The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3

by Paula Lester

  Silas started toward the door but then stopped and turned back, pointing at Pepper. "One last thing. I’m in deep water with the owners here. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll have my job. But as of now, the rules are the rules. You're not allowed to have cats in the apartment. You need to get rid of her. Today."

  He covered the distance to the door in three long strides, went through, and closed it firmly behind himself while Tessa stared after him.

  She groaned and rolled her head back to rest it on the back of the chair for a minute. Then she jerked it up again and looked at Pepper. "See? Even though you think you like him more than you do me, he's no friend of yours. Now you're going to have to move. And there's only one place I can take you."

  Tessa threw the blanket aside and got to her feet, the fatigue of her long night setting in, draining the energy out of her body.

  But she knew it was more than that. Silas’s words had injured her. He was right—she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him the truth about her job. But somewhere deep inside, she didn't think it was fair for him to expect that of her. After all, she'd just been getting used to the fact that she was a reaper when she and Silas started flirting. How could she be expected to spill such a big thing so fast?

  Still, she could understand his feelings about it too. She'd been lied to in relationships before, and it didn't feel good. In fact, it felt downright horrible. Silas was right to stop the relationship before it got any further. It wouldn't be good for either of them to stay together if he had an underlying distrust of her.

  She trudged into her room, changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, and grabbed Pepper’s cat carrier out of the closet.

  When the cat saw the carrier, her eyes grew big, and she got to her feet, ready to leap off the couch and find a nook to hide in. But Tessa had been expecting that and grabbed Pepper before she could jump. She stuffed her, tail first, into the carrier and shut the door. Then, she peered through the grate at her angry feline friend. "Yeah, I don't blame you for not wanting to go," she said. "This is not going to be pleasant.”

  Chapter 14

  TESSA ENDED UP GOING to the coffee shop before her mother's house. While she told herself she was only doing that because her body was having a strong craving for some hot java after a basically sleepless night, the real reason was she was hoping Cheryl wouldn't be home.

  She glanced at her watch. It was 7:15 AM—should be safe now. Her mother usually left the house around seven to get to the office early, while things were still quiet. She was that brand of workaholic—the kind that doesn’t believe they can get real work done during work hours.

  After weighing through the options, Tessa was convinced that Cheryl coming home from work and finding Pepper in her house would be better than opening the door to find her daughter standing there with a pet carrier. That thing about permission versus forgiveness.

  Surely, Cheryl wouldn't scoop up the cat and throw her outside or something, once she recognized the furry girl had settled in and made herself at home.

  Tessa had an idea that maybe the cat could use her old bedroom as her main place to stay. In her mind, she had it all worked out. She’d even practiced a speech to give her mother later—one in which she promised to come over daily to scoop the litter box and feed Pepper herself. "You won't have to do anything, Mom. I'll handle everything," she muttered to herself as she got out of the car and went around to the passenger side to grab the cat carrier.

  Sure, it was extremely similar to something she'd said as a middle schooler when she had hoped to talk her mom into getting her a puppy. It hadn’t worked then, but that didn't mean it wouldn't work now. After all, in this case she already had the cat.

  And, who knew? Maybe Cheryl was lonely and would welcome the kitty in her life.

  Tessa snorted out loud at that. Her mother was so prim and proper, there was almost no chance she'd be interested in having cat fur all over the place.

  Tessa straightened her shoulders and headed for the house. She didn't have a choice. Silas had drawn a line in the sand when it came to Pepper, and he'd made it very clear he meant it. Tessa didn't want to antagonize him any further. Cheryl was just going to have to keep the cat, at least for a little while.

  When she got to the porch, Tessa set the cat carrier on the step and slid the big orange pot full of dying petunias aside to scoop up the hidden key underneath. She unlocked the front door and left it ajar. After she returned the key and scooched the pot back into place, she grabbed Pepper again, who yowled mournfully, and stepped into the house.

  "Shhh," she told the cat. "You're okay. I'll make sure you have a nice, cozy spot. You're going to love it here." She tried to keep her voice upbeat, so the cat would stay calm. But something didn’t quite feel right.

