by Amy Boyles
“No.” She rapid fire blinked as if that was the most preposterous thing ever asked. “No, it wasn’t horrible. It was great. Best date I’ve ever had.”
I wasn’t sure how to continue. “I don’t understand.”
“Because I’m afraid, Blissful. I can’t fall for Mr. Hodges. What about our ghost-hunting business? What would happen then?”
“There is such a thing as a career woman.”
Alice shook her head as if it were an impossible choice. I exhaled, sinking onto the hard-backed chair. I really needed to update some of the furniture in this place.
Alice raked her fingers down her face. She needed to be cheered up. That was a task I might be able to handle. Maybe. Maybe not. But no matter, it was worth a shot.
I rose, pulling Alice to her feet. Confusion blanketed her face. “Are you kicking me out, too?”
I shook my head. “No. We’re going to do something we should’ve done weeks ago.”
“What’s that?”
I narrowed my gaze. This wasn’t guaranteed to work, but still, if it could fill Alice with hope and boost her confidence, it was worth it.
“We’re going to see if we can find Donna.”
She gasped. “You mean her spirit?”
I nodded. “That’s exactly right.”
Roan returned to the inn, and Lucky stayed on high alert at my house. I debated where I was going to spend the night. Seeing as how my clothes were at the inn, I figured I might as well pick them up before returning home. Besides, a professional attack, if it occurred, most likely wouldn’t happen until late at night.
Best to be safe instead of sorry.
When Alice and I arrived at the Oaks, the moon sat high in the inky sky.
“I thought maybe we’d sit around a table, light some candles,” Alice murmured.
“The ghosts in Haunted Hollow like to sit on their headstones. Don’t ask me why, but it’s what they do.”
I parked beside several rows of gravestones. “Are you ready?”
Alice shoved her glasses up her nose and nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
We walked out into the gravestones. Last time I’d been here, the spirits had been pretty ticked at me. There was no telling if any of them would appear.
“What in tarnation are you doing here?”
I glanced up to see Granny Mildred glowering at me. “So good to see you. Where’re your friends?”
“They sent me on ahead as an ambassador to see what you want. You coming here to ruin our lives some more?”
I scraped my fingernails over my forehead. Why me? Why was it so hard for these folks to accept they were dead and no longer had the same rights as the living?
“I’m looking for someone who’s buried here.”
Granny pointed at Alice. “For her?”
I nodded. “Yes, for her.”
Alice edged closer to me. That was the thing about spirits, even if you couldn’t see them, often it wasn’t hard to intuit their emotions. Granny was beaming so much piss and vinegar the air nearly cracked with lightning.
“She’s looking for her daughter, Donna Cassidy. Do you know her?”
Granny gummed her lower jaw. That was the first time I noticed that she didn’t have any teeth. “Why? What’s it to her?”
“Donna is her daughter.”
“Likely story. You probably want to chain Donna up, make her do things for you like make your breakfast, steal her right to stay dead, that sort of thing.”
“First of all, that makes no sense. I have no interest in any of those things. All I want is for Donna to appear so that Alice can talk to her.”
“I’m here.”
I glanced over. A woman who had been fragile but beautiful in life floated to us. She wore a long nightdress that fluttered around her feet. Long hair streamed behind her. Her pale irises were almost white by the moonlight.
“Donna?” I said.
She floated to Alice. “You brought my mother.” Her gaze shifted to me.
“She wants to know you’re okay.”
Alice’s face filled with wonder. “Is she here? Is my girl here?”
“Yes.” I closed my eyes. If I was able to focus on Donna, the spirit might strengthen to the point that Alice could see her.
It was either that or I let Donna jump into my body like in that Ghost movie. I was in no way about to let that happen. No spirit was taking possession of me as long as I was alive to allow it.
When I opened my eyes, Alice was reaching for Donna. Mission accomplished.
“You look so beautiful,” Alice whispered hoarsely. “Just like I remember.” She paused. “Are you at peace?”
Donna nodded. “I only came because I was called here. I’m at peace, Mother. Very much at peace.”
“I miss you every day,” Alice said.
Donna stroked her mother’s hair. “Don’t. I’m happy. You must live here, your life. You must remember me but know I’m well. There’s nothing to fear.”
Tears dripped off Alice’s chin. I put an arm around her. “Donna’s well. She’s at peace.”
Alice buckled. A strangled sob erupted from her throat as she collapsed to the ground. Donna wrapped her arms around her mother.
“Goodbye. Don’t be sad. There is much life yet for you to live. Live it happily.”
Alice nodded feebly. Donna waved before disappearing among the headstones.
I knelt beside Alice and squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t be sad.”
“I’m not.” She hiccuped and belched. “I’m not sad. I’m as happy as can be.”
“Why are you crying? Donna said not to be sad.”
“Because.” She pulled her glasses off and wiped them on her dress. “I’m happy she’s happy. That’s all. I’m just so darned happy.” She clutched me frantically. “Blissful, if it weren’t for you, I never would’ve known that my Donna is at peace.” She yanked me to her and wrapped me in a hug so tightly I was sure only a T. rex could’ve replicated it. Not because of its tiny dinosaur hands, but because of its strength.
