Page 24 of Ghostly Bother
"You'll call your boyfriend when we get inside?" Eden asked as she floated out of the car.
Lance sighed. "No. I'm going to shower and find something to fix for dinner. You are going to leave me alone while I do that, right?"
She glared. "You need to call him about Lucas."
"That can wait until he gets home. If you were so worried about Lucas, you could have gone to the station to see what happened. I'm not doing the work for you. If you're going to stick around, you need to go where things are happening. That's not at my house or my work. It's at the station and the City Center." He shut the garage and walked inside. Haunt ran to him, circling his legs as he tried to make his way farther into the house.
"Welcome home." Bethany floated toward him, then stopped. "Oh, you have company again." Bethany smiled. "Hi, Eden."
"Not by choice. She's been shadowing me as she tries to get me to pump Angus for information." Lance continued toward the bedroom. "I'm going to shower." He headed down the hallway, hoping Eden didn't follow.
"Wow, what did you do to him?" Bethany asked.
Lance didn't wait for an answer as he shut his bedroom door. He leaned against it, waiting several minutes before undressing to make sure Eden didn't follow him. After several minutes, he quickly pulled off his clothes and headed for the shower. The tension didn't leave his body as he showered. He didn't trust Eden, and having her walk in on his shower once had been enough. He didn't want it to happen again.
The woman was disrupting his life. He'd been tense all day, reminding himself not to talk to her in front of others when allhe wanted to do was yell at her to go away and let him have some peace and quiet. He feared he'd slip up and look like he was losing his mind in front of the others by saying something to Eden when she was at her most obnoxious.
As badly as he wanted to linger and enjoy his shower, the fear that Eden would intrude had him rushing through it. While the hot water helped relax him, his constant attention on the bathroom doorway had him tense again. Finally, he shut off the water, grabbed a towel, and quickly dried off before changing into sweats and a t-shirt.
Haunt didn't greet him when he walked out of his room, giving him hope that the ghosts were all in the backyard. He needed some time alone to just unwind. The silence was usually something he hated, but tonight, he savored every second of it as he pulled out a frozen meal and tossed it in the microwave.
He could see the ghosts talking in the backyard, and for the time being, Eden looked content to stay there. Lance quickly pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Angus to let him know Eden was at the house again. After several minutes he got a message back letting him know that Angus would be late and not to wait up. The brief message told him that they were in the middle of something, because any other time, Angus would have called him back.
Unsure if the late night was because Eden was there or if something was going on with the case, Lance sighed. This was normal when Angus was working, but he'd hoped that tonight, Angus would be home to help him deal with the stress that Eden was causing.
Ray floated into the kitchen just as Lance was sitting down to eat. "Long day?"
Lance nodded. "Only because she's been following me around all day and hasn't shut up." He cut into his food.
"I've told her that things take time and bothering you will only keep you from helping. She seems to think that since you can see and hear her, you owe it to her to find out everything. I assured her that wasn't how it worked. Bethany is talking to her about what ghosts can and can't do right now, but I'm not sure how long we can keep her attention. She wanted to rush in as soon as you walked into the kitchen." Ray leaned against the counter.
Lance sighed. "Angus is going to be late. I might just go to bed earlier and read. Hopefully, she'll stay out of my bedroom if she thinks I'm sleeping. I don't have the answers she wants, and I doubt Angus does either or there would be an arrest made." He glanced over at Ray. "Have you heard from Jeremy? He hasn't been around for a couple of days."
"He's following Isaac's son around. He's compiling a list of locations where Ethan is getting his drugs from and passing off the names and locations to Lizzy, who has been passing the information off to Captain Marshall. He doesn't like Eden any more than the rest of us and is just hanging out with Isaac when he's not collecting information." Ray glanced out the window at Bethany and Eden. "Any news at all on who might have killed her?"
Lance shook his head. "I know Angus is looking into who she was accepting bribes from and who she'd refused to work with, but as far as I know, nothing has panned out. I hope they hurry and figure it out. I'm up to my ears in paperwork this week with Sam on vacation. Oddly, it's slow as far as autopsies go, but there's always something I need to fill out or write up. This reminds me why I like being the assistant medical examiner and not the head." Lance took another bite of dinner. "Cel would kill me for eating this shit." He smiled, thinking about the ghost who used to be a famous television chef. She was now a close friend, and even in her ghostly form, she was teaching him how to cook.
"Speaking of Cel, we ran into her at the hospital yesterday. Her grandson broke his arm, and she was there with him. Since Angus is on a big case, she's going to go over to Lizzy and Martin's on Friday and teach Martin how to make her peppermint cake. She promised to have Lizzy bring some over for you and Angus to try if it goes well." Ray appeared to rub his stomach. "I really wish I could eat. We didn't have half the stuff you guys do back in my day. I feel like I missed so much."
"Is her son okay?" Lance had only seen the boys in the distance while visiting with Cel at the park, but those kids were the reason Cel chose to stick around and not go into the light. They were her world.
"He's fine. Fell off his bike while trying to make a jump. She'd tried to warn him, but since they can't hear her…" Ray waved a hand. "Kids will be kids."
"What were you and Bethany doing at the hospital?" Lance asked.
"Visiting friends. We drop by to see Eve and the others we've met. Eve likes to go dancing with us, so we've become good friends." Ray smiled. "Eve's a great dancer."
Lance smiled, remembering the ghost who hung around the hospital. She'd been a huge help in them finding a killer a while back. "Once things calm down, we'll have to have her over to visit."
"Yeah, but not until Eden's gone. I don't want to introduce her to any of them. She might never leave if she learns how big the ghost community is around here." Ray kept his voice low.
"I'd like to think she might cross over once her funeral is over, but I think she's going to stick around to find out who killed her. Hopefully, Angus and Franks are getting closer to figuring it out." Lance glanced out the window. "If she'd be more help, we might be able to close this case sooner rather than later."
"She's still in the mindset she's the mayor and making all the rules. That will fade in time as she realizes she can't control much of anything anymore. Sadly, since you're the only living person she knows can see her, you're going to get the brunt of her complaining." Ray gave him a sympathetic smile. "We'll try to keep her busy when she's here, but I get the feeling she's only listening to us to learn what limitations she has as a ghost. She's full of questions. Accused us of hiding information because a book or movie hinted at a ghost's true abilities." Ray shook his head. "As if any book or movie has gotten it right."
Lance smiled. "Maybe I should write one when I retire. Give people a glimpse into the afterlife here on Earth."
"There you go. Now you just need to wait another twenty to thirty years to retire and have the time to do that." Ray's eyes widened. "Incoming."
