The Ghost Detective Books 1-3 Special Boxed Edition: Three Fun Cozy Mysteries With Bonus Holiday Story (The Ghost Detective Collection)

by Jane Hinchey

  Ben had gone on ahead, stuck his head back to talk to us when we’d arrived, only Galloway rang the bell and banged on the door, his knuckles going right through Ben’s forehead. I cringed. For his part, Ben just grinned, but I saw Galloway frown and stare at his fingers, giving them a shake.

  “No-one’s home.” Ben said, moving out of Galloway’s way to stand by my side. “Did you do that on purpose?” I whispered out the corner of my mouth.

  “What? Plant my face in the middle of Kade’s fist? Why would I do that, Fitz?” I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t sure if Ben was teasing or not. I stood in the hallway, toeing the faded carpet, while Galloway gave the door another rap with his knuckles. Silence from inside. I could hardly tell Galloway that a ghost had told me no-one was home. We waited another couple of minutes, then returned to the car. “We’ll circle back around to him.” Galloway said, sliding behind the wheel and turning to face me, resting one arm on the steering wheel. “If necessary I can call in a welfare check.”

  “Welfare check?”

  “If someone has concerns for his safety, that he may be unwell or have self harmed, we can conduct a welfare—or wellness—check to make sure he’s okay.”

  “So you’d bust his door in?”

  Galloway snorted. “We’d ask the superintendent to unlock the door with his master key if we thought the situation warranted it.”

  “Do you think Jacob would do something like that?” My voice dropped, “that he’d... take his own life?”

  “Relax, Fitz,” Ben said from the back seat, “I already told you, Jacob Henry is not home. He’s not swinging from the rafters or whatever other thing your over active imagination is conjuring up.”

  “So far I’ve seen nothing to suggest that. Relax, we’re not there yet, it’s just an option for later if we can’t track him down. He could be out getting some fresh air, buying a coffee, visiting a friend. So where to next, PI in training?” Galloway said. I ignored Ben and focused on Galloway.

  Tipping my head back against the headrest, I gazed up at the roof of the car, mentally going through my list of suspects. “Regina Davis.” I turned my head to look at Galloway, who nodded, already punching her name into his phone. “What do you have there, anyway?” I asked. “Some sort of app?”

  “Something like that, yes. And before you ask, no, you can’t have one too. Police issue only.”

  I pouted, it’d be nice to have access to the police database, it would make life easier.

  Regina Davis lived in a mansion overlooking Firefly Bay. A maid ushered us inside, informing us that Mrs. Davis was taking cocktails by the pool. Galloway had raised his eyebrows and glanced at his watch. I agreed. Little early in the day for cocktails, never-the-less, we followed the maid out to the pool which was straight out of a five-star luxury resort. Sunlight glistened off the pool's surface, lounge chairs were scattered around the perimeter, but the view? Man, the view was to die for. Three hundred and sixty degrees of ocean and coastline. It was breathtaking.

  “The police are here to see you.” The maid announced, then swiveled on her heel and quickly disappeared. Regina was sitting at a table beneath an umbrella with her laptop open in front of her, a tall glass of something in front of her. She stood as we approached, looking cool, calm, and classy in her white pants and leopard print blouse, gold hoops in her ears, a matching gold chain around her neck and wrist, and Prada sunglasses.

  “Please,” she smiled, her red lipstick brilliant in the sunlight, “take a seat. Can I offer you a drink?”

  “Bit early in the day, isn’t it?” I asked, nodding at her glass. She laughed. “Darling, it’s past midday, but relax, it’s a mocktail. You want one? I can get Louise to whip up anything you want.”

  I shook my head. “I’m good.” I settled into a chair opposite her, Galloway took the one to my left. Ben did what he usually did, disappeared to check out the rest of the house.

  Regina eyed us up and down. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “I’m Detective Kade Galloway. This is my associate, Audrey Fitzgerald.” Galloway introduced us, producing a business card from his pocket and sliding it across the table where Regina glanced at it without picking it up. “We’re here about Myra Hansen.”

