The Soul Summoner (The Soul Summoner Saga Book 1) (17 page)

Nathan looked over at me, catching the tail end of my question. 

"Sure. If I know where to look," Warren said.

I turned the thought over in my mind. "When I was in the house where we found that little girl, there was a dead body in there and I didn't feel anything. I knew Kayleigh—or someone else who was alive—was there, but I didn't get anything off the corpse."

"Sloan, I do the opposite," he said.

I swallowed hard. "Huh."

"We'll talk more about it later," he said. "I've got to get back to work."

"Ok," I said.

When I disconnected the call, I sat there in stunned silence till Nathan punched me in the shoulder. "What was all that about?" he asked.

I turned in my seat to look at him. "Warren can find dead bodies."

"Really?" He pulled away from the curb. "Tell him I'm looking for ten more."

I stared out of the window. "He said he would have to know where to look, like a general area I guess."

"That dude is weird," he said.

I looked at him. "I'm weird."

He nodded. "Yes you are."

I sat back against my seat. "You know, a month ago my life was pretty dang normal. Then you showed up and turned everything—absolutely everything—upside down."

His ball cap, with the American flag in place, was pulled down close over his eyes. One arm was draped over the steering wheel. "No offense, but I don't think anything about your life has ever been exactly normal."

I pointed at him. "No, but it was peaceful. I went to work. I hung out with my friends. I had dinner with my parents on Mondays. Now look at me. I'm lying to my boss, skipping work, and I'm on my way to Hickory to meet a guy that murdered his girlfriend and shoved her under his granny's house."

"And maybe a lot of other girls," he added.

I shook my head. "Warren doesn't think so. He said Logan Allen has only killed one person. He's not a serial killer."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I think I would rather investigate it for myself than just take Warren's word for it." 

I folded my arms across my chest. "How come you're so certain about things that I tell you, but you have no faith in what he says?"

"Because I think Warren is a con. I think that he's dangerous, and I don't think you should be involved with him at all," he said.

I frowned. "A con? How could he possibly be conning me? No one knows about what I can do except for you and Adrianne. Now, unless one of you has posted some tell-all about me that I'm unaware of, I don't see how he could know as much as he does unless he was telling the truth."

"I don't like him," he said.

I nodded. "Obviously, but you'd better start getting used to him being in the picture if we're going to keep working together."

He glanced over. "Why?"

"Because he's coming back on Friday," I said.

"Why? Are you dating him now?" he asked, his voice jumping up a few decibels.

"If I was, it wouldn't be any of your business," I reminded him.

"None of my business? This guy stalks you, shows up at your house, and I wind up carrying you to an ambulance when he leaves, and you don't think this is any of my business?" He was close to shouting.

I leaned toward him and narrowed my eyes. "Let's call Shannon and see if she agrees that this is your business."

He was gripping the steering wheel so tight I was afraid he might break it off the column and send us careening off the highway. I sat back in my seat again and stared at the road ahead. He was leaning against his door with his hand over his mouth. We rode in complete silence until we crossed out of Buncombe County.

Finally, he spoke. "I'm sorry. I don't want to fight with you this whole trip."

"I'm sorry too," I said, still staring straight ahead. 

After another moment, I looked over at him. "Why did you kiss me the other night?"

He dragged his knuckles over his bottom lip, then turned his hand up and shrugged. "I thought there might be a good chance I wouldn't see you again. Warren gives off really bad vibes."

"He's supposed to," I said.

His eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"

I shrugged. "He gives off bad vibes like I give off good vibes," I said. "People like me and people hate him."

Nathan cracked a smile for the first time in thirty miles. "Shannon doesn't like you." 

I laughed. "Touché."

"If he gives off bad vibes, why doesn't he bother you?" he asked.

"I don't feel him giving off anything. I told you, I don't read anything on him at all," I said.

