Dead Famous Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  PSYCHIC CHARM

  DEAD FAMOUS

  A Cree Blue Psychic Eye Mystery

  Book 3

  Kate Allenton

  Copyright © 2017 Kate Allenton

  All rights reserved.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Coastal Escape Publishing

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 1

  I squeezed the pillow over my face. Death by suffocation would have been more tolerable than bleeding eardrums. It was six in the freakin’ morning, and the obnoxious singing apparition haunting my room sounded like a million cats fighting over the last can of tuna.

  I yanked the pillow off my face and turned my best evil-eye glare on the ghost floating across the room. Her designer ball gown didn’t faze me, nor did the tiara on her head. It was the ongoing song she was belting out at the top of her voice that was grating on my last nerve. “Calinda Sparks, would you please just SHUT UP.”

  Calinda Sparks, the once famous, now dead movie star, was a constant annoyance in my life. Her stunning beauty and highly praised screen performances would never make up for the new sounds she was tormenting me with.

  Okay, so maybe I was cranky, but who could blame me? This off-key dead actress needed to move into the light and out of my life.

  She glanced at me and grinned as she floated across the room to stand over my bed. “People paid good money to hear me sing.”

  “Go haunt them instead,” I grumbled and shoved the pillow back under my head. Rolling away from her, I closed my eyes and tried to get comfortable again. I still had four whole hours before I was needed downstairs. Four hours of dreaming of other things besides dead people, Brits, and my non-existent love life.

  I closed my eyes and tried to let the dream world pull me back into its warm, inviting fold. The once lavish comforter felt itchy against my skin. The ticking of my alarm clock battling the crickets at my window continued now that the singing stopped. Both made my already pounding head hurt worse.

  After thirty minutes of being unable to reclaim my perfectly good sleep, I just gave up. Today’s lack of sleep promised I was going to be a grumpy hot mess, and I was blaming it all on the dead movie star.

  ****

  I was on my second pot of coffee and cooking a proper southern breakfast my granny would have been proud of when John Faraday and Freddie entered the kitchen. They were quite the pair. The almost retired cop and ex-mobster were a constant presence in my house, and this was one of the mornings that I was thankful to have someone with a beating pulse to talk to.

  They shared a concerned look as they entered. Faraday’s cautious steps were almost as comical as when he rested his palm on my forehead.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m checking for a fever. Are you possessed?”

  “I sure hope not. We can’t cure possessed, and I’m positive I don’t know any priest,” Freddie, the ex-mobster, added.

  I smiled and dished the eggs onto a platter and carried them into the dining room. “I wasn’t possessed, but I was woken by a ghost who loves to listen to the sound of her own voice.”

  “Calinda has appeared again, has she?” West Archer asked walking into the kitchen; he stole a piece of bacon from the platter on my second pass.

  Lord West Archer was my savior and a pain in my butt. He’d dangled Calinda’s case in front of me to try and solve when the FBI had sent him my way. His disappearing and reappearing act was starting to give me whiplash-like a jolty ride at the carnival throwing me around creepy clowns. He was here now, though. I wasn’t going to let him escape again unless Calinda Sparks promised to go with him. I’d never be that lucky, but a girl could hope, or maybe I could pay someone to invent a ghost blaster to send her off-key butt into the peaceful ever after.

  I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit coat and wrinkled the material between my fingers. “She’s driving me nuts and not in the cashew kind of way, the sucky kind of nuts that no one eats because they’re healthy for you and lacking salt.”

  West’s lips twisted at the corners, and he leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Find out who killed her and where she stashed the diamond and we can all enjoy the peace.”

  I smacked his arm. “I’ve tried asking, and she won’t answer.”

  “Lucky you, I guess you’re stuck with me a bit longer,” he teased and followed me and the others into the dining room.

  The smell of cinnamon filled the air. The delicious rolls were sitting in the middle of the table next to the pancakes and surrounded by eggs, bacon, and sausage. I’d even prepared toast, but it was superfluous, kind of like parsley on a plate.

  “You went all out,” Freddie said, taking his chair.

  “She never cooks breakfast,” Faraday said, sliding into one of the chairs. Neither of them had the patience or manners to wait for me to sit.

  “I’m never awake early enough to cook,” I answered and gestured for West to sit at the other end of the table.

  Every time he was near, I was finding it harder to keep him in the client zone where he needed to stay. He was beautifully sexy in that bad-boy one-night stand kind of way. His suit was always tailored to perfection. His dark hair and mesmerizing eyes probably had broken many hearts in the past. Mine wouldn’t be one of them. Even if there was still a tinge of excitement knowing he had guns stashed somewhere out of sight on his muscled physique.

