Hallow Be the Haunt (Krewe of Hunters #22.5)(28)

The medical examiner seemed curious, but she kept that curiosity to herself. She introduced herself as Dr. Sienna Hardgrave.

Shelley lay with a stark white sheet drawn up to her breasts. The gash in her throat was obvious. There was a sweetness and innocence about her face.

Even in death.

Ashley swallowed hard.

“Dr. Hardgrave has explained,” Jake said, “that Shelley was most likely taken from behind. Like this—” Jackson moved forward, allowing Jake to demonstrate how the killer had come up from behind, taking her by surprise, holding her by her shoulder with his left hand, and drawing the knife hard across the throat with the right.

“She never saw her killer,” Jackson said.

“Miss Donegal.” Detective Parks focused on her. “Do you know something?”

She shook her head. “I just—by coincidence—met the man who owns the gallery where she was living and working. And I bought one of her paintings. I’m sorry to have disturbed everyone coming here, but…” She paused, shaking her head. “I can’t help but feel that I’m getting to know her and that there are clues in her life or in the painting. The killer had to have been someone close to her. Someone she trusted, and someone who would call her a traitor.” She stepped forward, trying not to let the M.E. or the detective see that she wanted to touch Shelley’s body.

And see if she could reach the ghost haunting her dreams.

The dead were cold. So cold. And yet, even as she stood there touching the frigid flesh of the deceased, she imagined that she saw the young woman open her eyes, look at her, and whisper softly, “Please help me.”

The intensity of the plea was heart wrenching.

Ashley jolted and stepped back.

Jake didn’t miss the response. He moved forward, blocking Ashley while thanking the medical examiner, and guided her toward the door.

On the street, he spoke. Not angrily, but in anguish. “Ashley…”

He was visibly shaken on her behalf, reminding her that even when angry, he’d never be anything but…Jake.

“Jude is at our office here in town,” Jackson said. “Let’s go talk. She needs to know exactly what we know.”

Ashley looked at Jake and frowned, confused. He’d been upset on the phone that she was coming in.

What had happened since they’d talked?

“You shouldn’t be at home, either. Not without…one of us. Not until we’ve had a chance to talk,” Jackson said quietly.

“Let’s head to your office,” Detective Parks said. As head of the investigation, he was definitely joining the party.

Parks had his own car and Jackson rode with him, leaving Ashley alone with Jake in their rental car.

After clicking in her seatbelt, Ashley turned to him, determined to get some answers. “Jake, what’s going on?”

He looked at her unhappily.

“Since you spoke with me,” she persisted.

“Two things, Ashley. Angela has been doing research back at Krewe headquarters.”

“And?”

He inhaled. “She found a number of deaths from here to Biloxi and over in Baton Rouge that had been chalked up to drugs or gang violence. Bad guys—really bad guys—were killed. Murdered. She found seven in all, over the last year and a half.”

“So you think whoever killed that man Tink and most probably Shelley Broussard—and went after Richard Showalter—murdered those people as well?”

“Quite possibly. They see themselves as vigilantes. Shelley might have known about them—and not wanted to be involved.”

“The art studio,” Ashley said.

“Yes. But I also found out the name of the man she kept seeing at the gallery. The one who’d given her a hard time.”

“You did?”

“She told an old friend about him. An old friend that she hadn’t seen much of since she started at the gallery.”

“And his name is—?”

“His name is Jonathan Starling. According to Angela, he’s one of your employees at Donegal for the Halloween season—a scare actor. So, you see, on the one hand, I don’t want you getting involved here in the city. You might have put a target on yourself. But I don’t exactly want you out there, either—not until we find out just what went on with this man. With Jonathan Starling.”





Chapter 9



Jake watched Ashley as she stared at the crime board. It held pictures, facts, figures, theories, and more.

In many ways, it caused a serious conflict of feeling—some very bad people had been murdered. So it had been easy for various agencies to believe they’d been killed because of gang wars or drug deals gone wrong. But…

Each one had had their throat slit.

Ashley was shaking her head. “I can’t believe this. I mean, it’s all too confusing. What? The art studio people—Nick Nicholson and Marty—bring in these girls and then try to make a trio of killers out of them? Okay, they killed Tink around Halloween so they could be witches. They went after Richard Showalter as clowns—because it was Halloween? But how did they sneak up on hardened criminals? And if they were after criminals, why kill poor Shelley? And what does Jonathan Starling have to do with any of this?”

“I don’t know,” Jake told her.