Page 88 of Ghostly
Natalie stopped on the sidewalk as she saw him, and a tight-lipped smile crossed her face. “Mr. Vane.”
“Ms. Waller.” He turned to face her. “What are you still doing here? It’s been a week. Not to be demeaning to our beautiful town, but I very much doubt you’re taking in the sights.”
“Dude, no,” Perry whispered behind him. In the corner of his eye, Gabriel saw him twitch—the running instinct had reached him, as well.
But as Gabriel stood his ground, so did Perry.
Natalie slowly walked toward them. “You managed to escape in October,” she said. “The juiciest story of the month—a tech mogul loses what’s left of his fortune, and his wife, to one of the most daring lawyers on the scene. A forbidden love affair, shifty finances, moral ambiguity—amazing, wouldn’t it be? Only the person at the heart of it all, you, disappeared into thin air.”
“I’m sure Harvey Sinclair spared no words on my account.”
“He raged for a bit, but his side was nowhere near as exciting as yours would’ve been. He wasn’tthere. All he had were a few photos—which went into evidence, then somehow got lost…” Natalie resumed her walk; Gabriel fell into step with her. “Plus he’d just lost his case, so naturally, he’d say the worst things about you. A sad figure. And therefore, not too entertaining.Youwere supposed to be the fun one.”
She clenched her purse and sighed. “I thought I’d lost my chance. When I received news of where you were hiding, I dropped everything, including a promising story about an athlete committing tax evasion. But I didn’t care, becausethiswould be better. I finally found our lost rock star.”
Gabriel snorted. “Don’t blame me for your bad decisions.”
She gave him a mean sideways glance, but her disposition cleared in a second. “Oh, Mr. Vane. Don’t worry. I will find a story.”
Unusually talkative April flashed in front of his eyes. He’d been to the diner several times. Had he ever said anything incriminating? “I already told you—”
“If not yours then someone else’s.” Natalie stopped and spread her arms. “Lovely little town, isn’t it? Look at all these ordinary people, living their ordinary lives.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
“Only nothing ever is as ordinary, is it? Especially in a small town like this. There’s no crowd to hide yourself in. But there are still people with secrets. They only need to guard them much closer.” Natalie pointedly pronounced the last two words, flashed him another smile, and continued down the street, past Janice’s bakery. “Ah, the bakery. Mrs. Janice Evans. Did you know they had three health inspections scheduled last year, all canceled at the last minute? Interesting.”
“Oh, no. You’re not doing that.” He’d vouch for Janice’s cinnamon rolls himself, if he had to.
“Mrs. Evans is great friends with two other women. Dina and Marge? I believe you’ve met them.”
“You’ve been spying on me.”
“Only asking around.” Natalie shrugged. “Since I’ve invested time to come here, I thought I might as well get to know the town. You wouldn’t believe what a haircut like this gets you. Everyone fell for my ‘buying a decent house in a decent neighborhood for our family of three children, a dog, and a minivan’ shtick.”
As they walked on, and Gabriel said nothing, Natalie continued, “What? You don’t believe I’d drive a minivan?”
“I don’t believe a single word from your mouth.”
“There’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
Perry waved to get Gabriel’s attention, but Gabriel discreetly cut his hand across his chin.
“There are so many things to discover here,” Natalie continued with an overly cheerful, surprised tone. “An old man who frequents the diner—do you know two of his wives died mysteriously? Rex Miller—history of substance abuse, and I’m not sure all that grows in his backyard are his wife’s dahlias. Oh, and a gay man working at the morgue! The story just writes itself, doesn’t it?”
“No.” Gabriel stepped in front of her. “It doesn’t.”
“You can’t stop me.”
She was right, and Gabriel’s stomach sank at the realization that for once, he could do nothing. He had no control over this woman, her job, and no connections to help him out.Vouch for Janice’s cinnamon rolls—what the hell would that do? He was still suspended; he couldn’t run to any of the townspeople and defend them. Anything he did would only lead to more trouble for himself.
“I see we’re in agreement.” Natalie fixed her purse and walked on.
But he couldn’t let her continue, either. He ran after her. “What do you want?”
“Why, I’ve already told you.” Natalie’s voice was all honey. “To find a story. Thanks to you, I landed in the perfect place for it. Imagine.” She swiped her hand in the air. “Secrets of a small town.Of course, our wide readership won’t care about who these random people are—buttheywill. Sometimes, it’s not about the big guys. An actor, a politician, a lawyer committing a scandal. Sometimes, it’s about the mundane. The approachable. People want to know what nasty little secrets their neighbor is hiding.”
She wasn’t doing that. Gabriel didn’t care if Rex used to have issues, or Janice may have violated the rules once or twice. And only beyond his deadbody would he let her make something up about Dina, Marge, or Jason, or old Schumacher, or anybody else.
