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Luckily, both Hannah and Elizabeth seemed like they were trying to make contact for productive reasons. If only Cassie knew what Hannah was trying to say to her.
“I’ll be there in fifteen. Yeah. Thanks. Bye.”
Harris walked back over to Cassie. “That was the coroner. They’re going to release Elizabeth’s body back to her family in the morning. I convinced the medical examiner to hold off on stitching her back up right away because I was kind of hoping you’d go down there with me.”
“That’s why you’re stalking me?”
“You don’t have to say it like that.” Harris smiled again for show. “Look, I’m going to be the first one to admit that I don’t believe in psychics and ghosts and all of that mumbo jumbo, but I know Klein. I’ve looked up to him for years. And I’ve seen enough of your file to know that you get results. Plus, you’re kind of a spooky chick.”
“I’m spooky?” Cassie couldn’t help but laugh. “What does that even mean?”
Harris’s demeanor changed and her face tightened. “You kind of freak me out, Quinn. You might not look the part, but you act it.”
“Thanks? I think?” Cassie sighed. She didn’t feel like visiting a morgue on a Friday night, but she did want to help Harris solve this case sooner rather than later. For Elizabeth and Hannah’s sake, as well as her own. “All right. Deal. Do I at least get dinner out of this?”
Harris rolled her eyes. “If you’re still hungry after we see Elizabeth, we can go to Narobia’s. They have the best shrimp and grits in Savannah.”
“That seems like a bold claim, but I’m willing to give it a try.” Cassie followed Harris back toward the trail. “Hey, I know this isn’t easy for you.”
“What? Trusting a psychic?”
“Or an outsider.” Cassie wet her lips. She didn’t know what she wanted to say, but she wanted to reassure Harris that she wasn’t making a mistake by confiding in Cassie. “I’ve been doing this for a while and it still seems crazy to me. I don’t blame you for being hesitant.”
“I appreciate that.” Harris threw a glance at Cassie and continued. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yes, they look dead. No, I can’t make them go away when I wish super hard. Yes, they’ve interrupted some, uh, special times.”
“That’s not—wait a second. Are those all the questions people ask you?”
“Without fail.”
“Wow.” Harris looked like she was caught between wanting to laugh and feeling bad for Cassie. “You know what? I’m not surprised.”
“What was your question?”
Harris’s face turned serious. “Do you ever get scared?”
Cassie took her time with the question and offered a slow nod. “I would say it’s gotten easier, but that fear doesn’t go away, you know? There’s a reason why they make horror movies out of this stuff. And while I may have seen just about anything you could think of, it is still shocking at the very least when receiving an unexpected visitor.”
“True.” Harris took a deep breath as her gaze drifted to the canopy overhead. Already, a smattering of orange and yellow and red leaves softened the view.
Cassie took advantage of the void hanging between them. “Do you still get scared?”
Harris’s gaze returned to Cassie. She smiled and took a moment to respond. “Yeah. All the time. When you’re around death this much, it’s kind of hard not to. You want to be this hard-as-steel, tough-as-nails badass detective, solving crimes and all. But it’s all a front.”
“Were you hoping I’d say it would get easier? That one day you might be less scared?”
Harris shrugged. “Maybe. Kinda. Yeah.”
Cassie smiled. “It’s okay to hope that. I wish I were less scared, but sometimes fear is a good thing. Sometimes it can save your life. I’m sure you already know that.”
“I do,” Harris said. “But sometimes it’s nice to hear that out loud.”
“These murders, they’re weighing on you, aren’t they?”
“It’s not easy,” Harris said. “No matter who it is. But I see these women, and they’re not much younger than me. We can’t come up with a pattern with a reason for why they’ve been chosen. It’s unnerving.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I believe in you.”
