The Grey Tier (23 page)

A couple of hours later, and we had talked about Africa and his experiences there, how to make the best pot roast ever (we differed on this), our dogs, my cat, and life in general. I was beginning to think his mom had fallen asleep and not taken note that her son hadn’t returned for the night.

“Who do you think might have killed Nick?” he asked at one point.

I gave him my take, leaving out his mother and the history surrounding her, Nick, and Candace.

“I wish I knew,” he said.

“Me, too. He was a good man.” I felt my tears well up at the thought of Nick. Clearly, I’d had far too much to drink.

“He must have been. He hired you.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Hey, can I ask if you have a boyfriend, or are you seeing anyone? I mean, I’m just curious. I’m not trying to, uh . . . oh crap, maybe I’ve had too much wine.”

I glanced over at the two empty bottles of wine next to me. “You think?”

He held up his now empty cup and turned it over, placing it on the floor. “Sorry. I don’t mean to pry again.”

“Don’t worry about it. I mean, what the heck else are we supposed to do in here if not talk?” A searing vision of him leaning in to kiss me on the lips had me suddenly wishing I hadn’t asked the question. Oh dear.

“Um, back to your question, I—“

Suddenly, the door to the storage closet opened with a sharp bang. There stood Becky. The look on her face went from shock to what I can only term as
What the eff?!
I stifled my laughter.

“You didn’t come home, Joshua, so I came back here to see if there was a problem. You two just hanging out in here, drinking wine?” She crossed her arms, her eyes darting suspiciously from me to Joshua and back to me again.

Oh boy.

Joshua shot her a look of annoyance. “Yes, that’s right Mom. I like to invite my dates into the storage closet at work. There’s nothing like a cold cement floor and wine in Styrofoam cups to make a lady feel special.” He stood and brushed off his jeans, reaching a hand out to help me up. “We got locked in here, and I was hoping at some point you would notice I hadn’t come home.”

If anything, she looked more irritated than before. “I did. Let’s go. Evie, you too.” Her words were as clipped as her movements.

“I’m going to walk Evie to her car,” Joshua said glancing back at his mother whose hands were now on her hips. If she could have come up with a good reason to stop him from helping me out, I am certain she would have.

We made it to the van in a couple of minutes. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced back over his shoulder at where Becky still stood, watching us from the open back door of Nick’s.

“Hey, sorry about her. She’s been acting really strange. Anyway, uh, interesting evening.” He smiled tentatively, looking even more handsome than he already was. Oh boy, squared.

I smiled back “It was. Only next time, I think we should go out to a restaurant like normal friends, okay?” There, hopefully that removed some of the weirdness from the situation.

He laughed. “Okay. It’s a date!”

Uh-oh. I swallowed and smiled again. “Yeah, well, I’ll see you tomorrow. And thanks again for your help earlier tonight.”

“My pleasure. Be safe! You okay to drive?”

“Yeah. I think you drank the lion’s share, and we’ve had a few hours to sober up.”

He winked at me. “I think I did drink the lion’s share, but I had some great company.”

For one awkward moment, I thought he might be leaning in to kiss me but he simply reached around to open my door. It didn’t help that Becky chose that moment to squawk out his name from across the street. Joshua rolled his eyes and waited until I’d fired up the VW before making his way back to the bar and his overbearing mother.

Well, that was an interesting night. I headed home, replaying the evening in my mind. The most prevalent question, aside from wondering where our conversation would have gone if Becky hadn’t shown up when she did, was whether or not someone or something locked us in that storage closet? And, if so, why?

Chapter Thirty-Four

CASS AND MAC WERE as happy to see me as I was them. I put the kettle on the stove to make some tea and then trudged upstairs to my room and switched out of my jeans and into sweats. I also put on a clean T-shirt. Mine still smelled of Joshua after wearing his long-sleeved shirt, and for a second, I thought about keeping it on (what can I say? He smelled good). But then I couldn’t resist changing into something I hadn’t spent the evening working and sweating in.

No sign of Lucas, or Bob, or Janis. They must’ve all been on another tier, recharging their vibrations, or whatever else spirits busied themselves doing. It was kind of disconcerting, considering this whole Black Tier out-to-get-me thing, and the night I’d had. But I felt relatively safe in the house. And Lucas had assured me he’d placed some kind of temporary barrier on the place to help protect me.