  Regina’s hand went to her throat, and beneath her heavy layer of makeup, she paled. “I heard! How awful.”

  “We believe you were a client of Myra’s?” Galloway prompted.

  Regina nodded, reaching for her glass with a trembling hand she took a hefty sip. Bet she was wishing it wasn’t a mocktail now, the look on her face telling me a double shot of vodka would be welcome. She cleared her throat. “Yes, I saw Myra every week, we had an ongoing arrangement.”

  Galloway nodded. We already knew that. I wondered if she would fess up that the reason she was seeing a psychic was to communicate with her dead dog. Color me surprised when those were the very next words out of her mouth. “People think I’m crazy, but you know what? I really don’t care. I went to Myra so I could check on Rufus, my poodle, check that he was okay, that he was happy on the other side, and just to feel closer to him. I know, I know, he was a dog, but to me he was more, I loved him, we were soul mates.” She sat back, head moving from me to Galloway and back again, eyes hidden by the dark shades.

  “Soul mates?” I couldn’t help myself. I was intrigued.

  Regina’s lips curled into a sad smile. “Sounds crazy, right? But you think having all of this,” she waved her hand around, indicating the luxurious house and gardens, “can make you happy? Think again. You can be the richest of the rich and still be lonely.”

  “Are you? Lonely?”

  She chuckled. “No, not really. I was born into this life, I’ve never known anything different. Everyone thinks it’s Robert who has the money and I’m happy enough for them to think that, but the truth is, he’s the one who had to sign the pre-nup.”

  “Robert’s your husband?” Galloway asked. She nodded. “Married for twenty years. No kids. Robert bought me Rufus as a wedding anniversary present. That’s when I discovered Rufus was the one who fulfilled me, who filled a space in my heart that I didn’t know needed filling. We were inseparable until he passed away.”

  “And your husband was never jealous over your relationship with your dog?” Oh God, I felt stupid for even saying it, but the way Regina gushed over her pooch, I figured it was a legitimate question.

  “Robert is too busy schtupping his secretary to be bothered one way or the other about me.”

  Galloway and I glanced at each other. He motioned for me to close my mouth. I did. With a snap.

  “You’re saying your husband is having an affair with his secretary?” Galloway needed confirmation. Regina happily gave it. “Oh, yes. It’s been going on for years.”

  “And you’re not... upset?” I was beyond shocked. If my husband had been cheating on me—for years—I’d have his gonads as souvenirs on my desk. That’s if I had a husband. Which I don’t, but the sentiment is still the same.

  “Darling, why would I be? The man is doing me a favor. Robert has needs—as do I—but let's just say neither of us is best suited to fulfilling those needs.”

  Oooh, I could feel my mouth getting ready to drop open again so I clamped my teeth together, hard. Robert’s secretary was a man. Robert was gay. Or at least bi.

  “Where were you this morning between nine and nine-thirty?” Galloway brought conversation back on track while my mind was still grappling with the fact that Regina’s husband was having an affair with his male secretary and she was perfectly okay with it. Or did it just seem that way?

  Regina leaned forward and tapped a key on her laptop, I assumed to bring up her diary, which struck me as odd since we were only asking her movements from a handful of hours ago. I wouldn’t have thought it was that hard to remember. “I had a personal training session.” She told us.

  “With?”

  “Jayden Ellis. You can ask him, he’ll confirm.” Then, to my utter surprise, her chin
wobbled. Was she? Crying? A tear escaped from beneath the Prada shades and trickled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. I hadn’t realized she was so close to Myra, but I guess if they’d been having regular sessions, maybe they’d developed a friendship of sorts.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She sniffed, “how am I going to talk to Rufus now?” She leaned forward and began typing into the laptop. “There have to be other psychics around!”

  Right. Not tears for the dead psychic. Tears because she’d lost the connection to her pet. Galloway stood, and I followed suit.

  “Thanks for talking with us, we’ll be back if we have any further questions. If you think of anything, anything at all that might help in our investigation, please give me a call.” He said, tapping the business card on the table. Darn. I still didn’t have business cards. I made yet another mental note to get some organized.

