Truth Is Found (34 page)

There was a knock.

“Anyway,” Tori began, “I need to find this male spirit. He’s collecting the dead ghosts, and Bethany said that’s a no-no for their kind.”

“Trey is not happy,” she said, touching her forehead. “He’s pretty adamant that you’re not to do this. In fact, he’s ordered you to stop, Tori.”

Beau dropped his arm over Nyx’s shoulder. “I have a message for him. Back off, Trey. I mean it.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

He left a kiss on the crown of her head.

“Do we know who it is?” Nyx asked. She was aware of how bad this could go. Opening herself up to any old spirit could end in disaster.

“Nope.”

“Okay. I’ll do it, but I need to be at the vineyard, and you’re going to have to keep an eye on me.”

Julian didn't like it.

Not one single part of the plan.

Beau glanced down at her. “Is this dangerous?”

“Yes,” she said. Since they weren’t lying, she had no choice but to tell him the truth.

“Jesus,” muttered Julian.

“Don’t worry. Tori will be fine. She’s just going to follow me around. Trey will connect to her and Bethany. I’m going to be the one open to any spirit out there.”

They all stared at her.

“I’m going to be possessed. I could walk off a cliff. That’s how channeling works. I’ll have thought, but not enough to overcome whatever this spirit is angry about.”

Beau held her tight. “I’ll be there. I won’t let you get hurt. I promise.”

She was grateful. “We’ll need a quiet place at the vineyard.”

“Our room.”

“Okay. I can bring the things I need. Do you want to do it tonight?”

Tori knew that wasn’t a possibility. “We have a tasting tonight. We have to be there to keep an eye on things. How about tomorrow night?”

“Works for me. I’ll be there.”

Tori had to know. “Why are you doing this if you’re at risk?”

Nyx glanced over at Beau. “Because I am in love with him, and his sister has asked me for my help.”

He was caught totally off guard. “Wait. What did you say?”

Julian laughed. “I like her. She reminds me of someone feisty.”

Tori saw the love there.

Yeah, she was woman enough to admit that she was wrong. Her brother was about to get on the rollercoaster.

It was always one hell of a ride.

CHAPTER Seventeen

Darkwood Monastery

He needed to see them, and fast.

Roman had to talk to the sleuthing duo before they got busy that night. He’d dug up a good deal of information, and wanted them to know about it. He had vowed to play fair and square, and Roman was keeping his promise.

That was how he lived his life.

You were only as good as your word.              

When he saw them exiting their vehicle, to cross the parking lot, he followed, calling to them.

Julian stopped. “What’s up, Roman?” he asked.

“Can we take a few minutes to talk?”

He wasn’t really in the mood, since his mind was going a million miles a minute, most of it focused on a séance and Tori getting hurt.

“Sure. We’re heading up to our room. We can talk there.”

They headed inside, taking the stairs to the private quarters of the vineyard. Once inside Julian and Tori’s room, the man nearly exploded from excitement.

“I found this.”

He handed it to Tori, and she opened it to the marked page. Quickly, she scanned the contents. “Okay, what am I looking for?” she asked.

“All those items that I’ve flagged are missing. Someone has either stolen them, or is looking for them.”

That had their interest. “Here?”

He nodded.

Julian looked over his wife’s shoulder. “Whew. That’s a lot of gold. That has to be worth a good chunk of change.”

“Yeah, it has to be,” Tori admitted.

“What if your person isn’t sabotaging to take the Nelms down, but looking for something?”

They stared at each other.

Roman could be right.

“That’s pretty astute,” Tori admitted.

“Well, let’s look at the facts. We had a priest murdered. Really, what could he possibly been involved in to get killed? If we look at the motive, that much gold is a good place to start.”

Julian thought about it.

“So, someone is looking for the gold?” Tori asked. “How do we know that it’s not already gone? He was killed. That’s an altar cross. I’m sure it was swiped.”

