by Ann Charles
“Because Cornelius and I can’t see her, only the letters showing up on my screen. We wanted to be sure it was Jane, which required your ghost-detecting eyes. Can you see what she’s typing?”
“I can see her, not through her. Besides, I didn’t know you wanted me to read your damned screen.”
“Quit being so pissy, Cooper. I’m on your side, remember?”
“I’m not pissy. I’m just … tired.” He squeezed the back of his neck. “Sorry.” His apology was gruff, but I accepted it.
“I want to know what she’s typing, but I’m afraid if I go inside I’ll scare her off.”
“Let me look again.”
I peered around him but saw only an empty office. My computer screen was impossible to read from this distance without a bionic eye.
“It’s too far away,” he said.
“Do you have any binoculars?” I asked.
“Sure. They’re hanging next to my secret decoder ring on my utility belt.”
I ignored his sarcasm, lifting my cell phone.
He frowned. “What are you doing with that?”
I took aim at my screen, zooming in on the words typed there. “Trying something.” I clicked the picture button, and then enlarged the photo. “Dagnabbit. It’s still too blurry.”
My cell phone chirped. A message from Cornelius popped up.
“Uh-oh,” I said.
“What?”
“Cornelius says my computer screen just went dark.” I looked up at Cooper. “Is she gone?”
He peeked again. So did I, leaning into him, using his shoulder to keep from falling face first into plain view.
I felt his shoulder tense under my hand. “Oh, shit,” he said.
“What? Is she gone?”
“No, she’s still in your chair.”
“That’s good.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. She’s staring at me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure, Parker.”
“Do you think she can see you?”
“I know she can see me.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s giving me the ‘come here’ motion.” He stepped into view, dragging me by the wrist with him.
“What are you doing, Cooper?”
“Going inside.”
“Great. I’ll wait for you back at Doc’s with Cornelius.” I tried to yank free, but he held tight.
“Nope. You’re going in with me.” Before I could object, he towed me over to the front door.
“But I left my keys back at Doc’s in my purse.” That was no lie.
“I have a feeling we’re not going to need them.”
He was right. The lock clicked. The door swayed on its hinges, as if a small breeze was trying to blow inside—or out.
Cooper opened the door and led me into the office. His grip on my wrist remained ironclad.
“What is she doing now?” I whispered, stepping closer to him.
“Staring at me.”
“What does she look like?”
“You don’t want to know.” His grip tightened further.
Unfortunately for Cooper, ghosts appeared however they’d looked at death. In Jane’s case, I wasn’t certain what he might be seeing, since she’d been killed with a fist-sized barbed hook before being chucked over the edge of the Open Cut, Lead’s huge open pit mine. Rumor was, Cooper had been the one who’d had to pick up the pieces of Jane after her body was found. I bet he’d never figured on running into her again after that grisly task. Irony could be a real bitch.
“Cooper.” I tried to pull free again. “Loosen your grip a little.” A flashback of his crushing grasp on my thigh up at Prudence’s place weeks ago made panic flutter in my chest.
He let go, but didn’t move from my side. “She’s standing in front of me now.”
I stared hard at the empty air, trying to see a ripple or blur or any evidence of spectral energy without success. “What does she want?”
“To touch me, I think.”
Goose bumps peppered my skin. I clutched his elbow. “You need to let her do it.”
“Why?”
“That’s what they do in the movies.”
“This isn’t a fucking movie, Parker.” He cringed, but held steady. “She’s touching my badge.”
“Maybe she wants your badge.”
“Why would she want that?”
“Maybe she always wanted to be a cop.”
“Really, Parker? Is that the best you can come up with?”
“Well, how am I supposed to know why she likes your badge all of a sudden? It’s shiny. Maybe she likes shiny things now.”
“Just shut up.”
“Okay.” I pressed against his side, my heart pounding loud in the quiet office. “What’s she doing now?”
“She’s pointing at your computer.”
“Look! The screen is lit up again.”
We walked over, Cooper leading the way while I held onto him. We leaned over my desk together. I read the list of words on my screen aloud. “Greenborn, Dunken, Booth, Porterson, Tarrow, Belldirk, Stevendale, Yarbrow.” I squeezed Cooper’s arm. “Ask her what these names mean.”
“I can’t. She’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“How in the hell should I know?” He looked at my hand still holding his arm. “You can let go of me now, you big tough Executioner.”
“Cram it, law dog.” I let go and hit the print button on my keyboard. I grabbed the paper from the printer, reading through the names again and then held the printout high in front of Cornelius’s camera. “Got them,” I said loud and clear, no mumbling this morning.
Cooper sat on the edge of my desk. “Jesus, I could use a drink.”
“Call Jane back,” I told him. “We need to find out about the names on this list.”
“I’m not calling for Jane’s ghost.”
“Why not? If you’re scared, I’ll hold your hand this time,” I teased.
“You’re not half as funny as your hair looks first thing in the morning.”
“Don’t you start with the hair jokes, Cooper. I will hurt you even if you are Doc’s best buddy.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t need to ask Jane about the names on that list because I already know who they are.”
