Page 22 of The Grave Robber

“Aunt Lillian is here?” Halle asked, and I grinned at thefamilial address.

“She is.” I glanced around casually but didn’t see any otherdeparted. “Would you like me to look for your ghost?”

“Oh, gosh,” Halle said, waving a dismissive hand. “I don’twant to put you out. You’ve done so much for me already.” She opened the dooragain, walked over to me, and started pushing me toward it.

“Like what?” I asked, confused again. Maybe my subduralhematoma was flaring up.

She stopped. “Well, you…you…got a blanket for me from thattechnician, who was in love with you.”

“In love?”

“You know what I mean. Crushing on you.” She shoved again,inching me toward the door.

“I’m beginning to think you don’t want me to find your ghost.”

She snorted and slapped my shoulder. “What?”

Why wouldn’t she want me to confront the ghost who hadsupposedly been terrorizing her to the point of making her contemplate suicidefor years? Unless…

I gazed down at her as she shoved a hip against my thigh forleverage.

Unless there never was a ghost.

I faced her and took her shoulders. “Halle, what’s goingon?”

“Nothing.” She squirmed out of my grasp. “What do you mean?”

“Was there ever really a ghost? Did you make it all up?”

The shock and indignation that thinned the fullness of hermouth, jutted out her chin, and stiffened every muscle in her body, made merethink the conclusion I’d haphazardly jumped to. Tears welled in her eyes, andshe swallowed hard before saying under her breath, “Please, leave.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

She turned and grabbed her phone off the counter. “Fine,I’ll call the police.”

“Fine.” I sat on a sofa that lined the front of the livingspace.

Aunt Lil sat beside me. “Constantine, what’s going on? Whyare you treating her this way?”

I gave the woman my full attention. “Because she’s lying,and I want to know why.”

“Yes,” Halle said into the phone. “Can you send someoneimmediately? I have an intruder.” She nodded. “The marina. Yes, slip six.” Shenodded some more, those acting skills coming in handy once again. “You’re fiveminutes away? That’s perfect.”

She hung up, her expression smug. “You should probably leavebefore they get here.”

With a resigned sigh, I slapped my palms on my knees, wincedat the pain that shot all the way down to my ankles, and stood. The elationthat flashed across her face convinced me even more that she was hidingsomething.

I turned toward the door to give her one last shred of hopebefore ripping it away. “I probably would’ve left,” I said, gesturing towardher phone, “if your volume hadn’t been so high.”

“What does that mean?”

I leaned closer and whispered, “It means you were listeningto the weather report. Not talking to the cops.”

Aunt Lil nodded. “Cloudy with a thirty-percent chance ofrain.”

Having caught Halle red-handed, Aunt Lil and I fist-bumped.Kind of.

Halle slammed her lids shut, took three deep breaths, thenrefocused on me. “Fine,” she said, her serene demeanor reminding me of the calmbefore the storm. “Do whatever you want. Ask him whatever you want.”

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