuddered. That was the thing about his dreams, they inevitably involved horrific crimes, usually death, and this would be no exception.
“So, you had this dream when you were a kid and now it’s back?”
“Yeah, except it’s clearer now. More detailed, which makes no sense if it happened years ago.”
“Why now?” I asked the question which seemed to bug him the most.
“That’s what I want to know. What about this crime matters enough for me to dream it again?” He shook his head, his jaw working as he thought it over.
“Show me.” The words slipped out before I could stop them and I could see from his face he was as equally surprised as I was to hear them. I groaned in frustration and waved my hand. “Before I change my mind.”
He hopped up and went to the desk in the corner where he’d taken to stashing the drawings not on the wall. After waking from my coma, I’d quickly discovered my gift remained with me, but I’d found myself hesitant to use it. Fear had become my new companion where my talent was concerned. Every question I heard made me wonder if this would be the one that tipped me back over the edge.
Dealing with a case of missing college coeds, I’d accidentally opened a door in my mind, one that could reveal the secrets of the future to me, but the cost was high. It was a cost I hadn’t fully understood and almost paid the price for.
“Here.” He thrust a twelve by twelve sheet of paper torn from a sketchbook at me and I instinctively took it. He was careful not to ask me anything about it, but studied me as I studied it. The longer I gazed at the drawing the harder it became to breath.
There was a cabin nestled next to a broad lake, but the cabin appeared abandoned and yet I knew it wasn’t. The woman floated face down in the water, the long hair our only clue she was female.
“Auburn,” I murmured as the paper floated to the floor and the drawing appeared in my mind’s eye, not in the black and white he’d drawn it, but in full color.
“Wha…repeat that.” Wade caught himself before he asked the question and instead changed it to a statement. I smiled at him gratefully, already overwhelmed by my connection to his drawing.
“Auburn. Her hair is auburn. And this place. It wasn’t abandoned when she died.”
He nodded slowly, considering what I’d told him and I could see the questions bubbling inside of him, but again he refrained from asking them.
“Addie,” he said as he covered my hand with his. “It’s okay.” He avoided looking at me as he took a deep breath. “I can see how much using your gift terrifies you. Literally see it.” He squeezed the hand he held and stepped away, taking the drawing with him. “I won’t ask, but you can’t live in fear either. It’s a part of who you are and I know what you went through was difficult, but don’t cut yourself off from who you are.”
“Kettle meet pot,” I muttered under my breath and his eyes shot to mine.
“I heard that.”
“Good.” I blew air out of my nostrils and smiled. “What a pair we are. Psychics that don’t want to use their gifts.”
“Speak for yourself.” Wade glared at me through hooded eyes. “I have no problem using my gift. It’s just not what the people want.” He waved at the empty room and plopped back on his chair. “You on the other hand have an incredible gift. One with a multitude of uses.”
“If it doesn’t kill me.”
“Eh, doubt it.” My temper flared at his casual disregard for my fear and he smiled. “Temper, temper,” he mocked, inflaming me further.
“Why don’t you quit looking at me then?” I mouthed off, crossing my arms. Wade saw auras, and he’d explained them as colors that represented emotions. Some were self-explanatory like red for anger, but others were more subtle, nuanced and almost impossible to decipher unless you were Wade. He’d managed to show me what he saw once by asking me what he saw while looking at Jake, my boyfriend. The most memorable part was Jake’s feelings for me, the way the emotion wound around him, a bond woven of love and loyalty. Wade had to explain to me what it meant, since I could only see it was the strongest emotion he held.
“You’re under the impression I need to be looking at you to read your aura,” Wade commented, folding his own arms as he leaned back in his chair.
“Wait, what?” He’d effectively distracted me with this new tidbit of information. Wade was notoriously tightlipped about what he could do and what exactly it meant. I’d figured out he was excellent at reading people and it came in handy as a police consultant. Reading body language had nothing on Wade’s ability to read emotion.