As I made my way back downstairs, the whistle of the kettle shrilled loudly. Then it stopped. And so did I. I closed my eyes for a second and sighed, wondering who had removed the kettle from the stove. I looked down at Cass, my canine barometer, and she didn’t seem edgy at all, so I took that as a good sign. I continued my walk downstairs and stepped out of the hall and into the kitchen.

“Lucas,” I said, spotting him next to the stove. He’d brought someone with him.

“Evie. This is Roger Hawks.”

“Hi, Roger,” I said, rather more calmly than I felt.

He nodded at me. “Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Roger had classic movie star good looks. His hair was light brown, and he had high cheekbones, a medium build, and the same luminescent eyes as Lucas (except Roger’s were a deep, sea green).

Lucas nodded at me and then looked over at Roger who stood at his side, seeming nervous.

“Roger has never actually been back to this area of the Grey Tier. He hasn’t wanted or needed to, so talking to a live human and coming through the portal is a little bit of a challenge for him. But he wanted to try and help when he heard about Nick.”

Roger made a soft sound, like he was clearing his throat. “I, uh, I haven’t felt or seen Nick’s vibration at all, and I’m not sure what tier he might be on.”

“Oh, okay.” Yes, tonight was clearly my night for genius repartee. “So I guess Lucas has told you I’ve been trying to figure out Nick’s murder on my own?”

Roger nodded slowly, as if he were underwater. I guess this must be what Lucas was referring to when he said it was a challenge for Roger to come here. “Yes. He did tell me that.”

I forged ahead. “And your name has come up quite a bit. I mean, with what happened to you . . . the night you died.”

“Lucas mentioned that as well.”

Roger was not only uneasy, he didn’t seem to be much of a conversationalist. I decided it was time for a more blunt approach.

“Roger, were you murdered?”

If he seemed taken aback by my frankness, he didn’t show it. He shook his head with that same slow movement. “Not intentionally, but I was killed at the hands of someone else.”

“Do you know who did it?” I took in a deep breath of air and held it . . . waiting, hoping for an affirmative response.

“Yes, I do.” I waited patiently for an answer that seemed a very long time in coming. “It was my girlfriend at the time, who was also sleeping with Nick. We fought and she pushed me into the pool. I was drunk, and I hit my head on the corner tiles and, well, that was it.” He shrugged.

“Your girlfriend? Rebecca Styles?” I had a sudden memory of Candace telling me her suspicions that Becky had been Roger’s real killer. When you’re right, well, you’re right.

“The one and only. Becky killed me, right after she told me she was pregnant.”

I shook my head in disbelief, my mouth slowly dropping open. If Becky had murdered Roger and gotten away with it all these years, would she have done it again? Had she killed Nick too? And while we were on the topic, was Nick really even Joshua’s father?

Chapter Thirty-Five

“THAT WAS NOT WHAT I expected,” I said to Lucas, who was pacing the hardwood floors. Roger had gone back through the portal to the safety of whatever tier he vibrated on. I sat on the sofa, watching Lucas circling the room like a caged tiger. In the past, he’d sit next to me and we would talk, but after our last few encounters . . . it seemed we weren’t as cozy together as we’d once been.

“What do you mean?” He stopped, hands on hips, looked at me with those damn eyes of his. I felt another stab of sheer, piercing lust travel through me. Oh, hell. I was a hormonal wreck. Maybe I should have had more sex growing up, and then I wouldn’t be lusting after a dead guy or my new boss. Ugh.

“I mean, I’m happy he knows what happened to him. Closure and all. But now I know, too, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“But now you know this Becky woman killed him, don’t you think she could have also murdered Nick?” He started pacing again.

I tilted my head to the side, pondering the various possibilities in my head. “Maybe.”

“I’d say more than maybe,” he said.

“I don’t know. You heard Roger. He said she didn’t kill him on purpose.”

“But she did
kill
him, and she’s gotten away with it. For almost thirty years.”

I took a sip from my tea, which was now cool, and worked up the courage to bring Joshua into the conversation. “So you know the guy who was here with the dog?”

He stopped pacing again and narrowed his eyes. “The one who kept staring at you when you weren’t looking?”

“No, he wasn’t. He was outside playing with the dogs! And while we’re on the topic, how would you know he was staring unless you’d been spying on me?” I felt myself beginning to get annoyed. But Lucas seemed oblivious.

“Here let me show the hot girl with the dog that I, too, am a dog lover and there you have it . . .” He snapped his fingers, and red sparks shot into the air.