  Tessa realized, belatedly, the house wasn't empty. It was almost the exact opposite to how she’d felt at Nathaniel’s home the previous night. Someone was walking around upstairs, and there was a light on in the kitchen.

  "Mom?" Tessa called, feeling just a tiny bit uneasy about a potential intruder.

  Cheryl appeared at the top of the stairs. "Tessa, what are you doing here?" She glanced at her watch. "It's pretty early for you to be awake."

  No kidding.

  Rolling her eyes, Tessa set the cat down a little bit behind her, sort of hoping her mother wouldn't notice. "I didn't sleep very well last night. And, um, I have a big favor to ask you."

  Cheryl’s forehead wrinkled.

  Tessa realized she started too big. Stall. Stall. Stall. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and tied it with a band she'd slipped over her wrist. "Hey, what are you still doing home, anyway? Usually, you've gone to work by this time."

  Cheryl leaned to the side and returned to her previous position, now holding the handle of a suitcase. She descended the stairs with it and stopped in front of Tessa. "I'm getting ready to leave. I have . . . a business trip." Her eyes dropped to the floor and then she craned her neck to see around Tessa's shins. "What's that?" she snapped.

  "It's Pepper. Silas—my landlord—says I can't keep her anymore. I don't have anywhere else to take her, so I was hoping she could stay with you."

  “They let him out?”

  “Yeah. It’s kind of a long story.” A story Tessa wasn’t ready to tell.

  But Cheryl had already focused her attention on the cat carrier, scowling.

  Tessa held up her hands, palms out. "Just for a little while." Of course, she didn't mean that. There was nowhere else she could take Pepper, so the cat was going to have to stay with Cheryl long-term.

  "I don't know. Pets aren't really my thing." Cheryl chewed her bottom lip for a second.

  Tessa cocked her head, examining her mother. Cheryl had an uncharacteristic expression on her face. It was almost as though she were nervous. That was certainly not an emotion the woman exhibited very often.

  Suddenly, Cheryl spun on her heel and marched to the kitchen. "Do you want some breakfast?” she called. “I'm going to scramble an egg real fast.”

  Tessa knelt down and peered into the cat carrier. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes," she whispered.

  Pepper yowled and glowered back. Tessa could almost hear her say, "Where am I supposed to go? I'm locked in."

  She patted the top of the carrier as though she were patting Pepper’s head, smiled, and then followed her mother into the kitchen. "Sure, I'll have an egg. Thanks."

  "You don't look good, dear," Cheryl said, eyeing her daughter for a moment before heading to the refrigerator. "What happened last night?"

  Tessa sank onto a bar stool and leaned on the counter. "Jake called it an emergency reap, and he explained to me a little bit, but I still don't really understand. I've never heard of such a thing."

  Setting the carton of eggs on the counter, Cheryl turned to face Tessa, tipping her head. "Oh, Tessa, there's a lot to this job. Not all of it is something you can put into a manual. Things . . . change sometimes. You know, every life is different. So is every
death."

  Tessa felt her brow wrinkle as she tried to wrap her brain around what Cheryl had said. "Okay, but I thought all deaths were part of the universe's plan somehow. Shouldn't they be on the schedule, no matter what the cause is?"

  Cheryl shook her head, pressing her lips together as she busied herself getting down a bowl and digging a whisk out of the drawer. "Not always. There are certain things—usually suicides, murders, and even some accidents—that aren't on the typical death timeline. They aren't the same as, say, a sickness that runs its course."

  Cheryl paused for a moment, staring into space as though trying to figure out how to explain what she wanted to say. Then she began moving again, cracking eggs into the bowl. "It's free will, really. Humans have that, you know. Split-second decisions can be made." She grabbed the whisk and began beating the eggs, sparing a glance for her daughter.

  Tessa mulled it over. "Okay," she said slowly. "So, what, some things involve free will and others don't?"

