Onyx Webb 8 Read online

  ONYX WEBB

  Book 8

  Diandra Archer

  Contents

  GET ENTANGLED

  Wait, Where Were We?

  BOOK SIX

  BOOK SEVEN

  Episode 22

  Dedicated to:

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  Episode 23

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  JACKSON, GEORGIA

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  Episode 24

  QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  ORLANDO, FLORIDA

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  CRIMSON COVE, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

  GET ENTANGLED

  About Diandra Archer…

  Lust for Living Press is an imprint of

  COURAGE CRAFTERS, INC.

  Copyright 2018 by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz.

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-947814-07-3

  Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher or authors.

  DISCLAIMER:

  This book is a work of fiction. And while some real locations, historical events, company names and easily recognizable public figures have been used, the story is strictly the product of the authors’ imaginations. Beyond that, any names and/or resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  GET ENTANGLED

  Visit Our Webb-Page

  www.OnyxWebb.com

  Wait, Where Were We?

  BOOK SIX

  Episode Sixteen: The Autistic Savant

  Stan Lee follows Nisa Mulvaney to Myrtle Beach and abducts her from a bar. Newt Drystad (a young autistic savant with a talent for solving serial murders) starts working for Agent Pipi Esperanza at the FBI on Nisa Mulvaney’s disappearance. Koda emerges from his coma. Mika, still in financial trouble, rushes to the mansion to steal another valuable from Declan’s study—a rare book this time—and is confronted by Stormy Boyd. Onyx Webb and her lawyer, Alistar Ashley, continue their friendship as he visits with her one night a week for many years.

  Episode Seventeen: Death Comes in Threes

  Newt and Pipi get called off Nisa Mulvaney’s case but from all the evidence conclude that she was likely abducted and that her return was not probable. With Kara’s help, Stan Lee faces the truth: He gave Nisa too much ketamine. She was dead. Koda leaves the hospital to recuperate at the mansion with Robyn by his side and enlists the help of Gerylyn Stoller to search for Juniper. Declan confronts Mika about her thievery, and they end up blackmailing each other. Nathaniel presses Olympia to solve his murder by confronting Declan Mulvaney.

  Episode Eighteen: Journey Into Loll

  Koda and Gerylyn go into Loll while Robyn watches helplessly in the living plane at the mansion. After Pipi shortens the trip to Portland to meet with the sheriff of Crimson Cove, Newt and Pipi stop in Oklahoma City and Pipi is killed in the bombing of the federal building. Pipi miraculously turns up at the Dallas FBI office and her working life with Newt is restarted. Alistar Ashley goes for his last visit with Onyx after his wife Kizzy discovers he’d “invested” all their money into the lighthouse, and his car is annihilated in a fiery crash on his drive back. After Abigale Dietz is given Claudia Spilatro’s 1953 film (where Claudia accuses Onyx of murdering Sheriff Hell Daniels), she and her brother decide to hold a special Onyx Webb Film Festival.

  BOOK SEVEN

  Episode Nineteen: The Hot Pie

  After Quinn hires Graeme to help him lose 180 pounds, Koda contacts him with an urgent message to come to Charleston to see Juniper. Mika’s attempt to sell her house goes bad when she assaults a news reporter with a hot pie. Stan Lee kills two girls from the UK and leaves for the Onyx Webb Film Festival. Newt gets help solving several anagrams from an attractive agent named Maggie. Noah, Kizzy, and Kizzy’s mother Sinead attend Alistar’s funeral—which Onyx also attends. George Dietz and his kids hold the Onyx Webb Film Festival, attended by an eclectic collection of characters, including Noah, Stan Lee, Newt, Pipi, and Onyx herself.

  Episode Twenty: The Art Raid

  Koda, Quinn, and Robyn continue their vigil waiting for Juniper, who finally emerges from Loll. Stan Lee discovers a secret door to Declan Mulvaney’s hidden room filled with stolen art and notifies the FBI, leading to Declan’s house arrest. Olympia continues to deal with Nathaniel’s ghost and pursuit of Stormy Boyd. Bruce helps Mika out of trouble with the Restoring Savannah Foundation and the hot pie incident. Noah revisits the stories left behind by his grandfather, Alistar, and connects with Onyx Webb. Onyx gets two new friends to keep her company: a black cat, and, more importantly, Noah Ashley.

