by P. C. Cast
This was the third time he’d demanded that information, and she’d watched enough cop shows to know he was testing her, looking for any mistakes between her first and subsequent telling. If he found them, he could write her off as a liar.
“Shouldn’t you be taking notes?” she said, stalling.
“No.”
“You’ll forget—”
“I never forget.”
“Anything?”
“Not anything like this.”
How intriguing. “Really, because that’s—”
“Talk,” he barked.
His intensity gave her the strength to obey. “Okay.” She closed her eyes and forced the painting to the front of her mind. “There’s a cold metal slab, stainless steel, I think, and it’s splattered with dried b-blood. There are shackles at the top and bottom, holding a woman’s wrists and ankles, and those are also splattered. There are holes on the slab and floor…drains, I think, and they’re splattered, as well. There’s a man. He’s clutching a knife over the woman’s abdomen.” Every word caused her heart rate to quicken and little beads of sweat to dot her skin. Sweat, yet her blood had thickened with ice.
“Describe the man.”
“I can’t.” Her lashes fluttered open as a shudder rocked her. Nausea rolled through her stomach, a common occurrence these days. “I haven’t yet painted his face.” Wasn’t sure she wanted to see it. Even the thought of him made her want to hide under her covers and cry.
“What have you painted of him?”
“His lower body. His arms. Some of his chest.”
“And he’s wearing…?”
Good question. She’d been so focused on what was happening in the picture that she hadn’t paid any attention to the little details her mind had somehow caught. “A white button-up shirt and dark slacks.”
“Possibly a businessman, then. Gloves?”
“No.”
“Is he pale, tan, black, what?”
“Tan, though not as tan as you.”
“Okay, now describe the woman.”
“I can’t,” she repeated, a mere whisper. She flattened a hand over her stomach, hoping to ward off even a little of the sickness. “Not her face, I mean. She’s naked, and her skin is pale.”
“Does she have any birthmarks or scars?”
Harper licked her lips, pictured the female and shook her head. “If she does, I haven’t added them yet.”
His gaze sharpened on her, more intense than before and kind of, well, terrifying. This was not a guy to anger, or taunt, or even to play with. He would retaliate, no question. “How much of her have you painted?”
“All but the head.”
“Is she a brunette, blonde or redhead?”
“How would I—”
His pointed gaze explained for him.
“Oh. Uh, I don’t actually know. The bottom half of her is blocked by the man’s torso.”
“Is she alive or dead in the painting?”
“Dead, I think.” And probably happy to have escaped the pain.
Silence once again permeated the room, thick and oppressive, reminding her of exactly why she hadn’t wanted to come here. She’d known he would doubt her—as she sometimes doubted herself—or suspect her of playing a part in the murder.
Lana believed the woman was indeed real and Harper had stumbled upon the scene. As an employee of the Oklahoma City branch of After Moonrise, a company specializing in grisly murders and the spirits those murders sometimes left behind, she ought to know. But her belief stemmed not from the painting, but from the fact that there were two weeks neither Harper nor Lana could account for. Harper could have been trapped with the man and his victim, and somehow, miraculously, have managed to escape.
Her friend had showed the painting to her coworkers, but they hadn’t taken the case. Lana had even begged—which, in her case, meant she’d cracked heads around—and they’d finally given in and said they would look into it, but so far, they’d discovered nothing. If they’d even tried. Lana was doing everything she could on her own, but as someone used to dealing with spirits rather than bodies, this wasn’t her area of expertise.
So, when Lana heard a detective was living in their building, she had insisted Harper nut up and speak out.
This tormend you, she’d said in a Lithuanian accent that came and went with her moods. When she was happy, she sounded as American as Harper. When she was scared or angry, hello, the accent appeared, as thick as if she’d just stepped off the plane. So often now, she was sad, and at the time she’d been filled with so much sorrow over what Harper might have endured that her teeth had chattered. Let man help you. That girl…she deserve peace, rest. Please.
I can’t. He’ll suspect me of hurting her.
Maybe at first, but then he see the trut.... Please, do for her, for you, for…me.
Given the fact that Lana had spent every night of the past few weeks sobbing for the pain Harper suffered over the entire ordeal, well, Harper had been willing to do anything her friend asked, no matter the consequences to herself.
“Harper.” The curt bark of Levi’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. “You with me?”
“Well, I am now,” she grumbled. “Do you have an inside voice?”
His lips twitched at the corners, hinting at an amusement he’d so rarely shown. That humor transformed his entire face. Those emerald eyes twinkled, little lines forming at the corners. His mouth softened, and his skin seemed to glow.
“Have you ever painted anything like this before?” he asked.
“No. I love painting people, but not like this. Never like this. Why does that matter?”
“Once, and it’s plausible you stumbled upon some kind of scene. Twice, and it’s more plausible your mind manufactured everything.”
