Raintree Read online

  “We have a few minutes,” Tabby said, flipping her hair in a caricature of girlishness. “Long enough for us to finish our business. Much as I would love to spend a little time with you and your girl, I need to hurry. I have a party to go to tonight, and I want to make myself extra special pretty.”

  Gideon knew there was a rarely used back stairway that was kept locked, except when Rainbow took the trash to the Dumpster in the alleyway. Obviously Tabby had entered the building that way. She could have shot them both in the back when she’d come out of the kitchen. They wouldn’t have known she was there until it was too late. Why hadn’t she? Why was she so intent on dragging out the confrontation?

  And where the hell was the team he’d hired to keep an eye on this place? Dammit, someone should know Tabby was here. They should have been watching all the entrances to the building, locked or not.

  The fact remained: if Tabby simply wanted him dead, he would already be dead.

  “Let’s finish our business, then.” He could take Tabby down with one motion; he just needed her to move the weapon aside so Hope wouldn’t take a bullet if the automatic weapon the blonde was holding went off when she went down.

  The psycho reached into the roomy pocket of her dress and drew out the knife she’d used to kill Sherry Bishop and Lily Clark and so many others. So that was the way of it. She wanted him dead, but not quickly and not from a distance. He could use that to get himself closer, to make sure Hope wasn’t harmed in any way.

  “Tell me why,” Gideon said as he took a step forward. Since he was unarmed and she had two weapons, Tabby didn’t feel threatened, and she didn’t tell him to step back or stop moving forward.

  “Who cares why?” Lily Clark said frantically, jumping up and down. “Just kill her! Don’t let her get away with this.”

  Gideon turned his gaze to the ghost. Lily was strong. She had the power to affect this reality if she tried hard enough. If she wanted it badly enough. “I need you to move that weapon aside.”

  “I’m not moving anything,” Tabby said, not yet realizing that Gideon wasn’t speaking to her. Lily didn’t realize it yet, either.

  “I need you to shift the barrel of that gun away from me and Hope.”

  Clark’s eyes went wide, and her figure shimmered. “Me?”

  “Yes, you.”

  Tabby finally put two and two together. “You’re not talking to me, are you? Well, good luck. I’ve killed a lot of people. I’ve even felt like maybe their ghosts were watching me. But none of them ever laid a hand on me. You know why? They can’t. They’re dead. All that’s left when I’m done is a pitiful spit of energy that can’t do anything but moan and cry to you. They’re pathetic.”

  Lily’s misty hand reached for Tabby’s gun and wafted through it without creating so much as a wobble.

  “I don’t feel anyone trying to move my gun,” Tabby said, brandishing the weapon almost wildly. “See? I’m in control here. No ghost is going to touch me or my weapon.” She quit jiggling the pistol and took aim at Hope. “I want to feel you die in my hands, Raintree. I don’t care about her. She can die right here and now.”

  Gideon threw himself between Hope and the gun just as Lily finally made contact. The ghost’s misty hand grabbed the barrel and shoved upward. A surprised Tabby lost control of the weapon. It swung wildly up and then to the side, and a bullet slammed harmlessly and loudly into the ceiling before Lily managed to knock the weapon from Tabby’s hand.

  The pistol hit the floor and skittered away, coming to rest half beneath the sofa. Hope ran toward the weapon to retrieve it, while Gideon lifted his hand and directed a bolt of electricity at Tabby before she could reach for the pistol she’d lost. He could fry her heart from this distance, but he didn’t want her dead. Not yet.

  Was there a second bomb or not? He had to know. The bolt he let loose knocked Tabby backward and to the floor, where she landed hard. But she didn’t lose her grip on the knife.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked breathlessly as she looked up at Gideon. “They didn’t tell me you could do that.”

  “Who’s they, Tabby?” If she wasn’t working alone, then this wasn’t over by a long shot.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Gideon dragged the blonde to her feet and wrested the knife out of her hand, tossing it away. She tried to fight but was weakened by the electricity he’d called upon to stop her. Hope held on to Tabby’s weapon and fetched her own pistol. She stood more beside than behind him, her own pistol pointed unwaveringly at Tabby.

  “Where’s the other bomb?” he asked.

  Tabby just smiled, and he gave her a small jolt to remind her of what he could do. “I can stop your heart with one jolt,” he said quietly. “I can pop you with more electricity than your brain can handle. Don’t think I won’t.”

  “Go ahead. I have worse waiting for me if I walk out of here and leave you alive. Besides, we’re going up in a big boom any minute now. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.” She grinned at him. “Afraid?” She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, inhaling deeply and holding it.

  “Hope, check on the bomb squad,” Gideon said without turning to look at her. “If they don’t have the device neutralized, get out of the building.”

  She edged to the door. “I’ll get a status report, but I’m not walking out of here without you.”

  “Don’t be stupid.”

  Hope left the room without responding, leaving Gideon alone with Tabby. “How touching,” she whispered, opening her eyes once again. “What are you planning to do, Raintree? Get married and make little freaks? Settle down and pretend you’re just any old cop? Good luck. Even if…well, let’s just say it’s never gonna happen, and we both know it.”

  He ignored her attempt to distract him. “Where’s the other bomb?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “It’s in your best interest to cooperate, Tabby. Is that your real name?” he asked almost casually. “Tabby?”

  The woman didn’t answer. She worked her mouth oddly, and before Gideon realized what she was up to, she bit into something she’d had hidden in her mouth. Instantly her body bucked and her eyes rolled back in her head. A few seconds later, she went slack.

  Gideon muttered every foul word he knew as he dragged Tabby from the room. Hope met him on the stairs. “The bomb was a simple mechanism, and it’s already been disabled. What happened?”

  “Tabby had some kind of poison hidden in her mouth, and when she realized she wasn’t going to get away, she bit into it. Dammit!” Considering the almost paralyzing dust she’d thrown into his face, he should have seen this coming. He needed to know about the other bomb. He also wanted to know what she’d meant when she talked about “them.” Were there others out there who knew what he could do? For all he knew, there was someone around the corner waiting to take her place.

  “Is she dead?”

  “Not yet.” If she was dead, her spirit would be here, hounding him still.

  “Did she tell you where the second bomb was?”

  “No. I don’t know when or where, or even if the bomb is real.”

  An ambulance was already on the scene, and the paramedics rushed forward as the three of them hurried from the building. Gideon didn’t know what Tabby had taken, so he couldn’t be much help. He did warn the EMTs to keep her restrained, in case she did come to. Anyone in her path was likely to end up dead if she woke up.

  Gideon spotted one of the private security guards he’d hired to watch The Silver Chalice and the apartment above. He made his way roughly through the crowd of cops and onlookers, and grabbed the man by the collar, slamming him against the wall. “Where the hell were you?”

  The kid didn’t put up a fight. “While everyone was rushing out of the store, a woman’s purse got snatched. She screamed, and people were running and talking about a bomb. It was a mess, and I was distracted. I’m sorry.”

  “Where’s the other guard?” Gideon asked. “I specifically asked