My father closed the Jeep’s door, his parental concern blanketing me. “What’s wrong?”
I looked out the dark window toward the cypress swamp bordering this old place. For some reason, my psychic block seemed magnified out here, as if the fate of the free world hung in balance. “You ever run out of gas?” I asked, dreading his answer.
“In my vehicle?”
“In your senses.”
“Ah. I wondered about that.” His eyes filled with understanding and empathy. “Carrying Wayne over the divide and back burned a lot of juice. You still feel like you want to sleep for a week?”
“Yes.”
“Did you try sleeping with your extra crystals?”
My head bobbed. I stared at his craggy profile. He didn’t seem to be exhausted. Somehow he’d recharged today. Not. Fair. “Why would I do that?”
“It’ll help. I’ll loan you my crystal shirt, though I’m sorry you need it. What about food? Is your appetite okay?”
“Nothing’s wrong with my eating, and if anything, I’m hungrier than before. But that could be stress. I’ve got a serious situation here. The sheriff expects me to go inside and tell him something useful about Marv and Belinda’s killer. I got nothing extra, only the faces in the mist that the normals claim to see.” I told him about my failure to help Stinger. “I’m wasting everyone’s time by even being here, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell Wayne I was broken. I couldn’t take a chance that he’d fire me. I need this job.”
My father nodded sagely. “To answer your question, yes, I ran out of gas a lot. Over the last year, I crashed every time I crossed over and back. If not for your mom and her crystal therapy, I wouldn’t be walking around today. I’d be in the loony bin. With any luck, you’re experiencing the same temporary effect from pulling too much power.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“Don’t get me wrong. This is serious, but fixable. Time is the best healer after shorting out your extrasensory circuits. And your mother’s crystals.”
The air inside the sheriff’s Jeep felt safe. But out there, out in the misty swamp air, something unseen triggered my deepest fears. If it were up to me, I’d put this car in reverse and never return. “Every time I step foot on this property something happens to me.”
“If you feel the dark pull of June’s Folly, then your senses aren’t totally fried. That’s good news. The other good news is your mother insisted I bring extra crystals with me. I’ll be right back.”
I let out a shaky breath. It would be okay. If my dad had returned whole from this sensory void, so could I. And my mom, bless her, intuitively knew what we needed to survive.
Dad opened my door and handed me a fistful of crystals. My fingers tingled as they closed around the unexpected lifeline. A sense of calm and well-being came over me, with guilt riding hard on its coattails. “Don’t you need to keep some for yourself?”
He grinned and patted the sides of his jeans. “Both my pants pockets are fully loaded. I wouldn’t dream of coming out here without these fancy rocks.”
I eased up and out of the vehicle. The night sky didn’t explode. The rough ground didn’t rumble or split open. Snarling creatures didn’t emerge from the swamp and invade my body. My fears had ramped all out of proportion to the situation, but I wouldn’t let fear beat me. Not now. Not ever.
I pocketed the crystals. “Thanks, Dad. I couldn’t do this job without you.”
“We’re all connected, honey. Don’t ever forget that. My mother used to call it the web of life.”
Bubba Paxton stepped out from behind the coroner’s van with a gurney and a sheepish grin. “Feeling better?”
What was the former drug dealer turned evangelist doing here? I covered my surprise with good manners. “Hey, Bubba. You part of Daddy’s coroner team?”
“Me and Tab been a team for awhile. He asked me to ride along tonight.”
Because it was June’s Folly. Dad had brought reinforcements, and whether it was for his benefit or mine, the result was the same. We were stronger because of our numbers. Lesson learned. “I’m glad to see you.”
Bubba fiddled with what looked to be a body bag. “You get in a bind inside, and we’ve got your back, you hear? Sensitives look out for each other.”
“I’m getting the message loud and clear. Don’t walk into a known danger zone alone.”
“Let’s grab these bodies and get the heck out of the swamp,” Bubba said. “I hate this place.”
Flashlights bobbed in the windows of the old house. I clicked on my light and started forward across the uneven ground. “My sentiments exactly.”
We made it across the yard and up the steps before Bubba and my dad froze. “Something’s got me,” Bubba said, his voice trembling. “I feel the cold on my legs.”
I smiled, even though I barely felt the chill. Instinctively, I touched my moldavite necklace. “Say hello to Oliver. He’s a ghost dog.” I softened my voice. “Good boy, Oliver. You’re a good doggie.”
“A dog?” Bubba said. “Why didn’t you say so? Can you see him?”
“Not right now, but it’s Oliver. I’m certain of that.”
Bubba squatted on the porch and extended his hand. “I like dogs. Hullo, Oliver. Can we be friends?”
