T
WO MINUTES WAS
a long time, one hundred twenty seconds, one hundred sixty heartbeats. In Jules’s case, it was roughly the time it took for the car to rumble to a stop in a deserted marina.
The engine cut off.
Jules sucked in a breath, then whispered, “We’ve stopped. I can’t really hear anything distinct—”
Moira popped back in again, a welcome sight. Her blonde hair fanned around her like a mermaid’s hair floating in the water. Her aura was almost completely silver now and radiated a peace the likes of which Jules had never known. Despite the dire situation, the sight of all that silver calmed Jules.
“Be still and quiet or they’ll hear you.”
Moira smiled, staring pointedly at the cell.
Jules glanced at it, then whispered, “Put the cell on mute so you can hear.”
The phone went silent. From outside, she heard two men shouting and what sounded like knuckles smacking flesh. She flinched and bumped into Zig, who groaned.
“I’m going to go see how far away they are,”
Moira said, then disappeared.
With no one to talk to, Jules started to shake. The walls closed in, the air grew thick and oppressive. The smell of copper was so strong, she could taste it in the back of her throat.
Moira reappeared. Her silvery aura had darkened to a dove gray.
“They’re on the other side of the marina, too far away. But that evil man is coming for you now.”
Tears stung her eyes and for once she didn’t fight them; instead she tucked the phone into a shadowed corner of the car and whispered, “Someone’s coming for me. In case I don’t make it, Dev, I need you to tell Shelley I never gave up looking for her and Hannah.”
They must have clicked off the mute because Dev’s whispered words came through the phone. “You’re not going to die. We’re almost there! Hang on.”
“Stall, submit, do whatever it takes,” Seth interjected. “We’re crossing the marina now.”
“Seth?” If death was seconds away and they were minutes, there never would be a right time. “I don’t think you’re going to make it. Seth, I need you to know . . . I love you.”
“Ah, precious, I love you too,” he replied.
“Well . . .” Tears spilled down her cheeks, choking her words. “I hate that I love such a big, stupid, narrow-minded—”
Her words were cut off when the trunk flew open and she was wrenched out of it by her hair.
• • •
J
ULES’S CRY OF
pain lanced through him. Seth lunged for the phone, only to have Jones snatch it up, hit the mute button again, and toss it in the back seat to Sam.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Seth roared his outrage and attempted to grab the phone back from a surprisingly strong Sam.
Jules yelled, but her words were unintelligible.
“Detective, we need the element of surprise,” Dev said with a deadly calm voice.
As the older detective, Seth knew Jones was right. And if she cried out, she still breathed. Acting irrationally wouldn’t save her. And he’d be damned if he’d lose her now.
They passed beneath the lamppost adorned with a
Welcome to TSP
sign. Jones popped the car into neutral and cut the engine and lights. The car rolled forward in the darkness.
“There they are.” Jones pointed to a car with three people outside of it. Two men and a woman. Jules.
The car rolled to a stop.
“Stay here,” Seth ordered Sam.
He didn’t wait to see if Sam agreed but hopped out with Jones. Keeping to the shadows, guns drawn, they moved stealthily to the scene.
Hart looked like he was taking a good beating. Blood and dirt coated his shirt. Both eyes were nearly swollen shut. The cop had his back to Seth. He recognized the officer insomuch as he knew he
should
know the man. Other than that, until the
cop
turned around, Seth was at a loss.
“She was my fiancée!” Hart shouted.
“She was a fucking thief!” his adversary retorted and threw a punch knocking Hart to the ground.
Hart pushed to his wobbly feet and yelled, “You’re the thief. Aimee-Lynn was right. I should never have trusted you.”
The cop put his hands on his hips, threw his head back, and laughed a high-pitched nasal laugh. It was the laugh Seth recognized. He’d heard it when he’d picked Jules up from the shop yesterday. Gareth.
Officer Chaz Gareth. The officer who’d allowed Jules to climb into the Dumpster with the corpse. One of the two officers Seth had assigned to protect Jules. The only other person at the station, besides Seth and Jones, who’d been at every burglary scene committed by the Diamond Gang.
Jules! A shadow moved to his left and shells crunched. He whipped his gaze in the direction of the noise.
