He smiled.
“You died for me,” Raina whispered. “Oh, Jordan, I’m so sorry.”
Jordan smiled and managed to speak. “No, I died for me. Because I could not bear what was being done. Because I did not stop it.”
He turned back to Jennifer.
“We’re together,” he said with amazement.
She nodded, the love in her eyes obvious as they stared into his.
They locked hands, and started to move.
The airboats were providing light, but the sun was almost completely down.
And the moon was rising.
A strange, soft, yellow-gold light seemed to shine just between a few of the trees edging against an overgrown trail.
Together, the ghosts seemed to disappear into the light.
“Does that mean...?” Raina asked.
“I don’t know,” Axel told her. “It might mean they have moved on, together at last. Or it might mean they will now become another legend of haunting in the Everglades. I’m not sure. But I do know they really loved one another, and they’re together now.”
She nodded.
“I’ll have to believe that he’s happy.”
“I do believe he’s happy,” Axel said.
Andrew walked over to them. He hadn’t seen any of what had gone on with Jordan; he’d just seen to it that Tate Fielding was on his way to the hospital.
Jon had the other Fielding in custody. He was cuffed now, and a Miccosukee police escort had come to take him away.
“And so it’s over,” Andrew said. “And just beginning.”
Axel nodded.
“Just beginning?” Raina asked.
Andrew glanced at Axel and then explained, “There are going to be a lot of arrests in this case. Angela reached me again. They’ve made a money connection in the matter of Peter Scarborough’s murder. His widow will be going to prison—murder for hire. From what she’s gotten in the Jennifer Lowry case, Loretta managed to meet up with Roger Martinez while Frank was seeing the dentist. Martinez was the second killer in Jennifer’s murder. He wanted her gone because, in secret, he hated her and coveted her position. He hated the way the patients and the dentist loved her. Meanwhile, Loretta wanted Jennifer dead. She was a rather jealous person, it seems. Frank had wanted to buy Jennifer a drink. That had clinched the deal for Loretta. All she needed was a second so she could carry out her plans.”
He hesitated, looking at Raina. He cleared his throat and continued. “Angela has been talking to your brother, who is putting together dossiers that will have to do with the case. He isn’t going to be the prosecutor—he has a personal connection to you, and Robert won’t risk a mistrial. But he’ll be on the team for the county charges. And by the way—he’s really distressed all this has gone on and you haven’t kept him in the loop. But we’ve assured him you’re all right, so he’s grateful. He says he’s going to throttle you himself when he sees you, but he loves you.”
Raina smiled, feeling guilty.
She hadn’t kept Robert up to date.
“Will they get all the co-murderers? Have we even found all the dead? We know Brandon Wells is out there somewhere.”
“We’ll do our best,” Andrew said.
“And trust me, we will find all those who kept Loretta in business, who paid her and joined in her murder duos,” Axel said. He looked at Andrew and smiled. “We never stop.”
“None of us,” Andrew replied. “Not from a tribal viewpoint, country viewpoint—or federal viewpoint. We won’t stop. I promise.”
He walked away.
For a moment, Axel just stood by Raina’s side. Then, heedless of the medical personal and all others standing around, he pulled her into his arms.
“I need to do this while we’re alive,” he said. “I love you. I want my life to be with you—I want to say and do and feel everything while we can, while we’re breathing, and then years from now, into eternity. I realize this is fast, that it’s been intense, that—”
She pressed her fingers against his lips.
“I love you. And I’ll be incredibly grateful just to breathe beside you. To hear your heartbeat every moment we’re alive. And I hope we have years and years and then eternity.”
He smiled. It seemed so strange, here in the darkness, in the heart of the Everglades, with death around them.
But there was no better place to realize life was meant to be lived—and love was something that shouldn’t be lost.
The moon kept rising.
Police came and went. They watched Jordan’s body as it was gently taken away, followed by the body of Loretta Oster.
Titan stood by them all the while, and then it was time for them to step into an airboat themselves.
Back into the dark tangle of the past.
Where they could put together the pieces.
And look into the bright promise of the future.
Epilogue
“When the wind blows and the fog swirls over the great river of grass, you can look out over the miles of long grass, cypress trees and more, and then, as the moon rises, casting its glow out over the landscape, you can see it, riding high on the horizon, the pirate ship, great sails white beneath the glow of the moon, and you know the pirates are roaming the Everglades, ever eager to atone for their sins!”
Raina watched Axel with the children gathered around him.
They were standing in the vast and elegant entry of Adam Harrison’s historic theater. It was a Sunday afternoon, three weeks after the events that had brought the strange killing spree perpetrated by the least likely of killers to an end.
An hour ago, on the theater’s stage, Jon Dickson and Kylie Connolly had been joined in marriage. Now, tables cluttered the entry and a band played to the side where there was most customarily a T-shirt stand celebrating whatever play was being performed each night.
The food had been catered in.
Raina had met Kylie’s friends and family, down from the DC area for the occasion.