“I did my research. That piece dates back to the sixteen hundreds. It’s valuable melted down, but worth ten times the amount intact. It’s not come up on the black market yet.”

Julian saw where he was taking this. “How do you know?”

“I have plenty of sources.”

Julian didn't doubt that would come in handy.

“What if it’s in someone’s private collection?” Tori asked.

“You don’t kill for a collection piece. You kill for money, sex, and betrayal.”

He had her there.

“So, we have someone treasure hunting at the monastery?” Julian asked.

“Yeah. You said you were working a case of sabotage, but really…that person popped you pretty damn hard. I don’t doubt you’d be dead if he or she got their way. That’s not sabotage. Murder is a whole uglier category.”

Tori agreed. “That’s pure greed.”

“Yeah, about a million bucks worth. I don’t doubt you have someone sabotaging the Nelms. I just think that the motive is golden.”

Tori and Julian knew it fit.

This man had likely given them a good link. They could start running financials, and follow the trail.

“I want in.”

“What?” Julian asked.

“I know you look at me and think
‘what’s this nerd going to bring to the table’
, but I have skills. I found this, let me work with you.”

Julian and Tori didn't judge a book by its cover. Christina was the queen of nerds, and she’d saved their asses a million times.

“How do you know we’re going to work this?” Tori asked.

“I’ve studied you. The two of you found a hundred year old victim buried in a wall. You located a Bible, and found a bloodline. Now you’re here, and there’s a missing cross, a dead priest, and a mystery. You can’t fight the lure.”

Julian stared at him. “You want to join our team?”

“Yes.”

“For this case?”

“Yes.”

Tori shrugged. She was more than okay with that. They could use all the help they could get.

“For this case only?”

“Well…”

Julian stared at him.

“If I pull my weight, I’d like to make it more permanent. If I come through, I want you to hire me.”

They stared at him. “What?” they said together.

Where the hell had this come from?

“You heard me. I want to join the team. I can be an asset, and what we do is very similar. The only difference is that my findings are published in a public forum, and yours aren’t.”

“But you have a job,” Tori stated. “In fact, you’re a reporter. We aren’t exactly friends. Our kind hates your kind. In the food chain, we’re competing to survive.”

“I’m aware.”

Julian didn't know what to think.

“I’m not going to tell the media anything that you deem off limits. In fact, you can use that to your advantage. I have plenty of sources, and I can tap into them when I’m working. Won’t that come in handy?”

Julian liked him--a lot.

In their work, he often used his gut instinct to make decisions. This was going to be one of those times. He wasn’t worried about the man betraying them, and that spoke volumes.

“You have a deal, Mr. Remington.”

“What?” Tori said, staring at him like he was crazy. “You just hired a reporter to have an inside look into our lives. Is that the wisest thing?” she asked, thinking about Vivian’s dreams, Beckett’s touch, and her talking to the dead.

If any of that got out…

“I trust him.”

“Thanks. The priest deserves justice, and I want to branch out in my life. It’s not as much fun being a reporter. I want to investigate more and working for you will give me the opportunity to do that.”

Tori shook her head. “This is going to bite us in the ass. I can feel it.”

The man grinned. “You’re an ex-Fed. That’s paranoia. Want me to swear on my grandmother’s life?”

Julian was amused at his wife’s reaction. Just twenty minutes ago, she was willing to go off the cuff and do a séance. How was this any more bizarre?

“He did find this.”

Tori didn't care. They had secrets, and this man had the power to out them to the public.

“We don’t do this for the glory,” she reminded her husband. “We do it for justice.”

Roman heard her. “Some innocent man was killed. I want to find the person who did it. I won’t mention names, but I will put the killer in the paper. Let him be tried by the public before the courts get their hands on him.”

Tori closed her eyes. “This is on you, Jules.”

Julian wasn’t done. He had a little test for the man. “I have a media issue, and maybe you can help me out.”

