by K. M. Waller
“What other kind of paranormals have you dealt with?”
He rubbed his fingers beneath his chin, stalling. Talking about his past cases made him uncomfortable. Well, too bad. When he’d appeared in Burberry, she’d practically laid her life out like a Lifetime movie, and if they were going to continue with their relationship—or whatever they had going on—he needed to reciprocate.
The form she’d folded and stuck in her purse filled her with unease. Was it a sign that she didn’t turn it in? If they were already at the end of their romantic relationship, could she just be partners with Lex and nothing more?
The waitress returned with their food and Lex applied himself to his meal as if the interruption absolved him from answering the question.
After her first bite of fried pickle, Amira decided to let it go and enjoy the tangy goodness filling her palate. “Oh my gosh. This is so good.”
“I told you they were.” He dipped his pickle slice into the ranch dressing the server had left in the middle of the table.
Amira smiled, and they ate in comfortable silence for several minutes. Then curiosity took hold. If he wouldn’t talk about past assignments, maybe he’d talk about his other relationships. Like why such a successful man in his early thirties was still single. “How many other women have you brought here to enjoy the fried pickles?”
His mouth had been primed to take a bite of his pulled pork sandwich. Several drops of Carolina barbeque sauce dripped to his plate. He placed the sandwich back down and held her gaze with an intense stare. “You’re the first.”
“Have you ever told past girlfriends about the LSP?”
His gaze slid to the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table. “Never.”
She could tell her questions made him uncomfortable. Her dating game needed some serious work. She shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich, hoping the gesture would signal to him that she’d finished prying. It did, and he resumed eating.
A curious witch, Tippie had called her.
“What are your ideas for a cover?” she finally asked and used her napkin to wipe away barbeque sauce from her fingertips.
“The easiest set up would be to arrive as a couple looking for a ghost hunting thrill. I have some business meetings down in South Beach this week, but we will be ready to move on the assignment by the weekend. Speaking of South Beach…”
When he hesitated, Amira’s heart tripled in time. Was he going to ask her to stay at the penthouse with him for the week? Would she say yes? Heck yeah, she’d say yes.
“I’m going to give up the lease on the penthouse I rent down there. I was thinking I’d find something close to Burberry to keep an eye on you and your sisters until Sparsh and Gramps get a handle on what’s going on inside the Council.”
Amira blinked several times. His unexpected declaration kept her heart pounding. The fried pickle she’d been holding between her thumb and forefinger dropped to her plate. “You’re moving to Burberry?”
“It’s a practical solution. I’d be able to keep an eye on you and your sisters.”
Practical. Just what every girl wanted to hear. She glanced at her watch, her expectations sitting heavy on her shoulders. She had zero practice at dating, but she was certain that after only three weeks she should be delighted that her romantic interest would be close by. Instead, a sense of dread filled her. She felt less of a girlfriend and more of an obligation. “I have a long drive back home. Can we take the rest of this to go?”
The ride back to the agency for her car sat heavy with a moody atmosphere. All the sparks between her and Lex were going out, and she didn’t have a single clue as to how she’d get them back.
Chapter Three
Friday afternoon, and three angst-filled days after her dinner with Lex, Amira held up two cotton dresses, each with a similar flower pattern. Georgia in October could go from a sweaty lower back to needing a coat, depending on which way the wind blew. She wiggled the dresses back and forth. “The blue or the green?”
Ally, her younger sister by two years, lounged on the bed in Amira’s bedroom and flipped through a fashion magazine. She looked up and grimaced. “Ick. Neither.”
Amira looked at the full-length mirror and held each dress against the front of her body. “You’re not helping.”
Even though Ally taught third grade at the small, local elementary school, she often dressed like a corporate bigwig in sleek button down shirts and pencil skirts paired with high heels. Not a hair out of place, today her blonde strands were swept up in a perfect chignon. The physical similarities Ally and she shared ended with their hair color and blue eyes, but they were as close as any two sisters could be. Ally had come over at Amira’s request right after bus duty ended to help with the packing.
