Chapter 11
“Cut me down first.”
“That wasn’t the deal, lad,” Shayne said as he scrolled through his phone, debating his options as the man, who he was guessing had been strung up sometime in the late eighteenth century judging by his clothes, continued to gently sway above his head.
“Who’d ye piss off, lad?” Declean asked from his spot on the stone wall.
“I was framed!” came the immediate reply that had Declean chuckling as Shayne sat there, torn between mints and gum for his little problem with motion sickness. He’d never chewed gum before, but he was willing to try anything at this point.
He’d never had problems riding in a car when he was a spirit, but now that he was human again, his stomach couldn’t seem to handle it.
Normally, he had his brothers flash him wherever he needed to go, preferring the sudden drop in his stomach to the overwhelming nausea that threatened to destroy his very soul that came from riding in a car, but with Ashlyn, that wasn’t an option.
“Have ye seen any other spirits come through here, lad?” Shayne asked as he came across a section for over-the-counter medication that was supposed to help with motion sickness.
“A few,” came the hesitant answer that had Shayne exiting out of the browser and pulling up a picture of Jillian Mathers.
“Have ye seen her?” Shayne asked, holding up his phone.
“I can’t see that from here,” he said, pointedly looking up at the sky while Shayne stood there, taking in the noose wrapped around his neck before he followed the rope that had been thrown over the branch above to the base of the tree where it had been tied off.
“What’s yer name, lad?” Shayne asked as Declean disappeared from the stone wall only to reappear by the tree.
“Robert,” came the answer, followed by a muffled curse when Declean released the rope and dropped him to the ground.
Shayne watched as Robert dragged himself to his feet, glaring at them as he reached up and pulled the noose off before tossing it aside.
Shayne watched as Robert’s gaze flickered between them before he shifted slightly to his right leg and-
“I wouldn’t do that if I were ye, lad,” Shayne said with a bored sigh as Robert took off in the other direction, leaving him to go back to scrolling through his phone, torn between peppermint gum and-
“Bloody hell!” Robert snapped when he suddenly found himself right back where he’d started.
“Ye can’t leave, lad,” Declean said as Shayne exited the browser again.
“Why the hell not?” Robert demanded.
“Why didn’t ye give into the light when it came for ye after ye died, lad?” Shayne asked as he opened the file for Jillian Mathers.
“Because I’m not leaving until I make old man McClellan pay for what he did to me,” Robert snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as he leveled a glare on the tavern.
“I don’t think he’s coming back anytime soon, lad,” Shayne drawled, holding up the phone with Jillian’s picture.
“I’m willing to wait,” Robert said with a firm nod as his gaze flickered to the picture of Jillian seconds before his expression turned pitying.
“She was a nice girl,” he said, moving to take the phone only to have his fingers go through it.
“So, ye remember her?” Shayne said, watching Robert nod as he dropped his hand away.
“She used to bring vegetables from the kitchen and leave them by the tree for the rabbits. They came out as soon as they heard her voice. Sometimes deer joined them. Watching them helped pass the time. I even named a few of them, but they stopped coming after she was gone,” Robert said quietly. “She was a nice girl.”
“Do ye remember what happened to her?” Shayne asked, closing her photo and swiped until he found the photo of the hitchhiker.
“The bastard yelled at her to stop leaving vegetables out, claiming the rabbits were destroying his flowers. She left crying,” Robert said, nodding towards the path in the woods that would no doubt take them to where the poor girl had been killed.
“Do ye know who this is?” Shayne asked, holding up his phone.
“That’s the bastard that made her cry,” Robert said as Shayne glanced back down at the phone, noting that Patrick died in prison a few years ago and found himself wondering why a hitchhiker would care about flowers.
“How about any of these other girls?” Shayne asked, pulling up the photo gallery of the missing girls and took his time swiping through them, watching as Robert stared intently at each picture, slowly shaking his head before Shayne swiped to the next picture.
“I haven’t seen any of them,” Robert said, shaking his head.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Shayne said, releasing a disappointed sigh as he slid his phone back into his pocket and took in everything from the path in the woods to the tavern, noting that the dining room had the perfect view of the path.
“What time did she go missing?” Declean asked, following his gaze.
“Saturday morning, right before they opened,” Shayne said as he glanced from the windows to the path.
