The smile he wore so easily a few seconds earlier fell. “No, William died a few months ago.”
“William? William Drake? Not that William,” I said, placing my hand over my mouth in shock.
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. Did I overplay my hand? “Yes, have you heard of him?”
“Only through the grapevine.” What did that even mean? “He died on the USS Yorktown. Right?”
He nodded. “That’s what they say, but don’t believe everything they publish in the papers.”
“I never do. Can’t trust reporters,” I said with a scoff. “Or those podcast people either.”
“Delaney,” Dane whispered as a warning, but I ignored him. Sometimes you had to go for it.
So I did. “Although the papers said William’s death was a suicide.”
“No,” Jeremy said, using more force than needed. “They lied. He would never kill himself. William had years of work left to do. He had a story to tell.”
“About the Charleston ghosts?”
Another head shake. That was unexpected. “More than just that. The true depravity here in the city. There are things people will never see or understand. Will was susceptible to the other world. The ghosts told William things that no one else knew.”
“The ghosts?” I was all for a good conspiracy theory, but that seemed a little off, even for me. “I’d like to look into that if possible.”
“Leave William alone. He’s here in the city now forever.” His raised voice drew attention from some of the tour participants. “He’s at peace.”
I inched backward a step, putting more distance between us as his anger grew. “Were you with William on the night of his death?”
“Who are you?” he demanded, getting inches from my face.
5
“Why, Delaney? Why?” Dane said as he stepped between us. “Ignore her. She’s off her meds.”
My eyes widened. We were going to talk about that when we made it back to our condos. It seemed like Dane needed to sit in on the next company-wide sensitivity training.
“I’m just trying to find the truth, Jeremy,” I said as Dane pushed me away from our group leader. We’d better get a refund if he kicked us out.
Jeremy held up his hands and clapped them twice. “Okay, then let’s get a move on to our next destination.”
What?
That’s it? He planned to ignore us? I didn’t like that at all.
“The truth is that William threw himself over that boat after speaking with the ghosts on the ship,” Jeremy said to me as he walked past us, leading the group further down the street. A man in a black hoodie knocked elbows with me as he passed.
“What was that?” I asked Dane as we ended up at the back of the group.
He looked like he wanted to kill me. “That was you being reckless again. What if he had a gun?”
“D-Bear,” I said with an eye roll. “He’s a walking tour guide. Not a criminal mastermind with a gun fetish.”
He really had to get a grip on his anxiety and get past his overly suspicious personality. Not everyone walked around with a Glock in his or her pants pocket.
Also, D-Bear was not an acceptable nickname. Back to the drawing board.
“Fine,” Dane said as we followed the group toward the next location. “Let’s go before you give Jeremy something to really complain about.”
“No way. We have to finish the tour.” It was pretty interesting and gave me a lot of good information about the city. Plus, it had the added benefit of giving us a view into William’s head since he wrote the stories. That was gold.
