Page 25 of Ghostly Bother (Ghostly #9)

"I've learned murders can happen in places we'd never expect them. Once I had a pick up at a church. Two women got into a physical fight, and one hit their head on the pew. Died almost instantly." Lance glanced at the clipboard where Mac left notes from the nightshift. "Carrie here yet?"

"Not yet. And Kyle took the day off. Hopefully it's slow. Brayden's in back. Said he had some reports to catch up on." Gretta turned and waved at him as she answered the phone.

Lance headed to his office. He could hear Betty and Eden still arguing.

He wasn't sure where in the building they were, but he was glad he was the only one who could hear ghosts, since they weren't quiet.

As he sank down in his desk chair, he closed his eyes.

He couldn't wait until Eden crossed over and he would never have to hear her voice again.

He was just about to start working on a report when his cellphone rang. His chest tightened seeing Angus's name. "Hello?"

"Hey, I'm sorry," Angus said softly.

"Are you?" Lance asked. "Or was this just a convenient excuse to put some space between us?"

"What? No. You can't think that. I was hoping without me there, Eden would leave you alone. You can't think I wanted to leave you." Angus sounded hurt.

"I didn't know what to think. You didn't even ask me what I wanted. You just left. I know I was stressed and upset, but you could have talked it over with me." Lance didn't want to fight, but he wanted Angus to know how much it hurt to have him leave. "You just assumed what would be best for us."

"I know. I just reacted and took the first option I thought of. I figured if she knew we weren't talking, she'd leave you alone. Can you forgive me?" Angus asked.

"I'm not ending things because of one argument. Hell, it's not even an argument. Just a miscommunication. Unless you want to end things?" His gut churned nervously.

"No, of course not." Angus was quick to answer.

"But I do think you should stay away a few more nights.

I hate it, but it might actually work. With Betty around now, and you and I acting like we aren't talking, Eden might back off a bit.

We'll see how it goes. It's Friday, so let's see how things go over the weekend.

You'll be busy with the case, so it's not as if you'd be home much.

" Lance hated the idea of all weekend without Angus, but if it kept Eden away, it would be worth the sacrifice.

"Okay. If that's what you want. Is Betty helping?" Angus asked.

"Too soon to know. Right now, they are somewhere in the building yelling at each other. Still annoying, but better than having Eden sitting on my desk while I try and write out reports. Ray and Bethany should be with you today. They were going to see what they could find out to help your case."

"We have a meeting in five minutes to discuss everything, then we've got several interviews today with some of the people we think she was taking bribes from.

They finally shared the audit findings with us, so we have a better idea of who Eden was working with and where the money trail leads.

We still can't find where she hid the money.

Some went to her personal account, but not all of it. We're missing millions."

"Offshore accounts?" Lance asked.

"If so, we aren't finding a trail." Angus sighed. "I have to get to this meeting. I love you, and again, I'm sorry I left. I realized it was a mistake as soon as I was out the door, but by then, I figured it was worth a try if it got Eden off your back."

"It's okay. I love you too. We'll talk over everything once we get a chance.

Go work. The sooner we catch her killer, the sooner she hopefully moves on.

" Lance ended the call. Talking to Angus helped, but he still worried this was more than just Eden causing problems. Some underlining issue that he wasn't aware of.

God, he hated feeling paranoid, but every insecurity he had seemed to be triggered.

He'd never felt unsure with Angus, but now, all because of one stupid ghost, he was questioning everything.

He hated Eden more for that than anything else.

"Lance?" Brayden knocked on his door. "I'm about to start the first autopsy. As badly as I wish I could leave you with your paperwork, rules say you're there to supervise."

Lance smiled. "It's okay. I'm not in the mood for reports right now anyway. What's up first?" Lance pushed off and followed Brayden.

"The stabbing. Carrie said it would be more of a learning case than the overdose since we see so many of those." Brayden started to pull on his gown and protective gear.

Lance did the same. "There is something to learn from every case, but Carrie is right. We'll see how good you are at guessing the knife used." Lance turned as Eden walked into the room. He fought back a groan at the sight of her. He walked over to wash his hands before pulling on a pair of gloves.

"Now don't you go in there and start bothering them while they're working." Betty floated in to stand in front of Eden.

"Leave me alone." Eden floated through Betty's spectral form.

"Do not walk through me." Betty looked as if she was reaching out and pushing Eden.

To Lance's surprise Eden fell forward.

"How…" Lance bit back his comment, remembering Brayden was there. He was stunned. He'd never seen a ghost actually move something or someone.

"How what?" Brayden asked.

"Oh, sorry. How are things going with Christine?"

"Good. We're going to a movie tonight. She'll be gone for a few days next week. Some conference on pediatric mental health in Cleveland." Brayden pulled on his gloves.

Eden turned to Betty, and they glared at each other. "How did you do that?" Eden asked.

"I have skills you'll never have." Betty smiled. "Start behaving or I'll push you into that light myself."

Lance's eyes widened at the threat. Could she really do that? He didn't have time to ask. Brayden headed into the autopsy room and Lance needed to follow. He quickly finished getting ready and pushed through the door, leaving Eden and Betty still staring at each other.

"Morning." Carrie smiled from where she was setting up the instrument tray.

"Morning." Lance grinned back, forcing himself not to turn and try to see the ghosts through the small window. "T.G.I.F.," Lance told her. "Sam will be back on Monday."

"He's been missed by all of us, but I bet by you most." Carrie laughed. "We tend to forget how much he does behind the scenes."

"I didn't go to school to do this much paperwork.

Remind me of that if his position ever comes open and I want to step into it.

I'm happy being his assistant." Lance gave the body of the man in front of him a quick look.

Carrie had already taken pictures and done the precursor examination before prepping it for the actual autopsy.

A large knife would cut through the man's stomach along with several deep puncture wounds.

The victim's hands had defensive wounds, showing where he'd tried to grab the knife before being stabbed. "Painful way to die."

"Yeah, it's not how I'd want to go." Brayden stepped up.

"Strangulation wasn't fantastic. Not being able to get a breath." Eden placed her hands on her neck. "I remember that."

Lance didn't respond.

"I was burned alive," Betty told them.

Lance's eyes widened. He'd never heard how Betty had died. He had so many questions. Leave it to Betty to bring it up when he couldn't ask her anything about it.

"Oh, yuck. That had to suck." Eden flinched.

"I thought the plane crash would kill me, but it didn't. I was already dying from my injuries when the fire finished the job." Betty shrugged.

"Plane crash?" Eden's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, engine issues. Not something I want to talk about.

" Betty waved her hand. "I was just saying burning to death is a horrible way to go.

Can't breathe due to the smoke, body blistering in the heat.

Smoke killed me before it got too bad, but I felt enough.

I think my injuries from the crash would have killed me, even if the fire didn't."

Lance had to bite his tongue and force himself to focus on Brayden's work because all he wanted to do was get Betty alone and ask more questions. Did Angus know about this? He had to, right? After so many years around Betty, he had to have heard the story.

As he watched Brayden work, Betty and Eden continued to talk.

It wasn't the onslaught of questions and demands he usually got from Eden lately, but it was just as distracting.

He wasn't sure if having Betty there was better or worse.

Nothing had changed. He still had ghosts distracting him from work, but at least now, they weren't talking directly to him.

If he could just tune them out, maybe he could make it through the day.