Deadly Night by Aiden James Read Free Book Online

advances might irritate her almost as much as me, but he’s her best friend on the Metro police force.
    “ I’ll give you a call once this calms down some,” I told Freddie, moving to guide Fiona over to the Camaro. “Maybe next weekend?”
    “ Sounds good, bro!” he called back to me, and then disappeared into the sea of onlookers pushing ever closer to the entrance of Dickey’s office.
    I pulled Fiona close once we reached the passenger door, holding her tight before letting her climb inside. Satisfied she’d be all right—at least stable enough to keep it together until she reached the Elliston Place Soda Shop—I jumped on my bike and followed her out of there. Claustrophobic from all of the media vehicles and additional police cruisers and bikes, I felt grateful when I could finally accelerate my Harley back up to the city speed limit.
    A slight chill coursed along my spine as wind seeped through the back of my leather jacket, embracing the light sweat on my skin from a moment ago under July’s merciless heat. Or, maybe it had more to do with my anticipation of what Fiona would soon tell me—what she gathered from her visit to Dickey’s office, both visual and from beyond the average person’s sensory perception.

Chapter Six

    Ever since Tom Gaither moved to Nashville from Paducah, Kentucky two years ago, after Fiona successfully recruited him to join our paranormal investigative group, he wanted to find a small Craftsman to live in. Not an easy task, since unlike Paducah, finding such a place in middle Tennessee turned into an arduous adventure. Finally, last month he found what he was looking for in South Nashville, near the Grassmere Zoo and not far from where I work.
    This brings us to a balmy Thursday evening.
    Fiona and I drove out to see him along with the rest of the gang, just before dark around eight o’clock. It’s the first time we’d been in Tom’s new home since the house warming party Jackie and Fiona put together for him a few weeks ago. Tastefully decorated, I might add. If not for Tom’s consistent admiration of the fairer sex, I’d swear he’s gay. Nothing wrong with that, but I’ve honestly never met any male who could put a house or wardrobe together with ‘Project Runway’ flare that ain’t.
    Anyway, tonight Tom planned to unveil his new paranormal investigation studio, which he built inside a converted storage building behind his house. We couldn’t wait to see it. I hoped it’d take the edge off of what happened earlier that afternoon, when Fiona told me what she discovered inside Dickey Rollins’ office.
    After leaving Dickey’s place, she and I stopped at one of our favorite diners, the Elliston Place Soda Shop—another famous Nashville fixture from yesteryear. An authentic soda shop from the late 1940s, very little has changed in the building. One can even enjoy the unique pleasure of sipping on a genuine chocolate soda, almost unheard of in the progressive landscape of twenty-first century America.
    We planned on grabbing a bite, but the horror of what Fiona witnessed—both real time and the psychic images she picked up from the other side—dampened her appetite. Significantly, to where an iced tea was all she could handle. I didn’t want to seem insensitive, so I did my best to ignore my raging hunger. Just as well in light of what she revealed to me inside the restaurant.
    “ I told Ed that I didn’t sense two killers, which is the most popular assertion, based on most of the evidence,” she told me, after adding a dash of lemon and artificial sweetener to her tea. “I see just one murderer…slender in build and with a lust for cruelty. Definite male energy with red hair….but I can’t see the guy’s face.”
    “ So, I take it you think this is the same dude who murdered Candi, Brenda, and Johnny,” I said, sipping on a cold Killian’s Red. I rarely get the opportunity to drink during daylight hours, and felt damned grateful for this chance. Just