CrimeSeen2014.06.09 Read online

  Copyright © 2013 by Michaelbrent Collings

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. For information send request to [email protected].

  website: http://www.michaelbrentcollings.com

  email: [email protected]

  cover art elements © Poprotskiy Alexey

  used under license from Shutterstock.com

  cover design by Michaelbrent Collings

  NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF

  MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS

  THE COLONY: RENEGADES (The Colony, Vol. 2)

  "Fast pace in your face, the action doesn’t stop…. This bestselling author has done it again…. I didn’t want the book to end…." – Horror Novel Reviews

  THE COLONY: GENESIS (The Colony, Vol. 1)

  "Once again Michaelbrent delivers a smashing novel with The Colony: Genesis, the first book in a proposed new series. From start to finish, this novel is a fresh look into the world of apocalyptic proportions, brought on by anyone's guess.... the action and intrigue throughout is almost non-stop. I read it in less than two days, and I'm glad I did." – Horror Drive-In

  "5 out of 5 stars.... I couldn't put it down." – Media Mikes

  "One hell of a roller coaster ride!” – Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award ®-winning author of Flesh Eaters and The Savage Dead.

  "I barely had time to buckle my mental seatbelt before the pedal hit the metal...." – The Horror Fiction Review

  "What a refreshing read. This is the first of a series and if this is any indication of what's to come, count me in! .... If I could, I would gladly give this novel a 10 star rating." – Horror Novel Reviews

  STRANGERS

  "Highly recommended." – Hellnotes

  "Collings is so proficient at what he does, he crooks his finger to get you inside his world and before you know it, you are along for the ride. You don't even see it coming; he is that good." – Only Five Star Book Reviews

  "Collings’ most polished and horrific tale to date." – horrornews.net

  "Move over Stephen King... Clive Barker.... Michaelbrent Collings is taking over as the new king of the horror book genre." – Media Mikes

  "STRANGERS is another white-knuckled journey that demands to be read in one sitting." – The Horror Fiction Review

  "Michaelbrent spins a tale that keeps you enthralled from page to page…. Overall I give this novel an A." – The Horror Drive-In

  DARKBOUND

  "Really good, highly recommended, make sure you have time to read a lot at one sitting since you may have a hard time putting it down." – The Horror Fiction Review

  "In Darkbound you will find the intensity of Misery and a journey reminiscent of the train ride in The Talisman…. A proficient and pedagogical author, Collings’ works should be studied to see what makes his writing resonate with such vividness of detail…. You will not be disappointed in this dark tale." – Hellnotes

  "A spell-binding conclusion comes from out of nowhere that is hauntingly reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan or Alfred Hitchcock. A certifiable bone chiller…." – horrornews.net

  "Darkbound travels along at a screaming pace with action the whole way through, and twists to keep you guessing throughout.... With an ending that I didn't see coming from a mile away, and easily one of the best I've had the enjoyment of reading in a long time...." – Horror Drive-In

  THE HAUNTED

  "The Haunted is a terrific read with some great scares and a shock of an ending!" – Rick Hautala, international bestselling author; Bram Stoker Award® for Lifetime Achievement winner

  "[G]ritty, compelling and will leave you on the edge of your seat.... The Haunted is a tremendous read for fans of ghoulishly good terror." – horrornews.net

  "The Haunted is just about perfect.... This is a haunted house story that will scare even the most jaded horror hounds. I loved it!" – Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Flesh Eaters and The Savage Dead

  APPARITION

  "Apparition is not just a 'recommended' novel, it is easily one of the most entertaining and satisfying horror novels this reviewer has read within the past few years. I cannot imagine that any prospective reader looking for a new read in the horror genre won't be similarly blown away by the novel." – Hellnotes

  "[Apparition is] a gripping, pulse hammering journey that refuses to relent until the very final act. The conclusion that unfolds may cause you to sleep with the lights on for a spell.... Yet be forewarned perhaps it is best reserved for day time reading." – horrornews.net

  "Apparition is a hard core supernatural horror novel that is going to scare the hell out of you.... This book has everything that you would want in a horror novel.... it is a roller coaster ride right up to a shocking ending." – horroraddicts.net

  "[Apparition is] Riveting. Captivating. Mesmerizing.... [A]n effective, emotional, nerve-twisting read, another amazingly well-written one from a top-notch writer." – The Horror Fiction Review

  THE LOON

  "It's always so nice to find one where hardcore asylum-crazy is done RIGHT.... THE LOON is, hands down, an excellent book." – The Horror Fiction Review

