“I knew they were lying. My mother loved me more than anything. So, I started looking for answers, ran away from every foster home they put me in and went looking for my mother. After I broke into the library late one night so that I could use their computers to search for my mother, my uncle finally had enough and took me back in and sat me down and told me everything,” Ashlyn said, slowly exhaling.
“My mother had cancer. She refused to ask for help, knowing that if she did, it would mean handing me over to my uncle before she was ready. She had chemotherapy that day and wasn’t supposed to be driving, but she didn’t have a choice. She ended up passing out behind the wheel. When they brought her to the hospital, they brought her to the cancer floor and took over her treatment only to realize that it was too late. She asked the social worker to take me to my uncle house before she went into hospice. My uncle decided that it would be in my interest to come up with a tale of my mother leaving so that I could focus on getting back after the accident.”
“And that’s why ye became a private investigator?” Shayne guessed, only to be taken by surprise when she shook her head.
“I like solving puzzles,” Ashlyn murmured absently as she stared at the lake as they walked. “I don’t like taking cases that could end with breaking someone’s heart. I also don’t want toend up being the one to tell someone that they were never going to see their loved one again.”
“Why did ye take this case, lass?”
“Honestly? I have no idea, but for some reason, I couldn’t say no,” Ashlyn said, looking lost in thought as they paused by the fountain. “Tell me the rules again.”
“If someone dies with unfinished business or just refuses ta accept that it’s time, they can linger behind. If they died violently, then their souls are stuck where they passed. Other than that, when someone dies, they’re either taken to heaven or hell,” he explained as he watched as she thought that over.
“And if they don’t leave?” Ashlyn asked, glancing at him.
“We help them on their way,” Shayne said, watching as she slowly nodded and-
“Ye’re welcome, lass,” Quinn said, shooting her a wink as he suddenly appeared next to them.
“There you are! Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” a middle-aged woman with a bob haircut and a look on her face that told him that she hadn’t been fucked in years suddenly demanded when she spotted them, making Ashlyn frown, that is, until the woman walked through the fountain.
“Is...is that a Karen ghost?” Ashlyn asked in an awed tone as the woman in question stopped in the middle of the fountain to prop her hands on her hips as she glared at them.
“I felt your presence this morning in the hotel lobby, but instead of waiting five goddamn minutes so that I could finish screaming at my husband while he fucked my sister, you left,” she snapped as she gestured wildly back towards the hotel. “I want to talk to someone in charge!”
“This is, without a doubt, the best day of my life,” Ashlyn said, nodding solemnly as Quinn decided that enough was enough and made his way through the fountain walls and-
“Stop slapping me!” Quinn snapped, only to stumble back when the Karen ghost pulled her purse off her shoulder and hit him with it.
“And it just keeps getting better,” Ashlyn said in a reverent whisper.
“Ow! What the hell is wrong with ye?” Quinn demanded, which apparently was the wrong thing to say.
Shayne watched the woman’s eyes go wide before she raised her bag higher and-
“Get her off me!”
-took his brother by surprise and began beating the shit out of him with her purse.
“Oh, shit!”
She managed to knock him down in the middle of the wall before she stepped over him and picked up where she left off, leaving Quinn with no choice but to try to crawl away while Shayne stood there, shaking his head in disgust because he really should have seen that purse coming.
“Are ye going ta help me?”
Deciding to take pity on his brother, Shayne said, “Stay here,” as he released Ashlyn’s hand and made his way over to help his brother only to end up biting back a curse and ducking out of the way when that purse was swung at his head.
“Grab her!” Quinn shouted.
“Ye fucking grab her!” Shayne shouted back, stumbling to get away from her only to end up ducking out of the way and-
“Best day ever,” Shayne thought he heard Ashlyn say when Karen decided to take him down with a chokehold.
CHAPTER 27
He was probably still pissed, Ashlyn thought as she went to grab the last slice of pizza only to have the large man, who hadn’t stopped glaring at her since the fountain incident, reach over and snatch it before she could.
She watched as Shayne, who was understandably pissed given the circumstances, kept that glare locked on her as he took a big bite of the slice of meat lover’s pizza that she’d really been looking forward to and-