And bit by bit, she was meeting more and more members of Axel’s Krewe of Hunters, and loving all those she met, exchanging stories with them and finding she was happy with herself. What had terrified her before now seemed like something wonderful. A unique and special sense that could help others.
Axel had spun a few more local ghost stories he’d learned before one of the kids at the wedding had begged he tell them about the pirates who supposedly roamed the Everglades.
They’d also wanted to know if he’d wrangled alligators. Axel had explained they didn’t really wrangle alligators—they handled them and learned about them, sharing a special environment with them.
She smiled as Angela Hawkins, the lovely blonde wife of Jackson Crow, field head for the Krewe, sat down beside her.
“I’m imaging one day he’s going to be a great dad,” Angela said. “He definitely has a way with children.”
The groom, fresh off the dance floor with one of the older guests, slid into a chair, grinning. “That’s one of Kylie’s great-aunts! Spritely lady—octogenarian, and I think she can outlast me!” He grew serious. “Raina, you’re doing all right here? Enjoying the area—Oh! How are Sheila the cat and Titan getting along?”
Raina smiled. “Believe it or not, cat and dog are doing all right. They were a bit suspicious of one another at first, but now, it’s pretty cool. You can even see them curl up to sleep together sometimes. And they’re very protective of one another.”
“You doing any training?” Jon asked her.
“I am! Adam Harrison very nicely introduced me to a friend who deals with police dogs—a special group of police dogs. Rescue animals we’re training to seek out drugs and bombs and work with officers. I’m loving every minute of it.”
He nodded. “And you? How are you doing, after everything?”
She smile
d. “We’re still following up regarding people involved. They’ve now arrested a cousin of Alina Fairchild—he assisted in her abduction because there was family money that wasn’t on the table at the time of the murder, but would be a windfall when the last great-grandparent died. Melissa Scarborough is awaiting trial, but my brother was able to get his investigator on her and discovered she’d met Loretta Oster by chance at a club when Melissa and Peter had been in Florida the year before—they have an email connection. She didn’t get the windfall of his money until he’d been dead several months. It had been a legal settlement for an injury on a job he’d done several years earlier, and with Peter being dead, it went directly to her, long enough after the murder to keep anyone from noticing. It will take police and legal teams a long time to sort it all out.”
She was quiet a minute.
“I have to admit,” she went on, “I didn’t care much for Frank Peters—but he was a jerk, not a murderer. And Tate’s dad! They’re still trying to get to the truth. He was a real jerk—and possibly a murderer. That night in the Everglades, he claimed he didn’t like to get his hands dirty. But my brother believes he did assist Loretta in some of the kidnappings and murders. Now, they just have to find proof. We know he was accommodating exchanges of money, through a bank in the Cayman Islands. We know he was aware of Loretta’s activities, and blackmail doesn’t excuse him. What the exact charges will be against him, we don’t know yet. Jordan, of course...” She paused. It still hurt. And it was still oddly...good. She’d seen Jordan walk away, hand in hand, with Jennifer. “I still feel badly for Tate. I don’t know what the charges against him will be. I know I’m grateful. He was being pressured, but he refused to kill. So, in that, I hope all goes well.”
“Complicated, but you’re here. And you’re happy here?”
“I am,” she assured him.
Axel, drop-dead gorgeous—in her mind, certainly—in his tux, had evidently finished with story time for the younger guests.
He joined Raina, Jon and Angela at the table.
“Good stories,” Angela told him, a slight smile on her lips. “You almost make me believe in ghosts.”
“Ah, well, Angela, at some point you must come and meet the pirates!” he said.
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll get to do that one day,” Angela said.
“Miss Hamish, would you be so kind? The band is playing a lovely tune. Would join me on the floor?”
She smiled, excused herself and stood.
There wasn’t much of a dance floor. And now, the children who had been avidly listening to ghost stories were playing on the bit of space designated as dance floor.
“All right, a little awkward,” Axel said, skirting around a boy of about three who had decided to do some kind of break-dancing number to a Paul Williams ballad.
She laughed. “I will dance with you anywhere!” she told him.
“I think the party is starting to break up,” he told her. “Want to dance on home with me soon?”
She did.
As others began to file out, they joined them. She hugged Kylie and Jon warmly, grateful to have known them in Florida.
Axel’s home was a single family dwelling just a mile or so southwest of the Krewe offices, an easy jaunt almost anywhere on the nearby metro system.
He might have only had Sheila, the cat, before he met her, but Raina had been delighted to discover he had a large fenced yard—one that delighted Titan, too.
They returned to the cat and dog, fed the animals, settled them and headed to bed themselves.
“Perfect wedding,” Raina said. “They were beautiful. Friends and family, coworkers, children. It was great.”
She had just set her bag down on her dressing table as she spoke. He was behind her, turning her around to face him.
“I’d love something similar for us,” he said softly, kissing her lips.
“Is that a proposal?”
“An assumption, but an educated guess,” he said.
She grinned. “I think you’re supposed to be on your knees, and maybe have a ring to offer me, something like that.”
