by Paula Lester
Gloria headed for the door. Tessa admired the floor-length maxi dress her friend wore, which was the same shade of fuchsia as her eyeshadow.
"I've been reaping for months. Why do I need mentoring now?" Tessa hopped off the desk and followed Gloria into the lobby.
Gloria cast a smirk over her shoulder. "Because you're a slow learner."
Tessa's jaw dropped and she stopped walking for a second and then had to hurry to catch back up. "I am not! There's just been a lot of weird stuff going on since I came on, that's all. I mean, it isn't like everything's been routine or easy with the reaps."
"Actually, it’s my opinion that everything has been routine and boring, but you've been inserting some drama." Gloria made a beeline for her car, and Tessa followed without arguing.
Gloria's ride was much more reliable than Linda.
"I'm not dramatic."
Gloria's cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's. And then she burst into high-pitched laughter. "Really? You're going to take that route? Honey, you bring more drama with you than Hollywood celebrities bring to the red carpet. It's one thing after another with you.
“First, you lose a soul, then you exchange one soul for another, then you’re involved in a bunch of improper reaps at the convention.” She pointed a finger at Tessa’s nose. “I'm telling you, you're the one bringing the madness."
Tessa got in the car and put on her seatbelt. Then she crossed her arms and huffed. "Okay, I lost the soul. That much was my fault. But all the stuff that happened in Miami—that had nothing to do with me. I was just along for the ride. In fact, I'm the one who got it all figured out and cleared up. You should be thanking me instead of . . ." Tessa waved a hand in the air aimlessly. "Whatever this is."
Gloria put the car in reverse and eased out of the spot. "Relax. All I'm going to do is show you a couple of tricks of the trade. It's not any kind of statement about what kind of job you’re doing. It has more to do with me taking over and making things . . . you know, the way I want them."
Now, that actually didn't sound bad. Cheryl's management style, while standoffish, was fairly intense. She liked things to be just so and didn’t hesitate to micromanage to get them that way.
Maybe Gloria would be a little more lenient. And, if nothing else, she'd been reaping for a lot longer than Tessa and would have some tricks up her sleeve. Tessa was interested in learning all the tricks possible. Even after the flubs and dangerous situations Tessa had been put into since she became a reaper, she really did love the job. She wanted not only to keep at it but also to do a great job. She just had to figure out how to get Silas out of trouble first.
Gloria glanced at her. "You're pouting again. It's about your boyfriend, isn't it?"
"He's not my boyfriend," Tessa replied automatically, following up with, "I'm serious—he really isn't my boyfriend. We had an argument the night before Artemis Green’s reap. And Silas was really upset after he followed me and saw what happened. He didn't understand. He thought our agency was some sort of assisted suicide thing. I never had a chance to explain it before he was arrested."
"Okay, well, that's not good. But don't worry. You'll get it straightened out and hottie landlord will be your boyfriend again." The grin on Gloria's face could only be described as impish.
"That reminds me. You're always trying to get involved in my love life—giving me advice and all that on what to do with Silas. I don't ever get to hear about your love life. In Miami, you said you do have one. So, what gives? Who are you dating?"
Gloria kept her eyes on the road. "I date lots of people," she said cryptically. "But I've been seeing someone a little bit more seriously the last couple of weeks.” She paused.
Tessa could see her friend chewing the inside of her lip, like she was nervous. What did she have to be nervous about? “Okay, spill it. Tell me about this mysterious person.”
“There’s not much to tell.” She checked the side mirror, even though there was no reason to because she wasn’t changing lanes. Then she spoke in a fast rush of words. “Her name’s Ella. If you’re nice to me, maybe I'll let you meet her."
Her. That was something Tessa hadn’t known about Gloria. But it clicked into place in her mind fast, filling in a piece of knowledge that had been missing. "That sounds great. I can't wait to meet her." Tessa smiled. “Ooh, does she like Thai food? I’ve been dying to see if that new place downtown is any good.”
