The archeology students were standing in the hall.
“Is it true that you can communicate with the dead?” Brenda demanded.
“The professor.” Ginger smacked her forehead with her hand. Of course. She should have tried to communicate with him as soon as it was established that he was missing. She’d been so distracted by Loch that it hadn’t even occurred to her.
“Have you heard from him? From the other side?” Tallulah’s voice came out in a high pitched wail.
“No, it doesn’t work like that. I have to be at the scene of their death, or in their home, or somewhere that they spent a lot of time. Sometimes it works if I just touch something of theirs, a physical object that they’ve touched. Somewhere their psychic energy would be lingering, so it opens up a pathway for me to communicate with them. And over the years, I’ve built up my mental defenses to the point where I actually screen out the other side most of the time; I need to be concentrating, and focused, to communicate with the dead.”
“Well, let’s go then!” Brenda said impatiently, arms folded, tapping one foot in a nervous staccato.
“Let me call the sheriff first and get his okay.”
“No, now!” Brenda tried to push her way into Ginger’s room.
“I said I need to call the sheriff,” Ginger said firmly, shutting the door in their face and locking it. Brenda immediately began knocking on the door loudly, yelling “Hey! Hey!” over and over.
“Shut up! Let her call him!” Tallulah yelled.
Sighing, Ginger dialed Loch’s number. He answered immediately. “Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?”
The warm, rich sound of his voice made her tingle pleasurably.
“Good morning to you too. I slept very well. Listen, there’s something I should have thought of. If I go into the professor’s room, I can try to communicate with him. Maybe I can get an idea of how he died.”
“My God, I should have thought of that.”
“We were both a little distracted.”
“Wait for me. I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”
She shivered in anticipation, and prayed she wouldn’t act like a complete dork when he pulled up. She was in the middle of a possible murder investigation, and she still felt hot and tingly all over at the sound of his voice. She must be a complete pervert.
Quickly, she dressed and left the room. The students followed her down the stairs, with Brenda haranguing her the whole way.
“You have to go up there right now! It can’t wait! We have a right to know!” Brenda wailed as Ginger sat in the dining room and sipped coffee that Marigold had bought for her. Brenda and Tallulah were standing behind her, breathing down her neck. Winifred and the other students were at the table, picking at their breakfast, distracted, along with the other boarding house lodgers.
“Actually, no, you don’t,” Ginger said irritably. “You’re not a family member.”
“We were very close,” Brenda sniffed, blinking back angry tears.
“Sure you were. Your vagina was, anyway,” Tallulah muttered.
“Jealous bitch!” Suddenly the two of them were jostling, bumping into Ginger, making her slosh coffee on the floor.
“Cut it out!” Ginger snapped.
“All right, settle down, ladies.” Loch was standing in the doorway with Jax. Ginger’s heart did a funny little happy dance in her chest, despite the grimness of the situation, and she flashed him a smile.
As Ginger, Loch, and Jax started to head up the stairs, the girls tried to follow. They grumbled when Loch shook his head, and clustered together at the bottom of the stairs, muttering.
Loch walked in the room with her while Jax stood outside.
In the professor’s room, Ginger sat down on his bed and closed her eyes, consciously relaxing, slowing her breathing.
When she opened her eyes, she was startled to realize that she felt…nothing.
She glanced up at Loch, startled. “He’s not dead,” she said.
Chapter Eleven
“Are you sure?”
“I would sense it if he was. He might not communicate with me, but I’d at least sense his presence on the other side. He is not there. He’s still alive.”
Loch looked at her in consternation. “Then the panthers must be holding him prisoner somewhere on their property. That’s the only explanation for his disappearance. I’ve got to talk to Montgomery today.”
Ginger nodded. “If he says you can’t come on their property, then what?”
“I’ve always found Montgomery to be a reasonable man, as long as he’s approached respectfully. I’m pretty sure that if I talk to him later today, he’ll let me on the property. If they deliberately harm the professor, or if the professor disappears on their land forever, it’s bad publicity for all of them. People won’t want to visit their stores or their casino. It will be devastating economically.”