What the Hex? (A Paranormal P.I. Mystery Book 1) (17 page)

“Do you think someone is out there ready to shoot at us?”

I wasn’t going to take any chances. Even if the spell wasn’t finished yet. I had convinced myself that I had imagined the whole thing. Now I was back to knowing that what I’d seen was real. I gathered up the women and led them back inside. They didn’t argue with me.

Once inside the kitchen, we huddled together by the back door. We peered out into the night. There was no way we would see anything out there. Someone could be looking back at us and we wouldn’t know. I pulled down the shade.

“Maybe you should call the police,” Agatha said.

“They wouldn’t do anything. They didn’t find anything the last time.”

I didn’t want to scare the rest of the residents again either. I’d put them through enough already.

Agatha grabbed the bottle of wine. “I think we need another drink, ladies.”

I wouldn’t argue with that.

***

I’d already slipped into bed with the sheets snuggling me like a comforting hug. Drowsiness had just started to take hold when my cell phone jarred me out of it, I debated ignoring it, but I worried that it could be someone back home. Then again it could be Derek wanting me to bail him out of jail. I groaned and reached for the phone on the nightstand. I didn’t recognize the number, but I knew it was from Vegas. Like I thought, probably Derek in trouble. He wanted me to save his sexy butt. I guess I owed him.

“Cece, this is Paige,” she said as soon as I said hello.

I looked at the clock. Okay, it was only ten. Not that late. I bet Derek wouldn’t even think of going to bed for another five hours. No wonder he was always late to work. Why was I thinking of Derek? I brought my attention back to Paige.

“Is something wrong?” I asked. 

“No, I suppose not.” She paused. “Have you spoken with Derek recently?”

I sat up in bed. “Not for a few hours. Is everything okay?”

If something happened to Derek I wouldn’t know what to do.

“No, it’s just that I tried to call him and he doesn’t answer.”

“How many times did you try?” I asked.

“Maybe three for the past few hours.”

This was hardly reason to call the police to do a welfare check. She must be paranoid because Morgan was missing.

“Was there something I can help you with?” I asked.

“I was just calling him to see if there were any updates. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“We’re working on some leads.” I felt like this was the answer I gave her all the time. Maybe because it was.

“You have leads?” she asked.

“Yes, we’re getting close,” I said, hoping to make her feel better.

Now that I had her on the phone I would ask her about Tabitha.

“I’m sure Derek’s fine. There was something I wanted to ask you now that I have you on the phone.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“This woman Tabitha. Was she friends with Morgan?”

Paige released a sigh. “I wouldn’t call them friends. Though Tabitha seemed to force herself into the equation.”

“Would Morgan have gone to the casino with her?”

“Probably. Just because Steve would have told Morgan she had to be nice to Tabitha.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

Steve seemed to think that Tabitha was this clueless young girl who needed their help. So Morgan was suspicious of their relationship?”

“Well, I didn’t say that,” Paige said. “But I guess the thought crossed her mind a couple times. Steve reassured her that wasn’t the case. Morgan let it go.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know, the whole thing seemed strange. I think Tabitha is odd.”

“Would she be odd enough to do something with Morgan?”

“I just don’t know.”

“Why was she just now telling me about this? Although I had figured that there was a strange relationship between Steve and Tabitha early on. That didn’t necessarily mean Tabitha did anything bad though.

Plus, that left Amber. I couldn’t figure out how she would play into any of this.

“Is there anything else you can think of?” I asked.

She paused for a second. “No, nothing. Thanks for keeping me updated.”

“You’re welcome. And like I said, I’m sure that Derek’s fine.”

He was probably more than fine. “I’ll tell him to call you when I hear from him.

“Thanks. That would be great. Sorry again for calling so late.”

It was now five minutes after ten. Maybe I should get up and go out on the town. No, that would be too much work. Makeup and an outfit. And unlike Derek, I didn’t want to be late for work.    

I hung up the call with Paige and laid back in bed. I stared at the ceiling and thoughts of Derek filled my mind. What was he doing? Why hadn’t he answered the calls? Was it because he didn’t know what to tell her? Sure, that had to be it. That was no reason not to talk with her though. Honesty was the best policy with the customers. I wanted them to feel as if they could call me anytime.

I tried to tell myself that was the reason, but I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t get him off my mind. I reached over and picked up my phone from the nightstand. I started to dial his number but then paused. Finally, I hit redial. After several rings it went to his voicemail. It was odd that he wouldn’t answer my calls. Had I made him so angry that he’d already headed back to Savannah?