A large mutt materialized by Bubba’s hand, tail wagging. “Looka there,” Bubba said. “It is a beautiful dog. How’d you get stuck out here?”
I knelt beside Bubba, and Oliver lay down between us, his head on my lap. We took a moment to pet him, then at a noise from inside, Oliver faded from sight.
“The chill is gone.” Bubba grinned from ear to ear as we rose to our feet. “You know the darnedest things.”
That knowledge had come at a high price. I didn’t want to think about when Rose the demon would collect on my debt. I raised my flashlight to eye level and crossed the threshold. Broken furniture populated the rooms visible from the foyer. My light didn’t penetrate the depth of the gloom in here. Not a good sign. The less time I spent in this creepy house, the better.
Even with my senses blanked out, the scent and pall of death slowed my stride. Heaviness filled the house with edgy emotion, terror, and pain. Death smelled ripe and coppery. A lot of blood had been spilled in this house. The front door creaked open another inch, the raspy sound grating on my ragged nerves.
“Hello?” I called as I crept forward, noting that the police flashlights were farther inside the dwelling. It figured that one of the county’s most famous haunted properties was a movie set locale. I wondered if they’d already filmed here, or if that was still on the schedule. Would they even finish the Ford Morrison movie now?
“This place is beyond creepy,” Bubba said. “The darkness is wrong. It’s too thick, and it sets my teeth on edge.”
“We’re here to do a job,” Dad said in a tight voice. “We’ll collect the bodies and leave.”
“Watch the steps,” Wayne instructed from above as a beam of light panned down the staircase to my right. “Keep to the outer edge.”
I heard the rasp of a zipper as Bubba and Dad opened a body bag behind me. There were two corpses in this house. Marv’s and Belinda’s. I transferred the flashlight to my left hand and reached my right into my pocketful of crystals. I could do this. I was a police consultant, after all. I’d stared death in the face before.
The blood coating the stairs was mostly on one side. I hugged the opposite wall as the sheriff had suggested. So intent was I on my footing that I didn’t glance up as I walked. When I reached the upper landing, the gruesome tableau stunned me. I lost my balance, staggered, and would’ve tumbled down the steps if not for Daddy and Bubba’s hands steadying me.
Linked together by physical touch, we viewed the scene.
Two sets of lifeless eyes stared at us blankly. A naked man and a woman had been strung up, lashed to the railing by their bound feet. Their wrists were duct-taped together. A crimson slash at each neck bespoke the violent means of death, as did the river of dried blood cascading down the worn steps.
I’d never met Marv, so I focused on Cap’n Bee. Her body was unmarred, and except for the gruesome throat slash, her skin was alabaster pale. I couldn’t miss her torso. Her full breasts and lush hips were the stuff of male fantasies. Who knew she had all of that going on under her baggy clothes?
For completeness, I scanned Marv’s lifeless body. No bruises, no apparent signs of a fight. His skin tone was pale also. Guess losing all your blood would do that to you.
Blood splatter marred the wall across from the bodies. That, along with the river of blood dried on the steps, told the gruesome tale. No question in my mind, the double murder occurred here. I did the math. Marv was last seen Friday night. Charlotte had been out here in early evening. We nearly walked in on a murder. I shuddered at the close call.
“Your thoughts, Madam Consultant?” the sheriff asked.
“Someone had it in for these people,” I began slowly, taking strength and solace from the physical connection to my father and his assistant. “They died here in this house, but how did two people who look to be in their primes allow this to happen? Why didn’t they resist?”
“The autopsy will tell us if they were drugged. Tap into your woo-woo powers and get us a lead so I can close this case.”
“It doesn’t work like that. The dead choose when they talk to me. I’m not a psychic channel you can tap into at will.” I’d been summoned to a few murder scenes now. I’d seen crimes of passion and crimes of opportunity. This looked like nothing I’d seen before. “This was planned out in advance. Your killer is making a statement.”
“Yeah.” Ronnie snickered from behind the sheriff. “He’s saying you’re dead.”
“It’s more than that, and you know it.” My voice rose. “This place is private, so the killer wouldn’t be disturbed. I’m surprised the railing held. Everything else in this place seems to be falling apart.”
“He thought of that,” Wayne said. “The railing is tied off to wall studs in two places and reinforced with two by sixes at the posts and the rail.”
“You think this killer’s a guy?”
“A woman couldn’t hang two adults upside down and slit their throats. This took brute strength and carpentry knowhow.”
“Point taken.” I needed to say something to redeem myself. “Where are their clothes?”
Ronnie lowered his camera and pointed down the hall with his light. One door gaped wide. “In the nookie room.”