Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (6 page)

When he saw her tears, Roman headed her way. Yes, she might hit him again, but then again, he knew his family probably deserved it. His dad had put the school’s reputation over the dead, and he needed to rectify that.

“Mattie,” he said, touching her shoulder. “Come on, don’t cry. Devora would hate that you’re hurting like this.”

And she would.

In a way, he couldn’t look at her and not see the woman he once loved. She was a part of this, and until that demon was vanquished, he was just as trapped as Matilda was.

They were in this together.

“I can’t fight anymore. I have nothing left. This has emotionally bankrupted me. Every day, I wake up and promise to find the killer, and I’m no further along than the day they went missing. I can’t do this anymore, Roman.”

He understood.

After all, he was carrying the same weight. In a way, it helped to know he wasn’t alone in this.

There was Mattie.

“I feel the same way. Maybe we can come together, meet in the middle, and fight this one as a team?”

His words caught her off guard.

“Wait! What?”

Julian took over for Roman. “We’re taking this case. We’re going to head to Haven and find out what is happening to the women there. Congratulations, Ms. Boyd, you hired us.”

They couldn’t have shocked Matilda any more had they tried. She couldn’t believe it.

“And we’re doing it pro-bono. We’re going to take this case for Roman. He’s asked that we work on it, and he’s going with us.”

Okay, maybe they could shock her even more.

“Pro-bono?”

Did she hear them right?

“Yes. We don’t charge our family to help. That goes against everything we stand for as Littlemoon Investigations. Roman is one of us, and we’re going to clear his family name once and for all.”

She didn’t know what to say.

Frankly, she was shocked.

Matilda began crying harder. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her chest.

Finally, there was hope.

Gently, Roman hugged her, wrapping his arms around her body to offer comfort of some sort. When she moved into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist, the memories flooded back.

She felt like Devora.

It was so familiar that he couldn’t focus on anything more than that one moment.

God
!

He missed that connection with someone. It was so brutal that it caused his heart to squeeze in his chest.

“It’ll be okay, Mattie. I promise that this time, it’ll be all right.” Roman hoped he wasn’t lying.

“Thank you, Roman. I’m so sorry I hit you. I shouldn’t have done it.”

He tried to smile. “It was a good shot. I’ll remember not to piss you off.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.

Despite who he was, Mattie wanted to memorize that moment. It had only happened once before, and so very long ago.

“How about we handle the schematics before going in?” Julian suggested. “Ms. Boyd, leave your information with our secretary, and she’ll keep in contact, getting you updates. We’ll make sure you know what’s going on every step of the way.”

She pulled away from Roman, finally getting what they were saying. They were telling her to go home and wait.

Yeah, she couldn’t do that.

“No way! I’m helping you figure this out!”

They all stared at her.

The looks said it all, but before they could say anything, she cut them all off.

“You heard me right! This was my sister who went missing too—my twin sister. I’m not going back to the library to reorder my card catalogue while you work on solving this. I’m in.”

Julian started laughing. “No, you really aren’t. That’s not how we work here.”

Matilda Boyd stood her ground.

“You need me. My sister told me everything. You’ll need to know her whereabouts, who she talked to, and what she talked about, right?”

“You could just write it down,” Julian offered. “That is what most clients do.”

She stood her ground. “I’m not technically your client.” She pointed at Roman. “He is.”

Tori liked the woman. She had spunk. It was always nice to find a female with some fire in her. Matilda Boyd had it.

That was for damn sure.

“If he’s helping, so am I,” she said, again, pointing at Roman.

“Yeah, he works here. He gets to help. You don’t work here. You get to go home. That’s how we roll.” Julian wasn’t budging on it. Their jobs tended to be dangerous, and he was thinking about the ghost aspect of their career.

Did he want someone else to find out about Tori’s gift?

Yeah, no.

She wasn’t having it. “I’m hell on research. I can be of assistance.”

“Great. If we want to check out any books, I’ll make sure we ask you,” he stated.

She sat. “I’m staying.”

“Roman,” Julian said, hoping the man could help them out. He knew what she was like, and he’d dated her twin. Maybe he had some pull on this one.

“I think we should let her help.”

Now she was staring at him as if he was crazy. “Wait! I just slapped you, made your life miserable, and you want me to help? Did I knock something loose up there?”

He laughed for the first time that day.

It felt good.

Damn good.

“Apparently.”

Roman couldn’t help but notice that she was just like her sister. In fact, the first time he saw Devora, she was playing the piano. When someone had given her shit, she told them off. He knew in that moment that he was in love. He fell hopelessly for her and that fire.

It looked like Matilda had it too.

He’d missed it.

“Then you’re babysitting her the entire time,” Julian stated. “I have my hands full with other issues, and she’s your new pet project while we work this case.”

Tori stared at him. “I really hope you’re not talking about me, or I may kick your ass.”

He laughed. “I was thinking more like Trey and Bethany. They’re the ones I worry about. You can generally hold your own out in the field.”

Now she got it.

He was worried about the woman in the room finding out about her tagalongs.

“Yeah, you’ll definitely have to babysit and keep her busy,” Tori stated.

