I shake off the tremors from seeing that woman. She’s moreunnerving than anything I’ve encountered yet. “Yeah. I got a little dizzy.”
“You should sit,” Nick suggests. “Are these the last two boxes?”
“Yes. If you want to grab that one, I’ll follow behind you with this smaller one,” Corinne suggests, likely trying to get him out of here so she can interrogate me.
He nods at her before turning his attention to me. “I’ll put these in your car and head to Gloria’s. See you there?”
I smile. “Thanks, Nick.”
He offers a brief smile in return, picks up the larger box, and leaves Corinne and me alone.
As soon as he’s out of sight, Corinne turns on me. “What did you see?”
“A woman. I saw her before too, just before Ollie appeared.”
“A woman? What did she look like?”
I shake my head, trying to formulate a description. “She was different. Not solid like Billy or Ollie. Translucent, flickering.”
Corinne swallows. “Oh, crap.”
“What?” My voice rises before trailing off.
“That sounds like a poltergeist, and that’s not something you want to deal with.”
“Aren’t they all?” I grow more confused by the day with all the various types of spirits. The otherworld is more diverse than earth.
“No. Poltergeists are something else entirely. We’ll need to involve my mom.”
“Where’s Ollie? Maybe he can shed some light.” I glance around, finding the room empty save for the two of us.
Corinne makes a face, staring at me a little longer than comfortable.
“Do you have a thing for the hot detective?” Corinne asks, gliding alongside me. “You kinda eye-violated him back there.”
“No, I didn’t. Shut up.”
I grab the last box and head out, not wanting to risk any more questions.
“WHY EXACTLY AREyou driving like a bat outta hell?” Corinne asks from the passenger seat of my Volvo S60.
“I wanna get this over with,” I say, staring straight ahead.
“Hmm,” she muses. “You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the sexy detective? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you were driving like Lewis Hamilton to get to him.”
Corinne looks over at me out of the corner of her eye when I don’t answer.
“It has nothing to do with him.”
Although I must admit, knowing he’s there isn’t as unappealing as it would’ve been weeks ago. But I won’t tell her or anyone else that. She’s likely to blab that confession to Nick, first chance she gets.
“Don’t you want to see the outcome of my theory?” I say, hoping to steer her back to our mission.
“That the dirty ghoul is linked to those platters?” she asks, and I nod in response. “Wasn’t thatmytheory?”
“Whatever. I don’t care whose it was if it gets one spirit out of my house. If I return these, he better be coaxed over to the other side.”
“I’m not sure that’s how it works. He needs to want to cross over. Ollie the Idiot sounds perfectly content to crash at your pad for good.”
