Page 52 of Death Raiser

His gaze darkened with all kinds of salacious promises and all the air in my lungs escaped my body. He leaned in, close enough to kiss and growled, “I want to see you out of all that leather, Morgan.”

I sucked in a breath. Heat spread through my body.

“So dress casually for our date.”

Chapter Sixteen

With my flashlight in one hand and the spare chicken from the summoning circle slaughter in the other, I stomped through the cemetery while I replayed Kang’s words.

Dress casually? Did he plan for us to spend our date watching television or gaming from the couch, or did he want me to dress casually because it was easier to rip off the clothes?

God, why did both those answers sound so appealing right now?

I shook my head and focused on the tombstones and markers as I walked past. The undertaker hadn’t returned my calls, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to raise Lily’s soul and help her find peace. With everything else going on, I needed to close this case and even though the adrenaline from raising the crime scene victim and seeing Kang still raged in my blood, I didn’t want to put this off any longer.

Besides, I had a date tomorrow night. The promise in Kang’s heated gaze was enough to keep me warm all night.

And I’d enjoy my time more, knowing I had one less thing on my plate to deal with professionally.

I might not understand why Cathy was willing to foot the bill for this, but I also wasn’t a total asshole. I’d find Lily regardless and send her to the veil. She deserved to rest.

Following the markings, I found my way to Lily Zheng’s grave.

And froze.

The turned-up dirt stared back in silent protest.

I walked around the gravesite and cursed. Someone had dug up Lily’s grave. She might not be a ghost after all. She might be at the beck and call of a necromancer.

Another necromancer?

Or the same one who raised Candace MacKinnon’s murder-loving ghost from our last case? Was there a vigilante death raiser running around the Greater Victoria area trying to exact revenge and cause magical mayhem?

Or was this something else? When did Lily’s bones go missing? Before or after I told Cathy the exact location of her grave?

No matter.

I only needed one bone to rip her away from someone else’s control.

I toed the dirt. It was dry, but that didn’t tell me much. With the summer heat during the day and early evening, this could be a more recent dig.

I hopped down into the open grave and flipped back the lid of the coffin.

And cursed again.

Empty.

Completely fucking empty.

I had to be the biggest fucking failure. I couldn’t get victims from multiple crime scenes to talk and now this.

With a snarl, I set the chicken down and patted the interior of the satin-lined box, but nothing remained of Lily Zheng. This coffin wasn’t just empty, it had been cleaned, the contents vacuumed out.

I groaned and moved the chicken to the ground outside the grave so I could pull myself out. The chicken clucked and pecked at the dirt around my feet as I slid my phone from my pocket and dialled Cathy.

“Hello?” Cathy answered the phone exactly the same way she always did—like she was a little stunned someone had called her. With caller ID, she had to know I was on the other end, yet her nervous, wavering tone implied she wasn’t quite certain who had called.

“Hi, Cathy. It’s Lark Morgan from Raisers.”

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