The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3

by Paula Lester

  Tessa tried firing up the car again. This time, an annoying clicking sound was Linda’s only response. “I know this looks crazy bad. And I swear I’ll explain it, but . . .”

  He cut her off. “Did that guy want to die? Is that what kind of agency you work for? A Kevorkian thing?”

  So, he hadn’t seen the whole thing. Silas had obviously shown up sometime after Artemis died. She shook her head. “That isn’t it. I don’t do assisted suicides.” Tessa tried to keep her tone calm and soft. It must have been a huge shock for Silas to see Tessa standing there next to a newly dead person.

  Still, why was he there? Obviously, he’d followed her.

  Again.

  A siren sounded. Too close.

  Tessa twisted in the seat to pin Silas with her best schoolteacher look. “Silas. We need to get out of here.” She emphasized each word. “I will explain everything when we’re safe. But right now, I need your help.”

  The very last thing she wanted to do was try to come up with an explanation for why the two of them were at Artemis Green’s house when he died.

  For ten excruciating seconds, Silas stared at her. She watched his jaw work, probably mimicking the gears in his mind as he thought over the situation. Then he barked, “Pop the hood,” and jumped out.

  Thank goodness. She did what he asked and then turned to watch the road, ready to burst out of her skin with nerves as the sirens got louder. “Okay, calm down, Tessa. It’s totally fine. No one saw you in the house except the horses. All you have to do is say your car stalled on the road, and you turned in here.”

  Having the alibi ready calmed her some, and her heart slowed. She could hear Silas doing something under the hood and feel the car moving as he leaned against the front fender.

  Without warning, the hood slammed. Silas jumped back in the passenger side. “She’ll start now. Let’s go.”

  “What about your truck?” She twisted the key and puffed out a breath when the engine came to life, even though it was more of a whimper than a roar. It didn’t matter. Linda was running. She put it in reverse and stepped on the gas.

  “It’s down the road a bit.” He gestured the right direction, and Tessa went that way. An ambulance, then three police cars passed them, squealing into Artemis’s driveway.

  Tessa had the ridiculous thought that they would have to hop out and open the other side of the gate for the ambulance to fit through.

  Silas said, “If you don’t explain to me what I just saw, my brain is going to explode.”

  Tessa pulled onto the shoulder behind Silas’s truck. “Let’s get back to my apartment, okay?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “If it’s not assisted suicide then, what?” He barked out a thin laugh tinged with hysteria and brushed floppy hair out of his eyes. “I know. You’re the grim reaper.”

  When she didn’t laugh at his attempt at a joke, his face stilled, eyes widening a fraction. He whispered, “Are you the grim reaper?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m a grim reaper.”

  Chapter 5

  SILAS STARED AT TESSA, his throat working as though a bunch of words were fighting each other to be the first one out of his mouth. None of them won. He remained silent.

  Tessa's phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket, and her brow furrowed as she scrolled down the list of pop-ups on the screen.

  "My phone's been blowing up," she muttered.

  During all the running and screaming and siren wailing, she hadn't heard or felt it buzzing. She had a bunch of missed calls and texts from the office telling her to get there for a meeting immediately. The last one from Gloria, said, "SOS. Get here now."

  "What on earth? Silas, I don't know what's going on, but there's some kind of emergency at the office."

  Silas didn't reach for the door handle. "What did you just say?"

  She held up the phone. “Work is being weird. Well, weirder.” Usually, it was a laid-back office just as long as the reaps got done.

  Silas shook his head. "Not that. Before. I mean, I know what you said. You said you're a grim reaper. But I was just kidding when I suggested that. I mean kind of. I did think something supernatural was afoot.” Another head shake that sent his hair to flapping over troubled eyes. “But how is it possible to be that? If you don’t work for an assisted suicide organization, then what is it? Some kind of government thing? Are you an agent of some sort?"

