“So they don’t get stolen from the car,” Ruth said. “Haunted Hollow is safe, but it’s not crimeless.”
I pursed my lips. “Would you like to bring your knitting needles, too?”
“Oh, I don’t knit,” Ruth said. “Alice crochets.”
I just…I had to bite down on my lips not to say anything. I was about to walk into a spectral phenomenon the likes of which this town had never seen, with two old ladies and their handbags.
At least if I needed a tissue, I wouldn’t have to look far to get it.
Another scream split the night sky.
“Come on, before everyone leaves.”
I charged to the funeral home. Alice and Ruth, for what it was worth, kept up. I threw open the door and headed toward the screaming.
A line snaked from the viewing room all the way into the hall. I ran past it and into the main chamber.
The first thing I noticed was Xavier’s casket front and center. The second thing I saw were people hugging the walls. Fear shone in their eyes. People chewed their fingers, gritting their teeth as terror quaked their bodies.
The last thing I noticed was Susan. She hovered in the center of the room and glared at the people. The spirit zipped toward a vase of flowers. She picked it up and shattered it to the floor.
Women screamed. Men yelled.
I had to stop myself from laughing.
Yes, I know it’s a horrible, evil thing to do to sic a spirit on unsuspecting people in the middle of a viewing, but I had to say, of all the folks I knew who loved theatrics, Xavier was one of them.
If he’d been alive to see it, I’m sure he would’ve drunk in every moment.
But an older woman who looked like his mother glanced at the scene in horror. Okay, that tugged on my heartstrings.
Time to wrap this thing up.
“Hey, you,” I yelled.
Susan stopped zipping around the room and howling like a banshee. She whirled toward me.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own type? Like, dead?”
She threw her head back and cackled. I glanced back at Ruth and Alice. Alice gawked. She yanked her glasses from her face and rubbed them clean. Her eyes widened to saucers when she saw the spirit clear as day.
She turned and skirted behind Ruth.
Ruth—I had to hand it to her. The older woman’s knees were quaking, but she was holding it together.
I should’ve known this would happen. A lot of folks had that reaction when they first encountered a spirit. The idea of witnessing a ghost seems cool until you actually see one in the flesh. Then it’s all about not peeing on yourself, or at least changing into a fresh pair of panties as quickly as you can after.
“Alice! Ruth!” I yelled. “Come on, Ghost Catchers!”
Ruth grabbed Alice and shook her. Alice’s glasses bobbed down to her chin. She shook her head and seemed to get herself together. She righted her spectacles and tossed the cardboard box full of water balloons into the middle of the room.
I gritted my teeth to stop from saying something about how water balloons couldn’t hold a spirit. I pulled the lasso from a backpack the women had given me and threw it toward Susan.
I roped her on the first try. She twisted in anger. The spirit screamed. Just for the sake of theatrics, I let the lasso fall from her body.
She zipped around the room again, this time heading straight for Truck and Slick, who cowered in a corner.
“You!” She pointed at Truck.
