Haunted

“Come on, Vince,” he said, and was once again ignored.

Detective Charles Bright stalked down the hall, spotted him and did a double take. “Levi?” His gaze roved the area just over Levi’s shoulder before returning. “What are you doing here?”

He watched as Vince finally glanced up. Jaw clenched tight, he gritted, “What do you think I’m doing here, Bright? Working. Maybe you should do the same.”

Talking through him. “Real mature,” Levi said, flipping him off.

Bright waved Vince off, then led Levi to the office at the end of the hall. He closed and locked the door, and motioned for Levi to sit as he claimed the chair behind a desk scattered with papers.

Levi had always liked Bright. Guy had dark skin and eyes and kept his head shaved to a glossy sheen. He was a laugher, truly cared about the victims he fought to protect and would work himself to death to solve a case.

“I can’t believe Vince is so mad he refuses to speak to me.”

A soft, sad smile greeted his words. “Had you put him in danger, he’d be over it and you’d be forgiven. But you put yourself in danger, and that’s harder to forget. He loved—loves—you like a brother.”

“He better still love me.” Vince was all the family he had.

“He does. Give him time. He’ll come around.”

Levi understood the need for time, he did, but his balls were sore and he wasn’t exactly in the best of moods, so he decided to forget Vince for now. “Listen, I’m not actually here to beg my partner’s forgiveness. My neighbor thinks she witnessed a murder and I promised to help her find out the truth. I can’t access any databases, so I need your help.”

Bright frowned, instantly intrigued. “Your neighbor?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if I told you but I moved into an apartment building downtown, close to Brick Town. She just moved in, too.”

“Her name?”

“Harper.”

“And the rest?”

“Just a minute.” Levi shifted to dig in his back pocket. He withdrew the driver’s license he’d slipped from her purse when he’d backed her into the building. After reading the text, a laugh bubbled from him. “Aurora Harper.” How freaking adorable. Aurora fit her in a way Harper did not.

Fingers clicking on the keyboard, Bright was silent for a long while. He would stop and read, then type again, then stop and read again, then type again. With every pause, his frown deepened. The wait for answers nearly drove Levi to pace, punch a wall, something.

“Okay, here’s what I know,” Bright finally said, propping his elbows on his desk. “Your Aurora—”

“Harper. She prefers Harper, and she isn’t mine.” He paid no attention to the fact that having her referred to as “his” affected his body just as strongly as her nearness had. Heat and tingling and want … so much want.

The denial earned him a swift grin. “All right. Well, Ms. Harper is twenty-seven. Five foot two. One hundred and ten pounds. She’s gotten three tickets for speeding, one for parking illegally, and was in a car accident two years ago, but it wasn’t her fault and she walked away with only a few bruises.”

Silence.

“That’s it?” Levi demanded. “That’s what had you frowning?”

Bright drew in a deep breath, slowly released it. He settled back in his chair and folded his arms over his middle. “Milana Buineviciute, her roommate, works for After Moonrise and has the ability to see and communicate with the dead. Ms. Buineviciute reported her missing five weeks ago.”

Milana Bonnie Wee Cutie. Now there was a name. Five weeks ago. Early October. She’d been in the apartment for a week, so that left four weeks unaccounted for. And the After Moonrise thing wasn’t a point in her favor.

A few times, an After Moonrise agent had helped the OKCPD with a case. And for each of those few times, Levi had had to deal with a wealth of irritation. A.M. came in with their fancy equipment and superior attitudes and simply took over, acting as if the detectives couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag. But his favorite? They’d called him a “norm,” as if it were a four-letter word.

Wait. It was. Whatever! It had ticked him off.

“Inquiries were made, and it was discovered that Harper was last seen at Carmel Art Gallery, on October fifth around midnight.” Bright paused, flicked his tongue over an incisor. “That gallery certainly has been popping up on our radar a lot lately. Seems your boy Cory Topper bought a few paintings there. Only came to light a few days ago, since the sales were made under the table. We didn’t think to tell you because you’re, uh, off the case.”

His stomach clenched. Topper. The serial killer who’d kept pieces of his victims in his freezer. The lunatic who’d tortured women in his basement. The psychopath who’d left a dead body on a billboard. The smug little ant whom Levi was now suspended for brutalizing.

To find out there was a connection between Topper, a dirt-bag scum with evil in his veins, and Harper, a delicate, fragile little thing with knees of iron … he didn’t like that. At all. But to learn that she’d been missing, to now know beyond any doubt that something had happened to her, was even worse.

He brought her painting to the forefront of his mind. The male Harper was bringing to life certainly fit Topper’s body type, he realized now. Average height, slim build, deceptively gentle-looking hands.

“Where was Harper found?” he rasped. “When? And where had she been?”

“Oh, hmm.” Bright glanced at the screen. “She wasn’t found. At least, nothing has been entered into the system.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“The case is still open.”

Irritation laced with anger flooded him, and he popped his jaw. Why hadn’t Lana reported her as found? Why hadn’t Harper come forward? Fear that Topper would find her again? But then, that would mean she remembered him, if he was truly the one responsible, and it was clear that she didn’t.

Levi replayed his new memory of the night he’d come face-to-face with Topper. Topper had been standing beside …

what? All he could picture were rivers of blood. Lots and lots of blood, flowing this way and that way and all around. Had there been any secret rooms? Someplace Harper could have been stashed, bound and helpless, forced to watch? Someplace she could have accidently stumbled upon and hidden?

A cage flashed through his mind.

A cage?

“Was there a cage in Topper’s home?” he asked. “Actually, don’t tell me. Just give me the crime scene photos.” He’d never seen them.

“You know I can’t do that,” Bright said sternly.

“All I want is a glance at them.” He could compare them with Harper’s painting.

A sigh met his words. “I’ve always been a sucker. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks. So how’s our man Topper doing?”

Bright rolled his shoulders, easing tension. “He recovered from the injuries you gave him and is now locked up without bail, awaiting trial. We managed to find evidence of his crimes after his arrest.”

Meaning, everything they’d found the day they’d arrested him had been thrown out because of Levi and they’d needed something new. And thanks be to God, they’d gotten it. Levi had read what had been fed to the media and knew there was more, but he wasn’t going to ask. Yet.

Don’t make everything a battle, son, his dad told him once. He didn’t remember this on his own. He’d seen a home video of the two of them together. You do, and you’ll never win ‘em all.

“You got anything else on Harper?” he asked.

“A bit.” Bright gave the computer screen another read. “The night of her disappearance, the art showing had wound down and only the owner remained in the building when she left, but he claims he was counting receipts in the back room and heard nothing unusual.”

“Any connection between Topper and the owner?”

“Not that we’ve found.”

“Are there any suspects in Harper’s case? An ex-boyfriend with an ax to grind? A neighbor with a record? A stepdad with a grudge?”

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