Page 48 of The Accidental Ghost

“Hey! Fucking detach your lips and quit swallowing each other’s tongues. There’s shit to do!”

Shamus and Ralph flew apart, moving to their respective sides of the couch with guilty expressions.

Nina cackled, her eyes on fire. “We got some news about the guy who whacked you. Apparently, your feisty BFF Hazel and some of the other shop owners who like you are makin’ a stink. Some of the kids you taught, parents of the students, too, started a vigil outside the police station. They want fucking answers, and they’re bangin’ down the doors for justice.”

Tears stung Ralph’s eyes, leaving her speechless.

Shamus lifted his gaze to smile at her. “Maybe you weren’t as quiet as you thought, Ms. Tucci?”

Maybe…

“Oh, and throw some more of that damn dust on your girlfriend. I can only see her head floatin’ around like a sad, lost balloon.”

Ralph gasped, looking down at her limbs.

Nina’s laughter stayed in her ears, long after she’d left the library.

Chapter

Fifteen

“So tell me what we’re doing again?” Shamus asked, fighting to keep his thoughts on anything but that hot kiss he’d shared with Ralph.

The hottest damn kiss he’d had in probably ever. She fit against him like a missing piece of a puzzle, and he didn’t know what to do about that.

He was attracted to her, no doubt. If that kiss was any indication, chemistry wasn’t a problem, but it was wrong of him to indulge in her charms. She was in a precarious position right now. Her future was at stake. He needed to focus on that, and so did she.

But damn…that kiss.

“Hey! Ghost Talker! What the fuck are you doing? Pondering your damn existence? Christ on a crutch, pay attention.” Nina slugged his shoulder—hard.

Jesus, she was strong.

Shamus shook his head, trying to clear it as he took deep breaths of the frigid night air. “Sorry. Let’s go over this again, for posterity.”

“Here’s the plan,” Wanda said, batting at snowflakes falling fast and heavy. “The news report said they’d found a possible lead on a suspect in Ralph’s murder, but they didn’t say much else. No pictures of the suspect, nothing. People who loved Ralph are outside, holding vigil, demanding answers. That means people inside are distracted.”

As Ralph had watched the anchorman talk about her case, flash her picture up on Nina’s enormous flat-screen TV, she’d remained unusually calm, if not surprised so many people loved her and wanted her killer brough to justice.

Shamus had to admire her grit—she’d watched the entire broadcast of her death without flinching. Ralph wasn’t nearly as afraid as she thought. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to sit through the airing of his life and death without at least cringing.

Marty nodded, tightening her fluffy scarf and readjusting her matching furry hat. “Likely, the police have a file on this suspect, right? If that’s true, maybe we can get a look at it, maybe Ralph can figure out if the suspect is the same person who nabbed her in Hell. Get some kind of information about who this is. It makes sense to at least see if Ralph recognizes anything about this person.”

“Because even if it isn’t the fuck who took her to Hell, whoever this shit is needs to be punished for taking her out and putting her through this crap,” Nina spat, cracking her knuckles. “I’m happy to oblige.

“It makes no sense, though,” Ralph pointed out. “If the person who murdered me is the person who dragged me to Hell, how did they even get to Hell if they’re human?”

Wanda’s lips thinned. “Maybe they’re not human at all…”

Ralph nodded, and if possible, went paler than she already was. Shamus watched as she looked at all the familiar faces of children she’d taught, now grown, parents of children she’d taught and, of course, her biggest champion, Hazel.

He gripped her hand, hopefully letting her know he understood and supported her.

Ralph gripped his hand hard and said, “You make a good point, Wanda. I mean, you guys are all living your lives on this plane and you’re only half-human. So let’s say my killer/abductor isn’t human, what could I possibly have that they want enough to murder me for?”

Nina kicked at the snow piles. “No fucking idea. What I do know is, if what George and Dex say is right, and the fuck nabbed you to get your powers, might even be draining your powers right now, keeping your ass from taking more good folks of the planet to the afterlife, keeping you from staying here on this plane, don’t you wanna know who it is and what we have to do to stop him? The only way to do that is to get a look at who the police are looking at. You did get a glimpse of him when you were in Hell, right?”

Shamus remembered her saying so. She’d said it had been a brief glimpse before Darnell saved her, but it had been so brief.

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