"Can he read you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. And I think it's one of the reasons why I like him so much," I admitted. "I always wonder with people if they really want to be around me or if they are just attracted to whatever power it is that I give off. Like, I wonder if it forces people to like me. I don't worry about that with Warren."

Nathan looked over his shoulder at me. "Do you worry about that with me? Do you think I only want to be around you because of the vibes you give off?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Nathan McNamara, I can't figure out a damn thing about you."

When we passed into Hickory, I looked over at him. "How close are we?"

"About five minutes," he answered.

I nodded and pulled out my purse. I retrieved my bottle of Xanax and put a half of a tablet under my tongue. 

He watched me tuck the pill bottle back into my purse. "Do you do that every time?" 

"Every time I visit a jail? Yes," I said.

"When you go in there, what's it like exactly?" he asked.

I shook my head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Help me understand," he said. 

I thought for a moment. "Were you ever afraid of the dark when you were a kid?" I asked.

"No," he answered quickly.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Maybe. Shut up," he whined.

"It's like that. It's like walking into the blackest, most all-consuming darkness you can imagine. It's that feeling that you're trapped in the dark, unable to find the light switch, and that at any second whatever is hiding in the darkness is just going to rip you apart." I shuddered. "And it's frustrating because I know I'm safe, like I know nothing can really hurt me, but I just can't feel safe. It gets so bad sometimes that I can't even breathe."

"Damn. That sucks," he said.

I nodded. "Sucks doesn't cover it. My dad put me on anti-anxiety meds when I was in the seventh grade because I started having panic attacks at school. It turned out that my math teacher was a pedophile, and once he was removed from the school, I was fine again."

He shook his head. "That's nuts."

"Yep," I agreed. "I'm a walking, talking evil barometer."

He reached over and put his hand on my knee. "Well, we will make this as quick as we can. If, at any point, you need to leave, you just say so and we're out. No questions asked."

I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Thanks, Nathan."

It turned out that our trip to the Catawba County Jail wasn't as bad as I had feared that it would be. Without a doubt, Logan Allen had a dark soul, but Warren had been right—he wasn't a serial killer. 

Nathan and I walked back out into the setting sun. "Well, that was a complete waste of a sick day," I said.

"You never know," Nathan said. "He might still be our guy."

I stopped and turned to look at him. "He was in there bawling like a toddler. You saw the look on his face when you started asking about the other girls. He's
not
our guy."

Nathan slapped the file folder he was carrying against his thigh and groaned. "Oh well," he said. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

We went to the Bleachers Sports Bar & Restaurant that we had passed on our way into town and ordered burgers. Nathan ordered a Snickers pie as an appetizer. 

When the waitress walked away from the table, I looked at him sideways. "How in the hell do you stay in such good shape eating like that all the time?" I asked. "I honestly don't think I've ever seen you eat anything that's remotely healthy."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "I have good genes, I guess."

I shook my head. "I'm so jealous. In fact, I hate you a little bit."

He winked at me from across the table. "You can't hate me. I'm the 'cute little blonde boy', remember?"

I laughed and rolled my eyes.

The waitress returned with Nathan's slice of pie and he picked up his fork. "How are you feeling after yesterday?"

"Pretty good now. I still have a little dull pain, but nothing like it was," I said. "I really can't thank you enough for what you did."

He put his hand to his forehead. "You scared me to death. I literally thought I was watching you die. I was sure he had poisoned you."

"He didn't poison me," I said.

"Well, I know that now," he said. "I made them run a blood test to check for toxins."

"Really?" 

He nodded. "Oh yeah."

I was eyeballing Nathan's pie and wishing I had ordered a slice for myself. "I want a bite." I opened my mouth wide.

He cut off a forkful and held it to my lips. "One bite," he said with a hint of warning in his tone.

The sweet cold chocolate and cream almost made my eyes roll back in my head. I licked my lips. When I looked at Nathan again, he was staring at me with the fork still frozen in the air. I covered my mouth and laughed.

