Demonized
Lost Souls Trilogy – Book 2
Anna Pescardot
Copyright 2011 Anna Pescardot
Smashwords Edition
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Demonized
Prologue
This past year has been hard. They still haven’t caught Mom’s killer. I know it was Eddie; he’s still the main suspect in the ongoing investigation; the cops have put wanted posters up in every state but it’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth or something.
I’ve been getting on with my law course, in spite of everything, and my teachers tell me I’m doing well; I passed my first year, anyway. I haven’t made any friends though. I tend to keep myself to myself. I don’t want to talk about what happened back home and I certainly don’t want to meet any other guys.
Every weekend I go to Amber’s. We’ve been through so much together- she’s all I need right now. Her police training is going well. She spends eight hours a day at the academy so she’s always exhausted when I see her, but she tells me she definitely made the right career choice. It suits her. She’s always been a rock for me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.
I still think about Eddie and I often have nightmares about him. They seem so real and there have been times when I’ve woken with cuts or bruises on my body that I swear weren’t there before I went to sleep. I am going to make it my mission to find him, once I’ve finished my degree and when I do I’m going to make him pay for what he did to Mom.
-1-
It was during the early hours of a mid-week morning when Amber phoned. Nobody usually called me; I had no friends, remember. Amber was the only person who had my number so I knew it was her.
“Amber? What’s up?”
“He’s back, Charls.”
“Who?”
There was a pause. “Who do you think?”
I felt a surge of nausea sweep from my head down to my feet and I was glad I was already lying down. “How do you know? Have they caught him?”
“No. They found a body in the graveyard – a young girl. They don’t know, yet, how she died but she was found half-buried…”
“Did they find her on Emily’s grave?”
“No. It wasn’t that graveyard. It’s a different one up state but the M.O. is the same. I think Eddie did it and the police do too.”
“So who is she?”
“They won’t tell me those details. I got a call from the feds working on your mom’s case and they told me to let you know. They said they’ll speak to you personally the next time you come to mine. They won’t tell me anything else. I’m not a proper cop yet.”
“We need to find out more about her, Ambs. If Eddie is behind this then this girl must be significant somehow.”
“I know. I can’t go telling the police all about the reincarnation stuff though, can I? They won’t take me seriously and I don’t want to be kicked off the force before I’ve even started.”
“I know that. I think we should do our own investigating this weekend.”
“Ok. We’ll just have to find out as much as we can by reading the newspapers.”
“Good idea. I’ll listen out for it on the news too.”
“Ok, I’ll see you Saturday.”
I was too worried to go back to sleep so I got up, made myself a mug of hot chocolate and switched on my portable television. I tuned it into the news channel but there was nothing about any murdered woman. Disappointed, I turned it off, took my battered copy of Jane Eyre from the bookshelf and tried to distract myself from the thoughts whirring through my mind. It was no use. I could still see Eddie in my mind’s eye; even after all this time, his image hadn’t faded from my memory. I pictured his dark blue eyes, which sometimes looked black, his tousled dirty-blond hair and the mysterious tattoos that covered his chest and arm. If I allowed myself to forget the bad things he’d done, I could almost feel the love I’d felt for him at the start, but then the image would change to one of him clothed in black, stabbing my mom’s helpless body until she was dead.
I closed the book, pulled on my jeans and sweater and made my way downstairs. It was quiet and eerie out on the isolated staircase. I walked to the square – a communal area where some people chose to eat lunch. It was an open area with picnic tables scattered around the displays of pot-plants and pretty flowers. I inhaled the smell of them as I faced East; waiting for the sun to rise.
I was restless. Any tiredness I’d felt yesterday had been replaced by a terrible feeling of anxiety. I knew I was going to see Eddie again – much sooner than I’d planned. Why had he come back now? And who was the mysterious dead girl?
***
I loved travelling on the Greyhound coach to Amber’s house. I’d snuggle up against the window with my iPod on shuffle and a novel in my hands. I’d bring a bag of candy and dip into it along the way. Sometimes people would sit next to me and try and engage me in conversation, but I didn’t trust strangers. I’d pretend I didn’t hear them as my eyes remained fixed on my book.
Outside, the rain pelted down and the windows started to steam up. It wouldn’t be long before I would step off the coach and round the corner to Amber’s house. I couldn’t wait to find out more about the recent murder and whether Eddie was involved.
She was waiting for me as the coach pulled up at the bus-stop. She threw her arms around me as I dismounted and helped me with my overnight bags. “I’ve found out a few more things,” she said as we started to walk.
“Like what?”
