Lost Souls (A Caitlyn O’Connell Novel) Read online

  “Jason? I left him here… in the dining room.”

  “He ran up, nearly bust a gut to tell me Eddie had you and some shit about you chatting him up.” His arms tightened, growing rigid around her.

  She burrowed deeper. “Me chatting up a guy?” She pressed her lips together, tensing. “Must have read the situation wrong.”

  “Dammit,” he cussed softly. At last, his arms eased their crushing hold, just enough so he could lean away.

  She felt a hole burning into the top of her head and slowly raised her gaze.

  Sam’s face was red, his eyes narrow, angry slits. “Were you trying to seduce a damn incubus into coming up to the third floor?”

  She winced. Stated like that, her plan sounded stupid. “Almost worked. Except for the part that he didn’t buy a minute of it.”

  Sam shook his head. “And what were you gonna do if you did get him up there?”

  “I figured you could sit on him until he told us who his accomplice was. Rough him up a bit.” She lifted a shoulder. “It’s not like we have to Mirandize a demon.”

  Sam’s breath left in a slow exhale. “That was a shit plan, O’Connell.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out the moment he asked me if I thought he was stupid. Funny thing was, he didn’t seem all that threatening.”

  Sylvia huffed beside her. “That asshole fed me to the wall. Joo t’ink he’s not dangerous?”

  Thank goodness Sam couldn’t hear the ghost. He’d be nodding right along.

  Sam swallowed. His jaw was clenched so hard he could have pounded concrete. “So, where’d he go?”

  “Back to 1980. I imagine his boss is kicking his ass, given Eddie wanted me for himself.”

  Sam’s arms dropped, and his hand manacled her wrist. His face was tight and nearly purple, with a tic pulsing beside his eye. “We’re going now. Problem’s not isolated to the third floor. He has control of the elevators too. The whole damn place might be his feeding ground.”

  Cait’s feet scuffed behind him, not able to keep up with his fast pace. Inside thirty seconds, they were outside the hotel, and he hit the automatic door lock of his car.

  He slammed open the passenger door, pushed her inside, then knelt beside her seat. “Don’t budge,” he said, wagging a finger in her face. “Don’t talk to anyone. Keep the fucking door closed. I’m going back in to clear out the team until I have a chance to sort this out.”

  At her scowl, he gave her nose a firm tap. “I’m serious, Cait. You move a damn muscle and your ass is mine.”

  “That supposed to do anything but thrill me?” she muttered.

  Only he didn’t smile at her quip. He looked ready to chew metal.

  The door slammed shut, and Cait stayed right where he’d put her. Besides, Eddie and the demon in the walls had scared the crap out of her. She’d play humble, maybe shed a tear or two, and by morning, everything would be copacetic.

  Fifteen minutes later, they were pulling up in front of her apartment. Sam hadn’t said a word since he’d come stomping out of the hotel doors.

  Cait opened her car door and slid out, surprised to find her legs a little wobbly after all. By the time she’d cleared the front of the car, Sam’s door slammed and he came right at her, his expression so dark and furious, she at last felt a thrill of fear.

  Adrenaline kicked in, and Cait dashed to the door, fishing in her pocket for her keys.

  But he was faster, pushing her against the door and reaching high for the key on the ledge. With a grip on her upper arm, he unlocked the door and pushed her, slamming them inside.

  His hand dropped from her arm, and she lifted a hand to rub her skin, pretending it hurt, but he didn’t show an ounce of remorse. His expression was scary—his jaw so tight a muscle jumped along the edge. His eyebrows lowered, which shadowed his eyes and made them even more menacing.

  “I’ll just go get a shower,” she said, pointing to her bedroom door.

  But when she started to turn away, he said, “Cait.”

  Just the one word. So clipped it cut.

  “You’re off this case.”

  Her head swiveled back. “You can’t. You need me.”

  “You don’t have a shred of self-preservation. You walked into that elevator, knowing what that bastard was. I don’t know why the hotel didn’t suck you through those doors. Maybe it was Morin’s spell, but you still put yourself in danger. It stops.” He held out his hand. The key lay in the center of his palm. “Keep it off the ledge.”

