Free Truth Is Found by Morgan Kelley Page A

slid out of the knots and the black apron fell around his feet.
    Holy shit!
    Something had untied his apron.
    There was more laughing.
    “Who’s there?” he whispered, trying to see something in front of him, but there wasn’t anyone around. Beau had to be imagining things, right?
    He didn't just see an invisible force untie his apron, did he?
    As he went to move, there was more laughter, and then pain as something slid down his arm.
    Beau glanced down in horror as three scratch marks appeared out of nowhere.
    They were vicious and red.
    They were ominous.
    His heart thudded in his ears. This was the first time in a long time that his adrenaline had been spiked this high. Beau’s instinct was to bolt the hell out of there.
    Instead, he thought about his team.
    “Who are you?” he asked again.
    There was no reply.
    “Are you a ghost?” he whispered, right before he was tapped on the shoulder.
    As he turned, no one was there.
    Then the glasses began exploding around him. Shards of glass flew, and he got the hell out of there.
    He needed to see his sister.
    They had one hell of a problem.
     
    They didn't have someone trying to tank Darkwood Monastery winery.
     
    They had a spirit haunting it.

CHAPTER Four
     
     
     
    Tori let the dark take her.
    She was well aware who would be waiting for her on the other side. As soon as the blackness went to a light gray, and the room swirled in reverse, she found herself right there in her room, only without Julian. Bethany was there, and she was humming as she waited patiently.
    “I’ve missed you, Victoria,” she stated, hopping off the desk to move toward the woman. “You’ve been hiding from me. I don’t like that game. It makes me feel like you don’t love me anymore.”
    Tori wanted to laugh at the absurdity of all of this. Before the case in Kentucky, she never had to worry about a dead girl popping into her brain.
    She didn't have to worry about upsetting her.
    Great.
    She had a dead stalker.
    “We’re a team,” Bethany said sincerely. “You know…you look for the bodies, and I keep the angry ghosts from bothering you.”
    Tori guessed she had no choice.
    This dead girl had become part of her life, and whether she liked it or not, she was here to stay.
    “Well, this is still new for me, Bethany. As time passes, I seem to be getting stronger. I can ignore the buzzing and fight the pull to black out.”
    Bethany stood in front of her. She looked exactly the same, only she was playing with her mop of brown hair. This time, it had red ribbons.
    Blood red ones.
    “Yes, you can, but then I’ll have to come to you, and that freaks your husband out, doesn’t it? He might start to see me zipping around him. When you wake up, and I’m standing at the foot of your bed, he may really hate that.”
    Okay, that wasn’t a good idea.
    While Julian was open to all of this, he was still on the edge. There was no point tormenting him.
    “Let’s not do that.”
    She shrugged.
    “I will not be blackmailed by a dead girl, Bethany. I have an exorcist on speed dial.”
    “Hrumpft.”
    That said it all.
    “We’ll have to compromise.”
    “Well, then you need to listen to me. I don’t pop in for laughs, Victoria.”
    This was comical.
    Bethany was standing there, hands on her hips and lip out, much like a spoiled child would pout.
    Yeah, while that worked on her once living lover, it didn't work on Tori. She wasn’t going to cave to those kind of antics.
    “What do you want, Bethany?” Tori asked, taking a step back. It wasn’t that she was afraid, but she still liked her personal space, and sharing it with the undead creeped her out.
    Hey!
    Sue her.
    She was human, and this was weird.
    “I miss talking to you, that’s all. Why can’t you pop in and say hello to me? It makes me feel used when you only show up when you’re working.”
    Tori leaned against the foot of the bed. “Yeah, I’ve seen you from my peripheral. I know you’re around.”
    “I like to make