“Checking to see if we had any company here right now.” I leaned forward and said in a loud whisper, “As in the wispy kind.” I pulled my collar tight on my cashmere coat. “Detective Cooper tells me that you requested my presence due to some possible ectoplasmic troubles here.”
The irony in Hawke’s request was that Cooper was the one who could see dead people, and Doc was the mental medium. Me? I was only good at interacting with one particular ghost, who liked to slap me around with her possessed “puppets” every chance she got, dangnabbit.
Hawke smirked down at me, making me want to flick him in the nose, but I jammed my hands into my coat pockets instead. “The officers who were first on the scene claim that a ghost broke into the bank located inside of the store. They swear the proof is on the surveillance video, but it just looks like a dust devil going through the bank, if you ask me.”
A dust devil inside of a building? “And you think they’re being silly?”
His expression made that clear, but I wanted to hear him confirm it, anyway. “Of course. There are no such things as ghosts.”
“But why would a dust devil blow through an empty bank, Detective Hawke?” I leaned forward, lowering my voice conspiratorially. “Do you think maybe Taz robbed the bank? If memory serves, he’s very fast and quite destructive.”
“Taz?” He looked toward Cooper. “Who’s this Taz?”
“Christ.” Cooper squeezed the bridge of his nose. “She means the Tasmanian Devil in Looney Tunes. You know, the Bugs Bunny cartoons.”
I held up my finger, making a point. “I bet that Bugs put Taz up to it. We are hip-deep in winter here. Carrots are few and far between, and not nearly as cheap as they are in the summer.”
Doc had returned in time to hear my question and Taz-as-burglar theory. His smile escaped from behind his pinched lips. Without a word, he turned around and walked away again. Apparently, his funny bone was extra ticklish tonight. What I wouldn’t do to be home in our warm bed torturing him with feathers.
Hawke’s cheeks mottled, his nostrils flaring. “You think this is some kind of joke, witch?”
“That’s Witch Parker to you, Detective, and no, I do not think this is funny at all.” I thought he was hysterical, though. “Was there any money stolen?”
“No,” Cooper answered for him. “Just papers and lamps knocked off desks, and a glass bottle thrown against the wall.”
I looked at Doc, who’d returned to our circle again. Would he be able to sniff out any residual ectoplasmic signs from the imp? Cooper had already shown that he couldn’t see or even feel the imp when it sat on his shoulder. Harvey, on the other hand, could hear it for some reason, but that was it.
“So, what do you want me to do?” I leaned into Doc, letting his body block the wind that was beginning to make my cheeks numb. “Go into the bank and see if I can sense any residual energy left behind by this spirit?”
Hawke snorted. “That sounds like a bunch of hokum to me.”
I glared at him. “Then why in the hell am I standing here after midnight freezing my ass off, Detective?”
“If you’re truly a medium, like Coop here says you are,” he started.
“I never said that,” Cooper bit out.
Hawke continued anyway. “Then you can see ghosts, right?”
“Sure,” I said, lying like a pro. Whatever it took to let this horse out of the starting gate.
“I want you to watch the surveillance tape with me and tell me what you see. I looked at it already and there’s nobody there, but the boys from Lead are spooked by what they saw.”
“Ohhh.” I finally figured out what my purpose was here. “What you really want me to do is watch the camera feed and tell the other coppers that there’s nothing roaming around in the bank even if I do see something.”
“You’re not going to see anything,” Hawke said, sounding so darn certain of it.
“But Detective Cooper said papers were knocked to the ground and a bottle was smashed?”
“I think someone around here is fucking with us,” Hawke said, wrinkling his upper lip. “Playing a practical joke.” His gaze narrowed. He stepped closer, bearing down on me. “You wouldn’t happen to have any idea who that might be, would you, Witch Parker?”
Doc pulled me aside, taking my place in Hawke’s face. “Couldn’t this have waited until tomorrow morning, Detective?”
“Maybe,” Hawke said, easing back. “But the boys over there are nerved up. They don’t need to go home and start spreading rumors about a ghost in town. Real medium or not, your girlfriend can calm them down and keep things under wraps for us.”
“She’s only a medium,” Doc said. “Not a psychiatrist.”
Hawke shrugged. “Same difference. They both screw with your head.” He pointed toward the front doors leading into the grocery store. “The bank entrance is inside to the left. The security guard is in there waiting for us. Let’s get this over with so Cooper can get to the station and write up the report on it.”
I looked back and forth between Cooper and Hawke. “Why does Detective Cooper have to write the report? You’re the one on duty tonight.”
“Because I have other unsolved cases starring you to work on. I don’t have time for this petty shit.”
They didn’t all star me, only a few, but I didn’t bother to correct him. “Detective Cooper doesn’t have time either.”
“Parker,” Cooper said and shook his head.
“Yeah, listen to your good buddy.” Hawke spouted, a superior gleam in his eyes. “After all, you two are joined at the hip these days.” He leered at me. “And who knows where else.”
“Don’t push your luck tonight,” Doc said.
“Is that a threat?” Detective Hawke puffed up his chest.
“No, it’s a prediction,” I said, shivering deeper into my coat. “If there is an entity inside the bank, it might pick up on your negative energy
