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That snapped him out of his quiet contemplation. ‘No, of course. Thank you for letting us know. We were about to call the police anyway, but now I can at least tell them there’s someone to save.’

‘She’s a cop,’ I told him, earning myself a raised brow. ‘I think she might have already been onto him or something, but she fits the profile.’

‘What profile?’ he asked, and I gestured to myself.

‘This one.’

His eyes found Dakota where she stood stock still in the entryway, his brows furrowing as his mind whirled with questions, trying to make connections.

‘She doesn’t fit the profile.’

‘Neither did Chance,’ I pointed out. It wouldn’t matter what she looked like. If she caught Blake, he’d kill her, too. That was likely what had happened with the cop, and she was just unfortunate enough to look the part as well.

He nodded, coming to the same conclusion.

‘Okay. I know you need to go, but will you come back?’ he asked, a glimmer of hope shining in his eyes that had nothingto do with the situation at hand. It warmed me in places I had forgotten existed in my constant state of numbness, and I knew if I could blush, I’d be bright red right about now.

‘I’ll come back,’ I promised. Whether that was a good idea or not, I couldn’t bring myself to care. All I could feel was the desire to be around this man who had captured my attention in more ways than one; that made me feel things I had long since believed I could no longer feel.

‘Later, then,’ he confirmed with a warm smile. One which I returned.

‘Later, then,’ I agreed, then slid through the wall and sped back to my best friend’s grave.

Chapter 6

Rhodes

There was so much I wanted to ask her, but she was gone before I could put it into words. She wouldn’t have stayed anyway. It was clear to see that she cared for Chance. In the same way? I wasn’t sure. She had married his brother, who had then killed them both, for god’s sake. And even if she weren’t dead, inserting myself into that mess was stupid, yet I couldn’t deny how much it hurt to watch her walk away.

Not that she walked. In my living room, her feet weren’t hidden behind foliage, and I could clearly see the way they hovered just above the ground. She really was a ghost.

A ghost that needed our help to prevent another murder.

What a final adventure to find myself on.

My body ached as I stood from the couch, my muscles still stiff from my most recent seizure. I was more aware of my symptoms than ever, including how limited I now was in what I could safely do. There would be no more driving Bessie, no more running the campsite, and certainly no more living alone. I was doing my best to hide the worst of it in front of my new friends, but I could feel myself slowly fading away. Each day, I found it harder to wake up and keep going. Kali, alongside recent events, had givenme a purpose to keep me motivated for a little while longer, but my time in this plane of existence was quickly coming to an end.

I still needed to call Jessica so she could help me get my life in order before I no longer had one.

But one step at a time.

Dakota was still frozen in shock by the front door, Ashe and Gloria were gone, dealing with their loss privately and in their own way. I had a feeling Gloria was about to whisk Ashe away from the danger, and while I wouldn’t blame them for running, it did leave fewer of us to deal with the fallout.

I turned to Mikey, tipping my chin at where Dakota was staring into space. ‘One of us needs to help her while the other calls the police.’

He flinched like I’d raised a hand ready to strike him, but nodded in agreement. ‘I’ve got Dakota, if you don’t mind calling the cops. I… haven’t had the best experience with them in the past.’

I blinked, more than curious about that particular story, but it wasn’t my place to pry. If he wanted me to know, he would tell me.

‘Oh, sure. That’s fine. Why don’t you take her up to the spare bedroom, and I’ll call the cops down here?’

‘Yeah. Sure. I can do that.’

I watched as he took a shaky breath, tears shimmering in red-rimmed eyes, and I could see the pain he was also suffering through and the loss of his friends. The betrayal he must have been feeling keenly right about now wouldn’t be helping matters, either, but he was composing himself enough to make himself useful.

I thought back to the interactions I’d witnessed between him and Chance over the past couple of days. I’d known something was going on, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that Chance had been planning to commit suicide to join Kali in the afterlife,especially since we had all seen undeniable proof that death wasn’t the end. Mikey must have been preparing himself for the loss for a while now, though not like this.

Whatever Blake had done to his brother in his last moments, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I knew it wouldn’t have been good. Not when he’d been caught red-handed.