Gatekeeper (21 page)

Another paramedic was putting a blanket over her. “You’re going to be all right,” he said. “You were grazed with a bullet.”

She twisted her head. Benton. Where was Benton? But what she saw was Lynn Bowers’ crumpled heap of a body.

Jillian jolted.

“It’s all right, Ms. Drew. Lie still.”

And then Theo’s big frame darkened the doorway. He took everything in and then rushed to Jillian’s side. “What in the hell happened here?”

Her mind was still fuzzy but she realized she wasn’t hurt too badly. “Is Andrew all right?” she managed.

“He’ll be fine. He took a bullet to the chest. He’s on the way to the hospital now,” one of the paramedics said.

Theo’s gaze swiveled to the paramedics and he pointed a long, mocha-colored finger at Jillian. “Is she gonna be all right?”

“Yeah,” the paramedic said. “She was just grazed and is in mild shock.”

“Who made the 9-1-1 call?”

The paramedic shrugged. “We assumed it was the old man.”

Theo’s hands found his hips. He stared at Lynn’s corpse and swallowed hard. “Jillian, did you…did you kill her?”

Jillian’s head cleared. She recalled every horrid, vivid detail. “Yes. She must have followed me here. She shot the museum director and then came after me. She must have…she must have stumbled or something because she fell on the sword. I didn’t mean to kill her. I…”

She suddenly recalled Lynn’s ghost and the soul collectors looming up behind Benton. Her heart stuck in her throat. Her gaze darted around the room. Neither of them was here now.

Oh God, had the soul collectors taken Benton?

Her heart began to race. A sob caught in her chest. Why had she passed out? Why couldn’t she have hung on and helped him fight them?

“I’ve got to go.” She tried to get up but her head swam. A nauseous wave threatened to make her sick.

Theo kneeled beside her. He gave her a comforting pat on the leg. “It’s all right. You be still. I’ll handle this.”

Jillian was shaking. She tried to sit up again but the paramedic put a hand on her chest. “Lie still, Ms. Drew. We’re going to move you to a stretcher.”

One helped her off with the gloves and then her bloodstained jacket. Jillian recalled the button was in the pocket. “No,” she protested. She seized it in her hand and refused to let it go.

After what seemed like an eternity of being picked, prodded, bandaged and forced to breathe through an oxygen mask, she became impatient. She shooed the paramedics away. “I’m fine now.”

She wanted to find Benton, to make certain he was all right. She pushed to a sitting position. Her arm stung where she’d been nicked with the bullet.

“Jillian, are you sure you should be…”

She didn’t listen to the rest of Theo’s protests. Instead, she flung off the blanket and tried to get up. Her white pants were spattered with blood. Her shoes were ruined. Jillian gagged but managed to suppress her meager breakfast of diet soda and blueberry toaster pastry.

Still, she was unable to tear her gaze away from the sight of Lynn’s crumpled body. The bloody shaft of the sword protruded abhorrently from her back.
Benton’s sword.
Her dyed blonde hair lay matted in a pool of her own blood. A group of crime scene investigators were already combing Lynn’s corpse. The pistol lay underneath her. One of the investigators pushed Lynn’s bright orange knit top up to examine the wound.

“Captain Carter, look at this.”

Jillian gasped when she saw the two hand-shaped bruises on Lynn’s back.

Benton had manifested. Fully. Again.

And now he was at risk of being taken by the soul collectors because he had protected her. Panic caused her to shake uncontrollably. Fear tightened her stomach into a hard knot. “I’ve got to go, Theo.” Her voice came out sounding strange, unwell.

One of the paramedics intervened. “Ma’am, you need to go to the hospital. Let us take you.”

Theo eyed her. “Who pushed her? Jillian, who was here with you?”

“Nobody.” She felt sick. “I need to go. I really need to go
now
, Theo.” Desperately, she looked into his eyes.

