Page 37 of Ghost Town Boogie

He couldn’t hear much of anything from the little back room where he cleaned records. And studied evidence, these days. Colt left the room, walked through the hallway that never saw any customers and into the cleaner, brighter main area which was filled with bins and t-shirts and coffee pots. There she was. Anna, standing at his door. He was closed on Monday; maybe she’d forgotten.

Why was she here? What had they left unsaid? Nothing he could think of. Her mom was leaving tomorrow, maybe the next day if Anna’s cousin wanted to stick around for the night. She might. Nina Miller and her niece had a long drive ahead of them. Anna wouldn’t be far behind. She’d helped her mom set insurance and cleanup into motion, and once that was underway she’d see her mom settled and then return to her job in Nashville.

Leaving him here with an extra ghost or two. Who’s counting?

He unlocked the door and opened it wide. Anna walked in; he locked the door behind her.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She didn’t look okay, not at all. He couldn’t blame her. The news about her brother had to be hard. The news about the man she’d slept with was just as shocking. Stress showed in a tightness of her jaw and an uncertain glimmer in her eyes. In spite of it all she took his face in her hands, pulled him down slightly, and kissed him. It wasn’t a long, passionate kiss. He tasted desperation and a lingering sadness in the too-brief kiss. He also tasted something new. A connection he hadn’t expected to find, a familiarity that made the kiss seem like one of many to come. He’d never thought to have that with her, not with anyone. With a kiss he was convinced he needed her in a way that went beyond the physical. Needed her in a gut deep way he’d never expected.

Dangerous thoughts.

“What was that for?” he asked when he caught his breath.

“I wanted a kiss so I took it,” she said, not looking directly at him.

“You came all this way for a kiss?”

She tilted her head back and looked squarely at him, unafraid but also uncertain. “I don’t know what to do. Jack is dead and no one knows. I can’t tell Mom, I can’t, and looking back I wonder if maybe Dad didn’t… maybe he knew all along.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Things he said. The way he didn’t seem surprised that Jack stayed gone, the way Mom did. He and Jack never really got along. They were always arguing, from the time my brother was twelve years old.”

“I remember.” Arguments about hair, clothes, music, school. Pretty much everything. “What did they argue about when he was an adult?”

“Money, mostly.” They walked away from the front door and all the windows, toward the back room. “Jack always had a get rich quick scheme going. An investment in a building, a new casino, an up and coming tech business. It was always the deal to get in on. I didn’t know many of the details of all that happened after I moved to Nashville, but Mom said that last argument, the failed investment that wiped out a lot of their savings, was the last straw for Dad.”

Maybe Jack had lost the wrong person’s money. He thought of the list of names and numbers he’d found. Investors? Marks?

When they were behind the counter, Anna turned and surveyed the room. “Are they here now?” she whispered.

“Some.” Maude, Gerald, Nicole, a fading spirit that almost blended into the green woodwork.

“Can you, or they, call someone back? Can we ask my Dad to…”

“No,” Colt snapped. “No way. If I start calling ghosts to me it might never stop. It doesn’t work that way, it’s never worked that way, I can’t imagine…”

He’d never tried calling Lizzie to him, though he’d been tempted. He remembered calling her name during those first bad days after the accident, but once he’d realized what had happened to him he didn’t even do that. He’d gone to the site of the accident more than once but even then he hadn’t made an attempt to call Lizzie to him.

The idea of not just dealing with the ghosts who were stuck but inviting them in…

Anna placed a calming hand on his arm. “Never mind. It was just a thought. I suspect maybe he knew something but I could be wrong. I won’t do that to you.”

“There has to be another way.”

She nodded. “I agree. We just have to find it.”

We. Was there a we?

He’d planned to go to The Magnolia tonight to see if any ghosts were hanging around. He didn’t normally go looking for spirits, but in this case…

“I’m sorry I reacted so badly,” Anna said, moving closer. “Finding out Jack is dead, that you see ghosts and they’re… everywhere… seeing the house burn. Suspecting that maybe Dad knew…” She sighed. “It was a lot all at once, and I panicked.”

“Understandable.”

“But I like you, Colt. I’ve always liked you. I don’t want to walk away, to run away, just because of a few ghosts. And a murder. And Dad… I might not want to know if he was involved in any way, but I need to know.”