Cuff Master Page 10

  Awed, Morgan watched him grab up the bowls and carry them to the stove. He ladled up the soup, filling the bowls to the brim, and carefully brought them back. The kitties weren’t pleased when Ethan walked by them without spilling a drop.

  He returned to the stove with dishes in hand, flipped the grilled cheese sandwiches onto the plates and carried them back. Claiming the other side of the booth, he offered her the salt and pepper.

  “We good?” he asked.

  She took the shakers, sprinkled a couple of dashes of both into the soup and handed them over. “We are good. Thank you for dinner.”

  “Don’t thank me for wanting you to be fit as a fiddle when I take you upstairs. No sign of the headache returning?”

  “I feel fine and a true sense of peace. I think it’s because I’m with you. You’re my healer.”

  He salted and peppered his soup and lifted a spoon. “I’m honored to be whatever you need me to be.”

  “You think Phalen and Cassie will get upset if they know we’re messing around in their house?”

  “They’re on their honeymoon. I doubt they’re out of bed longer than it takes to eat and bathe. Think they’re worrying about us doing the same thing?”

  “Is that what’s going to happen tonight? I do have to get back to work. Remy can’t run my store forever.”

  “Here’s the thing. I’d already arranged to take two weeks off from work. I had some personal time coming to me anyway. I’d like to spend the time with you, here.”

  “You won’t get in trouble? What about your cases, what about my case or Jenna?”

  “Salem isn’t my jurisdiction. I have to be careful on how I go about looking into the Bailey family, especially Spencer Bailey. After Jennifer’s funeral and Terrence Mills’ trial, that case was closed and they moved to Lexington. Sam’s agreed to help by trying to find Erica White.”

  “But there’s more to this than just wanting to be with me.” Picking up a soup spoon, she dipped it into the vegetable broth and gathered up potatoes, corn, peas and alphabet pasta. “You’re worried about me.”

  “Someone attacked you in that ladies room. That pisses me off. I don’t give a fat flying fuck about my badge or who gets their nose put out of joint for making certain my woman is safe. I will find out who put their hands on you and then I will find out what really happened to Jennifer Bailey.”

  Morgan sipped on the soup. It was delicious and made her ravenous for more. “You’re willing to let me help with Jenna, Ethan? Please let me help so she can be at peace.”

  “I don’t have any other choice. The other night, I told you that I support you in all things. Even those things I don’t quite understand. Be patient, okay? I’m old school, but not closed-minded.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  He smiled and began eating. Morgan enjoyed the soup. The nutrients were exactly what she needed. The sandwich was divine. Vermont cheddar cheese was warm, gooey and wonderful. Dipping the grilled cheese in the broth made the sandwich even better.

  Talk about yummy! Then again, the man sitting across from her was a walking smorgasbord sure to please any woman’s palate. Morgan couldn’t wait to feast on him at her leisure.

  She sure hoped he’d let her. Oh boy, she could definitely get off on licking up and down Ethan’s splendid bare chest and sculpted abs. She wanted to sample his tats, his skin, his bumps and curves and hard edges.

  They talked between bites, getting to know the other on common ground. Ethan wasn’t psychic, but he admitted to times after he lost his parents that he thought maybe his mom was watching over him.

  He’d also suspected his mother said goodbye to him the night she died. He and his brothers adored their parents, but Ethan had been particularly close to his mom. It didn’t surprise her to hear Abigael had reached out to her son to reassure him she’d not suffered at the time of her death.

  His childhood had been happy. He and his brothers were all born in the same month, under the same astrological sign. Phalen turned thirty-three August first, Ethan turned thirty-one on the fifth and Taran turned twenty-nine on the fifteenth.

  All three were Leos, all very similar and yet distinct in their own rights. They certainly had lion-sized personalities, were charming, loyal, ambitious, could be vain at times and stubborn as hell, but Leos were incredibly loving to their families and tended to be good with children.

