Chapter 11
“Are you sure?” Gilbert asks.
“Yes.” I flick my eyes to the invite and then back to my phone. “It’s the same number, at least.”
My heart leaps in my chest as I unlock my phone.
“What did he say?”
I narrow my eyes, not sure I understand. “It just says ‘Lebanon, Kansas.’ That’s all.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a town,” I tell him, looking at the text as if some sort of secret message will pop up.
“But I don’t know what it’s about.” I stare at the two words for another few seconds and then pull up an internet search.
I type in the city and state, shifting through a Wikipedia page, the town’s official website, a government site about Kansas, and maps.
“I don’t get it,” I say as I slowly shake my head back and forth.
I scroll back to the top of the search and hit the “news” option to display results.
The first article is about some local girl being named a division champ of some sort of sport, but the second article…
“Holy shit.”
“What?” all the guys ask together. The stairs creak and Gemma comes down. She was up in her room, but given her nosey nature, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was listening to our conversation. It’s annoying, but I honestly wouldn’t mind too much right now. I wouldn’t have to repeat myself, at least.
“Last week a couple was found in the woods,” I start, feeling my blood pressure rise. “And the cause of death was hypothermia.”
“Frozen hearts?” Jacques asks.
I skim through the article. “It doesn’t say, but they’re ruling the deaths tragic and accidental from exposure.”
“Can you get access to the police reports?” Gemma asks as she joins us. Yeah, pretty sure she was listening the whole time.
“I can,” I say, thinking of a way to get around the lies. “I’ll have to go into work.”
“Funny, isn’t it?” Thomas says. “You don’t reply by the specific time noted on the invitation, and right away you’re sent info pointing you back at the demon that killed your parents.”
I close my eyes and get a flash of my parents’ faces. It’s weird how I can remember the shrillness of my own voice. The way my hands shook when I walked through the house. The sour feeling in my stomach caused by the strong smell of sulfur.
“He’s doing it on purpose.” I open my eyes and feel energy buzzing around my fingertips. I’m pissed.
“So…what now?” Gemma asks. “You don’t think he knows where this freezing-hearts demon is, do you?”
Jacques, being the voice of reason, holds up a hand. “We don’t know if that’s the case yet.”
I nod, trying hard to think rationally and handle this like any other case. “Right. I need to get into the station and call down to the Lebanon department. I’ll say I’m working a similar case and will see if they’ll send me over files.”
“Won’t they think that’s weird?” Gemma asks. “You’re a homicide detective and those people died from exposure, or so they say, right?”
“Yes, but it’s not the first time I’ve looked into something seemingly natural or accidental and found foul play. And given the low crime rate, I might get an eager cop who’s hoping to bust a big crime in that small town.”
“I’m coming with you,” Hasan says, standing. “And the rest of you need to be on guard.”
“I’ll put the book in the box,” I say, standing. “If anything happens…”
“We’ll take to the sky,” Jacques answers. “We won’t let anyone get the book.”
I nod, grab my phone, and head toward the door.
“You should probably stay in the car,” I tell Hasan. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he says. “One less thing to explain is best.”
“Exactly.” I turn the engine off out of habit and turn it back on again to keep the air conditioner running along with the radio. “I’ll text you if I get anything. I’ll be as fast as I can, but it might take me a while.”
“Take your time, Ace,” he says, and his deep voice reverberates all the way through me.
“Thank you.” I lean over the center console and kiss him before getting out, hiking my purse up over my shoulder.
It feels a little weird to be walking through the door of the police station.
It used to feel like coming home, offering me a sense of purpose and safety. But right now, I feel like a fraud.
Because I am.
I’m using my badge to lie and get info that has nothing to do with anything I’m officially investigating. I’m not even supposed to be here since I’m on vacation. I went through all my “required” days I had to take after being kidnapped and tied up in a root cellar.
On the other hand, no one will balk if they see me. I used to haunt this place with more frequency than the ghosts in the Eastern State Penitentiary.
I go through the front, smiling politely at the receptionist but keeping my eyes down as I walk back to my desk.
