Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) (21 page)

Again, Avalon was aware. That’s why they were there. Bishop would fight for him. She was going to have to because the outcome was grim.

Without her, he was dead.

“She kept coming until when?” she asked.

His face said it all.

There was that pain.

“I told her I could never look at her again—not after she lied to me. I tried to hurt her to get her to leave again. It worked once at the hospital. I figured it would work again.”

Avalon heard the hurt in his voice.

The fear.

The sadness
.

“Then what happened, Lucian?”

“I told her I’d see her in hell before I ever met her face to face again. The next day, she didn’t come. For two years, she carried my hate, and then one day…it was over.”

“So, you got what you wanted, only to find it wasn’t what you really wanted after all.”

“Yes. I missed her. She was my only contact. She was the only one on the Earth who talked to me. The day she stopped coming was the day I was really damned to Hell. I was finally alone. Bishop was my lifeline to the world.”

Avalon put her coffee cup down.

He was ready.

She could see the strands of fate weaving back together. It was time to move the king into the game.

“Then you need to be honest with her. She may help you or she may hurt you, but you can’t keep running, Lucian. At some point, you have to face what scares you.”

“Have you ever had to face it?”

She smiled. “I face it every day. I’m blind. I will never see my baby’s face. I’ll never know what Nate looks like when he sees our child the first time. I fear I’ll miss the important things. While I can see everything laid out before me for everyone else, I’ll never have the little things.”

He thought about it.

“That would be scary.”

“I’ll never see the color of my child’s eyes. Will they be blue? Will this little life have Nate’s lips or mine? I’ve helped the president find nuclear weapons, I’ve helped this country by alerting the military of threats, but I’ll never help my child learn his or her colors. That’s terrifying to me. We each have our own battles, Lucian. Yours is no harder than mine. It’s how we handle them that matters.”

He thought about it.

She had a point.

“Know what scares me more than anything, Lucian?”

“What?”

He really was curious.

“Quitting. If I do, I definitely won’t have any of those things. As long as I keep going, there’s hope. As long as I have hope, I have joy. You need to have hope, Lucian. You’ve lived without it for far too long. Reach out and let people help you. I’ve had to learn that lesson myself. You can’t do it alone.”

He knew she was right.

Still…

“I can’t hurt anymore.”

“She never intentionally hurt you. Once you figure that out, you’ll realize that you can trust her. You saw what she did for you today. Bishop would die to protect you. That’s a gift. Stop thinking it’s a curse.”

With that, she got up, placed the cup on the desk, and then picked up the pen beside his paper. On the napkin, she scribbled something down. When she was done, she walked out of the room without another word.

Lucian knew the second Avalon went totally blind again. Her hands sought out the doorframe and she began feeling her way back to her room.

He heard her in the hallway.

“Meet her halfway, Lucian. You’re not the only one who needs saving. Bishop is going to need someone to rescue her. It’s coming. It’s only a matter of time.”

He didn’t like the way that sounded, but before he could ask more, Avalon was gone. Picking up the napkin, he stared at what she’d roughly scribbled. It looked like a child had written it. It was clear that Avalon was just learning to write.

Still…

It was an address, and beneath it—
Bishop’s name.

He was going to take this as a sign from Oracle. It looked like Avalon wanted him to take a trip to see Bishop. She wasn’t the only one.

Suddenly, he wanted to see her too.

It was time he told her the truth.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Dale Plunkett’s Office

Town Square

It looked pretty much like the office of an ambulance chaser. There were posters in fancy frames, advising potential clients that Dale’s firm could get them the money they deserved if they called his number.

There were smiling people, holding wads of cash, as they described how Dale had changed their lives. Missing were the testimonies where he was shown getting killers, rapists, and other criminals out of jail.

As Feds, they’d had to go to court a lot. They’d had to face down the slimy bastards who got wealthy as they helped get criminals off free or with a reduced sentence.

They’d come face to face so many times, that honestly, it was damn hard to feel bad for Dale Plunkett.

If you swam with sharks, chances were, you were going to be bit.

Dale had been eaten alive.

Neither man thought his death was a coincidence. It was more likely revenge of some sort.

That’s why they were excited to stop into his office. This might net them a pretty decent lead.

As they headed in, all the women in the place looked distraught. There were boxes of tissues, sniffling, and shocked, horrified faces.