  “Sure, sure.” She didn’t even look up, intent on her google search for psychics, I presumed. We let ourselves out. I wasn’t convinced Regina Davis was our murderer. Messed up, hell yes, but not a killer.

  11

  “Man, you should have seen that house, Fitz!” Ben gushed, leaning forward from the back seat and talking straight into my ear. “It was HUGE! Oh, and get this, there’s a locked door in the basement!”

  I swiveled to look at him. “A locked door?”

  “You will never guess what’s inside.” He crossed his arms and flopped back against the seat, a smug expression on his face.

  “Okay, you’re right, I’m not going to guess. What was behind the locked door?”

  Shooting forward again, his voice dropped. “A red room.”

  I frowned. “A red room?”

  He nodded. “A red room.”

  “As in... fifty shades?” I blinked, my mind grappling to come to terms that someone legitimately had a room full of sex toys and equipment.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I wonder who uses it. Her or him?”

  “Want me to come back and find out?” Ben offered.

  “So kind of you to offer so selflessly,” I drawled, “but that won’t be necessary. Perv.” I added.

  The driver’s side door opened, and Galloway slid behind the wheel. “Who are you talking to?”

  I flattened my lips into a straight line. It was a legitimate question, and I was so busted. “Myself?” He can’t have missed the fact that I’d been having a conversation with his rear seat, but I lived in hope.

  Firing up the engine, Galloway shot me a look. A look that he said he didn’t believe me. At all. “Sure.” That one word was laced with derision.

  “You’re so busted.” Ben said helpfully. I almost told him to shut up. Almost. While my mind was scrambling for a way out, I was saved by the bell. My phone started buzzing.

  “Hey, mom.” I’d never been so grateful for a call from my mom in my entire life.

  “Hey, sweetheart, just checking in, you still okay for dinner this week?”

  “Sure, mom. Wouldn’t miss it.” Our weekly family get-togethers were a tradition, I figured it wasn’t the reason for her call. “What’s up, mom?”

  “Well,” she paused, “your father and I saw you on the news...”

  Oh. The bank robbery. “I’m fine, mom, honestly. It was scary at the time, but no-one got hurt.” I kicked myself for not thinking to ring her after my face was plastered on the news—it wouldn’t have been very nice to find out your daughter had been involved in a bank heist from a TV reporter. “I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

  “You know we worry about you.” She sniffed. Correction. Mom worried. Dad just supported mom in her concern. But if he knew I’d totaled Ben’s car escaping from bad guys wielding guns, well then yes, I’d say his worry would far outstrip my mom’s. Which is why I had no intention of telling them. Ever. “Look mom, I’m working at the moment, I have a case, but I’ll see you for dinner on Friday and I’ll tell you all about it then, I promise.”

  “Okay, love. Just... be careful. Love you.”

  “Love you too, mom.” Sliding my phone back into my bag I glanced at Galloway out the corner of my eye. “That was mom,” I said.

  “Yeah, I got that.” Of course he did. I wanted to smack my forehead with the palm of my hand but stopped the impulse by sitting on my hands instead. We traveled in silence for a few minutes until I realized we were heading back to the station. My shoulders slumped. I’d been enjoying working with him, but I figured he had work he had to do that didn’t involve dragging a novice PI around. Especially one who held full-on conversations with herself. “Heading back, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry—I got a message I’m needed back at the station. We will have to cut this short.”

  “Oh. Okay.” I thought I did a good job of hiding my disappointment, I even managed to ignore Ben, who’d started chatting again in the back. “I don’t think Regina Davis is our man,” he said. “I can guarantee you Kade will check her alibi, make sure she was at a training session with Ellis. But,” he paused to drag in a breath, which was curious since ghosts can’t—or don’t need to—breathe. “That’s not to say she didn’t hire someone to do her dirty work. She has the money. Our hypothesis still rings true. If she discovered Myra was a fraud would she lash out in such a way? Extreme yes. But effective. And she said it herself, she grew up with money, in a world where money solves all your problems, one way or another.”

