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Jason’s eyes remained troubled. She looked away so he wouldn’t figure out how she was feeling. Movement over his shoulder caught her attention. When her gaze shifted, it landed on a woman standing in the doorway to the Heart and Vascular ward. She wore a simple dress with low-heeled pumps. Her hair was in pin curls. She looked faded and gray, like most of the other spirits who stalked the hospital’s passageways, but her eyes, a piercing hazel that stared right through Cassie, seemed alive.
Jason didn’t miss Cassie’s gasp. “What do you see?”
“The woman from my dreams.”
“The Ghost Doctor?”
Cassie didn’t answer. The woman had turned in the other direction, and Cassie didn’t hesitate to follow her. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself, especially after pushing through the door to the ward. Someone would eventually ask her where she was going, and without an appointment, they would be sure to turn her right back around.
“Cassie?” Jason was right behind her. “What’s going on?”
She ignored him. She locked her eyes on the other woman, who had already drifted to the end of the hall. Cassie caught sight of the edge of her skirt just as she turned the corner. She couldn’t run, but she walked at a brisk enough pace that a few heads turned in her direction. If she could just see where the Ghost Doctor was going—
“Ma’am?”
Cassie didn’t slow down. She heard Jason talking to the nurse behind her. It would buy her another minute or two, but not much more. As she turned the corner, she spotted the Ghost Doctor at the end of the next hall. There were doors on either side, some open and some closed. Nurses carrying charts made their rounds. Doctors spoke with families in hushed tones. Cassie knew she didn’t belong here.
The Ghost Doctor was within reach. If Cassie stretched out her arm, it would only take a few more steps to reach her. And then what? She couldn’t lock her hand around the woman’s wrist. It would pass right through, even though Cassie had never seen a ghost so present.
But she had to try.
As Cassie whipped around the corner, she hit something solid. Could spirits become corporeal? They could move objects in short bursts, though it took a lot of energy. Maybe that explained why the Ghost Doctor had been stealing souls. Did it somehow give her the ability to walk on this plane of existence like she was a real person?
But as a clipboard clattered to the ground and papers shot out in every direction, Cassie realized that while she had run into another woman, and a doctor at that, it wasn’t the one she’d been pursuing.
“I am so sorry.” Cassie could feel the blush on her face and neck. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” The woman looked down at the papers in frustration. “I knew I should’ve numbered them.”
Cassie bent down to help her pick them up. “That was completely my fault. I didn’t see you.”
The woman shook her head. “I wasn’t looking where I was going either.”
Cassie gathered half the pieces of paper and shoved them into the woman’s hands. She stood and looked beyond her, down another hallway. It was full of hospital workers but devoid of ghosts. And with half a dozen people turned in her direction, Cassie knew she wouldn’t be able to come up with a good enough excuse to keep looking for her.
“I’m sorry again.” Cassie turned and nearly ran into Jason, too. “Time to go.”
“Did you talk to her?” Jason hissed. “The Ghost Doctor?”
“No.” Cassie sped by the nurse that had called out to her earlier, avoiding any eye contact. “But it wasn’t a total loss.”
Jason pushed through the door and back out into the hospital’s main lobby. They didn’t talk again until they were next to his car. “How come?”
“Because now I know she’s here, in New Orleans.” Cassie looked up at the hospital’s façade, which reflected the bright December sun back into her eyes, causing her to squint. “The dream wasn’t random. She’s connected to Jasmine.”
17
Jason pulled the car against the curb outside a modest house with blue shutters and a two-car garage. A man was bent over a brand-new cherry red BMW that looked out of place against the driveway’s cracked pavement. He seemed to be about Cassie’s age, and despite the cool breeze, he wore a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. His muscles bulged beneath the fabric, and a light summer tan clung to his skin.
Jason put the car in park. “That’s Jeff.”
Jeff, Cassie had learned on the car ride over, was Mark Galanis’ older brother. Jason had been friends with them as kids, and even throughout college. Then life got in the way. Careers and girlfriends and trips around the world. They drifted apart, and Jason hadn’t seen either of them since he’d moved to Savannah.
And now one of them was dead.
Jeff fit the description Cassie had created in her mind while she listened to Jason’s stories. The older Galanis had played football, run track, and hosted most of their college parties. He could never decide what to do with his life, but eventually his father forced him to get a degree in business. Jason had no idea what he was doing now, but considering they’d pulled up to his parents’ house, Cassie wasn’t sure he’d ever found his footing. Then again, his car said otherwise.
Cassie waited until Jason got out and made his way around the front of the car before she followed suit. She didn’t feel at all prepared to talk to Jason’s friend—they hadn’t come up with a game plan or anything—and she still had plenty of questions, both about the Ghost Doctor and the woman Stacey had mentioned. Vanessa.