She crouched low, slowly edging her way toward the sparse trees beyond the lamppost. He didn’t know why she didn’t just run, until Gareth, gun drawn, charged up and grabbed her by her injured arm.
Her scream of pain didn’t stop him from dragging her to the back of the car where he shoved her to her knees beside Mason. Seth must have missed the last punch Gareth threw because Mason was flat on his back on the ground and groaning.
“Give me the diamonds!” Gareth pointed his weapon at Jules.
Then time slowed down and sped up simultaneously.
Mason lurched to his feet between Jules and the gun, his arms thrown wide, yelling, “No!”
“Gun!” Jones yelled, sprinting ahead.
Gareth whipped the gun down Hart’s face with a thunderous
crack
. Mason sank to the ground, unmoving. Jules screamed. And screamed.
Seth sprinted, fast and sure, as if he traversed the seashell-encrusted parking lot on a daily basis. Bringing his right arm up, he aimed at Gareth. The bastard’s head lined up perfectly in his sights. Before Seth could get off a shot, Jules blocked it.
In that moment, life for Seth stopped. It didn’t matter that she thought she talked to ghosts. It didn’t matter that she’d inadvertently screwed up his case and probably his career. All that mattered was she was about to die. And without a high-powered rifle, there was no way he could take a shot from this distance without risking Jules.
• • •
“A
RE YOU GONNA
tell me where you hid the diamonds, bitch?” Officer Chaz Gareth demanded, pressing the cold steel of his gun harder into her forehead. “Or do I kill you now?”
Jules considered telling him the truth, that she’d turned the diamonds over to Dev, but she suspected Gareth would just pull the trigger if she did.
Mason moaned softly next to her and stirred to life. He pushed to all fours and spat blood onto the crushed oyster pavement, splattering the white shells with drops of red. “Chaz,” he said, in raspy tones. “Chaz, she’s innocent in all this.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Gareth kicked Mason in the ribs so hard, he lifted off the ground and crashed back down. The sickening crack of ribs breaking ripped through the quiet.
“I’m sorry, Jules,” Mason said between gasps of pain. His normally handsome features were drawn and pale. “I didn’t know he’d killed Aimee-Lynn until after I saw you had the purse.”
“Mason, why would you be involved in something like this? You’re rich.”
Mason shook his head weakly. The pain in his handsome eyes spoke of something deeper than the physical abuse he was taking. Unshed tears brightened his eyes. “I made a mistake a long time ago. A stupid accident and people died. I’ll never stop paying for it.”
Gareth kicked him in the chest again and Mason gasped for air. “You’re such a fucking wimp.” He squatted down between them and screwed up his face. “That fucking sob story again? Christ, man-up or learn to deal with it. You wanted to prove to your father you had the balls to get the Edmunson building. And you did. Then you had to fuck it up and whine,
‘Daddy doesn’t believe me, Chaz. Help me, Chaz. I’ll do anything you ask.’
I fucking helped you then you brought that bitch into my life. Because of you, that damned slut stole my diamonds.”
“Aimee-Lynn wasn’t a slut,” Mason ground out from between his teeth. “You shouldn’t have touched her. She was my fiancée. We were supposed to be a family. I’d have died for her.”
“God, you’re such a pussy.” Gareth kicked him in the head, sending Mason flying sideways and skittering over the oyster shells. He didn’t move. Jules wasn’t even sure he still breathed, but Chaz kept talking as if Mason could hear him.
“I told you that bitch was nothing but trouble. It didn’t take her nearly as long as it took you to figure out we weren’t testing security systems.”
He turned and glared at Jules.
She shivered and tried to back up, but with the car behind her, there was nowhere to go. He sauntered closer to her and again brought the gun to her forehead. She bit down on her lower lip to keep from crying out in pain as the barrel dug into her flesh.
“Now, where did you hide my diamonds?” He smiled a cold, cruel smile.
“You’re just going to kill me when I tell you, right?” she asked with a bravado she didn’t feel. “Just like you killed Aimee-Lynn and . . . and the guy who mugged me? He worked with you, didn’t he? I didn’t get it at the time, but he wasn’t some random mugger. He knew the diamonds were in my purse and he wanted them.”
