Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (13 page)

"And you must be Alfred Carter." Joe
didn't offer his hand, nor did he take the one Carter offered. He
did nod to Theotokos, and then turned his attention to the
no-nonsense woman. "Is there a reason we have them
here?"

"Are you taking
lead,
Detective
?"
she asked. I guessed at that moment this was Captain Cooper's
replacement, although I didn't know her name yet. I couldn't
remember Joe ever even mentioning her before.

I was high enough not be walked
through, but low enough to hear and see. Although I did avert my
eyes from the bodies.

"Yeah, I'll take point." He glanced
over at Mastiff. "But I want make a point right now. I do not in
any way believe this was the work of Daniel Frasier. This MO fits a
series of rapes and killings perpetrated over five years ago, back
when Daniel and I were in uniform working together. I'm not going
to close any avenues in catching who's doing this by narrowing my
focus onto one man unless I'm sure. And I'd prefer to put that
focus on Karl Gibbons—or whoever he is."

Mastiff nodded. "I agree on
part of that." He glanced at the two Canadian officers and then
focused on the no-nonsense woman. "Captain Little—" (oh
no…seriously?!) "—I'm not going to agree that Daniel Frasier didn't
have
something
to
do with this, but I'm not going to say he's doing it
alone."

Joe's jaw clenched, but I was
surprised he didn't say anything. Captain Little turned to the two
out-of-town cops. "We'll handle things from here. You can go back
home, and as soon as we know—"

"Captain Little," Carter interrupted,
and I cringed. I didn't know this little woman, but I was pretty
sure that was a bad thing to do. "Constable Theotokos and I are
here until you catch both of the suspects."

Captain Little put her hands on her
hips, and although she was a good few inches shorter, stared the
asshole down. "Constable Carter," she said, and her words dripped
ice. "You do not have jurisdiction here. I have been in touch with
your superiors, and you and your partner are here on your own.
Finding and dealing with Karl Gibbons is the only thing your
superior wants, and we can work with that. But Daniel Frasier, even
if he was seen or identified in Montreal, committed no crime, nor
was he identified in one. He is not a person of interest to you, or
to the RCMP." She took a step forward, and he actually took a step
back. "You need to leave my crime scene, or I'll have you and your
partner put on ice until I can ship you back to Canada
myself."

Ooh…I like her!

Yay for the little
woman!

I wasn't surprised that Mae
stepped forward and pulled Carter back. She'd been the one to
diffuse the situation in Montreal as well. Maybe that's why the two
had been paired with one another. "
Oui
. Come, Alfred. Let zem do zere
job."

But Carter just wasn't going to budge.
He pointed a finger past Captain Little to Joe. "You're protecting
him because he's your old partner. But I know Daniel Frasier's
behind this. He attacked Ms. Martinique and tried to kill her. She
wouldn't finger him in Montreal, but I can make her ID him. I also
know the guy claiming to be her fiancé isn't her fiancé. He's Jason
Lawrence's attaché! I swear I'm going to find out what it is you're
hiding, Detective Halloran. I'll find Ms. Martinique and have her
brought in for questioning, and I'll make her talk—"

I don't think anyone expected Joe to
do what he did next. Especially not me. But he moved the distance
between himself and Constable Carter pretty fast, and with one
punch across the asshole's face, laid him out flat on his
back.

"Halloran!" Captain Little yelled
out.

But Joe wasn't having it.
He had a finger pointed down at Carter. "You will
not
touch Zoë; do I make
myself clear? She does not need your bullshit, and neither do we.
You heard the captain. Get the fuck out of here!"

Mae tugged on Carter, whose nose was
bleeding all over his mouth and chin. He grabbed a handkerchief out
of his pocket, and pushed it into his nose as he got up and glared
at Joe. "This isn't over, Halloran," he said, his voice muffled
through the cloth. Mae was still trying to pull him
away.

"Oh, yes, it is. I'm ordering you
out," Captain Little said, and motioned to two uniforms to her
right. "Please escort these two out of the park."

They nodded and flanked the two
constables as they left.

Captain Little rounded on
Joe and had a finger in his face. "Don't you
ever
do that again, you got that? I
can fight my own battles."

Joe's jaw clenched again.
It was kinda sexy. "I wasn't fighting
your
battle, captain. I was fighting
for Zoë. I don't like the way he keeps dragging her into this. And
I'm guessing they were the ones who wanted you to have me tailing
Zoë?"

She didn't answer.

Joe rubbed at his striking hand. "I
thought so." He pointed back at the bodies. "Zoë Martinique was
raped and left in the exact same way with her boyfriend at the
time, nearly five years ago. That was the first of these kinds of
attacks. Zoë survived. Whether this guy, Karl Gibbons, really died
in a shootout or not, we can't ignore the fact she is the only
survivor so far. All the others have died."

Captain Little looked at him intently.
"Which is why I have to agree that she needs protective custody,
Halloran. You have to bring her in and let us take care of
her."

Uh uh. No way.

"Captain, Zoë knows the dangers, and
she's willing to face them. Leaving her alone might actually lure
this guy out. If he's following her to Canada and now back—then I
think he's waiting his turn to finish the job." He licked his lips
and swallowed. "Daniel Frasier was obsessed with finding that guy
while he was dating Zoë. I think…I think he's watching for this
Karl guy, too. I think he's figured it out. I don't think he's out
there wanting to hurt her."

"But she didn't identify Karl as being
the one that attacked her in Montreal."

