Ashley Ridge (Haunted Hearts Series Book 3)

by Denise Moncrief

  “I think you’re the one she doesn’t need in her life. I’m pretty sure you’re abusing her.” He braced himself for an attack.

  Phelps’s chest seemed to swell up twice its normal size. “I’m not—”

  “You think I don’t know you’re sleeping with her?” Josh moved a step forward. “You’re a married man, aren’t you? Does your wife know about your affair, Phelps? No, I didn’t think so. That is seriously screwed up. Do you really think Ashley needs your kind of trouble?” He leaned his face closer to Phelps. “Don’t tell me what’s good for her. I’ve known her a lot longer than you have.”

  Phelps’s eyes popped with rage. “How dare you talk to me like that when you’ve slept with the wife of every man in Fairview.”

  Josh didn’t sleep with other men’s wives. That was a line he refused to cross. Phelps had a lot of nerve classing both of them in the same contemptible category. He’d had enough of the man’s arrogant posturing. “Get off my property before I arrest you for assaulting an officer.”

  Phelps sputtered his response. “I haven’t touched you.”

  Josh smiled at the man, stretched his mouth into his most effective condescending smirk. “I’m quite sure I could pay someone to testify that you did. I’ve known most of the people in this town for years. How long have you lived in Fairview? Not long enough to know how things work around here. Back off, Phelps.”

  The doctor’s eyes turned into two dark orbs. Anger and hatred radiated from him. “Stay away from her or I’ll destroy her.”

  There was no better way to force Josh to back down than threaten Ashley. He stepped back from Phelps, appalled at the not-so-subtle threat the doctor had just made. The sudden realization that it wasn’t wise to antagonize the man for Ashley’s sake hit Josh hard. He couldn’t warn her to stay away from Phelps. It wasn’t Josh’s place and she wouldn’t listen to him anyway.

  His heart broke for her, for the predicament she’d gotten herself into. She wasn’t safe with Phelps, not as his employee, not as his lover, and not even as someone in the same room with the man. Without a doubt, Ashley hadn’t gone to Phelps’s bed willingly. She had been coerced. It made Josh ache all over to know that Ashley had shared her secrets with Phelps and he had used them to enslave her.

  Josh had to get her out from under the man’s influence, but how could he if she wouldn’t let him get close enough to help? She’d just pushed him away, literally shoved him out her front door, and let him know she didn’t need or want him around.

  Phelps’s attitude relaxed. A sneer spread across his face, an expression of superiority, of condescension, an arrogant attitude the doctor could apparently turn on and off with ease. Perhaps Phelps thought he had regained control of the situation by threatening Ashley, the person he perceived was most important to Josh.

  He had to find a way to get back into her life, but first, he had to let Phelps think he’d won. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over it, Phelps. No need to throw a hissy fit. She didn’t need you to tell me to stay away. She doesn’t want me around. She kicked me out of her house and told me to leave her alone. Satisfied?”

  Maybe he shouldn’t have insulted the man’s masculinity by calling him out for acting like a spoiled little girl, but Josh needed to keep the focus of Phelps’s wrath on him and off Ashley.

  Josh nodded toward the Fairview Police patrol unit headed up the street toward them. “One of my neighbors must have called 9-1-1. You’d better leave.”

  Phelps turned and stared at the approaching vehicle for only a split second. He backed away and then rushed toward his Mazda Miata, glancing over his shoulder at the police car.

  “Tell your wife I said hello,” Josh called toward Phelps’s retreating back.

  Phelps stopped and turned a malevolent glare toward Josh before he yanked his car door open and slid into the driver’s seat. The engine cranked with a powerful vroom. The wheels of the car spun on the gravel of Josh’s driveway.

  Josh smiled and waved at the officer as the car passed by his house and kept going at a moderate rate of speed. He guessed no one had called the Fairview cops after all.

