Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(10)

“I was just wondering the same thing.” Sabine peered out the broken window and looked up and down the alley. “And where in the world is Helena?”

Maryse’s eyes widened. “At this point, God only knows.” Maryse reached over to open the door, but it didn’t budge. “The landlord still hasn’t fixed this?”

“No. And I guess it’s a good thing. That’s why they couldn’t get inside.” Sabine looked over at Maryse, who stared at the door, a worried look on her face. “What’s that look?”

Maryse sighed. “I was just wondering how much of this has to do with you hearing Helena, like she’s some bad-luck curse or something.”

“She can’t control the universe, Maryse. I know her appearance or rising or whatever it was brought you nothing but trouble, but that’s no reason to think she’s responsible for this.”

Maryse didn’t look convinced. “Maybe not, but in all the time you’ve lived here you’ve never had a problem.”

Sabine nodded. “Yeah. I guess I need to call the police, right?”

“It won’t do any good, given the caliber of our law enforcement, but you should still get something on record.” Maryse glanced around the room at the broken glass. “I guess I can’t clean up the glass until after the police taken a look, but I’ll move those boxes of inventory over in case it starts to rain. Once the cops are done, we can figure out something to do about the window until your useless landlord bothers to fix it.”

Maryse had just shifted the first box away from the door when a huge shaking mass of green fabric burst through the wall. Sabine jumped back in surprise, then realized what she was seeing. “Helena, you scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry.” The ruffled horror slumped onto a box against the wall, and the cardboard sagged under her weight. “Can’t breathe.”

Sabine stared at the wheezing pile of green. “You’re dead, Helena. Why do you need to breathe?”

“You know,” Helena said between pants, “I’m well aware of that without you and Maryse constantly reminding me. And don’t ask me why I need to breathe. You’re the one who’s into all this paranormal crap. You tell me.”

Sabine sighed. “Did you see anything?”

“Of course I saw something. You think I went running down the alley in this dress for nothing?” Helena coughed, then wheezed out more air, sounding like a leaky air compressor. “There was someone out back. They broke the window in the door.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Helena said. “Whoever it was wore a turtleneck, a ball cap pulled down real low, and black sunglasses.”

“A turtleneck?” Maryse asked. “In Mudbug in the summer?”

“I’m just telling you what I saw,” Helena said. “He was a little taller than you, Sabine, and moved fast. I couldn’t even come close to catching him.”

Which meant absolutely nothing, as two-year-olds and eighty-year-old invalids were also known to move faster than Helena. “Was that you who screamed?” Sabine asked.

“No. It was him, but I have no idea why. I ran downstairs and when I saw the arm reaching in through the broken window, I hauled ass through the wall to get a better look. Then he screamed and took off running. Must have cut his hand or something.”

Sabine looked over at Maryse, her lips already quivering. One look at her friend, collapsed against a storeroom shelf, and Sabine lost it. Laughter resounded in the storeroom and Sabine clutched her side. “Don’t you see…oh my God…now I can’t breathe…the dress, Helena…you ran through the wall wearing the dress.”

“It’s like one of those B horror movies,” Maryse said. “Revenge of the Bridesmaid’s Dress.”

There was dead silence for a couple of seconds, and then Helena started to laugh. “I didn’t even think about it. I’d completely forgotten about the dress, even though the damned thing was impossible to run in. What a sight that must have been.”

“I would have definitely screamed,” Maryse said.

“Me too,” Sabine agreed. “So how far did you chase the man? Did you see a car or anything that I could tell the police?”

“He ran to the far end of the street and into the park. When I got to the end of the trail, he was already gone. I saw a white pickup truck hauling ass out of the park. That must have been him. But he was too far away for me to see a plate or anything.”

“Well, then I guess I better call the cops and tell them I chased an intruder into the park.”

“Sure,” Maryse said, “and the first thing you can explain is just how you chased an intruder through a door that’s been wedged in place since the Civil War.”

“Crap,” Sabine said.

Maryse nodded. “Been there, done that crap.”

“Hey,” Helena interrupted, “while you two dream up some bullshit story for the cops, why don’t one of you help me out of this damned dress? I think it’s stuck.”

Sabine reached over with one hand, grabbed the dress, and pulled, but the dress didn’t budge.

“I swear when this is off of me,” Helena griped, “I am going back to my MTV eras of fashion.”