Lucky glowed slightly, which helped. When he finally stopped drifting through trees and homes, he came to a bobbing halt outside a small Craftsman home.
No lights were glowing inside. Good. Whoever lived there was out. I had a feeling I knew who it was.
Lucky floated around back. I parked the Cruiser on a side street and got out. The sidewalks were quiet. The home was off the main strip, so the block was filled with residential houses containing families, not tourists looking for a scare.
I cut through a row of trees to get to the back. A creek ran behind the trees. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear the running water. I stopped at the two faces that greeted me.
Alice and Ruth were at the back door, bickering over who was going to crack the lock.
“What are y’all doing here?” I said.
Ruth shushed me. “We’re helping you.”
“How’re you helping me? And how do you know I need help?”
Alice righted glasses that were slipping down her nose. “This is Slick’s house. We came to help you.”
I brushed them both out of the way. “I don’t need your help. I don’t want the two of you getting into trouble because of me.”
Alice’s lower lip trembled. “But you’ve helped us so much, Blissful. You made us celebrities. We just wanted to help in return.”
“Yeah,” Ruth said. “Besides, we won’t get into trouble. We’ll be in and out in no time.”
My pulse raced. Lucky was inside, waiting for me. I couldn’t capture him with these two around. Wait. Maybe I could.
“You don’t happen to have that ghost rope with you, do you?”
Alice opened her handbag and pulled it out. “We don’t travel anywhere without it.”
Ruth rolled her eyes. “Not that you know how to use it.”
“I watched Blissful. I could imitate her.”
“Right,” Ruth said sarcastically. “And I could wrangle cats without gloves.”
“I’m sure you could,” Alice said.
“Not without getting scratched.”
I took the rope. “I want both of you to get out of here. Right now.” Their faces fell. I pushed on. “I’m serious. Go on. I’ll contact you later, tell you what I discovered.”
They glumly left. Finally. I glanced around, making sure no one was watching as I turned the knob.
Good old Lucky. He’d left the door unlocked. Apparently Ruth and Alice hadn’t tried the door; they’d just assumed it was locked.
I shoved it open. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dim light.
“Lucky?”
“Back here.”
I followed the sound of his voice until I reached a bedroom.
There he stood, glowing and bobbing beside the bed. “Is that what you wanted?”
My gaze followed his outstretched hand. A computer lay on the bedside table. Not just any computer—one with a skull-and-crossbones decal plastered to the top.
My heart raced. I had the computer and Lucky within a hairbreadth. It was all too good, too coincidental.
