Deader Still: A Bridget Sway Novel (A Paranormal Ghost Cozy Mystery Series)

by Jordaina Sydney Robinson

  “I didn’t say that you did. But people are taking notice of you. People you don’t want noticing you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means we need to work at making you boring.”

  I stared at him. “I’m not dying my hair.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “So how much trouble did you get in?” I asked as I sat next to Sabrina at breakfast.

  Sabrina sipped her coffee. “Ten extra years community service, which is more than I deserve, considering I did nothing wrong. How much trouble did you get in?”

  “What!” I nearly choked on my tea. “You only got ten years?”

  Sabrina lowered her mug from her lips and frowned at me. “What do you mean ‘only’? Why? What did you get?”

  “I got a century! How did I get a hundred years and you get ten? How is that fair?”

  “You got a hundred years?” Sabrina practically dropped her mug to the table. She took a long breath and then picked her coffee back up. “Look on the bright side. The way you find bodies, you’ll be murdered way before you have to serve that.”

  “That is not a ‘bright side’,” I snapped.

  “Oh, I don’t know. A hundred years living with your hunky parole officer seems like a bright side to me.”

  I stared at her. “What?”

  “Did no one tell you? While you’re doing community service you have to live with your parole officer.”

  “No.” I bit the word out. “Oz did not tell me that.”

  Sabrina hid her smile behind her coffee mug. “Maybe it slipped his mind.”

  “I took all my stuff back to my old house this morning. Oz insisted on coming with me to make sure that was all that I did and we discussed it then, so I’m pretty sure it didn’t slip his mind. I’m pretty sure he purposely didn’t tell me.”

  Sabrina placed her coffee mug on the table and turned to me. “Wow. I’m very proud of you.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled and sipped my tea.

  “What did you do while Oz was distracted?”

  “I may have doused all my clothes in itching powder. I felt that was fair payback for The Trollop wearing one of my dresses to my funeral.”

  “I’d say that was fair recompense,” Sabrina said with a laugh. “Where did you get the itching powder?”

  “I had a stash of it in a drawer in my closet. For when Michael used to get on my nerves.”

  “Oh yeah, that sounds like a healthy relationship.”

  “He’s her problem now,” I said with a shrug. “And now I shall do the same to Oz’s things when I get home for him neglecting to tell me about our future living arrangements.”

  “Make sure you don’t put any in his underwear, you wouldn’t want to damage the goods.”

  “Pffft. Did you miss the part where I have a century of community service? I’m pretty sure the itching will have faded by the time I’m allowed to date. And since I’m not allowed to date him anyway …”

  “Still, best not to take chances,” Sabrina said with a grin. “How did you get your clothes back from Madame Zorina?”

  “I had to explain to Oz where the clothes were. He found her address and we burgled her house,” I said and sipped my tea. “And no, I don’t want to discuss how that conversation went.”

  Sabrina whistled. “So all of your dirty laundry is out on the line, so to speak.”

  “Yep.” I sighed and pushed my untouched toast away from me. “All of it.”

  Sabrina patted my hand. “We’ll find a way to work around him.”

  I nodded but I wasn’t convinced. I’d tried to steal my watch back when we’d been at my old house and he’d noticed it. I felt I’d made a pretty good case for needing it but he’d disagreed and made me put it back. He’d said I didn’t need to know the time anymore because each activity started when the others ended. Work, then GA meetings, then home.

  I’d felt a heaviness settle in my gut when he’d said it. I couldn’t live that way. Maybe for a while but not for eternity. I’d lose my mind. Admittedly, that didn’t necessarily mean I wanted dead bodies falling out at me every other day, but I needed something.

  “Is today your final assessment?” Sabrina asked, pulling my attention back to the present.

  I shook my head. “Matthew passed us all. Found out this morning.”

  “He passed you all?” Sabrina asked. “Without completing all of the assessments?”

  I nodded. “He said we’d all done so well it wasn’t even worth sitting the final exams as there was no way any of us could fail.”