Okay, that made sense. “Well, it was only once. And just so you know, I can’t see the dead, so it wasn’t a bunch of spirits putting on a show for me, either.” She wasn’t like Lana, who had always had the ability to see into that other realm.
“I’ll need to view your new painting, as well as a sample of your usual work,” Levi said.
“All right. The new one isn’t done, though. Obviously.”
His head tilted to the side, his study of her intensifying. “When did you begin painting it?”
“About two weeks ago.” She tried not to squirm or wring her fingers under such a probing stare—until she realized that his probing stare was a good thing. Criminals would not stand a chance against this man’s strength and ferocity. If her painting were a depiction of a real-life event, Levi would find out the identity of the man responsible and punish him. “Little by little, I’ve been filling in the details.”
Another bout of silence before he sighed. “Let’s switch gears for a minute. Forgetting the fact that you’ve never before painted anything like this, what makes you think this is a memory?”
Bottom line, she wasn’t ready for a stranger to know about her blackouts and to, perhaps, use them against her, yet neither was she ready to lie to a man who could have kicked her out but hadn’t. He’d listened to her, had asked her questions and truly seemed interested in helping her.
So, she said, “I’m struck by moments of absolute terror,” and gazed down at her feet. Her pink snakeskin boots were one of her favorite possessions. She’d had to sell four paintings to buy them, as well as live off peanut butter and jelly for a month, but she’d never regretted the choice. So p
retty. “Moments I can almost feel the shackles around my wrists and my ankles.”
“Delusions hold that same power,” he pointed out.
Don’t act surprised, you knew it would come to this. And better this than the other avenue he could have taken: blame. “Well, I hope it is a delusion,” she whispered.
“Me, too, Miss…Harper?”
“Just Harper.” She would not be tricked into revealing her full name, thank you.
“Had to try,” he said with a shrug. “What if you discover you were the one on that table, that you somehow escaped but repressed what happened?”
“Impossible. I was only gone—” She pressed her lips together, stopping her hasty confession before it could fully emerge. “I would have had bruises at some point, and I haven’t.”
He sat there a moment, silent again, before nodding as if he’d just made a decision. He pushed to his feet and stuck a finger in her face. “Stay there. Do not move. I’ll get dressed and we’ll walk to your apartment together. Nod if you understand.”
“And there’s that lovely attitude again,” she muttered.
“Nod.”
Oh, very well. She nodded.
“Good. Disobey, and I’ll cuff you faster than you can say, ‘I’m sorry, Levi, that was the dumbest thing I ever did.’” Without waiting for her reply—because he clearly didn’t expect her to have one—he turned on his heel and headed for the hall.
“Uh, just thought you should know that your gun is showing,” she called.
Just before he disappeared around a corner, she thought she heard him say, “Honey, you’re lucky you’re only seeing the butt of it.”
She wasn’t that bad. Was she?
Harper waited. The click of a closing door never sounded. Well, she wouldn’t let that stop her; she stood with every intention of walking around his place and checking out his things.
Maybe she was that bad.
“I told you not to move,” Levi called with more than a hint of annoyance.
He’d heard the quiet swish of her clothes? “Tell me you don’t talk to your girlfriend with that tone.” The moment her words registered in her head, she groaned. Basically, she’d just asked him to marry her and have a million babies.
“No girlfriend.” A tension-ripened pause. “You?”
“Nope, no girlfriend, either.” The jest served a dual purpose. One, lightening the mood, and two, discovering whether or not he cared to know her lack-of-boyfriend status. If he pushed for more info, he might just be as fascinated by her as she was by him.
And she was, wasn’t she? Fascinated by this rough-and-gruff detective with the jewel-toned eyes. Thought you weren’t interested in dating anyone. She wasn’t. Right? She hadn’t taken one look at a grumpy cop and changed her mind, right?
“Boyfriend?” Levi barked out, and she nearly grinned.
You’re in trouble, girl. “Nope, no boyfriend.”
She scanned his walls. There were no photographs, no artwork, nothing hanging anywhere to inform her of his tastes so that she could peel back the curtain surrounding his life and reveal the man he was with others, when he was relaxed. Did he ever relax, though? Probably not. Judging by his perma-frown, it would take a miracle.
“Your decorating…did you decide to go with Minimal Chic?”
Stomping footsteps echoed, and then he was there, in front of her again, tall and dark and ruggedly delicious, an erotic dream come to life in a black T and black slacks.
She’d bet his gun was still at his back. He was a warrior, a protector. A danger. Sweet heaven, but she had to paint him, she decided. He wasn’t handsome in the classic sense, but, oh, he was so much more. He was interesting.
She’d always favored interesting.
“We’re not discussing my decorating,” he said.
“You mean your lack of decorating.”
“Whatever. Lead the way.”
