Beef Stolen-Off (21 page)

“Don’t do that yet. Isn’t it worth one more try before you throw in the towel?”

Sandy shook her head. “I wish I were as brave as you, Jordan, but I’m not.”

“What if I spend Friday and Saturday night out there with you? Together, we’ll scare the ghosts away once and for all.”

Sandy’s eyes lit up. “You’d do that? You’re not afraid?”

Jordan laughed. “Terrified, but we’ll team up and send those poor lost souls back to where they can be at peace. We can leave directly from work Friday and head out there.” She saw a smidgeon of hope forming in Sandy’s eyes. “It’ll be fun. I’ll even bring some games, and we can stop for wings or something on the way out.”

Sandy threw her arms around Jordan and squeezed. “You’re such a good friend, Jordan. Gramps has a fishing boat and several bicycles. The house sits on a cove with a great bicycle trail, plus I can give you a tour of the lake in the boat.”

“I can’t wait,” Jordan said, remembering the view of Lake Texoma from her table facing the water the last time she ate at Longhorn Prime Rib.

Watching Sandy walk back to her own cubicle, Jordan concentrated on coming up with a good lie to tell Danny, so he wouldn’t show up this time. Maybe she’d say she was going to spend the weekend with a friend, and without naming names, give him the impression that friend was Brenda Sue Taylor.

She frowned. That idea had one major flaw. Brenda Sue was no longer speaking to her after her house had been ransacked by the police in the middle of the night. Jordan could still hear her usually soft voice shouting obscenities in that cute southern drawl, accusing her of befriending her only so she could spy for her brother.

That wasn’t true, of course. The real reason she’d gone out to Brenda Sue’s house was to find out about Maria and Diego, but somewhere along the way, Jordan had discovered she actually liked the woman. It was highly unlikely they could ever be friends now. Danny knew that as well since he’d been in the living room when Brenda Sue called and had made no attempt to cover up his overt eavesdropping.

Her thoughts wandered back to Sandy and the upcoming weekend. Jordan really didn’t believe in ghosts, but Sandy was so convinced they were there, even thinking about it made Jordan uncomfortable. Despite putting up a brave front for her friend, she was more than a little squeamish about actually spending the night in that house. As always, her mouth had opened before her brain had time to filter her thoughts. She’d popped off about spending the weekend out there with her friend, and now she’d have to go through with it.

But not without liquor.

She decided she’d stop on her way home and pick up a bottle of Baileys just in case they’d depleted Sandy’s supply making Almond Balls the last time. The expensive liqueur would put a huge dent in her budget for the month, but it definitely qualified as one of those rainy-day emergencies.

Despite her plan to drink more than her fair share, Jordan had no illusions about getting any sleep out there. She’d run over to Lola’s apartment when she got home and borrow one of her bazillion paperback mysteries. On
second thought, Jordan decided that might not be such a great idea. She’d better stick to a romance novel.

She still remembered reading Stephen King’s
Salem’s
Lot
one night when she was all alone in her apartment. Not only had she slept with all the lights on, but she’d also clutched a bottle of garlic salt in one hand and her rosary in the other.

The kicker was, she had no idea where the garlic salt had come from, but it was now hidden in a secret place just in case she was ever dumb enough to read another novel that left her staring at the window to make sure blood-sucking vampires didn’t come for her.

Blowing out a breath, she concluded the only good thing about spending the weekend at the lake was she’d have the perfect excuse for cutting short her visit with Lucas and Bella on Sunday. Who could argue against her need for sleep after a girlie weekend?

Looking at it that way, a couple of sleepless nights was a small price to pay.

“Why are you packing a bag, Jordan?” Danny asked the next day, popping his head around her bedroom door.

“I’m spending the weekend at Santana Ranch,” she lied, hoping he didn’t catch the stammer in her voice.

He walked into the room and flopped down on the opposite side of the bed. “An entire weekend with Lucas Santana?” He laughed, shaking his head. “That ain’t happening anytime soon. Where are you really going?”

Shoot!
She’d have to go to Plan B. That was the problem; there was no Plan B.

“That’s none of your business,” she said, hoping something would come to her quickly.

“You’re going to Sandy’s, aren’t you?”

