Page 45 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Shut up,” I muttered under my breath, then plastered on a smile for Reed. “I’m done here.” A few fumbles, and I found the handle to open the door. “The seat isn’t very comfortable. How about we test-drive a Lexus? Kayla has a Lexus, and I like the seats in that.”

“Sure, a Lexus. Are you okay? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

I jolted upright. Oh, if only he knew. “I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking.”

I lifted a hand and stared at it. So I was.

“Come here.” Reed stooped and half lifted me out of the car, holding me steady with one arm around my waist once I had my feet back on the ground. I curled my fingers around the edge of his leather jacket to stop myself from trembling.

“Will you come back?” Georgette asked. “Please? I’ve got nobody else to talk with.”

I couldn’t speak, and even if I’d been able to, she wouldn’t have wanted to hear my answer. Instead, I leaned on Reed as he led me towards a rickety little shed filled with a desk and papers and a chunky laptop that had to be ten years old.

Once again, Reed had been right. This was a bad idea. A terrible idea. All my life, I’d avoided talking to spirits wherever possible and with good reason. It hurt. Hearing their stories and thinking of the people they’d once been—it hurt. Georgette was right too. I was awful at my job, and I’d never solve this mystery on my own.

I shouldn’t even have tried.

But Ihadtried, and now I needed to see it through to the bitter end ormysoul would never rest either.

CHAPTER 14 - REED

TALKING TO HERSELF? That wasn’t just a few words. That was a whole damn conversation. I’d been watching Kim for the last five minutes, and her mouth hadn’t stopped moving. Nor was it a habit, because I’d never seen her do it before. Whenever she got nervous, she picked up a pile of paper clips and began twisting.

At first, I’d thought she was on the phone, but when her mobile chirped in the purse in my hand, I realised she couldn’t be. So what the hell had she been doing in the car?

Should I press her? A gentleman would have backed off and let her calm down, the way she was shaking, but I had a feeling if I did that, she’d never tell me the truth. And no mistake—she was lying to me about something. I’d seen all the signs before. Cagey. Hesitant. Unable to make eye contact.

There was only one seat in the office, and tempting though it was to sit her on my lap, I lowered her onto the cracked plastic and knelt in front of her.

“Kim? Did you remember something in the car?”

Now she looked at me, but her expression was kind of…glazed.

“Not really.” A pause, another lie. “Just how terrified I was that night.”

Timhadput his damn hands on her, hadn’t he? Why else would she be so upset? Although that didn’t explain the talking, unless she’d just relived the whole experience in the car. I didn’t know how to comfort her. She looked as though she needed a hug, but what if another man touching her freaked her out?

“Shall I take you back to work? Maybe one of the girls…?”

She shook her head, almost violently. “How long ago did you leave the police force?”

What did that have to do with anything? “A year and a half ago. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It clearly does, or you wouldn’t have asked.”

“A girl called Jacqueline went missing from a nightclub called Studio Nine. I just thought that if you left recently, you might have heard of the case.”

Well, that came out of left field. “I saw it on the news. Does that count?”

“I guess. I never watch the news—it’s too depressing. Did they ever find her?”

“Not that I know of, but I don’t understand why you’re asking?”

Nothing.

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