Gloria finally glanced at Tessa. "Thanks," she said softly.
"For what?"
"For not being weird about it."
Tessa scowled. "Why would I be weird about it? I don't care who you date. I just want you to be happy. And to stay out of my love life." She jabbed Gloria’s arm lightly with her elbow.
Gloria snorted. "Never gonna happen."
She twisted the wheel, pulling the car into Mist River Hospital’s parking lot. “You need all the help you can get with that love life of yours. Just consider me your personal relationship guru. You should be paying me a salary.”
Gloria threw the car in park and hopped out before Tessa could get a word in edgewise.
“Great,” she muttered, following more slowly.
At first, Tessa thought she’d missed Gloria somehow. She was nowhere to be seen between the front of the car and the hospital. Then she heard the sound of the car trunk popping open.
Gloria began digging in the trunk, so Tessa joined her there. A lot like her desk, it was a mess. Her trunk was like a middle schooler’s locker at the end of the year.
“Why are we here?” She jabbed a thumb toward the squat gray hospital building. Mist River was such a small town it was a wonder they had one, but it served the whole western part of the county. Recently, a big out-of-state company bought it, which was a huge scandal, but they’d upgraded the facilities and raised all the workers’ compensation, so that shut everyone up quickly.
“There’s a reap for you in there,” Gloria said, tossing bags and papers to the edges of the trunk until she said, “Aha,” and pulled a small green duffel back to the top of the pile. She unzipped and rifled through it for a minute before pulling out a pair of light blue scrubs. “Put these on.”
Tessa scowled again, but Gloria made a face that said she shouldn’t argue. Tessa pulled the shirt over her own fitted T-shirt.
“Good thing I’m wearing leggings,” she muttered as she stepped into the scrub pants. If she’d worn jeans, she would have had to make herself into a pretzel to change in the back seat.
But Gloria wasn’t paying attention—she was still digging in the duffel bag. “Where is it? I know it was here last time!”
“Maybe you should clean out your trunk,” Tessa suggested.
Gloria shot her a glare. “I can’t. This is everything I may need to blend in anywhere. Your trunk should look just like this.”
Tessa frowned.
“Okay. Maybe not just like this. But this stuff is important.”
It made sense. Having scrubs or overalls or a wig or whatever would definitely make it easier to look inconspicuous on a reap. Tessa made a note to visit the local thrift shops and see what she could stock up on.
“Bingo!” Gloria held up a card attached to a brown lanyard, which she handed to Tessa with a triumphant smile. “Here you go.”
Tessa accepted the item and turned the card over to examine it. “There’s nothing on this. What is it?”
Gloria pointed at the card. “That is your ticket into any place you’ll need to go to reap.” She re-zipped the duffel bag and closed the trunk, then leaned on the bumper. “It’s a universal badge that has some Grim Reaper magic in it. Becomes whatever you need it to be.”
Tessa turned it over again, but it still just looked like a plain laminated white card to her. “What am I missing?”
“Walk toward the hospital. Watch the card.”
With a shrug, Tessa put the lanyard around her neck and then did as Gloria directed. When she was within about twenty feet of the hospital, Gloria called, “Check
the badge.”
Tessa pulled the card up to examine it and pulled in a breath when she saw it now showed a picture of her, in scrubs, and proclaimed her to be Nurse Lottie Swan.
“Wow,” she breathed, heading back toward Gloria. In front of her eyes, the picture on the badge became fuzzy and then vanished completely as she walked away from the hospital. “So, this is, like, an all-access pass, huh?”
“Within reason,” Gloria said. She held up her cell phone and wagged it in the air. “I just assigned you the reap of Mrs. Samantha Hughes, room 323 inside. But yes. That card will act as a badge or pass key or whatever you need. Cheryl didn’t think you were ready for it. I do.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Figures she’d think I wasn’t capable. She’s never given me credit for anything.”
Gloria gave her a nudge toward the building. “I’m your boss and your love life consultant, not your therapist. Get in there and escort Mrs. Hughes over, will you? We don’t have all day.”
