by Lena Gregory
Grave Consequences
When stories begin circulating of a centuries-old ghost haunting the Bay Island lighthouse, Cass is caught up in mystical happenings of her own, with countless voices from the beyond all clamoring for her attention with dire warnings. But before she has a chance to learn whether there’s a connection between the rumored ghost and her restless visitors, the lighthouse keeper mysteriously falls to his death, and Cass’s reputation for communing with the dead lands her right in the middle of the police investigation.
Cass knows the victim was no saint, as he made little effort to hide his philandering ways from his wife or anyone else, and often acted out with no thought for the feelings of others. But had he finally gone too far, or were there more menacing motives behind his murder? As Cass begins building a list of suspects, including the man’s supposedly grieving wife and a mysterious new woman in town, she also turns her ear to those otherworldly voices, hoping for a clue. And as she begins to close in on the culprit, she realizes too late that if she’s not careful, she’ll soon be communicating with the dead in person . . .
Title Page
Copyright
Grave Consequences
Lena Gregory
Copyright © 2020 by Denise Pysarchuk.
Cover design by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
Published by Beyond the Page at Smashwords
Beyond the Page Books
are published by
Beyond the Page Publishing
www.beyondthepagepub.com
ISBN: 978-1-950461-50-9
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Books by Lena Gregory
About the Author
Chapter One
Mist swirled around Cass Donovan, enveloping her in a shroud of chaos. Darkness disoriented her, but still, she squeezed her eyes closed tighter, searching for answers, reaching—
Voices assailed her from every direction, all vying for her attention, each begging louder than the next: “If you ask me . . . no one told me . . . you have to reach out . . . doctor . . . school . . . never come to you . . . the beach . . . lighthouse . . . go . . . loser . . . killed me . . . hidden . . . secret . . . lost . . . love of my . . . help . . . tell them . . .”
“Enough already!” Cass slammed her palms against the large round table where she conducted her psychic readings and lurched to her feet, toppling the oversized velvet-covered chair behind her.
Bee Maxwell, one of her two best friends, caught the chair on his way past, righted it in one smooth motion, and continued trudging toward the coffeepot on the back counter of Mystical Musings, Cass’s psychic shop on Bay Island’s boardwalk. “Honey, I did not get up at the crack of dawn to come down here and watch you have a temper tantrum.”
“For the record, Bee, ten a.m. is hardly the crack of dawn.” Though, in all fairness, it was to him, since he spent most of his nights working on new designs in the back room of Dreamweaver Designs, his designer gown shop down the boardwalk from Mystical Musings.
He grunted in response and filled his big mug to the brim.
“And I am not having a tantrum.” Well . . . maybe a small one, but it wasn’t for her own sake, it was for Stephanie’s, so that didn’t count.
Cass groaned and flopped back onto the chair. She closed her eyes, lowered her head into her hands, and willed the voices to stay quiet long enough for her to make sense of what any of them were saying. Even just one coherent sentence.
The barrage continued. “Not time yet . . . can’t find . . . lighthouse . . . climb . . . not fair . . . have to find it . . . get that lying . . .”
Yet, each time she tried to grasp hold of one, hold on long enough to discern what it wanted, it eluded her, slipping away like a wisp of smoke on a summer breeze. “I’m sorry, Stephanie.”
Stephanie Lawrence, the other of Cass’s two best friends, a woman she’d do anything in the world for with no hesitation, stood from her chair across the table from Cass, slung her bag over her shoulder, and shrugged. Though she forced a smile, there was no mistaking the disappointment clouding her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe we can try another color reading later.” While color readings usually relaxed Cass, allowing whatever energy she needed to flow freely, her last attempt to do one for Stephanie had left her weak, her hands trembling too badly to hold the colored pencil, her head pounding.
“Sure thing. Thanks for trying again.” Stephanie started toward the door. “I’ve got to get going. I’m meeting with a new client in fifteen minutes.”
Cass stood and laid a hand on her arm to stop her. “Please, Stephanie. Just let me try again later, okay? I’m just learning to cope with all the voices who’ve figured out I can actually communicate with them, and I need a little time to work it out.”
Stephanie patted Cass’s hand. “It’s fine, Cass, honestly. We can try again whenever you have time.”
Pain squeezed her heart. It wasn’t fine. Stephanie needed her, and she’d failed. No sense apologizing again; she’d just have to try harder.
“Or, here’s a novel idea . . .” Bee leaned against the counter and crossed one leg over the other. He blew steam from his coffee mug, took a sip, then glanced up. “Why don’t you just wait and see what happens? Maybe there are some things we’re not meant to know ahead of time.”
