Page 50 of The Accidental Ghost

He had a bad feeling he couldn’t quite define, so he kept his mouth shut as they all made their way across the street to mingle with the crowd.

Did he mention he had a bad feeling?

Nina approached the front desk of the police station where an officer sat behind Plexiglas. The precinct was quiet, the tiled entryway glossy, the only sound the hum of the computers.

Shamus tried to stay out of Nina’s line of vision, hovering beside her while Ralph floated behind him.

The officer’s eyes lit up as Nina sauntered toward him, planting her hands on the ledge outside the Plexiglas.

His smile was cheerful, his eyes scanning the vampire from head to toe but so obviously trying not to gawk at her evident beauty. “How can I help you, Miss?”

Nina read his nametag and smiled. “Officer Pizzoli, right?”

He nodded and returned her smile again, his pleasant face doughy, his eyes large and round. “That’s me. How can I help?”

“Look at me,” she demanded, without even a little lead-in.

Officer Pizzoli appeared confused as he leaned forward on his arms, gazing at her through the Plexiglas. “Excuse me?”

Nina leaned in, too, narrowing her gorgeous eyes. “I said, look at me.”

Almost instantly, his hazel eyes, seated beneath bushy dark brows, glazed over. “Okay,” he murmured from a slack mouth.

Nina waited a moment before she demanded, “Who’s investigating Raphaela Tucci’s murder?”

Officer Pizzoli hesitated.

Leaning even closer, until her face was almost against the barrier, she pressed harder. “I said, who’s fucking investigating Raphaela Tucci’s murder? Answer the question, buddy.”

His face went blank, his words wooden. “Detective Lemanz.”

Nina grinned and winked at him. “Good job, Officer Pizzoli. Where is he?”

Without so much as a blink, the officer answered, “It’s a slow night. Most of the detectives have gone home for the evening.”

Ralph let out a sigh. Lucky them.

Nina nodded, her eyes fixated on his face. “Where’s the dude’s desk?”

Officer Pizzoli pointed over his shoulder at the rows of empty desks without even looking back, his eyes dead. “Third row from the back. The one with the bobblehead of a hula dancer.”

Nina’s eyes never left his face, but she snickered. “Open the door to the detectives’ pit. Please,” she demanded.

“Okay.” He tapped a button that buzzed, the doors releasing.

Without ever taking her eyes from the officer’s, Nina pointed in the general area of the door. “You two go. Make it fucking snappy. You got like three more minutes before my mesmerizing goes to absolute shit.”

Ralph, who’d watched in complete awe and fascination, hissed at Shamus, who was also was transfixed by Nina’s mesmerizing process. “Hurry!” she hissed as she floated through the doors.

Shamus took quick strides, slipping through the doors and heading directly for Detective Lemanz’s desk.

The room contained probably fifteen desks with doors leading to the sergeant’s and lieutenant’s offices. All of them neatly lined up.

There was a white board with pictures of suspects in other cases, and details about the people in the pictures and their connections to the crimes they’d allegedly committed.

While she looked around, Shamus wasted no time.

He began sifting through pile after pile of papers littering the Detective Lemanz’s desk. She floated to him, peeking over his shoulder and fighting the urge to take a deeper whiff of his cologne.

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