Chasing Morgan Page 12

  “She left me the day of the press conference.”

  “That’s right, she left you. You were never with her. There’s the difference. When are you going to realize that and stop being angry with her?”

  “I’m not angry with her.”

  “Now you’re just lying. It pisses you off that she left. It pisses you off that you don’t know where she is. It pisses you off to know I spent a couple of hours with her yesterday. It pisses you off that you care.”

  “Why didn’t she call me?”

  Sam shook his head. “Why would she? You’ve moved on with your life. You have Maria. You think she doesn’t know that. You think she left you that day. She did, but then she tried to reconnect with you. She’s tried so many times she’s actually made herself sick a few times. You won’t let her back in. You’re the one keeping her away. She said sometimes she catches a glimpse of you when you’re asleep and your guard goes down. She said it’s like you sense her there and you lock her out again. She took the hint. You don’t want her in your head, or in your life. You’ve decided what it is you want. She actually said, ’Tyler’s going to do what Tyler’s going to do.’ She knows you very well.”

  Tyler stared at his cubicle wall, absorbing Sam’s words and what they meant. Quiet. Everything about him went still.

  “She gave me a description of the guy we’re looking for.” He handed Tyler his notes.

  “Five-foot-five. Brown, thinning hair. Brown eyes. Wears glasses with dark rims. Pale skin. Wiry build. Deceptively strong. Thirty-seven. He’s a loner. He probably works fixing copiers and fax machines. This could be anyone,” he said in frustration.

  “She said he uses a double-edged butterfly knife to kill his victims. Oh yeah, and then he goes home and lines out their name in the phonebook that’s lying on his old junky coffee table.”

  “She sees the name before he kills the woman?”

  “I thought that’s what she meant, but no. Without her connection to you, she didn’t know anything about the case until Jack filled her in the other day.”

  “Then why the article in the paper?”

  “She wants some time. She said if I put the article out there, the guy would stop killing for a little while. It’ll give us time to investigate the four murders without a new one happening.”

  “Did she say how long before he kills again?”

  “No. She only said it would make him stop and think about what he’s doing. If he believes she can ID him, the article will tell him she can’t and there’s a chance he’ll stop.”

  “She doesn’t think so, though.”

  “No. She doesn’t. Some other things are meant to happen and this will give her time for those things to take place.”

  “What events?”

  “Yeah, if you can get her to tell you that, then you’re better than me. I grilled her. She won’t tell me everything she knows because it could change another event. Something to do with stopping something from happening. She basically said that if something in the other events changes, then this event could change, and she won’t be able to stop someone from getting hurt.”

  “Who?”

  “Someone in the family.”

  “Whose family? Yours?”

  “I don’t know. She thinks of all of us as a family. You, me, Elizabeth and Grace, Summer, Caleb and the kids, Jack, Jenna and the kids, Cameron, Marti, and Emma. To her, we are one family. It makes sense. Our lives are all tied together.”

  Tyler felt the same way. “So, someone in our family is going to be hurt, and she thinks she can stop it from happening. How?”

  “Hell if I know. She might be beautiful and have an extraordinary gift, but under it all she’s a woman, and she can be downright frustrating and stubborn.”

  “What else did you guys talk about?”

  “We talked about how she grew up, her father killing her mother, and how she survived on her own. We talked about how she does what she does and the effect it has on her and her life. We talked about what she does for a living. We talked about her garden, things like that.”

  “You talked about her garden,” Tyler said, surprised.

  “Yeah, she says there are fairies living in her lilies. I think she was kidding, but then, who knows.” He kept a serious face in place until Tyler scowled. Then he busted up laughing.