They didn’t believe he was dead.

Really?

He got criminals off and tried to sue everyone. He should be the first person they thought would be targeted.

As they headed into his private office, they pulled their badges. It opened the doors for them and kept the weeping women at bay.

In his main sanctum, a man sat behind the desk. He was busily fielding calls, expressing his regrets that Dale wasn’t going to be able to represent them.

“Uh, excuse us,” Nate said, flashing him the gold badge.

The man hung up.

“I’m so sorry. It’s a madhouse here today. I’m rescheduling Dale’s appointments.”

“Shouldn’t you just cancel them? I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be taking them.”

“I’m shuffling to our other associates. Dale would want it that way.”

Yeah, he probably would. It would mean more money flowing into his vile business.

“Who are you?” Luke asked.

“Peter White. I’m his assistant. When Dale was out, I ran the office for him.”

Well, that was good to know.

“You don’t look like you’re mourning his loss.” And he didn’t. There wasn’t a tear or mournful look from him.

That spoke volumes to an investigator.

He laughed. “Well, I wasn’t sleeping with him. Half the women here were. That’s why you’ve got the tears.”

Apparently, Dale was good in bed.

A lot of beds.

“Besides, he was a total bag of dicks. The only reason I stuck around is because this job paid well. He was in court so often that I didn’t have to deal with him more than twice a week. We all have to eat.”

They didn’t argue there.

As Feds, before Avalon, they’d had to deal with the same situation. The local law could be difficult to handle too.

“Well, Peter, if you had to guess, who would want to hurt Dale?” Nate asked.

He laughed even more. “It’ll be easier to tell you who didn’t want to hurt him. He was a playboy with no morals. He once gave two women the same STD in a week. When they confronted him, he twisted it up so much that they thought he was going to sue them for getting him sick.”

Yeah, they weren’t surprised.

Slimy.

Nasty.

Defense attorneys.

“Did he have anyone who came here and made a fuss about his behavior?” Luke asked.

The man walked to a closet and pulled out two big boxes. Crossing to them, he dropped them on the desk. “These are all the threats, harassing notes, and anything else where Dale was told he was going to die. I got it ready this morning when I heard the news.”

“So, you’re not shocked.”

He shook his head. “Every dog has his day, and Dale was due. The man didn’t care about anyone but himself.”

They could see that.

“What was he doing last night?”

He flipped through his calendar. “He wasn’t meeting anyone, so you can go out to the main lobby and pick a woman. If he wasn’t working on a case, he was getting off. One of them had his attention.”

That was going to be a lot of questioning.

It looked like this wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought.

“Did anyone not come in today?”

He shook his head. “Nope. We’re all here, except for Dale.”

“Thanks for your help, Peter.”

They headed out, each carrying a box.

“Where do you want to start?”

Nate thought about it. “Pick the woman crying the most. She might be the lucky girl.”

“I hate defense attorneys,” Luke said.

He wasn’t the only one. They weren’t high on Nate’s list either. They generally meant work.

Mindless.

Droning.

Work.

And that was a pain in the FBI’s ass.

Chapter Nine

Judge Arron AbrahmS’s

Office

Across town, she found her way into the courthouse and toward the judge’s chambers.

She’d grown up there.

After her mother had left to find herself, Bishop became a fixture there. The people who worked at Ravenswood became her surrogate family.

Maybe that was why she went into law enforcement. When her brothers would get out of school, they had football, girls, and after school activities that would have made their father weep. They didn’t want her around, so she had to go to the courthouse to hang out. It was always embarrassing when her father would have an armed deputy pick her up at the school, but what was she supposed to do?

Her dad wouldn’t let her stay home alone.

She was the only girl, and he had plans for her.

Not surprisingly, she’d gone into law enforcement. They’d been a team, and she’d loved it. It broke her heart that her father was gone, and all she had left were some dusty old files.

Files that Avalon said mattered.

Files that might have something to do with her father’s death.

Tonight, she was going to drag them out and see what her pops had been up to when he died. She wouldn’t be shocked if something in them had gotten him hurt. Her father loved justice.

He fought for it for thirty years.

Now she’d fight for the next thirty.