It was six-thirty the next morning and I was staring at the clock on the nightstand. I hadn’t slept much for thinking about what had happened yesterday. Curse Derek for dragging me to the gym the last couple mornings. I waited and listened for the knock on my door. When seven finally came, I realized there would be no knock on my door this morning. That was when I decided I’d have to go to the gym on my own. I wasn’t sure what I would do when I got there. Steve would probably be waiting for the chance to question me… or even worse.

But I’d made up my mind and I was going anyway. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but I couldn’t just go to the office and wait for something to happen. I jumped out of bed and hurried to the shower. I’d pick up a coffee for a jolt of energy on my way there. After dressing in my usual black yoga pants and pale pink t-shirt, I headed for the door. I wasn’t sure why I was still thinking Derek might be outside waiting for me. I thought of calling him, but then decided this was something I should do on my own.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, I made it to the gym. I admit that I sat in the car staring at the building for several minutes. I pretended to enjoy the last few sips of my coffee, but I was really stalling. Not because I didn’t want to work out, but because I never thought it would get that far. I figured as soon as Steve spotted me he would stop me at the door. He’d either throw me out on my butt or drag me into his office for interrogation.

Finally, I sucked it up and forced myself out of the car. The walk to the door seemed to take forever, as if the longer I walked the further it became. Nothing around me became visible. All I focused on was the door. When I reached the door I released a deep breath and opened the door. As soon as I stepped inside the part-time manager looked over at me. The smile immediately vanished from his face. Uh-oh.

He rushed around the corner and stood in front of me. “Where did you go the other day?”

He looked offended that I’d disappeared. Had Steve said anything about us?

“I was sick,” I said.

He quirked an eyebrow. “You could have said something before you left.”

I shrugged. “I figured you didn’t want me to throw up on you.”

He scrunched his face. “Are you feeling better?”

“Much better, thank you,” I said, looking around the gym for Tabitha.

“Great, I guess you’re ready to work out then.” He clapped his hands.

It was like he’d had five tall lattes and the caffeine had definitely kicked in. I was just having a hard time even speaking to anyone yet. Coherent thoughts weren’t fully forming. I’d kind of been envious of people who could be that peppy early in the morning.   

It looked like I couldn’t get out of this one. He walked me over to the treadmill. I still hadn’t seen Steve, thank goodness.

I was still on the lookout for Tabitha. He stuck me on the treadmill and I watched the room in the mirrors in front of me. I could see everyone behind me. Only a couple minutes passed when I spotted Tabitha. She had on headphones and was oblivious to anyone around her. She was headed for the front door. I jumped off the treadmill, something I would get in a lot of trouble for doing. Tabitha walked out the front door. I tried to reach her, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch up with her.

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that he wasn’t coming after me. So far I was safe. When I reached the door I spotted something on the floor. Had Tabitha dropped something as she left? I reached down and picked it up. It was a watch, but I soon realized it wasn’t a normal watch. I thought it was a heart-rate monitor, but it seemed to have a lot of other features. Since I wasn’t a fitness person, I was a little out of the loop. I was sure I’d seen a lot of these around in stores though.

A woman I’d never seen before was working behind the counter. When I looked over she was watching me. She had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and she wore a black t-shirt with the gym’s logo on the front. She looked away when she realized that I was watching her. I decided to give it a shot and ask her. 

I stepped over to the counter. “Do you know anything about these watches?”

She frowned. “Yes, I know about them. What do you need to know?”

“I just want to know more about how it works and what it’s used for.”

I hoped she would answer the questions. It would be a lot faster than me researching on my own. She took the watch from my hand. I glanced over my shoulder again to see if Steve was coming. I was sure I acted a bit paranoid.

“Is it just used as a heart-rate monitor?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, that’s not all that it’s used for. It’s actually a fitness watch. It counts your steps, calories burned, sleep pattern, and it has a GPS.”

“That’s lot of stuff.”

I bet she was wondering why I asked so many questions. She had to know that it wasn’t my watch.

“I have one just like it.” She showed me her bright pink and white watch.

“How do you get the info from the watch?” I asked.

“I have the software on my laptop.” She plugged the watch into the cable and then to her laptop. “Here, I’ll show you.” If she knew it wasn’t my watch, she didn’t seem to care. I waited as the woman moved her index finger across the mouse of her laptop. “It should download the info on the watch soon.”