“Really? You don’t get down and ask me?” he asked.
She grinned. “Hmm. Cocky, aren’t you?”
“Well, no, not really. I mean, well, I don’t have the ring—yet. The thing is, I know why nothing else has worked all my life. I know what I want. Being with you. Dealing with the complicated, the good and the bad, handling the painful together, and all that’s good and sweet and wonderful, as well. I like to believe you feel the same way—without being too cocky.” He suddenly fell to his knees with a dramatic finesse. “Marry me, because you are the love of my life, my soul mate, my heart mate, and...”
“And?”
“Frankly, because you just might be crazy enough to be with me—for all of our lives.”
“The first part was the best!” She laughed. “Sure. I’ll marry you. Who else would be crazy enough to marry me?”
“At least I started out being eloquent!”
“Eloquent.” She shook her head. “I’ll teach you eloquent.”
She kissed him. The kiss deepened, and they were breathless when they parted, ready to tear off their clothing and take that kiss where it was destined to go.
“Hmm,” he murmured, eyes golden and teasing. “That was a deliciously eloquent kind of silence.”
“I can demonstrate it some more if you’d like,” she said.
“Please do!”
She did.
And that night, she remembered back, when she had wondered if lying beside him each night could be her life, how much she had yearned for this, a lifetime with him, sleeping beside him, waking with him, learning his thoughts, being a part of his life.
She curled into his arms, and she was saddened as she thought about Jennifer and Jordan again.
Saddened, and grateful. She had learned from them.
They had the gift of life. And the gift of love.
The future would bring hard times, new cases, puzzles, trials, work and more. Ups and downs.
Life.
Love.
And the unique and precious beauty of both.
* * *
Keep reading for an exclusive peek at the next spine-tingling tale in the Krewe of Hunters series by New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham.
Dreaming Death
When rookie agent Stacey Hanson has a dream that predicts the next victim of a serial killer, she teams up with agent Keenan Wallace to stop the violence, even if it might mean coming face to face with a nightmare.
Available September 22, 2020, from MIRA.
Dreaming Death
by Heather Graham
Prologue
A monster had come.
His eyes burned like twin globes of fire.
He was big and moved with purpose. All she could see was the red of his eyes and the bright red and pitch black of his demon face.
She’d seen him before...seen his face.
Somehow, she realized he wasn’t a demon. He was wearing a mask, a dark shirt, dark pants, a long jacket, and there was a bulge at his hip.
She thought he was carrying a gun.
She was grateful to realize he couldn’t see her. She was hidden, looking out. She couldn’t fathom her hiding spot, but he couldn’t see her. She knew because she was looking right at him, watching him, and he couldn’t see her.
He was in her father’s office, tearing things apart, jerking drawers from the desk, letting them crash to the floor. He rifled through the papers that fell from them, searching with the urgency of desperation.
Yes, she’d seen this as well...the demon-man tearing the place apart.
He went to the computer, swearing when he found it was password protected, sending it flying to the floor as well.
Then she he
ard her father’s voice. He was talking to someone.
Her mother.
The man with the burning red eyes went still, and he drew his gun, aiming it at the door.
This was new. She hadn’t seen this before.
It was then she started to scream. She had to warn them. She had to stop them from coming.
Her voice rose with urgency.
But the demon didn’t hear her; her parents didn’t hear her.
The door began to open.
“Stacey! Stacey, sweetheart! Wake up!”
Her mother was holding her. Her father was beside them. While her mom spoke and held her, her father smoothed back her hair.
“Baby, it’s a nightmare,” her dad said.
Her mother looked at him anxiously. “David, this is the third time. We’ve got to do something. We’ve got to get help.”
“Stacey, stop shaking! It’s a nightmare. Just a dream,” her father said firmly.
“No. No, Daddy, it’s a man, and he’s coming, he’s coming, and...”
“Yes, sweetheart, I know you’re seeing something. The devil, a demon, whatever.” Her father took a deep breath. “We’re...well, we’re going to get someone to help you. I know someone. A nice doctor who can talk you through this. She works with many people—young and old—who are troubled with nightmares. There’s something you’re afraid of, and if can just find out what it is...” Her mother trailed off at a look from her father. Then she asked, “Will you be able to sleep? Do you want me to stay in here with you?”
“Judith,” her dad murmured.
Stacey didn’t want to cause trouble between them. She was frightened; bone-chilling scared. But it wasn’t for her own safety. She saw what was going to happen from a distant place.
She was terrified for her parents.
Her father thought himself a capable man. He was a private investigator. He’d been in the military. He consulted and investigated for the police and other law enforcement agencies—He was a man who knew that life could be very dangerous.
He knew how to use a gun. But he didn’t always carry one. When he worked at home, it was kept locked in his gun safe. She’d heard her parents talk about it. Her mom didn’t like guns, so even though she admitted that at the age of ten Stacey was unlikely to disobey them and go grab her dad’s gun, the gun was to always be locked up in the house. It was one of the few arguments she’d ever heard them have.
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