Dances With Ghosts by Erin McCarthy

Author:Erin McCarthy [McCarthy, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-18T18:30:00+00:00

By the time the parade was over, I had a headache. I had tried, really, I had. But there were so many people yelling and pushing and spilling drinks. While it wasn’t arctic temperatures, it wasn’t exactly warm when you were standing around for four hours and I felt like the cold had set deep into my bones. My dad was, in a nutshell, loaded.

But he did know people, and when he suggested we dip into a bar that was closed to the general public for a VIP party because he knew so-and-so and what’s-his-face, I was all for it. Jake looked skeptical that we could even get in, but my dad was a fun guy (as he had repeatedly told me all day) and people did like him. He never met a stranger. In his business dealings he had gotten chummy with lots of councilmen and of course, had met judges and the mayor through my mom over the years.

Not only were we easily let in, he knew someone every two feet. He introduced me as his Irish rose, which was kind of entertaining, and Jake as his future son-in-law, which was not entertaining.

“He’s a detective with the CPD,” he told everyone, even though he never once mentioned what I did for a living.

“Oh, yeah, I heard that,” a councilman named Bill said. “Your wife was telling me all about it when we were discussing the Petrillo case. It’s not great for our city to have a reputation as a serial killer capital.”

“No kidding,” Dad said. “And my own daughter was kidnapped by that joker. He’s lucky I never got my hands on him.”

Bill turned to me. “That’s right, you were kidnapped. How horrible for you.” Bill looked like he thought it was more fascinating than horrible, but to be fair he looked and sounded St. Patty’s Day drunk, so I was willing to let it go. There were just far too many people who were curious about being kidnapped. It was mildly disturbing.

“Definitely horrible.” I glanced around. “Are there snacks here?” I was starving since I wasn’t steadily consuming one beer after another.

“This one’s all about food,” my father said, like I was a toddler who was checking his pockets for crackers.

But, he wasn’t wrong. I am fairly obsessed with food. “I’m hungry.”

“There’s a whole spread back there,” Bill said, waving vaguely toward the main bar. “I’ll catch up with you later, have fun.” He clapped my father on the back.

We maneuvered toward the bar and I had my eye on spinach dip when my father said, “Hey, Don, great to see you!”

I turned and saw he was shaking hands with Don Shantelle, Carmen’s boyfriend, local celebrity and possessor of erectile dysfunction pills. Which, after a little research, didn’t tell me a whole lot. Some people just used them recreationally to, ah, enhance the experience. It didn’t necessarily prove he had pent-up sexual frustration and a burning rage against Carmen for cheating on him with Jason. There was no proof that he even knew about the true nature of her relationship with Jason.

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