As she wandered the halls, she stood in front of the judge’s chambers. Arron Abrahms had been a pain in the ass with his philandering, but he was a good man.

He put so many bad guys away.

He’d be missed.

When she heard a noise coming from inside his office, immediately, she wanted to know what the hell was going on in there. She’d ordered his office off limits until the team could pull his records. Most of them were going to be sealed, and she needed a court order.

Now someone was ignoring her order.

As she moved closer to the door, she slowly turned the handle. When it opened a crack, she pulled her gun and pushed it open with her foot.

“Freeze!”

The deputy inside nearly shit himself in fear.

Reno Upton was packing up files.

She started laughing at the look on his face. “What are you doing, Reno?”

“The warrant came in, so I was packing up the files for you. You nearly scared me to death!”

“I’m sorry,” she offered, holstering her sidearm.

It wasn’t as if she expected one of her men to take an initiative. They basically had to be brow beat to work. Her father didn’t have half the hard time she did.

They respected him.

She had to earn their respect because she was a woman. To the men on her staff, it didn’t matter that she was a Killion. It had been two years, and just as difficult as day one.

That was fine with her.

Bishop was tougher than that.

“It came in?” she asked.

He pulled it from his pocket. “I don’t mind helping out, Sheriff. I like things like this.”

She knew he was telling the truth. Reno was one of those cops that didn’t mind the shit work. In fact, the more you gave him, the happier he was. The boy was like a sponge, sucking it all in for the sake of learning.

Bishop knew one day, he’d want her job. It was clear, and she was okay with that. For now, he was an asset. She was glad to have him on the force.

“Well, I’ll help you finish boxing them up. Where’s Holly Zimmer? Did she come into work today?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen her. She’s probably laying low…you know…since she was
WITH
him the night he died.”

Already, news was traveling.

That was going to make this a bitch. Gaylor would prep his wife, making sure she played dumb. She’d bet money on it.

“Can you do me a favor?” she asked.

“Sure. What, Sheriff?”

“Call her at home and get her to the office. I want her there within the hour. I’m going to do the interview. Tell her it’s official. I want to rattle her cage.”

“And if she brings her attorney?”

Oh, she knew who was coming.

There was no way it was going to be a lawyer. That would ruin her husband’s chances of digging for dirt.

This was going to be killing two birds with one stone. The woman’s husband would be there. She’d bet money on it.

“That’s fine. Tell her it’s
OFFICIAL
. She has no choice. Then put her in a room by herself and let them sweat it until I get there. I’ll make sure they spill their guts.”

Yeah, much like Judge Abrahms had.

“Yes, ma’am. Do you want me to transport these boxes since they’re done?”

“Yeah, and guard them with your life. Our suspects are going to be in there. This had something to do with the two men’s lives, and I’m not giving up.”

He carried two boxes out, leaving the last one for her. Instead of leaving, she waited until the door was closed, and she began walking around the room.

Lining the walls were mementos for the judge. There were pictures, awards, golf trophies, and everything that punctuated his life.

She was curious.

So, she checked them out.

Going one by one, she found the one picture that stole her breath. It was the one of Lucian, in a tux, at some function with the judge.

He was so handsome.

He was smiling, his bright blue eyes filled with so much life and happiness. He was in his early thirties there, and he looked so amazing.

She actually touched it with her fingertips.

How could she resist?

She’d fallen for the man. When he stood in court, doing his job, she could feel their fates intertwined, but not knowing how. Now she got it.

She was meant to be part of him.

Bishop was going to fix him if it killed her. She only needed him to meet her halfway.

That was going to be the hard part.

If he would just trust her, she’d never let him hurt again. Bishop would keep her word this time.

She’d die for him.

Picking the picture off the wall, she held it gently in her hands. She suspected that he’d want it—maybe not right now, but at some point, Lucian might want to hold a piece of his past.

He’d earned it.

Fought for it.

Worked for it.

She’d give it back so he could find that piece that was missing and put it back in his life.

Tucking it into the box, she picked up the cardboard and headed out. She had an interview, an update, and then she was heading home.

There were files to search and answers to seek.

Some women went home to men and happiness. Bishop Killion went home to the dead and a life beginning to fill with regrets.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Sheriff’s Station

Thursday Afternoon

When she got there, Gaylor Zimmer was waiting for her. To say that he was pissed would be an understatement. Bishop knew this was going to be ugly, but honestly, she didn’t care.