  “Eat up. We’ve got a busy day.”

  I started dishing out some eggs onto my plate as the others dug into different platters. I’d cooked enough to feed a small army, but with
the way these guys devoured everything I put in front of them, it still probably wasn’t enough.

  “What’s on the agenda?” Faraday asked.

  “Insight,” I answered.

  Unease crept into the wrinkles on Faraday’s face. The cop was normally excited for me to use Insight. It meant he would have a case to work. This time seemed different.

  “Are you working my cold case?” he asked, watching me under the scrutiny of someone being interrogated for murder.

  His calculating stare might work on people who had something to hide, but I was a southern woman; we were good at hiding everything from our real hair color to the weight on our driver’s licenses. We’d been groomed from an early age to avoid the truth.

  “She’s going to do Calinda’s case,” Freddie answered, earning my glare.

  I grabbed a piece of bacon and bit into it like a bear before going into hibernation. Faraday was about to blow a gasket and join me on the mood-swing merry-go-round. It was as inevitable as a teen having a meltdown from losing their cell phone.

  “You promised, Cree. I’m retiring in one week.” Faraday moaned.

  It sucked, he was right, but there was only one of me, and I needed to handle both cases. My father had created Insight so that others could see what was truly going on in our heads while trying to tune in. Although a helpful machine, it still drained my energy and put a strain on my body.

  I had promised to try before he retired, and I’m nothing without my word. The problem remained that I’d also promised West and the Prince of Wellington that I’d work on Calinda’s too.

  “Calinda’s case is a priority,” West said and raised his brow, begging me to contradict him.

  “You’re both right. I can only use Insight once before I leave for California.” It was almost time to lay down my cards and tell them what I had planned. I might be a lousy poker player and not know if a straight beats a flush, but I had an ace up my sleeve.

  “Which is the winner?” Freddie asked, drowning his pancakes in homemade maple syrup.

  “I promised Faraday,” I said to West, holding up my palm to stave off his arguments. The satisfaction sitting in Faraday’s cocky grin wouldn’t last, but I gave him the minute it deserved. “But I have a solution, and I’m already putting the plan into action.”

  “What’s that?” West asked. His gaze turned doubtful of just how much awesomeness I was truly capable of.

  “Me,” my best friend Charlotte squealed as she entered the room, rolling the squeaky wheels of her neon pink suitcase behind her. No way would that monstrosity be lost on an airport turn belt.

  “You’ve got room on that fancy royal jet, right?” I asked West before sipping my coffee to hide my grin. My idea of taking Charlotte had been a stroke of genius somewhere between mixing the pancake batter and ignoring Calinda’s complaints of not being able to eat chocolate ever again.

  “What is it with you people always changing the plans?” West asked, tilting his head.

  He had a point. Freddie had changed the plans when he brought reinforcements onto the island where I was almost killed, and now Faraday was taking precedence. It wasn’t like I had an option unless I wanted the shame of not keeping my word. My Grammy would never let me live it down. She’d haunt my butt until I made things right.

  “We need her,” I urged. “She can help.”

  “No…” West rested his elbows on the table, and if I’d been sitting closer, I might have stabbed those elbows with my fork. “I need you.”

  “Well, you need me, and I need her. I always have someone working the computers when I’m using Insight.”

  “But I just thought you said…” West started to say. Confusion clouded his eyes. The lines on his forehead were a dead giveaway. If only everyone else was so easy to read.

  “We’re taking Insight with us,” I explained. Score one for me. I actually had a brain. Just because I couldn’t use Insight twice in one day didn’t mean that I couldn’t use it the next. I wasn’t about to let my travel plans get in the way.

  “Now wait a minute.” Faraday glowered, tossing his bacon down and wiping his hands on his napkin. Good man. My Grammy must have instilled at least some manners into him while she’d been alive. “You won’t have Doc Stone with you. You can’t work that damn machine without someone monitoring your vitals, or you’ll end up just like your father.”

  “I know you think I have a few screws loose, but I’m not an idiot. Doctor Stone knows a surgeon that normally does nips and tucks. He’s capable of monitoring my vitals.” I hoped. “Charlotte will be recording and monitor the computer. Problem solved.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” Charlotte promised like the best friend she was, and I suddenly wished I’d thought to bake her favorite breakfast of chocolate chip cookies. She would have appreciated my effort.