  Her stomach dropped to her toes, sickening her more than the joyride in the elevator had. She scraped it off his palm and curled her fingers around it, not saying a word as he let himself out. This time, he closed the door with a finality that felt like a body blow.

  Cait sat huddled in a booth at O’Malley’s. She stared at her Coke, wondering why she hadn’t issued a protest when Pauly slid the glass in front of her. She’d never wanted to stop drinking. Sam had wanted that for her. But he’d handed her back her key. Telling her by his gesture that they were over.

  She’d glanced around her empty apartment and nearly wept. But she wasn’t a crier. This time, she’d screwed up so badly, she didn’t know what to do next. She felt so hollow, so alone, she was actually glad to find Sylvia on the doorstep after she’d gathered herself together and decided to skip out to the bar.

  “Joo screwed the pooch, chica.”

  Cait didn’t answer, her mind made up she was going to wallow in grief for a good long time.

  “Man’s right. Joo crazy. Don’ know why joo thought joo could win against somet’ing like that.” Sylvia paused in her monologue. “Hey, joo know that guy? He’s starin’.”

  Cait hardly had the energy to lift her head and follow Sylvia’s gaze. But when she did, she sat straighter. Her eyes blurred for a second, but she quickly blinked away the tears.

  Her father sat at his table, a Guinness in front of him, glaring back. When she held his gaze, he eased off his chair and approached. His glance went to Sylvia. “Scoot.”

  “No please?” Sylvia said, narrowing her thickly mascaraed eyes.

  “I’ve forgotten how to be polite,” Paddy O’Connell said, one side of his mouth quirking up. “I could just sit on you, but I really don’t want to get that intimate, sweetheart.”

  A frown dug a line between her brows, but Sylvia moved down the seat, making room for Cait’s father on the bench seat.

  “Who’s the dead guy?” Sylvia whispered, although Paddy could hear every word.

  “My dad,” Cait whispered, her gaze unblinking and locked on her father’s figure sitting across the table. She was afraid to blink in case he wisped away as he had the first and only time she’d seen him here.

  “What’s the matter, Caitydid?” he asked in the deep, gravelly voice she remembered from her childhood, the one he’d used after he’d gathered her in his arms and sat her on his knee.

  “Her man dumped her.”

  Paddy’s rusty eyebrows shot up. “Sam?”

  “Joo know about him?” Cait asked, then realized she’d mimicked Sylvia’s accent. “You know Sam?”

  Paddy nodded. “I’ve seen him here with you. Before you could see me. Man’s head over heels. What did you do?”

  She scowled. “You automatically assume it’s my fault?”

  His lips pursed. “It’s me you’re talkin’ to, girlie.”

  Cait plucked at an imaginary thread on her jacket, forgetting for the moment she’d meant to keep staring. “I made a mistake. He’s a little angry. Handed back my key.”

  “Doesn’t seem the type to go back on a decision. That mistake must not have been so little.”

  Her lips twisted, and she was afraid she’d start crying, but she lifted her head. “I flirted with a demon. Used myself as bait. Not something I planned. I think the surprise nearly gave him a heart attack. And things went sideways pretty fast.”

  Paddy shook his head. “It’s your mother’s fault. She thought magic was the answer to everything, th
at because she was a witch, she could breeze through any crisis so long as she could find the right spell.”

  “I’m not like her,” Cait said, feeling a twinge of disloyalty. “I’m not flighty.”

  “Really? And your baiting a demon showed common sense?”

  Cait squirmed in her chair, not unaware that she was receiving a scolding from a dead man. “I don’t take magic for granted. Barely use it. I’m a PI before I’m a witch. Most days, I live in the real world. I don’t wave a wand—”

  “You don’t have a wand. Neither did your mother. But you still act before you think.” His lips twitched. “You must be drivin’ that boy out of his mind.”

  His words and his tone indicated he felt more than a little empathy for Sam’s point of view.

  Cait slumped in her seat. “Maybe you should be haunting him instead of me, seeing as you two have so much in common.”