The magazine pages rustled. “Just pack lingerie. This is your first weekend away with Lex. And it’s at a bed and breakfast. Romantic.”
“Great idea. Should I bust ghosts in the red nightie or the black?” With sarcasm heavy in her voice, she tossed the dresses onto the bed near Ally’s head. Her cat, Sugar Plum, ambled into the room and leapt onto the discarded dresses. “This is my first real assignment in the LSP, and I want everything to go well. I’ll be focused on work.”
Ally yawned and rolled onto her back. “Fine, but at least pack a sexy LBD in case you need something more formal. Show off those Walker legs for a change.”
“I doubt there will be any need to look anything other than professional.” Amira reached into her closet to pull out a couple of pairs of slacks, pushing the remaining dresses, black or otherwise, to the back of the rack. No leg showing for her.
Ally sat up and Sugar Plum took the opportunity to flop down on the opened magazine. The cat arched into a yoga pose and cleaned her back leg. Ally scratched the top of Sugar’s head and narrowed her gaze at Amira. “What did Lex say when you saw him?”
Amira toyed with a hanger. She tried to keep disappointment from spilling into her voice. “He asked me to dinner.”
“Yes!”
“And then he talked about safety protocol when inside a restaurant.”
“No!”
“It’s fine. I need to focus on our first assignment anyway.” She hadn’t told Ally about her conversation with Tippie in the restroom or the Consensual Romance form still in her purse.
“Bo-ring.”
She threw a plastic hanger at Ally. “You’re hurting my feelings.”
“Fine. I’ll lay off about Lex.” Ally let out a little sigh. “I can’t believe you have to come face-to-face with Samuel Chase again. What a jerk.”
Although she’d never admit it now, Ally’d had the biggest crush on Samuel. She and Amira had both been huge fans of his show, Ghost Getters, Incorporated, until he’d shown up in Burberry and tried to blackmail them into exposing their witchcraft in a reality television show.
Amira could see the shift in Ally’s expression, as if they’d both been thinking about how bad things could’ve gotten if Lex and the LSP hadn’t intervened in their lives.
Ally wiggled her eyebrows, the gesture lightening the mood. “It’s nice of the aunts to help out Ris with the tea shop while you’re gone. I just hope they don’t run off the Biddies Bridge group with their nonsense.”
When Ally said “nonsense,” she meant horrible romantic advice and love potions.
Amira shrugged, wanting to focus on the positive. “I like the idea of our family getting along again. Ris seems to enjoy working with them on her magic.”
They’d found out at the same time Lex had appeared that their youngest sister, barely nineteen years of age, wanted to learn magic from their great-aunts. Ris had snuck around and hidden it, afraid to tell Amira the truth.
Amira had never intended to get in the way of her little sister’s happiness.
She glanced at Ally. “You know… Now that the aunts aren’t hosing us down with love magic, you should start dating more seriously. Wasn’t there a new assistant librarian that caught your
eye the other day?”
Her sister’s cheeks glowed a rosy shade of pink. “Let’s talk about something else. Show me some of the stuff they’re teaching you.”
Amira rubbed her thumb across the tips of her fingers. “I really shouldn’t play around until I’ve practiced more.”
“Come on. I have to live vicariously through you and Ris since I’m the only sister dead set on not becoming a practicing witch.”
Amira twisted her lips into a smile. While their family’s primary magic used potions and candles, a few things could be spelled with their inner cosmic energy. And as long as there weren’t any candles burning nearby she probably wouldn’t set anything else on fire. “Okay, give me the magazine.”
Ally tugged it out from under an unhappy cat which chased the edges with her paws until her forelegs stretched out.
With the tips of her fingers, Amira tapped the top twice and swirled her fingers around on the cover. The colors lifted into a sparkly mixture, like mini fireworks, leaving the magazine unchanged below.