He cast his eyes down at his plate and cleared his throat. "What were we talking about?"

"Migraines and poisoning," I reminded him. "Warren actually got really sick too. Same thing happened to him on the way home." 

"Good," Nathan mumbled. He picked a piece of candy bar off of the top of his pie and dropped it into his mouth.

I wadded up my napkin and threw it at him.

My phone rang. "Lo and behold." I turned my phone around so he could see that it was Warren.

He shook his head and shoveled another forkful of pie into his mouth. "You're a creepy chick," he said with his mouth full.

I answered the call. "Hey. I was just talking about you."

"And here I am," he said, laughing. "What are you doing?"

"I am sitting at a sports bar in Hickory with Nathan. What are you doing?" I asked.

"I am watching football at home. How'd it go at the jail?" he asked.

"Not our guy," I said.

"I told you," he said. 

I nodded. "I know you did."

Nathan nudged me with his foot under the table. "Ask him what he needs to find someone." 

"What you were saying earlier about finding bodies, how do you do that?" I asked.

"I guess the same way you found that kid. You knew where to look and when you got there, you knew she was there," he said.

"Well, I knew someone was there. I didn't necessarily know it was Kayleigh," I clarified.

"Same thing with me," he said.

I made a sour face. "So, you can sense dead bodies anywhere? That seems like it would get exhausting."

"Ehh, no more so than you being around people and sensing life all the time," he said. "You get kind of used to it."

"I guess that makes sense. So, what kind of radius are we talking about here as far as a search area goes?" I asked.

"It depends. Where do you think they are?" he asked.

I bit the tip of my index finger. "Between Asheville and Raleigh."

He laughed. "Yeah, I need it to be a little more specific than that. Like maybe the size of a football field," he said.

I nodded. "OK. I don't know that much."

"We'll talk more about it this weekend," he said. "You sure you don't mind if I come?"

"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "I can't wait."

"Me either. Well, I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing. Give my regards to the detective," he said.

I laughed. "I will. I'll text you later." I hung up and looked at Nathan. "He said to tell you hello."

"Yay," he said, feigning interest. 

"When we get home, we need to go over the map again," I said.

"How come?" he asked.

"Warren said if we could narrow down the area, he can tell us if anything is there," I told him.

"How does he do it?"

I wiggled my fingers in front of his face. "Magic."

He smiled and wiped his mouth.

On our ride home, I looked over at him. "You never told me what happened with Shannon after I left your house the other night."

"Well, she was pissed," he said. "I actually didn't call her back until last night. That didn't help things much."

"Seriously?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Well, I was going to call her, but then I got your message saying that some stalker was at your house, so I took off. Then, I was so mad when I left your place that I didn't want to talk to anyone. After that I was at the hospital with you all night. I didn't really have the time."

"I so would have dumped you," I said, shaking my head.

He nodded. "I know you would have."

"Did you fix things with her?" I asked.

"I guess. I don't really know if I even want to fix things with her. Dating her long distance is quite different than it being a full-time gig," he said. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, he's finally making some sense," I teased.

"Shut up," he said.

"You know, without Christy Dumas being a part of the group anymore, your theory about the next victim being from Asheville is completely shot to hell," I pointed out.

He nodded. "I know. I already thought of that."

I rolled my head against the headrest to face him. "And, if you dump your girlfriend, you really have no reason to be here anymore," 

He looked over at me. "You don't think so?" It was a loaded question. He was curious about a lot more than my opinion.

I felt my cheeks flush, and I looked out of the window without giving him an answer.

"Hey," he said.

I looked back toward him.

He was still staring at me over the arm that was resting on the steering wheel. "I can promise you, it's more than your vibes, Sloan."

I swallowed hard. "You don't know that."

He raised his eyebrows. "Don't I?"

I looked back out of the windshield, signaling the end of the conversation. With Warren suddenly in the picture, the timing couldn't be any worse for a heart-to-heart conversation about romance with Nathan.