Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) (27 page)

He’d parked Miranda’s car just outside the door, and the keys were in his pocket, but his truck would be more difficult for her to get into and might create an opportunity for him to disarm her.

“My work truck is right over there.” He nodded in the direction of the vehicle.

Vivian strode toward it with a no-nonsense gait, though he tried to drag his feet. “You were a Marine, Caleb. Don’t dishonor your brothers in arms by acting like you don’t know how to march to a tune.” Her gaze narrowed. “I can make you dance like a puppet if you force me to.”

The thought of her power pouring through him made his skin crawl.

“Passenger side,” she directed.

He opened the door and she waved him in. He’d barely rested his butt on the seat when she hopped in beside him, almost landing in his lap. The console dividing the seats held him captive as the pistol dug into his midsection. If she pulled the trigger he was a dead man.

“I can understand what Miranda sees in you. With your strong jaw and blue, blue eyes, you probably had to beat the girls off in every port. You have to have some smarts, too, to run your own business and survive two tours of duty overseas. If you use your brain instead of your brawn, you might just survive this.” Her hazel eyes were as cold as her smile.

She lowered the gun and leaned back just enough for him to climb across the console and get behind the wheel.

“Just how long have you known Miranda and Juliet?”

“Since grade school.” He started the truck.

“Turn right,” she directed. “So you and both the Templetons are pretty close, aren’t you?”

He wasn’t interested in talking about his private life with her. It might help her find more leverage to use against the twins.

“I can tell from the way you and Miranda look at each other that there’s more than friendship between you. And you’re so protective of her. Of them both.”

He glanced her way, but didn’t speak.

“That’s all right if you don’t want to talk to me about them. I promise you, you will soon enough.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Somewhere you’ve been many times in the last six months. Having Juliet hanging around recently must have put a crimp in things. Or have you done them both? I’ve heard Juliet isn’t as circumspect as her sister.” She smiled, but it looked more like she was grinding her teeth. “Had you been at my door just begging for sex, I’d have taken you in.”

He kept his eyes on the road and his expression controlled. No matter what happened, he wasn’t telling this bitch a damn thing.

C
hase slammed the
car door with more force than necessary and jerked his seatbelt in place. Dammit! Justin Chalmers had quit his bartending job at Steampunk Alley two days ago, and according to his landlady had left his one bedroom apartment in a hurry an hour ago with a large suitcase. He was in the wind and dangerous as hell.

He and his sister Suzette were a lethal combination. Their own parents had barely survived them. During an earlier phone interview, their father hadn’t said it straight out, but the records alone showed that the two had developed issues at an early age, and they’d left a swath of injured people in their wake, as well as at least one dead, Tanner Newton. Samuel Newton didn’t know how lucky he was to have escaped.

And where the hell was Suzette Chalmers? He’d been through every employee record with the help of Garr and Underwood, and couldn’t identify her. She had to be among the files he’d gotten from the library. There were no other connections between Miranda, Juliet, and Tanner Newton.

The files Miranda provided had photographs attached. He should take them to the hospital so Newton could identify the sister. He flipped open his phone and hit Garr’s number. “Any other info on the women’s files I gave you to go through?”

“I’ve finished the files on the bar employees and done some telephone interviews to follow up on work history. None of the employers I’ve spoken to had an issue with any of the females. I’ve looked at social security numbers hard. Aside from a few unpaid parking tickets there are no red flags.”

“Are you following up on Underwood’s files?”

“No, but I’m about to right now. He hasn’t gotten as far into them as I think he should have.”

Chase wasn’t surprised. “The files from the library have photos attached. Can you set them out like a photo array and make a copy of them for me? I’m going to take them to the hospital and see if Samuel Newton can identify the woman. His description of her could have been anyone. He said she had blonde streaked hair and hazel eyes. But the way women change their hair color—look closely at the social security numbers.”

“Will do. I’ll have the photo array ready by the time you get here.”

“I’m on my way.” He snapped the phone shut and reached for his seat belt. Ten minutes later he pulled into the precinct parking lot, jumped out of the car, and hotfooted it up the stairs and into the building. After seeing the crush waiting for the elevator, he decided to take the stairs.

Inside the office, Garr was waiting for him.

“This report on the photographic analysis just came in, and is weird as shit.” He offered the folder to Chase.

He flipped open the paperwork and looked at the blown up, enhanced image of the shadow inside Gerald Abbott’s cell. The hulking shape appeared to have substance, its long arms and hands hung at its side, but what drew Chase’s attention were the tiny spiders gathering outside the cell in a swarm. He hadn’t been able to see them on the video.

“And this is the report from the autopsy on Abbott.” Garr handed him the next folder.

Chase didn’t have to see the report to know what had killed the man. His insides had looked like soup with chunks of internal organs swimming in it. He got nauseous just thinking about it.

“Any ideas?” he asked.

Chase perused the document, then propped his hip on his own empty desk with a shake of his head. “I need to think this through.” He turned away so Garr couldn’t read his expression. “Underwood, have you run those social security numbers yet?”

Brian’s face was sullen as he looked over his shoulder. “I’ve gotten about half of them done.”

“Anything unusual?”

“I have something,” Garr announced. He shot Brian a look that could have singed the hair off his head. “Vivian Suzette Chalmers-Ward. She drives a 2012 blue Chevy Malibu. She’s registered at the college as Vivian Ward under her married name. Her husband died under mysterious circumstances, but she had an ironclad alibi provided by her brother, Justin Chalmers. She wiggled out from under the investigative team’s thumb because of it.” Garr handed Chase the copy of the information he’d compiled.

