Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (15 page)

After our conversation, I watched
Becky amble down the sidewalk. She’d given me a lot to think about,
but it wasn’t anything that hadn’t crossed my mind already. Now, I
needed to act on the info. I turned to the door, unlocked it, and
marched inside.

I’d just settled back into work when
the bell on the door jangled. I almost gave myself whiplash when I
snapped to attention. I’d hoped to see Callahan’s gorgeous face,
but it was an older man who headed straight for the mystery
section.

With that, I couldn’t wait any longer.
My nerves had gotten the better of me. I fished my cell phone from
the bottom of my purse and pushed redial, since Mindy was the last
call I’d placed. It rang, and rang. Still no answer. The call went
straight to her voice mail. I suppose she could be in her car and
maybe couldn't hear the ring. I'd give her the benefit of the
doubt. But based on current circumstances, the uneasy feeling that
consumed me told me that something very bad was going on. I had no
other choice but to try her later. The only thing I could do at
that moment was work before I was penniless. All the problems would
have to wait until after closing time.

After ringing up the man’s purchase,
another customer entered. Of course, I hoped it was Callahan again,
but no such luck. I needed to give up on that fantasy. Thankfully,
the customer needed my help. I welcomed the distraction. It would
keep my mind off the problems at hand, of which I had many.
Although, being in the romance section did nothing to alleviate the
flood of thoughts related to Callahan.

Emotions continued to whirl in my
mind. Covers with men’s bare chests stared back at me, their faces
replaced with Callahan’s. The room seemed smaller, as if the walls
were closing in on me. I’d tried to call him, but he hadn’t
answered either.

“
Do you like this author?”
the woman asked, snapping me back to reality.

That reality was short-lived. A haze
filled my brain. My thoughts consisted of Callahan, but not just
him, now I thought of Mindy, Cooper, and the ghosts, too. Why
me!

“
Excuse me, ma’am?” she
asked.

I forced my thoughts back to the
current situation. “Oh, yes, she’s great.”

The woman frowned, but marched toward
the register anyway.

After ringing the customer up, my cell
rang. Was it Callahan? Maybe Mindy was calling. I knew she'd
apologize for not bringing me doughnuts anymore, not calling to
chitchat, and especially no more margarita nights. She was spending
all her time with Cooper instead of me. Not that I’d begrudge her
that, but it would be nice if she could squeeze me in. Maybe she’d
had a change of heart. Was it not black magic or a demon? I prayed
that it wasn’t. Maybe she was on her way to get doughnuts and bring
them over. Not that I could eat them. My stomach churned from the
anxiety. But something told me my thoughts were only fantasy and
that her not coming around was beyond her control.

I picked up. “Hey, you,” I said,
praying to hear Mindy’s bubbly voice.

“
Um, may I speak with Larue
Donavan?”

Oops. That’s what I got for not
looking at the caller ID. A strange male voice came from the other
end of the line.

“
This is Larue,” I
said.

“
The name’s Darrell
Flemings. I'm calling about Karyn Bentley.” His voice
faltered.

Why would this man possibly be calling
me regarding Karyn. “Karyn? Is she okay?”

“
I thought you'd want to
know. She really liked you,” he said.

Liked? This didn't sound good. My
heart thumped. “Is she all right?” I repeated, more frantic this
time. I’d only recently met Karyn, but she was someone who I’d
liked almost instantly.

My question was met with silence.
Finally, the man answered, “Not exactly.”

My heart sank. Please don't let him
say she was dead. Karyn was kind and so nice. She’d helped me when
I needed it most, and Callahan, too.

“
She's in the hospital,” he
said matter-of-factly.

“
What happened?” My voice
shot up.

“
We're not sure. She's in a
coma. They found her at her home. The doctors don't know what's
wrong.”

“
This is absolutely
terrible.” My voice was almost a whisper now. “You have no idea
what’s wrong? I didn’t even know she’d been sick. She didn’t look
sick. Had she been sick?”

“
I really don’t know. She’s
at the county hospital. Listen, I have to go. I just wanted you to
know.”

“
Thank you for calling. Um,
what was your name again?”

“
My name’s Darrell
Flemings. I’m her brother-in-law.”

“
Thank you, Darrell. I'll
go see her tonight after I close the store.”

“
I'm sure she'd like
that.”

After he hung up, I lowered my head
into my hands, feeling as if I'd been punched in the stomach. Karyn
had seemed healthy yesterday and I’d recently talked to her on the
phone. I guess you never know when illness could strike. I prayed
it wasn't serious, although a coma was pretty darn serious. It
didn’t get much worse.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The rest of the day went by in a blur.
I was thankful for the business to keep my mind off the unsettling
events. The ghosts stayed away as well, which was highly
unusual—almost disconcerting, really. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t
want them around all the time, but when I didn’t have my eye on
them, there was no telling what kind of trouble they’d get into.
Especially Mae. She was a real firecracker. All was quiet, until...
speak of the devil, Anthony popped up beside me as I locked the
door for the day.

He stood beside me on the
sidewalk.

“
What did I tell you about
popping up like that?” I clutched my chest.

“
Sorry. But I missed you.”
He leaned against the brick wall.

“
Right. Well, I have to go
to the hospital to see a friend, so I can’t talk right now.” I
brushed past him.

“
Hey, darling, why you look
so sad?” He followed along behind me as I made my way to my aging
BMW. Or, as my mother called it, my rattletrap.

“
There’s just a lot of
stuff going on right now, Anthony. But thanks for asking.” I
climbed into my car, slamming the door in his ghostly
face.

“
What kind of stuff?” he
asked from the passenger seat.

I jumped. My keys flew from my hand.
“Oh, for the love of ghost hunting, would you stop
that.”

