Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (40 page)

“It scares me.”

Tori patted him on the knee. It scared her too, but she didn’t have a choice. They needed to find those three girls. They also needed to talk to Elbert Barber.

They were running out of time.

Tori couldn’t help but feel the pinch of it.

“Promise me you’ll be okay.”

Before she could reassure him, the radio chimed to life.

“Don’t. Do. It.”

Apparently, Trey was done watching Roman.

“Trey,” she said, tired of having to justify it to everyone. It was her job, her gift, and she knew she could do it. Why was it so hard for everyone else to trust her?

“See? Even your dead brother knows not to do it. The risk is too high.”

Tori tried to stay calm.

“No. More. Babies. Risk. Too. Big.”

The second it was said, Tori cringed.

Well, this was going to be ugly.

“Trey, shut up!”

Julian put his hand on her arm as he drove. “No! Trey, what do you mean no more babies?”

“Only. Chance. One. Shot.”

He glanced over. “What is he talking about? Why is he telling us that there’s only one baby?”

This wasn’t how she wanted to tell him.

Hell!

She really never wanted to tell him. Her hope was they’d have Veronica, and she’d be enough.

“Tori?” he asked.

“Bethany told me this was our one shot. After this, I won’t be getting pregnant again.”

He pulled over in a parking lot. “Wait! What?”

She knew he was going to lose it. Julian was going to flip his shit, and she likely deserved it.

“You knew this for how long, Victoria Rose?”

Crap.

There was her full name.

He only did that when he was irritated or having sex. She was pretty sure option two was not happening for a long time after this conversation.

Now…

Did she lie?

“A couple months.”

The car went silent.

“I see.”

Julian handed her the keys and opened the driver’s side door.

“Where are you going?” she asked, getting that panicked feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I’m getting a rental and heading back to the school. I’m going to work on the case on my own. You can handle this interview. I need to be alone.”

He got out and began walking down the street.

“Julian.”

He didn’t look back.

This was bad.

Tori had expected an explosion. She never saw this coming.

Never.

Then it dawned on her. What if the reason they couldn’t have more kids wasn’t because she couldn’t have any more, but because their marriage might be over?

Well, shit!

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

When she found the house, Tori had managed to calm down. She made herself sick over it, and no matter how much Trey tried to cheer her up, she wasn’t speaking to him.

In her head, she could hear Bethany and Trey trying to chatter, and she managed to block it out.

When she got home, she was going to find that exorcist if it was the last thing she did.

Tori was pissed.

Heading up the walkway, Tori got ready to deal with another interview.

Alone.

It hurt that Julian had abandoned her and walked away. She knew why, but it still hurt.

Julian had no faith in her.

None.

As she knocked, she hoped the man wasn’t going to be home. Unfortunately, she was batting a big fat zero.

The door opened, and there stood a smiling woman.

“Can I help you?”

Tori did the introductions.

“I need to speak to Gene. He worked for the Remingtons, and it’s pertinent to a case.”

“Sure thing. Come on in. My name is Holly. I’m Gene’s wife.”

She led Tori back to a sun porch. On it, it was decorated with so many pots of flowers and herbs.

It smelled like heaven.

“This is pretty,” she stated.

“Thank you. When are you due?” she asked, pointing at Tori’s belly.

“Roughly three months. I can’t wait. I feel like hell most of the time. This baby is sucking the life out of me like a drunk nursing a bottle of Jack.”

She laughed. “I know how it is. Gene and I have three kids. They are a handful on a good day. Would you like some lemonade? I can add some fresh mint. It’s good for your digestion. You look a little upset.”

Yeah, Tori wondered what she had growing out there for husband issues.

“Thank you, I would love some.”

As Holly was walking out, in entered an older man, and Tori assumed it was Gene. He was in his fifties, and he looked spry and like everyone’s father—if you lived on a television sitcom.

“I’m Tori Littlemoon.”

He shook her hand. “I know! I saw you on the news this morning. You’re working on the Remington case.”

“Do you have time to answer some questions?” she asked, taking the offered seat.

“Certainly. What can I do to help?”

“What happened there all those years ago?”

He leaned back in his chair. “Cliff was my oldest friend. We grew up together. He came from money, and I didn’t. He was always interested in education. When his parents died, he opened that school with the intent to help people. He got a secret thrill out of being the president of a school.”

Yeah, and boning some high school girl too. She couldn’t forget that part. It was likely the center of the whole case.

“We stayed friends over the years. We were always there, having dinner, celebrating the milestones of the family. Rylee was his pride and joy, and she was just like him.”

Tori noticed there was no mention of Roman.

That was odd.

He was the older child.

