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Anastacia bit the inside of her bottom lip, pausing mid-stride as she mulled over the proposition. She hadn’t tried it before, nor even had the opportunity to. He might actually buy her some stress-free time to find a solution. Dealing with one soul was, in theory, easier than the random ones who hunted her down. A temporary spirit guide, as it were. A protector to keep the others at bay.
Mel took a step closer to her.
“Or I can keep bothering you until you say yes?”
Anastacia spun on her heel. “Let’s go.”
“Uh… where?”
“Where you died. I need to see a few things before I promise anything. I take promises seriously.”
“Would you even say deathly seriously?”
“Really?”
“I couldn’t help it.”
She had to admit the way his eyes sparkled was way more attractive than any spirit she’d ever seen. Maybe this arrangement wouldn’t be so bad.
Officersswarmedthealley,crime scene technicians hopped in and out with cameras and kits while over two dozen rubberneckers tried to get a good look at the scene. Anastacia stood with a couple more onlookers on the other side of the street from the police cruisers. The cops hurried in and out, eventually clearing a path. That was when she saw the body bag on the stretcher being loaded into the coroner’s van.
Careful not to draw attention to herself, her head tilted in such a way as to watch Mel from the corner of her eyes. So far, there wasn’t much to dampen his humor or silence him for any stretch of time. Until they got to his place of death. They arrived fifteen minutes ago. He’d been quiet for the last twelve.
The air around him grew cold, his emotions gathering the raw energy from his environment. Anastacia knew spirits needed to draw energy to be seen or even to be heard. She never knew how it was done, but something told her strong emotions played a big part if the low streetlamp flickering above their heads was any indication. He hadn’t moved from his spot on the sidewalk next to her, an intangible wall kept him from getting too close. Anastacia wasn’t sure if he was aware of his hand covering the bullet hole in his middle. Her hand reached for his, an instinct to comfort and help him in his crossing. At the last moment, she pulled her hand back, remembering her emotional barricade, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“They must have found you not too long ago,” she whispered to Mel, breaking the spell the scene had over him. “Did you wake up in the alleyway after you died?”
“Nah, I was a street over,” he explained with a forced chuckle. Tension fell from his shoulders and a hand ran through his hair. “Hella confused why I was there with bits and pieces of memories floating in my head but not making much sense. Still doesn’t. Kind of surreal to think they’re driving away with my body in the coroner van when I'm standing right here.”
Anastacia let the silence invade their space again. Just for the moment. For him. He didn’t realize the energy flowing toward him in quick surges of sorrow and loss. She forgot how much souls lose when they perish. It’s not just their body they lose; it’s their whole future.
She watched as someone was pulled off to the side talking with who she guessed was the lead detective. The sidearm holstered on his right hip and the shiny badge clipped at his waistline were all visual tells. Strong hands rolled up the sleeves of a button-down shirt to the elbows as the uniformed officer at his side jotted down the witness statement. The thick humidity stuck his dark blond hair along his forehead and the back of his neck. A hand wiped at his clean-shaven face and over his nose, crooked to one side from an obvious break once upon a time. His eyes flicked to her, catching her attention when they locked on hers. The deep green was visibly sharp and piercing even from her distance.
A breath caught in her throat and for a fraction of a second, she couldn’t breathe.
“Something catch your attention?” Mel questioned and leaned down to her eye level to search for what she stared at.
“Nothing that’s going to solve your murder in one go.” She turned from the detective’s gaze to the woman he and the officer were questioning.
A leggy blonde, tanned and dressed as if she'd been to a bar the night before. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were rumpled but not in the way distress slumps a body, but more like she put on the clothes she wore the night before and didn’t bother trying to hide it. She dabbed her eyes, but nothing about her carriage was like someone in mourning. If Anastacia had to put money on it, she would bet there weren’t even tears in that woman’s make-up-smudged eyes. The blonde sobbed dramatically and fell toward the detective who shifted her off to the officer with an awkward pat on her shoulder.
“Girlfriend?” Anastacia nodded subtly to the blonde.
“If that,” he sighed and shook his head. “Judy. We just started seeing each other exclusively last week when I permanently relocated to town. She must have just left the party she went to last night.”
Her eyes went to the figure of the man who walked briskly over to Judy and wrapped her protectively in his arms.“It’s your friend from yesterday.”
“Yeah, Jay. Man, he’s looking like shit.”
Anastacia took in the unbuttoned shirt, left open over a white undershirt, the pressed crease of his pants off center, and his hair rumpled beyond repair. The rise of her eyebrow was Mel’s cue to continue.
“He never leaves his house less than perfect. He’s got an image. Look at him; hair not brushed, crinkled shirt, unlaundered pants. That’s not Jay. He probably blames himself for all… this.”
“What are they even doing here?” Anastacia wondered out loud more to herself than to him.
“I— huh. That’s a good question. Jay and I were meeting an investor here last night. Maybe Jay heard or was called about me?” Mel began to think out loud, his voice stronger than the moment before. “He would have told Judy. They’re tight like that. Maybe they hoped it wasn’t me they found.”
Anastacia looked long and hard at Jay and Judy and then at Mel. It was strange, she could get a good idea of who they were well enough, but she had yet to get a good read on Mel.
