Downright Dead by Pamela Kopfler

Author:Pamela Kopfler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Tru dug at his face with his hands. His expression twisted from confused to bewildered to panicked. “It’s not possible.” His mouth hung open as he shook his head. “Ghosts don’t exist.”

Holly nodded toward the widow’s walk and then to the body, careful not to speak to him in front of anyone. The whole town would have her certified if she talked to another ghost. It was one thing to think there was a ghost hanging out at Holly Grove, but chatting to thin air didn’t sit well with the good people of Delta Ridge.

He stared at his former body for a moment, then his mouth gaped open in a silent scream. He stood in a red-hot glowing whirlpool that sucked him straight down. As he clawed at the earth, his image melted. In an instant, the earth filled in the charred hole as though it had never been there.

Holly stumbled backward, panting. She held her hand over her runaway heart. Holy, moly. That never happened with Burl. What the—

A hand touched her shoulder.

Holly jumped and nearly took off running.

“Sorry,” Angel said. “Has the chief deputy sheriff questioned you yet?”

“No but I had a,” she drew quotation marks in the air, “visitor.”

Angel’s dark eyes widened. “Anyone we know?”

Holly dragged Angel over by the azalea bushes at the corner of the house, away from the action. “Tru. He’s back.”

“Did he tell you if someone pushed him off the widow’s walk like the chief deputy sheriff seems to think?”

Holly shook her head. “He was only here for a few minutes, but he doesn’t believe he’s a ghost. He still thinks that’s impossible.” Holly leaned in closer to Angel. “Do ghosts ever kinda spin and melt into a hole of fire in the ground?”

Angel sucked in a breath. “He may not be coming back.”

“Burl used to fade out all the time. He always came back.” Holly lifted a shoulder. “Until he didn’t.”

“Burl didn’t go to . . .” Angel glanced down. “Hell.”

* * *

Jake stepped out onto the widow’s walk, and the night sky felt unnaturally close. Tru had jumped, fallen, or been pushed off the roof. If there was evidence to prove what had happened up here, Jake intended to find it or find out about it. At the very least, he wanted to know exactly why Buster was so convinced Tru was murdered or if he was looking for headlines to win an election.

Buster and his deputies pored over Tru’s last stand like a high school band in Chinese fire drill mode at a halftime show. The beams from standard-issue flashlights darted across the worn floorboards as the local flatfoots combed the area. Jake’s size-twelve shoes gave him a steady footing as he peeked over the side of the widow’s walk. Man, that’s a long drop.

He’d puked three times when he left that billboard-size love note to Holly on the St. Agnes Parish water tower before he left town after graduation. It was their secret. Still was. He lifted a heavy foot.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.