Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) (8 page)

Again, he moved closer to her. “Why didn’t you believe her?”

She stared at the dimple in the center of his chin and tried to remember the details of Kylie’s nightmares. “Well, it was a dead guy,” she answered, feeling as if it should have answered everything.

“Did anyone ever think to get her some help if she was seeing things?”

“I think our aunt was a little scared of her. At first, it was only the guy who saved her from the fire but then it was someone different all the time. Sometimes the people would be kids and she would play with them almost as if they were imaginary friends. Other times, it was adults who wanted her to do things.” She glanced away guiltily. “I think I was a little scared of her too.”

Mark looked thoughtful. “Maybe it was her way of dealing with the trauma of your parents’ death. After all, she made it out and they didn’t. A seven year old has to have some way of handling something so huge.”

“You’re probably right.” She drew in a long breath.

“What?”

The hairs on her arms stood up and a shiver ran throughout her entire body as she admitted her most shameful fear. “Sometimes I wondered if she just slowly lost her mind.”

* * * * *

“You’re the only person I can touch,” Kylie confessed. “I tried touching Cindy while you were questioning her, but my hand passed right through her.”

He chuckled. “Are you complaining? Is there some other guy out there your palms are itching to touch?”

She pretended to consider his question and he goosed her side.

“I feel very lost,” she admitted. “I know it sounds crazy but I thought finding out who killed me would give me peace. It hasn’t. Death is very different than I thought it would be.”

Silence stretched out between them and for a moment, Kylie wondered if she’d upset Liam. She didn’t want him to think she was unhappy being with him. It wasn’t that. It was as if something was missing. Somehow she didn’t think this was the normal way people spent their afterlife.

“Do you want to tell me about this Septem you mentioned in your journal? The one who was tormenting you?”

Kylie went completely still at his question. “Not really, no.” When he didn’t say anything, she sighed giving in. “He’s a demon. I picked him up during a séance when I first began working at Madame Curion’s. According to the Madame, he’d always been there lurking about, but since I didn’t acknowledge him he didn’t have any power. Once I opened the box, I couldn’t close it.”

Liam brushed his fingers along her arms while staring off into space as if lost in his own thoughts. “Do you think it’s possible Septem took possession of Mr. Rogers and used him to kill you?” he asked after a moment.

Kylie shrugged. “Anything is possible but unless my memories miraculously return, I’ll never know.” She paused and turned the idea over in head. She thought she’d rid herself of Septem shortly before her death, but he could have been playing opossum. “I can’t believe you’re going with me on this line of thinking. I thought cops were supposed to be logical and deal in the facts.”

A bark of laughter escaped Liam’s lips. “Take a look around, Kylie. Say that to me again.”

She kept her thoughts to herself. Believing in life after death was one thing, what she’d seen of the other side was another. There was an entire world running parallel to theirs. One that most people never knew about until they died. Some people never realized they were there. They would simply languish there without understanding they were occupying the same space in a world that had moved on without them. It was the in between; a mirror image of the life they once lived except it was filled with nothing and no hope. It was for those who weren’t good enough for heaven but not bad enough to burn.

Kylie began to hyperventilate. Her mind rejected the knowledge her body no longer needed oxygen. Was she there? Was she stuck in between worlds? In a flash, Liam rolled until she was pinned beneath him.

“Breathe, Kylie.”

His voice was so calm and steadying. She gasped once more refusing to give up the habit of living. Liam stared down at her, willing her with his eyes to calm down and surprisingly her mind obeyed. Grinding her back teeth together, she took control over the erratic behavior of her new form.

“I don’t understand why I’m here. I wasn’t supposed to end up here. I did all the things they tell you to do. Maybe I wasn’t perfect, but what the hell, Liam?”

Liam appeared torn and she knew how he felt. On one hand, gratefulness over having met him consumed her but on the other, she couldn’t pretend this was normal.

“Would you be willing to meet someone who I think could help you?”