“Who are Bethany and Trey?” Matilda asked. Her curiosity was piqued.

Roman laughed again, knowing who they were talking about. “You probably don’t want to know.”

Before she could insist that she did, Julian cut her off. It was time to get to work.

They’d wasted enough time.

“Okay, team, let’s break this down,” Julian stated. “We have the location cleared, since Roman owns the school. For once, we’re going to have free reign over the place. We can wander and not get into trouble. No one will be spying on us or trying to figure out what the hell we’re doing there.”

“Yay!” stated Tori. “This might be a first for any of us.”

Julian agreed.

Then, he glanced over at his team. “I need Beckett and Claire to hold down the fort. Justin, you and Vivian are going to have to run the cases outside the office.”

“Really?” Beckett asked. “Why?”

“Beau,” he stated, pointing at the man. “He needs field training, as does Nyx. They need to split up and take them out.”

Vivian rubbed her hands together. “Girls against the boys,” she stated, grinning wickedly. “First one to clear all their cases wins, and the loser buys dinner.”

Justin shook her hand. “Deal. The man-child and I are going to school you and the psychic…”

Then he realized what he said.

“Psycho. I meant psycho.”

Beau stared at him. “Really? That’s how you chose to cover when talking about my fiancée?”

Then he started laughing.

It was pretty funny.

“What is he talking about?” Matilda asked.

“Again, it’s best you don’t know,” Roman said, taking a seat beside her.

She stopped asking, but from here on out, she’d be making mental notes.

“We need a base,” Tori suggested.

“Why don’t we stay at the school?” Matilda stated.

Roman was looking forward to that like he was looking forward to a root canal with some rusty, disease-caked tools.

He hadn’t been back for a while, and there was a damn good reason.

When he went to protest, he stared into her eyes. His brain went fuzzy. It was like the first time he met Devora playing the piano.

She captivated him.

Well, shit!

This was bad.

“Roman?” she asked, touching his hand on the table. Immediately, he pulled it away as if he’d been burned.

To her, that spoke volumes.

“We can stay at the main house. My family had a floor that we lived on. It’s over the library and main hall. It’ll accommodate all of us.”

Tori checked it off the list.

“We need police reports.”

Matilda pulled them out of her bag. “I have them for you,” she said, passing them over to the team.

When she felt them staring, she glanced up. “What? Do you think I was coming in here and winging it? This is too damn important to me. I came prepared.”

Yeah, she did.

Julian stared at the names on the list.

Felicity Sepp

Devora Boyd

Rylee Remington

Marlene Nosteller

Ola Mercer

Rivka Burton

“There are only six here,” Julian stated.

She had an explanation.

“When I headed here, I didn’t know there were three move victims. There’s no way I could get those reports. They would be labeled ongoing investigation. I have my sources, but they can’t get me live case files.”

They glanced over at Roman.

He was the one who normally talked sources.

“When we get there, I might be able to pull that off. I have to dig around a little first.”

“Good. We need to know what they know.”

Vivian hated to burst his bubble, but she knew that wasn’t going to be easy. She’d been plowed over by the Littlemoons before. “Whoever is running this isn’t going to let you have them. That’s going to take some creative allocation.”

Didn’t he know it?

“Kane, can you call Chrissy and see if she can pull a few FBI strings and get them out of the system?” They couldn’t wait on Roman and a few sources. This was going to mean playing hardball.

He pulled out his phone. “Sure can, boss.”

They all waited until he was done talking to his fiancée.

When he hung up, he gave them the news. “She said that she’ll have them emailed directly to you. Tony Magnus is taking care of it for her.”

“Okay, that’s handled,” Tori stated. While they didn’t like using the FBI, they did love that if they needed help, the Feds always came through.

It was good to have friends.

“What’s next?” Matilda asked.

“We grab our gear, get our plane tickets, and head to Haven,” stated Julian. “We’ll land sometime later tonight.”

“I’ll head back now,” Matilda stated. “My flight leaves in two hours.”

Julian had an idea.

“Roman, I’ll have Lena book you on that flight. You’re going back with Ms. Boyd.”

He didn’t argue.

Honestly, he didn’t want her trying to wander around the school. If she was climbing the gates, she could get hurt.

He didn’t want that to happen.

Truth be told, Roman felt responsible for her. For some reason, he felt he owed Matilda that, and so much more.

“I’ll get my gear and head there with her. We’ll have the building open for when you arrive.”

Julian was glad he didn’t argue.

Roman was facing his demons like a true team member, and that said a great deal about his character.

“I’ll meet you at the airport,” he said, getting out of his chair. “Drive safe, Mattie.”

She wanted to say so much to him, but she wasn’t sure where to start.

Going back there was going to hurt her too.

Haven and Remington Academy had so many secrets. He wasn’t the only one who was haunted by them.

There were lies there too.

Some of them were even from her.

She was suddenly nervous. When he stopped at the door, turning to glance over his shoulder, she was hit with that punch to the gut.

He looked the same.

Ten years, and Roman still had that effect on her mind, body, and heart.

Now she had so much more to worry about. He was the one person in Haven that could hurt her.