Dead People In Love (Haunted Hearts) (6 page)

“No!” Rose called as Cassie jumped to the side and grabbed the vase. It was too late but she had to try.

“No!” Herb yelled.

Vase in hand, Cassie turned as the gun made a popping sound. At the same instant, Rose lurched in front of Donovan.

Donovan shouted. Herb roared. Rose tipped sideways, a surprised look on her face. Olivia jumped back a step, then pointed the gun at Donovan.
 

Cassie threw the vase.

Donovan leapt over Rose’s legs, his head down, straight at Olivia.

The vase hit Olivia’s arm and she stumbled back.

Cassie’s heart hammered harder. Everything was happening in slow motion, but she could see Donovan was still too slow. Olivia would shoot him. He was going to die.
 

She’d be next.

“NOOOOOOO!”

The yell blasted the air, and Olivia’s gaze jerked. So did Cassie, looking sideways at a white outline of a figure streaking at an impossible speed toward Olivia. Like something from a graphic novel.

Olivia screamed and stepped back again, into the hall. Out of Cassie’s sight.

Donovan stopped his forward rush. Standing straight. Staring. His jaw dropped.

Herb, Cassie thought. The white streak was Herb.

She reached Donovan’s side in time to see Herb meld into Olivia. His icy body and her human body becoming one.

Olivia screamed. An unearthly sound.

It cut off abruptly.

Her face showed through the back of Herb’s head, as if she were peering through a thick window. Her mouth still open in a silent scream. Her eyes wide with horror. Unmoving and still.

Cassie put her hand over her heart. Olivia was being literally frozen by a man-sized ice cube.

If Cassie yelled for Herb to stop, maybe he would leave Olivia’s body. Maybe she would move again. Breathe again. Talk again.

Maybe her heart could beat again.
 

Donovan made a hurt sound and dropped to his knees, bending over Rose. “Grandma,” he said softly. A second of silence stretched out before his voice rose in a wail of grief. “Grandma!”

Cassie didn’t open her mouth and yell, still watching the tableau in front of her. As if she were gazing at a painting. Practically hearing the seconds tick by. Her own heart beating slowly now in powerful thumps.

And still Olivia stood frozen. Something was happening to her face. The spark in her eyes fading. Dying.

Behind her, she heard Donovan fumbling, then faint beeps of phone numbers being pressed. A short silence, which her breath held... “My grandmother’s been shot.” His voice was hoarse. “I think she’s dead. Help me. Help me.”

Herb cried out and his outlined body separated from Olivia’s. Her eyes and mouth still open, she toppled to the wooden floor, her head thudding.
 

With one glance, Cassie saw she was lifeless. Gone.

Except she wasn’t all gone. A whitish blue image stood above her, looking down, a slightly puzzled look on her round face.

Olivia’s ghost. Her gaze met Cassie’s.

“What happened?” she asked. “What happened?”

“You’re dead.” Cassie made a shooing gesture. “Go away.”

She turned back to see Donovan on his knees, his hands on the center of Rose’s chest, pumping. Pausing. Pressing down. Pausing. Pumping...

“Rose!” Herb called.

Rose’s eyes opened, only it wasn’t one Rose, but two.
 

“Rose!” Herb called again.

With a glad cry, one of the images surged upward toward Herb. His arms out, he caught her. Embraced her. Kissed her.

“Finally,” she said, staring into his eyes, her hands caressing his head. A joyful smile lit up her face. “Finally.”

The tears in Rose’s eyes had to be from remnants of her live self, because ghosts didn’t have tear ducts. They couldn’t cry.

But Rose’s eyes didn’t seem to know it, blinking back a sheen of moisture as she separated from Herb and turned to Cassie.

“We have to go.”

Cassie nodded.

“Tell Donny to stop giving me CPR. Tell him it’s not his fault. Tell him I’m happy. Tell him I’m going to look for Frankie and give him a hug from Donny.”

Cassie nodded with each instruction.

“One more thing.” Rose laughed. “Tell him to marry Bridget.”

 
The two turned to each other, their hands grasped. Beaming, they disappeared.

As if she’d been released from a spell, Cassie let out a long held-in breath and glanced around. There was only her and Donovan and the two dead bodies in the condo. Olivia was gone already. Probably off haunting one of her so-called friends.

If anyone called Cassie to get rid of Olivia, she wouldn’t go.

Scooting down next to Donovan, she put her hand on his shoulder. “Rose is gone,” she said.

“No!”

“Yes.” She made her voice firm. “She left some messages.”

He continued the CPR.

She started repeating Rose’s last words. When she got to the message about Frankie, Donovan stopped pumping and she stopped talking. Slowly, he sat back.

“Do you know who Frankie is?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“A cocker spaniel.” He tilted his head back and laughed and laughed.

And then he was crying. Over his sobs, Cassie heard the whine of sirens outside the red brick building.
 

“Your grandmother’s happy.” She bent and put her hand on his arm. “She’s with Herb. They kissed.”

“Can ghosts kiss?”

“They did.” Cassie guessed there was some ectoplasm involved. Something they did without even knowing it. Just from wanting it so badly. “She wanted you to be happy, too. I forgot to give you one last message.”

“What?” he asked, not taking his gaze off Rose’s still body.

“She said you should marry Bridget.”

His head snapped to her. A choked sound came from the entranceway, and he swiveled. Looking straight at Bridget.

He jumped to his feet and in two strides, he was holding her. “Don’t cry,” he said. “Don’t cry.”

