Rest Stop (Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thrillers Book 4) Read online

  Rest Stop

  A Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thriller

  Catie Rhodes

  Long Roads and Dark Ends Press

  Contents

  Copyright

  Let’s Stay In Touch

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Forbidden Highway

  The Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thriller Series

  Let’s Stay In Touch

  About the Author

  Rest Stop

  A Peri Jean Mace Novella

  Copyright © 2016 Catie Rhodes.

  All rights reserved.

  Published by: Long Roads and Dark Ends Press

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover artwork by Book Cover Corner

  Content Editing by Word Webber Press

  Copy Editing by The Independent Pen

  Proofreading by Deborah Digrispino

  First Printing, 2016

  Rhodes, Catie.

  Rest Stop/ Catie Rhodes. — 1st ed.

  Visit the author website: www.catierhodes.com

  Visit Catie’s website: www.catierhodes.com

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  For my sweetie.

  1

  I reached for my iced latte, an hour old and mostly water, and fumbled it. It tipped toward the immaculate floorboard of Mysti Whitebyrd’s Toyota Camry. She grabbed the paper cup before it could capsize and pushed it into my hand.

  “Nervous, Peri Jean?” She turned off the radio, a relief since the Tyler-based station spat more static than music two hours north of its origin.

  Nervous didn’t cover it. I spent the eight years after my divorce developing my ability to do odd jobs into a lucrative business only to lose it all in the course of twenty-four hours. Venturing into uncharted career territory using my ability to communicate with the spirit world scared the life out me.

  “Maybe you should let Brad do this.” The few séances I’d done for Mysti’s witch-for-hire business did little to make me feel prepared to contract for an actual missing persons investigator.

  “Hell no. My brother, much as I love him, doesn’t have the talent to do this job.” Mysti pulled her wild, sun-bleached brown hair into a butterfly clip and examined herself in the visor mirror. “He’s careless, and he complains all the time. Griffin Reed insists on complete professionalism from his contractors.”

  What if I don’t measure up? I still had hope I could use my curse to make money. Griffin Reed could dash those hopes all to hell. What then? Slinging fried chicken at a gas station?

  “Stop worrying. You hear me?” She took her gaze off my face and read the road signs. “Our turnoff’s coming up.” She pointed at a green sign reading “Nazareth” with an arrow pointing right.

  I turned onto a cracked and buckled state highway and immediately saw another sign for Nazareth. This one told me it was two miles away. I sped up to fifty-five, the posted speed limit, and took in my surroundings.

  On both sides of the road flat, cleared pastures full of yellow, dead grass stretched far as I could see. Clusters of Black Angus cows clustered around watering tanks, waving their skinny tails against the horseflies. The land was empty. There wasn’t even a convenience store. No man’s land.

  “Life is about taking chances. Sometimes we jump out of choice. Sometimes it’s out of necessity.” Mysti glanced at a slip of paper sitting in her lap. “Your part-time bartending gig, working for those bikers, can’t pay much.”

  It didn’t. Last month, after I paid for gas to drive out there and back, it paid the light bill and the propane bill. I imagined I’d have the high-speed Internet or the satellite TV cut off before too much longer.

  “I’m guessing you don’t have too many other options.” Mysti squeezed my shoulder, maybe to let me know she meant no harm.

  “You’re right. The best offer I’ve gotten came from Benny Longstreet as his personal assistant.” I grimaced, reliving the rage I felt when he asked me to come work for him, offered with a lewd wink. I knew what he wanted my assistance doing. Not in this lifetime, donkey boy. I’d rather eat boiled raccoon asshole, but I knew I needed paying work. Mysti’s help in turning my ability to communicate with the spirit world into money was my last chance. No matter how much sense it made, I still felt like a charlatan. I never imagined it would come to this.

  “See the white billboard up there?” Mysti tapped me and pointed. “Pull off in front of it. Griff wanted us to see it before we came into town.”

  The flaking white billboard winked in the distance. I squinted to read the faded black writing covering it but was still too far away. Sensing movement in my peripheral vision, I took my eyes off the road. Out here in North Texas farm country, hitting an animal might mean hitting a horse, a cow, or a deer. The impact could very well kill us.

  At first, my mind rejected what I saw. Then a ringing buzzed in my ears. It spread until my whole head hummed with it. My stomach tried to climb out of my body via my throat. I grunted. What I saw was too weird for words.

  A family of four stood on the side of the road. Mother, father, and two kids. Each member of the family wore a bloodstained burlap bag over his head. The bags had no eyeholes and were tied at the neck. The smallest member of the burlap bag head family wore a cute white dress with sunflowers on it. The dress bore dirt stains with blood dripping from its ruffled hem. She raised her hand to wave at me. Somewhere in another part of my brain a child’s voice screamed in agony and fear. Sweat popped out all over me as I took in her horror and pain.

