Better Dead by Pamela Kopfler

Author:Pamela Kopfler [Kopfler, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-11-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Holly jumped at the sound of the screen door slamming and turned to find Jake walking into the kitchen. His face looked like a road map to misery. He lumbered to the coffeepot without as much as a sideways glance at her.

“Who peed in your gumbo?” Holly asked.

“Sorry,” he mumbled as he turned to her and did a double take.

She probably looked like she’d stepped out of a Civil War time warp. The big black bell skirt swayed as she looked down at her period costume. It covered every inch of her except her head.

“Southern belle gone gothic?” he asked.

“Tour day.” She curtsied, holding the sides of her skirt with her fingertips and spreading it wider. “Ten o’clock.”

Jake rolled his neck. “That video you sent me is going to draw half the screwballs in the country to see a ghost you needed so bad you fabricated him.”

“Fabricated?” If she were going to fabricate a ghost, it wouldn’t be Burl. She looked over her shoulder. Where was her poltergeist of an ex when she needed him? She jabbed a thumb toward her laptop. “You saw the proof on YouTube.”

“I’ve seen three-headed cats on YouTube.” Jake raked through his hair as though he wanted to yank it out by the roots. “I just watched a promotion gimmick.”

“You don’t believe in ghosts.” She rolled her eyes. “Fine. What’s the big deal?”

Jake stepped closer and towered over her. “I think you and that video just made finding the smuggler one hundred times harder.”

She planted her hands on her hips and met Jake’s stare, not willing to allow his size or his opinion to intimidate her. “I think . . .” She stood a little taller. “Correction. I know that video just saved my home and my business. If I don’t pay my debts, the smuggler can buy Holly Grove from the bank after she’s repossessed.”

“Holly Grove is a house, not a person.”

“I know that.”

He leaned in closer, and his breath brushed her face. “You said she.”

“Yes, I did.” Holly broke her stare with Jake to sweep the kitchen, the heart of Holly Grove, with a glance. “This place is more than brick and wood.” She sighed and looked down at the cypress planks. “These were new and shiny one hundred fifty years ago. Now they’re etched with the patina of the lives of everyone I’ve ever loved. They all loved Holly Grove, too.” She looked back at Jake. “She keeps us together.”

“How do you feel about her moonlighting as a front for drug smuggling?”

“That’s a ridiculous question. I just told you she’s everything to me.”

“What do you want, Holly? A ghost story or a real story, as in front-page news about the end of a drug ring?”

“Is that what this is about? You’re mad because I made getting your story harder?”

“My story? I’m going to sleep like a baby when I get back to New York. Will you be able to sleep at night, knowing your very profitable B & B is a front for a drug-smuggling organization? Yeah, it’s my story, but it’s your problem, sweetheart.

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