Tessa stuck her tongue out at her friend but went toward the hospital.
The badge worked perfectly. No one gave her a second glance as she walked around the hospital like she belonged there, straight into Mrs. Hughes’ restricted visits room.
When she was finished, she found Gloria still leaning on the trunk of her car. “How’d it go?”
“Fine. What’s next?”
“Another reap. This one’s at the chemical plant. Don’t worry—one of us is prepared. I have a white jumper suit for you. You can give that thing another whirl.” She pointed at the card around Tessa’s neck. “You’ll need it to get past the guard at the front desk and then into the lab room where Don Stempin is.”
“Fine. Let’s go. How many of these do we have today, anyway? I want to work on the Artemis Green case.”
“A few.” They got into the car, and Gloria started it up. “What are you going to do, anyway? Where are you going to start the investigation?”
“I don’t know. But I was thinking maybe I could do something like I did with Chet Sanborn’s family. You know how I went over there and talked to them about the life insurance policy? I could go to Mr. Green’s house and say I’m there about his policy. Maybe I’ll be able to talk to some people, get some information.”
Gloria scoffed and shook her head. “No way. His family would never believe he’d taken out insurance from a run-down agency like Cooper’s.”
Disappointment shot through Tessa, but she knew her friend was right. “Okay, well, that was my only bright idea. Do you have any?”
Gloria winked. “We’re just going to have to get creative.”
Chapter 8
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY creative?" Tessa studied Gloria's profile as her friend drove.
"Let’s just say a promotion wasn't all I received this morning." The tiny smile on Gloria's lips reminded Tessa of a kid who'd spotted a present with her name on it.
"What do you mean? What else did you get?"
As though she'd been dying to say it for hours, Gloria burst out, "I was endowed with Lee Stuart’s reaper ability! This girl can turn invisible."
Tessa felt her eyes pop open. This was big news.
When the earth's population had gotten to the point where the original Grim Reaper was hopping busy, he’d decided he wanted to retire, take it easy, and lounge around on beaches to drink coconutty cocktails. So, he'd come up with the idea of reaper agencies and allowed small bits of his power to be used by others. Most reapers just got the actual reaping power—the ability to open a path across the veil and escort souls over. But some select few also received other secrets of the original reaper. Tessa had been gifted the ability to conjure an actual scythe, which she had used only once so far.
"I can't believe they gave you invisibility! That's amazing."
Gloria's head bobbed as though she were listening to music. Tessa had never seen her so excited. "Yep. I guess Mr. Blade noticed me helping you at the convention and arranged for Lee’s secret to pass to me.” She winked. “This has been one of the best days of my life. When I was a kid playing superhero, invisibility was always my choice. And now it’s real—not just me hiding under a blanket.”
She giggled like the little girl in the memory. “Of course, I’m not supposed to go around all willy-nilly, just becoming invisible for no reason. Luckily, you’ve provided me with the perfect excuse!”
“I have?” Tessa wrinkled her nose for a second. “Wait, this is what you meant by getting creative? You’re going to use it?”
Gloria turned onto the road leading to Artemis Green’s suburb. “We are. Let’s see if we can find anything out from the source.”
They parked about a quarter mile down the road and walked toward Mr. Green’s driveway. Tessa could feel Gloria’s excitement increase as they got closer. Her arms shook with anticipation, and a smile stayed etched on her face.
Before they got into view of the security gate at the end of the driveway, Gloria stopped short and grabbed Tessa’s arm. “Okay. I’m obviously a novice at this, but I think if we stay in contact, I can extend the invisibility to you.”
Tessa eyed her friend for a second. “You know, my mom never would do this. When you said you were going to be a different kind of boss from her, you weren’t kidding.”
Gloria shrugged, and her eyebrows danced upward. “If you want to forget about this, we can go back to the office, and I can write you up for carelessness on the job. You know, for letting Silas follow you on a reap. That would be more bosserly, right?”
