Ghosts See Me, But I See You: Brothers Book One

Chapter Three: He Believes Me

Chapter 3   

  "DISTURBING how?"

    "If the violence of the death was minimal, meaning a gunshot, then I'll see them with a gunshot.  If the violence was a stabbing, or a beating, then they will appear stabbed or beaten. Slit throats are not nice, but the worst are beheadings or dismemberment.  Those really get you."  She had splayed her hands on the counter, shuddering. She looked at him then, eyes haunted. "Monica Ortiz was beaten and bloody."

    "And this boy?" 

    "Other than the sunken eyes and cut-out tongue--" Tansy stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes widened. "Oh, God! I had forgotten!"

    "What, Tansy? What is it?" Matthew put the fork down instantly.

    She touched her throat. "He had strangulation marks around his neck!" she squeaked. A hand went to her mouth.

    He reached for that hand.  "Hey, no, that's good!  That's a clue!"  

    "How can that be a clue? We don't even know who he is!"

    Matthew gripped her hand tighter "True, but it will be useful when we do find out who he is."

    She gave him a doubtful look, but nodded anyway. She looked down at her hand in his, felt its warmth. Mystified, she wondered how she had never come across anyone like him before. He was holding her hand, he looked into her eyes, and he didn't balk when she talked about her gift. She wondered what it would be like to just sit and talk to him, to just sit down and have a conversation with him.

    To have a conversation with someone who didn't treat her like a weirdo would be great.

    Matthew suddenly reached into his front jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. It was vibrating furiously. He tapped the screen and stood. "It's Callum, he's got something for me." He gave her a soft smile "So I've got to go back to the office."

    "I hope it's something good," she said quietly. Odd, she was sad he was leaving.

    "So do I," he agreed. "So do I."

    MATTHEW walked into the bullpen carrying a container of food. Approaching Cal's desk, he placed the container nicely next to the keyboard. He then sat in a nearby chair and looked at his friend.  "What did you find?"

    Cal looked at the container. "What's that?"

    "Yours." Matthew raised an eyebrow. He shrugged "Figured you were hungry." He pointed at the large, flat computer screen "So what did you find?"

    Cal raised an eyebrow, but answered Matthew nonetheless.  "Our wee lad's name is Timothy Vigil." He pulled up a picture of Timothy and two other boys. In the photo, all three were happy and smiling. "Timothy and his mates here were childhood friends, and they graduated high school together in 2015. They went missing that summer."

    Matthew's eyes widened at that tidbit "Are you f*****g kidding me?" He rubbed his eyes "What are his friends' names?"

    "Antonio Mora and Lucas Somerset," came the reply. 

    "Were they found?" Matthew asked.

    Cal shook his head "Only Antonio was foond two months after they went missing. After th' body was recovered, and investigations were conducted, th' parents of Antonio took his body back t' Puerto Rico.  And afore ye ask, they dinna come back."  

    "Jesus..." Matthew let out a sigh. "Okay, where was Antonio found? Near the river?"

    "Aye, under th' I-40 Bridge."

    Matthew was amazed "Wait. What?" Tansy's words came back to him. He said there's a bridge nearby.

    Cal nodded, pulling up a lengthy report on the finding of Antonio's body "Aye. Th' I-40 Bridge, aboot a quarter of a mile from th' nature trail." He pointed to the autopsy report on the screen.. "He was foond with a missing foot, a missing tongue and ligatures aroond his neck."

    He had strangulation marks on his neck. Matthew shuddered "Holy shit..." He leaned forward to look at the report. "A missing foot?"

    "Th' ME determined a coyote moost hae gotten to th' body afore it was foond."

    Matthew closed his eyes. This was bigger than one missing boy. There were two boys out there who were missing, perhaps dead. A thought came to him, a thought he didn't really want to come to. But he knew he had to find out.

    Cal, however, spoke before he could. "Th' ME also foond signs of s****l assault on th' poor lad."

    "What the f**k?" He sat there staring at the computer screen.  "Jesus... Okay, do a search. Find out if there were any other similar missing persons cases. Look only for teenage boys, high school age, or college freshman age."

    "Got it. Ages sixteen t' nineteen?"

    "Yeah. Check the years before 2015 and since." Matthew stood, and started for his office. "And find me the families of Timothy Vigil and Lucas Somerset."

    "And this?" Cal asked, tapping the container.

    Matthew grinned. "I told you, that's your dinner, it ain't poison." He then went to his office, and sat behind his desk. He sighed deeply. He'd thought it earlier, this was bigger than one missing boy. This was much bigger, and he'd had a sinking feeling that Cal would find others.

    Tansy had been right about the bridge, the water and the ligature marks.  

    And she had managed to get to him. 

    She had let him into her small house, but had been defensive, at first keeping her back to him. But when he'd asked her to look at him, her mood changed. She'd actually relaxed enough to open up to him about her abilities. As she told him about her parents, her family, her pains of the way people treated her, what he saw was a very sad, lonely woman. And, somehow,  his heart broke for her.

    Tansy Luna was a good person. And beautiful as well. 

    When she opened the door, his breath nearly caught in his throat.  She stood there in her layered tanks and yoga pants, barefooted. Her curly, auburn hair was swept up in a loose bun that opened up her heart-shaped face, her pretty green eyes. Eyes the color that reminded him of green, growing things in the spring. And, he couldn't help it, but, while they were talking, he just had to tuck that strand of hair behind her ear, to feel it's softness. He'd caught a whiff of the scent in her hair, of lemons and mint. 