  ****

  Josh wrapped his fingers around the neck of a bottle of Jack Daniels, eased his bruised body onto the bed, and leaned against the headboard. He poured two fingers of liquid comfort into a dirty glass and raised it to his lips. The fire would make the pain fuzzy for a while.

  He lifted it to his lips and stalled. The memories that crowded his mind from the past few days burned his psyche. The desire to obliterate them—if only for a few hours—tempted him, as it had never tempted him before. He just wanted the hurt to go away. What did the head doctors call it? Self-medicating.

  He lowered the glass and groaned. The determination in Ashley’s eyes when she pushed him out the door stabbed him more than any of her words, more than her actions. Why did he drink until he was drunk? Gray had asked her the question while they were on their way from the old Jepson farm to the clinic. They’d tried to figure out why he did what he did. Neither of them knew the real reason. Until earlier that afternoon, he hadn’t really understood either.

  He’d always thought Ashley didn’t love him anymore, but she still loved him. He could see it in the pain reflected in her eyes when she told him to leave. The truth hurt even worse. He drank because Ashley loved him and pushed him away anyway.

  A surge of bitterness washed over him, and he flung the nearly full bottle of Jack across the room. The glass shattered against the bedroom wall and made an interesting splatter pattern on the outdated wallpaper.

  He laughed at himself. When he bought the house, he’d made all sorts of noises about updating it and taking pride in a place he could call his own. He’d never done much more in the house than crash when he was exhausted or pass out when he was too drunk to care about anything any longer.

  His life had become a pitiful waste. What kind of person was he? Why would a psychopath think he cared for her and the woman he really loved question his feelings for her? How twisted was that? Guilt hit him hard. He was just as much responsible for Caroline’s death as Lucy was. If he had never gotten so drunk he didn’t care who he ended up in bed with…

  Josh slid down the headboard and rolled onto his side, his head dangling off the edge of the bed. He wanted to puke, even though he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. The nausea was worse than any hangover he’d ever had.

  Something had to give. With Tori leaving town, Josh would be expected to pick up the slack and rise to the occasion. Someone had to do the job. Crimes were committed. Evidence had to be collected and analyzed. It was his job. He’d been reinstated, against Halsey’s better judgment, he’d been informed. He couldn’t face living and working every day when all he wanted to do was drown.

  His landline rang. He ignored it. When the ringing began again, piercing through his already pounding headache, he rolled over to his other side and grabbed the receiver from the hook. A wave of fresh nausea surged up from his gut and he pushed it down.

  “What?”

  “McCord? It’s Shaw Bennett.”

  God, he needed a drink, and the nearest drink was dripping down his walls. He closed his twitching eyelids tighter. He’d told Bennett practically everything there was to tell…except how Jeremy Haskins had died.

  “Yeah, what do you want?” He didn’t have the strength to answer with a sharp tone. He sounded more like a meowing kitten.

  Bennett hesitated. “I need your help.”

  His direct statement threw Josh for a moment. “With what? I’ve told you everything I know.” A lie, but it was as close to the truth as Josh was going to get.

  “I’m investigating a suspicious death out at Laurel Heights.” He stopped as if Josh should catch the significance.

  Get to the point and then leave me alone.

  “Okay…”

  “You were there when Grayson experienced the paranormal event in the garage, right?”

  Josh pushed into a sitting p
osition. “Yes, I was.”

  “I need to do an investigation inside the house. Since Grayson is out of town, I thought maybe you’d be interested. From what he told me, it sounds like there are some powerful forces on the property. I need to investigate the activity in the house if I’m going to understand what really happened out there.”

  Josh understood the unspoken message. Bennett was at least six feet tall. Josh guessed the man was a lean hundred eighty pounds. No doubt, Bennett could take care of himself in any fight. But going up against a strong paranormal entity? Josh could understand why the guy would want backup.

  He hesitated. His common sense urged him to tell Bennett no. Hadn’t he had enough of ghosts?

  “You’re the only one besides Gray who truly understands the situation out there. I can’t ask anyone else to do this.”

