Don of the Dead (35 page)

"Goodbye, Gus," I said, and drove toward the office. Maybe I'd give my mom a call. And if I had time before five o'clock rolled around and I headed home, I figured I'd drop my dad a line.

As much as I hated to admit it, I knew I was going to miss Gus, but by the time I got back to the office, I'd pretty much convinced myself that everything that had happened was for the best. TheScarpetti family (immediate and business) was finally at peace and, hey, so was I.

No more Gus.

No more ghost.

No more investigation.

I have to say, though I hadn't realized how much the whole thing had weighed on me, I was suddenly as light as a feather. I could finally get back to my own life.

I was jazzed. Which explains why I was so taken aback when I opened my office door and found a woman sitting on my desk waiting for me.

She was in her twenties. Pretty in an old-fashioned sort of way. She had short-cropped blond hair (a little darker at the roots) and she was wearing a black top and a pink cardigan with the letter D written on it in rhinestones.

Oh, and one of those poodle skirts.

The kind women wore back in the fifties. When she saw me, she grinned and waved. She snapped her gum.

"Hiya, honey," she said. "Gus sent me."

About the Author

CASEY DANIELSonce applied for a job as a tour guide in a cemetery. She didn't get the job, but she did get the idea for the Pepper Martin mystery series. Casey learned to love mysteries early thanks to her father, a Cleveland Police detective who enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories and spent his days off searching for stolen cars—with Casey along for the ride. Later, she read her way through every mystery on the library shelves. Casey has a degree in English and a background in journalism and teaching. She lives inNortheast Ohio , and you can visit her website at
www.caseydaniels.com
.