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Charlie, of no last name that he could remember anymore, was a middle-aged ghost in a white dress shirt, dark slacks, and a vest. He had things holding his sleeves back that looked almost like a lady’s garter, like something a bartender in an old western would wear. His dark hair was parted down the center in an aggressive line, and he had a mustache you could have opened a door with.
“All right, Miss Darla.” Charlie’s mustache bristled up like a walrus when he smiled. And he had him a funny accent—like what you’d hear on a Western. “Everything’s been pretty quiet lately, after the last book club brawl.”
That was the way with ghosts. Everything would be fine, and then something would set them off and when that happened? Watch out. Let’s just say that the book club was very passionate about what they thought made a good book and a bad one.
“Good, good. Glad to hear it.” My toes were tapping again, my feet just itching to make my way to the ballroom, because there was usually someone in there dancing. Ghosts didn’t care about things like time, much.
“Focus, Darla,” the grumpy copper in the back of my head grumbled at me.
I rolled my eyes. “Ah, you’re all wet. What’s an hour?”
Inside the hotel, it was easier for my ghost passenger to materialize. Cain Morgan, the late Chief of Police of Haven Hollow, looked darn close to solid when he popped into existence, standing at my elbow.
Even though I carted Cain around as part of my job as a medium, I didn’t actually get to see him. It was easy to forget that he was tall, stacked, with broad shoulders and the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen on a man. But when he was just the nagging voice in my head, complaining any time I had any fun? Well, then it was easy to forget who he really was. But seeing him right there, in the–well, not flesh, exactly. Let’s just say it was something to take in. The uniform that he’d died in, it did good things for his arms.
Suddenly aware I was staring at him, I started twisting the ring on my finger around. It was Cain’s ring. And it had been provided to me for the summoning I’d been hired to do. Now, he was bound to it for a year to give his sister, Taliyah, a chance to deal with taking over as Chief of Police.
Honestly, Cain wasn’t bad company. And after spending a century trapped in a house with only scared families and the palooka who’d killed me, I didn’t hate having a constant companion. Even if he was a complete blue stocking.
I tried to turn back to Charlie, to dodge the lecture I could see in the harsh lines of Cain’s face, but Charlie had scurried away to pretend he was busy at the other end of the counter. The traitor.
Cain crossed his arms. “Because it won’t just be an hour. You know what this place is like. You’ll get caught up.”
He was right, but I didn’t have to admit it. The ballroom was a—what had Wanda called it? A liminal space, that was it, yeah. There was no way to tell time here, and none of the dancers or musicians ever got tired, or needed a drink or a break, so the days could just slip on by without you ever realizing it. I wasn’t sure why it was called ‘liminal’ ‘cause I didn’t even know the meaning of that word. You ask me and I would have said it would be better calling it a ‘time suck space’ or something to that effect.
“Fine.” I heaved a sigh. Everything was in order. There wasn’t anything to take care of, so there wasn’t any excuse to stay.
The hotel might have started as a trap, but it really felt good to be there. Peaceful like. Tension just melted off me once I hit the doors. Damon had said he’d styled it just for me, but knowing it was a trap didn’t make the bait one bit less tempting.
I’d really hoped that some of that magic would seep into Cain. It had been a while since there had been a case that he was needed to consult on, and it was making him more of a grump than usual. A restless Cain wasn’t a happy Cain. I’d thought my bi-weekly trip to the hotel might do the double duty of taking a bit of the starch out of my ghost ride along.
Apparently, nothing doing. Cain looked more alert than ever.
I wasn’t pouting. Dames my age didn’t pout.
“Let’s head out then.” I twisted the strap of my purse over my shoulder, making sure to sweep my hair out of the way. It was finally growing out of the chin length bob I’d been stuck with for a hundred years, and I was enjoying the swing of it. “I’ve still got laundry and dinner to prep for.”
I sounded like some kind of homemaker. My old roommate, Libby, a zombie from the fifties, would have been so proud. When she wasn’t calling me a slattern for having a bit of the hooch.
I’d just turned to wave to Charlie, when my phone rang.
Not a lot of people called me, but that wasn’t what was surprising. Phones were only hit and miss inside the hotel, and most of the time, you couldn’t get you any kind of reception, on account of the place being not fullythere.
I shrugged and fished the phone out of my purse, glancing at the caller ID. My heart sank.
Blaise Howard, it read.
Chapter Two
Mr. Howard was the big cheese at Spook Society, where I worked as a medium.
As it turned out, being a ghost for a century made you real sensitive to their energies and gave you a strong tie to the other side. It was why I’d been picked to host Cain, since most other mediums couldn’t have housed a ghost for any length of time, not without maybe dying themselves. It was the same reason Mr. Howard had hired me—because of my abilities (well, one of the reasons). And I did good business—helped a lot of folks with their loved ones and encouraged spirits to pass on.
Only problem was, Mr. Howard did not like me.
And I wasn’t exactly sure why. I mean, I thought I was a likeable enough gal. But guess you can’t please ‘em all.
As to Mr. Howard—he used to work with the head of the Hunter’s Guild of America, and he’d only hired me in the first place to make sure I wasn’t up to no good. Somehow, he knew that I’d been dead and come back to life again, though only a handful of people were supposed to know that, and far as I knew, no one had been flapping their gums. But Mr. Howard knew, and he trusted me about as far as I coulda thrown Cain when he was alive.
