Page 30 of A Love Like Candle Light

As soon as I’ve turned on my laptop, the dreaded sound of an incoming video call makes the hair on my neck stand up.

My mother called again this morning, but I still have no energy to face her. Thankfully, this one is only Gabriella.

“Hey, girl.” I answer the call, still running around my living room in an attempt to find an outlet for my laptop. It’s okay, Gabriella won’t care if all she sees on screen is my butt.

“How’s it going, Kylie?” Ah, there is an outlet. Right under my kitchen counter. Couldn’t have been more obvious, but my thoughts are all over the place today. “How’s your new town?”

“Chaotic,” I reply with a sigh and plop into the seat.

My initial plan was to finish up my office yesterday, but for obvious reasons, I never got around to it. After Erik cleared us to go home, all I could do for most of the afternoon was stare at the mess they left on my property.

The hole where they dug up the bones, still marked with crime scene tape. The beautiful lawn, dug up in several places, more of it destroyed by what must be a hundred pairs of steel-capped shoes paired with rain and soft ground. A bunch of cigarette butts littered all around my driveway, along with to-go cups, bubble gum wraps and fast-food wrappers.

Kieran, Lauren and Nic were nice enough to help me make most of it presentable again. Lauren picked up trash, Kieran helped me move garden furniture and logs back to their places after the feds moved my stuff all over the place to set up their equipment stations. And Nic grabbed a rake and tried to salvage what’s left of my lawn.

They came in for a coffee afterward, but of course, the ghost wouldn’t make themselves known.

I was too exhausted to even think about setting up the rest of my office. So for now, I’m making myself comfortable in my living room. It looks somewhat presentable as background. I’m still glad I didn’t schedule any virtual client meetings for this week.

“So, chaotic?” Gabriella chuckles.

I make the tiny window with her face full screen and give her a quick recount of what happened yesterday. It’s more satisfying to watch her jaw drop and eyes widen on a big screen.

“Only you, Kylie.” She shakes her head, but a twitch in the corner of her mouth betrays her amusement. “Only you would accidentally buy a potential crime scene.”

“Hey, come on. I didn’t pick my house because it looked like a murder scene. Believe it or not, I actually want some calm and quiet.” BANG. A door flies closed. I jump and turn around. Abby appears in front of me, ears pointed forward and rigid posture, ready to charge. “What the fuck?”

My heart beats hard against my ribcage, and my entire body feels numb.

“Did you hear that?” I ask Gabriella in a whisper. Her wide-eyed, shocked expression doesn’t exactly help my own panic. Everything inside me screams at me to bolt and get my ass out of here, but I’m frozen in place.

“Yes, I did. What the hell is going on, Kylie?”

“I don’t know.” I pick up the laptop and take her with me to investigate. My hand trembles, but somehow, I manage to balance it.

“Oh God, this is straight-up horror movie vibes.” She hides her face behind her hand, peeking through a gap between her fingers. “And you’re white as a ghost. How fitting. Please don’t climb through my TV screen tonight.”

“Probably just a door closing,” I mumble, not even dignifying that with an answer and carry her up the steps with me. “All by itself. As a door in a house with no open windows does.”

“A door? I’d be relieved, it straight-up sounded like a shot over here. Oh God, I can’t look at this.”

I walk through my entire house, but there are no closed doors. Abby isn’t a great help either. She might be trudging along and sniffing the air occasionally, but nothing seems out of the ordinary to her.

By the time I’m back in the living room, my heart has calmed down a little. Emphasis on ‘a little.’

“Maybe we both imagined it,” I offer, but can’t help glancing over my shoulder the entire time. I might have to rearrange my office so my back is facing a wall instead of the open room.

Something here makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

As if someone’s watching me.

“Kylie.” Gabriella’s voice trembles. “I really don’t want to scare you, but I think you should know that the picture on the wall behind you just moved.”

I jolt around, heart beating so loudly it echoes in my eardrums. She’s right.

Ever so slightly, the picture hanging over my couch is moving. Left to right, then left again, until it comes to a stop, perfectly angled.

“Fuck.” I close my eyes, gulping down tears and force myself to take a deep breath. “I thought my neighbor was kidding about her ghost cat.”