  "Basically." Cheryl nodded. "Anything with less than a fifty percent chance of happening isn't reported into the reaper app. Until it becomes more than fifty percent likely. So, for example, someone with a forty-nine percent chance of committing suicide won't be reported until almost the instant it happens. The same goes for some murders."

  Tessa drummed her fingers on the countertop. "But I've been involved in murder reaps before, Mom. They were on the app."

  "Yes, because there was a greater than a fifty percent chance of them happening. Some murders are more calculated than others. Premeditation. It's really that simple. In fact, the opposite can happen too. Sometimes, we are called to a reap that doesn't end up happening. It's rare, but it does occur. It's happened to me."

  Tessa didn't think it sounded simple it all, but it was at least enough of an explanation to get her started. She decided to drop the subject and bring up Pepper again, hoping to catch her mom off-guard. "You know, Pepper may not be the only one who needs somewhere to stay right now. I had a pretty major disagreement with Silas. To be honest, I'd be more comfortable not staying in my apartment right now too. Can we . . . Pepper and I . . . stay with you for a little while? We’ll be quiet and neat, I promise."

  Tessa crossed her fingers. If Cheryl said no, she really didn't know where else she was going to go. Maybe Gloria's house?

  But Cheryl nodded. "You can stay for a little while. I'll be out of town for the rest of the week, anyway, and it will be nice to have someone housesitting." She poured the scrambled eggs into a pan she'd been warming on the stove and then turned to face Tessa while they cooked. "But you won't be able to stay for very long, I'm afraid."

  I don't really want to stay that long anyway. But Tessa didn't say the thought out loud. Instead, she simply said, "Why?"

  “There was something I wanted to tell you last night. But I just couldn’t.” Cheryl wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I'm moving, and I'm selling the house. I decided to go to Chicago, so I can be closer to the main Eastern district office."

  Finally, she met Tessa's eyes calmly, but Tessa could've sworn she saw a flicker of something there. What was it? If Tessa didn't know better, she would think maybe it was hope—did her mother hope Tessa would ask her not to go to Chicago?

  But Tessa rejected that straight away. There was no way Cheryl would be that impractical. If she had decided that moving to Chicago was the best thing to do for her career, then she would follow that path without any concern for how Tessa may feel about it.

  "That's, uh, great, Mom. I'm really proud of you for getting that promotion, and I hope you like Chicago. It will be great to come and visit you there. Maybe we can go to the museums together or something. Have some Chicago-style pizza."

  Cheryl blinked a few times, and Tessa could've almost convinced herself she saw a flash of disappointment in the other woman's eyes. But she turned back toward the stove before Tessa could be sure. "Thank you, dear." She stirred the eggs and didn't say anything further.

  Tessa watched her mother's back and swallowed a lump in her throat. In the space of a day, she’d lost her new boyfriend, possibly her home, and now her mother was moving away. What a rotten day. She could only hope the rest of it got better.

  Chapter 15

  BY THE TIME TESSA ARRIVED at work, the sleepless night and pile-up of depressing events all weighed down on her like a physical presence. Her feet didn’t seem to want to lift, and she shuffled across the asphalt and up the dilapidated sidewalk to the building.

  Even the front door seemed heavy; she had to use both hands to pull it open. The effort resulted in a big yawn that forced her eyes closed and made her stumble to a stop in the lobby.

  "Ooh, you look terrible. I hope it's for a fun reason." Gloria leaned on the doorjamb of her new office, appraising Tessa's condition with eyes decorated in rainbow eyeshadow. "How much did you have to drink last night?"

  Tessa yawned again, not bothering to cover her mouth. "I didn't drink anything. I just didn't sleep well—or maybe not at all." She met her new boss’s gaze.

  A wrinkle appeared between Gloria's finely shaped eyebrows. "Wow, you really don't look good. Come on in here.”

  Once Tessa was inside the office with the door closed behind her, Gloria ordered, "Spill."

  Tessa plummeted into a chair and then slumped down low enough that she could lean her head back on it. "Silas is free—they let him go because they had someone confess to Mr. Green's murder."

  Gloria lowered herself much more gracefully into her own chair and then leaned forward. "That sounds like good news to me! Who confessed?”