“Sure. What is it?”

They told him about Shelby.

“She’s on a smear campaign. Make it go away.”

The man thought about it. “I’ll need a phone call with Beau, and it’ll be handled.”

Tori stared at him.

“That easily?”

“Yes. It’s how you spin it. Think of me as the PR man. I can place a story in the paper to counter it, and that’ll take the wind from her sails.”

Tori was hesitant.

“Let me try, okay?”

Julian shook his hand. “Here’s Beau’s number. If you fix this, and help us with this case, you’re in.”

“I want to help people, and I wish you’d believe that. I don’t have ulterior motives.”

There was no doubt who that was directed toward.

Julian knew that the man had kept his part of the deal, so he was going to do the same.

“There is more than just the dead priest here.”

Roman stared excitedly. “What do you mean?”

Tori couldn’t believe this. That hit to Julian’s head must have rattled his common sense loose. That was the only explanation.

“We’ve been told there are three dead girls here. They were killed, and we’re trying to find their bodies.”

Roman looked excited. “What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to dig. They had to be from around here, and if we can tie them to someone, we likely have our killer. This is a small tourist town, and the killer had to reside here.”

“I have the membership roster,” he added, pulling it from his messenger bag.

“We don’t have their names yet, but we will. Once I get them, I’ll give them to you,” Julian offered.

“Great.”

“You do the legwork, and we’ll solve this together.”

“When it’s over?” Tori began.

“Your name won’t be tied to it. I’ll say an anonymous source figured it out. I’ll do my job. You just do yours.”

Tori was trapped in some weird dimension. They were hiring a reporter to work on their team.

What the hell?

“The article will be in tomorrow’s paper. I know someone who will be more than happy to run it. I’ll talk to you two later at the tasting.”

With that, he was gone.

Tori turned to face her husband. “Have you gone loco?” she asked.

He shook his head. “This is purely a business decision.”

“One in which I had no say.”

“Tori, we have an office that’s buried in work. He’s got connections, he’s got skills, and he thinks like one of us. That’s going to be beneficial in the long run.”

She stared at him. “Know what’s not going to be beneficial?” she asked.

“What?”

“Bethany, Beckett’s magic touch, and Vivian’s dreams--if that leaks out, we’re screwed.”

He was aware.

“I trust him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just feel it here,” he said, putting his hand over his gut. “I need your trust on this one. You wing it all the time with your half-assed interview techniques of ‘Army’ or ‘Marines’.”

She sighed. Julian had a point. “Okay, babe. You have my trust.”

“That easy?”

Tori shrugged. “You’re my partner. If I can’t trust you, then who can I?” she asked.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Your little ‘geekafied’ reporter better not blow our cover, or you’re the one cleaning up the mess.”

“I will. He’s my responsibility.”

Well, then that was all she could ask.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

What he saw scared him shitless.

The Littlemoons were nosing around, and they were going to dig up his secret.

That worried him.

A lot!

They couldn’t possibly know about the three dead girls. How would they? He’d waited a long time since the last time he touched a child.

He’d been so good.

He’d been patient.

Now the need was growing again. It was all stirred up by them, and he was getting worried.

What if they found out?

What if they found them?

He was screwed.

For all these years, the truth had remained hidden, and now it was on the cusp of coming out. There had to be something he could do.

Maybe he should move them.

Maybe he should escape.

His brain was a mash-up of what if’s and possible scenarios that could happen.

In all of them, he was caught.

Closing his eyes, he started praying.

Oh, how ironic that was. He was well aware that he didn't deserve any kind of answer from above, but he carried on regardless.

“Please don’t let me get caught.”

There was silence.

“Please don’t let me touch another one.”

Still no reply.

In his head, he saw what he did, and he was more than scared.

He was ashamed.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Shopping for Fate

The walk back to her place took longer than he liked. Nyx wanted to take a stroll out in the daylight, and he was in no position to say no.