“That’s what I said.” Artie sat on a kitchen chair. Apparently now he could leave the Jarvis home but was still forced to walk the earth. “You gotta find out his name.”
I wanted to rake my fingers down my face. “How am I going to discover a name if you don’t have a clue?” I snapped my fingers. “Maybe he’s Mr. Hudson—the bed-and-breakfast owner.” My gaze shifted to Artie. “Does that ring a bell?”
Artie swatted the air. “Lady, I haven’t heard a bell ring in half a century. None are going to start ringing now.”
Roan crossed his arms. “What’d you say the name of that woman was? The body they found?”
“Molly Menzel.”
“There’s something familiar about that.” Roan rapped his fingers on the table. “Something about that name.”
I glanced at theSpiritus. The thing sat silently on the counter. I didn’t know which way to turn. If his hold on the house was still so strong, did that mean he might be able to break out of the container?
I’d caught him once. I didn’t know if I’d be able to do so again.
In that moment I made an executive decision. “We need reinforcements.”
Roan had been drinking his own glass of water. He set it gently on the counter and shoved up his sleeves.
“Reinforcements? What do you mean?”
I darted to my purse and dug through it until I found what I was looking for. I flashed the card to Roan. “We need this guy. Axel Reign. I’m going to call him.”
“Now? It’s late.”
I glanced at the wall clock. It was a little late, but most PI’s worked weird hours.
I winked at Roan. “He’ll be up.”
I excused myself and dialed the number. There was an answer after a couple of rings.
“Axel Reign.”
Here went nothing. I wasn’t sure if I should lead off with my talents or just give this guy the lowdown about the situation. In the end the safest way seemed to simply go with the facts.
“Hi, Axel. My name is Blissful Breneaux, and I need your help.”
A short pause came from the other end. Then Axel’s voice cut through. “Go on.”
I explained the situation about finding Molly Menzel’s body. I had a feeling whoever the big bad ghost was, he’d been involved in Molly’s murder. Maybe Artie’s. I wasn’t sure. But either way, according to Artie I needed a name for the ghost. Which meant that I would also have to risk unleashing the sucker one more time so I could name him, break his hold over the other spirits and send him on his way to the afterlife.
Whichever afterlife that may be. At the moment I was pretty sure this guy wasn’t gonna be sitting with St. Pete, if you know what I mean.
As I spoke to Axel, Roan switched on the late-night news. A crowd of reporters flocked in front of a house. The caption at the bottom blipped that it was the Menzel house. The front door opened, and a white-haired man peered outside before slamming it shut.
“Her father,” I murmured.
“What’s that?” Axel said.
“Only that it looks like the police found the missing Menzel girl’s family.”
“Good. They’ve done part of the work for us.”
I exhaled a shaky breath. “So you’ll take the case?”
“I will. I’ll arrive in the morning.”
“Thank you.”