She thought she’d be willing to follow him to the ends of the Earth if he asked but she didn’t say as much. Instead, she simply nodded. “If you think this person can help me then of course I will.”

“I do. Until then, you need something to distract you.” He rolled his hips leaving her no doubt of what the distraction would be.

* * * * *

As tired as Anne was, it would have been so easy to go to sleep and let Kylie’s diary wait until the next day, but all evening the thought of what her sister had written within its pages distracted her so much it wasn’t easy to enjoy Mark’s charming conversations about growing up. Any other time, nothing would have taken her attention from such a handsome caring man, but with the memory of seeing her sister’s pale, lifeless body fresh on her mind, it was hard to stay focused on the incredibly sexy detective.

When Mark showed her to the second bedroom, she did try closing her eyes. However, after about fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, she finally gave up and retrieved the diary from the living room. After returning with it, she fluffed the pillows and leaned back against them as she ran her fingers over the cover of the cloth binder. It was a pretty book. It was pink with tiny red roses on the front and back. Looking at it made her smile reminding her of her baby sister’s personality. Kylie had always loved flowers. On her thirteenth birthday, their aunt allowed Kylie to decorate her own bedroom. She had chosen wallpaper with purple lilacs along with a white bedspread and curtains with pale yellow daisies.

Anne had been so embarrassed by her sister’s bad taste she had never invited her friends over to the house again. Just thinking about how shallow she had been made Anne drop her chin to her chest. She closed her eyes in embarrassment and regret. How much time had Anne wasted keeping Kylie at arm’s length when she should have been holding her close and cherishing each and every moment? Now she would never be able to tell Kylie how much she loved her. She hated herself a little in that moment.

Sitting there beating herself up about what she should or shouldn’t have done wasn’t going to bring Kylie back, so Anne finally opened the diary. She read until dawn taking turns laughing and crying over her sister’s words. Anne wasn’t surprised to learn Kylie had still been seeing and talking to the spirit world up until the end, but she had no idea Kylie possessed such a wonderful sense of humor. The diary was filled with astute observations on the people Kylie had worked with and met in everyday life. She had even written about the funny things that happened when she ran into spirits who had no idea they were dead. A man who had been killed in a car wreck had asked Kylie out on a date and she’d gone to the movies with him just so she could break the news to him he was dead and should move on.

The next morning Anne dropped the diary when Mark unexpectedly knocked and then poked his head around the edge of the door.

“You up?” He stepped into the room when he saw she was awake. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

Anne picked up the diary from the floor and placed it on the bed next to her. She smiled. “I didn’t realize it was morning already.” She tucked a red curl behind her ear and then without thinking felt of the first two top buttons on her pajama’s top to make certain they were still buttoned. She was suddenly very aware of not being fully dressed. She blushed when she saw him following the movement of her fingers.

She stammered, “I tried, but when I couldn’t fall asleep, I decided to read Kylie’s journal. I thought it might give me some insight into what had been happening the months and weeks before she was murdered.”

The comment must have piqued Mark’s interest because he left the doorway and came over to sit on the foot of her bed. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and nothing else. She couldn’t take her eyes off his bare chest and without thinking, she released a long sigh. Realizing he probably heard it, she tore her gaze from his chest and fake yawned in a wild attempt to cover the noise. Meeting his eyes, she hoped he hadn’t noticed her checking him out, but his pleased grin shot her hope straight to hell.

Now she really did feel half-naked and vulnerable. She tugged at the covers pulling them up to her chin. Her nervous motions only caused his grin to spread. If that didn’t make a girl feel similar to a prudish spinster then she didn’t know what would.

Mark stretched his long legs out straight. The movement brought her attention to his bare feet. Strangely enough, she found them every bit as beautiful and perfect as the rest of him. She did a mental eye roll and made a silent resolution to keep her eyes on his face from there on out, which would have been easier to do if the man owned a shirt. She couldn’t stop from briefly focusing on his pecs of steel again before honing in on a point somewhere between his chin and really nice lips.

