“More or less.”
My thoughts float to Ava. She’d been here, and he was just hiding out? What if he’d hurt her? What if he’d been watching her get dressed?
“Whatever is going on in that head of yours, stop it,” he scolds. “I’ve been minding my own business, waiting for her to leave so we can get to business.”
I grab the long black umbrella that sits beside the door and lurch forward, jutting it toward the man. His hands fly up and he laughs.
“There’s no need for that. It won’t do you any good, anyway.”
“Not another word,” I warn. “You move, you get poked.”
He shrugs. “I could use a good poking. Do your worst.”
“Ugh!” I scream, waving the umbrella around like a lunatic. “Get out!”
He smacks his lips together. “Like I said, I can’t. There’s something keeping me trapped here, and until I figure out what, it’s you and me, Karen.”
“Who’s keeping you here?” My eyes scan the room, looking for signs of another intruder.
“God? Satan? One can only guess, but at this rate, if there is a heaven,thishas to be purgatory.”
I slink my back down the door until my ass hits the ground. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I curl into myself and wait for him to go away. Surely, he’ll leave at some point.
He clears his throat, but I don’t dare open my eyes. “Not leaving. Sure you want to continue to act like a child?” The humor in his voice is annoying. The last thing I need him doing is making me second-guess myself.
“Helloooo... Karen... Whatcha doin’ down there?”
I peek my eyes open, and Billy is perched right in front of me,squatting so he’s at my eye level. He’s solid, not an apparition. My hand shoots out to punch him in the face, but my fist goes right through.
“Told you,” he says smugly.
I scream at the top of my lungs and jump to my feet. Grabbing my car keys from the hook, I unlock the front door and bolt from the house. I already believed he was a ghost, but further confirmation isn’t any less terrifying. Pulling my phone from my back pocket, I dial Lanie’s number.
She doesn’t answer. So I leave her a frantic message.
“It’s eleven. Call me as soon as you get this. I’m having a mental break and I need you to take me to the hospital. Or get me an exorcist. I’m seeing ghosts.”
AN HOUR LATER,I arrive at Cori’s Nail Spa on two wheels, screeching my tires as I pull into the last remaining spot. In the light of day, it’s not so sketchy. The simple glass storefront matches every other business on this side of the plaza.
Stepping from my car, I feel the blazing sun on my back. It beams directly into the place, explaining why tinted glass was chosen.
I burst through the front door, ignoring all the gawking women watching me stalk toward the back room.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Where are you going?” I keep moving, ignoring the insistent questioning. “Ma’am,whereare you going?!”
I spin on my heels, coming face-to-face with a man who’s several inches taller than me, with jet-black hair that parts on an intense widow’s peak. He’s handsome. Chiseled features and a straight nose somehow make him more striking the longer I stare. His dark eyes are narrowed in on me.
“Care to explain that entrance?” His eyes do a quick scan of myattire, and I glare in return. “Or maybe you can tell me what led to this.” He smirks, motioning to my outfit.
I huff, ignoring his second question. “I’m looking for Madame Corinne.”
He harrumphs. “Of course you are. Cori, you have a visitor.”
I turn to see Corinne, bent over, filing a woman’s nails.
“Oh, for shit’s sake. She’s a nail tech too?”
He grunts. “She’s a lot of things.”