  “She’s just a normal person, who’s not at all normal. I can’t explain it. We sat at her dining room table drinking iced tea and eating brownies. Jack and I are the first people to ever sit at her table with her. You know how the ranch is isolated. Mostly that’s because it’s so big and there’s all that land surrounding it. Well, Morgan’s place is like that, too. Isolated. She doesn’t have to see anyone if she doesn’t want to. Sure, she goes to the store and does her shopping like everyone else, but she stays at her place most of the time. She works from home. Being around other people is hard for her because of her gift. She likes Jack because he’s happy. It makes her happy to be around him. I’ll tell you, man, she’s had a hard life. Her mother warned her that if she used her gift in the open, she’d be alone. She was right. Right now, Morgan is as alone as it gets.”

  That hurt Tyler more than anything in the world could. How many times had she reminded him he wasn’t alone? Not once had he reminded her that neither was she. He was with her just as much as she’d been with him.

  That wasn’t exactly true. Sam was right. He’d used her. It didn’t make him feel good to realize it, especially when it was too late. She’d called Sam, not him. She’d seen Sam and confided things to him that they’d never talked about together. Well, she’d refused to tell him, but not Sam. He knew some things about how she saw the things she did, but Sam knew a lot more. He had a million questions he’d like to ask Sam. He wouldn’t though. After five years, one stupid mistake, and being a heartless bastard to her, he didn’t have the right to ask.

  Sam had laid a heavy guilt trip on Tyler. He didn’t really care if it got Tyler to wake up and take a look at what a mess he made of his life. His silence spoke more clearly than anything he could have said. Tyler gave up on Morgan and thought Maria was the answer. Too bad she was the wrong answer for Tyler.

  He waited to see if Tyler would ask where she lived, or if he had her phone number. He did and could call her right now. He could send her an email. One word from Tyler and he’d do it. Tyler sat with his elbow propped on the arm of his chair and his thumb and index finger pressed to his bottom lip.

  Sam gave up. He couldn’t make Tyler get together with Morgan.

  He and Tyler were better off working right now than discussing anything personal.

  “So, we have some new information to work with. We’ll have to keep it under wraps about how we got the information, since I’ve just let the world know Morgan can’t help us. I’m sure we’ll get a call from Detective Stewart this morning. That should be fun. I think we need to see if there’s a connection or pattern to how he chooses the names from the phonebook.”

  “Did she say there was a connection or a reason for the order?”

  She. He couldn’t even say her name now. “She said she doesn’t know. She tried to see, but didn’t get anything. I think we need to get a phonebook and take a look at the page he’s looking at. Maybe something will jump out at us. She can’t see anything specific in the book, all she sees is that he uses a pen to line out the name or ad.”

  “Does she have any idea how many victims we’re going to have?”

  “She didn’t say. She only said that she’d be his last.”

  Sam’s last statement struck home, deep into his heart. Tyler had enough. He rubbed both hands over his face and leaned as far back in his chair as it would go. Then he picked up his pencil and threw it so hard at his bulletin board it stuck a half inch inside.

  Chapter Fifteen

  * * *

  SATURDAY NIGHT, THE restaurant was especially busy. Tyler kept a firm grip on Maria’s arm as they made their way toward the large table at the back of the
room. The entire family would be together tonight for Marti and Cameron’s baby shower. Marti was due to deliver their first baby in a few weeks. It had been too long since they’d all congregated as one group. He looked forward to seeing everyone, but his mind remained on work, the case, and the haunting thoughts of Morgan becoming the Psychic Slayer’s last victim.

  Over his dead body.

  Emma remained on his mind. He’d taken her out for dinner and a movie a few nights ago. Cameron and Marti were worried about her health. She didn’t eat well and slept even less. She dogged Marti’s heels constantly, afraid she’d die because of the baby. Her own mother had died after giving birth to her, and she was scared the same thing would happen to her stepmother. She loved Marti like her own, real mother. Understandable the little girl was anxious, but Emma’s health worried everyone.

