3
MADDOX
Man, this woman was out of her mind. She didn’t seem like the kind of person to go on a killing spree, though. I wondered if I’d misjudged that look in her eyes earlier. Perhaps it wasn’t the look of a killer, but of a person who’d been so beaten down that she was dead on the inside.
The thought made my chest hurt. I had the urge to pull her to my chest and protect her from a world that was too hard for her. I’d been beaten down by life. I could handle a little more for her sake.
Oh, hell. What was I thinking? I couldn’t take on her strife. I had no idea who this woman even was. She’d given me her name, but I knew nothing else about her. These urges…they were brought on by guilt and loneliness. That was it.
It didn’t help that she looked just like the murder victim. If I had to bet money, I would have said they were sisters. The moment I’d laid eyes on the victim, I’d cursed myself for letting Adeline get away.
When Adeline lifted her gaze to meet mine, that empty look had returned to her eyes. It chilled me to the bone and washed away any desire to protect her. I sat back in my chair to escape it.
Here it was. Her act had dropped. She’d done a good job of twisting me around her fingers. I didn’t get why she’d given up when she had me right where she wanted me.
Then she had to go and open her mouth.
“I can see the spirits of the dead.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. Letting my head fall against the cold table between us, I spent a moment gathering myself because I was about to quit my freaking job.
“For a detective, you suck at your job.”
I straightened and fixed the woman with a glare. “Adeline,” I growled in warning.
I should have used her last name to be formal, but she’d just challenged my capabilities. If there was one thing that I could do well, it was my job. Everything else…well, that wasn’t in question right now.
Adeline looked past me. Her expression became drawn. I noticed the whites around her eyes. Once again, I turned to look behind me, but there was nothing there. If this was another act, then it was a good one.
This woman was a good actress. I would give her that. I slammed my fist on the table and startled her out of it. She gaped at me in surprise. Yet, her attention went to the left again. She seemed to drift out of the present.
No, that wasn’t it. She looked like she was listening to someone else.
She sighed and buried her face in her hands. Even through her palms, I heard what she said.
“I knew I recognized you from somewhere.”
I pressed a finger to my chest. “You recognized me?”
Her hands fell away from her face. Dark rings circled her pale eyes. They were red from tears she’d nearly shed earlier. She seemed exhausted all of a sudden.
Then, right in front of me, I watched her gaze turn milky white. I leapt back from the table. My chair clattered to the floor in front of me. Heart pounding in my chest, I watched her brow furrow over her unseeing eyes.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
“His name is Jack Murphy…” she said. Her lips twisted to the side for a moment. “That’s a bland name. Your parents really named you that?”
She threw her hands up in surrender, like someone had yelled at her. I studied the space she’d been looking at before her eyes turned white. There was still a possibility that she was a good actress, but the name Jack Murphy rang a bell in the back of my mind.
“You died of a heart attack…in the bedroom? I’m so sorry, sir. I….I don’t need to hear the details! You can keep that to yourself. I don’t care how tight her latex was.” Adeline sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
There’d been a man from Syracuse who’d died in my territory a few weeks back. We’d called it a matter of health and shipped his body back to the city for his family to handle. I’d heard rumors that his body had disappeared not long after.
“She…shewhat?Oh. That changes everything.” Adeline paused. “No. I can’t help you find your body. I know what happened to it, but there’s no getting it back now.”
I blinked, startled. This woman had information that she wanted to use to trick me into believing her ruse.
If she could see ghosts, then she would be able to see… I shook my head to free myself of thoughts of the past. There was no use in lingering in times that I couldn’t change. I couldn’t go back and say something different. I couldn’t stop that car from hitting hers.