Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(128)

Linda nodded. “I was … planting the flowers, early in the morning before it got too hot, and he … dropped by. I’d broken up with him and he didn’t want to accept it. He yelled at me, then he … took my shovel and hit me with it.” She glanced at the flower bed. “The shovel is in there, too. And I think I scratched him, so there should be proof under my fingernails.”

“I’m sorry,” Fredericka said, her chest aching and suddenly wishing she’d neutered that bastard instead of just bruised his boys.

“Me, too. There was so much I wanted to do. But I think … I think it’s gonna be nice where I’m going. Isn’t it?”

“I think so,” Fredericka said. She wished she knew more, wished she could offer Linda something more, but she didn’t know for sure, and the last thing she was going to do was lie to a dead person. “I’m kind of new at this, but Holiday—a friend who does this a lot—said you would be happier there.”

Linda stood up. “Will you take care of Brandon? He’s a good guy. Oh, he pretty much takes care of himself. He had to because of his mother. But since he’s met you, he’s been happier. A lot happier. He needs that. He deserves it.”

“He makes me happy, too,” Fredericka said, and right then she heard the footsteps behind her, followed by his voice.

“Who makes you … Who are you talking to?” Brandon asked.

Linda moved a little closer. “You can tell him. He knows I’m here. He talks to me. But I don’t think he hears me. That’s why I started playing the chimes.”

“I didn’t hear your motorcycle.” Fredericka turned around.

“I drove Linda’s car,” he said, looking at Fredericka a little strangely.

“How’s your side?” he asked.

“Fi—” She gasped a little.

His gaze went to her forehead. He was attempting to read her pattern.

“Your…” He touched his forehead. “It’s different.”

She just stood there.

“My grandma told me how to … I never tried. I thought, everyone in the family thought she was crazy.” He continued to stare at her. “Then she wrote it down for me. In the diary.”

He pushed a hand through his hair. His blue eyes looked puzzled and wide. “Don’t stand there and let me think I’m crazy.”

“No, I … You’re not crazy. You are … part were.”

“Part?”

She nodded. “You’re like seventy-five percent human and then were and a little fae.”

“She said that, too.” He nodded. “And you…” He squinted again. “You’re full were?”

She nodded.

He blew out a big sigh then took a long gulp of air. “Shit.” Then he looked at her again. “That really was you last night, wasn’t it?”

She nodded.

He stood there as if thinking. “Can I change into…?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know a lot about what mixed bloods can and can’t do. But I know someone who does.”

He seemed to contemplate what she’d said. “The school? That’s what…?”

She nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugged. “I was … told it was best if you came to the conclusion.”

“Okay.” He stood there for a second, as if a little overwhelmed, and finally said, “Damn!”

Then he smiled.

She smiled back.

Then he kissed her.

She kissed him back.

And then when that ended—after several glorious seconds, he asked, “Who were you talking to?”

“Just tell him,” his sister repeated and Fredericka winced because she’d forgotten she was there. And that kiss hadn’t been one a sister should have seen. Not even a dead sister.

Fredericka hesitated. How much could he handle in one day? Should she lie? But she needed to tell someone so they could … find the body. Didn’t she? She glanced down at the flower bed, trying to think.

“Hey,” Brandon said.

She looked up. Oh, hell, she sucked at lying. “Your sister. I was talking to your sister.”

*

“Do you want to press charges?” the sheriff asked, looking at Fredericka’s bruised arm. Two officers walked past, rolling yellow tape. They had just started digging, looking for Linda’s body.

“Nah, I … think I got even.” She’d told them about busting the man’s balls. So far nobody seemed to blame her. “I mean, unless you need me to.” Standing on the porch, she glanced at Burnett in the front yard talking to Brandon.

Right after she’d told Brandon about seeing Linda, she’d called Burnett for advice on what to do next. He’d shown up ten minutes later with instructions on what to say to the police. Then he’d hung around to make sure it all went smoothly.

Basically, she’d told the truth. Leaving out the ghost part, and perhaps exaggerating the boyfriend’s interest in the flower garden on the side of the house. And it worked like a charm, just as Burnett said it would.

“Why don’t we wait and see what we find here,” the sheriff said. She could tell he was still doubtful, not that she blamed him. He hadn’t seen the ghost with her eye hanging out.