Page 53 of Death Raiser

“Oh, hi. How are you?”

I sighed and brushed the dirt from my leather pants. “I’m fine, but we have a problem.”

Silence.

“Someone dug up Lily Zheng’s grave,” I said while unease prickled my skin. I had told Cathy where to locate Lily’s remains, and now they were gone. This couldn’t be a simple coincidence, could it?

“Do you know anything about this?” I asked.

“What?” Cathy asked.

“Did you dig up Lily Zheng’s grave?” I clarified.

“Why would I dig up her grave? Isn’t that…” She dropped her voice. “Isn’t that what I’m paying you to do?”

“It is, but I still needed to ask.”

More silence, and then, “Well…can’t you still do your thing? Use her bones and lay her to rest?”

“They took all the bones,” I said.

“Why…” Cathy took a deep breath. “Why would someone do that?”

“I’m not sure. It’s either to do the same thing we planned to do or a more nefarious reason.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Like controlling her spirit to do their bidding,” I answered.

“That’s not good.”

“No, it often doesn’t end well.” I took another deep breath. The hen flapped her wings and strutted past me to another section of grass.

“What do we do now?” Cathy asked.

“I feel it’s best for you to let this one go.”

She hesitated. “Just like that?”

“Look, you can find a new apartment, spend even more money and try to get a witch to ward your current apartment, or you can continue to coexist with Lily’s presence outside your apartment once a month.”

Cathy sighed. “There’s nothing more you can do?”

“I can try to track down who took the bones,” I said. “But it will cost you, I’m not a private investigator, and it might be a fruitless search.”

Cathy took a moment before responding. Maybe she needed the time to think, maybe she needed the time to choose her words carefully. Whatever the case, her next words came out slow. “Thank you for your effort. I think I will take your advice and let this go.”

I nodded, though Cathy couldn’t see me. She sounded sincere in her surprise and concern, but something about this whole case still set me on edge. I was missing something. “I think that’s for the best.”

After we said goodbye and hung up, I called the police station and reported the grave theft. The next of kin would be notified and maybe, just maybe, the bones would be located one day, and Lily could finally get the rest she deserved.

Chapter Seventeen

Wearing nice jeans and a simple T-shirt, I stood outside a dog shelter holding the leash to a seventy-pound Samoyed-mix named Buddy and questioned my life choices. So far, the dog hadn’t barked at me, nor had he tried to snap off my hand.

Kang looked up from petting the red-nosed pit bull who was currently trying to clean Kang’s entire face with his tongue. The off-mode detective wore dark denim jeans that hugged his butt and thighs and gave me all sorts of ideas of what to grab other than this leash, while his graphic shirt showed off his wide shoulders and powerful arms and did things to my heartrate. He had no business being that devastating to look at. Somehow, he managed to become more delicious now than he had solving crimes. I never thought he’d top that.

Kang had already told me to dress casually, so at least I’d guessed my outfit right. Guessing the activity? Not so much.

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