Page 34 of Ghostly Bother
Eden just shrugged, but the smirk on her face told him he was on to something.
"You're a piece of work. Don't you care that others struggled while you stole money that should have gone to them? What about schools, libraries, and other places that help children? They just go without so you can have more?" Lance pulled into his driveway, not even bothering with the garage. He wanted out of the car and away from Eden.
"They were still open and functioning," Eden followed him to the front door.
"Not as well as they could have been." Lance unlocked the door and pushed it open. He stepped inside and knelt as Haunt ran up to greet him. "Hey, girl. How are you?" He buried his face against her neck, so glad to be home. "Ray and Bethany here?" He stood and headed to the kitchen to look out the window into the backyard. He frowned when he didn't see the ghosts out there.
"Your friendly ghosts not here to save you from me?" Eden stood behind him with her hands on her hips.
"Listen, I'm hungry and tired and just want to sleep. I'm done fighting with you. You have no idea of the damage you've done to the city, or if you do, you don't care that you did it. You don't want to help find your killer. I'm just done with you. Go into the light and see what's next. You're not doing any good hanging around. I'm the only one who can talk to you, and I'm done with giving you the attention you crave. I've tried. I really have, but I just don't have it in me to deal with someone following me around all day, talking constantly when you know I can't respond." He pulled his shirt off as he went down the hallway. "I'm taking a shower. Be gone when I get out." He slammed his bedroom door on her, but she floated right through it. His temper flared again. "Damn it. Can't I have even a few minutes alone to shower and change?"
"Then get me the information I want." Eden sat down on the foot of the bed.
"I can't get you information that isn't available. If you'd do your part and help us, maybe we'd figure things out. You're not going to get answers hanging around with me. My part in your case is over. Go follow others around."
"But they can't hear me." Eden pouted.
"Lucky them." Lance stared at the bathroom door, wishing he could go in there and just shut her out. He didn't trust that she'd give him the privacy he wanted if he attempted to shower.
"Your boyfriend has to know more than he's telling you," Eden insisted.
"You'd know everything he knows if you followed him around instead of me."
"But he can't talk to me. You can."
Lance sighed. "Then come to me when you have questions about stuff you hear when you're with him. I'll ask him to explain things then, but you're only pissing me off by bothering me. I'm not going to help you if you’re a pain in my ass all the time."
The bedroom door opened, and Angus walked in. "From the yelling, I'm guessing you're not alone?"
"Eden's sitting on the bed." Lance glared at the ghost. "She insists you're not telling me everything."
"It's a police investigation. I never share everything with you." Angus shut the door and leaned against it. "Does she have more information for me?"
"She's still insisting she doesn't or if she does, she won't give it because it could get others in trouble." Lance sighed.
"One of them could be her killer," Angus stated.
"I've told her that. She's still not giving me names. I'm done with her. She's on my ass all day, following me around like a stray puppy. Hell, even a puppy would let me use the bathroom alone. I can't do this anymore. She's driving me crazy. She's distracting me during autopsies, she won't shut up when I'm trying to write reports. She is always talking when I'm trying to have other conversations. One of these times I'm going to mess up and respond to her with others around. She's a nightmare and I can't get rid of her." Lance threw the shirt he was holding at Eden. Had she been solid it would have hit her, but since she was a ghost, it just went through her, landing on the bed behind her.
"Hey!" Eden frowned. "That was rude."
"You want to talk about rude?" Lance was nearly screaming. He could feel himself losing control he'd been forced to have all day at work when he was around others. "You are the rudest ghost I've ever met. I heard that you were annoying when you were alive, but if you were like this alive, it's amazing someone hadn't killed you sooner."
"You can't talk to me that way." Eden floated up and came to stand right in front of him.
Lance laughed. "What are you going to do about it? You're dead. You're already following me around and annoying me. That's about as bad as it can get, right?"
"Easy, Lance," Angus said softly.
"Easy? You're telling me to go easy on her? Seriously? Why don't you just tell her everything you have on her case so she'll leave me alone?" Lance felt tears in his eyes. Angry tears that only pissed him off even more. He was letting this stupid ghost get to him and he hated himself for that.
"I don't have anything. That's the problem. We don't have a single damn lead. If you could get her to help us…" Angus ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"If I could?" Lance was even angrier now. "What the hell do you think I've been trying to do for the last few days? If I could get anything from her, you'd know about it. I want her gone and the only way she's going anywhere is if you solve her murder." He cast a glare at Eden. "Or maybe I could pay for an exorcism or whatever people do to get rid of unwanted spirits."
Eden gasped. "I'm not some evil entity."
"The hell you aren't," Lance yelled. "You're as evil as they come." Deep down he knew that if she really was evil, she wouldn't be floating around and bothering him. True evil didn't get the choice to stick around, but she sure felt evil to him.
