“Ah, I see. So Zelda Zimmerman has something that you want.”
“Maybe,” I growled.
“You”—he tapped my nose—“just have to figure out if seeing your father is worth risking your abilities. And like I said, you’re a different case than the last person. I don’t believe that you’ll lose anything at all.”
Was it worth it to me? I wanted to see Dad. Was dying to see him, but at what cost? Even before Lucky appeared, I had been daydreaming about having one last conversation with my father, one last chat.
Isn’t that what we all wish? To have a few last words with a loved one? To be able to say things that we’d wished we’d spoken while they were still alive?
The answer was yes. Without even thinking about it, I knew that I wanted to talk to my pop. I needed to speak with him, and if Zelda Zimmerman was going to get me that much closer, then so be it.
I faced the mansion. “Okay. I’ve decided.”
Roan extended his elbow, and I slinked my arm through it. “Are you sure? I don’t want you doing anything that you’re uncomfortable with.”
“I’m fine. It’s what I want. And like you said, I’m Blissful Breneaux. I’m not an ordinary ghost hunter.”
“That, killer, you are not.”
With that, Roan led me inside.
Everyone had gatheredinside the séance room. No one sat at the table yet; folks were still eating and chatting. But when I showed up, Zelda crossed to me immediately.
“You’ve changed your mind.”
“I have.” She smiled, her green eyes narrowing in a predatory manner. “But,” I added, “if I discover that you’ve purposefully done something to me, I will call on every ghost and spirit that I know to haunt you until your hair falls out.”
Zelda swallowed audibly. “Understood. Now. Let me introduce everyone that will be partaking of the séance.”
She clapped her hands, and the room quieted. “Everyone, time to start gathering around. Before we begin, I want to take a moment for all of us to get to know one another. This”—she squeezed me—“is Blissful Breneaux. She has a successful ghost-hunting store in town. She has brought along her fiancé, Roan Storm.”
I nodded to everyone as Zelda’s hands fell from me and she moved to the next person, Luis. “For those of you who don’t know him, this is Luis, my house, pool boy, and so much more.”
Luis fingered his white tie, and yet again I wondered if Zelda was seeing him the way that I was. To put it bluntly, it did not appear as if Luis was batting for her team.
Yes, I know that I’m being stereotypical, but the man had a bit of queen in him. Perhaps he was a feminine heterosexual. It was a possibility. Yes, I was sure that was it. I was just pinning my own ideas on him.
However, my gaydar was usually right when it came to men, and Luis sent alarm bells ringing.
Luis blew Zelda a kiss, and then I noticed that his gaze darted to a young man on the other side of the room. He had wavy brown hair that dipped over his eyebrows. His velvet sports jacket had leather elbow patches, and he wore a big wedding band on his left hand.
I wondered what role he played in all of this.
Zelda left Luis’s side and presented her daughter, Lemon. “Most of you may have met Lemon, but this is my daughter who has such an insatiable need to eat pickles at events like this that she regularly interrupts what I’m doing.”
Zelda’s tone was scalding, to say the very least. Lemon’s cheeks flamed red, and she gave a tiny embarrassed smile before she said in a snippy voice, “If it weren’t for pickles, I’d weigh about a thousand pounds, and Mother, you and I both know how embarrassing you would find that. Before I lost twenty pounds, you threatened to cut me out of the will.”
Zelda’s eyes narrowed. “Such a kidder, my darling is. Sweetheart, you don’t need to tell everyone our business. Moving on.” Zelda reached a chubby man wearing a big cowboy hat. “This is Tex Walton.”
Tex’s mouth split into a gap-toothed grin. “How’re y’all doing tonight?” Not waiting on an answer, he went on. “I must say that I’m excited to be here, Zelda. We’re going to try to find my dead wife, may God rest her soul.”
Zelda tweaked Tex’s nose. “And find her we will. I can nearly feel her presence now, waiting in the wings of our séance.” Zelda glanced at everyone. “Tex here has sponsored tonight’s Christmas séance. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be having one at all.”
“No need to thank me,” he said with faux bashfulness. “I would do anything to reach my dearly departed wife.”
“Wonder if she hid some money from him,” Roan whispered in my ear.
I stifled a laugh and elbowed his ribs. It wouldn’t do for me to start laughing before we even got into the séance.