  Josh groaned. The state cop was good, real good. Playing to Josh’s ego by making him feel as if his expertise was vital was a nice tactic. Good try, Bennett.

  “Sure. When do you want to do the investigation?” He grimaced. Hadn’t his internal debate just rejected Bennett’s request?

  “Tonight.”

  Josh grabbed his bedside clock and stared at the bright red numbers. Nearly eleven. “Really, Bennett? You know exactly what I’ve been through the last few days. I can barely stand. I don’t think I want to face another ghost in this lifetime, forget about tonight.” He dropped the clock back on the table, and the resulting thud nearly split his pounding head in two.

  Bennett waited a few moments before replying. “It can wait a few hours. I’ll pick you up around one.”

  Was the guy serious? A couple of hours weren’t enough. “One? In the middle of the night?”

  “I need to do this quickly and it needs to be done on the down low.”

  Josh got it. His head cleared a little. “Okay, I know where you can park so we can come up on the house from the backside.”

  What was he saying? He couldn’t do this. Not tonight. Maybe not even the next night. If Josh got lucky, no one would commit a crime in Hill County until he recuperated enough to collect evidence again without nearly killing himself. Crawling and bending and stretching might do him in. What he needed was a week of nothing but lab work. Forget ghost hunting.

  Bennett laughed. “See, I knew you would help. You’ve done this before.”

  “Yeah, I have. Just not when I’m this messed up.”

  “Pull yourself together. This is important.”

  Everything’s important to someone.

  Bennett hung up before Josh could pose any further objections. He fell back onto the lumpy mattress and closed his eyes. Before he could get comfortable, his cellphone ringtone jolted his nerves.

  “What now?” He glanced at the display and was surprised to see Ashley’s name. He waited a heartbeat or two before answering.

  “Hey, Ash. Is everything all right?”

  No answer.

  “Are you there?”

  She sighed. “Yeah. I’m okay. I mean, no I’m not okay, but I’ll be all right.”

  He laid his arm across his forehead. What can I say? How can I get her to talk to me?

  “You wanna talk about it?”

  Dummy! Did you really think the direct approach would work? It never has before. Women like a guy to pull it out of them. They don’t give up what’s bothering them that easy.

  Ashley sniffed and he wondered if she was crying “I…uh… I called because… Look, I know the last few days have been hard for you. I just wanted to say… Please, I know you’re tempted to drink until you don’t have to think anymore… I kind of feel the same way right now.” A long pause. “Please don’t, Josh. Stay on the phone with me. Talk to me awhile.”

  “Really, Ashley? You called to talk me out of drinking tonight? You’re wasting your breath—”

  “Please, Josh. I’m worried about you.”

  He laughed. “Why are you worried about me?”

  There was an abominably long pause before she answered. Her voice was so quiet and controlled he was certain she had chosen her words carefully.

  “Because you do stupid stuff when you get drunk, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you tonight. So…if you want to talk about…anything…I’ll talk.”

  Was she really giving him the opportunity to ask her about Phelps? No, he couldn’t do it. Not tonight. It was too soon after his confrontation with the doctor. For once in his sorry life, Josh didn’t do just what he wanted to do. Talking with Ashley about her problems and potentially giving her bad advice might have devastating consequences for her. What if Phelps found out they had been talking? No. Josh had to think about how he was going to help Ashley out of the jam she was in, and he couldn’t think straight in the condition he was in.

  “I’m not drinking, Ashley. Don’t misunderstand me. I want it tonight. I want it really bad. But right now, the only drink I have in the house is splattered on my bedroom wall and dripping onto my ratty carpet. And honestly, I’m too tired and beat up to get out of the house and get more.”

  He stopped and waited a moment before continuing. He wanted her to absorb the significance of what he was about to say. “I haven’t had anything to drink in six days. I’m going back to AA. If I hadn’t been drunk and slept with Lucy…”

  Oh God, why did I say that? I want her to forget she ever heard about that.