“I guess you’re wondering why I’m asking these questions.”

“You wanted to find out who lost the watch so you can return it, right?”

I stared at her. “Yes, that’s it.”

I was glad that she’d thought of that. I watched the screen in anticipation as the info downloaded. The process stopped and then the info popped up on the screen. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but then I noticed the owner’s name… Tabitha Gibson. I was right, she had dropped the watch.

“Oh, it’s Tabitha’s watch,” she said.

I had to find out more information before she took it off the screen. “Oh, I didn’t realize it was hers. I can give it back to her,” I said.

There was no way I was letting go of this watch now. I’d take off running with it if I had to. 

The woman looked at me, but didn’t refuse.

I leaned closer to the screen. “I’m thinking of getting one of these. What else do you see on there?”

“Well, it shows all the workouts,” she said.

“Oh, yeah? Can you show me what it looks like?” I tried to sound casual.

She pulled up the screen. There was one thing I noticed right away. One of the workouts was exceptionally long. So long that I knew there was no way Tabitha had worked out that long. If she had, she had a serious exercise addiction.

“That’s a long workout.” I pointed at the screen. “Was there a problem with the watch?”

“Tabitha must have accidentally left the watch on,” she said. “Wow, Tabitha went all the way into the desert.” The woman laughed.

The breath caught in my throat. She had no idea what she’d just discovered.

“Can you pull that up so I can see the map better?” I asked, pointing to the screen.

She looked at me a little strangely, but then moved the mouse and made it bigger. Now that I got a closer look I saw that the route Tabitha had taken had put her at the scene of the crime. It would have been a short time before Amber’s body had been found.

“Thanks for the info. Do you mind if I take the watch? I think I see Tabitha in the parking lot still. Maybe I can catch her to give her the watch.”

Before she had a chance to respond, I pulled the cable from the watch and rushed out the door. What would I do with this information? This was huge. It proved that Tabitha had been there when Amber was killed. That meant she had to be guilty of the crime. Why had she done this though? Where was Morgan? I feared she had been killed too and the police just hadn’t found her yet.

Maybe Tabitha had killed Morgan out of jealousy because Tabitha was with Steve. It was clear that they had an affair going. Steve had practically taken over the gym now that Morgan was gone. This had probably been their plan all along. Kill Morgan so that Steve and Tabitha could be together and have the gym. But why Amber? Maybe she had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, since she was friends with Morgan. One thing was for sure, I had to go to the police with the information so that they could arrest Tabitha.

I pulled out my phone and raced to my car. Should I call 911? Was this an emergency? Just as I was punching in the numbers, my phone rang. I jumped because clearly I was freaked out at the moment. When I looked at the screen, it was Derek calling. He would be shocked when I told him the news.

“You’re not going to believe what I just found out,” I said.

There was no response.

“Hello? Derek? Can you hear me?”

Still he didn’t speak. He must be in an area with bad coverage. The call ended. Something was off. The feeling in the pit of my stomach… I knew that something was wrong. I had to find out where Derek was calling from. I used the app to track his phone. It was a good thing we’d installed the apps so we could do this. I’d thought it was a bad idea at the time, but now I was glad for it.

As soon as I saw that Derek was at a nearby parking lot, I knew that I had to go there. If he’d just accidentally butt-dialed me, I’d be extremely embarrassed. I hopped in the car and glanced in the rearview mirror. I was thankful that I hadn’t run into Steve. To think how close I’d been to the killer. It was scary.

After pulling out of the gym, I raced over to the parking lot. I’d reached the place in record time. It was spillover space from the casino next door. I pulled in and looked for Derek’s car. Unfortunately I didn’t see it anywhere. Maybe he’d already gone.

I dialed his number, but it went straight to the voicemail. “Where are you?” I said.

That was when I spotted the black Jaguar. When I saw the couple sitting in the front seat, I recognized them right away. It was Steve and Tabitha. Luckily, they hadn’t spotted me. When I tracked Derek’s phone again, it led me to exactly where their car was parked.

Somehow Derek’s phone was in that car too. Now what would I do? It wasn’t like I could go over there and confront them. What if they had already done something terrible to Derek? The thought made me ill. I had to call the police. Waiting for them to arrive would be torture.

Just as I was about to dial 911, Steve started the car and backed out of the parking space. I couldn’t let them get away. Though as long as Derek’s phone was in that car I would be able to track them. 

