Maggie wasn’t just a typical woman trying to make ends meet. She was a paranormal investigator at night, trying to prove the existence of what they both already knew was real. She had another side hustle with a website and all where she worked as a medium answering email questions and passing messages from spirits for a fee.
Maggie reminded Ryley of one of those housewives from the fifties with her perfectly coifed hair wearing an apron and welcoming home a husband with two point five kids and a white picket fence. She looked like that anyway, but underneath that facade she wore, she was so much more. She only let her freak come out at night.
Ryley finished doctoring up her coffee when the heated apple pie was placed in front of her. She’d gotten three bites in when the door chimed. She glanced up and waved to Bane with her fork before taking another bite.
He set a file on the table and took off his leather jacket before sliding into the booth on the other side. “That looks good.”
Ryley covered her plate with her hand and pulled it closer. “I’m not a sharer.”
Bane grinned. “I see that.” He folded his arms and rested them on the table. “Neither am I. It’s good we’re getting that out of the way.”
Ryley rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee when Maggie appeared at the table with pad in hand. “What can I get you?”
Bane did a double-take. Maggie had that effect on people. She was a timeless beauty.
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
“Just the pie, or her normal breakfast?”
“Whatever she’s having.”
“You don’t want to do that,” Ryley said, shaking her head. “Bring him half of what I normally have. He needs to graduate to my full meal.”
Bane met her gaze. “That sounds like a challenge.”
She shrugged. “You won’t be sitting there long enough to finish an entire meal. I’m gifted in running people off.”
“I’ll have the entire meal.”
Maggie chuckled. “Yeah, sure, you will.”
She left to place their orders.
Bane pushed the file toward her. She wiped her hands on her napkin before opening it to read.
Her gaze drifted over the police report and pictures of the crime scene. A man was lying face down on a street corner. Blood was pooled beneath his body. A bullet wound in his back. He looked like the type of guy who would have gotten in a lucky hit, just from his sheer size. The police report tagged it as a homicide. “This looks like an official report and crime scene pictures. Where did you get it?”
“I have friends,” Bane answered when Ryley looked up to find he’d snagged a bite of her apple pie and was shoving it between his lips.
“That will cost you extra.”
“It was worth it.” He grinned as he chewed.
“Who’s the guy?” Ryley asked.
Bane lifted his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket and handed it over.
The STD letterhead was unmistakable. It had the dead guy’s resume along with a price for detective work. “Your brother hired me to find him. He was an accountant in one of his cases.”
This changed things. This was no longer just about Bane when her brother hired him to find the guy. This had backlash written all over it. Neither she nor her brother would ever get over that damn DNA gene that needed to fix things.
Chapter 11
“You’re a detective?”
Stretch appeared in the booth next to Bane. She was biting her lip as she looked on, like she wished he was her next four-course meal. “Well, isn’t he yummy.” She glanced at Ryley. Just freaking fantastic. Now Ryley’s sidekick spirit had decided to get flirtatious. Stretch continued, “You’re not in jail, so you must have taken my advice. He was good, wasn’t he?”
Bane rubbed his hands together as if trying to fight off the new chill that surrounded him.
“I’ve been called lots of things,” he said just as four plates were set in front of him: fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, cornbread, and apple pie.
His mouth parted. “You eat this for breakfast?”
“Oh, honey. He’s scrumptious. Can we keep him? It’s been long enough since your last beau,” Stretch said.
Ryley grinned, biting her tongue. Stretch had run off her last boyfriend, scaring the bejeezus out of him.
Logan Bane was scrumptious and everything she didn’t need in her life. She’d been with his type before, and it always ended in heartache or the need to move. Her brother still wouldn’t let her live down that she was the reason for a few of the times they’d needed to change towns. Taking a baseball bat to her cheating boyfriend’s truck had been worth it, though.
“I work at a bar and get off late at night, so my breakfast tends to be everyone else’s dinner. My eating schedule is backward; breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast. It works, but isn’t for everyone. Aren’t you happy you chose to order the same as me?”
She dug in. He didn’t touch his food. Instead, he requested a to-go box and claimed he’d eat it at a normal hour instead of with his coffee.
“So, you’ve been smiling at me. Does that mean you’re taking a liking to me?”
“No, but the ghost sitting next to you likes you enough for both of us,” Ryley answered. “You’d like her. She was a stripper.”
“Come again?” Bane leaned forward.
Ryley pointed her fork toward the empty spot next to him. “She thinks your scrumptious. Wants me to take you home as a pet and treat you like a plaything.”
He glanced in the seat next to him. Surprise registered on his face. “She’s here, right now?”
Ryley nodded. “You sensed her. Your arms got chilled when she appeared.”
Ryley snapped her fingers when Bane hovered his hand in the area next to him. “Let’s stay focused.” She gestured to the resume on the dead guy. “It says the guy was an accountant. The resume doesn’t match the man. He looks more