  Mysti half turned to me. “Peri Jean, girl, it’s right up here.” She took one look at the expression on my face and leaned forward so she could see out the driver’s side window. She turned back to me, lines etched into her forehead and her mouth open in horror. She saw it, too. Mysti started to speak but something else caught her attention. Her eyes got even wider.

  “Watch out,” she screamed.

  I jerked my attention back to the road and yanked the wheel. The bumper of Mysti’s brand new Toyota Camry barely missed a dude riding his tractor in the middle of the fucking road. I jerked the wheel hard, hitting the gravel shoulder and fishtailing. We slid to a stop less than a foot from a barbed wire fence. I sat there gasping, heart jackhammering in my chest.

  The farmer stopped his tractor in the middle of the road. He shook his fist and yelled, “The hell you doing? Slow down!”

  I ignored him, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. The calm crowded out the fear still racing through me. I opened my eyes again. In front of us was the billboard where Mysti wanted us to s
top.

  “See?” I turned to her. “Here we are.”

  My friend had her hand pressed to her chest, her eyes still wide and spooked. She shook her head at my attempt to lighten the situation.

  I turned my attention to the billboard.

  “My daughter went missing March 28, 1980. Her name is Susan Lynn Franklin. Susie was born December 18, 1962, has blonde hair and blue eyes, 5’2” and weighs 98 lbs. The State Police said she’s a runaway, but I don’t believe that. If you have any information, please contact Margaret (Meg) Franklin at the following address or phone number.”

  “This is who your PI friend wants us to look for?” I nudged Mysti.

  “You know what I know,” Mysti said. “Griffin Reed has his quirks, and not telling about a case until he can talk to me face to face is one of them.”

  Not for the first time, I took note of the way Mysti said “Griffin Reed.” It made me think their relationship consisted of more than professional interest. I held back a smirk and read over the sign again. This girl, Susie Franklin, had been missing for over thirty-five years. Why try to find her after all that time? In spite of my new job jitters, I felt a little spark of curiosity.

  The farmer turned his tractor around and parked it across the road from us. Oh, boy. He wants to chew us out. I didn’t take being chewed out graciously.

  The guy got off his tractor and hitched up his plain black pants, probably Dickie’s. He waited for an eighteen-wheeler to pass. The wind from it ruffled his thick white hair. He crossed the road, the shine from his black work shoes catching the dull sun. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car, waiting until he got close enough to hear before I spoke.

  “I sure am sorry. I thought I saw”—I paused and searched my mind for an appropriate substitute—“an animal about to dart out on the road. Been driving for a couple of hours, and I’m tired.” Truth was, I was always tired these days. It plagued me like a cold I couldn’t quite shake. If this old feller copped an attitude, I might give him something to remember me by. We stared at each other a few minutes. I tried to keep my expression humble and contrite. Really, I did.

  “It’s all right. Anywhere near that curve is always a risk.” He squinted his eyes and stared at me, cocking his head to one side and glancing right at the spot where I saw the burlap head family. “You’re white as a sheet, girl. You sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m fine. Shook up is all.” I rubbed my hand over my cheek and found it covered with a clammy layer of sweat.

  “Where you coming from?” He asked the question the way a country person does, completely sure of his right to know.

  “South of here. Tyler.”

  He nodded. “You headed into Nazareth? Or going all the way to Sandal?”

  “Nazareth.” Mysti joined us.

  The man took in Mysti’s handkerchief style skirt of many colors and her fringed shawl. He raised his eyebrows and glanced down at the leather Jesus shoes she wore. He smiled.

  “Heard Meggy Franklin hired some folks to find out what happened to her Susie. Y’all them?”

  “Sure are. I’m Mysti Whitebyrd, and this is my associate Peri Jean Mace.” Mysti put on a big, toothy smile, but I saw the uncertainty in her coffee colored eyes. She held out her hand to the old man. He took it, gave it a token squeeze, and dropped it like it might contaminate him.

  “Lewis DeVoss.” He glanced at Mysti and frowned before turning his gaze on me, the weight of it drifting down to my torn up jeans and worn-out cowboy boots. He nodded, almost to himself. “Own this whole stretch o’ land, both sides of the road.”

  “Lotta land.” I didn’t know what else to say. “Cows? Or crops, too?”

  “Mostly the cows,” DeVoss said. “Some hay.”

  “How’d you know we were here to work the Susie Franklin case?” Mysti asked.

  “Nazareth ain’t got more’n eight hundred souls calling it home. We’re all related or we’ve known each other so long we might as well be. Not much stays secret ‘round these parts.” He wiped at his nose. “Besides, I felt bad for poor Meggy Franklin. She’s good folks.”

  I grew up in a small town. Maybe not as small as Nazareth, but I knew all about the way secrets don’t stay secrets. This open landscape and the big sky hanging over it seemed like it wouldn’t harbor secrets too happily. Feeling the old man’s hard gaze on me, I glanced back at him and recoiled at the intensity of his stare.