Whoa. My eyes narrowed, matching his. “There you have
what
?”

“Nothing.” He muttered, starting to pace again.

Oh, for the love of . . .“What? You have what?”

He stopped, throwing his hands up into the air in a very human gesture. “You have sex and love and all of that! That guy is into you, that’s all I am saying. And that’s fine, because he’s a human and he’s alive and I’m not.”

Oh. “Oh.”

Lucas seemed to deflate suddenly and I felt a little sorry for him. “So, what do you want to tell me about this guy?”

“Well, for starters, we are not having sex.” Where did that come from? Honestly, if my mouth weren’t attached to my face, I’d have to wonder if it had a mind of its own.

Lucas’ eyebrows shot up. “Okaaay. And if you were, well, that’s none of my business. I am here to keep you safe and so far, that guy doesn’t look as if he’d harm you. And like I said, it isn’t so much the live humans I worry about with you.”

I wanted to tell him about the men at the bar and how Joshua had stepped in to assist and then we got trapped in the storage closet, but instead, I said, “That guy who was here, the one who I am not having sex with, is Becky’s son.”

Lucas finally looked something other than frustrated. “That guy, what’s his name?”

“Joshua.”

“Joshua is Rebecca Styles son?”

“Yes.” He appeared to be catching on. “And according to Becky, Nick was his father and Nick signed over his bar to Joshua in his will.”

Lucas crossed his arms, deep in thought. “But Roger said this Becky was his girlfriend and she was pregnant.”

“Bingo. So now I’m starting to wonder, who is Joshua’s real father?”

“And now, you know what I’m thinking?” He shook a finger at me. “I’m thinking maybe this guy is not so good after all. He could easily be in cahoots with Mommy Dearest. Those two could have murdered Nick for the bar and whatever else he left behind.”

I chewed my lip, pondering. “I don’t know, Lucas. Could Becky have murdered Nick? Yes. But Joshua just returned from Africa volunteering for the Red Cross, so he’s hardly a candidate for murder. And he honestly seemed surprised by the whole situation . . . inheriting the bar, finding out Nick was his father . . .” I figured I would leave the part out about Joshua spending five years in jail for manslaughter.

“The Red Cross?” Lucas laughed.

“Yes.” I crossed my arms, starting to feel annoyed again.

“Wow . . . this guy is good. Why didn’t I think of that line?”

I rolled my eyes and resisted tossing one of the sofa cushions at Lucas’ head. Besides, it probably would have gone right through him. “Oh, please, I don’t think he’s trying to trick me.”

“Then you are more naïve than I thought!”

Okay, enough. “Look, Lucas. Joshua saved me tonight,” I snapped. “For someone who’s trying to dupe me, or whatever it is you think he’s doing, he’s sure going to great lengths.”

“What?!” Lucas stood incredibly still and an orange-yellow glow began to creep around the edges of his normal indigo aura. “What are you talking about?”

I sighed. And then told him the entire story, even the part about the storage closet. He didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Lucas, you’re making me really nervous.”

“I think they were from the Black Tier. They were sent to mess with you.” He sounded worried and confused. “This is all about your gift. But there is something more. They are after your vibration at a level I’ve not seen before.”

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“First, it was Pierre and the jaguar.”

“Anastasia.” I shuddered, recalling my brush with death on Simone’s music video set.

“And someone followed you home. Now this thing tonight. I’ve seen the Black Tier go after people before, people with healing gifts, or any kind of gift that promotes goodness in this world, but there is something bigger at work here, and I don’t know what it is yet. It’s as if they are trying to trip you up or something.”

“Well, it didn’t work.”

Lucas looked at me solemnly, his mouth in a grim line. “Not yet, but they don’t play fair. You realize that?”

“Yes, that’s pretty clear,” I said, nodding.

“Based on all you’ve told me, well, I need to visit the Bodha.”

“Now?” I’m sorry to say I might have whined a bit.

“Yes,” he said, walking over to me. It was the closest we’d been to all night.

“Could you wait?” I asked, pleadingly. Truth was, after my wild night and even with the protection in place on the house, I didn’t feel entirely safe.

Lucas sighed, “Evie . . .”

“Just until I fall asleep, okay? That’s all.” He looked down at me for a minute, his face a mirror of the conflict going on in his head. And then he took my hand and gently tugged me off of the couch.

“Come on. Let’s tuck you in.”