I swiveled the chair from side to side. “How about I’ll consider it?”
Alice exchanged a glance with Ruth. “I think that’s a good deal, Ruth. What do you think?”
“No comment.” Ruth returned to listening to the messages.
Pepper laughed. “Oh, y’all remind me of my family back home.”
“They butt into your business, too?” I said.
Ruth shot me a dirty look. I grinned in response.
“Worse.” Pepper searched through her purse. “Yes! I knew I had some hidden in here somewhere.” She hoisted a bag of brightly colored jelly beans from her bag. “Would anyone like some?”
“No thanks,” we all said in unison.
Pepper shrugged as she popped beans in her mouth. “The first night I went out with Axel, I came home to find my grandmother sitting up with a shotgun strapped over her legs.”
Alice’s jaw dropped. “Was she going to shoot him?”
“No, she was just waiting up for me.” Pepper winked at her. “That’s how I know she loves me, by threatening anyone who would harm me with violence.”
I laughed. “That’s hysterical.”
“Only when you’re not on the firing end of the shotgun,” Pepper pointed out.
“You’re right, there.” Ruth hung up the phone. “Now, Blissful, the sooner we get this Jinkins thing out of the way, the sooner we can follow up with these other folks. Tell us—what are you thinking?”
I threaded my hands together and tucked them behind my head. “I was thinking that we would touch base with Axel and Roan and open theSpiritustonight in a closed-off environment. It’ll be easier to contain Jinkins that way, plus it’ll be easier for me to see him. Ghosts glow, and spotting them in the dark can sometimes work better.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Ruth licked her thumb and shuffled through her pages of notes. “Now. Where did we put theSpiritus?”
Ruth and I glanced at Alice. “Why’re y’all looking at me? I didn’t have anything to do with that tube of ghost.”
I dipped my head toward her. “I laid it on the counter. I think.” Had I?
“I watched Blissful do it,” Ruth said. She jabbed her finger in the direction of the counter. “The tube’s gone. So you must’ve moved it.”
Alice shook her head. “I didn’t move it.”
I exhaled a shot of air. Why did everything have to be difficult? “I’m sure it just fell. He’s a pretty ornery spirit.” I rose and searched behind the counter. “I don’t see it.”
I tried my best not to allow a hint of panic in my voice, but I fell short. Ruth and Alice nearly jumped from their seats. They circled around me, searching the ground like chickens looking for seed.
“Where is it?” Ruth said.
“It’s got to be here,” Alice chimed.
“Let me look,” Pepper offered.
After ten minutes of searching and falling just shy of ripping the store to shreds, there was only one conclusion to be made.
I raked my fingers through my hair. “TheSpiritusis gone. Someone stole it.” I ground my teeth. “And I think I know who.”
NINETEEN
Iheaded over to Fannie Sullivan’s house alone. Well, not completely alone. A bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label tagged along with me.
I figured bribing Fannie was worth a shot.