Vivian. He’d met her at the library when he went in to interview Miranda and Juliet yesterday afternoon. God, had it really been less than twenty-four hours? “I’ll put out a BOLO on her, her brother, and the car.”

“Why not an APB?” Underwood asked.

“We don’t have the evidence to arrest them yet. I’d lay odds she was the one who paid Abbott and Porter to kill Juliet Templeton. Weed Keller was shot right after Tanner Newton’s death. I can see her or her brother either one doing the deed themselves. If they still have the weapon and we can gain access to it, we’ll have them for Weed’s murder. I can’t see any way of tying them to Porter or Abbott’s deaths. Abbott made a statement, but he didn’t know who paid them.”

“She’s been right under Miranda’s nose at the library.” Underwood lumbered to his feet, excitement kindling his eyes. “Probably gathering information about her and Juliet. Waiting to finish the job.”

Was Underwood excited about the discovery, or was it the possibility the two people who knew about his assault on Juliet might end up dead?

Shit! Miranda and Juliet were at the library right now. Vivian and her brother could walk right in and take them out, and no one could stop them.

“We have to issue a BOLO with orders for the Chalmers not to be picked up, but to let us know if they’re spotted. I don’t want them getting rid of the gun if they haven’t already. We have to tread lightly.” His cell phone rang and he reached for it. It was Juliet.

“I have to take this. Garr, can you put out that BOLO? Instruct units to patrol the area around the library. Miranda and Juliet are there.”

“I’m on it.” He reached for the phone.

“Where are you?” he barked into the phone.

Juliet hesitated. “At the library where you left me.”

“No. I mean where in the library?”

“Miranda’s office, why?”

“Has Vivian Ward shown up for work yet?”

“No. She called in with car trouble and hasn’t come in yet. Why?”

“She’s Suzette, and she’s dangerous as hell. Justin Chalmers is her brother, and they’re working together. If they show up—” Shit, it would be carnage for the normal people in the library.

“She must be the one who picked him up in a blue Chevy near the police station. I couldn’t see her in the driver’s seat. It was too far away.”

Chase’s blood pressure spiked. The woman was going to kill him and get herself killed by holding back information. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t realize the make of the car would be important.”

Jesus, he was going to stroke out. “Did you make those phone calls for me?”

“Yes, I have a couple of names for you.”

He reached for a pad off of one of the nearby desks. “Give them to me. We may need them for backup.” With the first name he turned to look over his shoulder and met Garr’s gaze in surprise. No way. He wrote the other one down quickly.

“There’s something else you need to know. The creatures they’re using are from a graphic novel by an author named Sasha Carlton. One the students here recognized it from a doodle I was doing. We have one of the books here, and Miranda’s running a search to see who’s checked each copy out.”

“I can’t use a copy of a book to arrest them for murder.”

“You can’t, but I know of a council who can if we have enough witnesses to their actions. And we already do, if we can prove it’s them. They’re dangerous, Chase. They both need to be put away.”

“A council, huh?” Why wasn’t he surprised?

At his lingering pause she said, “I told you we police ourselves.” She cleared her throat, and he realized her voice was almost normal now. “They’re using black magic. Probably have since they were old enough to master the Craft. It has a way of building up and turning on you.”

“You keep telling me that, but it hasn’t done them in yet.”

“No, but their thinking won’t be logical. Their behavior won’t be, either. The way Vivian pushed Miranda, standing too close, being overbearing, her brother behaved the same way with me. They’ve lost their checks and balances. At this point they probably believe they’re omnipotent, which makes them more dangerous than you can imagine.”

She and Miranda had obviously been talking about everything they’d discovered. He could see where she was going with this a mile off. “I’m not taking a back seat on my case.”

“Then you’ll need some protection. Be sure to bring at least one of the guys I mentioned.”

“All right. I will.”

“If you could bring the spells you put into the evidence room it might be helpful. Miranda and I want to try a binding to block the power of the spell or at least lessen it.”

“Okay.” Not being able to call in regular backup seriously fucked everything up. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Faulkner is closer than I am. Call him for backup until I get there.”

“He wouldn’t be able to do any more than you will. Less, because he won’t be armed.”

“Miranda may need him. There was something going on with him the other night in the circle. The power poured off him.”

Her response was slow. “That’s…interesting. I’ll ask Miranda about it.”

He flipped off the phone with a flick of his thumb. Then he approached Hollis Garr. “I think we need to talk.”

*     *     *

He was in
hell. He’d only thought the middle of the desert surrounded by bombed out buildings, refuges, the enemy, and wounded soldiers was hell. This was hell. The pain went on and on. His skin was on fire. So was the inside of his skull. He writhed in the kitchen chair where they had him tied and gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.

Vivian came into his line of sight, and the flow of energy cut off. “Tell me and all of this can stop.”

No it wouldn’t. She and her psychotic brother were going to kill him, whether he told them anything or not. He stalled by collecting himself through the lull, using techniques he’d learned in the Marines and used in combat, and prepared for the next round. What she wanted he couldn’t give her. It would be like laying Miranda open to every moment of guilt and pain she’d experienced at Clay Maddox’s hands, and he wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t betray her.

Vivian grabbed him by the hair and jerked his head back. “Tell me, or so help me, I’ll set you on fire and watch you burn.”

He had to figure out how to let the power flow through him and back into her like he’d done with Miranda. If he could do that, it might burn her as badly as it did him and she’d stop.

His head hurt so much he barely felt when she tugged on his hair again. “Tell me, damn you.”