  Morgan was really glad she opened her heart to Ethan. He was the right man to be with. She was a Libra and their signs were compatible. That didn’t mean there wouldn’t be turbulence, but her tendency for balance would even out the waters and she bet they’d have much in common.

  With each minute that went by, her need for Ethan grew stronger. With each dip of her sandwich into the soup, her heart melted more than the gooey cheese. It was surreal and wonderful to love and be loved in return.

  Better than that was the growing confidence that this time the man she loved wasn’t going to let her down, change her or walk away.

  “Would you like more soup?” Ethan asked.

  “No, as good as it is, it’s probably best not to get overly stuffed.” Pushing the empty bowl and the plate away, she reached for her glass of ice water. “Thank you so much for making dinner. Tomorrow I’ll make breakfast.”

  “Deal. Would you like some wine or a beer? There’s both in the fridge and in the wine cellar.”

  Morgan preferred beer over wine. “I could have a beer.”

  Ethan got up and cleared away their dishes, placing them in the sink to be washed. Then he went over to the double-wide refrigerator and opened the doors. “There’s Sam Adams Oktoberfest or Guinness.”

  “I’ll have the Oktoberfest, please.”

  “Would you like a glass?”

  “No, bottle’s fine.”

  He grabbed something off the counter and brought over a bottle of the ale and a Guinness. Reclaiming his seat, he cracked off the caps with a bottle opener. He started to hand over her beer, but hesitated.

  “Can you touch this? I mean, I know your gift can be complicated, however you seem very comfortable in this house.”

  “I spent a lot of time here helping Cassie prepare for her wedding. I’m more than used to it.”

  Morgan reached over and grabbed the bottle, expecting a momentary glimpse of the brewers, the factory workers who may have packed the bottles and the liquor store where it was purchased. With Ethan still touching it, she felt nothing but cold, a little condensation and a beer label.

  At the wedding, there’d been plenty of things to touch and feel and experience and she’d been very careful in who and what she touched to avoid being overwhelmed. But when the visions began with Ethan’s jacket on her shoulders, they faded when he touched her.

  They returned big time when he let go.

  For Morgan, it was a good thing to know that she didn’t have to compartmentalize everything or worry that the visions would be overwhelming. If she needed a break, all she had to do was to touch Ethan or have him touch her.

  “Morgan?” He let go of the bottle and caught her other hand, squeezing her fingers tight. Again, she felt Ethan and the coldness of the glass.

  “I’m fine,” she said and took a sip. It was good, flavorful and it wouldn’t have the aftereffect of creating a headache the way wine tended to do. “I’ll be honest. I’m not much into wine. It gives me headaches. Considering what happens when my visions get the better of me, I don’t need to drink wine.”

  “It’s not uncommon. It could be that wine causes you to get slightly dehydrated, which can cause the headaches.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Will you keep holding my hand? It’s very nice and when you touch me, I’m not overcome by someone’s life history. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

  Ethan kept holding her hand and took a long swig of his Guinness with his other hand.

  “I’m glad to know I can touch you and it helps,” he said after swallowing.

  “You have nice hands.” He
had big strong hands with long fingers and a few calluses due to Taekwondo training.

  “Earlier you said you didn’t like to use sex toys because touching them affected your ability to relax. Do you think if I’m using them on you or touching you while you’re pleasuring yourself will help?”

  “I suspect so, yes. This same thing happened with your tux.”

  “I remember. You didn’t scare me off that night, Morgan. You know that now, right?”

  She inclined her head yes. “I panicked, Ethan. You were shaking and staring at me as if I’d lost my mind. It’s a look I’d seen before on other guys and my stepfather when he decided I needed to see a psychologist.”

  “Even though it scared me, it was you I was worried about, honey. Tell me what happened when you saw Jennifer…or Jenna, as she prefers.”

  “When I saw her standing by the door, it felt as though I was standing outside myself listening to what she had to say, but she had her eyes on you.”

  “Because she wants my help, is that what you mean?”

