Oblivious: A Kendra Spark Novel, #4

Chapter One

Kendra

The scent of vanilla spiced the air, relaying that my ghosticized friend and FBI criminal analyst, Jenna Powers, lurked close-by. I slipped out of bed and quickly dressed.

Jenna stood just inside the bedroom doorway. Hey, Sparky, did Derek say anything about Darla and Sassy McNasty’s relationship?

I shook my head.

She flipped her hand toward the kitchen. Shall we stroll out so you can get your morning caffeine fix?

We sauntered out of the bedroom, and I quietly closed the door. You know Derek can hear you, now that he has the all-seeing ability.

Oh, right. She slapped a hand on her hip. I didn’t really think about it.

Let me get a fresh pot brewing, and then we can go talk on the porch. I don’t want to wake Derek. He hasn’t gotten much sleep since his vision opened for the unseen. I remember the struggle of understanding who’s alive and who’s dead. When I was a toddler, everyone appeared the same to me. Spirits always seemed to be around, and they all got my attention. I learned how to filter that out by not engaging with anyone, until Grandma Ellie told me all spirits have shades of gray-to-black eyes, no true eye color, and then she said for me to ignore the spirits that I don’t wish to communicate with and eventually, they go away, no longer drawn to me.

Derek must have set the coffee pot on automatic because suddenly the aroma of the dark brew made my mouth salivate. A full steaming carafe awaited. I poured a generous mug. So, among everything that Derek’s dealing with now, he’s also got that little gemstone ability of all-seeing.

Guess I’m not a magnet for spirits like you are, maybe it’s because I am one. Jenna stood at the end of the counter, looking slender and fit in her favorite gray and fluorescent green running ensemble. She could morph into any clothing with a mere thought. Her chosen apparel leaned toward fitness or casual, but no matter, she always appeared like a class-act. Jenna moved closer. Apparently, Max Stone and his SWAT team took several crime scene investigators to that house in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, where Darla and Sassy had taken you to meet Gimbel. The CSI collected DNA, prints, and other items of interest.

Jenna floated several inches above the wooden floorboards next to me as we headed to the back screened-in porch.

I stopped at the open doorway. How come you know this, and I don’t? Derek told me everything about the cases we worked on together, but this past week had been a mixed-up mess with getting Gimbel’s situation rectified with his prior standing in the police force. Nothing simple about killing off a big-wig, while actually flinging him into a protection plan for living the rest of his life off-grid and under a new identity. When Jenna didn’t answer, I added, Well, what’d they find?

Darla’s DNA matched some marker’s in Sassy’s DNA, but it matched more markers in someone else’s that the FBI now has on file from some articles collected years ago. Jenna dashed into the porch, hovering over the coffee table, and made a short, tap-dance move. Ta-da! Well, any guesses?

Okay, so is Sassy actually Darla’s mother?

No. Looks more like an aunt because Sassy also has markers matching that older FBI file. Jenna wiggled her brows. Awe, come on…guess.

This is silliness, just tell me. I set my cup on the table and then flopped onto the cozy-couch, still wondering why Derek hadn’t told me.

Derek stepped onto the porch, dressed in a dark blue suit with a wine-hued tie and a light blue shirt, armed with a steaming coffee cup. Tell you what? That it appears Bertellia is Darla’s mother and Sassy’s half-sister.

My mouth dropped open, but no response followed. So strange to hear all of those women were related.

We’re not sure how much of Bertellia’s life Darla remembers as she would only have been six-years-old when Bertellia died, according to Darla’s birthdate on her employee records. Derek strolled over and sat next to me on the couch. Max called me after you fell asleep last night. I chose not to wake you…but, he stared at Jenna, someone else appeared in the room to hear what was said. He arched a brow and stared at Jenna. I thought bedrooms were off-limits?

I gazed out toward the forest a short distance from the backyard. Birds squawked in the background only adding to the calamity inside my head. Putting the puzzle together of Darla’s relatives might give us some definition of her life…and to Bertellia’s.

Let’s just say I got channeled in by the information like a green light flashing on a door in my safe place, begging me to open it. I wasn’t sure how that happened, nothing intentional by me. Jenna sighed. I’m still learning how to be a dead-woman-walking.

Derek nodded then said, Apparently, others got little sleep last night. Right after I hung up from Max, Tressa called to inform me that Jackson scheduled a meeting for us this morning. He’ll be expecting a report on everything that happened last week with Gimbel, but the stuff we just found out about Darla will be a priority going forward as she could actually be our mole.

Just what I was thinking. Jenna glanced at Derek, then at me.

Or…Darla could be a mannequin with Sassy pulling strings of manipulation, I added.

