Roan pressed his hand into the small of my back. I glanced up and back at him. “Well, she doesn’t.”
“Don’t egg them on.”
Devlin continued. “I’ve seen the banshee once or twice myself. In fact, this year, in case I forgot to mention, I’ll get my editor to run a front page spread of whoever sees her first.”
“And…” Birda waved an obscenely large hand in front of her face. Like really, the woman had a case of man hands the likes of which I’d never seen. “If Birda’s Chicks sees her first, we get to denounce Southern Ghost Wranglers in the Haunted Hollow paper?”
Devlin nodded. “You can say you beat them, yes.”
Birda’s Chicks hooted and hollered.
“But’s that’s not all,” Devlin added. “If you get camera footage, I’ll post it on our website, make sure it goes viral.”
Alice elbowed me. “See why we brought you along? We need you to make us legitimate.”
I scoffed. “We are legitimate. We help people.”
Ruth nodded toward Birda’s Chicks. “Legitimate to them.”
“Why do you care so much about what they think?”
Ruth and Alice exchanged a charged look. “Besides the fact that Birda used to steal my brownies, there are other things.”
“Such as?”
“Like the best-selling book,” Ruth said. “Alice is mad Birda has one and we don’t.”
Birda shoved herself between us. “Time to split off. Don’t wander too far away. We don’t want anyone getting lost or hurt.”
“In the forest? At night? With all these loose limbs?” I said sarcastically. “Is that even possible?”
Ruth shot me a dark look. “Let’s just split up.”
A breeze picked up and rustled the leaves, muffling other sounds.
Alice leaned over and whispered loudly enough to be heard in a barn over a hailstorm. “You’re our ace in the hole.”
Of course she shouted it right as the wind died down. Everyone heard.
Birda sneered. “Your ace in the hole isn’t going to help you tonight.”
“I hope you’re wrong,” Alice whimpered. “She’ll be wrong, right, Ruth?”
Ruth patted Alice’s hand. “Most definitely.” She glared at Birda. “We’re ready when you are.”
The groups split, which really wasn’t saying a lot. At least that’s what I thought at first. Some folks headed to the left, others to the right.
At one point we reached a hill, and Cora from Birda’s group headed down a path leading to the base of it.
Roan threaded his fingers through my hand. “If you’re going to be Alice’s ace in the hole, we’d better find a way to go around everyone.”
I rolled my eyes. “I guess since we’re fighting for the reputation of the company, I’d better.”
Roan’s dark eyes twinkled in the moonlight. “I’d hate to know what else those ladies are capable of since they think so highly of publicly dismissing one another.”
“My guess is they’re also in charge of the Bengay committee.”
Roan laughed. He tugged me to the side. “Come on. We’ve got to boogie if we’re going to reach the covered bridge before anyone else.”
