When the Dead Speak, Bailey Bradford [new ebook reader .TXT] 📗

it.” Rich looked like he might be sick, and Laine wondered if his friend was thinking about some of the nasty food-tampering horror stories police officers loved to pass around. God knew Laine was.

“I did.” Laine and Matt proclaimed together, laughing at Rich’s irritated look.

“Well, you could have warned me!”

“Ah, now, I looked when you opened your food up. Everything was fine, and I didn’t want you to starve yourself, so I didn’t mention it before now.”

Rich snorted and glared at Laine. “Thanks. It’s much better that I puke after, huh?”

“I’d laugh,” Matt offered, earning him two glares. “What? It woulda been funny.”

“Behave.” Laine stood and gathered the empty containers then dumped them in the trash before taking his seat. “So what do you have, Rich?”

“Well, you might say it’s speculation, but my gut—” Rich shrugged, and for once, Matt didn’t toss out a sarcastic comment. Good cops learned to trust their instincts, and Laine knew Rich was a very good cop.

Laine rested his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers in front of him. “Go on.”

“You know we never found so much as a lead on Conner’s killer, and you left right after, didn’t tell anyone except, I’m guessing, the Chief, where you went?”

“I didn’t tell him where I was going because I wasn’t sure, but once I hit McKinton and decided to apply for a position as deputy, I had to tell him.”

“But no one else?” Rich’s dark blue eyes had a shine to them that told Laine his former partner definitely had a hunch that was burning to get out.

“No, no one, and I haven’t set foot in Houston since I left.”

“You could have called me.” Rich grimaced and shook his head. “Sorry. Now isn’t the time, I know, but after this is done…”

Matt let an agitated sigh slip from his lips. “Back on track, maybe?”

“Sorry to inconvenience you.” Rich rolled his eyes, something Laine had always found humourous when they were partners but he knew had the potential to set Matt off right now. Luckily, Matt didn’t rise to the bait. “We never closed the case on Conner, and there were never any more murders like his, so the general thinking was it was a one-time thing, maybe some serial killer passing through. God knows Houston has several of them, but there wasn’t any similar to his. Odd, but not unheard of. I kept digging through the reports, even up to last month, and I’d swear I have the damned things memorized, but I kept thinking I was missing something. Then you called out of the blue, asking me for info on your little ghost whispering guy—”

“Ghost whispering?” Matt made those two words sound like a contagious disease. “Are you serious?”

“Matt, let him finish.”

“No, hang on.” Rich got up and walked out of the office, returning a few minutes later with a briefcase and an apologetic shrug for Laine. “Here.” Rich tossed a file at Matt. “The file on Severo Adulio Robledo. And before you get all pissed off, Laine, let me just say that it’s better if Matt is with us on this than not, okay?”

Laine wanted to snatch the file away from Matt and beat the crap out of Rich while he was at it, but Rich was right. Laine clasped his hands together tightly, the knuckles going white, to keep himself from taking the file. “Okay, but one smart ass comment, Matt, and you’ll be at Mrs. Hawkins’ every damn day you’re on shift.”

The smile vanished from Matt’s face. “Yes, sir.”

Rich studied Matt. “Huh. I might just have to meet this Mrs. Hawkins. Anyway, you look through that file, and you’ll see that Mr. Robledo has consulted with several police departments and helped solve quite a few cases by doing what he does—and I don’t doubt that he does it. I’ve seen too many things that can’t be explained in this world to not believe something like this that’s backed up with solid proof. Now.” Rich flicked a hand at Laine. “The fact that Mr. Robledo came to McKinton could be a coincidence, but I doubt it. And the man is, I take it, your lover—which, in case you’re wondering, isn’t the way he usually works a case. Those records go on and on about how professional he is, so again, I’m deducing that you two are the real deal.”

Laine nodded. “He’s it, okay?” He felt Matt’s eyes on him but kept his gaze locked with Rich’s. “I loved Conner, but both of us… Neither of us were willing to step out, so maybe we didn’t love each other enough, I don’t know. But I won’t make the same mistake with Severo. If it costs me my job, so be it.” Laine let that sink in before continuing, making sure both men understood how serious he was about his lover. “And no, Sev showing up here wasn’t a coincidence. He stopped in Houston, and basically felt compelled to come here. He told me he knew he had to pass along a message to someone, but until he…saw me—” Here’s where I see just how much these two believe. “Saw that Conner was trying to communicate with me, Sev didn’t know who the message was for, or what the message was. I kind of flipped when he asked me who Conner Sutherland was.” Laine’s cheeks heated with the memory of how he’d fled, leaving Sev covered in spunk like a cheap trick.

Rich apparently still knew Laine as well as he had years ago. He laughed and shook his head while Matt looked on curiously. “Judging by the way your cheeks are flaming, that must have been a very, er, interesting disclosure.”

If you only knew. God, don’t let him figure it out! “Yeah, you could say that.”

“How exactly was Conner trying to communicate with you?”

As if on cue, Rich’s hair ruffled and the papers flew out of his briefcase. He looked terrified for all of half a minute before he burst out laughing. Matt