Dead Corse Read Online Free Page A

slipped her work into a bag on the floor by her chair
and stood. If there was one thing about my mom it’s that she looked a lot like
Debbie Reynolds. She had reddish hair cut pretty short and she had big boobs.
As a kid I always thought they were cushy and warm. As an adult, I wondered
what happened to my fair share. “A man claiming to be a client of yours called
the shop yesterday while you were out. He was very insistent you needed to
fulfill your contract in finding this Book of Shadows.”
    Oh…whups. The flood of money into my account had sort of pushed
Grayson’s case out of the way. I remembered the room I found behind the door
and figured it needed a once over. Maybe even another look at the house and if
I couldn’t find it, well, so be it. I could afford to give him back his retainer.
“Yeah. I can go back in there and take a look tonight—”
    “Not by yourself,” she clasped her hands behind her back which was
a sure sign she was up to something. “I think you should limit your OOBing for
a good twenty four hours. You could continue and finish that case if you had
help.”
    “Help? What kind of help? I’m the only one I know that can slip
out of my body and snoop.”
    “Actually, there is someone else looking for the same book, Zoë.”
Mom tilted her head to her shoulder. “And they’re willing to work with you to
find it. But I don’t think the book should go to your client if you find it.”
    I just sat on the bed with the stupidest look on my face. “What
the hell are you talking about?”
    She patted the side of my face and walked to the door. “Sit tight.
I’m going to go find a nurse and see about getting you discharged. And no going
out of body until after we get home.”
    Mom scared me sometimes. And watching her leave the room I got the
strangest impression that while I’d been in a coma (wow) she’d been out
plotting something. And that thought made every hair on my arm stand on end.
     
    • • •
     
    The last thing I expected to see when I got home was Rhonda Orly
sitting at the larger table in the tea shop with Jemmy. The two had a whole
bunch of the books from the botanica side strewn on top of the table along with
a bunch of pencils, erasers, an ink well and a quill.
    My mom made and sold real quill pens. Me? Gimme a ball point.
    Whoa…wait. What was that smell? It was like heaven…
    Jemmy was the first up and coming to me with her arms out wide.
“Wellll Zoë you look a lot better than you did yesterday. But you can’t be
scaring your mom like that anymore, you hear me? Now, come sit down over here.
I made a pot of my chicken and dumplings. Would you like a bowl with some
garlic bread and glass of iced tea?
    That was the smell!
    Mental Note:  
insert
large, embarrassing stomach growl here.
    “I think that was a yes,” my mom said from behind me and the two
of them steered me to the table to a chair beside Rhonda.
    She was looking at me. And I was looking at her.
    The dark and spooky make-up was gone and her hair was pulled back
from her face. It was brown with what looked like a bad black dye job at the
tips. Her finger nails were painted a chipped black. She had a roundish face
which somehow made her look like a pixie. And when she stood up I realized how
short she was.
    “You do look a lot better,” she offered me her hand. “Rhonda Orly,
but you already know that.”
    “Yeah,” I shook her hand. Warm. Strong. No biggie. I sat down and
so did she. “I need to thank you. For listening to me and finding my body.”
    “No prob,” she said as she sat down. “I was a bit surprised to
find it where you said it was. I really thought you were a ghost.”
    “Most people can’t see me. I was surprised that you did in the
haunted house.”
    “Me too,” she looked at the book in front of her and I sensed she
was a little shy, which seemed a bit odd given what she was doing at that
house.
    My face broke out into a wide grin when Jemmy put a huge steaming
bowl of