“Hello.” I scanned the hall behind her, but she was alone. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Grier Woolworth?” The question came out flat. She already knew the answer.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Caitlin Russo with the Savannah Police Department.” She stepped into the room. “I hear you disappeared for a few weeks then came back to work sporting a shiner.” Her gaze slid over me. “Ms. Meacham says it’s not the first time this has happened. You vanishing without a trace.”
Involving human law enforcement in Society business was a huge no-no. Cricket, despite her good intentions, could have done me less harm if she’d pulled the pin on a grenade then lobbed it at me.
Three
“I’m not an abuse case if that’s what has you worried.” The smile I turned on her pulled the scab on my lip taut, and she caught my wince. “I live alone. I don’t have a boyfriend—”
“Ms. Meacham seems to believe otherwise.” Detective Russo consulted a small notepad on her palm. “She says you’re dating the brother of one of her other employees, one Amelie Pritchard. The brother’s name is…” she skimmed her information, “…Boaz.”
“Boaz is my friend, not my boyfriend.” I kept tidying the room to hide the tremble in my hands. “He and Amelie are my neighbors. We all grew up together.”
“Is there any tension between you two?” She held a pen poised above the paper. “Has he made any unwanted advances?”
I snorted out a laugh. “Um, no.”
Her expression remained severe. “Why is that funny?”
“He’s always been like an older brother to me.” Minus the whole platonic-love thing siblings had going on. The love I’d had for him had not been so innocent. “He wouldn’t hurt a hair on my head, and he would take exception with anyone who tried.”
Except for, you know, the woman he recruited to use me as a grappling dummy.
Maybe I ought to leave out that part.
“All right.” She removed a card from her back pocket. “If you say you’re okay, I have no recourse at this time but to accept your word.”
Meaning she didn’t believe me for a hot minute.
“I’m fine.” I palmed her card and tucked it away while she watched. “Really.”
“If you say so.” She turned to leave, pausing to glance over her shoulder. “Keep that. You might need it one day.”
Giving up on convincing her otherwise, I patted my pocket. “I’ll do that.”
No sooner had I gotten her out of my hair and slumped on the couch than Neely barreled through the door. He gasped at the sight of me and clutched his chest with both manicured hands. I brushed my fingertips over my lips. “It’s not that bad.”
“You vanish for a month and come back looking like this?” He crossed the room and sank down beside me. “Amelie mentioned a family emergency, but I saw those men lurking outside the building the night I covered your shift. They were looking for someone. Dare I say someone Grier-shaped? That’s why Boaz got involved, wasn’t it?” He gathered my hands in his. “You were dating Danill Volkov, and you edited out that tidbit of information with the detective.” He hushed me when I protested the part where he’d been eavesdropping on official police business. “What happened?”
Turns out Danill was just as crazy as you thought. He kidnapped me and held me prisoner for a month on a country estate. The men you noticed were his vampire lackeys, and Boaz was holding them off to give me a chance to run home to my haunted house to safety.
“I did have a family emergency.” Keet had been kidnapped, so that lie had some meat on its bones. “My face is a separate matter altogether.” I debated how much to tell him then stuck as close to the truth as possible. “You called it. Volkov was way too possessive. He didn’t take me leaving town well, so we broke up, and I enrolled in self-defense classes in case he ever comes around again.”
“Oh, Grier.” Neely squeezed my hands. “I’m so sorry.” He noticed me in street clothes well past tour departure time and frowned. “Why aren’t you dressed?”
“I lost my job. Again.” And Cricket was well within her rights to fire an employee who tended to vanish like fog on the river without so much as a note. “I came in to beg for it back, but she axed that idea. She’s letting me fill in for Dom tonight, but I don’t know about tomorrow.”
“All is not lost.” His eyes sparkled in a wicked flash of inspiration. “Have you heard about the Cora Ann?”
“Amelie was just telling me I might get my spot back when Cricket starts hiring girls to fill her roster.”
“That’s a possibility, but the launch is weeks away. We need work for you now.” He whipped out his phone and fired off a text. “The owner is a client of mine. I’m going to put in a good word for you with him, see if you can get hired on there. You’ll still be paid by Cricket, and the familiarity with the boat might help you land one of those hostess spots.”