His expression grew soft, relenting. “Jillian, let me drive you.”

She balked. “No. I’m fine.” She took a staggering step backward. “I’m fine.” This time her voice was commanding but still had an unsteady quality. She snatched her purse off the floor and began searching for her keys. “I’m going home. I’m tired. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.”

“I wish you’d let me drive you,” Theo repeated.

“No.” She looked him in the eye. “I’m fine. I’m just a little shaken up is all. I just want to go home and get out of these clothes.”

Theo handed her a plastic bag from the crime scene investigation kit. “Do you mind bagging those after you take them off? I’ll come pick them up later.”

She nodded, feeling a little more certain on her feet.

“Are you sure?” Theo’s brown eyes were wide with concern.

“Yeah, Theo. I’ll be okay.”

But as soon as she stepped out into the brisk November air, she wretched up what little she had eaten. When she was done, she wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and all but fell into her car.

Lynn’s white Chevy Blazer sat parked in the next space. Jillian shuddered at the memory of the horrible scene. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her head, to take a deep breath.

She needed to concentrate on Benton. Seizing her jacket, she groped through the pockets. An uprising of panic surged but then her fingers closed around the hard, cold metal. She blew out a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” she said out loud. “Benton, where are you? Where are you?”

But she heard nothing except Amy’s words in her head.
Don’t let him manifest to you again. I have a bad feeling about this.
She recalled the awful nightmare in which she had felt responsible for Benton’s demise.

God, what had she done?

Chapter Fifteen

Amy gasped in horror when Jillian burst into her hospital room wearing the bloody white pants and shoes. Her silk blouse had been ripped open at the sleeve and a wide white bandage gleamed through the gaping hole. Jillian’s ponytail had fallen around her face in a commotion of unruly dark waves.

“What the—”

But Jillian didn’t give her time to ask for an explanation. Terror coursed through her veins. Her mind offered up frightening images of Benton, soulless, hollow. Jillian was trembling from head to toe. She thrust the button toward Amy. “Find him. Find him for me.” Just seeing her sister caused the panic she had staved off on the drive to the hospital to surge again. A hard, tight knot rose in her throat. Tears stung her eyes. She felt weak and sick and thought she might faint all over again.

Amy flew out of the bed and somehow managed to handle the IV caddy and Jillian at the same time.

Jillian allowed Amy to help her to the bed. She sat and buried her face in her hands. Her breaths were short and shallow. “Oh God, oh God,” she moaned over and over.

Amy stroked her hair. “Talk to me, Jill.” Her voice was feather soft and filled with compassion.

Jillian lifted her head. Her gaze slammed into Amy’s. She was trembling violently. “I think something has happened to Benton.”

“What?” Amy looked bewildered. “What happened to you?”

Jillian’s hands shook violently as she stared at the button. “Amy, take it. Find Benton for me. Please.”

Amy searched Jillian’s eyes and then she took the bronze button in her hand. “Tell me what happened.”

“I…I killed Lynn.”

Amy gasped.

“I killed her and…and then I saw her…her spirit and…the soul collectors…” Fresh tears spilled unchecked from her eyes. “Lynn tried to shoot me and…and Benton manifested to push her out of the way…and I think the soul collectors got him.” She sobbed in between words.

Amy’s gaze searched her face.

“What…what will happen to him if they did?”

There was no hope in Amy’s blue eyes. None.

“Tell me,” Jillian demanded. Acute guilt stabbed her in the gut. It was her fault. It was all her fault. Amy had warned her and she hadn’t listened. “Dammit, Amy. Tell me!”

Amy swallowed. “If it happened then…then his spirit will be stuck here, trapped for eternity between heaven and earth.”

Hopeless, Jillian closed her eyes. Her head sank. “What have I done?”

“Jill, let me see if I can find him. If he fought them, then his energy is probably weak.” Amy’s calm voice gave her a glimmer of hope.