“So you can stare at my butt?” Sometimes her tongue got the better of her, and now was definitely one of those times. There was no way he could respond to that without—
“Exactly.”
—making her sigh dreamily.
She was in big trouble. “I’m not interested in dating anyone, just so we’re clear.”
He glared down at her. “Good, because I was thinking about asking out your friend.”
Oh, ouch. Yet wasn’t that always the case? Men slobbered all over Lana like babies who’d just found fuzzy candy on the floor.
“Good!” she said with a huff. “Rude isn’t my type.” She turned, giving him her back, and marched out.
“But then I met you and changed my mind,” she thought she heard him grumble from behind her.
CHAPTER THREE
Harper was utterly baffled when Levi gave her painting a once-over, asked a single question, then turned and left her apartment. He did this after she’d overcome her urge to vomit and placed the wretched canvas—though perfectly painted—in the heart of her living room, just for his benefit. Sure he’d paused to eye Lana, as any man with a pulse would have done—and even some without, surely—but he hadn’t so much as called out a token “Don’t leave town.” Or even a very necessary “I’m on the case, no worries.”
The door slammed ominously behind him, echoing throughout the somewhat dilapidated two-bedroom apartment with plush furnishings Lana had restored with loving care, a hobby of hers. Their decorating style was Match Smatch. Every piece was an odd color and shape, and nothing harmonized.
Levi’s question played through her mind. “You said there was blood. Where is it?”
The answer was simple. Seeing the blood on the canvas freaked her out, so every morning, after her subconscious mind forced her to add it back, she erased it, leaving the walls pristine and clean.
“That has to be a record for you,” Lana said, her Lithuanian accent nonexistent because her darker emotions weren’t yet engaged.
Harper purposely kept her back to the gruesome scene of torture and death she had created and kept her gaze on her friend. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Had the painting disgusted Detective Snarls? Was he even then searching for his handcuffs, intending to take Harper into lockup? No. No way. He would have dragged her with him, not allowing her out of his sight. He wasn’t the type to cross his fingers and hope she stayed put. Even when he’d left her alone in his living room, he’d kept his bedroom door open so that he could hear her movements.
“I’ve seen you scare off a man within an hour of meeting you, but five minutes? You must have done something really special to this one.”
Harper snorted. “Wasn’t like I asked him to meet my parents or anything.” And, bonus, she never would. Three days after her fourteenth birthday, her dad had taken off and never looked back. After that, Mommy Manners had forced her to become even more involved in pageants, and Harper had eventually cracked, poisonous words she still regretted spilling out. Though she’d tried to make amends, her mother hadn’t spoken to her in years. “But you know, he could have had the decency to invite himself to breakfast.” They had details to hammer out, right? “I mean, he wants to ask you out. Shouldn’t he try to butter me up or something, so I’ll put in a good word for him?”
“Uh, no, no, he not be asking me out.”
“He said he would.”
“Well, he lied or changed his mind because that man has a jones for a hot blonde with a taste for destroying fairy-tale princess.”
Hope fluttered through her, causing her heart to skip a beat. “First, the taste is justified. Sleeping Beauty sucks. Evil showed up and instead of fighting she took a nap.”
“Is that reason enough for you to buy figurines of her likeness just to smash when you’re angry?”
“Yeah. And second,” she continued, “there’s just no way you’re right about the cop wanting me. But go ahead and tell me why you think so, beginning once again with how smoking hot you think I am and ending with how you think he’s willing to drop to his knees and beg me to go out with him, and don’t leave out a single detail.”
Lana rolled her eyes. The bold shadow she wore gave those eyes an exotic, smoky look, extending all the way to her temples in glittery points. “You are hot. He will beg. You will say no—and don’t try to deny it. I noticed your antiman campaign. I will call you stupid. You will paint a mustache on my face while I sleep. I will carve the legs out from under your bed. We will laugh. The end. Now, tell. Will he help you or not? Because I will hurt him if not.”
Okay, so it wasn’t the story she’d hoped for but it was true nonetheless. “I might have you hurt him, anyway. After I’m done with him, of course.” He was surly with a capital S-U-R-L-Y, glaring at her when she’d entered his apartment after he’d clearly invited her in—with his eyes. “He needs someone to turn his frown upside down. By hanging him out of a window by his ankles.”
“Just say a word, and it is done.”
Oh, how she adored Lethal Lana.
They’d met in junior school, when Lana’s family moved to the States, and their instant connection had changed the very fabric of Harper’s life. Harper, the “lady” of her mother’s dreams, had been fascinated by Milana Buineviciute, the wild child of her mother’s nightmares.
A (now reformed) smoker, drinker and full-time cusser who never backed down from a fight, Lana had taught Harper how to get down and dirty with brass knuckles and steel-toed boots. Harper had taught Lana to channel the jagged edges of her emotions into art, and the exchange had bonded them.