Glass shattered on the tile floor as the woman tossed her plate at the man but missed.
“She’s giving me ideas,” I said as Dane walked in front of me, keeping me secure from the fray. He was also interrupting my view of the proceedings and forcing us to leave our pizza.
She screamed, and the man ducked for cover as she picked up a chair. Darn, now things were getting good. I wanted to see who won because it definitely looked like the woman had him on the run.
Dane glanced back at me once we made it safely outside. “You are trouble everywhere you go.”
“Me?” I opened the Uber app and scheduled us a ride back to our place in downtown Charleston.
I had us staying in neighboring Airbnb condos in the tourist section, so we had an authentic feel of Charleston. Also, the place had a spiral staircase in the pictures. Telling me not to stay at the place with a fancy staircase when it was in budget was worse than passing up a fifty percent off shoe sale. A proper woman did neither.
“What exactly did I do to break up a couple at dinner?” I asked as a blue Chevy Trax slowed at the curb. I checked the information on the app and walked toward it.
Dane’s long legs kept up with me easily. “They probably saw you, and something in their DNA awoke for drama. It’s your aura.”
I rolled my eyes at him, much like he had at me when he first sat down. “Funny. I guess the third time is not the charm.”
“Huh?” he asked after closing my Uber door and getting in on the other side.
I buckled in, making sure not to look at him while I did it. “It’s our third case together, and you’re just as annoying as on our first.”
“Don’t you know? That’s why they pay me extra, princess.”
“You’re really making us go on a ghost hunt on our first night here?” Dane asked as we walked along a narrow sidewalk toward the large gray ship anchored at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It was just a short Uber trip over a bridge away from the main section of Charleston.
“Yes, but let me stop here and get a picture of the boat.” I snapped a photo quickly, doing my best to get a good view of Charleston in the background. We’d come back with official cameras and get more B-roll footage, but this gave people something to work off.
With the way the moon shone over the waves on the water, the boat gave off an eerie ghost vibe. It was perfect.
Dane scoffed beside me.
“What? You don’t like my shot?” I pulled my phone down and reviewed my images. I liked them.
He shook his head. “Your photos are fine, but your terminology is disrespectful. She’s a ship.”
“Really? Does anyone care?” Dane spent years as a Navy SEAL. He definitely cared, but I cared way more about grinding his gears.
It worked. He turned and strutted off toward the boat, shaking his head. “A boat is for recreational activities. Ships are much larger and used for shipping or military purposes. They deserve respect.”
“It’s 10:30, which means they’ll be boarding us for our tour on the ship soon, so get a move on,” I said even though I was a full pace behind him. “And of course we’re going on the tour. This is where Will died. This boat while on this very tour. Everything begins here.”
Therefore, we would too.
A small group of people had formed a circle next to a long dock that led to the ship. It didn’t look all that sturdy, and I had a moment of concern, but not enough to keep me from it. If the dock broke, it was literally Dane’s job to save me, and he needed to earn his keep.
“What’s our cover?” Dane asked as a man and a woman, each hauling a black trunk behind them, approached the group.
We maintained a short distance away from everyone else. Because we were staying in separate rooms at a large condo association, I hadn’t come up with a cover for why we were here. The simple answer was a couple together on vacation, but thinking about dating Dane made my gut do weird things.
“Let’s just go the newlywed route. It’s worked for us before,” he said as the man greeted our group.
I nodded. “Yeah, fine.”
If he didn’t have a problem being fake married to me, I didn’t have one being his fake wife.
“Hello, everyone. Are you all here for tonight’s paranormal investigation aboard the USS Yorktown?” the man said.
A chorus of confirmations greeted him.
