Haunted Devotion

21.

Disclaimer  -

This chapter contains talk of sexual assault and a depiction of the event

Cold spots fill the winery with the same type of writing on the crates as I first came by and investigated but worse.

"Still denying the jersey theory?" I say now seeing the female who ran out in front of my car that almost had me killed.

Gavin clenches his shirt as he begins to sweat heavily having pit stains form.

"I-It was an accident Dev, I swear," He admits while his eyes bulge from how hot it was getting out of nowhere.

Seeing the female with the torn jersey make it seem that way towards him, as a type of punishment, I shook my head slowly, "Doesn't seem like it was," Walking the direction she's standing, I take a better look.

Scrape marks are more visible on her knees, hand prints on her neck as a sign of strangulation and a stab wound on her left abdomen.

"What happened Gavin," I say now angry, feeling her pain be poured into me energetically which never happened before while working on a case.

Gavin shook his head violently, "Just help me Dev! Can you just do that please!"

The female frowns more then goes to grab Gavin's neck until I touch her arm seeing what happened.

Memory flashback

"I know this place you'll like," Gavin smiles while holding the girl's hand.

Morgan, the female smiles too, "You know I only wanted to snuggle up on the couch, not some cold hockey rink."

Gavin kisses her cheek, "It'll be fun," Taking her inside, she holds his arm more as the lights are off.

Going over to the light switch panel, Gavin flicks it on having one big light illuminate the center of the ice rink.

"No way, you did this?" Morgan says happily seeing a small dinner table with a white cloth, roses and food placed onto it with two chairs beside it.

Taking her over, he sits her down then fiddles for the ring box in his coat pocket until two other men show up drunk, his friend Petrillo and his father.

"What are they doing here?" Morgan asked, shocked.

Gavin stood immediately, "Dad? What's going on?"

Both drunken men make a fool out of themselves and ask Gavin to get them water to sober up.

"Okay sure...I'll be back," Gavin kisses Morgan then leaves for a good ten minutes.

In those ten minutes Morgan was being teased and harassed by both men until one took it too far.

"Oh comeeee on, he doesn't love you. You think this was the first romantic gesture he's done? He's had so many I couldn't keep count," Gavin's father says while touching her face.

Morgan tries to get up but both men hold her down now on the frozen floor.

"He won't mind, he's let us have fun with his flings before," Petrillo admits while licking the side of Morgan's face sloppily.

Gavin's father hikes up the dress she was wearing feeling in between her thighs.

"I can see why he likes you so much," Snickering greedily, he goes to do more until Gavin walks in seeing the horrifying scene.

"Get off her! What the hell are you doing!"

Petrillo waves Gavin off having his way with Morgan but he jumps on his back trying to fight him off.

Morgan finds a way out running holding her ripped dress but Gavin's father drunkenly grabs the steak knife off the table and grabs her by the hair.

"We weren't done," Stabbing Morgan, she yells out for Gavin while bleeding and falling to the ground.

"Stop!" Gavin says to his dad angrily but doesn't stop him when he bends down to drag Morgan back.

"P–Please don't," Morgan says but Gavin's father just has her slung over his shoulders and finished killing her at the winery.

Morgan stood alive for another hour and that hour she wished she was dead until she was.

Gavin covered her with the torn jersey turning his back as his dad buried her out back near the winery plants.

End of memory flashback

Morgan's spirit weeps from the betrayal she just had me relive through her eyes.

"You pieces of shit," Walking to the back of the winery past the wooden doors, I push open the other side and see the decaying spot where Morgan's body was buried.

Grabbing the shovel that was there I dug up the area and saw an arm once I went deeper.

Gerald runs in and I tell him to call the bureau as I did Gavin starts pathetically sobbing in the corner.

Taking out my relic I read off a spell to help Morgan crossover instead of being a revengeful spirit her whole time stuck on earth.

She turns into ashes as the spell is done having the haunting evaporate into the wind like her ghost just did.

"The police are on their way," Gerald says and I just lit a cigarette, placing it in my mouth waiting out front for their arrival.

Inhaling the cigarette smoke, I exhaled, stuck on the fact Gavin would let that happen to a woman he was about to make his fiance.

Taking a few more puffs, I flick the cigarette bud to the floor, walking away as soon as the cop cars pulled up and arrested Gavin.

"You were supposed to help me! Not get me incarcerated!" Gavin screams out struggling to stay in the handcuffs that were put around his wrists.

Gerald followed alongside me holding the car door open and once I got in, I looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"Are you my father," I scoldingly say while folding my arms as I see him tense up at the question.

Clearing his throat he says, "Where did you get that information? You know I've been the caretaker for your family for many years, that would be insanely false."

Nodding, not believing him, I look at him still, "You must've known Nolan longer no? Why pretend you didn't know him? I read somewhere you were both human slaves to Rowen, the woman who gave me an anklet that is now missing."

Gerald stops the car in a halt, "Your anklet? It's gone?"

I scoffed, "So you do know about everything, so tell me how Linus is connected."

Turning the car off Gerald turns in the driver's seat to fully make eye contact.

"Is he Nolan's half brother? Does Nolan know that? I mean in the journal entry it said he killed his half brother to get to me...to have me close."

Shaken by the sudden questions of years worth of secrets and hidden agendas, Gerald shook his head, "No, Nolan doesn't know Linus is his half brother reincarnated. He wouldn't remember either way as Rowen has killed the poor boy many times for his brain to even keep such years worth let alone decades...centuries." I cut my eyes at him, "That can't be true, he's shown me past life memories of me and him. How can he not remember killing the replication of Linus? His half brother."

Gerald starts the car again, driving me back home, unsure what he can tell me and what he couldn't.