“Of course, I killed that two-bit piece of shit,” Gareth snapped and swung the barrel away from her head. With his hands loosely holding the gun between his spread thighs, he chatted as if he hadn’t just beaten Mason almost to death.
“I told them how I wanted it handled but that wimp and Jack panicked when they realized I’d already killed Aimee-fucking-Lynn. No one was supposed to draw attention to us or that purse. But Jack, that worthless sack of shit, fucked up. You could identify him. I knew he’d turn on me the moment he was caught, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
“But why kill Mason?” She squeaked in alarm the moment he raised the gun to her head again.
“Because with his daddy’s money and power, he could get off,” he sneered. “Someone like me, a hardworking guy from the streets, they’d lock up forever. That asshole doesn’t deserve to be rich.”
He swung the gun toward Mason’s unmoving body and pulled the trigger. Jules screamed as the shot rent the night. Blood poured from Mason’s hip, but he didn’t move.
The barrel of the gun swung back at her face and Jules threw up her hands, ready to grab for it. But all she captured was air between her fingers as someone launched himself at Gareth, taking him to the ground.
Samuel’s dirty, bedraggled brown coat was all she saw before the gunshot rang out. Both men stopped moving. Samuel collapsed on top of Gareth, and blood spread out from beneath their bodies.
Someone screamed. And screamed. And screamed. It took a moment for Jules to realize it was her.
“Jules.” Seth appeared beside her, seemingly from nowhere. With a gun in his right hand, he lightly stroked his left one down her cheek. “Precious, are you okay?”
Dev appeared on the other side of Samuel and Gareth’s bodies. He rolled the men apart. Gareth appeared to be knocked out. Samuel breathed shallowly, his long scruffy beard was stained crimson and almost covered the gaping hole in his chest.
Tears burned in her eyes and Jules shoved Seth away, half-crawling, half-stumbling to Samuel’s side. “Oh Samuel, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Tears blurred her vision as she watched him gasp one last breath.
For a moment there was stillness. No wind, no noise, a pervasive nothingness that enshrouded the entire parking lot. Then Moira and Penny shimmered into being beside Samuel’s body. Mother and daughter wept silvery tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered around the lump in her throat. “He died saving me. I’m so sorry.”
A third light winked into being, soft and silver white. It elongated and reshaped itself over and over. Moira and her daughter flanked the light, watching, anticipation on their faces. Seconds later, Samuel shimmered into existence. Not the man he was when he had died, but the man his family had known him to be. Clean-cut, youthful, and handsome.
He kissed his wife’s cheek, then swept his little girl into his arms and hugged her close. The family’s collective aura shifted between white and silver. And when the little girl giggled at her father’s kisses, her aura sparkled.
“Thank you for giving me purpose again,” Samuel said, gazing at Jules. “I stopped living the night my family died. But then you came into my alley and reminded me they were always with me.” He glanced at his wife and daughter, then back at Jules. “And now they always will be.”
Wet tracks slid down her cheeks as Jules watched the family start to fade. Just when she’d thought they’d gone, the little girl shimmered back. “Tell him he didn’t do it. It wasn’t his fault.”
“Him who?”
The child pointed at Mason. “The fire truly was an accident caused by bad wiring. It wasn’t his fault. We don’t blame him. He couldn’t have saved us any more than my daddy could have.” Then she shimmered away.
Then, as it always did, life and sounds returned in a rush. The streetlights were too bright. The sounds of the police sirens in the distance were too loud. And every scrape, bang, and bruise she’d acquired in the past few days scored a perfect ten on the pain scale.
“Jules?” Seth’s voice sounded soft in her mind. Had he whispered? Or was she hearing him in her head? “Precious, talk to me.”
Her stomach lurched threateningly. She shuffled away to be sick alone. But she wasn’t alone. Seth stroked her back until the violent spasms ended.
She rocked back on her knees and the drugging darkness swept over her.
• • •
S
ETH CALLED 9-1-1
again and demanded an ETA on the ambulances, updating them on the number of injuries. A quick check on Harmon showed the young officer still hadn’t regained consciousness.
Squatting down to where Jules lay, Seth removed his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, then pulled her into his arms.
He stared at her in wonder. Either he was going crazy or she’d just been talking to
ghosts
. He glanced over to his partner, who was monitoring the vital signs of both Mason Hart and Zig Harmon.