“I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s mad at you, too. Wrongfully so, but you can’t blame her for lashing out right now. If you hadn’t had the show, she wouldn’t have been here, and why wasn’t there more security? Ya know, an angry female rant.” Selene was trying to calm me with a bit of humor, but I wasn’t in the mood. This night was not supposed to go like this.
The thought made me feel even more pissed at the situation because I should only be thinking about her, and how a poor woman was dead, not that I missed an opportunity to show off to Selene and maybe end with smiles instead of death and blood.
Why the fuck did I want her smiles anyway? I was down to my last month of life. I didn’t need her as a distraction.
“I know you’re not OK, but you seem extra off. Is something else bothering you?” Her soft fingers touched my arm, and a tingling, shooting sensation spread warmth throughout my skin. I hissed from the shock of pure bliss. I retreated my arm from her touch and looked into her blue eyes.
“You don’t know me. You don’t know shit about me.”
She didn’t flinch or arch her delicate eyebrows at me, which only made me feel shittier.
“You’re right. I’ll be in touch if the paper has anymore need of you.” Her expression was completely unreadable. I couldn’t tell if she was angry, sad, or cared at all that I was being a dick. I hated this feeling and needed out of here.
I watched Selene walk over to talk with a woman with medium-length black hair and wore a leather jacket. Selene smiled at her, and I felt my chest constrict. Of course, Selene didn’t give two shits about me.
“Um, excuse me.” A soft female voice spoke from the seats behind me. I turned in the direction with a hardened jaw. But as soon as I saw the shimmering form, I relaxed my face to show empathy.
“You see me, right? Hear me?” The ghost of the murdered woman was there, looking at me like she was unsure I was indeed looking at her or not.
“I do. I’m very sorry about what happened.”
“Yeah, yeah. I just knew that I could talk to you for some reason. So here we are, but I think I’m remembering something from before. I’d been asked if I wanted to go backstage and meet you. Of course I said yes, and when I went to grab the pass, I felt a pain in my neck.” She reached up to touch her neck where she had felt the pain, but her hand went straight through her shoulder like it was air.
“Do you remember if it was a man or woman who spoke to you?” I wasn’t a detective, but I assumed it was the right question to ask. Her ghostly head shook. Damn.
“No, it’s very fuzzy.” The hand at her neck moved up to her head. She must be feeling phantom pains of a headache. An idea struck me about our problem but I was going to need help.
“Are you . . .” I tried to think of the best way to say what I needed to say without being an asshole. “Going to move on or stick around for a while?” There really hadn’t been another way to say it, so I just blurted it out. Hopefully my words weren’t going to send her off into a fit. Her features pinched in and her arms crossed over her shimmering chest.
“I’m not going anywhere, yet. I want justice first. Isn’t that a reason you can stay . . . unfinished business or something?”
This woman was stubborn and fiery. Hopefully my idea would work and we’d be closer to catching the killer that has become my new enemy.
“OK. Stay here. Don’t wander, and I’ll be back tonight to try something that I think could help us both.” I looked around to see if people were finished cleaning up and doing their jobs when I saw Selene watching me as I talked with the victim. The burning curiosity inside her blue eyes seduced me. I wanted to feed that monster inside her that yearned for more.
But I’d just been a super ass, and I doubted she would even talk to me now. I deserved her indifference, but this wasn’t about me. It’s about the killer and bringing peace to the victims and families.
“And I’m gonna bring a friend. The other girl who talks to ghosts.” Trixie shrugged.
“As long as she doesn’t touch me, I’m good.”
That was fair enough, now I just had to convince Selene she could be around me for more than two minutes.
“I’ll be back later. I promise.” I walked toward a smack in the face waiting to happen.
Chapter Nine
Selene
“I could have picked you up. We were practically driving behind each other.” Jude rubbed his hands together, the chill biting into our skin as we walked from the parking lot to the theater doors.
He opened them with a key he magically possessed and held the door open for me to go in front of him. I still hadn’t muttered one syllable to the insufferable man, and I was content to keep it up. Whatever mystery I’d been hooked on before with him was gone, ruined by his asshole mouth. Death was something I was around all the time, and it reminded me the future doesn’t exist, and we could all die at any moment. I didn’t need to give my time and energy to people who didn’t deserve it. My time here on Earth was better spent doing things that made me happy, not angry.
“I said I was sorry for the way I acted earlier. I’ve got stuff happening and these women dying at my show isn’t really helping.”
I scoffed at his words. Of course these innocent deaths were inconveniencing him.
“Fuck. That came out wrong. Look, I’ll explain after we give this a try, OK? Hopefully we can figure out who is killing these women.” He spoke with complete sincerity and stepped in front of me. He was sorry. I felt that, and I could see how he could be pissed, then act like a jerk given the circumstances. I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, but that’s as far as I would go. Once this whole murder case was solved, I’d leave Jude Mallory to his business and forget all about him.