  “That’s the impression she gave me. Communication was telepathic. There wasn’t enough of an electrical source for her to draw strength from to actually speak.”

  “What do you hear when you’re talking to ghosts?”

  “If I catch EVPs, their voices are electronic in nature, ditto for a spirit box. If it’s telepathic, it’s a whisper in my mind. I can tell if they’re male or female. And it’s important for me to identify that they’re not a dark entity first. Evil can mask itself as good, so I pray. I pray a lot.”

  “Do they scare you?”

  Morgan sipped on her ale as she thought on how to answer.

  “When I was a kid, yes, they did. Now if I sense they died during a turbulent time, say during a war or the witch trials here in Salem, their fears scare me. It is disconcerting if entities present themselves to me as they were at the moment of their death. It can be gruesome.”

  “Jennifer had been burned. I hope to God you didn’t see her that way.”

  “The first time I saw her, she was very sad and a little confused by the commotion of the wedding. She wanted to let you know you weren’t responsible for what happened to her. To her, you’re a hero.”

  Ethan had placed his Guinness on the table and fiddled with the cap. “Erica White tried to tell Sam and me who killed Jenna. Evidence from an online role playing game took us to that warehouse and Terrence Mills. Not sure how she can see that as heroic.”

  “You two helped put Mills away, Ethan. I’m betting he was guilty of seven deaths, just not Jenna. He deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. She’s comforted by that. Was there any reason for the cops to suspect Mills and Spencer Bailey knew each other?”

  “While Sam investigated Erica, I looked into any connection between the men. I found nothing useful. It’s possible someone helped Spencer cover up the truth, but the Bailey case was closed and to investigate further wasn’t an option.”

  “New evidence could open the case back up, right? Jenna’s soul is tired. She wants to go on to heaven, but she won’t until her mom’s safe. Maybe there’s someone else involved other than Bailey and Mills.”

  “If I can find that digital recorder you had, it might give me clues to start looking into. I can’t go after Bailey for Jenna’s death unless Sam and I find a connection between Erica White, Spencer Bailey and his stepdaughter that we didn’t know of before.”

  “Did Erica know Jenna at all?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” Ethan answered. “Alisa Bailey had been seeing Erica before her daughter went missing. It was Alisa who gave us Erica’s name and implored Spencer to agree.”

  “I’m not sure my EVP session will give you the kind of evidence you need. This is what I gathered. If it was her stepfather or someone he’d hired or used to do the deed, she died at his wife’s orchard. And she was struck in the back of the head with something very heavy. That’s what killed her.”

  “This is helpful, Morgan. Thank you. I’ll talk it over with Sam and see what she wants to do and how she wants to go.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “She did like to be called Jenna, by the way. It was all over her pretty room. What was strange at the time was the fact that her room was far more girly than her clothing style.”

  “Was she very young when her father left?”

  “Sadly, yes. Alisa and her first husband, Robert, divorced after he left to be with another woman. Mrs. Bailey thought Jenna blamed herself for making her father leave. When she grew older, she started hanging around with the wrong crowd.”

  “She’d gone from the little girl Alisa knew to a Goth teenager who missed her father and wanted to be noticed. The bedroom just hadn’t caught up. Her mom probably indulged her and bought whatever clothes she wanted because she felt responsible for her husband leaving.”

  “Probably,” Ethan agreed.

  “You know, I think it was Alisa who came at me in the ladies room. If it’d been a man, I would’ve gotten more than a couple stitches and some bruises.”

  “Actually, a woman can be strong in her own right if she’s feeling protective or has the training.”

  “True. I hadn’t thought of that. Alisa knew I was in there. Unfortunately, I upset her. She felt threatened and told me about Erica trying to blame her husband.”

  “She doesn’t want to think she married a murderer. That would mean she’d let her daughter down twice with her choice of husbands.”

  “No one would want to believe such a thing.”

  “I’m going to tell the officer investigating what happened to you at the castle to hone in on Mrs. Bailey. Even if she was upset, that doesn’t give her the right to hurt you or anyone else.”

