“I wouldn’t know how to check out the sex,” Avery said.
“When a male decides to show himself, you know,” Liam said, chuckling. He let go of Kelsey. “I have to go in—I need to do a lot of interviews and try to trace Gary White’s movements. I have officers working on it, but…I need to be out there. Your assignments until I return are to find the shotgun, read the book and search for a little golden reliquary worth a million bucks. Got it?”
Kelsey nodded, smiling at him. “And lock the doors, be careful if we go outside—”
“The crime-scene people were just wrapping up when I walked down to the little beach and dock area,” Avery said.
“I’ll check with them before I leave,” Liam said. “Careful with going out the back entry, too. Keep an eye on any open door.”
“I’ll be watching out for Kelsey,” Avery told him, his tone fierce. He heard the sound of his own voice and tried to lighten the tone. “Hey, what do I animate if she doesn’t draw? And she’s so damned good for my ego. Our superhero is based on my extraordinary good looks.”
“Has his ego, too,” Kelsey said lightly.
Liam smiled at her, kissed her lips and said softly, “Stay safe, watch yourself, watch the doors, stay with Avery.”
“You trust Avery?” she teased.
Liam looked across the kitchen at Avery. “I do.” He grimaced. “I ran a background check. Avery has no ties to Key West. He was at Hollywood High years ago, has two unpaid parking tickets and is otherwise an upstanding citizen.”
“You did a background on me?” Avery said incredulously. He laughed. “Good man!”
Kelsey was surprised to see that Liam gave pause. “I need someone to trust completely,” he said.
He headed toward the living room. “Come on—lock me out.”
Kelsey followed him. He was a few steps ahead of her. Morning’s light was pouring in, and the house did look like a fascinating museum-home, with dusted antiques and curiosities here and there. It felt like the home she had always known and loved, unique but warm.
And then…
She thought she saw someone standing by the front door. Waiting. But…
He was just an outline in the air, and he wasn’t real, he was certainly part of her imagination.
He was leaning against the wall there, thumbs hooked into the low pockets of the period coat he was wearing. He had on a hat. A tricornered pirate hat.
He was dark and strikingly handsome, and not really there….
She blinked. The apparition faded. But then she heard Liam whisper, “Yes, stay, thank you.”
“What?” she asked.
He turned back, looking at her. “Hmm?”
“You just spoke. You said, ‘Yes, stay, thank you.’”
“Must be muttering to myself. Sorry.” He walked back to her, taking her shoulders. “Be careful, do you hear me? Please be careful. If my theory is right…”
“Someone has a great deal at stake. I promise I’ll be careful.”
“Kelsey, I almost forgot. Where’s the box with that magic trick? You wanted it dusted for prints. I’ll take it into the station, let them look into it there. I can’t promise you much—there may be a number of prints on it. Or just yours.”
She hurried to the crate and produced the box with the motor and the jumping black shadow cloths. He kissed her lips lightly and headed to the door again. She followed him and locked him out. When she had done so, she leaned against the door for a minute. Oddly, she felt as if she weren’t alone. She moved her hands through the air as if she could feel an unknown entity, but she couldn’t.
She didn’t feel the fear that she sometimes did, the fear that made her lock the door to her room at night.
But she still didn’t feel as if she was alone. She had seen something. Or she had almost seen it. She couldn’t quite touch it.
She had things to do. She gave herself a mental shake.
But then she paused again.
When her mother had died, she had wanted so badly to believe in ghosts. She had wanted to be able to see her, feel her, just tell her one last time how much she had loved her, what a good mother she had been, what a brilliant and kind woman. At least, with her father, she had been there at the end. He had known her heart, known how much he was loved.
Of course, her mother had known, as well. But her life had been cut so short.
“Mom?” she whispered aloud. “Cutter?”
The empty room gave her no answer. She walked back into the kitchen to find Avery. She had a lot to do, and, eventually, she was going to have to get back to work.
Outside, Liam cursed himself. Bartholomew wasn’t next to him, since he was going to stay at the house to watch over Kelsey, so he couldn’t curse the ghost for making him look like a fool again. No choice but to curse himself.
He saw Yolanda Egert, a pretty young civilian in the crime-scene unit, packing up her box.