  Sabrina arched an eyebrow. “That was nice of him.”

  “Wasn’t it?” I sipped my tea. “I think he was just so eager to see the back of us, or me, that he may have marked us incredibly generously.”

  “Either way, it’s a win,” Sabrina said and clicked my mug with her own in a “cheers” motion.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t Cagney and Lacey.” Pete sat at the table and forked some bacon into his mouth.

  “The word is you foiled another murderer.” Charlie joined us.

  “Is that the word?” Sabrina asked.

  “It is.” Pete nodded. “Which I know can’t be true because we had this conversation.”

  “Did we?” Sabrina shook her head at Pete. “I have such a terrible memory.”

  Pete nodded at Sabrina and grinned at me. He grinned while chewing his bacon. He grinned at me when he swallowed his mouthful. He grinned at me when he sipped his coffee.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “No reason, Bridge.” He shrugged. “But I think you’re going to have a really good day.”

  “Well, that doesn’t bode well,” I said and Pete laughed. I got up and took my tray to the hatch with Sabrina in tow.

  “This way,” Sabrina said and tugged on my upper arm in the direction of the tunnelling room as I turned to head towards reception.

  “I have to get my assignment sheet first.”

  Sabrina checked her watch. “It’s quarter to. You have time. And you’ll want to be there for this.”

  “Be where for what?”

  Sabrina smiled but said nothing else as we walked into the tunnelling room. She took hold of my hand and tunnelled us. We landed in Madame Zorina’s office.

  “I thought you were going to miss it!” Edith exclaimed, giving us each a hug in turn.

  “Miss what?” I asked and Edith moved from in front of me to reveal Rebecca sitting in a visitor’s chair and Madame Zorina perched on her desk opposite her.

  Edith stepped between Sabrina and me and draped her arms around our shoulders.

  “Ah, everyone’s here now,” Madame Zorina said and gave us a small nod.

  “There are ghosts in this room with us now? Is Derek here?”

  Madame Zorina shook her head. “Derek is … wherever souls go when they’re at peace. But my three spirit partners are here.” Madame Zorina gestured to us. And it was a nice feeling to hear her call us her partners. Obviously she’d not checked her closet since my visit this morning or she wouldn’t have been so generous.

  “So, you said on the phone there had been a development?” Rebecca asked.

  “She hasn’t told her?” I asked Edith quietly.

  “She was waiting for all of us to be here,” Edith said with a smile.

  Madame Zorina moved behind her desk, reached down, and then placed a white carrier bag on her desk. Her face lit up with a huge smile. “They found your money.”

  Rebecca gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands. She glanced vaguely in our direction and then stood to look inside the bag. She kept one shaky hand over her mouth. “I thought he’d gambled it away.”

  Madame Zorina shook her head. “He just didn’t trust the banks to keep it safe. He gave up gambling from the moment he promised you. There’s quite a bit more there than there should be, but I assume he was adding to it when he could.”

  “And I thought such terr
ible things of him.” Rebecca’s voice cracked with emotion.

  I pointed to Madame Zorina but faced Edith. “That’s a lie.”

  “That’s a kindness,” Edith corrected, her voice soft with a touch of reproach. “We never confirmed he placed that bet, so let her have that memory of her husband.”

  I shook my head. “But it’s a lie. Now Rebecca is going to feel bad for doubting her husband when, in actual fact, she was right to and he might well have left them destitute.”

  “Bridget’s right,” Sabrina said and pressed her lips together. “It’s not fair to Rebecca.”

  “Well, aren’t you two Dreary Debbies this morning?”

  “Alibies,” I corrected without thinking and Sabrina laughed.

  “They’re just here.” Madame Zorina directed Rebecca’s attention to us.

  “Thank you so much. I can’t explain what this means to me. To know that my Derek was true to his word. It means more than the money ever could. Thank you so much for helping me. Thank you for giving me the truth and letting me know that I was worth more to him than his stupid gambling.”