“Her name for one; Maria Redmond.”
“Have you looked her up?”
“I’ve done some research, yes, but she was just a normal girl; a hairdresser.”
We climbed the steps to her door and then she turned the key and let us both in. We dumped the bags in the hallway and I followed her into the kitchen where she had a pot of coffee waiting. After pouring out two cups, she led me into the living room, where she showed me her research - a photo of Maria and her family. She was a pretty girl; petite and blonde with a smattering of freckles across her dainty nose. She looked like such a friendly girl. I didn’t know why anyone would want to kill her.
Amber spoke first, “I’ve researched all kinds of things about her but it seems that she was just an ordinary girl. She lived at home with her parents and worked as a stylist at the local salon. The police are stumped why anyone would want to kill her.”
“I don’t think Maria was the victim, though…”
Amber screwed up her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“She was found on a grave, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, what was the name on the gravestone?”
Amber shook her head. “I don’t know, do I? I only found out Maria’s name because I looked at her local newspaper.”
“We need to go there and find out the name on that gravestone. Don’t you get it? Maybe she was reincarnated too. Maybe she was with Eddie in a past life. He told me I wasn’t the only one.”
Amber sipped on her coffee while she stared at Maria’s photo. “You could have something there, Charls, but there’s no way of us finding that out, is there?”
“We’ve got all weekend. We could go in your car and the graveyard is bound to still be a crime scene. We’ll soon be able to find out which grave it was.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve learnt quite a bit at the academy over the past year. If I can’t find out something as simple as that I may as well quit.”
I took a sip of the coffee and smiled. Maybe we were going to finally get to the bottom of why Eddie murdered people. All I wanted was for justice to be done. He killed Mom and he would pay for it. I just knew that if I could break the curse that’s been keeping us tied together all of these years, everything would be all right again.
-2-
It was a lovely fall morning; breezy but sunny. I gazed out at the golden, russet-colored trees as Amber drove along the freeway. I had a good feeling about today. If I could just find out who Maria used to be in a past life, I could find her link to Eddie and trace his whereabouts. Amber turned up the radio and the chorus to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance blasted out of the speakers. I thought this was very apt, considering my recent relationship disaster.
“We’re almost there,” Amber said as she turned right into a tree-lined road with magnificent town houses either side.
“Wow, look at those houses!” I said, wondering who lived in them.
“I know. This is where all the surgeons and police chiefs live.” She turned right again and I saw some quaint shops and a church up ahead.
“Is that the church?” I asked.
“I think so. I’ll just find somewhere to park and we’ll go have a look.”
She pulled up outside an antiques shop and switched off the engine. I glanced ahead and noticed a hair salon. Could that be the place Maria worked? Amber opened her door and I joined her. We both adjusted our clothing and made ourselves look presentable, because we’d been driving for almost an hour. People appeared to be staring at us. Amber, in her black combats and aviator jacket and me in my hoody, jeans and trainers stood out against the people milling around in designer outfits. We didn’t fit in here at all. I wondered if Maria was like them, or if she’d been a misfit like us.
“I feel a little out of place here,” I said to Amber as we started to make our way toward the church.
“Tell me about it,” she said as she smoothed her hair behind her ears. “I didn’t think this place was so upmarket.”
“Me neither.”
As we approached the church gates, I could see yellow crime-scene tape dividing several areas of the graveyard. “I think we’ve got something,” I said.
“I guess. But how are we gonna get past the tape? We could get arrested you know.”
“We’re here now. We’ve got to at least try.”
Amber placed her forefinger to her lip; something she did when she was thinking hard. “I’ve got an idea,” she said, “follow me.”
I followed her back the way we came, until we were outside a florist shop. “Wait here,” she commanded and so I did. She came back with a bunch of flowers. “Now we won’t look so out of place. We’ll look like we’re visiting a relative’s grave.”
“Great idea,” I said. Amber always came up with the good ideas. I was useless. That was another reason I wanted a career in law, it meant I didn’t have to be creative. We walked back to the church and Amber tentatively opened the gates. They made a creaking sound which sent shivers down my back. We walked inside and apart from an old man who was kneeling down beside a grave, tears in his eyes, the place was empty. We crept toward the yellow tape and it appeared to be enclosing one grave in particular. It was difficult to make out the name, at first, because the tape covered a wide area, but Amber, being prepared, had brought some binoculars, which she pulled out of her inside pocket. “I can read it,” she said excitedly. “It says Annabella Edwardson, born December 1st 1940 and died March 16th 1962.”