Mark finally put her out of her misery by asking, “Did you learn anything new?”

She nodded. “Most of her diary was about her day-to-day life. A majority of it was the normal stuff you would expect, but about six months ago the tone of her writing began to change.” Anne pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She hated revealing the contents of Kylie’s diary. It felt as if she was telling her secrets to a stranger, but he had been the one to investigate Kylie’s murder. Not to mention, it might be important.

“She started feeling as if someone was watching her. At first she thought it was a creepy ghost, but then she began catching glimpses of someone following her.”

Interest lit Mark’s eyes. “Did she give hints to this person’s description?”

Anne shook her head. “It was more a bad feeling combined with some stuff about these dreams she was having. There’s one entry about things in her apartment ending up in a different place than where she left them. Sometimes it was drastic changes, such as all her furniture being rearranged. Can you imagine coming home to find all your furniture in a different spot than before you left? She must have been so scared.”

His brow drew together in a frown. “We don’t have any record of her ever filing a police report. I wonder why? It’s the first thing I would’ve done.”

Anne brushed away an invisible piece of lint. She hated the direction of her thoughts. “What if…” she began then stopped.

He nudged her with his knee. “What?”

She sighed and met his gaze once more. “What if it was her? What if she was schizophrenic? Is it possible she did things then lost touch with reality and didn’t remember?” She wanted to take the questions back as soon as they left her mouth but she needed to hear someone tell her it wasn’t true. Mark didn’t disappoint.

“Honestly? No. I don’t believe that. You’re forgetting a few key points. When I interviewed Madame Curion—”

“Oh, Kylie mentions her in her journal,” Anne interjected.

“I’m not surprised,” he said, seeming unperturbed by her interruption. “Anyhow, she told me Kylie was the strongest psychic she’d ever met. Although you may not believe in those things, I’ve seen enough unsolved cases hit major breakthroughs because of their tips I think there must be something to it. Plus, you saw her apartment. That happened after her death. That mess was made by someone very much alive.”

She drew in a sharp breath steadying her nerves. “Or by a demon named Septem.”

Under different circumstances, Mark’s reaction might have been funny. His mouth didn’t quite fall open but almost. He managed to catch it right before it happened by swiping his hand over his lips. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tapped his foot. Then as if it gave too much away, he uncrossed his arms.

“Septem,” he repeated. He didn’t sound disbelieving or even questioning. It was flat as if he was wrapping his mind around her words or maybe questioning her sanity.

“You said yourself you believed she could see ghosts. There are several pages missing from her journal but this Septem is mentioned quite a few times before that point. I know it sounds crazy but I have to know what happened to her if I’m ever going to find any peace. As you pointed out, her apartment was trashed after her death. If her killer is still out there—specter or not— then there is nothing stopping him from following me back to Tennessee. Just because I can’t afford a plane ticket doesn’t mean this person can’t.”

Anne fancied he was mentally going down the checklist of what his body language gave away about his thoughts making sure to correct his actions to reflect his openness to the topic. Since he was already agitated, she decided to throw more fuel on the fire. “I’m going to stay at Kylie’s tonight.”

He exploded. “The hell you are!”

She clasped her hands together so he wouldn’t see them shaking. “My name was etched into her wall.”

He tapped his foot again before sighing in defeat. “There’s no way in hell you’re spending the night in Kylie’s apartment without me. You forget, you’re my responsibility until you fly home. If there’s still some nut job out there with his sights set on you. He’ll have to come through me first and it ain’t happening on my watch.”

It was a little disheartening to hear Mark was only interested in her safety because it was his job but it was for the best anyway. She had her own job and responsibilities back in Tennessee. She needed to put a halt to the attraction she felt for him. It wasn’t going to lead anywhere so there was no point in letting it distract her from finding out what had really happened to Kylie. Anne had neglected her little sister in life. She wasn’t going to do the same thing to her in death. The least she could do for her was to find out what Kylie had gone through during her last days and why she’d been murdered.