  I adjusted my fringe and stared at the floor in the awkward silence. Sabrina let out a low whistle and focused on the office door.

  “Tell her she’s more than welcome,” Edith finally said and Madame Zorina relayed the message.

  “So, you ladies may have been right.” Edith coughed and straightened her jacket. “I hope this doesn’t come back to bite us.”

  “Well, it will now you’ve just jinxed us,” I said with a shake of my head. “I have to go. See you both at lunch?” I asked and they both nodded.

  I tunnelled back to the bureau and nipped to the canteen to grab a few pastries and fill a travel cup with coffee. I had one more stop to make before I officially started work. I stopped by reception to pick up my assignment list and Alex Version 2.0 handed it to me with a huge, perfect smile.

  I frowned at him. It made me nervous when people were so overtly happy. “What’s that for?”

  “For not killing me.” His excessively genuine gratitude was almost enough to make me not despise him for being so ridiculously attractive. Almost. He handed me a slip of paper. “And this is for not telling on me.”

  The piece of paper had the number two hundred and two circled and there were six random digits underneath it. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “I don’t know what you think it is but I moved some things around and that’s your new locker.”

  Honest to goodness, I could’ve hugged him. “I really appreciate that— I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

  He held out his perfectly tanned, long-fingered hand for me to shake, either forgetting about my dead body germs or temporarily overlooking it. “Alexander.”

  I nodded. “Of course it is. It’s lovely to meet you, Alexander.”

  He beamed at me as if I’d just given him the best compliment ever. “Oh. And that lady is waiting for you.” He pointed to a leggy blonde in a short, red skirt suit. She was Alexander’s match in every perfect way.

  “Thank you, Alexander,” I said and he gave me a ridiculously happy smile before returning to his work.

  I turned to the woman. Evenly tanned from head to toe, she had long blonde full-bodied hair hanging loose, a tiny waist, a considerable chest, stupidly huge dark blue eyes, and pouty pink lips. Basically, she was Barbie but hotter, if you can imagine that. I wasn’t insecure about myself at all, but looking at her I could see how I could be.

  “Can I help you?” I asked.

  “Oh. I’m—” Her eyes widened when she saw my hair. “You’re Bridget?” I was fairly sure that was disgust in her tone. Her eyes travelled all the way to my feet and back up again. She didn’t quite curl her lip in distaste but that was the definite vibe.

  “Yes. Can I help you?”

  “I’m Anna.” She stood, flipped her hair, and extended her hand to me.

  I looked from her hand to her face. “You say that like I should know what it means.”

  “Oz didn’t explain this morning? Oh.” She widened her eyes. “Didn’t he get back home before you left?”

  Okay. I definitely did not like this woman. I didn’t say anything. I folded my arms and waited for her to explain.

  “I’m an adjustment companion.”

  “Good for you. You still haven’t said what you want.”

  “I’m your adjustment companion.”

  “And that means what?”

  “That for every waking moment, I go where you go.”

  “What?”

  “Oz specifically asked me. Due to the nature of our relationship.” She paused to make sure I got the full implication of what the nature of their relationship was. “He trusts me.”

  She was implying they were a thing. I was pretty sure they weren’t because Pam, Petal, and Lucy would have definitely known about it. Hell, I would’ve know about it! So either she was flat out lying or she was making more of whatever their relationship actually was. Either way, I wasn’t going to rise to it. I was, however, going to be bringing up the whole companion thing when I got home.

  I turned and headed into the locker room to get changed. She followed me in and sat on a bench. I glanced over my shoulder at her. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m waiting for you.”

  “I’m going to get changed. I don’t think that requires supervision.”

  She pointed a slender finger at me. “You’re already dressed for work.”

  I shook my head. “No, this is my home uniform. I’m going to put on my work uniform.”

  Her eyes travelled over my jumpsuit. “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t have any other clothes, so I wear this one around the house.”