“You’re welcome.” I peeled her off me before I was crushed. “Anytime.”
Alice huffed a few times, wiped her eyes and rolled her shoulders. She smacked her thigh and ambled to her feet. “Okay.”
I brushed my knees. “Okay, what?”
“I’m ready.” She inhaled deeply. “For anything that’s going to come my way. I’m ready for it.”
I steadied her and was surprised by the look of absolute acceptance on Alice’s face. She’d been pretty upset. This whole thing had been a whirlwind—Neal being murdered, Alice’s house being searched. I had to hand it to her. If I’d been in the same situation, I might’ve been tempted to crack as well.
Just kidding. I wouldn’t have cracked, but I might’ve leaked a little.
With my arm draped over her shoulder, I steered Alice back to the truck. We’d just reached it when another vehicle rumbled up the road. I squinted, trying to figure out what it was.
“What’s that?”
Alice’s face fell. “Dear Lord, it’s Ruth on her side-by-side.”
Oh yes, I remembered it now. I’d nearly been knocked senseless in the back of the thing when I’d first met the two women.
Ruth screeched to a stop in front of us. Rocks splattered against my legs. Ruth yanked the brake.
“Thank God I’ve found you.” She motioned us forward.
“What is it?” I said.
Ruth exhaled and gripped the wheel. “Doris called. Kency’s out looking for you, Alice. She’s going to arrest you.”
Alice’s mouth dropped. “What?”
“Jump in! We’ve got to hide you!”
But Alice had just said she would face anything. No more hiding. I patted my friend’s shoulder, knowing she was about to make the right choice.
Alice hopped in the ATV. Within seconds the two geriatrics were peeling down the road. They hadn’t even waved goodbye.
So much for facing problems head-on.
SEVENTEE
N
I decided to return to the inn. Roan was waiting for me on the front porch. Music floated softly from his guitar strings. Lord, was he trying to seduce me? I hoped not because it might work.
I plopped onto a rocker, grabbed the beer he had opened for himself and kicked up my feet. I took a long pull, enjoying the bitterness as it washed down my throat.
He stopped playing. “Rough night?”
“Kency’s going to arrest Alice for Neal’s murder.”
He cocked a brow. “Going to or has?”
“The grapevine in this town is strong, young Skywalker.”
He tipped his head back. “Ah, so Ruth and Alice already know.”
“Exactly and they’ve ridden off into the sunset.” I took another pull. “I think their mission is to wait Kency out. See if another suspect surfaces.”
“Admirable.”
I shot him a dark look. “Not sure that’s what it is. More like stupid. She should turn herself in.”
“But then”—he rested his guitar in the stand and dropped himself into the rocker adjoining mine—“how could they help their new friend Blissful solve the murder?”
I laughed bitterly. “I’m not doing a very good job of solving anything.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You solved your way into an old-fashioned meat pie earlier.”
I laughed again, but this time it was genuine. “I might’ve done that. With your help.”
“I’m a very helpful person.”
We stared at each other. A smile curled on my lips, and we burst into laughter.
“You’re funny,” I said.
“Not as funny as you.”
“You have more secrets.”
“I doubt that.” Our gazes snagged again, and as if he was reading my mind, Roan sighed. “Come on.” He rose, grabbed the beer and finished it.
“Where?”
“I’ll show you the basement so that you’ll leave me alone.”
“But Mr. Storm, why would you trust me with your secret?”
Roan’s gaze seared me. His eyes held an open honesty that made my insides quake.
“Because for some reason I don’t think you’ll try to do anything about it.”
“So different from when you first confided in me. I seem to recall you saying that you wanted me kept away from the basement because you didn’t trust me.”
“Let’s just say I’ve changed my mind about you.”
We walked side by side across the porch until we reached the back door. Roan let me inside first.
I glanced up at him. “What changed?”
He stowed the guitar in his room and reappeared. “Let’s just say the fact that you never pestered me about it helped.”
“I’m not much of a pesterer.”
He placed a hand on my back and guided me through the empty inn. “I know.”
We reached the kitchen. Soft light glowed from under the stove hood. I turned and crossed my arms. “But seriously, what’s making you trust me now?”
A thin smile graced his lips. “Now you are pestering.”
“No, this is wonder. Completely different.”
“Ah, wonder. Well, I tell you what, I’m going to let you continue wondering.”
“Not fair.”
He pulled a key ring from his pocket and sorted through until he found the correct one and then slowly slid the key into the lock. A snick filled the silence.
Roan opened the door slightly and stopped. He glanced at me over his shoulder. “You realize if you tell anyone what you see down here, I’ll have to kill you.”
“Not if I kill you first.”
He chuckled and flipped on a switch. He took my hand, and I followed him down the dimly lit staircase. A bulb buzzed overhead.
I’m not a person who normally gets freaked out. At all. I would say on a scale of one to ten, something that would scare a person to a ten was something I would call a two.
But this room was different.
It almost seemed to breathe, as if a giant spirit was surrounding the space, squeezing it in its ethereal body. A shudder ran down my spine.
