The desktop was free of clutter. A few files sat in the inbox with patients’ names. The desk calendar was penned with first names only and numbers written beneath, along with some interesting little doodles around the edges.
Had Ryley’s name once been scrawled on a similar calendar from over a decade ago?
She picked up a silver-framed picture sitting in the corner. A much younger Rosalind wearing a dress posed with two young children. Happiness radiated from their faces. Ryley held the photo closer and recognized the same dimple she’d seen just hours ago on Rosalind’s son. Rosalind’s kids.
She dropped her gaze to the desk drawers. What exactly did shrinks keep at home away from prying eyes? She reached for the drawer to take a peek when a clinking noise from the hallway broke the silence.
“What the…” Ryley hunched her shoulders up around her ears, rooted to the spot in front of the desk.
Had she heard that? Was all the silence toying with her?
She abandoned her need to get in the drawers and sat up, staring into the hallway, straining to listen.
Seconds ticked by without an encore. “Probably just the house settling.”
She resumed her task at the drawer when a knocking sounded inside the house. There was no denying that noise.
She stood from her spot and grabbed the Taser from her purse. It whined quietly when she turned it on.
“Hello,” she called out and inched toward the hallway. “I’m armed.”
She got to the hallway and looked both ways, listening for the sound again. The scent of tobacco was stronger. More potent. Almost as if a cigar had been lit by someone standing right next to her. Many times, people being haunted reported smelling the ghost before seeing them. Ryley was pretty sure she didn’t want to see a ghost at the moment.
The hall light flickered before going out, leaving the light from the office the only illumination. Chills skirted down her spine. The sound of a dog howling somewhere outside wound her nerves tight.
“You don’t scare me!” she yelled, fighting to calm her racing heart.
A breeze plowed by, blowing her hair and chilling her to the bone. She spun with it toward the end of the hall, towards Rosalind’s bedroom.
The stun gun in her hand would be useless against a spirit.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sang out. Her gaze searched through the darkness.
A door slam at the end of the hall had her feet moving. Most people would be running out the front door. She wasn’t most people. She threw the door open and flicked on the light switch.
Rosalind’s bedroom was empty, as was her bathroom and closet.
“Listen, I can hear you and see you. That’s why I’m here, so why don’t you come out and tell me why you’re stalking Dr. Crews. I can help you move on.”
Her hair moved on a breeze seconds before the bedroom door slammed shut behind her, making her jump.
“You’re a salty bugger,” she called out.
The door flung open, and instead of the pissed off ghost she’d expected to see, she found the barrel end of Detective Jake Crew’s gun. “And you’re trespassing.”
Chapter 9
“Drop the weapon and put your hands on your head.”
“Detective Crews, we both know that I’m here because your mother asked me to be.” She turned off the stun gun and dropped it on the bed before resting her hands on her head.
“Funny,” he said, spinning her around, He took one hand and then the other and cuffed them behind her back. “She said you told her to stay someplace else just in case. Why is that? Did you want the house to yourself to set up some parlor tricks?”
He yanked her through the house and out the front door to where his car was parked.
“You’re making a mistake,” she said.
He opened the passenger door and helped her inside. “The only mistake I made was not arresting you earlier.”
“On what grounds? Last I checked, talking to your mom wasn’t illegal, and what about you. Are you stalking me? You approached me in the bar, and now this?”
He slammed the door cutting off her words.
She waited until he climbed in on the other side and started the car. “Imagine what this is going to look like when you call your mom, and she verifies that I had permission to be there. How upset do you think she’s going to be with her only son?”
He glanced at her and grinned. “She’ll get over it.”
“Fine.” She sat back and turned to the window. “Don’t be surprised when she dis-invites you to Sunday dinner and invites me instead.”
“Listen, lady, I don’t know what con your running, but it stops here and now.”
Understanding seeped through her. He was worried about his mom. The fact he’d been watching the house, and arrested her, was all the proof she needed. He thought she was scamming his mom. He cared; he’d just proven it. She should be angry, but wasn’t. His protectiveness warmed her, knowing that even if he didn’t believe in ghosts, he was still a good guy, and they both had Rosalind’s well-being in common.
Ryley only wished she’d had more people like that in her life growing up. She wouldn’t have had to move and change her name.
A chill skirted over her arms, seconds before a familiar hum settled in her ears.
“Too bad you ain’t a ghost like me. He’d never have been able to catch you.,” Stretch said, appearing in the backseat.
Ryley glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. If she answered, Crews would think she was trying to pull something over on him too.
“Don’t give me that look,” Stretch cackled, spittle spraying from her translucent lips. “I’ve been telling you since the get go, you’d be better off dead. You never listen, but here’s a piece of advice…play nice, and he’ll let you out of those cuffs. It’s worked for me plenty of times.”
Stretch might have worked at
