Nearly Departed (Spring Cleaning Mysteries) (8 page)

"
Which will it be?" Smoke pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and me out of my wayward thoughts. "And I swear that if you say 'neither' I'm calling them both."

I really, really hate
d hospitals. "Fine. Call Detective Reed."

"
I'll call dispatch. But first, we're getting you off this cold floor. It's freezing in here." Slipping his phone back into a pocket, he jumped to his feet and stood in front of me, holding out his hands. "C'mon."

Obediently I put my palms in his. His felt warm
, and I was suddenly aware that I was half-frozen.

"
On three," he coached with an easy smile. "One, two, three."

He hauled me to my feet in one smooth move.

Everything went gray and fuzzy for a second. Unstable, I stumbled.

"
Easy." His voice was low and soothing, and very close to my ear. "I've got you."

It took me a second to realize that I
'd rested my forehead against his chest as I'd fought for balance. This close I could hear the rhythmic beat of his heart and smell the last remnants of his aftershave. It took me another moment to realize he'd placed his hands on my hips to steady me.

I knew that I should pull away, but instead I leaned in closer, wanting desperately to absorb his warmth, his scent, his strength.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

I believed him.

And it scared the hell out of me.

Even though I was still shaky, I stepped back, pulling free of the strange hold on me.

"
You okay now?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"Do you want to sit in the dining room or the van?"

"
The dining room." I was too unsteady to make it outside on my own, and I wanted to keep as much distance between us as possible. Before he could offer to help, I lurched away like a drunken sailor.

Once he
'd watched me settle into a chair at the dining room table, he took out his phone. "I don't have a signal in here. I have to go outside, but I'll be right back."

"
I'm not going anywhere."

"
Yell if you need me," Smoke said just before he walked outside.

I counted to ten and then turned to the ghost hovering nervously in the corner by the window.
"What the hell was that about? Were you trying to get me killed?"

He shook his head.

"But you wanted me to see that the intruder was here?"

The ghost gave me a thumbs
-up. I noticed that he had a dark stain on the tip of his fingers.

"
Why?"

"
Why what?" Smoke asked from the entryway of the house.

I swallowed hard
, wondering if he'd heard anything else. "That was quick." I waved off the ghost who was holding up three fingers at me.

"
I've got a direct number." Smoked walked in and crouched down so that he could look up into my face. "How are you doing?"

"
My head feels better."

His eyes narrowed as though he knew I was lying, but all he said was,
"How do you want me to introduce you?"

"
Introduce me?"

He straightened and examined a beaker on the table. It had a powdery white residue on the bottom.
"You obviously don't like being referred to as Victoria, and I don't like calling you Vic, so how do you want me to introduce you to the officer who arrives to take your statement?"

"
Vicky's fine."

He glanced back at me.
"You don't look like a Vicky."

"
And what do you think a Vicky should look like?"

"
Cute. Bubbly."

I winced and looked away. I certainly didn
't fit that description. Turning had been a mistake though, because now the ghost was holding up seven fingers. I scowled at him before spinning back to face Smoke.

"
I didn't…" He raked his palm over his head signaling his irritation. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I don't want you to think…" He trailed off, unsure or unwilling to complete the thought.

"
Someone cute and bubbly isn't going to be cleaning up the remains of the dead," I said tiredly.

Smoke frowned.
"I wasn't saying—"

"
Knock, knock, partner!" a woman's voice called from the front door.

Something in his expression flickered
, but then Smoke's frown quickly morphed into a forced smile. "We're in here."

A blur of movement sped across the room and launched itself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist
, and pressing her lips to his cheek.

I looked away.

"And here I'd been thinking you were never going to call, big guy." The woman pouted.

"
I called dispatch." Smoke's voice was carefully devoid of emotion. "I didn't ask for you."

Intrigued by his detached greeting, I looked back at them. If I hadn
't already been feeling supremely unattractive, maybe I wouldn't have felt so…troll-like. But even on my best of days, this woman would have made me feel inadequate. She was stunning, like super-model stunning. Lean and leggy, she had a face lovingly chiseled by a sculptor, and flowing golden locks that belonged in a shampoo commercial.

I hated her on sight.

"Detective Lacey Halperin, I'd like you to meet…Ms. Spring," Smoke said, with that same strangely emotionless tone.

She regarded me curiously.
"Hello."

I waved weakly at the woman.

Detective Halperin unpeeled herself from Smoke and stepped toward me, offering a smile and a handshake. "What can I do for you, Ms. Spring?"

I shook her hand automatically. Under other circumstances, she would not have passed my handshake test.
"It wasn't my idea to call you."

I shot Smoke my dirtiest look.

Ignoring me, he turned his attention on the beautiful blonde. "Sorry to bother you with this, Lacey, but someone attacked her."

