Page 29 of Ghost Girl

I released a long breath as I processed his words. ‘All right. Okay. So she’s alive, but there’s something you’re not telling us,’ I prompted, earning a grim look in response.

‘She’s tight-lipped, but she’s definitely in some sort of trouble. She debated asking me for help, but she said it was too dangerous and she didn’t want me getting hurt. I told her I didn’t care about that, but she was adamant. She said somethingabout the danger reaching beyond death, but I don’t even know what that means.’

Gloria cursed. ‘It’s him. The entity that’s responsible for the drownings. She’s somehow caught up in it, isn’t she?’

She shared a look with Ashe, and they came to some sort of unspoken understanding, one that Gloria did not like. Not at all. She hated it so much, in fact, that she stormed from the room, hands yanking at her hair and a growl stuck in her throat.

Ashe turned to me, her eyes uncharacteristically hard, yet still shining with understanding and compassion. ‘Don’t mind Gloria. She’ll come around, she’s just scared. This entity has really freaked her out. We’re going to see this investigation through, Chance. I promise.’

‘Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?’ Rhodes cut in, and I realised he had risen from his chair to start pacing behind his desk.

‘We ran into a snag in our investigation yesterday,’ I began. ‘Gloria is a psychic, and she caught wind of something paranormal. We were following her directions when we practically drove right onto a fresh crime scene. It was another drowning victim. I think the police are starting to catch on after so many that they aren’t mere accidents.’

‘You think there’s a serial killer in town?’ he asked in a voice pitched higher in his shock.

‘We believe there is an entity that has somehow figured out how to interact with the living, and is killing them,’ I said bluntly, deciding it was best to just rip the band-aid off rather than beat around the bush. I studied him closely as I watched for his reaction, and he didn’t disappoint. He fell back into his chair, pushing it away from the desk with his weight and almost falling off, but he scrambled to catch himself just in time.

‘So, what, you’re saying some dead guy is killing the good people of Klamath County? A freaking ghost?’

‘Ah, you’re a sceptic. That’s okay. Most people are,’ I said, and I couldn’t quite hold back the derision in my tone. The majority of people didn’t want to believe, so they turned a blind eye to the uncanny, explaining it away with logic that made them feel better. People feared what they didn’t understand, and it had always bugged me that no one ever reallytriedto understand in the first place. It seemed Rhodes was one of these people.

And here, I’d had such high hopes for him.

‘I’ve never seen a ghost, nor have I seen any evidence that they exist, so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t immediately believe you,’ he deadpanned, and I felt a little guilty for jumping down his throat. He had every right to want proof before throwing his lot in with the likes of us. I forgot that, sometimes.

Ashe jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow and I cleared my throat. ‘Right. Of course. We can provide that, if it would help,’ I offered.

‘Please. If Kali is trapped by some homicidal spirit, I want to know. I want to help.’

‘Trapped…’ I mulled the word over in my head as if it would somehow make sense. ‘But if she was trapped, how could she have been by your house?’

Rhodes blinked. ‘Come to think of it, she wasn’t technically on my property. I’ve only seen her twice, but both times she was in the trees separating my land from the neighbour’s.’

‘What if that’s the hub?’ Ashe asked me. ‘What if she physically can’t move past the property line?’ Then she turned to Rhodes. ‘Do you know who owns that land?’

He shook his head, his lips pursed into thin, white lines. ‘No. I’m sorry. I know someone owns it, and I see them coming and going sometimes in an old SUV, but I’ve never actually seen them.’

‘Then that’s where we start digging. We find out who owns that land, and maybe we can get Kali out of there.’

‘We can’t go to the police with this, can we?’ Rhodes asked, worry lining his face and ageing him significantly. He really did care about Kali, didn’t he?

‘No, we can’t,’ I confirmed. ‘They can’t help us. Not with this.’

He took a steadying breath, then met my eyes with a determination that matched my own. ‘I want to help. In any way I can. Just bring me up to speed with this whole paranormal shit. I can be the one to put myself out there if it’s dangerous, too. My life is less important.’

‘Whoa, hold up. Why would you say something like that?’ Ashe asked, her tone laced with both anger and concern.

He shrugged, and through his relaxed demeanour, I could see the lines of tension running through him. Whatever it was, it was bugging him, but he didn’t want anyone to know it. ‘I’m already dying. Only have a few weeks left to live, so I may as well make the most of it. If I can give my life to save someone else, then I will.’

I slumped back in my chair, seeing him in a new light. ‘Shit, man. That’s… rough.’

‘It is what it is, and I meant what I said. If this is really as dangerous as you think it is, then let me be the cannon fodder. I want to help. I want to helpher.’

I huffed a small laugh, the irony of the situation not lost on me. ‘You too, huh?’

I tilted his head, confused. ‘Sorry?’

‘He means you’ve got feelings for Kali, just like him,’ Ashe explained, and Rhodes’ eyebrows disappeared beneath his bangs.

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