  “Give you ladies a piece o’ advice, you don’t mind.” He waited for us to invite him to continue, like country folks do, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Please,” I said.

  “Don’t stay here in Nazareth too long. And don’t go in no abandoned buildings. We got a dangerous element ‘round here. Outsiders got a way of disappearing.” His speech made, he turned to go.

  “Thanks, Mr. DeVoss,” I called after him, throwing a glance at Mysti. She needed to thank him, too, in case we had to talk to him again. I found her frozen, her hands hanging limply at her sides, the way city people get when something scares them. DeVoss half-turned and gave me a little wave and smile. The smile never touched his eyes.

  Mysti turned back to the car, but I stepped close and grabbed her arm and shook my head. Keeping my voice low, I said, “Don’t let him know he spooked you. Wait for him to leave.” I elbowed her. “Try not to look so damn scared.”

  I might as well have told her to hold her breath and count to six thousand. Everything about Mysti, from her posture to the expression on her face, screamed fear. Can’t win ‘em all.

  We stood there in front of the old billboard like it held the answers to the world and watched Lewis DeVoss amble to his tractor. The old man took his time climbing up and turning the thing on. He turned back for one last wave. Then he was gone, and I strolled toward the car. Mysti tried hard not to run, and she almost made it, only jogging the last couple of steps.

  “He’s just unhappy a couple of outsiders are poking around,” I told her.

  “I know.” She kept her gaze fastened on the road, jaw working. Having seen her like this a few other times, I knew to keep my mouth shut.

  I got the car back on the road and drove slowly, hoping not to run into Lewis DeVoss again. We passed an overgrown rest stop with a chain across the driveway. A closed sign and a no trespassing sign hung from the chain. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. The old man’s words came back to me. Don’t go in no abandoned buildings. Outsiders got a way of disappearing.

  I was glad to see the green city limits sign for Nazareth, Texas. The population listed on the sign said seven hundred fifty-seven. DeVoss had been close to right.

  “This road goes straight through town.” Mysti regained some of her composure. She set the cellphone on her lap and tapped on its screen. “The motel’s after we pass through.”

  We drove through downtown Nazareth. Not much to see. The weather-beaten, faded buildings housed a few antique shops, a dollar store, and a couple of diners. Nobody walked the streets, other than a stray dog so skinny his ribs and hip bones showed. I slowed to let him pass in front of us and was struck by the feeling of being watched. I twisted in my seat, casting my gaze about, until a car came up behind us and I had to start moving again.

  “This is a creepy damn place,” Mysti muttered, almost to herself. “Wonder how Griff is faring here.”

  Again I heard the lilt in her voice when she spoke his name. Despite my unease, I smiled. The motel, a single row of about ten rooms set a few hundred yards off the road, came up and I pulled into the driveway. This place didn’t look much better than the rest of Nazareth. The bricks needed a good pressure washing, and the asphalt parking lot was buckled and cracked. The rooms would either be so nasty they made our skin crawl or run down but clean. I prayed for the latter and pulled into a parking place.

  Here we go, I thought. I had to do the best I could and stuff my worries down deep. I hoped it was enough to impress Griffin Reed.

  I stood in front of the car and smoked while
Mysti checked us in. She emerged from the motel office holding an actual brass key. I dug my wallet out of my bag and opened it.

  “No, I told you expenses are on me.” Mysti walked down the single row of rooms until she came to number eight. She used the key to open the door, and the smell of old carpet rolled out to greet us.

  “I’ll get our bags.” Maybe Mysti would leave the door open to let the room air out. I lugged our two suitcases into the room and found Mysti kissing—and I mean really kissing—a tall, wiry guy with short, slicked-down black hair and one of those sexy stubble beards. His slim cut slacks and suit jacket clashed comically with Mysti’s hippie wear. I tried to back quietly out of the room, but the guy, whom I assumed was Griffin Reed, saw me and pulled away from Mysti.

  “You’re Peri Jean?” He held out one long-fingered hand. His fingernails had been buffed to a shine.

  “Nice to you meet you, Griffin.” I returned his hard handshake. He grinned. “Sorry to walk in on you guys.” And I was. I missed having someone to kiss. Especially the way Mysti kissed Griffin.

  “No worries, and call me Griff. My father was Griffin.” He grabbed Mysti’s suitcase from me and set it on the bed nearest the door. His knowing the right one amused me more than it should have, and I had to bite my cheek not to smile on my way to putting my suitcase on the bed nearest the bathroom. “Not too many places to eat in Nazareth, but I’ll take y’all to an early supper. Give you ten minutes to freshen up. Meet me in the parking lot. We’ll ride together.” Griff gave me another smile and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you we were a thing.” Mysti opened her suitcase and grabbed a little plastic zippered bag. “I was sort of afraid you wouldn’t want to come, and I wanted you to do this with me so you could see how satisfying it is to make money with your gift.”

  You mean my curse? I already knew not to say those words to Mysti. They pushed her hot button.