Page 24 of Counting Quarters

Chapter Thirteen

Blaire

Thepolicestationwas smaller than I imagined it would be. It was one main room of bland, cream-colored walls and a maze of desks with old desktop computers sitting atop them. To my left, a small office was built out into the space with Kyle's name etched onto the door, but it provided him very little privacy as the walls were completely made up of floor-to-ceiling windows. On the opposite side, there were three identical doors with small windows cut into them, and I knew those were the waiting cells without having to ask.

If this was any indication of how well our town was protected, it made sense why Kyle was so stressed about Rayner attacking again. The forces he was working with were underwhelming.

One officer, who was barely older than me, sat in the open room. He had been reclined in a leather office chair with his feet resting on his rusty metal desk when we entered, but sprung up when he saw Kyle’s face walking through the glass doors. I recognized him from around town, but couldn’t think of his name off the top of my head.

“Did you forget something, sheriff?” he asked nervously.

Kyle held his composure, pinning the young officer down with a disapproving stare as we weaved through the other desks.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just be a minute,” he said sarcastically.

He led me through a thick metal door along the back wall that opened up to a room hardly bigger than a broom closet. There were lockers of different sizes against two walls and a table against the other, barely leaving room for the door to be fully opened. Neither of us spoke until the latch clicked shut.

“It’s soundproofed,” he assured me.

It took him two steps to get to the lockers on the far wall, and he had the lock opened in less than thirty seconds. When he reached around me to grab blue rubber gloves, my entire body blossomed into goosebumps at the small contact of his arm against my side. I paused, watching his face for any indication that he felt the same thing, but he just raised his brows expectantly the way he always did and handed me two gloves.

With the gloves on, he reached into the locker and pulled out a large plastic bag adorned with multi-colored labels haphazardly stuck to it. Ever so carefully, he slid out a pile of neatly folded clothes.

I couldn't stop the gasp that escaped me as her spirit entered the room. It was like she sucked all the oxygen from the tiny space, using every ounce of energy she could gather to appear before me.

Before I could look toward Kyle to ask if he felt it too, Toni Amster's spirit form was rushing at me, her hands outstretched to grasp my neck. The sheer force of her energy pushed me back into the other set of lockers. I was frozen in my spot as her hands drifted right through me, leaving a cool chill in their wake.

I shivered as she stared down at me in bewilderment.

I hated this part.

When reality settled in for them.

Toni was quicker than Hailey. She looked around at the room we were in—at Kyle as he stood beside me, eyes wide and mouth agape. At some point, he had thrown his arm between me and the ghostly girl and was still holding it there, against my abdomen.

“You can see her.” My voice was raspy, the words quivering on my thick tongue.

Kyle reluctantly turned his head to look at me. “Yeah,” he breathed out in disbelief.

Toni just stood there, her gaze flicking between us and the pile of clothes sitting on the table beside us. Clothes she was still wearing in her translucent state—forever stuck to her.

“I need you to explain what just happened, Blaire.”

“Blaire?” Toni asked, recognition flashing across her face. She snapped her fingers and pointed at me. “Blaire Granger. I remember you.”

“What else do you remember?”

She looked around again, trying to recall. “I remember Beau taking me. He grabbed me from the alley behind the tavern while I was on my break.”

Beau Whittle, Rayner's nephew. I hadn't seen him around in a few months, but that didn't mean much. I hardly ever went into town anymore.

“Where did he take you? Was he with anyone else?” Kyle's voice was still laced with shock, but the sheriff in him had finally come out of hiding.

Another pause as she tried to think back. Me and Kyle shared a look just as she looked down at her hands and mumbled, “No, I can't remember anything else.”

Kyle shook his head and stepped forward to lift her Watchtower Tavern waitress uniform from the table.

“These are the clothes you were wearing when they took you.”

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