“
Sorry, doll.” He
winked.

Thinking they’d leave me alone had
been a crazy thought. The gang had hopped in my rattletrap, too. It
looked as if I’d be taking them on a hospital visit with
me.

“
Fine. You can come along.
But you must behave. There are sick people there and they don’t
need you guys messing with them.” I gave my best angry psychic
glare.

“
Sick people at the
hospital? I’m shocked,” Anthony quipped.

“
You’re not doing anything
for your whole ‘please love me, Larue’ spiel.”

He frowned, but didn’t come back with
a quip this time. I’d finally gotten him to shut up for a second. A
very brief second.

“
Well, I’m happy that you
invited me. Just wish you’d made those two stay away.” Anthony
pointed over his shoulder.

As if I had a choice of asking him to
come along or not.

The hospital was about twenty-five
minutes away, so I flipped on the oldies station to drown out
Anthony’s chatter. Maybe he wouldn’t talk so much with Elvis tunes
in the background.

Mae and Seth seemed to like the music
as well, so no more arguments. I’d heard enough bickering from all
of them that morning. After a surprisingly quiet ride, I pulled
into the hospital parking lot, scouting out the nearest spot which,
by the way my feet ached when I reached the door, was at least
twenty miles away.

Not only did my feet hurt, but my
stomach ached, too, not knowing what to expect when I saw Karyn.
Pushing through the revolving doors, I made my way across the lobby
to the front desk.

A little old lady sat perched behind
the huge information desk, barely visible until I walked
near.

“
May I help you, young
lady?” she asked with a gravelly voice.

“
Yes, ma’am, I’m looking
for a patient’s room.”

“
What’s the name,
dear?”

“
Karyn Bentley.”

“
Let me see.” She adjusted
her glasses and used her index finger to peck at the computer
keys.

At the rate she was going, I could
have checked every room until I found the correct one. Mae tapped
her red fingernails against the counter. Of course, the woman had
no idea there were four of us standing in front of her. That fact
very well may have given her a heart attack, if she’d
known.

Finally, after what seemed like an
eternity, she said, “Ah ha. I found her, sweetheart.”

Anthony blew on my ear and I swatted
at him.

“
Oh, dear, are those darn
flies back? You’d think they’d die off this time of
year.”

She shuffled contents around in a
drawer and finally pulled out a swatter. A fly swatter in the
hospital? That couldn’t be sanitary. Thanks to Anthony, I now had
to wait until she killed an imaginary fly before she gave me the
info I needed. Do you have any idea how long it takes a
great-grandma to kill a fly? With reflexes like hers? Let me tell
you, it was a long time. I leaned against the counter as I watched
her swat at the air around me. I was about to give up when she
finally realized there must be no fly in the area, and put the
thing away.

“
Now, where were we?” she
asked as she shoved the swatter back in the drawer.

“
Karyn Bentley. Room
number. I’m looking for her.” This woman was so sweet and cute that
I didn’t have the heart to rush her too much.

“
Oh yes. Let me see.” She
held her glasses up to her face again. The thick bifocals had been
dangling from a chain around her neck.

“
Room 416. That’s the
ICU.”

Finally. “Thank you so
much.”

“
You’re very welcome, dear.
I hope your friend feels better soon.”

“
Thanks. Me,
too.”

I made my way down the hall, following
the signs leading to the elevators. Thankfully, I got one that was
empty because I was going to give Anthony a verbal tongue-lashing
for his attempts at flirting with me at the most inopportune
times.

“
You have to stop it,” I
reprimanded when the door closed. Why did I have to be a babysitter
to the dead?

“
I wish I could punch him,”
Seth said. “If I was young and alive, I would. Believe me, I
would.” He shook his fist at Anthony.

“
It’s okay, Seth. You
shouldn’t get yourself all worked up.”

That type of emotion from a ghost
wasn’t good; he’d drain my energy in no time. Spirits tapped into
my energy whenever they decided it was necessary. My aura was like
a neon diner sign blinking ‘open all night’ to the spirit world. I
had more energy for them to draw on than the average person did, so
they didn’t hesitate to take it, and they never asked
first.

Anthony didn’t utter a word, he just
flashed his gorgeous smile at me. His eyes sparkled under the
bright elevator lights. I had no idea why I saw him so vividly.
Most of the time, ghosts appeared dull to me. Grainy. But not him.
He was so clear that he almost sparkled. I hated to admit it, but
he had a sparkling personality to match. Sure, he was persistent,
but there was a quality about him. I couldn’t quite put my finger
on it. If I’d been around when he was alive and Callahan wasn’t in
the picture, I could see myself falling for his charms. I’d always
been a sucker for compliments. He had a way of making a girl feel
like a queen, as if you were the only female in the
room.

Mae spoke up. “Listen, Anthony, she’s
got a gorgeous hunk of a man, you need to back off.”

“
Yes, listen to Mae West,”
I said, pushing the elevator button several more times as if that
would make it go faster.

I guess it worked, because the
elevator door had opened without my noticing. Damn.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I wanted to crawl under something, but
being cornered in an elevator didn’t give me that option. There was
nowhere to hide. The woman standing in front of the open doors
didn't say a word. She didn't need to, though. Her gaping mouth and
wide eyes said it all—she thought I was nuts. Talking to myself as
if I was really chitchatting with Mae West doesn’t exactly scream
sane. She probably thought I’d lost my way from the mental
ward.

She waved me off. “Um, I’m going
down.”

She probably wanted to go to the
fourth floor, too. Oh well.

As the doors closed, I turned and
raised an eyebrow at Anthony. “It goes from bad to worse with you,
doesn't it?”

“
If you'd just give me a
chance…get to know the real me.”