    She was the first woman in a very long time that had managed to get to him the way she did. He found himself wanting to know more about her, hear more of her life. He wanted to be that one person she could go to for help, for company, for anything. 

    He also found he wanted to get closer to her. Emotionally. Physically...

    He wanted to tell her his secrets.

    All of them. 

    Several times during their brief meal together and conversation, he had thought about kissing her.  Wondered what it would be like to hold her in his arms. To...

    The stirring in his jeans made him wince.  Get a hold of yourself, there, dumbass. Horny, much? Dude! C'mon, man.

    He rubbed his face. Shit...

    Before this was over, he was going to have her so far under his skin, she'd be an itch he would love to scratch. 

    TANSY couldn't sleep.

    And it wasn't for lack of trying.

    Nor was it from ghosts.

    It was from, of all people, Detective Matthew Apodaca.  

    In the brief time they'd spent together, he had managed to punch a hole in those walls she had built around herself over the years. And all from a simple conversation. 

    And it wasn't until after she'd handed him that plate of food, that she realized she'd silently invited him to stay. He didn't refuse, he just took the plate and began to eat. Just sat there, eating, and talking with her.  Something that had not happened in a very long time. And all the while she talked, she couldn't believe she was telling him her life's story.  Couldn't believe she wanted to tell him those things. It was almost as if she needed to.

    Detective Matthew Apodaca. Tall, handsome in a rugged way with that two-day stubble on his face, and the lopsided grin. With the dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. And his close cropped brown hair that looked so very soft...

    Matthew Apodaca of the sapphirine blue eyes with the hint of green in them. The blue eyes that twinkled and glittered when he smiled.

    Matthew of the strong looking shoulders, arms, chest... She remembered she had briefly wondered what he looked like without that Henley. Without those nice fitting jeans.

    Oh, for goodness sake! Get a hold of yourself, woman! After all, when the boy is found, you probably won't see him anymore.

    Her eyes squeezed shut, but images bounced around in her head of his strong masculine body, and those blue, blue eyes. She rolled over and slammed the pillow over her head.  Good grief... you're acting like a silly school girl!

    Apparently, she had dozed off, because her eyes suddenly shot open at the sensation of another presence in the room. Throwing the pillow off her head, she sat upright and looked about. In the darkness of her bedroom, nothing really leaped out at her, but she knew a presence when she felt it. This was nothing new, and even though it still alarmed her after all these years, she wasn't afraid. She just felt sadness.

    Slowly swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Tansy stood and let the emotions roll over her. Emotions, because that was usually what the dead felt, the emotions they'd had upon their death. And these particular emotions were pure sadness.

    She stood listening, head c****d to the side, as the whispers swirled around her. When the boy appeared, she nearly dropped to her knees. The overwhelming grief flooded through her, nearly choking her. Once she got a hold of her composure, she realized, with shock, that it was not the same boy as before.  

    A tall, light brown haired teenager with sunken, filmy eyes.  Unlike the first boy, who seemed to have blonde hair and brown eyes, this boy was more dead in appearance. His clothing was rotted, tattered, his skin mottled and waxy. 

    Pointing west.

    "West?" she asked. She reached over to the nightstand and retrieved her sketch pad and began to draw    his face "Near the river?"

    He nodded, his eyes pleading with her, boring into her.

    Her hand flew over the paper. She did not draw him in death, she drew him as she supposed he'd look in life. "Is there a bridge nearby?"

    When he nodded again, she stopped instantly. God! How many were there? And why didn't anyone try to find them? She resumed her sketch as she sat on the edge of the bed. 

    Then, a thought came to her.  She peered at his neck. Sure enough, strangulation marks were present. She looked at him sadly, not wanting to know, but needing to.  "C-Could you open your mouth for me?"

    He did. And all she saw was a black, gaping maw there.

    ELIJAH looked over at Christopher. "Let's take the weekend at the Crest?"

    Christopher glanced over at him "One last fling?" Beside him, Juan mumbled something in his sleep.

    Elijah snickered at Juan's mumblings. He nodded "Yeah.  We're gonna be busy from here on out. Let's do something fun."

    Christopher jabbed Juan with his elbow. "Fine by me."

    Elijah sniffed. "I'll take my camera, get some photos."

    Juan let out a gigantic yawn.  "Pictures again?"

    "Why not?" Elijah frowned at his friends, then rolled his eyes. He didn't care. If they did go spend the weekend up there, he was going to take his cameras. The scenery was beautiful up there.

    "Let me get a hold of Mom and Dad. Let them know what we're gonna do." Juan said.

    "And what is it we're gonna do?" Elijah asked him cheekily.

    "Ha ha." Juan frowned. "I heard you. You want to go up to the Crest this weekend." He stood and stretched his arms "Fine, let's do it." He pulled out his phone from his pocket.  "

    Elijah snickered again. "Cool." He looked up at the clock on the wall of the break room "Gotta get back to my shift. See you guys later?"

    Christopher nodded. "Yup!"  

    Meanwhile, Juan waved at Elijah as he walked out the door. 

    Everything was good. 

    Or so he thought.