Cass shot daggers at him, willing him to be quiet. Why had she asked him to come down to the shop, anyway? Oh, right. Moral support. And so he could take care of any customers that came in while she devoted her full attention to Stephanie.
Stephanie scowled, then huffed out a breath and shrugged. “Maybe you’re right, Bee.”
“I usually am.” Ignoring Cass’s Shut up look, he patted Beast’s head, then took the seat Stephanie had just vacated and set his coffee on the table. “By the way, Cass, I seem to remember today’s invitation coming with breakfast.”
Beast, Cass�
��s Leonberger, who’d finally grown into his too-big paws, plopped his head onto Bee’s lap and gazed up at Cass, longing filling his huge brown eyes.
Bee laid a hand on his head. “I know, Beast. Seems we’re both waiting a long time for breakfast this morning, huh?”
Beast barked once.
Traitor.
Cass ignored them and hugged Stephanie. “We’ll figure it out, Steph. Try not to worry so much. I know there’s a baby for you out there somewhere.”
She stepped back, her eyes filled with hope. “Is that something you see? Or are you just being supportive?”
She honestly didn’t know. Even if there was a message from beyond to be had, she couldn’t hear it past the constant chatter in her head, the constant pleas for her to seek out loved ones and pass on a million messages—some important, like the man who’d been murdered by his own beneficiary and wanted justice, or the woman who begged forgiveness for a sin Cass couldn’t pick out amid the chatter, and others less so, like the woman who constantly badgered Cass to tell her ex-husband what a bum he was. While Cass could certainly understand the sentiment, she had no intention of wasting time seeking the man out and fulfilling the woman’s request. “Honestly, Steph, I can’t tell. Let’s just call it a strong gut feeling and leave it at that for now, okay?”
Stephanie chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then tucked her frizzy brown hair behind her ear and nodded. “You know what? You’re right. When the time is right, it’ll happen.”
“Yes, it will,” Bee called to her. “Maybe the reason Cass can’t see when you’ll get a baby is because it hasn’t been decided yet. Maybe the perfect child for you just isn’t available at the moment. Seems it’s worth being patient until he or she needs you the most, even if that means waiting a while.”
Tears shimmered in Stephanie’s eyes as she crossed the shop, laid a hand on Bee’s shoulder, and stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “You’re right, Bee. Again, as much as I hate to admit it. Thank you.”
“Of course, dear.” He patted her hand. “And since you’ve admitted twice in as many minutes that I’m right, I’m going to treat you to something special. Can both of you take off for a few hours later, go do something fun before the schools let out next week and tourist season reaches its peak and everything gets too crowded to enjoy?”
Knowing Bee was trying to distract Stephanie from obsessing over adopting a child, all Cass’s earlier annoyance with him fled. This was why she’d asked him to come in this morning, because Bee just had a way with people, with friends. “Sure, I can close up for a few hours around lunchtime.”
“Okay, it’s a date.” Stephanie hiked her bag higher onto her shoulder. “Where are we going?”
“You just meet us here when you finish up. I’ll take care of the plans,” Bee said.
“Sure thing, thanks, Bee.” She opened the door, jingling the chimes Cass had hung to alert her whenever a customer entered.
“Anytime.” Bee waved.
Cass watched Stephanie cross the small lot and climb into her car, then turned to Bee. “Thank you.”
He got up, went to the back counter, and filled a second mug with coffee. “She’s obsessing, Cass, to the point of not having an interest in anything else. You have to stop feeding into that.”
His judgment put her back up. Who was he to tell her what to do? “What are you talking about, Bee?”
He set the mug on the table in front of Cass’s seat and gestured for her to sit, then abandoned his seat across the table in favor of the one next to hers.
She forgave him a little—just a little—as she dropped onto the chair and wrapped her hands around the warm mug.
“Ever since the woman Tank was talking to about adopting the baby decided to go with another couple, you two have been killing yourselves trying to see when another baby would come available. Maybe, if she just accepts that you can’t see it, she’ll be able to focus on something else until one does.”
The fact that he was right only annoyed her more.
He pushed the milk toward her. “It’s not like there was a problem with them adopting, just that one birth mother’s personal preference.”
Cass couldn’t blame the woman, and Stephanie had certainly understood.
The woman had explained that after her own father had traded her mother in for a newer model and taken off without so much as a backward glance, she had been raised by a single mother who’d been too broken to be more than a shell for her children. The woman hadn’t wanted to place her own child with a detective, was too worried something would happen to him. If she’d wanted her daughter to be raised by a single mother, she wouldn’t be giving her up for adoption. She’d ended up placing her with two teachers instead.