  “I think that’s a good idea. You started AA once before. Going back would be a good thing, Josh.” Another pause. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened with Lucy. She was a psychopath. If it hadn’t been you she obsessed over, it would have been someone else. You weren’t going to be able to stop her from killing someone, sometime.”

  The sympathy in her voice nearly shattered him.

  He had to change the subject, fast. Should he tell her about the investigation at Laurel Heights? “I just got a call from Shaw Bennett. He wants me to do a nighttime investigation with him.”

  “He does?” She seemed genuinely interested.

  Josh glanced at the clock. The hours of the night were ooching forward. He still hadn’t gotten any sleep, but somehow, talking to Ashley was relaxing him. His muscles were loosening, the tension in his back melting away. The nausea had finally quit roiling in his stomach. If only he could make his ribs stop aching and his head stop pounding.

  “He’s picking me up in a little while… I don’t suppose…”

  A quick intake of breath. “Suppose what?”

  Could he invite her to join them? Would Bennett object? “I don’t know if it would be okay with him, but—”

  She laughed, a bright expression of amusement. “Josh, I already told you I don’t do that ghost hunting thing anymore.”

  He smiled. He loved the sound of her voice, kind of deep and throaty and sexy when she was sleepy.

  “Yeah, you did. Well, never mind. It was just a thought.”

  There was another silence that went on so long he thought the connection had failed.

  “Are you still there, Ash?”

  “I used to love it when you called me Ash.”

  His pulse raced ten times faster. He could feel it practically rushing through his veins. “I thought you hated that.”

  “No, I loved it.”

  The sound of her steady breathing caressed his ear.

  “Maybe next time.”

  Did she just make a maybe sort of promise? She did.

  He smiled. The conversation had gone so much better than he had hoped it would. Maybe they had opened the door to renewing their friendship. “I’m glad you called…”

  “But?” She sounded disappointed.

  “I gotta get a nap before Bennett shows up and ruins the rest of my night.” He waited a half second before venturing his next words, his heart in his throat. “Thanks for rescuing me the other night.”

  “I still care what happens to you, Josh.”

  “And I still care about you. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. I promise.
” He drew in a deep breath. “Please believe that.”

  She laughed, a tight little mirthless expression. “I’m sorry, Josh. I believe you still care, but I don’t trust you to keep me safe.”

  Her words stabbed him.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I can’t depend on you. On the worst night of my life, you decided you needed to be somewhere else.”

  His vision blurred a little. A fresh fear pounded in his heart. “What are you talking about, Ashley?”

  “Never mind. If you don’t remember, I’m not going to remind you. I’m through talking. Get some sleep.”

  Had she hung up already?

  “Goodnight, Ashley.”

  “Goodnight, Josh.”

  The call disconnected.

  He held the phone in his hand for a long time, staring at it as if he could make her call back and explain what she’d meant. Had he really failed her so miserably she couldn’t get over it? Deep in his gut, he suspected whatever had happened was connected to the death of Jeremy Haskins.

  He had always thought he was the last person to see Jeremy alive, but he’d been mistaken. The night Jeremy went missing, Josh had followed him down Highway 65 to a roadhouse called the Hot Spot, confronted him about Ashley, and demanded that Jeremy leave her alone.

  Jeremy laughed in his face and claimed to have had sex with her. Josh didn’t believe him until Jeremy told him something about Ashley that only someone who had been intimate with her would know. What if he had allowed her to defend herself or explain? He should have trusted his gut about her instead of listening to what a coward like Jeremy Haskins said.

  The remaining minutes until one o’clock ticked by without rest. When Bennett knocked on his door, Josh was so wired from tossing and turning that he welcomed the opportunity to work some nervous tension out of his system.

  Chapter Six

  A full moon hung big and bright from a cloudless sky. Only the slightest of breezes shoved the leaves on the trees around, listlessly as if the wind had nothing better to do with its time than watch Josh and Shaw Bennett get into trouble.