  “What about security cameras? Alex had Phalen install a new system when he and Ryan took over ownership from Catherine O’Brien.”

  “Already on it,” Ethan answered. “The camera facing the restrooms was broken.”

  “That’s no good.”

  “There was security footage right up to the moment Mrs. Bailey came out of the bathroom. She clearly walked off toward the party room, where she was greeted by someone in the room. After that there was nothing.”

  “The lights went out. I’d thought my session with Jenna caused a drain on the power. It’s all very fuzzy. My head was pounding by then and I was so weak that staying upright was difficult.”

  “Strange to think it was just that camera that died,” Ethan said. “That’s another thing I’ll get the officer to look into. Can I ask you something? I’m backtracking a bit.”

  “Sure, ask anything you need to.”

  “I told you about thinking my mom spoke to me the night she died.”

  “Yes, I remember.” Morgan set her half-full bottle on the table next to Ethan’s and extended her free hand and he placed his hand in her palm.

  “Do you think it was her? Was it my imagination or coincidence about the timing?”

  “There’s no definite answer. Yes, I believe she reached out to you.”

  “Why didn’t my dad talk to me? What if he thought I didn’t love him enough or loved her more?”

  “You were incredibly close to your mother, Ethan. It doesn’t mean you didn’t love your dad or that he didn’t love you. I get the sense that your parents loved all their sons equally. When you got the call about the accident, what was your first thought?”

  “I was afraid they’d suffered. I was told the damage to the car was violent.”

  “My god, that’s awful. When my dad died, he contacted me to let me know he was at peace. Maybe your mom came to you to reassure you that neither she nor your father suffered. Isn’t she the one you went to for a scraped knee or when you were scared?”

  “Yes, always. Guess I was a mama’s boy.”

  “You were a boy who loved his mom. Sometimes the middle child gets lost. Phalen can be larger than life and a force to be reckoned with. There’s a darkness about him that scares most mortals.
I’d guess that darkness came from the horror he’d seen in war. Cassie is the light to his darkness, calming him, centering him.”

  “Go on, this is fascinating.”

  “I’d imagine while growing up he wanted his younger brothers to know he was king of the hill, daring one of you to attempt knocking him off. Taran was the charmer who got away with all sorts of troublemaking. “

  Ethan grinned. “Nailed them perfectly, honey.”

  “Don’t you see? You found yourself with your mom’s guidance. You’re still every bit of a dominant Maddox. And that came from your papa. You’re just more centered and even-tempered, similar to your mom. Between us, I bet she knew exactly how to put her sons in their places when necessary.”

  “She did,” he admitted, looking a little wistful. “She had to. Taran was hell on wheels. Phalen was in all sorts of trouble because he wanted everyone to notice him.”

  “And you? What trouble did you get into when you got a little older, Detective?”

  “Girls. For some reason, they loved me. Mom thought it was unbecoming of a lady to ask a young man out, but they were constantly traipsing in and out of the house or calling at all hours of the day or night. One crept into my window after midnight.”

  “Goodness, what happened?”

  “I kicked her ass out, gently of course. I’d only talked to her twice in high school. Not only that, I’d asked Mary Smith to the prom. I wasn’t going to hurt her feelings or two-time her.”

  “That’s why the girls loved you, Ethan. You’re trustworthy. I’m betting you’re cuddly too.”

  “Jesus, woman, I’m not a teddy bear. Always remember, I’m more of a grizzly than a child’s plaything.”

  “To me, you’re special. And I’m not afraid of a little ole’ grizzly bear.”

  “That a dare? Care to find out how hard I bite when I claim what’s mine?”

  All at once, the wanting and seven months of waiting for this moment collided deep in the soul of her pussy. She wanted sex, soon…no…now.

  Unsure how the tide turned, Morgan brought his left hand across the table to lift them up to her mouth.

  “Yes, Ethan, I’d like that very much,” she said, watching his gray eyes darken to molten pewter.