He pulled out of the parking lot and I followed. One look in the rearview mirror and they’d realize that I was trailing them. So far I was lucky and they didn’t seem as if they knew I was back there. I’d been able to keep up with their car even though there were a few between us. They made a right and headed away from the Strip. Were they going to the desert? The longer I followed them the more my anxiety increased. I had to save Derek… if it wasn’t already too late. They made a quick left and I punched the gas to catch up.

Up ahead we turned into a side street. Houses lined both sides of the street. I was apprehensive of where we were going. They slowed and I stopped in front of a house, hoping they wouldn’t notice my car. Steve pulled the car into a driveway, so I moved mine a little closer. I pulled up to the curb and cut the engine.

Steve and Tabitha got out of the car and walked in the front door. Now what would I do? I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. Derek needed me and I had to do something to help him.

Releasing a deep breath, I opened the car door. After grabbing the pepper spray from my purse, I got out. I shoved the pepper spray into my pocket and then walked over to the sidewalk. Slowly I inched closer to the house. What would they do if they saw me? Maybe they’d make me disappear as they had Morgan and Amber. I hoped that Derek hadn’t met the same fate. I didn’t even want to think of such a thing. He annoyed me, but I couldn’t imagine doing this case without him. Well, maybe he was a little less annoying now. If I saw him again I’d make sure to tell him.

As I neared the car I tried to spot Derek, but I still didn’t see him. Glancing toward the house, I made sure they weren’t coming out for me. Once at the car, I peeked in. There was no sign of Derek, but I did notice a gas container in the back seat.

Amber had been burned in her car. Now I was panicking. Maybe they’d already gotten rid of Derek. What if they’d accidentally left his phone in the car? Suddenly I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. What could I do?

I had to go to the door and confront them. Of course that would be asking for them to murder me. I pushed my shoulders back and marched toward the door. I had to be strong. I stepped up to the porch and stood in front of the door. Just as I was ready to push the doorbell, I noticed that the door was open. I was ringing the doorbell like I was arriving for a dinner party. I looked around as if I might see someone behind me. I eased the door open ever so slightly, but I didn’t see Steve or Tabitha.

Since I didn’t see them, I inched further into the house. I really was crazy for doing this. But what other option did I have?

Now I was in the middle of the living room. Still there was no sign of Steve or Tabitha. The place was almost empty, with only a sofa and a TV. Maybe they were in the process of moving? Were they trying to get away from something? Possibly trying to leave before they were arrested. If I had anything to say about that they wouldn’t get further than the driveway.

Silence filled the house and it was giving me a bad feeling. It was time for me to get out of there. I would have to continue my search for Derek. I hurried outside. Once back by the car, I pulled out my phone and tried Derek’s number again. I was beyond worried. Still there was no answer. But a phone rang. I was almost sure the sound was coming from the car. So his phone really was in the car after all. This meant he had been in that car at some point. What had they done to him? I was furious now. I rushed closer to the car.

“Derek, are you in there?” I called out.

There was no answer, but I thought for sure that I heard movement from the trunk. It sounded like a bang. If Derek was in there, I had to get him out.

“Derek, are you in there?”

If he was in there then why wasn’t he answering me? My heart thumped wildly. How would I find out? Something was in the trunk because the bang sounded again.

“Derek, if you can hear me, hang on, I’m going to get you out of there.”

He was probably thinking the same thing as me: how? I ran back to the house. The door was still open, so I inched inside. If I could find the car keys then I could get Derek out of there. Or whoever they had back there.

My anxiety was so high that I could barely breathe. Maybe they had left the keys in the kitchen. I didn’t want to move further into the house, but I knew that I had to. The kitchen was straight ahead. Maybe Steve and Tabitha had left out a back door? Maybe they knew someone had followed them. Or they could know I was in here and were just waiting for a chance to grab me. 

Why did I have to think of the worst possible scenarios? I’d almost made it to the kitchen when Steve and Tabitha’s voices drifted to the front of the house. They were at the back of the house talking. I couldn’t make out the conversation, but I’d recognize Tabitha’s whining voice anywhere.

I froze on the spot. I didn’t know what to do next. Perhaps I should have called the police first instead of being stupid and trying to save Derek on my own. But I’d figured it would take the cops forever to get here. I’d assumed I would have already saved him by now. That wasn’t going as I’d planned. As I scanned the room, I spotted an Elvis costume draped over the back of a chair. Had Tabitha been the one who shot at us?