  "Sort of. I swear I'll explain all of this to you. Tonight. Right now, I have to get to work."

  “Right. Your work. Grim reaping or whatever.” Finally, some color flooded into Silas’s too-pale face. With it, anger floated across his features. He reached for the door handle.

  “It’s complicated,” Tessa said.

  "I’m sure.”

  Tessa’s phone buzzed again. She winced.

  “I don't know what's going on here, but I'm not sure I can be associated with it.” He stabbed a finger toward Tessa’s phone. “You do what you have to do. Maybe I'll be around tonight to hear your explanation—and maybe I won't."

  He jumped out of Linda before Tessa could say anything else, slamming the door behind him. He stalked to his pickup truck, got in, and pulled away.

  Part of Tessa wanted to wheel the car around and follow him back to Mist River Manor. She could explain everything right that moment and smooth things over before he could stew over it all afternoon, getting angrier and more frightened. Because she was sure part of his reaction was fear.

  If she put herself in his shoes, she would be scared. She imagined herself following her boyfriend to a mansion, only to find him standing in a room with a man whose lifeless body lay in a bowl of cereal. She shuddered. Terror would probably be right at the top of the list of emotions she’d be having. Especially if the boyfriend’s explanation for the whole thing was that he was a grim reaper.

  Tessa's phone buzzed again. Whatever this was, it truly must be an emergency. She groaned before pulling the car onto the street and heading away from Silas and toward the façade that was the Cooper’s Life Insurance building.

  Her mind wasn’t really on the driving. It lurched back and forth between the situation with Silas and Artemis Green’s contention that someone had poisoned him. Before she knew it, and without having worked through either of the problems her mind had been chewing on, Tessa arrived at work.

  She sprinted across the broken sidewalk and through the front door and then stopped short—short of crashing into another reaper, Jake. The lobby was full of people. Gloria and Cheryl were there, as were the other two reapers who worked at their agency and the secretary.

  There was a thermos of coffee and an open box of donuts on the counter above the secretary’s desk. But there were no regular donuts left, only some sort of cream filled and a bear claw. Neither of which Tessa fancied. Good thing she’d had cereal. But the thought of cereal took her mind back to Mr. Green.

  Six necks swiveled and twelve eyes focused on Tessa, who felt like their gazes physically pinned her to the closed door behind her. “Um. Hi!” She followed up her overly perky greeting with a toddler-like wave. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Where were you? Your assignment was over ages ago.”

  “I was . . . well, my car wouldn’t start.” It wasn’t anyone’s business that she’d been caught in a reap by her almost-boyfriend and then had to escape the situation, dragging him along, before the cops and ambulance showed up.

  Okay, maybe it was her mom-boss’s business. But she could read about it later in Tessa’s report. That was another thing she’d never have expected going into this job—that grim reaping came with paperwork.

  The way Cheryl’s lips thinned let Tessa know her mother was onto her lie. But she didn’t push it. “If everyone’s ready, let’s move into the conference room. I’ve called this meeting to announce a few changes.”

  Relieved that her mom’s gaze shifted to scoot everyone in the lobby to the adjacent meeting room, Tessa took the opportunity
to stand next to her friend, Gloria, who bumped her elbow and grinned as they passed the threshold to the next room.

  Cheryl continued, even before they were all in their seats, “I received word yesterday that our district manager, April, is leaving her position to take over the western district manager position. She’ll be moving from Chicago to LA within the week.”

  Interesting. That didn’t seem like a promotion to Tessa but more of a lateral move. Maybe April fancied getting out of Chicago.

  “As such, April’s position was vacant, and I have been promoted to fill it.” The centimeter that the corners of her lips twitched upward was Cheryl’s only outward indication of pride at the turn of events.

  Around Tessa, people broke into applause, and she hurried to join in. “Will you be moving to Chicago?” she blurted out.

