“Oh, Anita,” I cooed, “I’m sure you can handle him. If you try hard enough, you can make the whole thing go away.”
“Maybe,” she grumbled. Oh, she didn’t want to. I knew she didn’t. Anita had probably called to fire me, but since I could mud-sling as well as her, she’d chicken-winged out of it.
“Don’t let this happen again, Bliss,” she said.
“I won’t. And your secret’s safe with me,” I said, meaning Xavier.
For now.
“I knew I could count on you,” Anita said. “How’s the progress going with Lucky?”
I scratched an itch behind my ear. “Not great. Still working on it. Listen, I’ve got some leads to follow up on today. I need to get cracking.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“Sure thing.”Not.It wasn’t as if she would help anyway. She hadn’t even let me bring any equipment.
I hung up, jumped out of bed and took a long, hot shower. I tromped downstairs, snagged a biscuit and skirted from the bed-and-breakfast before Roan appeared and breathed testosterone all over me.
I didn’t know what to think about the spirit he claimed to guard. Of course I wanted to know more. I wasn’t anything if not curious. But to be honest, it offended me that he thought I’d snoop around and attempt to free some sort of evil entity.
If such a thing even existed. I’d never heard of a trapped spirit with a guardian. It was probably just a bunch of baloney to make me feel better about telling my own story.
Yeah, I was sure that was it.
I hopped in the Land Cruiser and headed down toward Soul Food and Spirits. I hadn’t had an opportunity to ask Mrs. Wilkes a few questions, and I had the feeling she was an important player in all this.
I opened the door to Soul Food and Spirits just as they opened. A young hostess, couldn’t have been more than a couple of years out of high school, greeted me with a big red-lipped smile.
“Here for lunch?”
“Um. No. I just want some pie and coffee.”
What was I saying? I didn’t eat pie. Too many calories and all that sugar? I’d be comatose within minutes.
“Follow me.”
She took me to a table near the windows. I pointed to one nearer what looked like an office door. “How about that one instead?”
“Sure,” she said, but the tightness around her eyes said it wasn’t.
She seated me, and I glanced over at the door. It was open a crack. Mrs. Wilkes sat inside behind a computer. Someone was across from her, but I couldn’t see who.
“You can’t come up with the money now, can you, Meredith?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“But you can’t.”
I peeked into the room, trying not to be seen. Meredith Wilkes wore a floral silk shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and I caught a slash of red flashing through an opening that made me think skirt. It was much nicer than my own blue jeans, brown boots and brown cowl-necked sweater. But I was ready for fall. Apparently Meredith Wilkes preferred spring.
“What I can and can’t purchase isn’t any of your business.”
“But now that Xavier’s gone, you don’t have the extra money. Why not just sell to me? The building will be in good hands. You’ll see.”
“What would you like?”
My waitress showed up at the wrong time. “Um. Fried pie and coffee.”
