Page 17 of Stalked By Shadows

I felt sick. How could I cooperate if I didn’t even know what happened? This was exactly why they’d wanted me locked in a psych ward forever. I was crazy. I could hurt people. But Micah said I hadn’t. He’d used himself as a shield. Did he understand how insane that was? He could have been killed. Did he have any idea how many people were killed a year by police simply because they had some sort of mental issue that the cops weren’t trained to manage? My therapist had given me stats and guidelines on how to react around police if I could possibly help it. She’d also discussed the issue at length with Lukas, who promised to bring it up within the department.

I’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only thing that had stood between me and accidental death by cop was Micah.

Micah. I sighed. Only a few hours after meeting him and I’d really fucked up. Probably lost the job. If he was smart, he’d avoid me like the plague from this day forward.

A pair of cops got in the front of the car and they steered the car toward the police station. I wondered if I was under arrest, but realized I hadn’t been read my rights, and Lukas would have been all over that. Though the cuffs still bit into my wrists. I prayed the entire way that I wouldn’t end up back in some psych ward, loaded up with drugs that made me sick, while they tried to erase who I was.

Chapter 7

The police station went by in a blur. They led me into a room, uncuffed me, took swabs from my hands and gave me scrubs to change into, demanding I give them my clothes, even my shoes and underwear. Without the clothes I still felt filthy, the stench of copper strong in my nose. Tendrils of my hair having escaped my bun were laced with drying blood. My forehead throbbed but didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.

I was freezing since the replacement clothes they gave me did nothing to ward off the chill of the evening’s events. The cop that came in to talk to me asked only a handful of questions. He made it clear I was not under arrest, and they only wanted my take on things. Apparently we’d been recorded on the street level cameras entering the cemetery after Jared had called for us. They had our movements all the way up to entering the cemetery.

It didn’t, however, sound all that good for Jared, as the detective was making it sound like the man was under suspicion for doing something to his girlfriend. Had that been her body in the cemetery? Was I covered in her blood?

“So you met Jared and Sarah at the shop earlier today?” The detective asked.

“Yes, they bought some stuff and signed up for the Saturday tour.”

“How did they seem to you?”

“Seem?”

“Happy? Did they argue? Did they say anything about going out for a tour after they left the shop?”

“No,” I said. “They seemed happy. They were going to get beignets. I didn’t ask about the rest of their schedule. Did something happen to Sarah?”

“We’re trying to find that out,” was all the detective gave me.

“But there was a body?”

“Did you see anything?”

“Dead animals. Micah said it looked like a summoning ceremony.”

“Do you practice the occult, Mr. Caine?”

It was odd to be called Mr. Caine. It made me think of my dad, or even Lukas. “No. I just started working at the shop, helping with retail work, and the walking tours.”

“Is Mr. Richards a practicing member of the occult?”

“You’d have to ask him. I don’t know him well enough to have that information.”

“Did Jared and Sarah seem to be into the occult?”

“They were excited about the ghost tour stuff, but I think that’s normal for tourists in New Orleans. The cab driver even talked about how big of a commercial industry it is for the city. Hotels use the idea of ghosts to lure in tourists, and it brings in a ton of revenue. I didn’t get any other vibe off the couple other than that they were tourists.”

“Did you see the tour guide Mark Gioness with them?”

“No, he’d left before they arrived,” I answered. “I got the impression he wasn’t supposed to be in the cemetery as Thursday nights were Micah’s. He had come into the store to argue with Skylar about switching days.”

“How did he seem to you?”

“Um, I dunno. He and the two women he was with were mean to Skylar until I stepped in.”

“Mean how?”

“Using the wrong pronoun. Trying to bully her into changing Micah’s schedule even though she didn’t have the power to do that.”