  Cheryl’s smile widened. “Are you hoping for the answer to be yes or no?” But, immediately following the question, she waved a hand. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I think I’ll be staying here in Mist River, for the most part. More traveling will be required of me than before, but for now, this will be my home office.”

  A chorus of congratulations and muttered well-wishes rang through the conference room. When it died down, Cheryl said, “Of course, this unexpected promotion meant my previous position was empty. But not for long. I’m happy to announce that, this morning, I requested that Gloria fill the job, and she accepted.”

  There was more applause. Stunned, Tessa turned to her friend who beamed. “Thanks, everyone,” she said, raising her hands in the air and giving herself a couple little claps too. Then she dropped her arms. “Now. Party’s over. Everybody get back to work. No slacking!” She delivered the directive in a teasing tone.

  The other reapers stopped by to shake Gloria’s hand at the door before heading out.

  Now, Tessa realized that the conference room had been retrofitted. All of Cheryl’s things were here, even the framed Glamour Shot of her from middle school with an abundance of pink blush and heavy blue eye shadow. Had everyone seen that?

  Soon, Tessa was alone with Gloria in the lobby. “So.” She crossed her arms. “Since you’re my boss now, does that mean we can’t have movie and ice cream marathons at my place anymore? Or makeup tutorials at yours?” Tessa tried to keep her tone light and teasing, but she was actually concerned.

  Everybody knew that when one friend was promoted over another, it usually caused a chasm to open between the two. The dynamics of the relationship changed, and the friendship as it was before died.

  But Gloria shook her head. “Don’t worry about that. We’re buds, and this isn’t going to have an impact on that.” She smiled, her perfectly applied ruby lipstick glistening as it caught the overhead light. “I’m planning to approach this job a little differently than your mom did. I see myself as more of a mentor than a boss.”

  “Oh! That’s great. Because I’m in dire need of some mentoring right now.” Tessa wrinkled her nose. “I need help. Badly.”

  “Business or personal?” Gloria asked.

  Tessa thought for a second. “A little of both,” she decided.

  Gloria tipped her head back. “Ah. Landlord trouble, right? Come on into my office, and we’ll hash it out.”

  She’d already moved all her things into Cheryl’s old office. The only things that remained the same were the desk and the chair. Gloria wasn’t quite as neat as Cheryl. She seemed to have picked up everything off her old desk and put it on this one without any thought of giving it a new place. She had a few plants, one in the window and two in odd positions on the bookshelf.

  Once they were safely inside with the door shut, Tessa’s new boss said, “Hit me with it,” and made a come on motion with her hand.

  “So, Silas followed me to my assignment this morning. I’m not sure what he saw—not all of it. But enough to understand the guy was alive when I arrived and dead when I left.”

  Gloria let out a low whistle and plopped into her office chair. “That guy is persistent.”

  “Yeah. And he’s good at tailing people. He’s done it to me twice now, and I didn’t realize it either time. You know, we should really get better training when we become reapers, shouldn’t we? Like some kind of law enforcement drills or something.” Tessa crossed the room to look at some framed pictures on a bookshelf. Gloria with people who were probably her parents in front of the Cinderella castle at Disney World, Gloria in a cap and gown, and Gloria hugging another woman around the waist, all smiles. She pointed at the last one. “Who’s that?”

  “We don’t have money for more training,” Gloria said without answering the question. “And, besides, people don’t usually follow us around. Your guy is only doing that because he’s specifically interested in you and what you’re doing.”

  Tessa huffed and paced around the perimeter of the office. It felt odd to her—familiar but not. “Okay, so what do I do? I get the feeling he isn’t going to let this drop. He’d just going to keep following me around, trying to figure out what’s going on.”

  “He knows you’re not telling him the whole truth,” Gloria agreed. “He can feel it. And it’s not fair to him to try and develop a romantic relationship with him that’s based on trust when you aren’t really being trustworthy.”

  Tessa glared at her friend. “I’m trustworthy!”