“You do?” I lowered the paper. “Are they more dead people?”
“Yes and no.”
“How can they be dead and not dead?”
“They’re dead men whose names are carved on several old buildings in Deadwood and Lead.”
* * *
“I don’t have time for that shit,” Cooper said, pointing at the list of building names in my hand.
We stood on the sidewalk in front of Doc’s office while cold morning air and exhaust fumes swirled around us. In the weak rays of winter sunshine, Cooper looked rundown, run over, and wrung out.
“Do you want me to ask Doc to look into it?” I offered.
“No.” He grabbed the paper from my hand, stuffing it in his pocket. “Where is Nyce, anyway?”
“He’s taking my kids to school and then heading to Sturgis for a meeting with a client.” At least that was what he mentioned was on his agenda while we were watching the news last night. That reminded me of another agenda. “Hey, was Mr. Haskell’s body at the morgue when you checked?”
“Yep. Still dead.” He shot me a quick frown. “Did Natalie spend the night at your place?”
“No. She left soon after you.”
“She say anything else about …” he trailed off, focusing on a passing pickup instead of finishing his question.
I grinned. Dang, Cooper sure had a bad itch when it came to Natalie if he was thinking about her in between flesh-eating ghouls and list-making ghosts. “Did she say anything about what an anvil-headed, pain in the ass you are?” I completed his inquiry for him.
My smile widened at his scowl.
“Remind me why I don’t arrest you, Parker?”
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“Because we made a deal—I share truths about dead people and other creepy stuff with you, and in exchange you stop threatening me with handcuffs.”
“Right. I should have included a no-insult clause in that deal.”
“What would we have left to talk about if you had?” A chilly breeze ruffled my coat. I tightened my belt and decided to throw him a bone. “After you left, I asked Nat about that kiss she gave you, but she refused to discuss it and went home.”
His brows pinched together. “I’m not sure where to go from here.”
Wait an ass-freezing minute! Had I woken up in a parallel universe? Was that what my crack-of-dawn clock premonition had been trying to tell me?
“Why, Detective Cooper. Are you asking li’l ol’ me for advice about a girl? Have the planets stopped circling the sun?”
His nostrils flared. “This is turning into my worst nightmare.”
He should try living in my head for a day. This shit was child’s play. “Easy there, law dog. I’m just funnin’ with you.” I crossed my arms. “Before we go any further, I need to know what your intentions are.”
“To go home, crawl into bed, and forget I ever brought this up in front of you.”
I rolled my eyes at his ruffled feathers. “Quit being such a wuss.”
“Call me a wuss again and I’ll leave you behind the next time we’re in Slagton.”
“Ha! Doc and Harvey wouldn’t let you. Answer the question, Cooper. What are your intentions with my best friend?”
He scratched the blond beard stubble on his jaw. “How in the hell should I know this early in the game?”
I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. It was interrogation time and I wanted some answers, damn it. “Fine. See if you can dance to this tune then—are you just looking for a roll in the hay with Nat?”
“No.”
His quick response gave me pause. “Are you sure about that?”
“Parker,” he growled, his threatening glare warning me to back off.
Screw backing off. My best friend’s heart was on the line. “Don’t you ‘Parker’ me. You didn’t even take a moment to think about my question.”
“I didn’t need to.”
We exchanged gunslinger glares. It was high noon in Deadwood and I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet.
Was I reading him right? Was this about more than only being hot for her bod? Even if that were so, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t do as Natalie feared and dump her after she’d traveled a few miles in his bed.
“You do remember that Natalie is on a much-needed sabbatical from men, of course.”
He cursed. “Whose bright idea was that?”
“Not mine.” When he hit me with a raised eyebrow, I explained, “Her last boyfriend screwed around on her with another woman. He was one of several philandering pricks in a long history full of dickweeds and scoundrels. She needed a break to catch her breath and build a fortress around her heart.”
His face hardened. “I wouldn’t do that to her.”
“You say that now.”
Steely eyes stabbed mine. “I’m not like those other assholes.”
“You hurt her once before.”
He groaned. “That was different.”
“How?”
Jamming his hands in his pockets, he glanced down. His jaw muscles worked, as if he was trying out answers before speaking. “Something spooked me.”
Had I heard that right? “You got spooked?”
“That’s what I fucking said. Are your ears broken?”
“No, but keep giving me lip and your nose will be—again.”
A hint of a smile flitted over his features. “It’s no wonder Hawke goes apeshit over you.”
I made a cross with my fingers. “Don’t say that name aloud. It will conjure the big nincompoop and mess up my day even more.” I checked my cell phone. “I have a meeting soon. What do you mean, you got spooked?”
“Christ. Are we really going to do this here? Now? On the sidewalk in broad daylight?”
We were alone and I was curious. “Yes, yes, and yes, so quit stalling if you want my help.”
He grimaced. “I had no intention of getting involved with Natalie that night at the Purple Door Saloon.”
“You mean years ago, right? Not last week on her birthday.”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t plan to kiss her, but you did. So what?”