Ally laughed and waved a hand through the colors. “You’re going to be the queen of party tricks at game night.”
“Ha ha. Other than emotional manipulation, most of the other magic does seem like nothing more than parlor tricks.” She dug her toes into the carpet, unsure if party tricks were enough to handle undercover assignments. “What if being an agent at the LSP isn’t right for me?”
Her sister cocked her head to the side, affection glowing from her eyes. “After how you handled the incident here in Burberry? You’re awesome in my book. Ris’s too, even though she tries to hide it.”
“Maybe. Although I’m quite happy to investigate as just plain old me. I don’t want magic to be some crutch.”
Ally shivered. “Aren’t you scared to do battle with a real ghost? I’d be terrified.”
“I watched Ghostbusters I and Ghostbusters II last night in preparation. If the specter asks if I’m a god, I say yes.”
Ally’s throaty laughter filled the room. “How does an LSP agent go about hunting ghosts?”
Amira sat on the bed and picked up Sugar Plum. She spoke into the cat’s furry face. “Throw out everything you think you know about boogeymen, Sugar. According to the LSP manual, ghosts don’t attach to places like graveyards or houses; they attach to a personal item once owned by the ghost. And it could be almost anything, which makes the object hard to identify right away. Everywhere the object goes, the ghost has no choice but to follow.”
“But why not cross over to the light? Why attach to something in the first place?”
She set Sugar back down on the magazine. “That’s the tricky part. They can choose to stay because of unfinished business or they can be called upon from our side and attached to something that someone else controls. Then they can be used like puppets.”
“Someone brings them back and traps them here after they’ve already crossed over? Sad and mean. I bet Samuel plans to use the ghost to revamp his show. How will you find the object?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Caught up in her romantic woes, she’d forgotten to focus on Lex’s plan for sending the wayward ghost into the great beyond. “I guess the amulet will lead us in the right direction.”
A knock sounded from the front door and a “Yo!” followed. Jordie called up to them from the bottom of the stairs. “You ready to roll out, boss?”
“What’s Jordie doing here?” Ally asked.
Amira grabbed two more flower print dresses and a pair of dark jeans from her closet and shoved them into her already overloaded suitcase. Ally sat on the case while Amira pulled the zipper around.
At the bottom of the stairs, her rescued dogs, Jekyllpup and Hydepup, sniffed and pawed at Jordie’s legs, their excitement at seeing him again making them pudgy jitterbugs.
Amira glanced around. “I wasn’t expecting you. Where’s Lex?”
Jordie shrugged. “He said he’d meet us there.”
She pushed the curtain aside and glanced out the front window. A silver van sat in the driveway. No Lex. “I thought you had your own assignments now. What do you mean he’ll meet us there?”
“Sparsh called me yesterday and said Lex requested me for this assignment.” He cradled Jekyllpup in his arms and allowed the dog to lick his chin. “For backup.”
Heat rose from her chest and crept a path up her neck. Another example of Lex behaving more like a babysitter and less like a partner. How could she show him that most of her life working at the Tea Haven had been safe? She’d agreed to become an LSP agent to add some excitement to her life. And to create a change from within the LSP. Less witch hunt of the paranormal community and more understanding. She couldn’t do that if she had to work in metaphorical plastic bubble wrap.
A hasty idea formed, and Amira tugged on her bottom lip. “Jordie, we’re not going to need you on this case.”
Ally, who’d been silent during the exchange, leaned her hip against the stair rail. “Uh oh. I know that look.”
“No, look.” She didn’t want to put Jordie in the middle of their drama, so she altered his responsibilities. “Lex is way too dependent on you.”
He bopped his head back and forth. “I am pretty awesome.”
“He needs to learn to put that faith in me as his partner. How would you like to housesit for me? Free room and board while we’re gone. And you can go back to working on your own assignments.”
