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o scare you,” he said. “I was just talking to Lily Clark.”
Hope leaned slightly toward him. “Raintree, Lily Clark is dead.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Someone from the coffee shop had finally noticed the excitement on the boardwalk, and a few curious people walked toward him. He didn’t have much time. “Remember when I told you I talk to dead people?”
“Yeah,” Hope said.
“It was the truth.”
Raintree was suffering from hallucinations. That was it.
Hope pressed against his injury harder. Hallucinations from a nasty but relatively minor knife wound to the thigh? It didn’t make sense.
“That’s not possible. I’m going to call 911 now…”
“There’s no time to argue. I can’t go to a hospital this week.”
This week? “Raintree…”
“Watch this,” he said tersely, then turned his gaze toward the nearest streetlamp. In an instant the light exploded in a shower of sparks. The people who were approaching from the coffee shop stuttered and stepped back. “And the next,” Raintree said softly. Another streetlamp exploded. “The next?”
“Not necessary,” she said softly, turning toward the other people, who were approaching once again. She mustered a smile for them.
“Should I call an ambulance?” the burly man in the lead called. He looked like he was in charge, but this wasn’t the manager they’d spoken to earlier in the week.
“No, thanks,” Hope said, sounding calm. “My friend here had a little bit too much to drink and fell, and I think he got a splinter or something in his leg. If you’ve got a towel or some bandages or something, I’ll patch him up and take him home.”
It was an uninteresting explanation, and the other onlookers turned away. “Sure,” the man said, sounding disappointed. “I have a first aid kit with plenty of bandages.”
“Cool,” Hope said gratefully.
“Cool,” Raintree echoed when the man from the coffee shop had walked away to fetch the bandages. “So you believe me?”
“Of course not,” she said sternly.
“But you—”
“I believe something is up. I just haven’t figured out what yet.”
“I told you…” Suddenly Raintree turned his head and looked at a large expanse of air. “Yeah, she’s pretty, but she’s also stubborn as all get out.”
“Talking to Lily Clark’s ghost again?” Hope snapped.
Gideon leaned toward her. “She thinks you should be more open-minded.”
“Oh, she does?”
“Yeah.” Gideon looked puzzled for a moment, and then he added, “I haven’t lost enough blood to feel this woozy. She tossed something in my face. A drug of some kind. Maybe even poison. This isn’t good. I need to get out of here.”
“You need a hospital.”
“No. Lily says you’ll take good care of me.”
“That don’t look like a splinter to me.”
Hope’s head snapped up, and she saw the man from the coffee shop staring down, suspicion in his eyes.
