Restless Spirits Boxset: A Collection of Riveting Haunted House Mysteries by Skylar Finn

Author:Skylar Finn [Finn, Skylar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

9

Oliver disappeared for the rest of the evening before we had a chance to ask him about the photo of Stella and Odette, so we returned the leather-bound book to the suite upstairs. With a couple more people at King and Queens—Jazmin and Nick—the resort was less disturbingly vacant. As a matter of fact, as Jazmin and I arrived at the Eagle’s View for a nightcap and to watch the storm rage, I almost felt normal. With Stella’s photo locked in a drawer, an AWOL Riley, and no neck prickling, it was about time for a relaxing evening. When we arrived, Daniel was already—or still—seated at the bar.

“Pick a table,” I told Jazmin. “I’ll be right back.”

As she wandered toward our seats from earlier, I straddled the stool at the bar next to Daniel’s. He lifted his glass by way of greeting.

“Sorry for being rude earlier,” he said. “I’m sure your friend is very nice.”

“I didn’t come over here to scold you.” I sniffed the clear liquid in his glass. It was water. He cocked an eyebrow. “Just checking. You haven’t been here all afternoon, have you?”

“No, I also took a nap.”

“You seemed upset.”

Daniel speared an olive with a plastic cocktail sword from the bartender’s stash and popped it in his mouth. “Are you my therapist now, Madame Lucia?”

“And that’s my cue to leave.”

“Wait!” He spun around to catch my wrist then let go just as quickly. “I’m sorry, okay? That was rude, and I shouldn’t have said it.”

I crossed my arms. “No, you shouldn’t have. I came over here to see if there was anything I could do to help you, and you snapped at me.”

He kneaded his forehead like it was a piece of dough he could work the kinks out of. “I’ve argued with my wife—ex-wife—daily for fifteen years. She constantly puts me on edge, and that affects the way I speak to other people. It’s a hard habit to break when you don’t realize you’re doing it.”

“What did she do that was so horrible?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “She’s not a bad person, and neither am I. We got married too young and tried to make it work for too long. Getting a divorce was the best thing that ever happened to us, but now there’s all this other stuff that comes with it. Lawyers, and money issues, and custody battles. That’s what I’ve been dealing with today. My daughter is around Riley’s age, and I love her to bits, but it’s sure as hell looking like I’m not going to get to see her whenever I want to.”

“Her mom won’t let you?”

“Her mom is smart,” Daniel admitted. “And I’m an alcoholic. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been sober and in recovery. The label never goes away, and it shouldn’t. You think I sit at this bar every night because I’m confident in my abilities to resist ordering? No, I sit here because all I want is to reach over and grab the biggest bottle of booze from the top shelf and guzzle it like a lost traveler in the desert.

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