  "Highly recommended for horror and thriller lovers. It's fast-moving, as it has to be, and bloody and violent, but not disgustingly gory.... Collings knows how to write thrillers, and I'm looking forward to reading more from him." – Hellnotes

  MR. GRAY (aka THE MERIDIANS)

  "... an outstanding read.... This story is layered with mystery, questions from every corner and no answers fully coming forth until the final conclusion.... What a ride.... This is one you will not be able to put down and one you will remember for a long time to come. Very highly recommended." – Midwest Book Review

  RUN

  "[A] tense and intense scary sci-fi chiller/thriller.... RUN is a winner, as fast-paced as it should be, cinematic and gripping, lots of fun but with moments of poignancy and disturbing paranoia." – The Horror Fiction Review

  HOOKED: A TRUE FAERIE TALE

  "Hooked is a story with depth.... Emotional, sad, horrific, and thought provoking, this one was difficult to put down and now, one of my favourite tales." – Only Five Star Book Reviews

  "[A]n interesting and compelling read.... Collings has a way with words that pulls you into every moment of the story, absorbing every scene with all of your senses." – Clean Romance Reviews

  "Collings has found a way to craft an entirely new modern vampire mythology – and one strikingly different from everything I've seen before.... Recommended for adult and teen fans of horror a
nd paranormal romance...." – Hellnotes

  RISING FEARS

  "The writing is superb. The characters are believable and sympathetic... the theme of a parent who's lost a child figures strongly; it's powerful stuff, and written from the perspective of experience that no one should ever have to suffer." – The Horror Fiction Review

  Dedication

  To...

  Tom, Russ, and Jess, who let a complete stranger on their show, and then started reading his books,

  my Grampas, who were great examples of Real Men,

  and to Laura, FTAAE.

  Contents

  Crime

  Mystery

  Mystix

  Shadows

  Captain

  Prayer

  Anamnesis

  Intrusion

  Notes

  Message

  Lost

  Partners

  Guided

  Question

  Evidence

  Looped

  Eclipsed

  Wrong

  Terror

  Watching

  Haunting

  Church

  Names

  Lies

  Preparations

  Sound

  Countdown

  Gone

  Faith

  Held

  Fight

  Known

  Memories

  Seen

  Crime

  Evan White looked at his hands again, as though this time he might see something different. As though this time they might hold answers; might tell him where his life had gone and how everything had turned to crap so very quickly.

  For the briefest instant it seemed like he was on the edge of an epiphany. An understanding that would shift not merely his perception but his existence.

  “I’m the one you’ve been looking for.”

  The voice sounded in Evan’s head, the memory bouncing around like a bullet in his skull, ripping apart bits of his mind. Peeling away his brain a layer at a time, drilling deep, revealing… what?

  The call had come on his cell phone. Just one more call, like so many that had come in the wake of… in the wake of what had happened.

  Tragedy brings out the worst in humanity. It brings out the leeches and the sycophants and the crazies. At first Evan thought that the call came from another one of the latter: just one more nut-job who had seen the case in the paper and wanted five seconds of vicarious fame. In a world where heiresses could sex their way to stardom and ninety percent of prime time news seemed to be devoted to what some anorexic starlet was wearing, Evan shouldn’t have been surprised. Shouldn’t have been disappointed.

  But he was. He felt his spirit die a bit with every call.

  “Do you have a name?” he said.

  The phone had sat silent in his hand for a moment. That was the first time he thought he might be talking to someone out of the ordinary. Not that he believed for a second it was the someone. No. But maybe not a nutter, either. Nutters talked too much, answered too quickly. A simple “Do you have a name?” would have been an invitation for a torrent of crazy, a deluge of insanity.

  Not silence.

  Finally, the man on the other end of the phone said, “That’s not important. What’s important is the look on your wife’s face when she died.”

  Evan went cold when he heard those words. Maybe the man on the phone was a kook. But Evan had to know.

  He had to.

  “Is this a joke to you?” he said.

  The man laughed. And the laugh was the thing that cinched it, the thing that guaranteed that Evan would go where the man wanted him to go, on the off chance that he actually knew something.

  Because whether this man was involved in the murder of Evan’s wife or not, the laugh was the scraping, scratching howl of a madman. The shriek of a devil who hadn’t quite figured out the best way to destroy his fill of happiness, to quench his fill of joy.

  Evan didn’t know what the man wanted, exactly. But the laugh told him that it involved pain. Misery.

  Death.

