Page 128 of Ghost Hunted
“Hey, Logan. Hey.” Damien’s voice grows a lot warmer. “It’s going to be okay. Deep breaths, now. Where are you?”
“In the… in the forest.” I choke out the words. “Behind Gloria Everton’s house. I followed her footsteps here, but they stopped, and now there are tire marks. I’m following them.”
He huffs out in exasperation. “Well, don’t do that, idiot. How the hell are you going to follow a bike on foot? Get back to your car and drive. Fuck, I wish I’d gone to the gala. I needed a break from diaper changes, anyway. None of this shit would have happened if I’d been there.”
I ignore his light tone, and I don’t ask him, either, how he could have prevented the mayor from talking about her that way, or prevented me from allowing it. “How can I know where the bike went if I don’t follow the trail?”
“Well, it’s the Puicin Gang. I don’t think they’re all that discreet. Don’t worry, Logan. We’re on it. Get to your car and I’ll figure out the address. In fact, Vincent is figuring it out as we speak. He’s an idiot, but he’s good at tracking. You’ll find her before they kill her. I promise.”
Groaning, I walk back far too slowly. Slowly, because I feel hopeless. And because my energy is gone. It hurts to breathe.
“C’mon, man. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to find her. Vincent’s on it. Keep your phone handy, I’ll text you as soon as he finds something. Everything’s going to be okay. Now, I hear you walking, but you’d better start running, man.”
I tear the phone away from my ear, hearing it vibrate as my feet hit the ground. I grind my teeth as I take one step after another. It’s not like I’m not in shape; I have no idea why my body is reacting this way to what is only mild exertion.
No, I think I do know. I’m in pain, that’s what it is. And there’s only so much your heart can take before it spills out into your bones.
I grind to a sudden halt when I catch a glimpse of something red, floating in the pool. Hair, red curly hair, spread out in a halo, and a body just visible underneath.
Oh… fuck.
Forgetting all about my car, ignoring the police sirens that tell me it wasn’t the best idea to shoot the mayor just now, I plunge fully dressed into the pool and yank her up.
It’s only when I’ve pulled her out of the pool that I look down at her face and realize… she isn’t Lia.
She looks a whole lot like her though. Like a younger, more innocent version of her. Nearly identical to Piper, too, except her face is slimmer, more delicate. Her skin is as pale as a ghost’s, and when her eyes flutter open, I can see they’re a deep green flecked with yellow.
“Jane,” I breathe.
42
Lia
“Iknow you took her. Eighteen years ago, you took my child. Where is she? Answer me!”
I’ve been keeping up a steady stream of curse words and accusations for the past ten minutes, but he never once acknowledges me or the fact that he’s tied me up and dumped me across his motorcycle seat in a humiliating position.
I don’t expect him to answer, anyway. The bikers never did. And I know that the black hole kidnapping me is bad news, but I’m seething with so much anger that I don’t have time to be terrified.
Still, his silence is wearing on me, and at last I change tracks, even though I have a feeling it’s just as useless. “So what? You gave me back my memory, and now, you’re going to kill me?”
“Hmm.”
I startle at the sound that’s left his parted lips. Pausing in my fruitless attempt to wriggle out of my bonds, I ask, “You speak now?”
“We’ve always spoken. Just not to you.”
I wince as he skids around a hairpin bend in the road. “Uh, okay. Why not?”
“There’s no point in speaking to someone who won’t remember, is there? There’s no point in killing someone who doesn’t remember why either.”
“Oh.” I shudder. “So I guess that’s why you restored my memory?”
“Hmm.”
He parks in front of a large, unassuming whitewashed brick house, tumbles me over his shoulder, and walks up the steps leading to the red door.
“Hey. I can walk, you know! And I’m not my father, so get your hands off me! What did you do to my daughter? To Jane? I don’t get it!”