  Episode Twenty-One: King of the Gypsies

  Noah offers to help Onyx sell some land to Bruce Mulvaney, but he discovers boxes of vintage Levi jeans in the caretaker’s house and calls the deal off. Newt and Maggie track down the gypsies who’ve been committing crimes around the country and were linked to the deaths of several children. After Pipi lets Loiza go, Newt learns that meeting Maggie was not accidental and had been a setup from the start. Olympia has a run-in with more ghosts while on location in New Mexico and quits her show, while Nathaniel pushes harder for her help. After a night of partying with her limo driver, Mika wakes up to discover him bludgeoned to death in her bed—and Tiny downstairs in the kitchen gnawing on a prosthetic leg. Koda believes Robyn is behind the eBay auction of his things and kicks her out of the mansion.

  “They say the only thing worse than death is the death of love. I cannot judge this to be right or wrong. While I know all too much about death, I know very little about love.”

  - Onyx Webb

  Episode 22

  The Onyx Webb Gallery

  Dedicated to:

  Stephen King

  Carrie. The Shining. Pet Cemetery.

  All amazing stories. A and equally amazing in terms of the influence they had on us, our storytelling, and our writing style. And when The Green Mile was released as a serial novel, I (Rich
ard) would go to the grocery store every day to see if the latest installment had arrived. I was not only hooked on the story and but also on the serial novel format.

  Recently, when someone likened Onyx Webb to The Green Mile, we were beyond flattered.

  And to the following

  Onyx Webb “Super Fans”…

  Imani

  Lieze Neven

  Tirza Campbell

  Kathy A. Barber Doyle

  Galina Knyazeva

  Pamela Morton

  Laura Davidson

  Truman Gene Shelton

  Shelly Lubbers

  Terry Imes

  Gail Ashbrook-Meyer

  Without your support, Onyx would cease to exist.

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  NOVEMBER 22, 2010

  Juniper looks worse every time we see her,” Koda said from one of the two chairs in front of the mirror in the second-floor guest room.

  “And she’s been coming less and less,” Quinn said from the other chair. “She’s afraid of these shadow people, whoever they are. Something about them being attracted to her when she gets too much energy.”

  “She’s afraid she’ll lead them here,” Koda said.

  The problem was clear, Koda realized: The more time Juniper spent around them—especially around Quinn, the person who loved her the most—the more energy she absorbed. The more energy, the more vibrant she appeared. Juniper’s only solution was to avoid them.

  Maybe she was right.

  “This is exactly what Dane was talking about,” Koda said. “He said it was his fault for attracting them and bringing them into Robyn’s house.”

  “And who is Dane?”

  “My best friend from college. He was killed in Orlando over Fourth of July weekend.”

  “I’m sorry,” Quinn said. “If he was your friend, then why did—?”

  “Dane and Robyn were a thing for a bit,” Koda said. “It was the same situation with the shadow people, so Dane decided it was best to stop coming.”

  Koda could tell this was not what Quinn wanted to hear.

  Koda and Quinn were frustrated that Juniper still had not told them everything she knew about who killed her. She’d told Robyn she remembered what happened to her, but they could never get Juniper to stay long enough to provide them with any details. All Juniper said was that it definitely wasn’t Wyatt Scrogger, which made Quinn sick to his stomach.

  Quinn’s one-time best friend had spent thirty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. This, too, would have to be dealt with—and soon. But what was Quinn supposed to do? Walk into the DA’s office and tell them to let Wyatt go based on the word of his dead sister’s ghost?

  Good luck with that, Quinn thought.

  However, if they could get Juniper to tell them who did do it, maybe there would be something the authorities could do.

  “Speaking of Robyn,” Quinn said. “Where has she been? I haven’t seen her in—”

  “She went home for a bit,” Koda said.

  Moments later, the door to the guest room opened.

  It was Stormy Boyd.

  “You’ve been spying on us?” Koda said. “How? With cameras? Listening devices? Does my father know about this?”

  “No,” Stormy said. “But your grandfather does.”

  “My grandfather? I don’t believe you.”

  “Declan is the one who asked me to do it,” Stormy said, stretching the truth somewhat. Declan asked him to find out what was happening in the upstairs guest room, but he left it up to Stormy to figure out how.

  “You’ve got cameras in every room?” Quinn asked.

  Stormy shook his head. “No, just this room.”

  “For how long?” Koda asked.

