“How do you even know this is how she dressed?” Doubira asks.
Evian shrugs. “Someone must have mentioned it to me.”
Nobody mentioned anything to her. We’ve been with her every moment of every day since we left the morgue, and unless she’s been having meetings in her bedroom at night, we’ve witnessed everything she has done on this case. There was no mention of clothes.
Doubira seems to accept the explanation and the pair fall into silence. They stand there for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.
I take the opportunity to make a quick tour of the cemetery, to say goodbye. I suspect we won’t be coming back anytime soon, and I hadn’t realized that fact the last time we left. I let my fingers run through the wisteria, give a pat to the graves of some old friends who’ve moved on ages ago, and smile at the sparrows searching for food on the area in front of the church.
When I rejoin the others, Evian and Doubira are getting ready to go. The clothes stay on the grave and will probably be picked up by someone during a visit in less than a day. The idea that they’re even temporarily with Clothilde’s body pleases me, nonetheless.
We follow Evian closely as she approaches the gate toward the parking lot. I can see Clothilde focusing all her mental energy on the bracelet on Evian’s wrist.
“Get as close as you can,” I tell her. If Evian somehow manages to exit the cemetery without Clothilde, it will already be too late for her to stay connected to the finger bone.
Clothilde goes all out and stands inside Evian. I can barely see my friend as she disappears into the larger woman’s body.
Evian gives a full-body shiver and stops walking. Then she firms her jaw, cocks her head, and powers foward. It looks like she’s walking against the wind in a full storm.
They make it to the gate, which Doubira is holding open.
Evian places one foot on the outside and stops.
Doubira looks at her oddly, but Clothilde doesn’t miss a beat. She steps through the gate and out of the cemetery.
“Thank you,” she says to Evian.
Evian nods and resumes walking normally toward the car as if nothing happened. “Do you want to drive, Malik?” she throws over her shoulder.
Clothilde grins, and just like that, we’re ready for new adventures.
Ready to get justice.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Beyond the Grave. I hope you enjoyed it! I certainly had a blast writing it.
As you can see, this isn’t over. One guy is in jail, but all the others are still running free. Unacceptable! So naturally, this series will have several more installments. No cliffhangers and every book can stand by itself, but there will also be the overarching plot of Robert and Clothilde seeking justice for themselves.
I hope you’ll want to join me in the continuation of their story! The next story is called Unveiling the Past and is already available for preorder.
If you haven’t tried out the Ghost Detective short stories yet, the first one (the one that started it all!) is available for free for my newsletter subscribers. You’ll find the signup form on my website.
R.W. Wallace
www.rwwallace.com
Also by R.W. Wallace
Mystery
Ghost Detective Novels
Beyond the Grave
Unveiling the Past
Beneath the Surface
Ghost Detective Shorts
Just Desserts
Lost Friends
Family Bonds
Common Ground
Till Death
Family History
Heritage
Eternal Bond
New Beginnings
Severed Ties
Ghost Detective Collections
Unfinished Business, Volume 1
The Tolosa Mystery Series
The Red Brick Haze
The Red Brick Cellars
The Red Brick Basilica
Mystery Collections
Deep Dark Secrets
A Thief in the Night
Mystery Short Stories
Cold Blue Eternity
Hidden Horrors
Critters
Gertrude and the Trojan Horse
First Impressions
Let Them Eat Cake
Out of Sight
Sitting Duck
Two’s Company
Like Mother Like Daughter
Romance
French Office Romance Series
Flirting in Plain Sight
Hiding in Plain Sight
Loving in Plain Sight
Fantasy (short stories)
Unexpected Consequences
Morbier Impossible
A Second Chance
Science Fiction (short stories)
The Vanguard
Lollapalooza Shorts
Quarantine
Common Enemies
Coiled Danger
Mars Meeting
Adventure (short stories)
Size Matters
About the Author
R.W. Wallace writes in most genres, though she tends to end up in mystery more often than not. Dead bodies keep popping up all over the place whenever she sits down in front of her keyboard.
The stories mostly take place in Norway or France; the country she was born in and the one that has been her home for two decades. Don’t ask her why she writes in English—she won’t have a sensible answer for you.
Her Ghost Detective short story series appears in Pulphouse Magazine, starting in issue #9.
You can find all her books, long and short, all genres, on rwwallace.com.
Copyright
Beyond the Grave
by R.W. Wallace
Copyright © 2021 by R.W. Wallace
Copy editing by Wendy Janes
Cover by the author
Cover Illustration 10926765 © germanjames | 123rf.com
Cover Illustration 193142734 © pyty | Adobe Stock
Cover Illustration 263199440 © Nouman | Adobe Stock
All characters and events in this book, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
www.rwwallace.com
ISBN: [979-10-95707-59-2]
Main category—Fiction
Other category—Mystery
First Edition
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