“OK. Let’s do this.” I spoke aloud for the first time since seeing him climb out of his black SUV. He closed his eyes in relief before going into the theater seating area.
“I thought you guys weren’t going to show. I was coming up with a haunting plan. Talk to you all night while you sleep kind of deal.” Trixie sat on the edge of the stage, and I felt a pang of sadness. As much as we needed her to find out what happened in her murder, I know that souls belong onward. Being stuck here when you couldn’t feel, touch, or even talk to someone was miserable. Hell, that sort of thing led living people to the doors of death when they were lonely. Ghosts couldn’t die again so they just had to learn to deal with it.
“Thank you for sticking around. I really believe this will help.” Jude hopped up to sit beside Trixie, and I stood in front of them. He hadn’t exactly told me what we were going to try, but he said it was important to the case. He needed my gift to speak to the dead, which he obviously had, too, so I was lost on why I was truly here.
“So what do we do?” Trixie asked, and I looked at Jude expectantly. It was time to reveal this great plan of his.
“I can control the dead. It’s my gift. I can make them do as I want, and for a short time I can make them as close to alive as I can. Meaning I can help you get over your dead brain fuzziness and you can tell us what you remember. I need Selene over here to jot everything down and ask the right questions since that is her thing.”
Both Trixie and I gaped at the man, who claimed to have vast and extremely powerful gifts over the dead.
“Is that even possible?” I asked. A power like that had to be too much for one person.
“Yeah. My performers are all people who died a century ago. I give them temporary life to do their acts and not be one hundred percent ghost-like. So I know I can help you, but I’m going to apologize now that it is only temporary. I can’t bring people back from the dead.”
His glanced at me quickly, then back to Trixie. He was lying. Holy hell, he could bring people back from the dead.
“I get it. I’ll just be happy to catch this person, then move on. It’s no fun staying here alone. I can’t even taste a pumpkin spice latte if I wanted to. Now that is hell.” Trixie held her hand out toward Jude, and he gave her a sad smile before placing his hand in hers. I knew what to expect, given his words, but seeing his hand clasping onto hers and her ghostly fingers not just sliding through his like she was made of air made me gasp.
“Selene,” Jude called out to me, and I nodded. Right. Questions.
“Trixie, is your memory clear?” I whipped out my notebook and pencil, ready to start writing everything down.
“Oh yeah. And I remember the person who asked me if I wanted to go backstage was a female. She had a southern accent, too, like she was from Louisiana or some place like that.”
All very good information and was specific enough that it should narrow down suspects.
“Did you notice any of the woman’s clothing? Her shoes? Or jewelry?” I looked at Trixie hopeful that she’d seen something noteworthy, but she shook her head.
“She was wearing a cloak. I remember thinking it was all part of the performance. The mystery and all. Her fingernails were painted red. I liked the color.” Trixie smiled even though she was remembering her death and the pain. But I bet she was also trying to soak up as many good times in there while she had the chance. Most people after they died didn’t get a moment to feel and relive their fondest memories.
“Was there a shimmer to her like the performers on the stage?” Jude looked at me with an arched eyebrow for putting it out there that one of his people could have done it, but I had to think of all options. Now that I knew his power, he could have given all his performers a taste of living again and one of them could have technically done it.
“Let me think. I don’t think . . .” She closed her eyes, focusing hard, her eyebrows pinched together from serious effort to remember.
“None of my people would do this,” Jude whispered, and I ignored him.
“I think there was a very faint shimmer to her, but it could have been reflecting from the stage. I’m honestly not sure to say a definite yes or no.”
“That’s OK. You’re doing great and you’ve already given us more than we had before.” I tried to make her feel better. I didn’t know how long she was going to plan on sticking around, but it wasn’t going to be fun being alone thinking that she could have contributed more to this investigation.
“Is there anything else you feel might be important?” We were coming to an end with her memory and Jude stared off into the room like he wasn’t even here with us.
“Not right now. I don’t remember her, just her voice and the red nail polish. She’d asked if I wanted a pass to go backstage and meet the performers once the show was over. I said yes, and when I reached up to grab the pass, I felt the pain in my neck from the stab.” She paused briefly, maybe remembering something else as she recounted the moment of death.
“The knife wasn’t silver, though. I would have seen the lights in the show reflecting off of it. Did anyone else say they saw someone talking to me?” She suddenly looked very interested, her eyes wide as they stared at me with hope.
“I’m sorry. No one saw this woman. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We are going to figure this out.”
“We will bring your killer to justice, Trixie.” Jude released his grip on hers and she turned back into a shimmering ghost.
My gaze met Jude’s and saw a look in his bright blue eyes of determination. We would figure this out. At least for now Jude and I were on the same team.
Chapter Ten
Selene
Trixie promised to be around in case we needed her for anything but she was also determined to hit the streets, see her family, and try to listen for anymore clues as to who killed her and Lindsey Walters.
