When Ghosts Cry by Alma MJ

Author:Alma, MJ
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Vera

I miss you.

The leather seat creaked as Vera leaned back, scanning the diner breakfast menu. The empty chair across the table made a weird pinch in her chest.

I miss you.

Every few moments a patron would take their turn staring at her. They reminded her of ghosts. Thin and pale, like they never stepped out under the sun. Their eyes were wary over their shoulders, filled with distrust. She recognized a few of them from her last visit to the only restaurant in town. Al, who she hadn't seen since checking into the motel, barely gave her the time of day when he rushed to pay his bill as she walked in. Crooning voices played through the ceiling speaker, crackling intermittently. The diner was awake but the air was strained. Everyone in it was waiting to exhale when the newcomer was gone.

“More coffee, honey?” A waitress in a white turtleneck and a long skirt asked, pen hovering over a worn-in notepad. At least fifty, she was beautiful, her greying black hair pulled back in a bun leaving her dark skin to shine. Her lipstick matched the scarlet seats.

“Please.”

I miss you.

She had just wanted a kiss. To taste her, to punish her hard nipple for pressing against her wet naked back as they stared at the note. Maybe she wanted more, she didn’t know but she couldn’t find regret for the sensation of Teddi’s hands in her hair or her tongue on her skin. Shaking her head, she tried to quiet all the reasons it was a reckless idea.

It had only been twenty minutes since she left town and there was a strange loss of weight at her side. Which was insane, she realized as she sipped her coffee, because she was used to working alone. Didn’t mind it, even. Undercover for days at a time, that’s how it was. Other times she was part of larger teams, building local cases, and chasing leads. But in the last year, it had been her under the heavy thumb of The Unveiling, of that vile, wretched cult, all alone. The weight of Teddi's absence was unexpectedly tangible. Teddi was absent from her life for ten years. And yet, like a faint murmur beneath a wave of voices, she recognized how good it felt to know she’d be back soon. She’d be back.

The front door swung open, the bell at the top chiming.

“Sheriff.” Murmured acknowledgments echoed across the diner. The man himself nodded his chin as he passed them by, peering over the room of citizens as if they were his congregation, bestowing his benevolence with just his gaze.

He was dressed in uniform. Probably not the one he was wearing when he ordered his deputies to illegally dispose of a dead body hours before but the same tan, black trim and leather boots nonetheless. The space between the pearl snaps was straining slightly, the gaping material like blinking eyes down his barrel chest. Tipping his hat as he walked, he planted himself right in front of her.

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