Earthbound : A gripping crime thriller full of twists and supernatural suspense by Fynn Perry (popular romance novels TXT) 📗

“He could also be pushing drugs for him, given his habit. At the very least, he lets his employee McGinty sell drugs at the pub. I heard him say it.”

“Add to that, we know that Juan Santiago was a drug mobster like El Gordito, and his spirit first possessed Hardwell, who tried to stab you, then possessed Devereux, who threatened my father and stabbed him with a letter opener. Hardwell is locked up and Devereux has disappeared. Finally, we know that El Gordito is possessed, but we can’t be sure by whom. It could be Santiago, but it could be just as easily be the spirit of someone else.”

“The spirit who chased me looked Mexican and his mortal host was a member of El Gordito’s bodyguard team. Since mortals can’t give spirits orders, the only explanation seems that he must have been taking orders from the spirit inside El Gordito.”

“OK, but it still doesn’t mean––“

“It’s Santiago, Jen. I’m certain it is. There’s something I didn’t tell you yet about everything that happened after the club.”

“Go on.” She waited with tense eyes.

John related the incident in the van, the cut-up body, the possessed driver, and his last-minute possession of a hobo. As he spoke, he saw her brow crease with anger, her previous irritation flaring up again at this news of the extent of his risk-taking.

He continued, telling her how a girl spirit had spoken to him and helped him. “She explained how for someone to become truly evil, like the serial killer in the van, it takes a second evil mind inside a body in addition to the mortal’s own. Also, she said the suffering that the serial killer will inflict will be nothing compared to what Santiago and his host El Gordito are capable of.”

“Wait, let me check something,” Jennifer said as she typed the words ‘El Gordito’ and ‘Juan Santiago’ into the search engine. “So, what did this spirit look like? Pretty?” she added casually.

“Kind of,” John said. “She had a bit of tomboy thing going, you know? Like a sort of Lisbeth Salander vibe, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not my type, and, there was something else—when she had finished talking, her eyes became hollow and she just disappeared into nothing.”

“What? Seriously?”

John nodded. “Maybe I should change my type, keep a lookout for her. You know, keep my options open. In case I have to stay like this.” He paused, giving her that same teasing, crooked smile she knew from their flirts at school. “You, on the other hand, cannot start seeing anyone else. Remember, I can stick my head through any wall at any time to check up on you!”

“Don’t even joke about not coming back to me, John!” she said and turned back to look at her screen. “Here,” she said, pointing. “It turns out that Santiago frequently visited El Gordito’s DNA club and would book the whole VIP lounge to host large, drug-fueled parties. One article mentioned rumors that he and El Gordito were going to expand their operations and carve up the drug trade in the Eastern Seaboard between them.”

“Wait a second. In one of your books on the afterlife, it said something about earthbound spirits staying on because they can’t let go of addictions they had in their previous mortal lives...not drugs or alcohol but certain feelings…Maybe . . . Maybe Santiago has stayed on here as an earthbound spirit and, through possessing El Gordito, can re-live his addictions to power and cruelty?”

“That could be it, John! El Gordito seems to have grown his empire rapidly in the last year. The number of killings he’s suspected of being involved in has more than tripled and the murders have become more sadistic. That could be Santiago’s effect on him. It adds up. From what I could find in the news reports, the rises in violence seemed to occur a few months after Santiago died in prison.”

“Fuck! Two drug lords in one!” John sighed, then paused, knowing Jennifer wouldn’t like what he was about to say next.

“Whichever way we look at it, I have to go back to DNA. In one of the articles you found online about El Gordito, it said he does all his business at DNA. It’s still the only lead we have and the one thing that seems to connect everything.”

Jennifer frowned.

“I’ll go back to the club during the day. There will be fewer people around; I will have a better chance to give the place a recon and find something that could help us.”

“And what would that evidence look like, John? Where would you start looking?”

“I don’t know. I’ll know it when I see it. Like I did at Donovan’s.”

“And what about the spirits? There will be fewer people during the day, most probably, but that doesn’t mean Santiago and his henchman spirit won’t be there!”

“What other option do we have? Run and hide? Eventually, it will find us. Then there’s your fath––”

“I know, I know, my dad!” Jennifer looked frantic for a moment. “What about a priest? Couldn’t we get a priest to exorcise Santiago?”

“We will never get a priest to believe and take seriously what we’ve seen with our own eyes. Even if we found one skilled in exorcism and willing to try, how would we get a priest anywhere near El Gordito, let alone have him strapped to a chair or bed for days, weeks, or however long it’s supposed to take to do an exorcism—assuming that it would actually work.”

“I guess you’re right… We have no other choice but to take this into our own hands,” she said resignedly.

They fell silent.

“I’m so tired, Jen,” John finally muttered.

Jennifer watched as John succumbed to a deep sleep. If there was anything she envied about his state, it was that he wouldn’t be up most of the night, worrying like she inevitably would. There was nothing more she wanted right now than to fall asleep in his arms,