Page 34 of Ghostlighted (Ghost Townies #2)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

S omehow, despite being pitted in unfortunate places by gravel, I managed to push myself up until I could wobble onto my feet.

I was upright in time to see the glorious sight of Kamilla frog-marching Liam out of the garage and turning him to the wall.

This time, when she produced her cuffs, I didn’t protest—they couldn’t get slapped onto a nicer guy.

As the cuffs clicked home, Liam’s clenched fists uncurled, and his keys dropped to the ground. Still on slightly dizzy autopilot, I bent down to retrieve them to hand to her partner.

“Please leave those where they are, Maz.” She gave me a tight-lipped smile as she gripped Liam’s arm and turned him toward her cruiser. “Chain of evidence. You understand.”

Since her partner was approaching with a giant roll of yellow crime scene tape, I said, “Right. Got it.”

“The house will be off limits for a while too, until we clear it.”

As she walked past, I murmured to Avi, “Is there much left in the house for them to see?”

“No. Everything’s in the messenger bag and the suitcase.”

That was both good and bad. Good, because Kamilla would have the evidence of Liam’s assholery prepackaged in a couple of nice, neat containers.

Bad, because he could just as easily say that Sofia had given him permission to take everything, and somehow, even if she were confronted with proof of his lies and theft, I doubted she would ever deny him.

Luckily—or unluckily, if you were Liam—unlike civil crimes, in Oregon, criminal charges like grand larceny weren’t something the victim could ask to be dropped.

“Please step away,” the partner said.

“Sorry.”

I backed up so he could unroll more tape, enclosing where Liam’s keys had fallen. Its charm flared and faded, flared and faded, in the still-flashing blue light. I squinted down at it, because now that it wasn’t an inch from my nose, I could see it better.

“That’s not Massachusetts,” I blurted.

Liam shot me a look that would have burned out my eyes if he’d been an actual demon rather than simply having the withered soul of one. “Shut your damn mouth.”

Kamilla stopped and lifted an eyebrow. “Now, why would that matter to you, Liam? Maz? Do you have something else that might be germane to the case?”

“When Liam practically impaled my nose with his keys?—”

“I never touched you!”

“No. You didn’t. But you gave me a closeup view of your keychain. At the time, I thought whoever made it didn’t do a very good job of rendering Massachusetts, but it’s not Massachusetts.” Nor, despite what that geography app’s lousy photo tagging claimed, was it a microwave oven. “That’s Belize.”

Liam just glared at me and turned away, his neck flushing an alarming shade of red.

“Is that significant in some way?” Kamilla asked.

“Ricky told me that Sofia was the victim of identity theft a few years ago, and the thing that raised the red flag was the thousands of dollars charged to her credit card from a resort in Belize.” I gave Liam a glare of my own because, jeez, was he a piece of shit.

“I’d suggest that when you’re preparing the case against him, you investigate that incident.

Saul should be able to help you. He’s the one who resolved the issue. ”

She nodded sharply. “Thanks. We’ll check it out.”

Avi appeared in front of me, so I watched Kamilla escort Liam to the curb filtered by his body. “Tell her about the pill bottle.”

“Kamilla?”

She didn’t answer until she’d settled Liam into the cruiser’s back seat and shut the door. “Yes?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll find pills that match Sofia’s incorrect meds in his bag.”

“Should I ask how you know that?”

I spread my hands, palms up. “This is Ghost.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Hmmm. I suppose the evidence will speak for itself, but we’ll need your testimony.”

“You’ve got it. Ricky’s cleared, though, right?”

She nodded. “In light of the new information, he should be, once the investigation is concluded. In the meantime, he’s being released. If you want, you can pick him up in Richdale in about two hours.”

The relief that swept me made my knees threaten to fold. “I’ll be there.”

She climbed into the car, but leaned out before closing the door. “And Maz? Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Beside me, Avi snorted. Since I was still trying not to butt-plant in front of the deputies, I waited until the cruiser pulled away from the curb and turned onto Iris Lane.

I turned to him. “What was that snort for?”

“Your no problem comment. Clearly, your definition of problem needs work, Mr. Ghostwriter, because this whole day has been nothing but one of them stacked on top of another.”

He had a point. “I was just being polite.”

“In cases of police investigation, you might want to aim for precision over politeness, but at the moment, you’ve got another… shall we say, difficulty to add to the mix.”

My belly jolted. I wasn’t sure I could handle anything else right now, because although Liam had been apprehended before he could do Sofia even more harm, and Ricky was about to be freed, Gil was still missing.

“What other difficulty?”

“You told Kamilla you’d pick Ricky up.”

“Yeah?”

He inclined his head at the yellow tape that fluttered in the slight breeze. “That could be a challenge.”

I grimaced. “Right. My car’s a part of the crime scene. Awkward.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” Avi flicked his fingers over my shoulder. “Given your rather disorienting exit from the car and the subsequent excitement, I’m not certain you’ve taken in the full magnitude of the scene.”

“Hunh?”

“Look behind you, Maz. The only way you’re getting to Richdale is if you hitch a ride on a tow truck.”

I turned slowly and sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. I knew that sudden traumatic events could interfere with short-term memory, but how in blazes had I missed this? Denial, maybe?

Because the front of my poor Civic was completely crumpled, Liam’s Porsche embedded in its bumper and grill.

I wasn’t a mechanical expert, but even I could recognize a total when I saw one.

Although I’d managed to remain upright while the police were here, I sank to the ground and dropped my head into my hands.

“Well, crap,” I muttered. “I guess I’m getting a new car after all.”