They had two dead men, one in danger, and who knew who else on the chopping block.

She was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she ever did.

“Sheriff!” he shouted, the second he saw her heading his way.

“Yes, Mr. Zimmer?”

“What you’re doing to my wife is a shame! You should know better! Holly didn’t kill Arron Abrahms.”

Oh, she was well aware.

There was no way Holly could hoist Dale Plunkett onto a gate and do what had to be done, but her husband could have. This wasn’t so much about getting Holly to confess, but getting information from her husband without showing their hand.

His best friend was boning his wife.

That was never good.

Before the interview was over, she was going to make sure he realized that she wasn’t screwing around. Plus, she was going to scare him stupid.

“Well, here’s the issue, Gaylor. If I smell your wife lying, I’m going to toss her to the media wolves.”

He looked horrified.

“What? Why?”

Oh, it was all fun and games for him as a journalist, but when it was his bacon in the pan, he was scared.

It served him right.

Karma was a bitch.

“If she lies, she gets the information leaked to Wendy Lockwood.”

The man gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I absolutely would. See, Wendy would love to play this to the public, and I’m more than willing to let you clean up your wife’s mess. I’m more than willing to put out there that you had motive to kill the judge.”

He blinked. “It’s not what you think.”

She headed toward her office. This was going exactly as planned.

“Why don’t you clarify then because now isn’t the time for you to have rumors flying in your direction?”

He got quiet.

“Off the record?”

She laughed. “Remember that one time I told you off the record, Gaylor, and you sold me out?”

“I had no choice, Sheriff! Wendy got wind of it, and she was going to break it. I had to scoop her. You know how York likes us to be on top of it. It’s survival of the fittest.”

She supposed he did.

Keeping his employees pitted against each other meant they would work extra hard to find the stories. It was sick and genius all at once. For a brief second, Bishop wondered if it would work on deputies.

“This isn’t off the record. If you’re recording this, I suggest you turn it off. I will confiscate it, and then I’ll hand it over to Wendy.”

He stared at her.

Then he pulled a slim digital recorder from his pocket. He turned it off and placed it on the desk.

“Happy?”

“Yes. Now feel free to confess.”

“I’m not confessing to killing the judge or Dale. I didn’t do it, but I will tell you the truth about my wife and the judge.”

“You better. She’d better corroborate your story too. I’m going in there next.”

“She will.”

“Okay, spill.”

She picked up a pen to begin making notes.

“Holly was sleeping with the judge, and I knew it.”

She laughed. “That makes you look guilty as sin, and you know it. What gives, Gaylor?”

“I have issues.”

She wasn’t getting it. “I need more than
‘issues’
. We all have
‘issues’
.”

“I can’t perform unless I see my wife with another man.”

He turned bright red.

“Oh.”

“So, Wendy was sleeping with the judge, but then when he’d leave, I’d sleep with her.”

“Oh.”

This was not what she was expecting.

He kept going. “I’d hide out in the closet in our room, and I’d watch the man screw my wife. When Arron left, I’d come out and Holly and I would…”

She cut him off. “You wouldn’t happen to have proof, would you?”

He pulled a disc from his blazer pocket. “Yes. I trust you with this. If this were to get out, Holly and I would have to leave town.”

Yeah, they’d be the talk of the town.

“Where were you the night the judge was found dead?”

“I was at home screwing my wife. He’d taken her to a backroom at the party, had his way with her, and then I rushed us home and jumped her.”

“You realize this is insane, right?” she asked. “You realize that you’re admitting to using a man to seduce your wife. That doesn’t make you look innocent.”

“I can’t help it. It’s how our sex life works. I know it makes me a suspect, but it’s the truth. Didn’t you want the truth?”

Yes, she did.

“Was Holly sleeping with anyone else?”

He closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Dale.”

Well, this got worse for the man. Here, he’d handed her evidence that said he had more than motive to kill one man, but two.

“You have to help me, Sheriff.”

She laughed at the irony of that.

Yeah, she really didn’t.

Seriously?

“Really? I have no intention to help cover this up. What I do have to do is find the truth. If you’re telling it, you’ll be exonerated. If you’re hiding anything, you’re screwed—like Holly.”