  He spotted the group sitting and standing around the table. He and Maria were the last to arrive. He and Sam had been going nonstop on the case since Sam returned from seeing Morgan two weeks ago. Maria saved his sanity, staying at his place most nights. He came home to dinner and company. He never got home at a decent time, but she’d adjusted, and they were in synch. Exhausted from working long hours and worrying about Morgan, he fell into bed and passed out, grateful he didn’t sleep alone.

  After Morgan left him and he’d set his mind to building his relationship with Maria, he’d bought her a ring. He’d thought to propose while they were on vacation in Hawaii. Every time he thought the timing and setting were perfect, something stopped him. When they returned home, he’d never found the right moment.

  Maria had become a real part of his everyday life these last weeks. What was he waiting for?

  He planned to ask her to marry him after dinner tonight. He showed the ring to Sam yesterday. Sam offered his congratulations, even though he thought it a mistake. Tyler knew what he wanted. A wife and children. Pretty soon, he’d have them. Well, they’d have children if he got his mind off the case and mustered up the energy to make love to her.

  Maria seemed happy about the marriage idea. They’d discussed it briefly. Her family wanted to see her married and settled, especially her father.

  He’d met her parents. They were nice people and certainly approved of him. After all, he had a good job and would provide well for a family. That seemed to be their qualifications for their daughter’s future husband. Her father seemed to disapprove of her working and living on her own. Tyler found that old-fashioned for the times, but Maria seemed eager to please her father and gain his approval. She’d practically put Tyler up on a pedestal, gushing about his job and accomplishments, making him uncomfortable, but he appreciated the compliments.

  Tyler spotted Sam and Jack standing together, each drinking a beer. The twin brothers leaned into each other to say something confidentially. Tyler hoped they weren’t talking about him and Maria. He wanted Maria to feel welcome.

  Jack whispered into Sam’s ear, “I thought you said she was coming.”

  “I talked to her yesterday after he showed me the ring. She said she’d be here. In fact, she already had her ticket.”

  “I could have sent the jet for her,” Jack said and took another sip of his beer.

  “It’s fine. She’ll be here,” Sam said adamantly.

  “I thought Cameron was stubborn when he wanted to marry that horrible woman who faked being pregnant with his baby. Tyler might take the cake for stubbornness if he asks Maria to marry him. She’s nice enough, but she isn’t for him.”

  “Once he sees Morgan in person, he won’t go through with it.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Jack said and took another sip of his beer.

  Cameron joined Sam and Jack. “What’re you two whispering about?”

  “Tyler and Maria. They just arrived,” Sam said and tilted his beer in their direction.

  “She’s nice,” Cameron said and glanced at the couple. “She came with Tyler to pick up Emma for dinner the other night. She didn’t say much. I wouldn’t peg her as Tyler’s type, though. I thought he had a thing for his psychic ghost.”

  “He does. He just doesn’t want to admit it. He won’t have a choice tonight. Morgan’s coming.”

  “You’re kidding me.” Cameron couldn’t wait to meet Morgan. As president of Merrick International, he worked with Jack’s wife, Jenna. He heard all kinds of stories from her about Tyler and his psychic ghost. What he didn’t hear from Jenna, he got firsthand from Sam and Tyler. The woman was intriguing if nothing else.

  Cameron had spent the last several weeks worried about his wife and daughter, Emma. He hoped tonight would bring some fun into their lives and all the gifts would make Emma interested in the baby and less fixated and concerned about the birth.

  “I talked to Morgan yesterday,” Sam said. “I told her we’d be here. Don’t tell anyone else. I don’t want Tyler to overhear. Here he comes.”

  They all greeted each other and spent time talking and catching up. The children grew restless, so the menus were opened, the orders placed, and dinner served. They enjoyed their meal and each other’s company. Everyone included Maria in the conversation. They added to the cacophony of the restaurant, and Tyler relaxed into the evening like he hadn’t done in a long time. Seated next to Sam, who sat next to Jack, he noticed the two men look down the aisle and simply stare. Then he heard Sam say, “She’s here.”

