Page 25 of Ghost Town Boogie

“Are there a lot of them?”

“Too damn many,” he muttered.

Nicole threw her blouse at him again, but with less urgency this time. Again it dissolved and ended up back on her body.

“Maybe if you’d told me I would’ve understood.”

“Seriously?”

She had the grace to look contrite. “Probably not.”

“You can move on now, you know,” Colt said. “You’ve told me what you know about your murder, and I swear to you I will do what I can to make sure that whoever stabbed you pays for what he did.”

“I was stabbed, huh? That sucks.”

“Sorry,” Colt muttered.

“Where?” She glanced down, studying the front of her unstained silky blouse.

“I’m not sure.” He hated to be the one to tell Nicole that she’d died violently, but she had a right to know.

The new ghost checked out her torso, then tried to twist around and look at her back, but couldn’t manage.

“You can go,” he said again. “Isn’t there a white light or something? A doorway?”

“No, but even if there was I wouldn’t go. I need to see it,” Nicole whispered. “I want to be here when you nail the bastard.”

“You’ll still see, but from another place.” There was so much he didn’t know. “A better place.” That was the hope, for Nicole. For Lizzie. For everyone.

“What if I don’t? Besides, I don’t know how to go anywhere else. I’m just here like I’ve always been. There’s no white light, no doorway, and my grandpa isn’t standing around trying to guide me anywhere. Everything I ever read about the afterlife is bullshit!”

Mac was headed this way. Colt turned his head toward Nicole. “Please be quiet while I talk to the chief. It won’t help matters if he thinks I’m crazy.”

She screwed up her mouth then stuck out her tongue like an annoyed eight year old, but she did go quiet.

“Why are people drawn to shit like this?” Mac asked. He added, “Go home, ghouls,” under his breath.

“Everyone liked Nicole,” Colt said. “It’s a shock.”

“Is that why you’re here? Because you’re shocked?”

“Can’t sleep, and people keep texting me about what happened, you included, so here I am.”

Mac snorted and studied the crowd. “You know, the killer is probably here, watching.”

“If it was the old guy, he’s not,” Nicole said loudly.

Colt ignored her, as best he could. She seemed convinced, but there was no guarantee the man who’d wanted the duck picture had stabbed her. She hadn’t seen him do it, didn’t remember. Someone could’ve come in after him. Still… why would anyone kill Nicole? He searched the crowd and saw a lot of familiar faces, mainly other business owners and a handful of emergency personnel, including Tuck who wasn’t wearing his usual easy smile. Colt recognized a couple of the other volunteer firefighters. He’d gone to school with several of them. No old guy, other than the fella who’d recently opened an ice cream shop the next block over.

“You might be right,” Colt said. “TV shows always say the murderer returns to the scene of the crime. Any idea who it is?”

“If I had a clue, I couldn’t tell you.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“I told you too much already, but you knew a lot of the business owners, including Nicole. I thought maybe y’all were close, but I couldn’t be sure. Anyway, the Sheriff is in charge. He’s already pissed that I talked to your girl Anna before he did…”

“You talked to Anna? Why?”