Spooky Business (The Spectral Files #3) - S.E. Harmon Page 0,75

Kane, her decayed skin falling off in patches.

“Sweet Briar rose,” he said without prompting. “Don’t let her appearance fool you. She fought like a wildcat. It took six days to break her in properly. The damned woman died the next day, just when I’d gotten her just how I wanted her.”

I didn’t take the bait. “How did you kill her?”

In vintage Kane fashion, he ignored my question. He stubbed his cigarette out on the table. “You said you’d stop the haunting, and you did… for a while. But she’s back.” He swallowed. “I can feel her.”

I glanced up to find another ghost trailing her fingers up his spine. Cindy May Weatherby. She had a piece of tape over her eyes, much like Janet. He shivered involuntarily as Cindy reached his nape, and a smile curved her cracked and broken lips.

“That’s… not the same one.”

“Then do something about her,” he demanded.

“It might help if you told me something about Cindy. Give her peace,” I urged quietly. “And be careful about what you say.”

“You don’t scare me and neither do they,” he snapped. “I own them. That little bitch begged for her life, which made it even better. I told her I wasn’t going to kill her. I was going to make her—”

“Immortal,” Cindy whispered along with him. “He said art lives forever.”

Another of the roses appeared to his left. I recognized her, too. He told me he’d called her Veilchenblau for her lavender/blue lipstick. It was still there, smeared on and around her bow-shaped mouth, stark against her pale skin. She reached out a hand and caressed his jaw.

He jerked away as that wispy hand came in contact with his skin. “What the fuck was that?”

“You know what it was,” I said lowly, “and if you don’t calm down, it’s going to get worse.”

He pounded his fist on the table, and the empty soda can jumped. “I don’t have to do a damn thing. You remember that.” His eyes flashed dangerously. “I’m in control, Doc.”

Veilchenblau’s slender fingers now caressed his windpipe, and I swallowed reflexively. Not anymore, you’re not.

“He put tape over my eyes, but not my mouth,” she said softly. “I never knew why. Ask him.”

I eyed her warily. “I don’t think this is the time—”

“Ask him,” she demanded, her eyes snapping fire.

Welp, I guess I was asking him. I certainly didn’t want those delicate fingers around my fucking neck. “Why did you put tape over their eyes, but not their mouth?”

Surrounded by his victims on either side, this would be the wrong time to say something inflammatory. We both knew that. We also knew he didn’t give a tinker’s damn. His jaw firmed. “So I could hear them scream. It was always better when they screamed.”

That small hand tightened like a vise, and Kane gasped as Veilchenblau choked off his air. I stared, watching as his cheeks turned mottled and red. I wish I could say I was in too much shock to move or think, but I felt almost… detached.

Why shouldn’t she have her revenge? Why shouldn’t she have a little justice? He’d hurt so many. It was like he had the reverse Midas touch—everything he put those Nicotine-stained fingers on turned to absolute shit.

Kane banged one hand on the table desperately, his gaze darting back and forth. I frowned, torn, as his eyes started to bulge. I couldn’t let his darkness permeate my soul. Veilchenblau had earned her revenge—they all had—but I didn’t think it would help them heal. Kane would die, but not right now. Not like this.

“Stop,” I said softly.

Her gaze jerked to my face, almost as though I’d shouted the word. “Give me one good reason why I should.”

“Because you’re not him.”

Her mouth worked for a moment as she realized the truth of that. “It isn’t fair,” she cried out. “He’s had so many more years than he deserved, years he stole from us. He should’ve been executed a long time ago. What’re they waiting for?”

“We have a system in place and a process to follow. Maybe it isn’t perfect, and it damn sure isn’t fair, but that’s the way the law works,” I said quietly. “If we’re going to put someone to death, there are rules we have to abide by—”

“Fuck your rules!”

“Shawna—”

“God, that’s my name, isn’t it?” Her grip loosened, and Kane gasped for air, looking much like a landed fish. His fingers flew to his throat, massaging the skin there.

Shawna let out a shaky breath. “It’s so good to hear my