  “Wouldn’t do any good. We can’t exactly compare notes.” Paddy O’Connell fell silent.

  Cait drank in the sight of him, so large and sturdy. A stolid mountain of a man. His hair was the same dark red she remembered. Freckles blended with his tanned skin. “I miss you, Daddy.”

  “I’ve always been here,” he said with a sad smile. “You’re the love of my life, Caitydid.”

  Tears engulfed her eyes, and she blinked, sending them in trails down her cheeks.

  “Give him some space to get over bein’ scared.”

  “I don’t think space is going to do it,” she said, a hitch in her voice. “I think he meant it. He’s done with me.”

  “When love’s that strong, Caity, a man can’t fight it. He’ll be back.”

  “You and Mom?”

  He shook his head, the light in his green eyes growing dim. “We were mismatched from the start, although we both tried really hard to make a go of being together. We wanted different things. I couldn’t walk through the house or lay my head on a pillow without finding some kind of gris-gris bag or dried-up reptile. I didn’t understand or believe in her ability. In the end, that’s what parted us. Not some bullet.”

  She reached her hand across the table but stopped just shy of his hand. One touch would emphasize the gulf between them.

  “You go home,” her father said. “You do whatever he asked of you. Don’t add to his worries.”

  “But I can’t, Daddy. I’m the only one who can fight this thing.”

  Paddy sighed. “Then you’ve made your choice. Don’t expect him to ever agree. A man comes to a point where he has to let go, or he’ll never find peace.” He pushed up from his seat, then halted. “You seeing that Morin?” he asked, his voice roughening.

  The way he said Morin’s name erased any doubts he knew about Morin’s role in her life—and her mother’s. “Not often. Only when I need advice.”

  “Keep it that way. He’s a user. He may have powers, but look at the mess he got himself into. You’re best to stay away from all that. Your mother didn’t learn her lesson until too late. She still hasn’t.”

  She still hasn’t. Cait held still. “Do you see Mama?”

  “Like I’m seeing you now?” He shook his head. “Haven’t since she summoned me. I was at peace, but then she called me back. To ask for forgiveness. What she really wanted was permission to move on—to him.” His expression turned bitter, his lips twisted. “I’m not sorry she did, though. You might still need me.”

  “I’ll always need you.” They shared a long, poignant glance. “She didn’t try to send you back?”

  Paddy snorted. “Said she didn’t know how. Hadn’t realized I couldn’t find my own way.”

  “Have you looked?” Cait canted her head. “Sylvia here is in a similar predicament.”

  Paddy turned to Sylvia for the first time. “She call you?”

  Sylvia’s arms were folded. She gave an emphatic nod, her lip curling in a snarl. “She did. And for nothin’. Now I’m stuck. If my asshole husband could see me, I’d haunt his ass.”

  Paddy grinned. “You don’t have to appear to him to cause him grief.”

  Sylvia’s dark gaze glinted. “Really?”

  “Stick with me a bit—until this one figures out how to send you back,” he said, pointing to Cait. “In the meantime, I’ll show you what a poltergeist can do.”

  The two of them slid from the bench. Her dad gave her a final wink, and they headed out of the bar together, fading through the door.

  “Great, I lost my boyfriend, but my dad has a date.” She sipped her Coke.

  “Since it’s pure soda I served you, I’m gettin’ a little worried here, Cait.”

  Cait glanced up to find Pauly standing right beside her, his glance going to the opposite empty seat. She wondered how long he’d watched her talking to the air. “I’m just practicing a few arguments for the next time I see Sam.”

  Relief lit his eyes, and he grinned. “Can I bring you something else?”

  Cait was tempted. Her gaze flicked to the various bottles at the back of the bar, scanning the shapes for her favorite.

  Pauly’s silence said he knew it too.

  But she shook her head. “Better not. I have a lot of thinking to do.”

  “Anytime you want to talk to someone who might talk back, I’m all ears, hon.”

  She gave him a sheepish smile. If he only knew.

  As he ambled off, she reached for her phone. Several taps later, she listened to the dial tone.

  “That you, Cait?” Jason asked. “Still have an ass?”