  “Ever since Gerylyn Stoller’s visit several weeks ago,” Stormy said. “Now, are you gentlemen interested in knowing why I’m here?”

  They remained silent.

  “I know about your sister,” Stormy said to Quinn. “I know about her… situation.”

  “And?” Quinn said.

  “And I’d like to offer a solution—one you apparently have not considered,” Stormy said.

  Again, Koda and Quinn stayed silent.

  “The obvious solution is Juniper should leave Loll and stay here,” Stormy said.

  “Here?” Koda asked.

  “Yes,” Stormy said. “The next time you make contact with Juniper, tell her you’d like her to stay here with you in the living plane. Not to visit but to stay. Permanently.”

  “Is that even possible?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes,” Stormy said. He offered no further explanation.

  “How do you know this?” Quinn asked.

  “I’d rather not say,” Stormy said.

  “Yeah, well I’d rather you did. Now,” Koda said.

  Stormy remained silent, trying to decide how much he wanted to say. There was only one person in the world he’d ever come clean with: Declan Mulvaney.

  Admittedly, doing so had been liberating. But the thought of having two more people know the truth—two people with whom he had little history—was frightening. Funny, Stormy thought, a ghost being scared to show itself to the living. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

  “Well?” Koda said.

  “My given name is John Edward Boyd,” Stormy said finally. “I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 27, 1854, during a tornado—hence the nickname. I died on August 6, 1904, saving a girl’s life. My return to the living plane occurred during the appearance of Haley’s Comet in the summer of 1911, and I have remained here ever since.”

  “That’s hilarious,” Koda said.

  “Listen, my sister’s death is not a joke,” Quinn said. “I don’t appreciate…”

  Quinn’s words trailed off as Stormy removed his bowler hat and placed it on a nearby end table and pulled a wooden-handled folding jack knife from his pocket.

  “Here, take this,” Stormy said, holding the knife out to Koda.

  Koda took the knife. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

  “Inspect it to see that it’s real,” Stormy said.

  Koda shrugged and pulled out the blade until it clicked and locked it in place. “Okay. Now what?”

  “Go ahead. Stab me,” Stormy said.

  “What? I’m not going to stab you,” Koda said. “You’re crazy.”

  Stormy expected this reaction. “Very well,” Stormy said, taking the knife from Koda’s hand and then plunging the blade into his own neck.

  Koda and Quinn gasped in horror but relaxed when they saw Stormy was still standing.

  Stormy slowly pulled the blade from his neck and laid it on the end table next to his bowler hat. “I have no beating heart,” he said. “I feel no physical pain, and I cannot be killed—because I am already dead.”

  CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

  NOVEMBER 23, 2010

  Stan Lee waited as long as he could before contacting the doctor who’d handled his last prosthetic upgrade nine years earlier, fearing police might be on the lookout for someone who’d recently—and unexplainably—lost a prosthetic.

  It wasn’t simply paranoia. The idea that the police were pursuing the leg angle was not only possible—it was probable. Caution was in order. Working in Stan Lee’s favor, however, was the fact that he’d lost the leg in Savannah. His doctor was in Charleston. It was unlikely the FBI was involved.

  Fortunately, Stan Lee had kept his previous set of prosthetics tucked away, just in case he ever needed them.

  Just in case had finally arrived.

  Stan Lee parked the van in the lot at the medical center and thought about the moment he’d lost the prosthetic leg to the massive canine in Mika Flagler’s kitchen and released a laugh. It wasn’t funny at the time. Now it seemed hilarious—like something that might have taken place in an old Three Stooges episode—the dog with his teeth clamped around the ankle of the prosthetic.

  Had the dog had its teeth clamped on a real leg, the story w
ould have been different. He’d be preparing for trial.

  When he’d gone to the house that night, Stan Lee had no intention of murdering the limo driver. He’d gone to kill Mika Flagler—high on ketamine and looking for revenge for being fired from hosting the Restoring Savannah Foundation charity event as he’d done the year earlier.

  Stan Lee had used a glass cutter to get in the house. Then he climbed the stairs, found Mika asleep in her bed, and crushed her skull with a series of furious hammer blows—only to find out the next day it wasn’t her.

  It was her limo driver.

  He was getting sloppy.

  Stan Lee scanned the parking lot for dark sedans with people sitting in them, assuming if the cops were staking out the place, that’s the type of vehicle they’d be in.