Jake loved to bring him in for interrogations since Wade gave him an almost uncanny knack for asking the right questions. Wade was familiar with Jake, a local detective, and his partner, Connor, and would usually assist them, but he didn’t have the same desire to help others in the department. Their captain had made the offer to hire me and Wade on as consultants since we’d been so helpful breaking up a human trafficking ring, but the rest of the officers were wary of our abilities. It was a common problem for us and the reason why I’d spent years avoiding telling people about my gift. Only when a local boy had went missing did I chance exposing myself and then it was only to Jake, whose acceptance had been unexpected. Jake had been posing as a student at my school at the time, and working undercover on a drug case when I’d forced him to help me.
“Are you telling me you can see my aura without actually looking at me?” I asked incredulously. “Are you pulling my leg right now?”
He chuckled and shook his head. His gaze was hesitant as my mouth dropped open.
“Holy shit, dude.” I shook my head and snapped my mouth shut. “That’s a new level of weird even for me.”
“It’s not exactly the same,” he rushed to assure me. “It’s more a vibe and it works best with someone I know well or am connected to.”
“So, you can do it to me?”
“Yeah,” he replied slowly, taking in my aura as he said it. I could tell he was waiting for horror or concern, but instead I felt a little flash of pleasure. It was hard to tell sometimes if Wade appreciated my pushy interference in his life, but this little nugget of knowledge solidified my determination to save him from himself.
“Oh God,” he groaned, his eyes widening as he saw the flare of emotion in my aura. “What have I created?”
My grin was wicked as he shook his head desperately.
“You love me!” I shouted and threw my arms around him to his consternation.
“That’s not what I said,” he responded dryly, catching me. “I said I could see your aura, that’s all.”
“We’re connected.”
“To my constant regret.”
“I don’t believe you.” I stepped back from him, smiling widely now. “You’ll come then.”
“Come? Where?” He was suspicious, but I knew he would come since he’d phrased it as a question.
“Tonight. Jules and Connor wanted everyone to come over for some big announcement,” I explained, studiously avoiding the sketch still in his hand. “At their place,” I added as an afterthought, belatedly remembering his actual question.
“No.”
“Come on, Wade! I’m making an effort here to include you. You could at least try and pretend to be sociable.”
“Who asked you too?”
“Your dead grandma. Any more questions?” I uttered sharply and then winced. I opened my mouth to apologize but he shook his head, a curious expression on his face.
“Did she really?” Again, I opened my mouth but this time nothing came out. His grandma hadn’t asked me in so many words but his question had triggered an automatic response, one so instinctive I had to wonder if it wasn’t the truth. “I can see from your expression you’re conflicted, so I’ll assume somehow she did.” He looked resigned as he replied, “I guess I’ll go with you then.”
I bit back my instinctive, “I knew it!” since always knowing things tended to get annoying. At least for other people. Instead, I told him, “Good, you can drive me.”
“Why don’t you have your car? You didn’t walk here?” He was incredulous and I rolled my eyes. Who the hell would walk anywhere in this heat?
“No, Carly dropped me off and Jake was going to pick me up.” I glanced at the clock and decided we needed to go or otherwise Jules would start blowing up my phone. “Come on.” I pulled my phone out and texted Jake that I’d meet him there.
“Again, why don’t you have your car?”
“I’m trying to save the earth?” I asked flippantly. “Carly wanted to go shopping. That was a disaster by the way. She finally got tired of dealing with my whining so she dropped me here.”
“Hmm, lucky me.”
I glared and continued, “I figured I’d get you to join the land of the living.” I paused to glance at him and make sure it wasn’t too soon, but he just kept an expectant expression. “I figured you’d bring me to Jules’ place and if not Jake would.”
“And how are you getting home?”
“Jake.” My tone added, “Of course,” but he just nodded. He walked over to the desk to put away the sketch but I blurted out, “Bring it.”
He hesitated, his arm outstretched to set it down, and it was almost comical except I was telling him to bring the damn sketch. I don’t know why it mattered to me, but it did. Whatever he dreamt of had something to do with me, I knew that without a shadow of a doubt.