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Chapter10

Avalon

His eyes narrow,and his face hardens. A muscle ticks in his jaw. Within two seconds, his features smoothen to neutral. Had I not been intent on reading his reaction, I might have missed it altogether. He seems like a man who likes to be in control and has had little of it since we met yesterday morning.

“What do you mean, you saw Alice standing in your room?” His voice is low and cold, calculating. Gone is the easy and open tone of our conversation. What is it that makes him so angry at the mentions of anything paranormal? His reaction feels like more than just being skeptical.

“Just that. I saw Alice in my room, and she asked for help.”

His hand squeezes the water bottle, and it crackles under the pressure. “Asked for help, how?”

“She said, ‘help’, and then dissipated like smoke in the wind.” I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. And the image of his father calling him devil eyes comes back to me. As beautiful as his eyes are when he’s relaxed, being under their scrutiny right now is unsettling.

His shoulders are rigid. “You saw her ghost.”

It’s not a question, but his tone holds a challenge. He may as well just call me a liar.

I curb my irritation. Snapping at Jake won’t help, even if it would feel good. And it’d be a bit like hitting a dog when it snarls at you because it’s in pain. That stone in his office showed me more than he realizes. “Seeing spirits comes with the territory. I’ve always been able to see them, but it’s not something I can control or do at will. Spirits are all around us, and sometimes they show themselves.”

He grinds his teeth, his jaw moving from side to side. “You didn’t mention seeing ghosts before.”

“It wasn’t relevant information then. Like I said, I can’t control when I see them, and it’s not like you were exactly welcoming to my presence and what I had to say.”

Jake lets go of the tortured water bottle, and it topples, no longer fit to stand. His gaze cuts away to the lake, and he takes a deep breath, then looks back at me with some kind of resolve in his expression. “Any idea why this ghost is asking you for help?”

I don’t really have to think about it, but I hold back my response for several seconds. The knowing has been poking at the edges of my awareness since I saw Alice’s spirit. “She wants to be found so her family can have closure.”

His fist goes to his chin in a repetitive tapping, and he looks away again.

Something in his discomfort emboldens me. I reach across the table and pull his fist down. Hold his hand between both of mine. His eyes widen, and his mouth opens.

“Listen, I can tell this whole thing makes you extremely uncomfortable. You’ve already told me you don’t believe in supernatural stuff. And I get it. It’s hard to believe. But I’m not a fake. I’m not asking for nor expecting any kind of compensation. I have nothing to gain by talking to you or helping you, but I have a lot to lose. My career—my professional reputation—is at risk.”

“Why are you helping me, then?” His eyes soften, but his voice is still challenging me.

“I need to help you because I can’t walk away from this. I can’t allow what happened to Alice to happen to someone else. That someone else could be Lynn or me. And when this guy tries to take another girl—and believe me, he will—I need to do everything I can to prevent it.”

His eyes narrow. “You think he killed before and will kill again?”

“Yes, I know he will.”

“Serial killers are rare. What makes you so sure he will do it again?”

I close my eyes and wish I could purge the killer’s bloodlust from my mind, but I can’t. “It’s hard to explain. But the glimpse I got of him, how he feels when he takes someone, it’s like a drug high, and killing is an addiction. He feeds off it, enjoys his victims’ fear, and lusts after the power it gives him. Killing makes him feel like God.”

Jake’s hand flinches between mine, and he pulls away. Something I said disturbed him. “What is it? Did anything I say ring a bell with the case?”

He grabs the paper bag with the remnants of our meal and balls it. “If you’re free sometime in the next few days, I’d like you to meet me at the impound. We have Alice’s car there. It’s been checked and dusted for prints, but we got nothing. Perhaps you can check it as well and see if anything comes to you?”

He ignores my question, and I let it go. He’s protecting more than just details for this case. It’s personal to him, even if he met none of the missing women. I can feel it. The information will come to me. It always does. “Yeah, sure. Let me know when.”

He nods. “I’ll call you when I have a better idea. Maybe in a couple of days?”

He’s creating distance between us again. With his words and tone of voice.

“That’s fine.”

He stands up, and I guess that’s my clue to do the same. I get up, and my gaze gets snagged by the figure near the lake. I walk to the water’s edge and search until I find the perfect rock.“Like this?”I ask in my mind. The stone is oval and thin.