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I gave a nod and hoped I displayed my irritation. “Holly said as much, but what do you mean by dark?”
“He’s a killer.”
“Okay, wait.” I raised my hand. “He’s a ghost who is a killer, which by the way makes no sense at all. Or he’s a killer who hunts ghosts?”
“He causes death, that’s all we know.”
Kipp examined the man curiously. I nodded at him in agreeme
nt. “Yes, I’m right where you are too. I don’t understand what y’all mean.”
“You need to come with us and see,” Holly said, dragging my focus to her. “We’re hoping that you can find this ghost. See what he’s after and why he’s here. Then, you need to get rid of him.”
I laughed. “Why do you think I can do this?”
“Because you save ghosts and that means you’ll be able to send him away.”
“I don’t save ghosts,” I corrected. “I help them cross over. That’s quite different than what you’re suggesting. Besides if he scares you, he’s gonna scare me, and I want no part in that.”
A young woman, only seventeen or so, stepped away from the group. Her eyes were huge with fright. “But you’re the only one we have to help us.”
Guilt roared up into my soul. I hated that anyone young stood here. Older ghosts were easier to deny. “Y’all keep saying that, but honestly what can I do?”
“We’re merely asking you to investigate it,” Holly replied. “We can’t remain here if this ghost is around, and we want to stay with our families.”
My mouth dropped to the floor. Had I entered a morphed reality? “Are you seriously suggesting that you don’t want my help to cross over?”
She shook her head, glancing out at the group, who all shook their heads, too. “None of us do. We’re happy here, or we were until this happened. We want things to go back to normal.”
I licked my dry lips, and finally said, “You only want me to look for this dark thingy you’re talking of. Then what do you want me to do exactly?”
“Get rid of it,” Holly said concisely.
Maybe my guilt wanted me to agree, but now wasn’t the time to even consider this. I thought much like Max. If this was my life now, I needed to set boundaries. I wouldn’t work myself to death. “As much as I’d like to help you, I’ve got something else to deal with. So y’all will just have to hang tight for a bit. I need sleep since I’m not dead and tomorrow is going to be a day from hell. Literally.”
“For how long?” Holly implored.
“As soon as we close a case we’re working on,” Kipp interjected. “After that, we promise we’ll check this out for you. Tess is right. She needs her rest so it’s best that you go now.”
Nods from the crowd followed, then each of them vanished through the wall. The gentleman stood, bowed at me, showing he was even older than the seventy years he appeared because seriously, who bowed anymore?
Holly stood, glanced down at me and the fear never left her expression. “Please, be as quick as you can. Something is very wrong here. I’m afraid of what will happen if we don’t act soon. We’ll wait for you at Overton Park in the Veterans Plaza.”
Without a chance to respond, she strode through my living room wall. I waited a second to see if any other uninvited guests entered my home. When only silence greeted me, I jerked my head toward Kipp. “What kind of crazy shit was that?”
“Have you ever heard of a dark ghost?”
I pondered that, then nearly laughed at myself for thinking I might have an actual answer. I finally settled on what made the most sense. “Maybe it’s just a really nasty ghost who killed people when he was alive, or something horrible happened in his life, and he’s just miserable. It could be as simple as that.”
His eyebrow arched. “And you’ve seen a ghost like this before?”
“Never.” I shrugged, seeing in his gaze that he’d blow his lid to hear I’d ever been in close proximity to a ghost like that. “But what else could it be?”
“I have no idea. Something, though, has really frightened them.” His jaw clenched. “I hope that doesn’t mean a lot of trouble for us.”
I rolled my eyes. “You mean more trouble than the live criminal we’re going to talk to tomorrow?”
He winked. “Yes, more trouble than that.”
