Page 3 of Down and Dirty

Chapter 2

Cassie, Gwen, and I hovered over the map where the ghost had left the crystal.

“The landfill?” Gwen asked. “What the hell is she doing at the landfill?”

The pitch of Gwen’s voice rose with each syllable. Excitement radiated off of her like a kid who’d won a soccer championship.

Cassie was the opposite. She was biting her lip like a first-time parent, worried about a sleeping newborn.

“We need a map of the landfill, and we need to do a grid search,” I said.

The butterflies in my stomach turned to rocks and dropped like lead. This wasn’t good, regardless of whether that was my sister. The woman was a ghost, and if she was pointing us to the town landfill, chances were she was already dead.

“Nathan can organize that,” Cassie said, hurrying into the other room and dragging her boyfriend, Nathan, back to the table. She pointed to the crystal. “I need a landfill map.”

“Okay, but you know the government offices are closed on the weekend,” Nathan said. Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, he kissed her cheek.

“I’ll call in a favor,” Gwen announced. She had lots of people working at Fairy Damn Godmother who owed her favors. I had no doubt she’d have those maps by morning. “We’ll reconvene in the morning to make a plan.”

Yeah, I wasn’t waiting. Not that I was about to tell my sisters. I didn’t need a map if I could follow a ghostly tour guide. I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat.

I couldn’t leave finding this woman to chance; even if it wasn’t Talia. Not until I knew the truth.

We all left, and I drove home after agreeing to meet them in the morning.

A shiver racked my spine. The thought of the landfill smell alone was enough to almost make me reconsider. Yet, when I got home, I jogged up the stairs and rummaged through my drawers.

Satisfied with stained painting overalls, I grabbed my rubber rain boots out of the closet and slipped them on my feet, tucking the ends of the overalls inside. Grabbing my bathroom plunger, I clomped downstairs into the kitchen and dug under the sink for my rubber gloves. Seconds before shutting the cabinet, I spotted a medical face mask and grabbed it too.

I slid the face mask over my head and rested it on top like a pair of sunglasses.

I grabbed my keys and stepped out onto the porch, letting my gaze slide down the street to see if anyone was outside to witness my insanity.

Thank God the neighbors were all tucked inside their houses. My get-up would have me on the front page of the daily paper with the headline,This Bennett has officially flipped her lid.

I drove to the dump to find the place closed and locked. I stepped out of my car and locked it. Twisting in the spot, I looked over my shoulder. The place was creepy at night with no one around.

It was deserted and unmanned. It was the perfect dumping ground. I stepped up to the fence and tossed my plunger over to the other side. Cursing beneath my breath, I climbed.

A front-end loader sat off in the distance. A flock of vultures spiraled overhead as if waiting for sunlight to swoop down to have their meal hidden beneath the debris. The stench of rotten food sweltering beneath the hot sun earlier today permeated in the air, driving the stink factor to an almost unbearable level. With plunger in hand, I began walking toward the mounds of trash.

“I should have made my sisters come with me,” I grumbled beneath my breath. When this was over, I was going to have to hose off, and even that didn’t promise that the scent wouldn’t linger in my nostrils and pores.

I let out a breath into the medical mask covering my mouth. It did little to kill the smell, but I hadn’t been able to find any clothespins for my nose.

“Unicorns and rainbows,” I repeated over and over again, climbing the closest mound and trying hard not to think about what my feet were sinking into inside the black garbage bags.

With each step, I prodded with my plunger before taking the step. Used diapers spilled out of one of the trash bags. Broken toys, empty cans, old clothing, even broken playground equipment made up this pile. Whatever was farther beneath, I didn’t want to know.

My rubber rain boots were no match for broken glass or concrete. It was official. I had lost my ever-lovin’ mind and I was going to be in need of a tetanus shot.

Reaching the top of the mound, I stood on shaky ground, my feet sinking a little farther into God only knew what. I turned carefully in place, scanning the other mounds. Nothing.

When a bird squawked, I followed it’s decent where it was picking its food. The mask did little to cover my gasp. Talia’s body was lying in a pool of blood. A broken mess. Dead rats surrounded her body. A tall menacing figure was standing over her.

I lost my footing and yelped before tumbling down the trash slide until I, too, was lying in the ravine below. My head hit on something hard. My vision momentarily blurred. My entire body ached as I struggled to calm my racing heart and re-catch my breath.

I was staring up at the stars in the sky when the same man who’d been standing over Talia’s body appeared in my sight, blocking my view.

His brows knit seconds before I slipped into darkness.

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