Ghost Gone Wild (A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel) Read Online Free Page B

late. I’d be willing to bet he barely to started to boogie by ten. Boogie? I’ll explain another time. Time! Why was I still here when I’d intended to disappear. All I had to do was think,
Gone
, and I was gone.
    The reflection in the mirror was clear and sharp and undeniably there.
    “Lady—”
    I spoke in a steel-ribbed voice. “Stop calling me lady.”
    “Who are you? What’s your name? Why don’t you go away?”
    “I would go,” I spoke through clenched teeth, “if I could. I can’t. Hush for a minute and let me think.”
    He started for the door.
    I beat him to it, yanked open the door, plunged onto the front porch, and yelled, “The police are on the way.”
    He pushed out beside me.
    The only sounds were the rustle of leaves and the distant whoo of an owl.
    I turned to go back inside.
    He caught my arm. “Do you always yell for the police when you go outside?”
    “I am protecting your—” I broke off. Despite the pressures of the world, I would demonstrate that I wasn’t
of
the world.
    Except apparently I was.
    He grinned and was suddenly appealing, his wide mouth turning down in a lopsided smile. “—sorry ass.”
    I managed a quick smile in return. “Carcass, to be precise.” But I didn’t have time to be pleasant. I shot one more questing gaze around the yard. If a killer was lurking, he was lurking quietly. In fact, I had no sense of danger, and I have a pretty good instinct for malevolence. “I think you’re safe enough now.” I trotted down the steps, opened the door to the snazzy sports coupe.
    He was close behind me. “Wait a minute. What are you doing?”
    I was brisk. “Looking for your cell phone. Ah. Here it is. Now you can call the police. It will be better if I leave before they arrive. It would be awkward for me to be involved.”
    “La—” He broke off. “I didn’t say it.” He pointed at the drive, then stiffened. He made a strangled noise in his throat. “Where’s your car?”
    “I don’t have a car.” I would have thought that fact was apparent.
    “How’d you get here?” His head jerked as he checked out the drive and street.
    “Train.” I spoke absently. My mind quivered with imperatives: Call the police. Protect Nick. Figure out why I was stuck
in
the world. But first, I needed a pick-me-up. We’d wasted so much time already, another few minutes wouldn’t matter. I swung around and walked swiftly to the steps.
    He was on my heels. “Train?”
    I strode toward the wet bar. I went around the counter, rummaged in the cabinets. “Don’t you have anything besides alcohol here? I’m starving.” I’d had a rather active time since my arrival, and when I am on the earth, I need sustenance.
    Nick reached the counter. “La—” He saw my look, broke off, took a breath. “Let’s start over.” His voice was agreeable, the kind of tone a hapless male employs when dealing with a difficult woman.
    I couldn’t find even a cracker. “If I could start over, you can bet I wouldn’t have jumped on that horse and caught the Express—” It was my turn to break off as he began to edge cautiously backward.
    Clearly he thought I was demented.
    I found a jar of maraschino cherries.
    I wasn’t
that
hungry.
    I hoped Wiggins was aware that duty was ever most present on my mind. Wiggins? I didn’t have a sense that he was near. He always popped down to remonstrate when I inadvertently flouted the Precepts. “Wiggins?” My voice sounded forlorn.
    Nick stopped edging away. “What’d you say?”
    “My supervisor. I don’t know where he is.” Obviously this was where he wasn’t.
    “Your supervisor at the chamber?” Nick sounded like a man who sighted a fact and intended to pursue it. “I never heard anybody called a supervisor at the Chamber of Commerce.”
    “Actually, Wiggins is a stationmaster.”
    Nick looked bewildered.
    “At his train depot.”
    “Of course.” Nick’s tone was hearty. “The train that brought you here. Sure. I