She turned her back to him, pretending to rummage in her drawer so he wouldn’t see the surprise on her face. When she had recovered, she turned back, throwing her pajamas into the bag and cursing the fact that she was a worse liar then she’d thought. “Why would I go there?”

He slipped off the bed and scrambled around to her side of the room. Spinning her around, he studied her face. “Yep. You suck at lying. That’s why you were always the one Mom interrogated when she suspected trouble.”

“Okay, I’m going to Sandy’s,” she blurted. “But you can’t come. Really, Danny, it’s just going to be Sandy and me.”

His eyes widened. “The lake house? You’re kidding, right? How in the world are two sissy girls going to fix her ghost problem?”

Jordan huffed. “There’s no ghost problem, you nimrod. It’s only in Sandy’s mind.” She shoved her thumb and forefinger in front of his face. “She’s this close to letting the bank foreclose on her grandfather’s house, and I can’t let that happen. At least not without a fight.”

“Why can’t I come? I want to help, too.”

They both turned when they heard the front door open.

“Yoo-hoo. Where is everyone?” Rosie called out.

“We’re back here,” Jordan hollered, seconds before Rosie swung the bedroom door open and sauntered in.

“What’s with the overnight bag?”

“Jordan’s going out to the lake with Sandy and won’t let us go.”

“Us? When did it become plural?”

“Why not, Jordan?” Rosie asked, flopping down next to Danny and jamming the pillow behind her head.

Jordan explained Sandy’s dilemma again. “I’m going
out there so she can see there’s nothing to be afraid of. We all know there are no such things as ghosts, but she’s still jittery.”

“Which is why we all ought to go,” Rosie said. “We could take our Friday night card game out there and keep her mind off things that go bump in the night.”

Danny high-fived Rosie. “Behind that dyed hair and those sexy eyes is one very smart lady.” He nailed Jordan with a lost-puppy-dog look. “So what do you say? We could pick up some pizzas and meet the two of you at the
Globe
tomorrow afternoon.”

Jordan quit packing, mulling their suggestion around in her head. In all truthfulness, it was probably not a bad idea to have a lot of people around at least until after their card game, when they would head back to Ranchero, leaving her and Sandy alone in the house. Sandy had mentioned Friday was the night she usually heard the pounding, and as much as Jordan didn’t want to believe in ghosts, having everyone out there for half the night might be comforting, just in case she was wrong.

“Okay. If Sandy agrees, we’ll meet out in the parking lot at five o’clock, and make it crunchy chicken sandwiches instead of a pizza. Wendy’s has them on sale for ninety-nine cents this weekend.” She closed the suitcase and set it on the floor, praying she wasn’t going to regret this decision.

“All right! A road trip, a deck of cards, and plenty of liquor.” Rosie paused, wrinkling her eyebrows. “There will be liquor, won’t there?”

“I’m picking up a bottle of Baileys, and if you guys bring a couple of six-packs of beer and a few Cokes, we should be good.”

“I gotta go tell Victor,” Danny said, already halfway to
the front door. “He loves that old magnolia tree in Sandy’s front yard.”

The next day at work, Jordan glanced at her watch eighty thousand times. Her feelings about the trip to the lake house were extremely muddled. On the one hand, she did not believe in ghosts, so she knew she should have nothing to fear on that score. On the other hand, the house gave her the creeps anyway, although she didn’t quite know why. And on the third hand, she was comforted by the thought that there was safety in numbers, even though having the whole gang along for the evening could lead to complications. With these confused musings rattling in her head, Jordan found it hard to focus on her column, but eventually she was able to push them aside and actually do a little newspaper-related work.

She kept busy researching the free translation website for a suitable name for Bella’s Baked Steak and Gravy recipe, finally settling on Boeuf Cuit au Jus de Viande. She wondered how much longer she could get away with this charade of posting casserole recipes and slapping fancy names on them.

At five fifteen, she and Sandy couldn’t get out the door fast enough to make their way to the parking lot where everyone was waiting in Ray’s Suburban. Since she was staying out there until Sunday, Jordan decided to leave her car in the
Globe
parking lot and ride with her friend.