“Did anyone follow her?” Shayne asked, glancing back at Robert.
“Just him,” Robert said as he shifted his gaze back to the tavern and slowly narrowed his eyes with a look that dared old man McClellan to come out.
“Ye know he’s dead, right, lad?” Declean asked, watching as a muscle clenched in Robert’s jaw.
“He’s bound to show up sooner or later,” Robert said with a firm nod that let them know that he planned on waiting for as long as it took.
“We can release ye now, lad,” Declean offered only to have Robert stubbornly shake his head.
“I’ll wait,” Robert said as Shayne was grabbed from behind and yanked back before he was suddenly released and found himself in the men’s room, causing him to stumble back across the freshly polished tiled floors beneath his feet.
“I really fucking hate ye,” Shayne said as he was forced to hold onto the bathroom counter and close his eyes as a fresh wave of nausea threatened to drop him on his ass.
“Because we keep reminding ye that yer our bitch?” Aidan asked as Shayne opened his eyes in time to watch his brother hop up onto the marble countertop with a satisfied sigh.
“That might have something ta do with it,” Shayne said, reaching over and turned the cold water on.
“What happened?” Declean asked as he suddenly appeared next to them.
“She’s looking for him,” Aidan said as Shayne splashed cold water on his face.
“What else?” Shayne asked as he wiped his hand over his face before he stood up and grabbed one of the neatly folded hand towels off the silver platter before taking in the selection of toiletries lined up beneath the mirror, from the small jar of condoms to the bottles of cologne, before he settled on the bowl of mints.
“She met the owner. Caleb McClellan, easy-going smile, polite lad, who apparently went to school with our missing girl. He was a few years behind her in school, which would have probably made him fourteen or fifteen when she was killed,” Aidan said, shrugging it off as Shayne helped himself to a mint.
“Anything else?” Shayne asked, ripping the cellophane package open and tossed the mint in his mouth.
“Patrick wasn’t a hitchhiker. He worked for Caleb’s father maintaining the grounds.
The police chief was apparently concerned about the tavern’s reputation and took it upon himself to change a few details and omit the fact that the lad worked at the tavern,” Aidan said as Shayne gently suckled on the mint and nearly fucking sighed with relief when he felt his stomach begin to settle.
“Ye know, if yer gonna try ta make the lass fall in love with ye, ye might want ta pretty yerself up for her,” Declean said, reaching past him to pick up one of the bottles of cologne.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Shayne said, helping himself to another mint from the bowl before making his way to the door, pausing along the way to throw away the wrapper before he opened the door only to find Ashlyn standing there with her fist raised, ready to knock on the door.
“Everything okay, lass?” Shayne asked as he stepped out of the bathroom and joined her in the small hallway.
“I was just about to ask you that,” Ashlyn said, frowning as she glanced back at the bathroom door. “Were you just talking to someone?”
“I was giving myself a pep talk, lass,” Shayne said with a sad shake of his head and a heartfelt sigh.
“Why exactly did you need a pep talk?” Ashlyn asked as they began making their way back to the waiting room.
“I had ta mentally prepare myself for what was ta come,” Shayne said as he found himself reaching for her hand before he realized what he was doing and stopped himself.
“And what’s that?” Ashlyn asked as they made their way to the hostess podium, where a middle-aged woman with a kind smile and a silver name tag letting them know that her name was Maria, was waiting for them.
“The rest of yer interrogation,” Shayne said, watching Ashlyn’s lips twitch as they reached the hostess.
“Two?” Maria asked, already grabbing two menus. When Shayne nodded, she said, “Right this way,” as she led them into the dining room to a table right by the windows overlooking the lake and flower garden below.
“Your waitress will be right out,” Maria said as she placed the menus on the table as Ashlyn reached for her chair only to have Shayne reach past her and pull it out for her.
“Thank you,” Ashlyn murmured after a slight hesitation before she sat down, her curious gaze never leaving him as he took his seat across from her while Declean and Aidan took up positions by the window.
“How did you see this interrogation going?” Ashlyn asked as Shayne glanced out the window and watched as Robert tried to pick up a stick, most likely to beat the shit out of old man McClellan, only to have his hand go through it.
He watched as Robert narrowed his eyes on the stick, muttered to himself and reached for another stick only to have the same thing happen again.
They watched him pace back and forth as he glared up at the tavern and-