"
Did you see the perp?" Blondie was suddenly all business.

"
No. I came back from my lunch break and found her on the floor in the kitchen. I'd thought she'd slipped or passed out, but she said he hit her."

Detective Halperin sat down in the seat beside me.
"Did you get a good look at your attacker, Ms. Spring?"

I shook my head and winced from the pain. My brain felt like it was sloshing around in my skull.
"It all happened so fast."
Not to mention I'd been grossed out from running through a ghost.
"He was dressed all in black. I didn't see his face."

"
Old? Young?"

"
I'm not sure."

"
White? Black?"

"
I didn't see his face. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. This is a colossal waste of your time." I favored Smoke with another dirty look.

Arms folded across his chest, he didn
't seem perturbed by my condemnation.

"
It's not a waste of time. Calling me was the right thing to do. I'll have patrol cars keep an eye out for suspicious activity in the area." The detective smiled encouragingly. Even her teeth were perfect. "What about his hands? Did you see them? Any scars, or tattoos or jewelry?"

I closed my eyes
, trying to remember the fist coming at me, but all I could recall was black. "I think he was wearing gloves." I opened my eyes just in time to see a flash of something, disappointment maybe, in hers.

"
Was he carrying anything?"

"
No."

"
Do you think he took anything?"

I glanced around the controlled chaos of the room.
"I don't know. Look at this place. Even before it became a crime scene, it was a disaster zone."

"
What about you? Do you have any enemies?"

I thought for a moment about the threats I
'd received while doing my volunteer work with battered women, but I decided not to mention them since so much of the success of what we did depended on confidentiality.

Then I remembered the guy who
'd harassed Carla. "I got into a…disagreement with someone behind the Athens Diner this morning."

"
Who?" Smoke and the detective asked simultaneously.

"
I don't know. Some guy. He was threatening one of the waitresses, and I intervened."

"
So you exchanged words with some stranger. Did it go any further than that?" Detective Barbie clarified.

I shook my head.

"Then I'm sure it's nothing,"

"
She drives around in a van with her last name and business telephone plastered all over it," Smoke said. "It wouldn't be difficult to figure out who she is."

I swallowed hard. I hadn
't thought of that.

"
Who was the waitress?" the detective asked.

"
Carla."

"
I'll have a talk with her to see if I can find out who the guy is."

I nodded.

"Okay. If you think of anything else, Smoke has my number." The detective smiled at him as she stood.

He didn
't smile back. "Thanks for coming by."

"
Anything for you, you know that." She made a show of kissing his cheek again. "We should have dinner soon."

I made a point of examining one of the half-filled beakers on the table in front of me.

"I'll walk you out," Smoke said.

They moved toward the doorway.

Then the leggy blonde halted. "Ms. Spring?"

I looked over at her.

"You really shouldn't be here alone." She seemed genuinely concerned. "Better to err on the side of caution."

I nodded my understanding.

"It was nice meeting you." With that, the cop walked out, my sole employee following closely after.

As soon as they were gone I looked around for the chinless ghost, but he was nowhere to be found
. The pounding in my head had abated, so I cautiously stood up and was pleased to find I was no longer dizzy. Wondering what the guy had been searching for, I walked around the dining room table examining the mess it held.

"
Looking for something?" Smoke spoke softly, but I still jumped.

"
He was in here when I startled him. I was just trying to figure out what he wanted."

"
Why'd you come back in here without me?"

I couldn
't very well tell him that a ghost, like some dead, mute version of Lassie, had led me inside. "I'd finished my lunch. I wanted to get back to work."

"
You should have waited for me."

"
I've got work to do." I walked past him but didn't get far.

He caught my wrist, stopping
me in my tracks. I tensed immediately. Even though it didn't cause me the slightest pain, a frisson of fear scampered down my spine.

Sensing my discomfort, he released me before I could tell him to let me go, but I stayed rooted to the spot, pinned by his searching gaze.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"
You didn't."

Instead of calling me on my lie, he said,
"You should have told me about the thing at the diner."

"
Why?" I asked with a defiant tilt of my chin.

He regarded me thoughtfully for a long, uncomfortable moment
. I would have given anything to be able to disappear through the wall like a ghost. He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, his breath tickling across my skin. "You look better without a shiner."

"
Ahem."

Jumping apart, Smoke and I whirled simultaneously in the direction of the voice.

A grey-haired African American man in a rumpled suit stood in the doorway, eyeing us speculatively
."
Aren't you going to introduce me to your lady-friend?"

"
We're not—" I began.

"
Detective Marcus Fontaine," Smoke interrupted, "meet Victoria Spring….my boss."

"
Detective." I extended my hand with what I hoped passed for a smile.

"
Pleased to meet you, Miss Spring." He held it a beat too long for my comfort, as though he was hoping to discern all my secrets in that moment.