“You okay?” Roan didn’t look back.
“Fine. The air in here, it’s different.”
“I know. I don’t come down here much.”
“Who could blame you? It’s creepy.”
I saw a flash of his dark eyes as he flicked his head over his shoulder. “Told you.”
“You never told me it was creepy.”
“Didn’t I?”
“No. You told me I had to stay away.”
“Same thing.” His feet touched the bottom step.
I softly padded onto the concrete floor. “It’s really not the same thing.”
I took a good look around. The place appeared to be a regular basement. There were workbenches, tables, tools, anything and everything that was normally stowed beneath a house.
Except the place breathed. It penetrated deep into my bones. The overwhelming feeling that I was surrounded by a very powerful spirit ignited in my brain like a lit match.
“Do most people feel this?” I said.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I do. But it could be because I’m attached to whatever it is, you know, by blood and all that.”
“Did it drink your blood?”
He rolled his eyes. “Family blood. My grandfather.”
I elbowed him. “I know.”
“Watch that elbow.”
“It’s not my fault you’re a giant.”
“I’m slightly above average.” He squeezed my shoulder. “You, on the other hand, are small.”
“But oh boy, do I have spunk.”
“No doubt.” He glanced around. “Tell me what you sense or see or whatever it is you do.”
I walked the perimeter of the room. Energy throbbed in my chest like music at a rave. I walked around and around, tapping my clairvoyant powers.
Emotions flared inside me—anger, pain, regret. But they were only emotions. I couldn’t tap into more. I couldn’t feel the beginning, the origin of it all.
Sometimes a spirit might flood me with images of their entire life. Other times I only received fragments. This case was different. All I was allowed were emotions.
“The barrier is strong,” I murmured.
“My grandfather created it.”
My gaze flickered to Roan. “Have you read up on it? Do you know what you’re supposed to do?”
He unfurled a rug that sat in the center of the room. Instructions were painted on the concrete slab. They were faded but still easily read.
Do not, under any circumstances, break this seal.
“Is that it?”
Roan nodded.
I scoffed. “That’s not helpful at all. What if some kind of crazy flooding happens and you have to chip away at the floor?”
“Apparently, I can’t.”
“And your parents never bothered to go into any detail with you on this?”
He rested his hands on his hips. “None.”
“I’m sorry but that’s screwy.”
“I think because they didn’t have any more answers than I did.” He rubbed his chin. “I wish I did. Wish I knew more, but I’m as lost in this as the next person.”
I exhaled and shut my eyes. Maybe, just maybe I could push past the barrier. I tried to peel back the layers, see the spirit and communicate with it, but the answer I received left me with more questions.
Roan squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve seen it. Ready to head back up?”
I blinked. “Yes.”
We reached the top of the stairs. He locked the door and escorted me through the inn to my room. I was staying upstairs, as far from him as possible. I bit back a laugh when I realized it.
“What?” He leaned against the wall as I opened the door.
“Nothing.”
“Secrets,” he said, implying I was keeping them.
I tipped my face to his. “What’s wrong with a secret?”
“Abso
lutely nada.” But the way he stared at me made me realize he wanted to know my secret.
“It’s funny that you’ve put me up here, as far away from you as possible.”
“What makes you think I’m sleeping in my bedroom?”
Tension blanketed the air. I had no words. For once I was speechless.
Roan laughed. “Kidding, Killer. I’m sleeping in my bed, don’t worry.”
With that, Roan leaned in and kissed me. He slid his hands to either side of my face, and I realized why he’d let me see the basement.
Okay, so it might’ve been because he trusted me. It might’ve. But there was something deeper there. I felt it all the way to my marrow.
Roan wanted me to know because he was playing a long game. He wasn’t rushing coming into my room. Roan was taking his time.
He wanted me around.
Which meant I probably needed to tell him what I heard the spirit say.
We parted. Roan kissed my cheek.
“The spirit.”
“Yes?” He grazed his lips over my jaw.
I took his hand and brought it to my neck. I stared into his dark eyes. Eyes that could swallow me. Eyes I wanted to swim in.
“We need to find out more about it. Like, why it’s in there.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Why?”
I bit my lower lip and sighed. “Because it has one purpose in the afterlife. One goal.”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”
I swallowed. “To get out.”
EIGHTEEN
Being around Roan tied me in knots. I lay in bed, unable to wind down. The basement spirit hadn’t helped my state, but Roan’s kiss had set me on fire. Every inch of my skin burned for him.
Time for a distraction.
I flipped on the light and pulled the package from my bag. I opened it and dropped the files that Anita had sent me on the bed. A few papers scattered, but they were easy enough to shove together.
As I picked through the pages, my hopes sank. There wasn’t anything useful in the pile. It was all notes and statements from witnesses. There was nothing that would suggest my dad had been doing what Lucky accused him of.
I flipped through the pages again, more carefully this time, making sure I hadn’t missed anything.
I flipped an innocent enough sheet over and found a long note stuck to it. It was in my dad’s handwriting. I read it. Narrowed my eyes. Read it again.