Holly returned carrying a tray of lemonade and fresh cookies. As she placed them down, Gene patted the arm of his chair. “Have one. Holly is the best damn baker I’ve ever met.”

Tori couldn’t turn them down.

Really.

A pregnant woman and cookies were like two opposite magnets being pulled together. If you put them in a room together, they were going to meet in the middle.

It was fate.

Taking a bite, Tori was in heaven. “These are so good! I’ve never tasted anything like them before.”

“Butter cookies with lavender are very calming for a pregnancy. Addictive too! I packed you a few to go.”

Tori wanted to kiss her.

“Thank you.”

“What else do you need to know?”

“Why aren’t you still running Remington Academy?” she asked.

Holly cringed.

“Roman shut it down. I was doing a good job, but when his mother took her life, he wanted nothing to do with it. I offered to keep it running. I became addicted to it, much like Cliff. It sucked you in.”

She made notes as she sipped her lemonade. The mint made it perfect.

This was pregnancy heaven. Already, she was feeling less stressed and more at ease.

“Do you know what was going on with Clifford Remington and Devora Boyd?”

He tried to look confused, only Tori wasn’t buying it. She’d interviewed enough suspects to know a lie when she heard it.

“Roman’s girlfriend? Nothing to my knowledge, why?”

“Just curious.”

He looked over at his wife. “What am I missing?”

She shrugged.

“I can’t say more, simply because of the investigation, but I also need to know if anyone was harassing Clifford. Was someone trying to make his life hell?”

Well, other than Devora.

“There was some business man trying to buy the place, but that’s all. I don’t think he was trying to make him miserable per say, but he wanted the land.”

“Marshal Paul?”

He looked surprised that she had the name.

“Yes, that’s it. I’ve met him once, and he was a decent guy. Like I said, he wasn’t harassing him.”

Tori made notes.

It looked like Richard Wellbury had been right. She hated that, but Tori was woman enough to admit that he’d done a good job.

“Do you know where I can find him?” she asked.

He thought about it.

“I personally don’t know. Our contact was limited. He sent a few offers after Cliff died, but by then, I was running the place on paper only. Betty had all the control, and then it went to Roman when she died.” He paused. “Wait, do you know who would know?”

Tori glanced up. “Who?”

“Elbert Barber. He told me that he’d escorted the man onto the campus a few times.”

Tori stared at him.

Was he kidding her?

“Yeah, that’s an issue. He’s dead.”

The man looked shocked. “Really?”

Tori studied him. “He was found dead this morning. I can’t ask him.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard. That’s terrible.”

Tori got that odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was something she always listened to for preservation sake.

Yeah, on that note, it was time to go.

She needed to get back to the school.

Tori shook his hand. “Thank you for taking the time to talk to me,” she stated. “Holly, the cookies are appreciated. Thank you.”

They walked her out.

As she got behind the wheel, she pulled out her phone. Justin answered on the first ring.

“I have a top suspect.”

“Who?”

“Gene Gentry. I need everything on him, and cross check him against a man named Marshal Paul.”

“What are you thinking?”

“He didn’t lie once, but twice. He pointed me at a dead man, and then told me he didn’t know he was deceased. The only problem with that was he had previously told me he saw me on TV this morning. Elbert’s name was all over by the six o’clock news casts.”

There was typing.

“I’ll get it to you ASAP.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You’ll have it.”

She hoped so.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Julian was furious.

All the way back to the school, he wanted to punch something. His wife had given him the lecture on them being a team, and here she had been keeping a huge secret from him.

Yeah, that was a bad sign for their relationship. It reminded him of the woman he was living with before marrying Tori. She’d run his heart through the blender with her lies and cheating, and now to find out Tori had intentionally kept this from him?

Yeah, it hurt.

As he pulled in, there was no one at the school, and he was glad. Julian wanted to work in silence.

He still believed that the case would be broken wide open with something in the student files, so that was where he intended to start.

What else was he going to do?

Storm around in anger?

He didn’t have that luxury.

Once inside Clifford Remington’s office, he began pulling files from the drawers, each a folder with someone’s name. All the while, he could feel something watching him.

It made his skin crawl.

He wasn’t alone.

“Trey?” he called.

Nothing
.

“Bethany?”

Still nothing.

Grabbing the files, he placed them on the floor and dug through his messenger bag. Pulling out a container of table salt, he drew a circle on the floor.

Then he sat in it to work.

“I know you’re watching me. I have news for you. My wife is haunted. I come prepared. I also have holy water and sage. If you bother me, I’m lighting it up.”

When he said wife, his heart ached.

Yeah, that would be the woman he loved and had ditched outside of town to interview some stranger—
one who could be the killer.

Crap!

What the hell had he been thinking?