  More beautiful than Tyler remembered. He’d only seen her once and even that time had only been for a few minutes. Five years ago, her hair had hung down her back in a long braid. She’d worn old jeans and a well-worn navy blue T-shirt. Radiant tonight with her hair unbound. The thick mass waved over her shoulders and down her back. Lovely, it seemed to glow. Tall and slender, her white flowing blouse and blue floral skirt hugged her curves in all the right places.

  Her eyes caught him off guard. Blue as the Colorado sky. They looked softly upon him and made him want. She simply took his breath away.

  Five years spent talking on the phone and in his mind and she’d left him, only to come back into his life to torture him in person.

  He wanted to grab her. To shake her and ask her why she’d come back tonight. After all this time, she’d returned on the night he planned to ask another woman to marry him, when all he wanted to do was take Morgan to his bed. His emotions were everywhere. Angry she’d left, happy to see her, he wanted to strangle her for calling Sam and not him about the case. He wanted to beg her to stay and alternately push her away, so he could have the life he’d been carefully working toward with Maria.

  She messed up his mind, and she wasn’t even inside it anymore.

  Morgan took a step back. So many emotions ran through her and came from the people in the restaurant and this group in particular. Her carefully constructed walls blocked out a lot, but with so much coming at her, they cracked.

  Seeing Tyler rocked her.

  The sadness hit Morgan hard. She couldn’t feel anything but anger from Tyler. His dark eyes simply stared at her, no light in them. No joy at seeing her. It hurt to think that after all these years he’d completely closed her out of his life.

  She knew why. The pretty woman sitting next to him radiated nice. The exact opposite in appearance as Morgan. Dark hair and eyes, her skin a lovely olive brown. She had a pretty figure and showed as little of it off as possible in her demure green dress. The dress color did show off her lovely skin tone, though.

  Compared to Jenna, Elizabeth, and Marti, she felt like an ugly duckling. Tyler’s girlfriend fit in far better than she, or so she thought.

  She weaved her way to the table and stood behind Jack’s wife, Jenna.

  “Is it going to happen tonight? The event you warned me about. Who’s going to be hurt? Can we stop it?” Jack asked in rapid-fire succession.

  “Jack, who is this? Why are you so upset?” Jenna didn’t like seeing her husband’s distress.

  Tyler answered the question for everyone by simply saying her name: “Morgan.”

  Morgan f
inally came to her senses and answered Jack’s overflowing concern and urgency. “Jack, sit down. Everything is fine. We have some time. I came here for another reason.”

  Sam smiled and she directed her next statement to him. “He is not going to thank you for this.”

  Sam leaned forward in his chair. “It has to be done.” She knew it, he knew it, and everyone at the table knew it. Even Tyler knew it. He just didn’t want to admit it.

  “Morgan. I’m Elizabeth, Sam’s wife. You’re the psychic ghost we’ve been hearing about for years. What brings you here tonight? It seems you and my husband have something cooked up.”

  “I came for a few reasons, actually.” She should acknowledge all of the family members in some way. As much as she knew about them, in actuality, they’d never met. “It’s nice to meet Tyler’s family. I feel like I know all of you through him.”

  Tyler felt that one stab him right in the heart. She did know a lot about them because of him. He’d talked about them often, and she learned a lot more when they’d been connected mentally. He didn’t know anything about her family, at least nothing he hadn’t learned from Sam or the reports about her mother’s death.

  Emma liked the new person. Pretty, she had long golden hair, longer than her own. It looked soft. “Are you really a ghost?”

  Morgan stared across the table and focused on the tired, sickly looking little girl. No wonder they were all worried about her. The picture she had in her mind of the happy and laughing girl was missing tonight. This version of Emma wasn’t a good one, and Morgan silently vowed to fix that right now.

  “No, sweetheart. I’m not a ghost. I guess you could say I’m more like a witch. I have a special gift. And the reason I came today is to show you that gift. Would you like me to show you?”