“Ace!” Tiffany says, walking in the opposite direction.
She’s zipping up her camera case, making me think she’s heading out to capture photographic evidence of a crime scene.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, and then laughs.
“Sorry, that sounded rude. I mean I thought you were still on vacation.”
“I am. I left something in my desk,” I say, going with the lie I already planned.
I didn’t expect Tiff to be here. She’s the hardest one to lie to because she knows me.
I’ve kept to myself over the years, and while I care about my “work family” a lot, I haven’t let anyone get to know me well at all.
“Oh, okay. You know you could have asked me to grab it for you,” she says, and I internally cringe. She’s so nice and I’m lying to her face. “That way you didn’t have to come in and risk being bombarded to come back.”
I laugh. “Thanks, but my house is a ways out.”
“Yeah, I know. But that place is so cool I’d love to come by just to look around.”
Shit. Right. She mentioned before that she loves big old houses and wanted a tour.
“I’m slowly working on decorating.” That’s not a total lie. Gemma helped rearrange a few things and took down some of the ugly dated paintings hanging in the halls. “But you and your husband should come over sometime. We can have dinner or something.”
“We’d like that. Well, assuming I can find a sitter.”
“You can bring Mav if you need to.”
Tiffany smiles. “Thanks, though at the risk of sounding like a terrible mother I’m going to say I’m really looking forward to a date night without her.”
“That doesn’t make you a terrible mother. I don’t have kids, but I can only assume how much alone time you miss out on.”
“I hardly ever get to go to the bathroom by myself when I’m at home.” She adjusts her camera bag and lets out a sigh. “But I miss that little stinker when I’m here.”
I shift my eyes to her bag. “Heading out or going home?”
“Home, thankfully.”
“Well, I don’t want to keep you,” I say, cringing even more at my words. I sound so lame and forced. Because I am being lame and forced.
“It was good running into you.” She smiles. “When are you coming back again?”
“Next week,” I say, and feel like I’m lying. Because I’m not sure I can come back. “Unless I become one of those perma-vacationers or something.”
“Don’t you have to be somewhere warm and tropical for that to happen?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I think so. Though it is warm here. If only there was a white sand beach I could relax on.”
“Ohhhh, that sounds so nice. It’ll be a few years before we go on vacation again.
” She shakes her head. “I sound like one of those moms I can’t stand.
Having a baby is great. Amazing, really.
There is no greater love you will feel than that for your own child.
I don’t want to scare you out of having a baby someday. ”
I laugh, forcing another smile. “You’re not.”
“Have a good night, Ace. You look good. Did you get a tan?”
“I was outside a lot today.”
“It looks good on you. See ya later.”
My smile disappears as soon as she turns to leave. I continue walking back to my desk, having a hard time keeping my mind from wandering. Me, have babies? Is that even possible?
Not with the way the guys are right now, and that’s assuming they’d want to father children. We never discussed it because it wasn’t possible. We entered this relationship assuming it would continue the way it is, but truth be told, I’d love to have my own family.
But I can’t give up what I have going right now. It’s perfect. I’m happy. The guys are happy. Sighing, I sit at my desk. At least the world isn’t in danger from this issue.
“Thank you again,” I say, and hang up. I just got off the phone with the police department in Lebanon, and they are sending over the case file for the people found in the woods.
The officer I spoke with was a little taken aback that I thought foul play could be at hand.
They thought they had a solid case, saying the couple must have fallen in the nearby creek, gotten too cold, and couldn’t make it through the night.
Even though they had plenty of firewood left.
And a tent.
And two sleeping bags.
And were experienced hikers.
I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes while talking to him on the phone. I get it: people like closure and understanding things around them. People generally don’t believe in monsters, and suggesting something otherworldly having a hand in anything never goes over well.
Trust me. That used to be my job. I used to be the one giving people the “you’re batshit crazy and need to be on medication” eye when they’d say a ghost or demon was responsible for the crimes committed.
And until the vampires started killing people and dumping the bodies around town, I never would have given any thought to monsters being real.
But people freezing to death in the summer?