"Because she didn't see who it
was."

"Frasier was there with her, wasn't
he?"

Joe didn't answer immediately, and
Captain Little held up a hand. "Never mind. Work this case,
Halloran. But I don't want Ms. Martinique in any danger. I don't
want our only witness to this guy killed."

I felt him look up in the air at me,
one of the few people who could see me. "I don't think that'll
happen."

That's when I felt a cold
chill.

I know that doesn't sound significant,
but as a Wraith, I don't actually feel things like temperature. Not
like a physical body does. So if something was cold, that means it
was existing on the same Plane I was at that moment. There was
something else astral nearby.

Something close.

I let my own
Wraith-dar
seek out the
feeling. Sometimes it was just residual spirit energy. Astral
essences trapped in the Physical Plane because of a tether. I'd
even freed a few of those. This…was something a bit more
intense.

It was stronger. And it
was…

Behind me on the ground.

I let it pull me toward it and landed
easily on my feet. I didn't feel the ground beneath my bunny
slippers, but I knew it was there. If anyone saw me, they'd see
more of a moving shadow.

But what I saw standing a hundred
yards away from the lights, away from the people, just on the edge
of the woods, burned in front of me as bright as a light in the
darkness.

It was him. The Shade of the man I'd
been with the night of the rape.

Barry Stephens.

"Hi, Zoë," he said, and waved. "I am
here to help you."

Chapter Thirteen

All these years, and Barry
the Shade shows up
now
?

No…not a Shade. He wasn't in
black-and-white. He was living color. And he was walking closer to
me. All my Wraithy-nerves screamed at me to get the hell away from
him. I was somehow sure Barry had moved on after he was murdered. I
didn't know it for certain, but it made me feel better to think he
hadn't suffered any. That he was at peace.

Barry stopped in front of me and
stared. We'd only dated a few months and it'd been several years
ago. So I wasn't all that familiar with his mannerisms. Right now,
he sort of reminded me of someone.

"Zoë? Are you all right? Do you not
recognize me?"

I tilted my head to the right and my
wings did this sort of curling thing against my back.
"Barry?"

"Barry. Ah. That is the name of this
shape. And Barry was the name of the male with you the night you
were attacked."

Bingo. Figured it out right
there.

This was Geist.

"You ass—hat-and-a-half," I
hissed at him. "Why do you look like
that
?"

"This seemed to be the best choice in
taking a form to work with you. Previously I chose that of
Detective Joe Halloran, but since he is a larger presence in your
life at this point in time, and the form of Captain Kenneth Cooper
was forbidden to me, I chose someone in your memories who seemed
less…threatening. And authoritative."

"Barry was murdered."

"Yes. I saw that. Rather
gruesomely."

Not knowing before that Geist was
basically this supercomputer tied to the Thrones of the Abysmal and
Ethereal planes had carved him a niche in my heart when we first
met. After finding this out, his odd way of speaking and his insane
penchant for logic made a lot of sense.

But when he helped Rhonda cut me out
of Dags's memories, he went to the shit list. No. #2.

I remembered TC threatening
me with this walking computer. "Geist…" I held out my hands.
"Barry's not acceptable, either. In fact,
your
presence anywhere near me
isn't…acceptable. I want you to leave me the hell
alone."

"But the Phantasm has
requested—"

"I don't give a rat's ass." I couldn't
believe I was standing in Grant Park, 10:00 p.m., talking to a
planar computer in the shape of a long-dead boyfriend.

And I had wings.

These sorts of things just don't
happen to normal people, do they?

"Zoë, I am here to help you solve your
present predicament."

"Predicament?" I lowered my
arms. "There are two bodies—"I pointed "—right over there. I
think
their
predicament is much more important."

"They are dead. Their predicament has
been solved."

Oh boy.

"Geist, I don't want you around
me."

"The Phantasm has said
otherwise."

"No."

"Yes."

"Go away."

"No."

"You took Dags away from
me."

"I did not."

"You helped Rhonda."

"I did not. Rhonda made the argument
that your separation from the Guardian would be best for everyone.
He is your Achilles' heel. "

Something nagged at me in that last
statement. It was always pretty easy to spot Geist when he talked.
He didn't use contractions, or none that I could remember, and he
always seemed less emotionally invested than everyone else. But
still…something was wrong with what he'd just said. I just couldn't
pinpoint it.

"Zoë." He took a step toward me, and I
took one back. I wasn't repulsed by Geist, and he couldn't hurt me,
but the image of Barry was unnerving. At least he hadn't decided to
make it Barry with sliced-up neck. "I see that my presence is
indeed a hindrance to your emotional stability."

Oh, now wait a minute. "You're saying
you make me emotionally unstable?"

"Yes."

"Not you. But that look
does."

"Then this shell should work for the
immediate future."

I scratched my head. Previously when I
asked Geist to change his look, he did it without batting an eye.
But now he was standing his ground. Wow…was the program actually
gaining sentience? Possibly. Before I invaded the Abysmal Throne,
albeit temporarily, he'd been little more than a message-delivery
service.

Sort of blew that one all to hell,
didn't I?

I turned away from him. I wanted to
get back to Joe. I assumed the Ethereal presence I sensed was Geist
so the crime scene and those in it weren't in any immediate
danger.

Abruptly, Geist stood in front of me.
"Wait, Zoë."

Yeah, definitely a little different.
Pushy. "What? I told you—I'm not going to work with
you."

"But I have information that there are
Powers nearby."