1 Dead Girl's Guide to Style (6 page)

After saying goodbye to Caitlin so she could meet Clark, I headed to the courthouse to look up the records of the disputed home. I wanted to see who really owned the place. I supposed some people would consider me a busybody, but the fact that I thought Mona was involved in something shady had drawn me in.

The sun was unusually warm today. It almost felt as if I had a rash from the heat. Maybe I needed to put on a little extra sunscreen. Welcoming the relief from the sun, I stepped into the building and finally found the room where the documents were kept. Down the dimly lit stairs was the basement were floor-to-ceiling cabinets held the files. Tables and chairs took up the space in the middle of the room. After getting help from a sweet woman, I had the papers firmly clutched in my hand. I was almost afraid to look at the information on the page. A few seconds passed with my eyes closed, and I slowly opened them.

It didn
’t surprise me much when I saw Mona’s name listed as the owner. It looked as if it had been transferred from Max to her. But something told me that he hadn’t done that willingly. So, he had owned the home, but Mona had conveniently left that part out and acted as if Max was crazy for even suggesting such a thing. I wanted to confront her with this information right away. She couldn’t deny what was written in black and white. I wondered if Max had shown her this evidence. Although it looked like legally the place was hers now.

The woman looked at me and said, “The historic
al society is excited that Ms. Patton is allowing them use the home.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, they are using the place?”

“Oh yes, Mona says she doesn’t stay there often because she has another home, so she’s letting them have parties and luncheons there,” the woman offered.

Mona had another home and Max was trying to get his place back? I wondered how many places she owned. And why had she been able to take the place from him?

“Thanks for the information.” I grabbed my purse.

“Think nothing of it,” she said.

Reluctantly, I stepped out into the sunshine again. I peeked up toward the sun and shielded my eyes from its power. More than ever I wanted to be inside away from the heat. I knew where the historical society was, so I decided to walk over and ask them what the deal was with the house. Surely they would want the rightful owner to have the place. I stepped into the space and a friendly woman greeted me.

“I’m here about the house on
Abercorn Street.” I showed her the paper.

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. This is a lovely home and we
’re excited about getting it available to us.”

I focused my attention on her round face.
“I’m trying to help my friend get the place back. It is his home.”

The woman
frowned. She wasn’t so friendly anymore.

“I don
’t think that is possible,” she said in a clipped tone.

“And why is it not possible?” I asked.

“Mona Patton owns the home and as you can see she had it transferred to her.” The woman pointed at the paper. “Besides, if she doesn’t own it, then we wouldn’t be able to use the house for our events. That would make us very unhappy.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me.

So all she was worried about was whether she could use the house. I was sure that Max wouldn
’t mind letting them use the house when they needed it. I figured she didn’t want to hear that though.

“I think you should stay out of this
.” She tapped her finger against the desk. “If anything happened we wouldn’t be able to use the house as we were promised.”

She repeated that last part as if I hadn’t heard her the first time. But I couldn’t believe that she’d actually told me to keep out of this. They must really want that house. Couldn’t they find another place to hold their events? It wasn’t that big of a deal. There were plenty of pretty houses around town that I was sure they could use.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset,” I said.

“That’s no
ne of your concern either,” she snapped.

Obviously this conversation was over.

After this turn of events, I knew I had to tell Max. If he hadn’t seen the deed, then I wanted him to right away. My skin continued to hurt from the sun. I’d never felt this before and I wondered if something was wrong. I headed back to my shop and retrieved his phone number.

I sensed that something was off about the room when I stepped in, but I couldn
’t put my finger on what it might be. I punched in his number and he answered on the first ring.

“I have something to tell you,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” he asked curiously.

“Can you meet me at the Red House Cafe in thirty minutes?” I asked.

He paused, and then said, “Yes, I can be there.”

“See you soon,” I said
, trying to sound calm.

Max was already sitting at a booth when I entered the cafe. He looked as handsome as ever in his black pants and
beige button down linen blend shirt. I really needed to help him find clothing though. With a little help from me, he would be shopping on his own in no time. I waved as I walked across the room. His gaze was fixed on me as if there wasn’t another person in the room. I’d never had anyone do that before. Wooden tables with white table cloths and mismatched chairs sat around every inch of the space. Not another available table was in sight. The walls were decorated with photos of food.

Max
smiled widely as I slipped onto the chair across from him. I took off the hat and sunglasses I’d used for protection from the sun.

“I
’m glad you could make it,” I said.

He stared at me with a worried expression for a moment. “I wouldn
’t miss it for anything.”

After placing our order for drinks only, I pulled out the paper that I
’d gotten from the courthouse.

“What is that?” he asked as he peered down at the paper.

“It’s the deed to the house and it shows that Mona is now the owner. It was transferred over from you. Do you know anything about that?” I asked.

He peered down at the paper in silence and then finally met my stare. “I never gave the home to her. It was done without my consent.”

Max pushed the paper back toward me. Apparently he didn’t want it. “I figured as much,” I said.

It ha
d been so long ago though I didn’t know how we would ever prove that he owned the house. I wanted to ask why Mona had been at his place, but he would wonder why I had been there. I didn’t want him to think I was weird.

The waitress slammed the drinks down in front of us and glared. I looked up at her and she scowled and then walked away. It was then that I realized the whole room was watching us.
Whispers and stares were mixed with scowls.

