Eternal (Shadow Falls: After Dark #2)(11)

Burnett dropped the pencil and locked his fingers together, resting them on top of his desk. “Why don’t we just try to find them?” he said. “Besides, if Holiday is right—then time…”

“But just in case I’m right, and they’re alive. I need to know. How long do I have to find them?”

Chapter Six

Burnett gripped his hands tighter and his expression told Della he found her question as disgusting as she did. “Della, you’ve had a rough few weeks. Don’t take on the worries of the world. It’s Sunday, go enjoy being a teenager. Let’s wait until we get the go-ahead to work the case, then we’ll worry about—”

“Quit being difficult,” Della seethed. “Just tell me!”

He let go of a gulp of air. “It depends. If they’re careful not to deplete each other too much, they could hang on three weeks.”

It was longer than she’d expected, so she tried to find comfort in that.

But the ugly truth remained. If they were still alive, and if Chase hadn’t been in that vision, then the bulk of the responsibility of finding them lay on her shoulders.

Well, not entirely. There was the ghost. Della’s stomach quivered ever so slightly. Who was the ghost? And why had she come to Della for help?

But more important than her identity, or any connection, was how Della could get her to give up some information. By God, if this uninvited spirit wanted Natasha found, she needed to get off her dead ass and give Della something to work with. A feeling of panic swelled inside her as she recalled Kylie telling her over and over again that ghosts couldn’t be rushed or provoked to talk.

Wasn’t that just what Della needed? Another unreasonable and difficult individual to deal with.

She glanced up at Burnett. He leaned forward. “I’m serious, you need to go and…”

“Enjoy being a teenager,” Della finished for him. “I heard you the first time.” How the hell could she enjoy anything with so many damn issues weighing on her mind, filling up her heart, and pressing on her conscience?

As she got up to leave, one of those issues surfaced. She stopped at the door and looked back. “Any news on when we’ll get to bury Chan?”

Burnett’s expression spoke of frustration. “I checked on that this morning. Still waiting to hear back.”

Waiting. It seemed everything in her life was on hold.

*   *   *

After fretting for a few hours in her room, Della decided to give Burnett’s advice a shot. Obviously, sitting in her room waiting for a dead person to drop in wasn’t easy. Both Miranda and Kylie were out—probably with their boyfriends—so Della took off in search of her own “almost boyfriend.” After abandoning him early last night, she wanted to spend a little time with him before he went off to work with the doctor and the doctor’s daughter.

The thought of him working with Jessie, who had a crush on him, still rubbed her raw. But, considering she was probably going to be working with Chase again, she supposed she should shut her trap.

As she left the somber shade of the woods and spotted Steve’s cabin, she saw Perry stepping off the porch. She got a few feet closer. Before he noticed her, she caught his expression: sad and troubled. “What’s wrong?” she blurted out, and he jumped at the sound of her voice.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. Too quickly, and Della heard his heart tango with the lie.

And there was only one reason for him to lie to her. She crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. “You know I like you, right?”

“Yeah,” Perry said, as if unsure what she meant.

“Good, so you won’t take it personal if the ‘nothing’ you’ve got going on hurts Miranda and I have to kick your ass.”

He made a face.

“I’m just saying, I like you, but I like her better. And if you hurt her…”

He made a low growling sound. “Okay, let me change my answer to: It’s none of your damn business. And if you think I’d hurt Miranda on purpose, you’re an idiot.”

Della watched the blond shape-shifter storm off, realizing how weird that was. Anger wasn’t Perry’s go-to emotion. He usually made some wisecrack comment, using humor to either cover up the real issue or to defuse the situation.

Which meant whatever was wrong must be bad enough to take a bite out of his sense of humor.

When she turned around she saw Steve standing at the door, waiting with a half-smile. Steve’s half-smiles always looked sexy. It was the way his eyes tightened, and his lashes lowered over those warm brown eyes. His dark hair looked a little like he’d been sleeping. She always liked it a little messy. He wore jeans that hugged him in all the right places and a navy T-shirt that looked so soft she wanted to touch it. Oh, and he was barefoot. Even that got to her.

Her concerns for Perry and Miranda took a backseat to wanting to lean her head on his chest and feel his arms around her. To let the magic that was all Steve make her own issues feel less than. And if that made her less than, too, so be it. She’d pull up her big-girl panties later.

Besides, she was just following Burnett’s orders. Enjoy being a teen.

When she stepped up on his porch, his half-smile faded. All her soft feelings vanished and she remembered seeing Chase and the craziness that had happened at the falls.