  The conversation played over and over in Evan’s mind. It kept on turning and returning, spinning around until he had checked it from all angles, listening to it until he could hear no more.

  Again he felt like he was on the edge of something, some realization that would… matter. That would even, perhaps, take away the image of his wife’s face as it had been when he saw her last.

  Then he realized it wasn’t epiphany he perched on the edge of. No, just a barstool. Backless, the kind that would let you spin around on a whim. In better places that might be because you were hoping to find a romantic attachment, maybe just people-watch. Here, though, you could probably spin around forever and never find anything good to look at. Torn faux leather gouged at Evan’s thighs and buttocks, biting through the cheap fabric of his suit pants, and a backless stool in this kind of place just meant you had a good chance of cracking your head open after the night’s bender stole your backbone.

  Evan looked at his drink again. Wondered if he should drink the rest. Probably not. He wasn’t even sure what it was. This wasn’t the kind of place you came to drink high-quality booze, it was the kind of place you came to drink angry and get angrier. The kind of place you came to get drunk, but what you ended up doing more often than not was getting in a fight.

  It was small, poorly lit even by the low standards for this kind of place. A few tables – one or two even had chairs – and the bar. The bar itself was sticky, made of a wood that had been burnt and stained by countless old cigarette butts and spilled drinks and blood until it was a dark, grainless brown that might be oak or cherry or walnut or Formica laminate for all Evan could tell.

  Bleed on a thing long enough, it stops being what it was, and turns to just a faded brown bar in a bad part of town.

  At the other end of the bar, a girl with short-cut hair that had been dyed in every color of the rainbow was holding the hand of a drunk. Evan thought at first she was a hooker, but something about her changed his mind. He couldn’t see her face, but something about the way she held herself didn’t say she was turning tricks.

  “I’ll read your palm one time,” said Rainbow Hair. “One time.”

  The drunk snorted. He was a big guy, dressed in flannels and jeans that had seen lots of wear. Maybe a dock worker. “Can you really do this?” he said, every other word nearly a mumble.

  “I’ve always seen the truth,” said the girl in a tone that was too bright to belong in this bar.

  The drunk laughed. “Tell me a lie. Lies are better.”

  You got that right, thought Evan. Then he turned away from the pair. They weren’t what he was here for. They weren’t who he was looking for.

  “No worries,” laughed the girl. “Whenever people see the truth, they always forget.”

  Evan’s cell rang. The ring tone was one Val had picked. He hadn’t changed it yet.

  “White,” he said into the phone, the typical answer he gave. He never needed more.

  The voice that answered wasn’t that of a lunatic in human shape. Evan didn’t know if he was happy or sad about that. He felt confused, felt like he hadn’t been able to get his head on straight since….

  Since Val. Don’t lie. Not to yourself.

  Regardless, the voice that came from his cell was a comfortable one, though with a hard edge hiding just behind it. Evan always thought of those old pictures of Japanese samurai when he heard this voice: men who were honorable, who were good. Who moved slowly and deliberately… until it was time to attack. Then, God help anyone who got in their way.

  “Anything?” Max Geist was as to-the-point on the phone as Evan was. Part of why they got along, he supposed: neither of them felt a need to pad their lives or conversation with things that weren’t necessary.

  Evan sensed motion at the bar’s entrance. He wasn’t sure how – perhaps he glimpsed it in the mirror behind the bar, a reflection torn apart by innumerable bottles in colorful glass. May
be it was a trace sound he registered subconsciously.

  Whatever it was, Evan spun on his seat. His free hand fell to his belt, brushing past the badge clipped there and circling the grip of the handgun holstered directly behind it.

  His hand relaxed almost as fast as it had clenched. The movement wasn’t someone entering, just someone leaving. The door to the bar had been propped open – apparently to better allow drunks and flies to find their way inside – and now Rainbow Hair was making her way out.

  Ken wondered what she looked like.

  He wondered why he cared.

  He remembered Val’s face.

  He turned away from that thought, turned his attention back to Geist’s question. “Nothing,” he said. “Haven’t seen anything.”

  He spun back to the bar. Sipped at his drink.

  “Well, it was a long shot,” said Geist. He sighed. “Don’t stay up too late.” And then he hung up. He didn’t say goodbye.

  Music had been playing on a juke box behind Evan. The song stopped at almost the same moment Geist hung up. Evan dragged his gaze away from the half-filled drink he had been nursing for what seemed an eternity.

  Quarters clinked. He heard that hollow click-clack of jukebox keys being pushed.