  He had a point. Regina had money. But from what she told us, she was lacking in motive. One thing I learned in PI school? Everyone lies. So what was Regina Davis lying about? The status quo in her marriage? Her finances? Or the whole visiting a psychic to talk to her dead dog thing? My gut was telling me that Regina didn’t kill Myra, but with nothing to back that up...

  “Sorry to cut this short.” We’d pulled into the parking lot without me even noticing. “I’ll swing by later and pick you up to go visit Jacob Henry.”

  The smile I sent him was nothing short of dazzling, I’m sure. He blinked, and that dimple appeared. “What? You thought I was ditching you? Audrey, you’d know if I were ditching you ‘cos I’d literally tell you ‘Audrey, I’m ditching you.’ I legitimately have to come in; a meeting with the Chief that wasn’t in my calendar.” The last was said with a frown.

  “Trouble?” I asked. In my experience, any meeting with the boss was a precursor to me getting fired. But then Galloway did not have the clumsy gene. He was solid, in more ways than one. I hitched a breath in shock. The thought he was solid, dependable, could be trusted, hit me in the center of my chest. Hard.

  “Doubtful.” He was halfway out the car and I was still sitting here, shocked at my own revelation. Hurriedly I unsnapped the seatbelt and opened the door, climbing out, only to have my leg snag on the lip of the footwell on the way out. “Argh!” I toppled, one leg caught in the car, the other landing painfully on my knee, my bag flinging over my head to land on the ground in front of me, contents spilling across the paved parking lot.

  “Audrey?” Galloway rounded the rear of the car, caught an eyeful of me in a rather inelegant position, and promptly burst out laughing. “You okay?” He asked, stepping closer.

  “I’m fine.” I huffed, rolling onto my backside and extracting my foot from where it was caught. Climbing to my feet, I dusted myself off, ignoring the stinging in my knee—what was another bruise to add to the collection, anyway? Galloway joined me in picking up the contents of my bag and we were there, crouched close together, heads almost touching when it hit me. An urge to kiss him. Being this close, his scent all around me, playing on my senses and making me totally forget that I had a ghost as a chaperone.

  “Audrey and Kade, sitting in a tree...” Ben sing-songed. But even Ben being a dick wasn’t enough to dull the heat burning through my veins. My hand brushed his where we both dropped items into my bag at the same time. Me, a tube of lip balm. Him, a pack of tampons. I felt the heat creep up my face yet when I looked up and his eyes w
ere on me, so close I could see the golden flecks in the otherwise sea of turbulent gray, I was lost. Dropping the balm, I reached up and laid my palm against his cheek. “Kade.” I was so used to calling him Galloway that using his first name felt both foreign on my tongue and strangely right at home.

  “Yeah?” The drawl was low, rumbling through me in a vibration to my very core. It was amazing I hadn’t lost my balance yet, crouched as I was on the ground, and toppled right into him.

  “You know that time when we kissed, and you said to let you know when I was ready?”

  “Yeah?” His eyes darkened and yet he didn’t move, letting me come to him like he’d promised he would. In my head I planned to go slow. In reality, I lurched forward and plastered my lips against his. We began to topple, but he flung out a hand to brace us against the side of his car. With the other, he held the nape of my neck and steadied me while I kissed him. Boy, did I kiss him. I kissed him until my lips tingled and my body was mush, I was liquid against him. Ignoring Ben, who was hooting and carrying on, I gave all of myself in that kiss. Of course I did. We were in the parking lot of the Firefly Bay Police Department and he was about to go into a meeting with the Chief. Perfect timing, perfect location.

  Slowly we pulled away, breath mingling. “Right back at ya.” His words resonated through my bones and my lips curled into a self-satisfied smile. I could have stayed in our little bubble of lust forever, but the front doors of the station opened and voices reached us. With a wry grin Galloway released me and stood, helping me to my feet. “I’ll call you.” He dropped a kiss on my cheek, swiveled on his heel and walked away. I watched until he disappeared inside, because watching that denim clad rear walk away was a sight I’d never tire of.

  “When you’ve finished ogling,” Ben drawled, “we should go. We’ve got work to do.”