“Local girls are taboo in my book.”
“So I’ve heard.” As in a million times from a certain woman who still gnashed her teeth about Cooper and his no-local-girls policy. “Why are they taboo?”
“I had a bad experience with one. It almost cost me my job.”
That must be the girlfriend story Reid had told me about the night Aunt Zoe had rejected his proposal. The tale involved a woman who’d used Cooper while committing crimes behind his back. “Okay, so Nat is a local girl and you broke your own rules and kissed her. Is that what spooked you?”
He opened his mouth to speak and then frowned instead. “Why in the hell am I telling you this? Jesus, I’m beat.” His fingers tore through his hair. “Forget everything I said, Parker.”
I grabbed his sleeve and held tight when he tried to walk away. “Dammit, what spooked you?”
He exhaled, his breath steaming around his lined face. “How do I know what I tell you won’t end up on the front page of the Black Hills Trailblazer?”
“Nobody gives a crap about your love life but you, Cooper.” Well, him and Natalie. And me too, since I was the one hanging on his every word at the moment. “I promise to keep my lips sealed.”
“Even around Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“And Nyce?”
“Yes!”
“And—”
“Just tell me, for crissake!”
I didn’t think he was going to continue, but then he snorted. “This is going to sound stupid.”
“Criminy! Just pop your damned corn already.”
His eyes crinkled. “You sound like Uncle Willis.”
“Cooper!” I balled my fist, holding it under his nose. “I swear I’ll leave another mark.”
“Calm down, Rocky Parker.” He pulled me nearer to Doc’s front door, glancing around before speaking in a low voice. “I lost control that night. I had no intention of kissing Natalie, only talking.”
“You saw Natalie and her killer lips and you only wanted to chit-chat? Quit trying to sell me snake oil, Cooper.”
“Okay, maybe I decided to engage in a little flirting after she let me buy her a drink. What can I say? I needed to take my mind off some shit I was dealing with at work and she looked like a pinup girl with feet. But that was it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I’ve known Natalie since we were kids. The last thing I wanted to do was muddy the waters between us.”
“But then you kept drinking,” I said, moving his story along with what I knew about the evening.
He nodded. “Alcohol was only part of the problem, though.” He squeezed the back of his neck. “We started playing pool, joking around, flirting. I lost sight of the line in the sand at some point.”
I held up my hands. “Timeout. You can skip the physical stuff.” I couldn’t handle hearing the play-by-play again, not while I was sober.
“I wasn’t going to give you any damned details, Parker.”
Thank God for that. “You still haven’t said why you got spooked.”
Another glance at my cell phone made me huff. Was he dragging this out on purpose? Ray would make sure to rub my nose in my tardiness if I was late for Jerry’s huddle.
He shrugged. “I got spooked because I wanted Natalie that night.”
That was it?! Talk about a lame finale. “No shit, Sherlock.”
“You don’t get it, Parker.”
“Apparently not. Why don’t you explain?” And hurry up about it.
His mouth thinned. “I’ve had sex plenty of times.”
“Okay.” Where was this going? Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him so hard for an answer. “And?” I pressed anyway, squirming on the inside.
“One woman served as well as another. I wasn’t particular.”
“FYI, Cooper, this cynical recount of your previous sexcapades isn’t helping you to win my approval for a place in my best friend’s bed.”
“Let me finish,” he ground out.
“Fine. Go.”
“I wanted Natalie.”
“You already said that.”
“Yeah, but you’re not hearing what I’m saying. She wasn’t just another random female I’d chosen to bed.”
Oh. Was this what locker room talk was like? I wondered what Doc would say if he were here. Would he tell Cooper how easy it had been to ‘bed’ me? Harvey would undoubtedly share the details of his latest one-night stand, crowing about how limber his hot flame was, sharing the intimate particulars on what body jelly he’d spread on her …
“I wanted Natalie,” Cooper continued, hauling me back from the cringe-inducing catacombs of Harvey’s sex life. “I wanted her in my bed all night. I wanted her to still be there with me at the breakfast table the next morning. Do you get what I’m saying, Parker?”
“Got it.”
“I wanted her in a way that scared the hell out of me.”
Yeah, but … “You left her hanging high and dry that night?”
He glanced away. “Work called.”
“You were off duty.”
“Let me put this another way.” His gaze snapped back to mine. “I left before things went too far so that we could look at each other the next day without regrets.”
“Bullshit, Cooper.” I jabbed him in the shoulder. “You left because when push came to shove, you chickened out.”
His face solidified into a slab of granite, all sharp angles and rocky edges. “What the fuck do you know about me?”
“You and I are peas in a pod. Like you, I had a history of random men who didn’t matter. I made a habit of leaving before shit got too real. The one time I’d let my guard down and tried to build something with a guy, the dickhead screwed my sister.”
“Rex Conner?” he asked.
“The one and only. Then Doc came along and scared the shit out of me.” Truth be told, deep down I was still a bit of a nervous Nelly even now. Investing in games of the heart was not for the lily-livered.