Jillian watched with bated breath as Amy closed her hand around the button and inhaled deeply. Her breath froze.

What was she getting? Was Benton safe? Or had he succumbed to the soul collectors? Her heart beat wildly in her chest. She wanted to ask a hundred questions but she remained silent, afraid of breaking Amy’s trance.

Amy wet her lips. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly. She shook her head.

After what seemed like an eternity, she opened her eyes.

“Where is he?”

Amy swallowed with difficulty. “I’m not getting anything.”

Jillian’s whole body started to shake. She was heartsick, violently so.

“Give me your hand,” Amy said.

Confused, Jillian put her cold, cold hand in Amy’s warm one. They held the button together. “Open, Jillian. You can do it. Open yourself. Ask for vibrations of him.”

Panic surged. “I can’t. I can’t do this. I’m afraid of what I’ll see.”

“You have to.” Amy’s voice was laced with uncharacteristic authority. “He’s
your
Gatekeeper. You have the connection to his energy. Now open yourself and look.”

Jillian’s chest rose and fell with deep gulping breaths of air. Fear rendered her immobile.

“Do it, Jill. Would you rather
not
know?”

No. She could never get past this if she didn’t know.

With resolve, Jillian closed her eyes and, trembling, she mentally asked some power she didn’t even comprehend for vibrations of Benton.

The pictures in her mind flashed at lightning speed, showing her the first image she’d had of him at Shy’s Hill, her first encounter with him at Amy’s house, the sight of him battling the soul collectors in the cemetery, making love to him in her bed, the awful scene at the museum. She was tingling from head to toe. But it was a soft energy, not his usual bristling static charge. Joy and love filled her heart and the energy intensified. She felt her lips pulling up into a smile. She inhaled a deep, cleansing breath and then let it out along with all the tension in her body.

Her eyes flew open.

Benton stood in front of her.

Jillian’s heart leapt. Her chest rose and fell with each breath of relief. He was all right. Silently, she said a brief prayer of gratitude.

Although he was tremendously transparent, she could still see his features. He looked as if he’d taken part in a barroom brawl. Several bloody scratches were etched into his cheek. His knuckles were scraped raw and bruised. Jillian hadn’t been aware a spirit could experience bodily pain—until now. Her heart went out to him. She yearned to console him, to feel him in her arms. Anxiously, she tore her hand from Amy’s and reached for him but her hand slipped through. Frustration rose.

“He can’t manifest right now, Jillian,” Amy said gently. “It’s only your energy that’s even holding him in this visible state.”

“
My
energy?” Jillian asked, her gaze never leaving Benton’s. “Are you all right?” she asked, her voice cracking.

The dimple at the corner of his mouth appeared. “Me? I learned in the army when to retreat.” His voice sounded reed thin and far away. But his expression turned to one of concern. “What about you, darlin’? Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be all right,” she said, her voice but a hoarse whisper. “Now.” She was elated.

He gave her a nod. “It ain’t no fun takin’ a bullet for the cause, is it?” His sexy drawl was laced with humor.

But all Jillian could do was stare. With his unruly black waves and half-unbuttoned frock coat, he was handsome even in his roughed-up state. She wished she could touch him, comfort him, but she understood the danger in that.

Amy cleared her throat. “Will one of you two tell me what happened?”

“Your sister here ran that ol’ gal through who tried to kill you.” Some odd look of pride glimmered in his gray gaze.

Amy’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Jillian nodded and gave Amy a more detailed summary of being attacked and killing Lynn.

Amy looked guilty. A big fat tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t told Lynn…”

“No, Amy. Lynn was crazy. It wasn’t anybody’s fault.” Jillian pulled her sister into a hug.

Amy swiped her tears away with her fingers. “I’m sorry.” She sniffed and composed herself and then looked up at Benton. “I guess it’s time for me to finish what I started and send you to the Light.”

Jillian froze.

Benton stared.

“Give me the button, Jill.”