“For one, that’s not a word.” Tessa rolled her eyes. “For two, I can do without the write-up. But are you sure you want to do this so soon after your promotion? I’m pretty sure it’s not something upper management would get behind. In fact, I’m positive Mom would let the police sort it out. She’d say it’s not our problem and that I should keep my head down and do my work.”
“You do have a little bit of Cheryl in you,” Gloria said. “I can see it now. And you’re probably right. I shouldn’t be doing this. It’s a big risk.”
“But?”
“But the police seem pretty convinced they got their man already. I think if they’re going to do any sorting out, it’s only going to be to drum up more evidence to support their conclusion. They aren’t going to be looking for another suspect.”
“You’re right.” Tessa felt bad about bringing her friend into this. What if something happened—what if her mom did find out about this? Both she and Gloria would get fired. She couldn’t stand for that.
The trepidation showed on her face because Gloria said, “I guess we can leave your man to the whims of the local police department if you want. Even though you know for a fact they’re wrong.” She leveled her gaze on Tessa. “I’m good with risking getting my higher-ups a little irritated to do the right thing. But it’s your call.”
Tessa pursed her lips and didn’t even need to think about it. Everyone needed a friend like Gloria. Tessa held out her hand. “Let’s go.”
With a happy little hop, Gloria grabbed her hand. Tessa expected her to do something to activate the invisibility—wiggle her nose, maybe, or wave a hand. Maybe flap like a chicken. But she didn’t do anything. One second, Tessa was looking at Gloria, and the next, she was looking at the tree behind her, unimpeded by her friend’s image in front of it.
Tessa glanced down at her own body and gave a little squeak. She’d half-expected to still be able to see herself, but she couldn’t.
Disorientation sent her lurching forward when Gloria started to walk, tugging on her hand. Gloria stopped to let Tessa get her footing. “It helps to just keep looking ahead,” she whispered. “Don’t look down or over at me if you can help it. Your brain will object to the experience.”
Object to the experience. Yeah, that’s what her brain was doing all right. It made her vision blur and gave her nausea like a bad migraine.
Tessa took a deep breath, looked straight ahead, and started walking slowly.
This is better. I
can work with this.
She ignored the remaining slight queasy feeling in her gut and kept moving forward beside Gloria.
They had to skirt around the gate at the end of the driveway which, thankfully, was meant to keep out cars and didn’t extend to a fully fenced-in property. They hurried down the driveway, hand in hand.
As the huge house came into view, Tessa could see there were three people, a man and two women, on the porch. A second later, she realized they were arguing.
The invisible reapers jogged forward until they were at the base of the steps, close enough to see and hear what was happening.
“Please don’t do this!” The speaker was a woman in her mid to late forties. She wore a white apron and tears streamed down her plump face. “I need this job. I love this job. Really, I don’t even know what else I could do.”
The man, who was bald on top but had a ring of dull-brown hair around the back of his skull and a poufy mustache, crossed his arms. “That really isn’t our concern, Lark.”
Lark. Was that a name Mrs. Cross had mentioned? No, she’d mentioned another, a woman named Sky who’d taken over as chef when Mrs. Cross moved to the work with the horses. The name was so unusual Tessa remembered it clearly. But she also mentioned that Sky’s daughter now worked in her place.
The crying woman had to be her.
Lark cried harder, making all kinds of snorting and huffing noises.
“Nathaniel.” The woman, who looked vaguely familiar to Tessa, though she couldn’t place her, stepped forward, putting a hand on the man’s arm. For a second, Tessa thought she would council the man to let up on Lark but, instead, she addressed the chef. “We’re going to call the police either way, but if you want to avoid trespassing charges on top of the other trouble coming your way, you should probably leave our property now.”
“But . . .” Lark’s eyes shifted between the pair pleadingly.
“What did my father say about ifs, ands, or buts?” The woman brushed something off her long, black skirt. She was tall and elegant, with the air of someone used to living comfortably.
