Suddenly Psychic (Glimmer Lake #1)(56)

Robin stared at the ghost in the moonlight, the outline of his form getting murkier as the night grew deeper. He stared at the house, his eyes longing to see something just out of reach. “I just wanted her to know I tried.”

“Tried what?”

He frowned. “I’m not sure. But I tried. I know that. I would have walked through fire for her. I would have done anything to make her smile.” Billy turned to Robin. “You do look like her, you know. Not everything, but something in your eyes…”

He faded into the darkness. Robin was tempted to grab her sketchbook and try to make him come back, but she was tired and she was cold.

And Billy Grimmer wasn’t getting any more dead.





Chapter 20





Val threw her pencil on the library table. “I don’t know what we’re doing.”

Robin looked up. “What do you mean? We’re trying to figure out who killed Billy Grimmer.”

“Why?”

Monica and Robin exchanged a look, and Robin wasn’t encouraged by what she saw in Monica’s expression. Both her friends were having doubts.

Val said, “Whoever did it is probably dead. We’ve uncovered the secrets in your family. Your grandmother doesn’t want to talk about it. We can’t make her. Your uncle knows about it. I don’t think anyone feels the need to tell your mom because why would we? And Billy—”

“Shhhh.” Robin glanced at the librarian. “Do you need to shout?”

Val dropped her voice. “Billy is a ghost. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t seem to want to move on, so why are we doing all this?”

“All this” was box after box of old photographs and news clippings that Val, Robin, and Monica were sorting through. They were also scanning a few of them as they went to help Gail out, but that was kind of a side job.

“I don’t know what we’re doing anymore,” Val said. “It’s been weeks since Sully found the bones, and I have a business to run. I have two boys, one of whom is failing geometry, and I don’t know why because he’s always liked math. And I don’t think any of this is going to cure” —she dropped her voice again— “our conditions. I think we’re stuck with them, because as far as I can tell, none of this is doing anything.” Val pulled on the gloves she wore everywhere. “So I’m going home.”

Monica tried to speak up. “Val—”

“No.” She cut her eyes at them. “I know that both of you have free time. Monica is trying to find her new place in the world and all that. Robin is trying to come to terms with… whatever, I don’t even know. But I have a business to run. I have two children. I have no backup plan. And I have an ex I still have to deal with and his pissy little girlfriend who’s screwing with my life because she’s an infant and has no idea what being a mother is.” She threw her notebooks and pencils in a black backpack. “I do not have time for this.”

Val stomped out of the library and into the darkening afternoon.

Robin looked at Monica. “What the hell?”

Monica took a deep breath. “Josh filed paperwork to increase his visitation.”

Robin frowned. “Why? He doesn’t make half his visits now.”

“Val thinks it’s because his girlfriend is telling him that if he has more custody, he won’t have to pay as much child support.”

“Again, he hardly pays child support as it is.”

Monica threw up her hands. “I know. He’s an ass, but he told the boys they were going to see him more, and now Jackson and Andy are both excited and Val feels like chopped liver for being the steady one all these years and getting no credit when Josh was being a dumb ass.”

Robin closed her eyes. “Why are men the worst?”

“They’re not all the worst. Let’s keep this limited to Josh.”

“Why is Josh the worst?”

“Because he thinks with his dick and not his brain,” Monica said. “Just don’t take any of that stuff personally. She’s stressed. And when you top all that shit off with picking up random visions from personal objects, it’s just been a bad couple of months.”

“What about you?” Robin asked. “I mean… I guess I don’t know why I’m doing all this, but it feels important personally. Why are you doing it?”

“Val’s kind of right.” Monica gave her half a smile. “I feel like the accident woke me up. I’ve been treading water since Gil died. I need to find something new. I don’t have a career. I’m not an artist like you.”

“I’m not an artist.”

“But you are. You always have been. You’ve always had that thing that you’re really good at. I’ve been… what? Gilbert’s wife. Jake, Michael, Philip, and Sylvia’s mom. I was on all the PTA boards and volunteering in classrooms, but what does that leave me with now?”

“Monica, you are so smart and funny and have so much to give—”

“To who?” She threw up her hands. “Seriously, Robin? To who? That’s what I’m dealing with right now. My husband is gone. No one cares if I’m home or not. I mean, I know you think Jake is freeloading off me, but honestly, I think he’s still there because he knows I don’t want to be alone. I know how to make dentist appointments and juggle homework with studying, music lessons, and sports practice. None of that translates into a career once your kids are gone.” She lifted her chin. “And I have two persistent chin hairs now instead of one. What is that about? They’re grey too! I don’t have a single grey hair on my head, but I get one on my chin? It pisses me off.”