  “I should go with you two,” Freddie announced. “Charlotte might get star-struck and lose focus.”

  “I’ll be fine. You need to stay and help Faraday with his cold case.” Faraday was getting close to retirement. He still had a sharp mind and attitude, but sometimes I couldn’t help but worry that he might get himself into a jam he couldn’t get out of. “Please.”

  “I’ll make you a deal. If whatever you find out using Insight on his case seems dangerous, then I’ll stay. If not, I’m flying out to California, even if I have to buy my own damn ticket,” Freddie argued.

  Chapter 2

  Doc Stone was delayed in surgery a few hours later than we had scheduled to use Insight. It happened. It wasn’t the first time that his paying gig took precedence. He was, after all, saving lives, unlike me; the people I was searching for were normally already dead. We scheduled a late afternoon session to use the machine, which pushed back our California trip until either later tonight or first thing in the morning. It really depended on how long it took me to recuperate. That was always a variable no one could predict.

  I’d cooked us all a late afternoon lunch and had even tried to take a nap, but I was too wired. This case, both cases, had me on edge. I couldn’t pinpoint my apprehension or understand why, but something just felt…wrong.

  At six o’clock I jogged down the stair to find everyone getting ready for our session. The hospital bed was in the middle of the ballroom. The screens around the room were lit up and blue, just waiting to show the images in my head. Jitters and Charlotte were already seated behind the computers. Doc Stone was twisting dials on the vital monitoring machines as I approached. His tired eyes were lacking luster tonight. Depression filled the air. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

  “We can reschedule if you need to.”

  Please say no, please say no, please, say no. I tried to will him with my mind like a Jedi mind trick. I hadn’t quite mastered the art of using the Force.

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You must have some empath running in your blood too.”

  “I’ve been known to pick up on a mood or two.”

  “I’m fine.” He nodded before turning back and playing with the dials on the machine.

  I walked over to the locked cabinet of evidence on cold cases that the police let me use to tune in on to find new clues. Normally I’d search for the strongest energy if I was feeling off my game; other times, when I was tapped in, I’d go for the ones with less energy to try and work. This time was different. This time it was Faraday’s energy I was searching for. His only cold case that he hadn’t solved during his entire career. I felt the tendrils of the pull and grabbed a package from one of the shelves. I turned to find Faraday watching me.

  “Jane Doe?” I asked.

  “That’s the one,” he confirmed.

  I glanced at West across the room. He’d slid out of his suit jacket, unbuttoned his cuffs then rolled up his sleeves. Poor guy looked how I would think an expectant father looked waiting outside the delivery room. Sweat dotted his brow. His shoulders were tense.

  “Don’t freak out on me when you see what happens. You
’re the only outsider we’ve let watch us while we work.”

  West ran his hand through his hair but nodded just the same. He was normally so calm under pressure, but his apprehension swirled around the room like that time I had my first bikini wax.

  I walked over to the bed, kicked my shoes off, and climbed on top. Doc Stone covered my head with the rubber cap and began filling the holes with cold goo that ruined good hair days.

  The chill from the gel slid down my spine as Doc Stone inserted the probes into the goo. I turned to West and pointed to the Jumbotron screens across the room. “This Medusa thing I’ve got going on will project the images I see onto those screens.”

  West had his arms crossed and rubbed at the stubble on his chin. I settled into the pillow. Doc Stone’s fingers hovered over the switch.

  “Whenever you’re ready, Cree.”

  I ripped open the cold case package and dumped the contents onto my lap to discover a black glove and fragments of a bullet.

  “One is from her and the other potentially the killer?” I asked, glancing at Faraday.

  “She was wearing that, and the bullet is just one of a couple we pulled from her.”

  “Which one do you want me to tap into? If we go with the bullet, I might tap into the killer but not be able to tell you who she is. If we go with the glove, it will be hit or miss if we see who pulled the trigger.”

  “Can’t you do both?” Faraday asked.

  “She can’t stay under that long,” Doc Stone warned. “You’ll have to pick one, although I would think both are going to take her to the day she died. It’s just a matter of who has the information you’re looking for.”

  “Exactly,” I said.

  “Focus on the girl, first,” he directed. “Maybe if we can ID her, then we can figure out who wanted her dead.”

  “Fire it up, Doc.”

  Freddie lowered the lights, and I turned my eyes to the Jumbotron as Doc Stone hit the switch. A vision of Calinda appeared on the screen from my bedroom. Her ball gown was even more impressive, as was her tiara.