Page 42 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne

“Yeah.” She shakes her head again. “Whatever that bastard did to her, she’s in pain, Tris, and she’s trapped. What if–”

“What if what?”

“What if that happens to you?” She breathes heavily. “I couldn’t bear it.”

“Dusty, you can’t protect me from everything, we’ve been over this. But I’m not worried,” I say, trying to inject as much confidence into my voice as I can. “You know why? Because I have a super-hot cop fiancé and my very own dead bestie watching out for me.”

“Do you think I honestly can’t tell when you’re lying too?” Dusty says dryly.

“I’m not lying.”

“Overexaggerating, then. Don’t argue semantics with me, Tristan Everett.” She raises a brow and I see a little of her swagger reappear. “You’re scared too.”

“Fine. I’m terrified,” I admit with a sigh. “I was just getting my head around the idea of ghosts and what that meant for therest of my life, then all this witchcraft stuff crashed the party. So yeah, I’m scared. I’m scared of what happened to Viv, I’m scared of losing someone I love, I’m scared of spiders—really big ones, not the little ones—and I’m also scared of clowns. I know it’s cliched but they’re just so creepy. The difference is, I can’t let it rule my life. It would be so easy to let the anxiety and fear drown me, but that’s not how I want to live. So you know what I’m going to do?”

“Not ever visit the circus and get Danny to catch all the spiders in the flat?”

“For starters.” I nod with a smile. “I’m also going to come to work and do my job. I’m going to go to Sunrise and visit my dad, even though it hurts more every single time I do because I know that somewhere there’s an hourglass sifting away the time we have left together. I’m going to learn everything I can about witches and spells and ghosts so I can help Viv. Because that’s what you and I do, Dusty. We help spirits cross into the light. All the rest of it doesn’t matter.”

Dusty smiles slowly. “I can see why they chose you.”

“I have very mixed feelings about that, but I can’t have you and Danny and the rest of the good stuff without having the bad too. So I guess that’s the trade-off.”

“Do you always talk to yourself?” A coldly amused voice echoes in the room and my stomach clenches as I whip my head towards the now open doorway.

“What are you doing here?” I say coolly. “This room is off-limits.”

“I’m a police officer.” Detective Byrnes gives me a creepy smile and I suppress the urge to shiver.

“Contrary to popular belief, that doesn’t give you a free pass.”

He lifts a brow. “I bet you don’t say that to your boyfriend.”

“Myfiancéis none of your business. I don’t know what your problem is, but I suggest you take it out of my mortuary and takeit up with him…” I let my gaze skim over him in a dismissive way. “If you’ve got the balls to.”

“Wanker,” I hear a familiar Scottish accent bark out.

“I think you’ve got that right, babe,” an also familiar American accent replies, devoid of its usual warmth and humour.

I don’t risk a glance at Dave and Ian although I know they’re standing nearby. From the corner of my eye, I can also see that Dusty has hopped down from her perch on the counter and is hovering near me protectively. Something tells me I shouldn’t take my eyes off the detective. Every hair on my body is prickling and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so uncomfortable in another person’s presence.

“What do you want?” I ask again.

“Oh, Tristan,” he says, his dark eyes dancing coldly as he casually wanders further into the room. “There are so many things I want. But why don’t we start with what you and Mr Hadley were discussing with regards to Vivienne Wilson.”

“I don’t think so.” I grasp the sheet and cover Mr Endecott’s body now that I’m finished with his post-mortem. “It’s none of your business.”

“We’ll have to disagree there. As the lead in charge of Ms Wilson’s case, I have to pursue all avenues of inquiry.”

“Then I suggest you pursue them elsewhere and get out of my mortuary before I call security and have you escorted from the premises.” I sign the clipboard with all the post-mortem notes attached and lay them on top of the enshrouded corpse before looking up and glaring at the detective.

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you, Mr Everett, considering your boyfriend isn’t here for you to hide behind.” Byrnes takes another step towards me.

“I don’t hide behind anyone,” I reply, refusing to back down, though the other man is solidly built and, at nearly six foot,towers menacingly over me. But I refuse to be bullied, even if I’m a five-foot-six twig with a mop of wild hair and bad eyesight.

“What did Hadley say to you?” Crowding into my space, he forces me to take a step back. I hate myself for giving in but he’s not giving me a choice.

“I said, it’s none of your fucking business,” I grate from between clenched teeth. “You’d better back up before I report you to your DCI for attempted intimidation and harassment.”