what you need?” he said. A perfectly reasonable response, darn it.
“I got fired this week.” Not a lie. “I’d prefer not to be spending money if I didn’t have to.” Again, not a lie, not entirely. But the truth was I could totally afford to go and buy Thor anything he needed. My savings account was flush. But I needed to get into the house and this seemed the best way to do it.
“Hang on a sec.” I listened to the rustling on the other end of the line, then what sounded like someone typing on a keyboard. “I expedited it for you.” Galloway was back on the line.
“Expedited what?”
“The crime scene has been cleared. We’ve already collected all the evidence we can from the property so you are cleared to return,” he explained. “Just pull the tape down.”
“Oh. Okay. That was quick, thank you.” I disconnected the call and glanced at Ben, who was looking at me with a grin on his face.
“What?”
“Crime scenes do not usually get cleared that quickly. Normally you’d be looking at days, sometimes weeks before the property is released.”
“Oh. What does that mean?”
“It means that Galloway likes you. He pulled strings.”
“Or it could just mean that it was true what he said—they’ve actually finished processing your house and have no reason to keep me out.” I did not want to think that Kade Galloway was doing me favors because doing someone a favor meant they owed you, and I did not want to owe the police department anything. Not ever. Despite Ben being seemingly on good terms with the detective, I wasn’t so quick to forget his awful treatment while on the force.
“Don’t get on the wrong side of him, Audrey,” Ben said, reading my mind.
“I’m not,” I huffed, ripping the tape from the door and screwing it into a ball in my fist. “Just because you like the guy doesn’t mean I have to,” I pointed out, sliding my key into the lock and turning. “After all, I met him like two days ago. Trust has to be earned.”
Stepping into Ben’s foyer, I looked around wide-eyed at the sight that greeted me. “Shit.”
Ben brushed past me, an icy trail following. “Yeah, one thing about the cops…they don’t clean up after themselves.” Fingerprint dust marred multiple surfaces. Doors and drawers stood open, the contents either roughly pushed back in or left spilled out across the floor.
“I don’t suppose you have any magical abilities that will clean all this up?” I asked, hands on hips as I surveyed the disaster zone.
“Not that I’m aware of.” Although, bless his heart, he stood with his hands outstretched and appeared to be trying to cast some sort of spell. I giggled, my shoulders shaking with mirth.
“Hey!” Thor trotted towards us. “My food bowls are gone!”
Ben and I turned and looked toward the spot near the sliding glass doors where Thor’s bowls usually sat. He was right, they were gone.
“Evidence.” Ben nodded.
“It’s okay, I’ll get one out of the cupboard.” Thor followed close by my heel as I rummaged in the kitchen for a bowl, then filled it with kibble for him. Ben groaned when I placed it on the floor.
“What?”
“It’s just…that’s a cereal bowl.” He was frowning and looking uncomfortable.
“Do you need to….you know?” I cocked my head toward the bathroom.
“What?” He grumbled, obviously unhappy about something.
“You know. Go pee? Or poop? Or fart?”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m a ghost, Audrey. I can no longer do any of those things.”
“Then why do you look like you’re constipated?” I demanded.
“Because cats shouldn’t eat out of human bowls!” he declared. Ahhh. I’d forgotten that Ben was a bit anal, not only with the cleanliness of his home but also with things like allowing pets to eat off of human crockery.
As much as it would be fun to tease him, I figured now wasn’t the time. He had just recently died after all. “We’re going to have to, just this once,” I said. “Thor needs to eat and his bowls are evidence. Fingerprints?”
“Yeah. We know the bowls were moved. Could be blood too.”
Distracting Ben from his discomfort over watching his cat eat out of a cereal bowl I asked, “So where are these files?”
“On the computer—in the office.”
Dusting my hands on my jeans, I squared my shoulders. “Come on then. Let’s go see what you were working on that ended up getting you killed.”
9
Philip Drake was the General Manager of the Firefly Bay Hotel, a five-star establishment towering over the