  “You’re lying to him. Every day. That’s untrustworthy if I ever saw it.” She tapped her fingertips on the desk calendar in front of her. “Come clean.”

  “I am. I will. I wasn’t trying to be untrustworthy,” Tessa argued. “I was trying to keep us a secret. Isn’t that what I was supposed to do?”

  Gloria shrugged an elegant shoulder. “Eh.”

  “Eh? Eh? What do you mean eh?”

  “I mean, we aren’t superheroes or something. What’s the worst that could happen if folks know we exist?”

  Tessa’s scowl deepened. “I don’t know. Imprisonment? Lab experiments? I mean, I assume people might decide we’re killers. Like no one would die if we weren’t around to reap them or something.”

  Gloria rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a movie. Nobody cares. Besides, I’m not suggesting we out ourselves to the whole world. I’m saying you should tell your boyfriend. There’s a big difference.”

  “But what if he tells other people?”

  “Ask him not to. Trust is a two-way street.” She leaned forward to rest her elbows on the desk. “Girl, he’s into you. You’re into him. If you’re honest and lay it out for him, then ask him to keep it to himself. He will. Silas cares about you.”

  Tessa pursed her lips, considering. It did sound like the best course of action.

  Gloria winked. “Go talk to your boyfriend. It’ll be okay.”

  And, just like that, Tessa found that she was out of arguments. Gloria was right. “Fine,” she said. “You’re my boss now, so I guess I have to do what you say.” She headed to the door but stopped short and said over her shoulder, “Thanks for the pep talk.”

  Gloria made a shooing motion. “Go on. Get it done so you can focus on your job. I don’t need any reapers who aren’t fully focused on their work around here.” She softened the bossy words with a grin.

  Tessa smiled back and left, her steps feeling lighter than when she’d arrived.

  Her friend and newly appointed boss was right. Silas did seem to care about her. And it wasn’t fair to him to withhold basic information about herself.

  She’d already told him she was a reaper. Now, she could explain what that meant. He’d have to understand why she had to lie before. Then, they could move on, and she could be herself with him.

  That sounded amazing.

  Tessa drove a little faster than she should have to the apartment building, marveling over how smoothly Linda was running now. That Silas sure was magical when it came to mechanics.

  The excitement she felt over coming clean about her job warred with a little bit of nervousness as she pulled into the lot and parked. Tessa remin
ded herself of what Gloria had said—that everything would be fine.

  But before she got out of the car, her attention was captured by people coming out of the lobby of Mist River Manor.

  And she knew it wasn’t true. Things weren’t going to be fine at all.

  Because Silas was in handcuffs, each elbow held by a cop as they propelled him toward a waiting police cruiser.

  Chapter 6

  TESSA STOOD IN THE parking lot wondering what to do. Should she follow the officers and Silas to the police station? After all, this was all her fault. Okay, maybe not all her fault. Silas had made the choice to follow her. But he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. And she could’ve done a better job explaining away her job.

  Or she could’ve told him the truth from the beginning. It seemed like such a simple solution now.

  It only took a moment’s thought to give up on the idea of following him to the station—she knew they'd spend at least an hour booking and probably questioning him. It was possible they’d let him go home after that but, if not, they’d put him in a cell to await a court date. And that wouldn’t likely occur for a day or two. Then Silas would go in front of a judge, who would decide whether he had to stay in jail or could be let out on bond.

  This wasn’t like visiting a patient in a hospital. Even then, she wasn’t his family. She wasn’t even really his girlfriend. Silas was incommunicado with only one phone call. And she doubted he’d waste it on her. There was very little to nothing Tessa was able to do besides get in everybody's way and annoy them.

  So, shoulders slumped, she trudged through the apartment building. She was already dreaming about drowning her sorrows in a half-gallon of ice cream and hoping the streaming service she shared with her friend Abi in a different apartment wasn't overloaded and would work for her. She was dreaming of a comedy—something to keep her mind off Silas’s predicament.