“Did it say how she died?” I asked.
“No. It says beloved wife of Graham and mother of Natalie.”
“Maybe this Natalie is still alive. Graham could be alive too!”
Amber lowered the binoculars. “I doubt it. If we think Eddie is responsible for this then he can’t be can he? Let’s scour this graveyard for Graham Edwardson.”
As we both crept around, peering at gravestones a thought came to me like a lightening bolt. “Oh my god! Graham Edwardson! Don’t you get it?” I said to Amber, who was now placing the flowers on a grave to divert suspicion from an elderly couple who’d been watching us.
“What?” she replied, bowing her head as though grieving.
“When I met Eddie, his name was Edward Greyfield and in our past he was Edward Gray.”
“So?”
“Graham Edwardson. It sounds like Edward Gray, just the other way round.”
Amber’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t I see that? You’re right. This must mean something. Let’s go find a library and do some research.”
We still hadn’t managed to find Graham’s grave, but as the graveyard was starting to fill up with bereaved people, we decided to avoid further suspicion and do our research elsewhere. If we were right the gravestone wouldn’t exist, anyway. The one thing we were both sure of, was that Graham was Eddie and that meant he had to be dead.
***
Even the library was full of people dressed in clothes I’d only wear for special occasions and so we attracted a lot of attention in our casual attire; however, once we were seated at a computer we soon forgot about other people. Amber typed in Annabella’s name and a newspaper article was the first screen to appear. A photo showed uncanny similarities between Annabella and Maria; they were both small and blonde with freckles and a friendly demeanour. Annabella was an aspiring fashion model who had become involved with a bad crowd. Apparently, she died of a drugs overdose, although her husband, Graham Edwardson; a local nightclub owner was arrested under suspicion of murder then released without charge. Her death was recorded as accidental death by misadventure. Amber and I glanced at each other. We both knew that her death was no accident. Next, she typed in Graham’s name. We were right. He too, died of a drugs overdose, two weeks after Annabella. Things were starting to make sense.
“It’s a repeating pattern,” I said. “First, he kills the girl and then he kills himself.”
Amber nodded. “Why though? I just don’t get it.”
“I know.”
Amber rubbed her eyes and then turned to face me. “I just don’t get how Emily Gray was meant to be the love of his life, but then he came back and started to see Annabella. I thought Emily was meant to be his soul mate?”
“I know, but he told me he’d been looking for her and couldn’t find her until he met me.”
“So why did he marry Annabella? Was she a soul mate too or just a gap filler?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to find Eddie if we want to know that.”
“We still don’t know if Maria was Annabella in a previous life, anyway.”
“It looks pretty likely though. They look like each other and both worked in the beauty industry. They say you take something with you to each new incarnation.”
“I guess. I just feel like we’re missing something, that’s all.”
“I know. We need to find Eddie. He must be around here somewhere.”
Amber shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. I think that once he’s murdered he disappears for a while; so the feds can’t catch him.”
“Where does he go though?”
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be wasting my time sitting here, would I?” She placed her finger to her lips again and then shut the computer down. “We’re wasting our time here anyway. We need to ask some questions about Maria. Let’s go to that salon. Maybe she worked there.”
I followed Amber into the salon, which was like something out of a movie. The walls were painted black but they appeared to sparkle like diamond glitter and the floor was black marble, also covered in a silver sparkly stuff. There were ornate, silver-framed mirrors above each chair, where posh ladies sat while beautiful hairdressers coiffed their perfect heads. I felt so ugly, all of a sudden.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist, who looked like Angelina Jolie, asked.
Amber stepped forward. “We were just wondering whether this was where Maria Redmond worked.”
Angelina’s eyes narrowed. “Why, who’s asking?”
“We’re old friends of hers from school. We lost touch and we’ve just heard the horrible news. We wanted to pay our respects.”
She shouted over to one of the glamorous hairdressers who was in the middle of drying somebody’s hair. “Lucy! You’re needed over here.”
Lucy placed the hairdryer onto a hook next to the mirror and glided over; her long, blonde hair appearing to blow in an imaginary wind as it cascaded over her shoulders and down to her waist. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“We wanted to ask you some questions about our friend…Maria Redmond.”
Lucy lowered her eyes. “I see. You’d best come with me.” She called out to another girl who looked as though she’d just got back from lunch. “Rebecca, can you finish Louise for me, it’s just a blow-dry. I may be a while.”
We followed her into a back room, where we all sat down on a huge leather settee. “What do you want to know?” Lucy asked.
“We just want to know what happened to Maria. She was our friend.”