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“Thank you,” she said, visibly relieved. “Thank you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time Agatha left their offices, they were intrigued enough to be anxious about the case. Their first visit would be to the psychic, Serena.
“Serena Goodling,” said Code, handing them the sheet of paper. “She was born in Syracuse, New York, graduated from Westhill High School, and went to college in Buffalo for two semesters studying music. She quit college, moved in with her boyfriend, and lived in New York City for a while. Fifteen years ago, she left the boyfriend and moved to New Orleans. She rented a storefront but had some issues with break-ins and vagrants coming in off the streets. It got to be too expensive, so she applied for a permit to sell her services on the street and has been doing that ever since.
“Serena lives in a small one-bedroom apartment off Pine. She doesn’t have a car, just a bike with one of those kid baskets at the back that carries her table and things to the Square every day.”
“Anything that stands out about her skills? Maybe something she foretold that changed her?” asked Ghost.
“So far, I don’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Square cameras show her working today despite the broken leg. I guess she can’t afford to miss a day of work.”
“We’ll head out to see her,” said Gabriel, nodding at Angel.
“Take Noah with you,” said Nine. “I know she doesn’t bill herself as speaking to the dead, but usually the big Viking has a good sense of whether or not someone is full of shit.”
The two men nodded, heading out the door to grab their friend. Noah, along with Julia and Irene, were the most connected to the ghosts and spirits on the property. If there was something strange happening with Serena, he might be able to tell them.
“Ghost? You and me are gonna head out to the NOPD headquarters and see what we can find on Mike and Al,” said Ian.
“Probably won’t do you any good,” said Code. “They were both cops in Atlanta. Which begs the question, why retire in New Orleans?”
“Do you have their performance records?” asked Gaspar.
“Working on it. No surprise, they’re sealed.” Code stared at the men, who got that feeling that something was definitely wrong. That feeling that was always right, always made them highly suspicious, and was usually spot on.
“Sealed. Why would a cop’s retirement be sealed?” said Ian.
“We’re about to find out,” said Gaspar. He turned to Nine and smiled at his old friend. “Looks like we’re headed to Atlanta. Drive or fly?”
“Are you fucking with me? We’re flying. I’m too damn old to sit in a car for eight hours. You guys see what you can find out about Maison Soleil. We might want to involve Addie and Magnus. They handled that nursing home case a few years back involving the insurance scam.”
The others nodded, grabbing their notepads to head out and do a little more research. In spite of everyone having electronic tablets, they preferred pen to paper almost always. The wives were still sitting in the room, staring at the men.
“We’re coming with you,” said Alexandra, looking at Gaspar. Erin stood beside her, grinning at her own husband. “We might be helpful, and you never know, I might be able to hack into the Atlanta PD records.”
“We won’t win this, will we?” smirked Nine.
“Nope,” said the women in unison.
“Alright. Grab a bag, and we’ll make it an overnight stay.” Alexandra and Erin high-fived one another, laughing as they left to grab a bag.
“An overnight?” frowned Gaspar. “This would have only taken a few hours.”
“Let me ask you something, brother. When was the last time you and your wife were alone in a hotel room in a great city? When was the last time you did a romantic dinner, just the two of you, or in this case, the four of us?”
“Months. Hell, years.”
“Exactly. If nothing else, this gives us the chance to spend some time with the girls. We’ll have Code book us a nice hotel…”
“Done!” he called from down the hall. They both laughed.
“We’ll see what we find and then just enjoy the evening and come home tomorrow. Easy trip.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” frowned Gaspar. “I have a feeling this whole case isn’t going to be easy. Something in my gut says there’s a lot of moving parts here.” Code stuck his head in the door and smiled at them.
“Hey. Hannah and I are headed to board the cruise.”
