She salted around all the doors and windows, wiping the sweat from her brow when done.
With keys in hand, she walked out, locking the door behind her.
Clouds covered the moon, making the darkness impenetrable. Dogs barked in the distance, and a crow cawed overhead. She scanned her surroundings, feeling the weight of someone’s eyes on her, watching. Waiting.
Dark energy in the air prickled her skin. She turned and scanned the area, searching for anything amiss. She wasn’t alone, even if she couldn’t see the threat.
“I can help you if you’d just take a freakin chill pill,” Ryley called into the darkness.
Silence greeted her, and she made her way to the car. A single handprint was left in the condensation on her car window. Once more, she glanced around the wooded area next to Rosalind’s home. The houses may have been within running distance on the other side of the trees, but Ryley had never felt more alone.
She climbed inside and closed the door.
“Say it like you mean it, sister,” Stretch said from the passenger seat, making Ryley jump.
She rested her hand over her racing heart. “You scared the bejeezus out of me.”
“Sorry.” Stretch grinned. She wasn’t sorry, but Ryley was too tired to argue with her.
“That ghost is giving you fits,” Stretch said as Ryley started the car and turned on her lights.
“Yep, she’s angry about something, and I can’t help her until I figure it out.”
“The doctor lady was one of the few adults that believed I existed and wasn’t just a figment of your imagination. Regardless of her suggestion that you figure out a way to get rid of me because I’m a destructive influence.”
“Well, she wasn’t wrong.” Ryley pulled onto the road. She was beyond tired and needed some sleep. At the rate she was going, she’d have to get someone to cover her shift again tomorrow night.
“Well, she wasn’t right, either. There is more to meets the eye than what you see. And I would know.” Stretch rested her hand on her chest. “I know everything there is to know about light and dark, and I’ve taught you well.”
“My parents beat you to the punch. Mom’s energy was light. Dad’s energy was dark,” Ryley answered.
“And yet you walk in the gray. Well, you can’t give them credit for teaching you about ghosts, shadow people, and creepy crawlies. That was all me. And then what about boys? Who helped you through your awkward teenage years?” Stretch framed her face and gave a sweet smile.
Ryley rolled her eyes. Stretch had a point, not that Ryley would admit it. Her mom was too sick to teach her much of anything. And her brother’s girlfriends never stuck around. “I’m too exhausted to be having this conversation.”
“Fine. When you need my help, I might not be around.” Stretch vanished in a blink of Ryley’s eyes.
“You should have left years ago anyway,” Ryley grumbled and returned home, bypassing the mailbox. If her father wanted to scare her, he’d have to wait until the morning. She slogged up the stairs and checked that the tape on her door was still intact before she unlocked all the locks and stepped inside.
Relocking everything, she made it to her bedroom and dropped her things on the dresser before kicking off her shoes. She climbed in bed without even getting undressed.
She closed her eyes and sighed at the familiarity of her own pillow. Darkness sucked her under and carried her into dreams.
A rocket could have launched next to her, and it wouldn’t have woken her. Had the ghost followed her home and tried to scare her, she wouldn’t have heard a thing. She’d slept like the dead until her alarm clock went off.
Ryley sat up, scrubbing her face with her hands. “There’s a nap in my future.”
She lowered her palms. A gasp escaped her lips. An older man was watching her from a chair across the room.
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded, climbing out of her bed. It was too early to deal with visiting spirits, including one with no personal boundaries.
“Harlon Wilson, at your service.”
“You shouldn’t be here.” She shook her head. “You moved on. I didn’t feel your energy at the funeral.”
“I don’t have to be emotionally stuck here to visit you. I can come and go as I please.”
Ryley grabbed clothes and headed for the bathroom, turning around at the last minute. “See, that’s the thing. You don’t even know me and have no reason to visit. So why are you here?”
“You were at my funeral.”
“I’m at everyone’s funeral,” Ryley tossed her hands up in the air. “I go to make sure ghosts like you don’t linger. It’s not good for anyone when they do.”
“You’re a do-gooder just like I was and destined for great things, Ryley St. James, and I’m going to help you.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got all the help I need. So, you can haunt someone else.” She closed the bathroom door and reopened it to tell the ghost she had boundaries even if he didn’t, but Wilson had vanished.
Now if she could just talk some sense into Stretch and move her along.
Ryley took a shower and got dressed. On the way to the reading of the will, she called her brother.
He answered on the first ring. “You didn’t get arrested again, did you?”
“No, listen, this is a legal question.”
“That’s never a good thing. Is your question going to ruin my day?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Great. You can ask, and I won’t even charge you.”
Like he would ever charge her, anyway. “If someone put me in a will, I don’t have to accept whatever they gave me, right? I mean, I can turn it down.”
“Ryley, who put you in their will?” Tucker questioned.
“Mr. Harlon Wilson, apparently.”
“Who the hell is that? Was he a regular at your bar?”
“No. He didn’t strike me as the kind that would visit the bar. I’ve never seen him before this morning.”
“If he’s dead and you just saw him