“They don
’t seem to like us,” I said.

He shook his head. “It
’s not you, it’s me.”

“Does this have something to do with the house?” I asked.

He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Mona could have told any number of lies.”

“What is your connection to her?” I asked.

“I have no connection other than the house.” He shifted his gaze away from me.

I knew he wasn
’t being honest with me.

My arm itched from the heat rash and Max watched as I rubbed the spot. The sun was brutal today.

“Are you back at the company? I’ve been wondering how things are going since you returned,” I said with a shaky voice. Worry made my voice weak.

He took a drink. “Things are fine.”

Another vague answer, although I sensed that he wanted to say more. I wasn’t sure why he was holding back though.

His gaze raked across the room.
“We should go for a walk.”

“Yeah, okay.” I
nodded.

I wasn’t looking forward to going back out into the sun. I plopped the hat back on my head and
slipped on the sunglasses. With all eyes on us, we marched out of the cafe and made our way down the sidewalk. Max wiped his forehead. He seemed to be affected by the sun too.

“Listen, I appreciate everything that you
’ve done for me, but I can’t let you get involved,” Max said.

I looked at him for a moment. What could I say? If he really didn
’t want me involved maybe I should do as he said. He was a grown vampire and he didn’t need me trying to play mother.

I
studied his handsome face, but his expression was hard to read. “Okay, but if you need anything you’ll let me know.”

I knew he was saying this because of the way everyone had looked at us when we were in the cafe. But why had they acted that way?

He moved closer. “I promise I will call you.”

Max reached out and touched my hand. The heat from the sun made my skin sizzle under his touch. The next thing I knew, he had stepped closer and placed his lips on mine. I didn
’t stop him, instead I kissed him back. And it wasn’t a peck on the lips either. His tongue met with mine and for that moment I was lost. I had forgotten that we were standing on the sidewalk. If anyone from the cafe saw us they would be even more upset. Not only did I feel the sun, but the heat from his kiss encircled my body. Finally, he moved his lips away from mine and looked at me. He smiled softly, then turned around and walked away.

For a moment I watched him move down the sidewalk. He didn
’t turn around to look at me, but somehow I knew that he knew I was watching him. I was still lost in that kiss. His touch still lingered on my lips. I knew one thing for sure—I wanted another kiss. Would I see him again? He hadn’t mentioned anything about me helping him with clothing, but of course, I was sure he had more important things on his mind at the moment. Mona crossed my mind and unfortunately I knew that I would see her again.

The last rays of sunset faded to a deep navy blue.
It was getting late in the evening and I wanted nothing more than to go home and crash in front of the TV or maybe read a book. Thank goodness the sun had finally set. I hopped in my car and headed home. After circling the block ten times, I finally found a parking spot. I had that same strange feeling again that I’d felt in the shop, like something was out of place. It had been a weird few days and I figured my mind was just playing tricks on me. But maybe the sunburn had caused delusions. I climbed out from behind the wheel and locked my car, then made my way to my front door.

When I stepped up to my door, I stopped in my tracks. There was a package waiting for me. I had ordered a few things online, but I
hadn’t been expecting them this soon. I picked up the package and immediately looked at the return address. Only problem was there wasn’t one. It was postmarked from right here in Savannah. I had no idea who would send me a package at my home. Heck, I didn’t even know why anyone would send one at the shop, but I would have expected it more. I sat down on the step and placed the package on my lap. It was just a standard brown box with a label addressed to me printed from a computer. There was no return address.

Of course, I couldn
’t wait to get into the package. As I struggled to open the box, I cursed the person who’d used too much packing tape. I pulled on the edge of the tape and finally managed to get it off enough so that I could tear into the box. Lucky for me, I hadn’t broken a nail in the process. I pulled back the flaps of the box and ripped out the tissue paper that was on top. It looked as if someone had sent me a gift. My birthday wasn’t until December, so it was way too early for a present. Maybe Caitlin had sent me a surprise.

When I peeked down into the box, I knew that it wasn
’t a surprise from my best friend. Not unless she was very unhappy with me.

Inside the box was a wooden stake. I peered in the box in disbelief. I couldn’t believe someone had sent this to me. Who would do something like that? As far as I knew, I didn
’t have any enemies. That was when I remembered the way people had looked at us at the cafe. They wouldn’t have had time to mail this to me though. The sender had to have been mad before anybody had seen me at the cafe. How would I ever find out who had sent this? I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, but I didn’t see anyone. 

I reached in and pulled out the stake. In case I wasn
’t aware that it was meant for me, it had my name engraved on it. Was someone trying to tell me they wanted to use this on me? Or was this their way of giving me something to protect myself and they’d monogrammed it for me? How clever and thoughtful—and weird.

I stuffed the thing back into the box. Whatever the motive, I didn
’t want anything to do with the stake. I had no intention of staking a vampire, not unless my life was in danger. And I hoped that my life wasn’t in danger.

I thought about throwing the thing into the trash, but then I figured I should show it to Caitlin and see what she thought about it. Maybe we could find a clue as to who had sent it. I grabbed the box and headed inside. When I got inside the door, I turned and peeked out one more time. Once again, I didn
’t see anyone. I wasn’t sure who I thought would be out there anyway. Maybe the strange men? Why would they want me though? I was no longer trying to help Max and his situation had nothing to do with me.