Grateful tears made my vision swim, but I blinked them back on the sobering reminder he was sticking his neck out for me because he thought I would starve without a paycheck. But if I explained I had an insta-fortune, he would ask questions. He already knew too much as it was thanks to his run-in with Volkov and his goons. I wouldn’t endanger him further.
“Thanks, Neely.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” He tucked away his phone. “Did Amelie explain the sudden interest in boats?”
“Nope.” I had been out of the loop for too many weeks to know the latest buzz.
“There have been ghost sightings during the dinner cruises. Word is the apparition started out benign. People seeing a little boy dressed in a dark-blue sailor suit with ankle socks and canvas shoes. Some reports mention a white cap, others mention his blond curls. For a while, bookings increased. That’s where Cricket got the idea to buy in.” His expression shifted. “But the last cruise ended with three people getting treated for injuries sustained while onboard. They claimed a ghost was hurling cutlery at them during their meal. A few claim a boy’s voice was yelling, ‘I’m hungry. I’m hungry. I’m hungry.’”
Foreboding slithered up my spine. “This was in the news?”
“Yep.” He slanted me a pitying look. “I forgot you’re one of those weirdos who doesn’t watch TV.”
I wanted to laugh at his disdain for my preference in viewing streaming movies and television shows online, but I couldn’t shake the chills. First a B&B owner was down a spook and handing out interviews, and now there was a riverboat with an active haunting on the local news. What did it mean? Spurts of paranormal activity weren’t uncommon in cities like Savannah. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was humans were aware of it, capitalizing on it, this time.
“The news coverage means Cricket is champing at the bit to get the Cora Ann rebranded before the commotion dies down,” he said. “She’s trying to book one of those ghost hunter shows for the maiden voyage.”
The longer he chattered about Cricket’s plans, the more I wondered what stance the Society would take. Ghosts weren’t a priority for them. There was no money in exorcisms, except when a third party hired them to cleanse a space. But, at the same time, there was a difference between an orb of light caught on film and a specter capable of damaging property and harming people. From the sound of things, the B&B ghost leaned more toward a low-level entity while the Cora Ann harbored a burgeoning poltergeist.
“Does this mean you’re going to work a split shift?” I noticed the quiet, wondered when he had stopped talking, and made a valiant effort to fill the lull. “Or will Cricket be hiring another stylist?”
“There will be two haunted cruises nightly until the buzz dies down. One coincides with our first tour at dusk and the other with the late-late tour. Since passengers will board early, the River Haints, and yes, that’s what I overheard Cricket calling them, will need to be primped in advance. I’ve got time to style them then rush back to the office before the first walking tour leaves. I’ll handle touch-ups here until it’s time for the late-late tour, and then I’ll head back to the boat to refresh the girls there.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Cricket is paying for the gas, so I can’t complain.” He lifted a wrinkled copy of Vanity Fair and pressed it to his chest. “I’m going to miss the downtime, though. That’s when I get caught up on my reading.”
“Um, Neely.” I cocked my head at him. “When do you sleep?”
“I work from home during the week, and I’m very good at what I do.” The upscale accounting firm responsible for half the pens in the office, whether they knew it or not, was a testament to that fact. “There are no clauses in my contract prohibiting me from holding a second job. As long as I’m available for conference calls and questions, my boss doesn’t care what I do with the rest of my time.” He traced the dark circles under my eyes. “Besides, I could ask you the same thing. Do you ever sleep?”
“Oh, I sleep.” Sometimes for whole minutes strung together. “The problem is how I wake.”
“Nightmares?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded as if he understood. “Talking helps.”
“I have someone,” I assured him before he made the offer I sensed coming. “She’s helping me work through my issues.”
“Let me know if you need another ear.” He cupped his and leaned closer. “I’m always hear.”
“Ha ha.” I shoved him rocking back on his heels. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I have to get back to work.” He rolled up the magazine and tapped me on the shoulder with it. “I’m glad you’re back. I’m relieved you’re safe. Just do me a favor and call me next time? Amelie kept me in the loop, but I worry about you. I would have rested easier hearing updates direct from the source.”