Ghost Mortem (Ghost Detective #1) - Jane Hinchey Page 0,16

his phone as I left. Ben walked with me, blissfully silent. As I approached the rear of the house the glass sliding door opened and Sarah Jacobs stepped outside. She was new to the bay, having transferred after her training in the city was complete to join the Firefly Bay Police Department. There was a big spread about her in the newspaper when she’d arrived.

“Audrey Fitzgerald?” she asked, hand resting on her belt with all her police goodies attached.

“Yes.”

“Detective Galloway just called, said you were coming back to the house.” Her smile was friendly, and I almost sagged with relief. I’d pretty much reached my limit with Dwight and Ian. I climbed the two steps to the deck and approached, not missing her big brown eyes zooming in on my arm. “You’re hurt.”

“Self-inflicted.” I shrugged. “I fainted when I found Ben.”

She nodded in understanding. Reaching out an arm, she placed a supporting hand on my back. “Let’s get that cleaned up then.” I was surprised when we stepped over the threshold that an officer was already in the kitchen, dusting for prints. Galloway had said they’d be here, but for some reason I hadn’t really thought they’d be doing anything. Well, anything useful. Sarah noticed me looking and paused.

“Did you touch anything in here?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. The door.” I didn’t tell her about the latex gloves shoved in my back pocket.

She nodded. “We’ll need to take your prints to exclude you.”

“That’s standard procedure,” Ben whispered near my ear, making me jump. I shot him a glare and he mimed zipping his lips. He drifted off to watch the officer in the kitchen and I relaxed a fraction. It was more difficult than I realized, not talking to him.

“There’s a bathroom up here.” Sarah drew my attention back to her. “We can use that.”

“The guest bathroom.” I nodded.

“That’s right. Ben was your friend.”

“Best friend,” I agreed.

“So you’ve been here many times.” She smiled, but I knew what she was doing. Pumping me for information. I was happy to play along. For now.

“Yep. Stayed over tons of times too.”

“Stayed over? Were you and he...?”

I chuckled. “No, not like that. As unfathomable as it may seem, Ben and I were friends. Nothing more. We were not, nor ever have been, romantically involved. I stayed in the guest room.” I nodded toward the closed door at the end of the hall. “Ben’s room is upstairs. The master suite. He has his own bathroom up there and I’d use this one.”

“Was Ben gay?” she asked, motioning for me to precede her into the bathroom.

I snorted. “No. Just because he has a female best friend does not make him gay.”

“Sorry.” She smiled again. Smiley Sarah. “Have to admit, it is unusual.”

“Sure.” I shrugged.

“Take a seat.” Sarah pointed to the tub, and I eased myself onto the edge, watching as she grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the faucet.

“This may sting,” she warned, then pressed the damp cloth to my elbow. I hissed in a breath and snapped my shoulders back.

“You should probably get this cleaned properly at the hospital,” she muttered, her face unnervingly close to mine as she peered at the scrape. “It looks like you’ve got a fair bit of dirt in this.”

“Probably.”

“Can you tell me what happened? Today?”

I went over all the events of the morning, leaving out the part about Ben appearing as a ghost and his cat now having the ability to talk. Or was it that I now had the ability to understand him? Either way, it didn’t sound good for my mental health, so I decided it was entirely okay to leave those details out.

We finished up in the bathroom, and my elbow was now throbbing. Sarah admitted she may have made the whole thing worse, rather than better. Awesome. Today was turning out to be top-notch. She led me to the sofa in the living area and I sank into its plush depths. From here I could see the kitchen, dining room, and the backyard. Sarah sat opposite and pulled out her phone, typing furiously into it. I watched her for a moment, then figured she was probably writing up my statement. I turned my attention to the officer in the kitchen, who was being very thorough. Ben hovered right beside him, critically evaluating every move he made.

Sarah’s phone beeped and she jumped up and disappeared, reappearing moments later carrying a mug of steaming…something. She held it out to me