But she did.

He comforted her, his arm around her back. Holding her close.

Cassie lifted her head to the high ceiling of the condo that Olivia wanted badly enough to kill for. “It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, her eyes blurry even though everything had happened for the best.

The elevator chimed, and she guessed the hall door was still open. She hurried to pick up her purse so she could call Luke and tell him she’d be late.

But as soon as the police released her, she’d be all his again.

Her job here was over.

Chapter 8

“Stupid,” Luke said, his voice sleepy.
 

This wasn’t Cassie’s favorite way to wake up from a late afternoon nap. She turned over in their king-sized bed at the hotel and punched him in the bicep.

“Ow!” Luke crossed his arm over his bare chest and covered his abused muscle. “I wasn’t talking about you. And how come your knuckles are the only bony part on you?”

“Because I don’t kill myself dieting.”

“Don’t ever diet.” He let go of his bicep and held out his arms for her.

For that he deserved a kiss, which she gave him. If they hadn’t just made love thirty minutes ago, the bedroom still smelling of sex, it might have led to something more. Instead she gave a happy sigh and rolled off him.

“So, who’s stupid?” she asked.

“Donovan. For making a will like that before he married her.”

“Olivia was manipulative. He isn’t rich but she saw his possibilities. She was smart that way. Plus, he’s young and attractive.” She paused and grinned at Luke. “With a great body.”

“Not as great as mine.”

“If you say so.” She grinned wider and laughed, then thought of Rose and her grin slipped. But the happiness remained, a quiet glow inside her chest. “When he signed the will, he probably didn’t even think of the condo as his property. In his mind, it was Rose’s. Until Olivia planted doubts about Rose’s mental stability.”

“I can see how it happened. I’ve been stupid over a woman a few times.” Luke rolled to his side, cupping Cassie’s cheek with his hand. “But when I met you, I was very smart.”

The glow inside Cassie grew louder. “It’s fixed now. They’re all going to have a happy ever after. Rose and Herb in the afterlife. Donovan and Bridget in this life.”

“With some bumps in the road,” he said.

She nodded. “Except for Olivia. I don’t know what’s going to happen to her, and I don’t care.”

“What about us?” he asked.

“I think we’re going to have a very happy afterlife, too.” She laughed at him.

He lunged on top of her. And he kissed her. And her laughter stopped and she wasn’t thinking about happy ever after, she was just thinking about now. About making that baby they’d been talking about. About the way his skin felt against hers. About the stubble rubbing her chin. About the way he smelled so damn good.

And about the bumps in the road... Her favorite bump was growing on top of her right now. That was pretty damn good, too.

And it was going to get better.

-The End-

Dear Reader,

I’m delighted that you’ve read DEAD PEOPLE IN LOVE, the sequel to DEAD PEOPLE. One of these days I plan to write Joe’s story from DEAD PEOPLE, but for now I’m concentrating on my
Miracle Interrupted
series, where a miracle is prophesied in a Wisconsin village with a population of 629. In almost every story, someone thinks the miracle applies to him or her.

MUST WORSHIP CATS and STARDUST MIRACLE from the series are available now. MIRACLE LANE will be out soon – possibly by the time you’re reading this. Two more
Miracle Interrupted
novels are planned, with more on the way.
 

Read on for excerpts from STARDUST MIRACLE and CATTITUDE.

If you enjoyed DEAD PEOPLE IN LOVE, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy it by posting a review at your favorite places.

I love hearing from readers. You can reach me at
[email protected]
.

Author updates can be found at
http://edieramer.com
. You can also sign up for my newsletter and find samples of my other novels.

Happy Reading!

Edie Ramer

Stardust Miracle

Edie Ramer

A miracle is going to happen

Becky Diedrich is the cheesemaker’s daughter. 
The minister’s wife. 
The good sister.

What she’s not is her own woman. 
What she can’t be is a mother.

And then she catches her husband with another woman. 
And she moves in with her sister. 
And she starts to see sparkles.

And this is just the beginning…

Excerpt:

Becky ran across the grass and laughed at her brashness. She wore her tan trench coat — her church coat — over her red negligee. Tonight she felt free. With a sexual appetite and playfulness she hadn’t felt for a long time.

She couldn’t swear that what she planned had never happened in the church, people being what they were. But it had never happened in the church before with her and Jim.

Laughter spilled out of her mouth, and she only stopped because she was breathless from an overload of excitement. The need to experience something more with her husband had been building inside her for a long time. Now it was finally boiling over — leaving her lightheaded and unlike her usual self.

She liked these feelings. Liked this side of her a lot.

When she’d stepped out of the car tonight and looked up at the stars, something happened. Something changed. For so long, she’d been carrying a dark weight around with her. Going through the days and nights trying to say and do all the right things, when inside something had felt all wrong.

She’d lost the joy of life. Not fully living...just going through the motions. At only thirty-six, she’d felt old and dried up.

Now she felt young again. Free.

Jim wouldn’t know what happened to his proper wife.

She reached the church’s back door, using it instead of the front entrance because she didn’t want anyone passing by to see her. Not that there was anything wrong with going to see her husband. But if anyone mentioned her late night visit, her face would probably turn the color of a ripe tomato and give away what they’d done.

She slipped the key into the lock but it turned easily. She stepped inside. Jim must’ve come in this way and forgotten to lock the door behind him. He was always preoccupied with his work and his parishioners.