  “That’s illegal,” she gasped. “Does Mr Salier know?”

  “You know, I don’t think he does. You should probably run and tell him straightaway.”

  She plucked a small white notebook, patterned with bright red love hearts, from her pocket and scribbled something in it. “I’ll tell him later. I’ll wait while you change.”

  I glanced at her over my shoulder again. “You’re going to watch me?”

  “I could turn away if you like?” She looked me over. “I understand why you might be embarrassed.”

  I placed the pastries and coffee on the bench and retrieved my uniform from my old locker and cleared out my few belongings.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as I carried them on my folded uniform and circled the room looking for my new locker.

  “I’m tap dancing.” I found my new locker and walked two steps past it. No one was going to know this was my locker. No one. Except maybe Sabrina. “Can you turn around, please?”

  “Why?”

  “I’m going to get changed.”

  “Then why did you take everything out of your locker?”

  “I like to keep it all in my pockets to save it from being covered in blood on the off chance someone gets stuffed in there while I’m working.”

  She eyed me unhappily but turned her back to me. I stepped back to my brand new locker, opened the combination lock, and quickly and quietly shoved my stuff inside. I closed the locker and stepped away from it just as she turned around.

  “What are you doing?” She looked at my empty hands and stood, her eyes darting around the room. “Where have your belongings gone?”

  “What belongings?”

  “The ones you just took from your locker.”

  I shook my head and frowned. “They’re in my locker.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” she snapped.

  “I’m not.” I couldn’t help smiling. The truth had never felt so good. “They’re in my locker.”

  She pointed behind her at my old locker. “Your locker is here and you didn’t put them back in because I was staring right at it.”

  “Maybe you should get your eyes checked.” I waved my uniform at her and backed up towards the cubicles in the shower area. “I’m just going to get c
hanged.”

  “You can do it right here in front of me.”

  “I’m sorry. You seem nice and all, but I just don’t swing that way.” I disappeared into a cubicle to get changed. Was I being antagonistic? Yes. But I didn’t like her, and she was an extension of The Man, so I figured that was okay.

  “You’ve got fifteen seconds.” She clip-clopped to my door. “Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve—”

  “Are you really going to give me a countdown?”

  “Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

  I’d been changed roughly by six but I just didn’t feel like stepping out on cue. She banged on the door. “Out.”

  I pulled Oz’s whistle out from beneath my jumpsuit and blew it. Oz appeared within two seconds. He looked at me, then around the cubicle and frowned. Before he could say anything the blonde banged on the door again.

  “I said out. Now!”

  I folded my arms and raised my eyebrows at him. He sighed and rubbed at his jaw.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” he mouthed while pointing through the cubicle door to ensure I knew exactly what “this” meant.

  “Yes,” I mouthed back, nodding slowly. “Yes, we will.”

  “Give her a chance, okay? She’s nice,” he mouthed and disappeared before I could respond.

  She hammered on the door. “Get out here right this second or I’ll drag you out by your hair.”

  Yeah, she sounded lovely. Too bad he hadn’t stuck around to hear that. I swung the door open and she smiled as if she’d won something. “If you touch my hair the very last thing you’ll see will be my foot breaking your face.”

  “Of course it will be, hon.” She smiled smugly. I hated her.

  We walked to the departures room in silence. I told her our first stop and we tunnelled. I assumed she went where I told her. I, however, went elsewhere. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to follow me either. I landed on The Bus of Death and reached out straightaway for something to hold onto so I didn’t die from Charon’s awful driving.

  “Bridget!” Charon shouted happily when he saw me. “I believe I have you for an extra century. Make my day and tell me this is true.”

  “It’s true.”

  “Excellent news.” He drummed his hands on the steering wheel happily as he pulled the bus to a stop in the middle of the road, unconcerned with the busy alive people in cars just bustling on through the bus, and turned to face me. “So to what do I owe this impromptu visit? Do we have more trouble to be a-making? And what do you have in your delightful little hands?”