Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #1)(30)

Helena rose from the couch and trotted after her. “And why in the world does your kitchen look like the cabinets spit up their contents?” She waved one arm over the counters, cluttered with utensils, pantry items, and cleaners. “Your housekeeping is an atrocity.”

Maryse tossed one of the pills in her mouth and took a huge gulp of water, wishing she had the nerve and the time to take two of them and just go to sleep right where she stood. “We don’t all have the luxury of ten thousand square feet of space to store our stuff, Helena, and I’m not even going to get into the cost of hiring a maid. It so happens that I’m installing some extra shelves in the cabinets and building a pantry in the corner, which is why all my stuff is on the counters. If I’d have realized I was going to have uninvited guests, I would have worked quicker. I’m sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities with my less-than-stellar housekeeping.”

“Hmmpf. Got a mouth on you this morning, don’t you? Who pissed in your corn flakes?”

Maryse stared at her. “You. You pissed in my corn flakes. You almost got me arrested yesterday, Helena, and Lord only knows what Harold’s plotting to do to me now that I inherited the land.”

Helena waved a hand in dismissal. “You weren’t even close to being arrested. And Harold’s too big of a pansy to do anything to you. He’s all talk and no action—believe me, I ought to know.” Helena looked over the contents of the counters again. “Shelves, huh? Well, at least that explains the power tools on the counter. I was really starting to wonder what you ate in here. Still, place like this out in the middle of nowhere, you ought to at least leave a radio or the television or something turned on when you’re gone.”

Maryse considered Helena’s night dilemma and smiled. After all, Helena had bored everyone to tears for years in Mudbug running her yap. It seemed only fair that she be the one bored for a change. “It may surprise you to know, Helena, that I’m an adult and sometimes I don’t sleep at home. Since I have nothing of value to steal, my cat spends his nights prowling the bayou, and the mosquitoes aren’t as picky about their entertainment as you, I really see no reason to leave appliances running while I’m gone.”

Helena glared but didn’t bother to ask where Maryse had spent the night. “Well, since you’ve decided to show up today, we need to have a talk. Things might be a bit worse than I originally thought, and I need you to check up on something for me at the library.”

Maryse shook her head. “I don’t have time for any of your shenanigans today. I’m two days behind at my job, I have a meeting with Wheeler this morning to discuss the ‘rules’ that come with this land inheritance, and I have a whole list of personal things to take care of on top of everything else.” Maryse walked into her bedroom and yanked some clean clothes out of the closet, Helena trailing behind her.

“You know how to use a computer, right?” Helena asked. “One of those women down at the beauty salon said you can find the answers to anything on the Internet. I figured we could find out about all this ghost stuff. You know, I’d really be a lot more help if I could touch things.”

“God forbid,” Maryse said and pulled on a clean T-shirt and jeans. “You’ve been too much help already. What I need is for you to ascend or rise or whatever and let me deal with the fallout by myself.”

“But this is important,” Helena griped. “You can think up new names for stinkweed some other time.”

Maryse grabbed her keys and left the cabin, Helena close behind. “Sorry, Helena,” she said as she walked to the dock and stepped into her boat. “I know my job may seem like nothing to you, but it’s important to me, and I’d like to keep it. Besides, since naming stinkweed is what has paid your son’s debts all these years, you don’t really have any room to complain.”

Helena stepped into the boat before Maryse could shove away from the pier and plopped down on the bench up front. “Fine, I’ll just wait until this evening.”

Maryse shook her head, wondering where in the world she was going to hide this evening. It had just become a top priority.

At the dock, Helena took one look at the rental car and looked back at Maryse. “What’s with the car?”

Maryse opened the car door and started to get in, but Helena rushed in before her, crawling over the center console like a child. Maryse stared at the big pink butt glaring at her from the center of the car and sighed. Not a sight you ever wanted to see in life, much less this early in the morning and with a head injury.

There was a moment of concern, when Maryse thought Helena wasn’t actually going to make it all the way to the other side, but finally the ghost twisted around and plopped into the passenger seat. Maryse slid into the driver’s seat and tore out of the parking lot.

“Did you sell your truck?” Helena asked.

“No. I didn’t sell my truck. I had a wreck yesterday.”

Helena sat upright and turned in her seat to stare at Maryse. “What happened?”

Maryse shrugged. “I don’t know. The brakes just failed for some reason, and I took a dip in the bayou. The truck’s probably totaled.”

Helena’s eyes grew wider and looked Maryse up and down. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just banged up a little and pissed off that I’ll have to buy a new vehicle when the other one was still in great shape.” She studied Helena for a moment. “Why this concern all of a sudden?”