* * *

The Director of the FBI-VCU (violent crimes unit), which also includes our Sensitive a.k.a. Supernatural Investigations, Jackson Powers, sifted through a stack of papers for the third time, his brows drawing inward. Derek sat next to me with Luke, Tressa, and Ray sitting across from us. Jackson, propped in the chair at the head of the long table, continued to shuffle paper.

The scent of vanilla fluffed through the air. Derek waved his hand in front of his face and nodded toward Jenna, shimmering into view behind her father, Jackson, who now studied the pages as he swept them into short piles.

Sparky, I have no idea what Dad’s looking for. He seems so anxious. Jenna glanced at me then focused on what her father held in his hand.

Ahhh, here it is. Jackson flipped the page toward us, a death certificate. Mission accomplished, Tressa, on the news media coverage of Robert Gimbel’s death by massive cardiac arrest. And adding the extra leak to the news reporters about Gimbel’s role as the East Coast Cartel Kingpin played perfectly across the media to shake those mafia boys up and leave the entire cartel in an unstable state. It’s kept several teams busy following the bread crumbs to many substantial take-downs. Major arrests. He lifted his head and glimpsed around the table. Derek, Ray, and Luke, I’d like to congratulate you for pulling off Gimbel’s plausible arrest and his death scene. He nodded, and then added, Tressa, you did a commendable job with the funeral arrangements, all of it went off without a hitch. Robert Gimbel, Director of the Wilmington Police Department, now known as Randall Clemmons, is out of the States and safely recovering.

I’m thinking there’s going to be a ‘but’… Jenna stared at Derek, who had been able to see my ghostisized friend for the past week. Well? Wanna lay some green stuff on the line?

Derek chuckled.

Jackson glared at him. Something funny? Jackson still acted like he held Derek at fault for Jenna’s accidental death, running out in front of a car to save a boy. That was weeks ago, and even though Jackson couldn’t see Jenna, he knew her spirit had remained here, so he used me as an interpreter between them.

Derek’s brows rose to mid-forehead. His lips pressed together as he shook his head.

Jackson looked at me, his expression softened. Kendra, you explained how Gimbel had been possessed by the spirit of Estevez Gonzolas for the past fifteen years, and how your Voodoo Priestess friend was able to exorcise him out of Gimbel’s body, and not only get him out but obliterate him and his twin sister, Bertellia. It sounds more like science fiction to me. Still struggling to wrap my brain around it. But then, he rolled up his sleeve so we all could see his protection sigil of the five-pointed star in the center of a circle, seeming more like a small burned-on brand, this thing appears on my arm a couple weeks ago with barely a forewarning. He stood and walked through Jenna as he made his way to the window that revealed a hazy view of D.C.’s Pennsylvania Ave. I understand we all got one for protection and even received an enchanted medallion of the same symbol. It’s protection against what, who? He released a heavy sigh. I’m going to require more overall information on your Voodoo friend, NaNa Rosa, and what has been happening to our VCU-SI team. Again, Jackson turned toward Derek and gave him the stink-eye. There’s nothing in those reports telling me what actually happened to Gimbel that night at the hotel.

Are these reports for your eyes only? Derek shoved his chair away from the table. Because we know how hard it’s been to accept that spirits are roaming the earth and the majority of us can’t see them. I can’t imagine how that will go over if anyone else on this floor catches wind of it.

We’ll need to set up a better system for our unit’s electronic communication and paper trail. Jackson ambled back to his chair.

How about the information on who the mole might be on this floor? Jenna directed her comment to Derek, but no one but Derek and I could hear her. Don’t you want to tell Dad about what Max told you? The relationship between Bertellia, Sassy, and Darla?

We’ve been rounding up members of the cartel, figuring out connections, and covering up the shakedown of Gimbel and his fake death for the past week. It’s time to figure out who our cartel mole is on the inside. Derek gazed at his team across the table and nodded at Tressa. We’ve also been doing some deeper investigation on Darla Wayburn and Sassy Blaze. Max Stone, from the SWAT team that went to the Roanoke Rapids home in North Carolina, took a couple crime scene investigators with him. I told you that there was no one at the house when his team got there, but the CSI recovered DNA, fingerprints, and a few other items of interest for follow-up.

Yes, I was hoping someone took that bull by the horns. Do we know Darla’s location yet? Jackson passed around the short stacks of papers.

No one answered him.