  "Mr. Green's son-in-law, Nathaniel. There was an emergency reap night—Jake got there before I did, but he said Nathaniel was already dead. There was a suicide note on the desk in front of him, and it said he had killed Artemis."

  Gloria leaned back and slapped her thighs. “That’s great! Wait, why don’t you look like you think it’s great news?”

  "Well, for one thing, Silas is still mad at me for not telling the truth initially about being a reaper." Tessa raised her hand to keep Gloria from replying. "But mainly, the whole thing with Nathaniel and Mr. Green doesn't sit right with me."

  "What do you mean? The guy killed his father-in-law, felt tremendous guilt, and committed suicide. Makes sense to me. I’ve seen a dozen of those true crime shows that end just like this."

  "There's just something . . . I don't know. Something isn't right."

  "Well, first things first—I wish you and Silas would make up already. I was hoping we could go on a double date this weekend."

  Tessa shook her head. “He's super mad at me. He let me know in no uncertain terms that we’re over before we really even got started. He also told me I had to get Pepper out of the apartment. So, she’s at my mom’s—who, by the way, is moving to Chicago. So, yeah, I don’t think a double date this weekend is going to happen."

  “Not with an attitude like that, it isn't." At Tessa’s glare, Gloria tipped her head. ""Okay, I’m not saying all that stuff isn’t a lot to deal with,” Gloria admitted. “But let’s start with the Silas thing. You like him, don’t you?"

  Tessa scrubbed a hand over her face, trying to encourage her eyes to feel more awake. "Of course I do. But the truth is that he's right. I did lie to him. He has no reason to trust me now, and I don't know how to make that up to him—how to prove that I'm not normally a liar."

  "That's easy. Just have a heart-to-heart with him and explain that you didn't really want to lie to him. In fact, it was really hard for you to do it, but you thought you were supposed to. Now that you know you don't have to, everything will be A-OK."

  Tessa lifted her shoulder and then let it drop back down again, which wasn't hard because she still felt the heaviness of exhaustion throughout her whole body. "Maybe. I'll think about it. But what about Mr. Green and Nathaniel?"

  Gloria pulled out a handheld mirror from a desk drawer, popped it open, and started patting at her hair. "What about them? It's a police matter now. Silas has be
en let go, so it's really none of your concern anymore."

  "Seriously? But if Nathaniel didn't kill Mr. Green—and I really don't think he did, even though I can’t put my finger on why—then there's still a killer running around Mist River. Doesn't that affect us all?"

  Gloria snapped the mirror shut and put it away. "We can't get involved in every suspicious thing that happens around here," she said firmly, in her newly developed boss-tone. "Our job is to escort souls across the veil, not to figure out why people died in the first place. You know our taxes pay the police force for that.”

  Tessa didn't answer. She just stared at her friend impassively.

  Gloria blinked a few times. "I know that look. It's the same one you had in Miami. My impeccable, irrefutable logic isn't going to make a difference because you're not going to let that go, are you?"

  "Probably not." Tessa's lips twitched into a smirk. "Sorry. It’s my nature. I was always a curious kid."

  "You're not one bit sorry. And I'm your boss now, so you should have more respect for my opinion."

  Tessa put a sweet look on her face and fluttered her eyelashes. "I do respect you. I just don't think Mr. Green's killer should go free. Especially when it's likely that he also killed Nathaniel. Who's next?"

  “You, if you aren’t careful,” Gloria shot back.

  Tessa stared back at Gloria in silence for a moment, shocked.

  Finally, her boss leaned forward and touched something sitting on her messy desk. Tessa realized it was a blank badge like the one Gloria had given her.

  “I’m not giving up on this,” Tessa said firmly.

  "Well, if that's the case, you have everything you need to get to the bottom of it. But you're on your own. I don't want to know any more about it. Capisce?"

  Tessa smiled slowly and straightened in her chair. She suddenly felt lighter than she had, the fatigue seeming to scatter to the edges of her mind. Her thoughts sharpened. "Capisce," she repeated.