Read Online The Traveler: Book 5, The Eddie McCloskey Paranormal Mystery Series (The Unearthed) by Evan Ronan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Evan Ronan
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Eddie.”
Christie relaxed a little in her seat. Eddie wondered if the chief had been close to shutting down the paranormal angle.
“Okay, but there’s another question we haven’t even addressed yet.” Harney folded his arms. “Assuming Perks is the ghost, who is he traveling with?”
To Eddie it felt like the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.
Christie opened her mouth to speak, but Harney seemed to anticipate what she was going to say.
“Don’t you even bring that up.” Harney pointed at Eddie. “Not with him in here.”
Eddie had no idea where this was going but somehow Harney’s question led to a very sensitive place. All the same, he needed to know.
Eddie said, “Chief, I’m here to help. But I can’t help if I have half the story. I’ve signed the NDA your attorney drafted. I’m a good guy. You can trust me.”
Chief Knotts looked him dead in the eye. “Eddie, please excuse us. Detective Christie will come find you when we’re done in here.”
***
Eddie sat in Christie’s cubicle and opened his laptop. The one Stan had given him.
Stan had also given him the juice on Perks the stalker and rapist as well. During the whole meeting, he kept thinking about Stan and their last conversation. Eddie really needed to call his friend back and apologize. No, not just that. He needed to make it up to Stan.
The best way was to start acting like a real friend again. He had a million reasons why he hadn’t been in close contact with Stan over the years. But at the end of the day, reasons were just excuses.
He had to call later, though. The investigation had just grown legs so he needed to focus on that. It was time he dug for his own information. He couldn’t keep asking Stan to do this shit for him.
He went online and searched for everything he could find on Perks. The guy was a textbook psychopath. He’d started out stalking. Three women in as many years had filed restraining orders against him. One article mentioned a rape charge that had been brought against him in college, but was later withdrawn. Too much grey area: the woman had been drunk so her memory wasn’t very reliable and she had admitted to going to his dorm voluntarily.
Perks had eventually donned a black mask and broke into houses to rape women. He’d started with women he didn’t know but eventually couldn’t help himself and had attacked women he did know. Though he’d worn a mask, one of his later victims thought they had recognized him and shared her suspicions with the police. After that the net had closed pretty quickly. When they’d finally built a solid case to bring him in, the call went out and a patrol had spotted him in the grocery store. Detective Christie, one investigator on the case, had gone to the store to arrest him and the fateful shooting had followed. When confronted, Perks had moved like he was reaching for a weapon, and Christie had opened fire.
All that was well and good, but Eddie didn’t want to lose sight of the other two things Stan had found. As much as Eddie hated to admit it, Harney had asked good questions in there. The gender of the ghost had been reported as female, and if it was Perks then he likely needed someone to travel to these places so he could do his dirty work.
Which kind of fit. Stahl had reported a prowler twice, the second time being the ghost. But the first time could have been a live person.
Then something clicked in the back of Eddie’s mind. He had a sneaking suspicion why they’d asked him to leave the room a few minutes ago.
“We need to talk.”
Eddie turned in the chair and saw Christie. “What’s up?”
“Come on back into Knotts’s office.”
“This is going to be good.”
In a toneless voice, Christie said. “That would be one way of looking at it.”
***
Back into Knotts’s office, only this time Harney wasn’t there.
“Have a seat, then I’ll let you two get back to work,” Knotts said.
Eddie took the same seat. The chief had
Christie relaxed a little in her seat. Eddie wondered if the chief had been close to shutting down the paranormal angle.
“Okay, but there’s another question we haven’t even addressed yet.” Harney folded his arms. “Assuming Perks is the ghost, who is he traveling with?”
To Eddie it felt like the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.
Christie opened her mouth to speak, but Harney seemed to anticipate what she was going to say.
“Don’t you even bring that up.” Harney pointed at Eddie. “Not with him in here.”
Eddie had no idea where this was going but somehow Harney’s question led to a very sensitive place. All the same, he needed to know.
Eddie said, “Chief, I’m here to help. But I can’t help if I have half the story. I’ve signed the NDA your attorney drafted. I’m a good guy. You can trust me.”
Chief Knotts looked him dead in the eye. “Eddie, please excuse us. Detective Christie will come find you when we’re done in here.”
***
Eddie sat in Christie’s cubicle and opened his laptop. The one Stan had given him.
Stan had also given him the juice on Perks the stalker and rapist as well. During the whole meeting, he kept thinking about Stan and their last conversation. Eddie really needed to call his friend back and apologize. No, not just that. He needed to make it up to Stan.
The best way was to start acting like a real friend again. He had a million reasons why he hadn’t been in close contact with Stan over the years. But at the end of the day, reasons were just excuses.
He had to call later, though. The investigation had just grown legs so he needed to focus on that. It was time he dug for his own information. He couldn’t keep asking Stan to do this shit for him.
He went online and searched for everything he could find on Perks. The guy was a textbook psychopath. He’d started out stalking. Three women in as many years had filed restraining orders against him. One article mentioned a rape charge that had been brought against him in college, but was later withdrawn. Too much grey area: the woman had been drunk so her memory wasn’t very reliable and she had admitted to going to his dorm voluntarily.
Perks had eventually donned a black mask and broke into houses to rape women. He’d started with women he didn’t know but eventually couldn’t help himself and had attacked women he did know. Though he’d worn a mask, one of his later victims thought they had recognized him and shared her suspicions with the police. After that the net had closed pretty quickly. When they’d finally built a solid case to bring him in, the call went out and a patrol had spotted him in the grocery store. Detective Christie, one investigator on the case, had gone to the store to arrest him and the fateful shooting had followed. When confronted, Perks had moved like he was reaching for a weapon, and Christie had opened fire.
All that was well and good, but Eddie didn’t want to lose sight of the other two things Stan had found. As much as Eddie hated to admit it, Harney had asked good questions in there. The gender of the ghost had been reported as female, and if it was Perks then he likely needed someone to travel to these places so he could do his dirty work.
Which kind of fit. Stahl had reported a prowler twice, the second time being the ghost. But the first time could have been a live person.
Then something clicked in the back of Eddie’s mind. He had a sneaking suspicion why they’d asked him to leave the room a few minutes ago.
“We need to talk.”
Eddie turned in the chair and saw Christie. “What’s up?”
“Come on back into Knotts’s office.”
“This is going to be good.”
In a toneless voice, Christie said. “That would be one way of looking at it.”
***
Back into Knotts’s office, only this time Harney wasn’t there.
“Have a seat, then I’ll let you two get back to work,” Knotts said.
Eddie took the same seat. The chief had
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