Read these pages and add your own spin on exactly what happened during and after Kendra’s abduction. As I mentioned, the report is incomplete. The information, once completed, stays with Tressa. So, you’ll need to do your homework before you can go. Jackson stood. Kendra, I’d like to see you in my office after this meeting. He scanned the faces of everyone around the table. Complete what you can on the reports and give them to Tressa. I’ve directed her to start an encrypted e-file for our cases that only we’ll be able to access. Hopefully, we’ll have a quick lesson on that soon. He nodded at Tressa. I’ve assigned another team to investigate anyone left from Gimbel’s cartel connections.

We’ve got more leads from Vinny. I think we should continue while we’re hot on the trail. Derek’s muscles feathered and tensed along his jawline.

Your job is to find Darla and the woman, Sassy Blaze. Jackson looked at me. Do you know anything about the green powder used to paralyze us during your kidnapping.

I conferred with NaNa Rosa. It’s an alchemy blend of several unfamiliar ingredients, but she noted a few that were highly unstable and considered toxic. It seems in this particular mixture, the materials bonded, allowing paralyzation to occur without any toxin ingestion side-effects afterward. NaNa Rosa had been impressed and, at the same time, concerned for the complexity and advanced ability required to create such a blending. She mentioned the possibility of it being an ancient formula from a people no longer written into our history. I didn’t mention NaNa Rosa’s fear for the satanic society of people she’d referred to as the Ancient Satanics. In fact, I’d told no one, not even Jenna or Derek.

We’re working on finding Darla, Derek added. She’s more connected to Bertellia Camila Gonzolas and Sassy Blaze than we originally realized. They are all related, as in mother and aunt.

Finish your reports. Jackson grunted as he pushed his body up from the chair and rolled his shirt sleeve back down to his wrist. Derek, afterward, I want you to come to my office with Kendra. He glanced around the table then left, closing the door.

Chapter Two

Derek

Tressa opened her laptop as everyone stepped around the table and dropped their versions of the North Carolina event next to it. I’m going to enter everything before I leave this room and shred the hard copies. I’ll explain how to access the encrypted files later.

I’ll let everyone know what’s up for us after the meeting with Jackson. I slipped my hand around the back of Kendra’s upper arm, guiding her through the door. Jenna trailed alongside us. Let’s go see what Jackson’s got on his mind. Once out of earshot of the team, I asked, Jenna, do you have any idea about this meeting?

Jenna shook her head. Sorry. I haven’t been able to meet Dad on the dream plane. He’s not sleeping well.

I rapped on Jackson’s office door, and he bellowed for us to enter.

Please sit. I want to hear about what happened to you, Kendra. How the rescue went down, and then tell me about the exorcism with Gimbel. I’ve conversed with him. He seems to have a great chunk of his memory missing, as in more than a decade. Why is that?

Kendra covered her rescue with a play-by-play account and then told how Sassy and Darla, along with two henchmen, were tied-up for no-escape and left inside the house. Gimbel came with us to a hotel room in Roanoke Rapids. NaNa Rosa and Lisa were already in the hotel room with the items required for the exorcism ritual NaNa Rosa would perform. Kendra didn’t go into graphic details, but she said enough to give a good idea of the experience.

Then Kendra said, What surprised all of us was the appearance of Bertellia’s spirit. She’d come to save Estevez. When she touched the top of Gimbel’s head, he dropped to his knees, and Estevez’s spirit rose above Gimbel’s body. Bertellia held onto her brother. Derek threw one of the enhanced daggers, embedding it into Bertellia’s heart, and Ray hurled his, striking Estevez in the heart. Both spirits turned into heated ash, then became powder, never to roam any of the planes again. Those daggers are drawn to evil spirits, even when a person can’t see them. When the knife is thrown, like a homing device, it directs itself toward the dark entity’s heart center.

Jackson’s mouth dropped open. You mean I could throw one of those daggers, and if an evil spirit was in this room, that blade would find its mark?

In essence, yes. Kendra glanced at me. Tell him what the hilt does?

The hilt of the dagger vibrates when an evil spirit is within one mile, and the closer it gets, the harder it vibrates. Sort of a GPS for locating the dark entities. The other thing is, the dagger will only respond to me because I imprinted my palm into the handle. If any other being grabs it, the dagger burns their hand until the perpetrator drops it. I glanced at Jenna, standing beside her father. Both of them wore similar expressions, brows reaching mid-forehead, even though I knew Jenna received one of those daggers from Grandma Ellie.

I think I’d like one of those, and maybe one for Suzanne as well. I’d feel a bit more secure knowing I had something to use to save my daughter. Jackson eyed Kendra. I understand Jenna was kidnapped by Bertellia during the incident with Vinny Merretti. His lips thinned into a straight line for a long moment. Is Jenna here now?

Kendra nodded. Jenna stayed quiet.

I want all three of you to hear this. He practically jumped out of his seat, rushing into