Page 9 of The Rainbow Recipe
After taking an urgent phone call, the newly-elected mayor of Afterthought rejoined her. A worried frown marred her usually complacent expression. “Nothing yet?”
“She’s here. I’ve seen her.” With Larraine as guide, Evie started down the complex corridors of the sprawling fashion factory. “Ghosts normally attach themselves to people or places, but Lady Katherine didn’t belong here, so she’s not rooted to anyone or anything.”
“Maybe she went home with her family. Should I hire a European private detective? Reuben is having difficulty cracking databases in Italian.” Larraine frowned worriedly and rubbed at her rings, a sure sign of anxiety.
Evie didn’t just read auras. She read people. Generous, genial Larraine Ward was more than anxious. Evie feared she’d done this to her by encouraging her controversial run for mayor. “Her friends and family leftbeforeI saw her aura. She may be looking for them, but she’s still here. I assume she must have unfinished business. Give Reuben a chance to connect with Italian hackers. Everyone knows the accusations against you are political. Jax will spit in their faces.”
Well, Jax’s specialty was fraud, but he was local and knew the howling jackals accusing Larraine and Pris of murder on no evidence—especially since the coroner said Lady Kat died of a heart attack. Jane the Lawless, the sensationalist columnist and blogger, kept the snake pit stirred, trying to reverse the election results. If it got worse, Jax knew how to threaten lawsuits.
Of course, Larraine’s supporters were blaming Pris, except Pris had taken herself out of the line of fire. That meant the heat was turning up under Afterthought’s first transgender, non-white mayor. Evie would blame small town minds, but part of the howling came from state-level politicians and that stunk of politics playing to the lowest common denominator.
She wanted to be the kind of witch who hexed idiots. Unfortunately, a ghostbuster who stood between earth and the spirit veil needed to be non-judgmental. Maybe frustration made her ADHD.
Larraine all but washed her hands compulsively. “I’ve had to pester the sheriff for days for an autopsy. And they’re still not certain. Last I heard, they’re just saying they found something weird about her stomach.”
“Facts won’t faze conspiracy theorists. The state lab tests should be back shortly, so we’ll know whether we have anything to worry about.” After Pris’s warning, Evie was already worried, which was why she was hunting Katherine’s ghost.
Inconclusive autopsy or not, she had to stomp out the rumors about Pris and Larraine.
Larraine’s phone beeped and she glanced at it. “Sorry, hon, but it’s city hall. Hank won the case for a recount, and I have to look happy to see it done. You just wander anywhere you will.”
Hank had lost to Larraine by a dozen votes. In a town of less than a thousand voters, that was a fair margin. A recount meant that more trouble brewed.
Or as Evie’s mother would say, a black cloud loomed over city hall.
Evie really didn’t need the hassle. Her Sensible Solutions Agency had its hands full these days. Admittedly, their cases hadn’t yet generated sufficient cash to move Reuben out of the cellar or Roark out of Ariel’s cottage. Not that she thought Roark would leave Jax’s sister even if he won the lottery. Still, if Evie could find the ghost of Lady Katherine Gladwell, it would let Larraine and Pris breathe easier and cement their little agency’s reputation.
“Kit-Kat, where are you?” she whispered, heading into the gender neutral lounge. The victim had worn designer clothing and fistfuls of cosmetics, so the lounge full of mirrors should be a familiar comfort zone.
Evie grinned in triumph at the flash of an aura near the full-length mirror. “Hello, Lady Katherine! Or should I call you Kit-Kat? That’s what your boyfriend called you.”
The aura rippled in a muddy orange with streaks of red. Why did no one ever have a lovely blue, communicative color? Or even a nice friendly earth color? Shadows of black indicated an unhappy, possibly even unhealthy person, but it was hard to focus on chakras when there was no body.
Evie could sense the spirit’s discontent, but communication didn’t seem to be happening. Her ADHD went into hyper-focus, calling up the names of the men who’d been around the boutique owner that night. “Vincent, he’s your father, right? He’s distraught over losing you.”
The ghost uttered a rude noise, mostly inside Evie’s mind. Then anger seemed to rise. Still, no communication.
“And Nick is devastated. I assume he’s your lover? He stayed behind to make funeral arrangements. You don’t happen to know who gave you the limoncello, do you?” It wasn’t that anything was found in the shot glass, but Evie wanted to pin the spirit to the moment she died.
Mattwas the word that floated across Evie’s brain. “Matt? The male model? What did he have to do with the boutique?”
Brother. Stupid gay. The angry red darkened.
Evie tried to piece together being gay with stupid and brother with what the spirit was feeling, but she simply didn’t know the people involved well enough to bridge the gap.
To her annoyance, her phone shrilled with a fire alarm—Loretta’s idea of a joke. Evie switched off the ringer—too late. The aura evaporated. With a sigh, she called Jax back. “I had her, darn it, and the phone spooked her.”
“I spooked the spook, new record for me.” Jax sounded more amused than concerned. He was starting to accept that Evie could do weird things, but his pragmatic lawyer mind didn’t fully comprehend the supernatural. “Roark’s been digging around in the sheriff’s files.”
“I thought the state cops took over? And that’s why they’re trying to pin motive on Larraine, because the governor hates her rainbow image tarnishing his true-blue state?” Evie checked behind stall doors but the lounge was empty.
“You still haven’t learned politics, have you? Anyway, Sheriff Troy has his own informers, it seems. You’d better hope nothing ever happens to him. That man has your back, whether you know it or not.”
Evie wandered out of the lounge and down the hall, looking for inspiration. “He has the hots for my mother, but she won’t give him a second look.”
“That’s what happens when one has her head in the clouds instead of right down here on earth. Let that be a warning to you.”
Evie laughed. “After last night, you think I’m not right down here on earth with you? Tell me what the sheriff found out.”