So, not only had Stephanie been left with the heartbreak of not getting the infant, she’d been forced to look long and hard at the danger her husband faced every day. Though Bay Island didn’t boast a particularly high crime rate, you never knew what each day would bring, despite Cass’s attempts to the contrary.
Thoughts of Detective Luke Morgan’s deep blue eyes and killer smile slid in. He’d taken a job on Bay Island as the partner of Stephanie’s husband, Tank, to be closer to Cass when their long-distance relationship seemed to be failing. She hadn’t seen that coming either. The vise on her heart eased a little.
“I know you only want to make things better . . .” Bee gripped her hand, his large hand surrounding hers bringing immediate comfort. “And that’s one of the things I love most about you. But sometimes you have to accept that there are some aches you just can’t ease.”
Bee would understand that. He hadn’t grown up easy and had suffered his own share of heartache in the past.
So had Cass. And he was right . . . again . . . Ugh . . .
Sometimes nothing could take away the hurt, but having a good friend to lean on helped. She squeezed Bee’s hand.
“Come on . . . say it . . .” He waggled his thick dark eyebrows, like two fat caterpillars dancing beneath his bleached blond bangs.
“Not happening.” No way was she saying the words after Stephanie had already admitted he was right twice in a row. Couldn’t have it going to his head.
He shot her a grin. “That’s okay. You don’t actually have to say it; it’s enough that we both know I’m right. Again.”
She laughed, feeling better than she had in days.
Bee slid his coffee mug over and took a big gulp. “So, where do you want to go this afternoon?”
“Hmm . . . I don’t know. We could go to the beach, I guess, but I don’t think sitting around doing nothing is going to help Stephanie’s mood any.”
“No, you’re probably right, though I’d love a chance to work on my tan. And shopping’s out, because she’s trying to save all of her money for the adoption.”
Distracted, Cass stared out the back window of Mystical Musings, scanning the beach that would soon be jam-packed with tourists. One word kept repeating itself over and over in her mind. Her own thought, or someone trying to send her a message? Before she could think too much about it, she blurted out the word. “Lighthouse?”
“Yeah?” Bee studied her and narrowed his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to your request to go to the lighthouse than just keeping Stephanie occupied?”
Cass shrugged. He knew her too well for her to hide the truth. “I’ll make you a deal: you stay up and spend a few hours being a good friend and playing tourist, and I’ll refrain from telling you there are voices in my head battling for attention, the loudest of which is screaming something about the lighthouse.”
Bee huffed, fluttering his bangs off his forehead. “Fine. But I want that breakfast you promised me. And you’d better make sure there’s bacon. Beast and I are both running out of patience.”
Cass held her hand out. “So, it’s a deal?”
He rolled his eyes and shook her proffered hand. “Sure, why not? We could wander through the museum and gift shop then climb to the top and
look out over the bay.”
“Okay, then, but unfortunately, you’ll have to go pick up breakfast since I’m already open.” She smiled sweetly. “Make mine a bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll with home fries.”
The chimes above the front door sounded as her first customer of the day entered the shop.
Bee muttered something as he grabbed Cass’s car keys and called Beast to take a ride with him.
Cass took a deep breath and tried to rid herself of the stress Stephanie’s reading had left hanging over her. She had no readings scheduled for this morning, and she hoped it stayed that way. Lately, any time she opened herself up to do a reading, the voices from beyond bombarded her. Now, if she could just get the mess under control before her next group reading this weekend . . . Maybe taking the afternoon with friends would help. At the lighthouse.
Lighthouse, lighthouse, lighthouse . . . The thought taunted her, over and over, seared into her mind along with an image of the Bay Island Lighthouse standing sentinel atop the bluff at the tip of the island. She glanced out the back window at the lighthouse just as a dark cloud slipped across the sun, casting a shadow along the beach and over the bluff, but only for a moment, before resuming its trek east across the bay toward the south fork of Long Island.
Chapter Two
Cass took her time driving up the long, winding road that led to the Bay Island Lighthouse. A thick stand of woods bordered the road, the dense foliage blocking any view of the bay that might be visible during the winter months.
Stephanie sat beside her in the passenger seat, not brooding, exactly, but quiet just the same.
Bee kept up a nonstop monologue, detailing all of the new gossip he’d gathered while picking up breakfast that morning. Though the shop had been too busy for Cass to sit and chat with him before she’d closed up to head out to the lighthouse, she hadn’t been asked for a single reading. A fact she was especially grateful for, since it meant the voices had taken the morning off.