Free A Guilty Ghost Surprised (An Indigo Eady Paranormal Cozy Mystery series) by Gwen Gardner Page B

back quickly and pointed at me. “Don’t leave my sight.”
    I nodded.
    We systematically worked our way up the alley. We looked up every stairwell, keeping pace with each other from opposite sides. Moving quickly from one alley and stairwell to the next, I worried about Riley. She went after Simon, and ended up…where? Every once in awhile I spotted Simon dart from one side of the alley to the other. We nearly reached the end of the block, when I looked up a dimly lit stairwell, when at the top I witnessed a couple locked in as passionate a kiss as I’d ever seen. Simon and Riley.
    “Ahem.” I cleared my throat and they broke apart. I glanced back over my shoulder, then back at them. “Do you two have a death wish or what?” I hissed.
    Badger would not be pleased. Nope, not pleased at all. Simon was definitely not good boyfriend material for his little sister. Of course, he didn’t understand that Simon really cared for Riley.
     
    “Badger!” I yelled over my shoulder. “She’s here. Simon found her.” They came down the stairs.
    Badger ran across the alley. “Are you all right? What happened?”
    “I’m fine. Just a little shaken is all,” said Riley. “You two took off. I waited for Indigo, but then this bloke came toward me. I got scared and screamed.” She laughed nervously. “I think he was more scared than me. We ran in opposite directions.” She looked around at the lifting mist. “I found myself alone, so I hid. Up there.” She indicated the stairwell. 
     
    “Why didn’t you stay put like I told you to?” Simon glared first at Riley, then me.
    “Like you told us to?” Riley’s hands went to her hips. “Who do you think you are? You’ve no right to…”
    “Never mind that,” I said. “Did anyone get a good look at any of those guys?”
    We shared glances, but nobody spoke up. That little fiasco got us exactly nowhere.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
    Frankincense Monster
     
    We headed home after Badger gave Riley and me a dressing down for not listening to Simon. You not only went chasing bad guys, but you split up and put yourselves in danger, blah, blah, blah. That’s about all I heard.
    On the way home, Simon tried to convince me the kiss I witnessed wasn’t what it seemed. Riley had been scared. Simon was handy. That was all.
    I rolled my eyes at him. “Although you pointed out recently how blind I could be, the fact is that I’m not blind. I know what I saw. I know what I sense when I’m around you two.”
    He opened his mouth to argue…
    I waved my hand in front of his face. “Hello? Remember me? I’m the psychic you live with? Don’t even bother denying it. There’s something between you.”
    “All right. Maybe there is.” He relented a little. “But this really is different. It happened once and it won’t happen again.”
    “I hope not, Simon. Badger - he wouldn’t be pleased. I’d hate for there to be a rift between you.”
    “I get it, Indigo. I’m not good enough for her.” His lips firmed into a thin line.
    “That’s not it at all,” I said, “and you know it. Badger sees you flirting with every girl in sight and he doesn’t want Riley to be just another one of your girls.”
    He heaved a big sigh, annoyed. “She isn’t just another girl.”
    We let ourselves in through the back kitchen door. Uncle Richard sat at the table eating leftover roast beef and potatoes. As a rule, he left early in the morning and arrived home late from his job as a solicitor. Eating leftover dinner at this time of night was the norm.
    His smile only reached as high as his cheek bones. Blond-haired and blue-eyed like my dad, they were identical twins. But that’s all they shared, like matching bookends with every genre of books in between.
    I adored him, of course. I loved being able to ‘see’ my dad. But disappointment always mingled with the pleasure, because he wasn’t my dad. I had to love him, though. He took me in.
    “What are you two up to? It’s a bit