Grabbing a couple of chicken sandwiches from Rosie, they hopped in Sandy’s car and started the trek to the lake with the Suburban following close behind. Half an hour later they piled out of both cars and walked up the steps to Sandy’s front porch.

Once inside, Sandy turned up the thermostat while Ray and Michael dragged in the folding chairs from the garage and placed them around the kitchen table. Jordan couldn’t stop glancing toward the green curtains every few seconds. With everyone here, she wasn’t as nervous as she would have been if only she and Sandy had come, but she knew that something as innocent as a sudden movement could set her off. God forbid Danny and Victor tried a repeat of the drapes stunt they’d pulled the night of the séance.

All her misgivings evaporated as soon as the card game got underway, and the laughing and teasing took over. Watching Sandy interact with her friends, Jordan was pleased to see the evening had turned into a kind of a tranquilizer for the girl, decreasing her anxiety—at least for the moment.

At ten thirty when the last drop of Baileys was gone, they called it a night. By eleven everything was cleaned up and put away, and the Empire Apartments gang was on their way back to town. Watching the car roll down the gravel driveway, Jordan glanced quickly toward Sandy, already noticing the signs of panic returning to her face.

“Don’t worry about it,” she reassured her. “We’ll get through this, I promise.”

Sandy exhaled loudly, then walked over to her purse and pulled out a bottle. “My doctor prescribed sleeping pills. She didn’t want to, but after I explained why I needed them, she agreed to give me enough for two days. That’s why I only had one drink tonight.” She shook one of the pills into her hand and then handed the bottle to Jordan. “You can use the other one so you’ll get a good night’s sleep, too.”

Jordan laughed. The one and only time she’d taken an over-the-counter sleep aid, she’d been like a zombie the
entire next day. “No thanks, I’m good. Save that second one for tomorrow night, although I’m pretty sure you won’t need it.”

“Suit yourself.” Sandy swallowed the pill with a sip of water. “Are you ready for bed?”

“Absolutely. I’ve had a busy week, and I’m exhausted. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble getting to sleep.”

“I’ll stay in Grampa’s room, and you can take the full-size bed in the guest bedroom.”

“Sounds good.” Jordan yawned.

After hugging Sandy, she went to her room and changed into a T-shirt and running shorts. Within minutes she was fast asleep, dreaming of her last night with Alex and totally forgetting the house might be haunted.

Jordan rolled over and pulled the covers up to her neck, shivering. It was freezing in the house.

Then she heard it!

The sound of someone pounding was faint but definitely audible. As the scream bubbled up in her throat, she shot up in the bed, glancing all around the room.

“Whoever you are, go away,” she said, her voice almost a whisper.

The pounding stopped.

Slowly, she slid out of bed, eyes darting to all four corners of the room, waiting for the sound to return or for some kind of movement. When there was neither, she yanked off her T-shirt and shorts and quickly redressed in the jeans and sweater she’d worn earlier.

Inhaling deeply, she made her way to the door, then stood there with her hand on the knob for a few minutes before finally summoning enough courage to open it. Half
expecting to see the room filled with moving objects and flickering lights like in the movies, she was almost disappointed when it looked exactly as she and Sandy had left it before they’d gone to bed.

The pounding started up again, startling her, and she jerked her hand up to cover her mouth.

There are no such things as ghosts
, she repeated to herself over and over as she stood perfectly still, afraid to move.

“Is anyone out there?”

When there was no answer, she made her way to the master bedroom and slowly opened the door, ready to fight off any evil spirits if they were messing with Sandy.

But there were none.

Sandy was snoring softly in her drug-induced slumber, blissfully unaware the pounding had begun. Jordan did a quick sweep of the room to make sure she hadn’t missed any white-sheeted guests, then smacked her forehead for being so ignorant.

She decided not to wake her friend, not that she could, anyway. The last thing she wanted was to have Sandy freak out before they could figure out what was going on. Walking back into the living room with a renewed sense of bravado, she was determined to deal with the spirits once and for all.

Listening, she pinpointed the sound as coming from the kitchen. For a split second, the visual of a bunch of ghosts drinking Almond Balls flashed in front of her, and she stifled a giggle.

Get a grip, Jordan
, she reprimanded herself.