Jordie stilled his head and set her dog on the floor. “Lex isn’t going to be happy with that. Who’ll take care of the details?”
“If Lex truly needs you, he’ll call or text for support. But there are two of us now, and I can handle the surveillance equipment if we need to use it. How hard can it be?” She held out her hand and waited for Jordie to place the work van’s keys in her palm.
“I could hang out here with the animals,” he said, the worry on his face transforming into a boyish grin. He gave her the keys. “Ris’s going to be around, right?”
She turned to Ally. “Do you mind showing Jordie around the house? Where to find the cat food, dog food, and the pellet seed mixture for Clara? And tell Ris and the aunts to feed him all the cake and scones he wants.”
A wrinkle formed between Ally’s eyes as her brows drew together. “Are you sure this is a good idea? It might add to the tension between you and Lex.”
The immaturity behind her decision to leave Jordie behind could bite her in the butt later. Right now, she needed a little win and something to get his attention. Romance aside, he needed to take her seriously as an agent.
She raced up the stairs, grabbed an over-the-shoulder bag from her closet, and tossed in some of her silkier nightgowns. He could take her seriously—and she could show him what he’d been missing. She wasn’t ready to give up on their relationship just yet.
Back on the first floor, Amira blew a kiss to Ally and then repeated the gesture for her two pups, overweight cat at the top of the stairs, and temperamental parrot. With as much optimism as she could muster, she grabbed the handle on her suitcase and rolled it to the door. She could hear Jordie rambling around in the kitchen.
She winked at Ally. “I’ll have this case solved and be home before you know it.”
∞∞∞
Lex texted Jordie using a series of question marks. Where the heck were they? He’d been in the motel parking lot that sat off of I-16 east of Atlanta for fifteen minutes. Jordie and Amira should have preceded his arrival. They’d arranged to stay the first night an hour away from the B&B to go over their cover details again.
He paced in front of his rental car. Jordie had the packets with identification and reservations. Lex and Amira would pose as a couple bringing along their nephew for a ghost hunting thrill. His last minute decision to request Jordie surfaced after he’d searched online for any news or rumors about a ghost on Chase’s property. But he’d found nothing. His instincts told him that even though Sparsh didn’t believe any hidden agendas were attached to this assignment, something sti
ll wasn’t right.
Lex tapped his phone again, the impatience tightening his back muscles into knots. He had day job work to attend to too before they headed to Samuel Chase’s house of spooks. Maintaining the balance between staying on top in the real estate business and focusing on the needs of LSP, plus keeping an eye on Amira, proved more arduous than he’d first imagined.
Still, his priority over everything was keeping Amira safe.
He spotted Jordie’s silver work van as it careened into the parking lot. The tires caught part of the curb, nearly removing another car’s side mirror. He squinted and made out Amira behind the steering wheel.
She pulled up alongside him and rolled down the window. “This thing drives like a spaceship.” Her voice rang out, full of laughter.
He leaned in through the window, briefly wondering if she’d pitched Jordie into the back. “Where’s Jordie?”
Her smile stiffened and slipped into a frown. “He’s chilling at my house.”
“What?” He glanced at his phone. His protégé never shirked his duties. “Why?”
Amira exited the driver’s side and stood less than a handshake’s length away from him. She was dressed in dark jeans and a gray knit top. Her short blonde hair stuck out in a few different directions. A few weeks ago, he’d have tucked a few silky strands behind her ear. His fingers itched as he restrained the urge to touch her. There’d be time for that later.
She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head. “This is my first assignment, and I’m going to need your full attention. Not relaying info back and forth with a go-between.”
He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Jordie isn’t a go-between. He handles the smaller details so I can focus on the bigger picture. We work as a team.”
Amira glanced over his shoulder, avoiding his gaze on purpose, it seemed. “You and I need to work as a team. If I’m to handle assignments on my own in the future, I need to know how to work the small details by myself. You can work an investigation without an assistant, can’t you?”