Four months later…
I WALKED THROUGH THE FRONT door of the house that sat at the end of a secluded lane at the edge of town. I looked up into the two-story entryway and hardly recognized it as the same house that I entered the night Thom Renzo was murdered. It looked like I stepped back in time to when the house was first built.
The hardwood floors gleamed beneath a crystal chandelier, and the wide curving staircase that led up to the second-story landing had been refinished as well. My heart’s desire stood looking over the balcony railing at me with her hands on her hips.
“There you are,” she said. “I was starting to think that you got lost.”
Maegan had stripped the old wallpaper off the walls and painted them in soft neutral colors that would act as a backdrop to her art and furnishings, allowing the original, restored woodwork to shine. Well, that was what she said would happen anyway, and I had no reason to doubt her. My lady of the manor knew what the hell she was doing. You’d never guess that the house had been in horrible shape just a few months prior.
“Nah, you can’t lose me that easily,” I told her. “I backed the moving truck in the driveway to make things a little easier. Your mom, dad, Milo, and Memphis are heading over in a bit. They promised to bring pizza and beer.”
“What do you think of the place now that she’s finished?” She didn’t let me come over the last week because she wanted to surprise me. I was surprised all right.
I had been really skeptical of her buying the place because so much mystery surrounded it. I wasn’t sure that I believed in ghosts, spirits, and whatnot, but Anthony Bliss’s disappearance and Thom Renzo’s murder had to leave an imprint on the place. Right? Maegan called a local resident named Emory Jackson who claimed to be a psychic. Hell yeah, I was disbelieving until I researched him on the internet and saw all the cases he assisted law enforcement officers with over the past five years. It helped to find out that Emory was good friends with the captain and Adrian. They told me he was the real deal and vouched for his character. Then I felt like a real asshole when I learned that he was also Memphis’s cousin.
Emory seemed like a great guy and I liked him the moment we were introduced. Before Maegan bought the house, she had Emory come over and give his impressions. “I’m not detecting any negative energy present, but there is a ghost here.” A door had randomly slammed upstairs as if to punctuate his statement with an exclamation.
“I’m telling you that’s Anthony’s ghost. I don’t believe he just disappeared,” Maegan said. “This is his beloved home, but I think it’s sad that he’s trapped here,” she had told me. “I have a feeling the answers are in that cellar and I’m going to find them.”
Maegan hired someone to haul every single thing the Renzos had owned after she made sure that none of the Bliss family’s belongings were mixed in. Only a few of the Bliss treasures, as Maegan called them, were discovered upstairs, such as the pearl necklace Renzo had told Maegan about, and a very old, elaborate smoking pipe carved out of dark wood and ivory. She just knew it was Anthony’s and the source of the random tobacco smell we caught on occasion. Most everything else remained in the cellar waiting for her to explore.
“I think I know someone who can help you if you’re interested,” Emory told her. “He’s a paranormal investigator. You might’ve heard of him, Lyric Willows.”
“Oh! Oh my God! Are you kidding? That’s the guy that Memphis lusts after!”
“I know, and I offered to introduce them but…” His words trailed off.
“Memphis only likes the bad boys,” Maegan had finished for him.
“Elijah,” Maegan said, pulling me back to the present.
I walked further into the foyer and shut the door behind me then walked to the bottom of the steps. “It’s almost as beautiful as the lady who owns it.”
“Awww,” Maegan said, walking toward the top of the steps. Instead of walking down, she hopped onto the banister and slid down into my waiting arms. “That never gets old.”
“You know what else never gets old?” I asked seductively.
“I have an idea. How much longer will we be alone?”
“Not long enough for me to fuck you proper.”
“You say the sweetest things, Elijah.” She slid out of my arms and headed to the front door. “I guess we better get started moving boxes in now so that we can get to the more pleasant activities quicker. That gigantic copper bathtub will do wonders for our tired bodies tonight.” That damn thing was big enough for three people, but I promised that it would only get used by two.
“Now you’re talking, Freckles.” I started to follow her outside, but stopped when my cell phone rang. My heart seized in my chest when I saw who was calling me. There could only be one reason for my old captain from the Columbus Police Department to call me. “Detective Markham,” I said into the phone.
“It’s Captain Barker calling, Detective. I’m afraid I have some bad news. I just learned that—”
“Axel Washington is a free man,” I said, finishing for him.
“An hour ago,” he confirmed.
“How?”
“Evidence and witnesses went missing. There were issues with juror intimidation also. The judge declared a mistrial and that animal is walking free until the prosecutor can decide if they want to retry him.”
“If?” I asked.
“They like to win, Detective.”
“Fuck!”
“My sentiments exactly,” the older man said. “I don’t have to tell you that you’re in danger if Axel Washington ever learns your true identity. Be careful, Detective.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I hung up just as Maegan walked in with her family and Memphis behind her. “Look who’s here.” She saw my thunderous expression and the smile slid from her face. “What’s wrong?”
Telling Maegan that a psychopath might show up in our lives someday served no point right then. Axel didn’t know my identity yet, and I just had to pray it stayed that way. I finally had everything I ever wanted and no scumbag was going to take that away from me.
“Just took a call about an old case that I worked. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Freckles.” I could tell that she wasn’t one hundred percent sold on my answer, but I saw the moment she decided to trust me.
I just hoped she didn’t live to regret it.
Maegan and Elijah’s story continues in The Lady Stole My Heart.