  Shaking her head, Cait made a face at the phone. “We’re off the case.”

  “Can’t say I’m not surprised. You scared years off Sam’s hide. Never saw a guy that size move so fast after I told him what you’d done.”

  Cait sighed. “He doesn’t want us anywhere near the hotel. Said the officers guarding the door would turn me away.”

  After a long pause, Jason asked, “So what do you want me to do?”

  “That’s what I like about you.” Cait smiled. “No fussing or cursing. No lectures or fingers wagging in my face. Just a helpful segue.”

  He groaned. “Cait, you can’t be thinking about going back there.”

  “I have to get inside. And I have to do it tonight. The demon in the hotel knows about us. He consigned his lieutenant to the past. Right now he’s got to be nervous. He won’t dare strike with the place covered in cops.” Her grip on the phone tightened. “Not again. I want to see what the TV crew has. See if their film will reveal that point of conflux. I have to know if it’s more specific than just the hotel or just the third floor.”

  “And when you find it, what then?”

  Cait shrugged and raked a hand through her hair. “I don’t know. But knowing where it is would be helpful, even if only to make sure everyone stays clear. Maybe if I can do this without getting anyone killed, Sam’ll let me back on the case.”

  “Must have been a hell of a fight.”

  You have no clue. “Oh, he was angry.”

  “Huh.” Jason grunted. “You at O’Malley’s?”

  “Where else? The apartment was too quiet after he dropped me off.”

  Another pause stretched, then he asked, “You drinkin’?”

  “No. Not like I didn’t want to, but I have to keep my head screwed on. Too much at risk. Sam and everyone else who goes in and out of that place are all in danger.”

  “Trying to save the world?”

  “Not the world, Jason. Just my little piece.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen.”

  She ended the call and slid from her booth. Her heart still felt heavy. Remorse burned a hole in her belly. Sam had every right to his fury. She could see his point. The moment the elevator doors had opened to the paisley wallpaper, she really thought she’d been lost. That she’d never see Sam again, or that she’d have to wait decades to tell him she was sorry. The other possibility, of winding up inside a wall, her guts yanked out and her body looking like jerky, wasn’t one she could ponder without throwing up.
r />   Yeah, she’d been that scared. She just hadn’t had time to process everything she’d seen. Now that she had, she realized she’d learned something useful too.

  The demon was scared.

  “Cait, the stairwell door is clear,” Jason whispered.

  She lowered her phone and ran up the final set of stairs to slip through the door to the third floor. The cop who should have been watching the hall was nowhere in sight.

  How Jason had managed that feat, she didn’t want to know. Plausible deniability and all.

  At the room assigned to the Reel PIs, she knocked, hoping they didn’t have any other visitors inside or she was toast.

  The door inched open. Clayton’s large bulbous eye appeared in the crack.

  “Cait!” He opened the door and grabbed her arm, hauling her inside. “Sam said you weren’t coming, but we have so much to show you. Madame Xavier said you were a witch. That you were the most plugged in to all this. Truth is, we don’t know what we’re seeing.”

  “Take a breath.” Cait turned the deadbolt on the door. “In case I need a second to hide,” she said, offering him a conspiratorial wink. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of stale pizza and beer. Their mussed hair and the equipment tossed willy-nilly on the beds and floor clued her in that they’d been hard at work for a while.

  Clayton waved her to a chair. “Mina, play back the tape.”

  Cait nodded to Booger, who sat on the edge of the bed.

  Mina gave her a smug half-smile. “We’re gonna be famous.”

  That thought had Cait hiding a grimace, but who was she to rain on their parade? No doubt Leland would make sure the recording never saw the light of day. She took her seat in the armchair beside Mina’s metal folding one and with Clayton hovering over her shoulder.

  She watched as the camera panned wide to fit Madame Xavier into the frame.

  “I see a spirit! Her essence is bright, luminous. She’s right beside you, Cait.”

  The camera rushed forward, peering around the psychic’s shoulder. “I see a large smudge, roundish, next to Cait,” came Mina’s voice.

  “Round is a shape.” Cait heard herself say a few moments afterward, her black-and-white expression puckish.