Grim and Bear It by Heather Novak

Author:Heather Novak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781956387568
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2022-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jake

Everyone had heard the violin music coming from the floor below. Poppy and I could make excuses about being able to see each other, label it as a fluke or luck or something to do with our before-death attachment. There was no way to brush this off.

“What’s going on?” Magnolia asked. “Who was playing that recording? Was that our Poppy?”

Our Poppy. Once you were loved by Magnolia Robinson, you were part of the family. “It wasn’t a recording,” I explained, then hesitated. “Poppy’s here.”

My stepmom gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

“Where?” Dad asked.

Mina grabbed my hand and squeezed, warning me to keep quiet. “She’s over by the television stand,” she said.

Poppy, who was on the opposite side of the room, moved to the television stand, but kept her eyes glued to mine.

“How do you know that?” Jim asked.

Mina squeezed even harder and for a moment I worried she’d break a metacarpal bone. “Because I can see her. I recognized her from the pictures Jake and Eliza have shown me.”

“What are you doing?” I mouthed.

“Covering your ass,” she silently returned.

Dad and Magnolia leaned into the apartment, then exchanged a look. “Why don’t I see her?” Magnolia asked.

Jim was staring at his daughter. “How long?”

“Since Mom’s wedding,” Mina said.

Jim looked like he just took a punch in the gut. “And now we all hear her.”

How could everyone hear her but not see her? What did it mean?

Mina waved her arms, pushing everyone back with an invisible force. “My place. Last thing we need is Alan to come home and wonder why we’re crowding his apartment.”

My family and Jim walked ahead of us while Mina stayed behind, matching my pacing as we climbed the ornate spiral staircase. “You made things more complicated,” I admonished. “But thank you.”

“Dad won’t want to put this in a report, ergo your name and ‘grim reaper’ won’t be linked.”

I paused and looked over at her, “Jim always writes reports.”

“Not when his daughter may be in danger, like if she could see a reaper.”

I shook my head. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to. I’m buying you time to figure this out and not lose your mentorship. You couldn’t save me from myself, but I can protect you. Even if it’s just this.”

I stopped and pulled her into a quick hug. She squirmed away. “We’ve hugged twice today, this is too many emotions for me.”

“There’s the Mina I know and love.”

We started walking again. “Quit,” she begged. “Walk away from the death threats. Come work with Carma and me.”

“If I quit, I can’t be Daisy’s mentor, and we are back in this same mess,” I reminded her.

“What if this case kills you, Jake? You’re already getting death threats, and judging by how slow we’re climbing the stairs, I can tell your leg is killing you.”

I threw her a pointed glance. “If I can’t be trusted to do my duty even when it’s hard, then what was the point in taking the SHAP oath twelve years ago?”

She flinched.

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