Free Haunted Destiny by Heather Graham Page B

head at a slight angle. “Yes, I was playing Cyrano de Bergerac.” He paused. “I had a hard time getting that makeup off. As a ghost, I mean,” he added glumly.
    Alexi Cromwell was silent as she watched the exchange.
    But Jude could tell she wasn’t afraid. She was, if anything, glad that she’d finally managed to get Jude to admit there was a ghost—and the ghost to realize he needed to speak with Jude.
    â€œI suppose,” Jude said. I wouldn’t know. I don’t really know anything about ghosts.
    â€œOkay,” he went on, “you’ve got the two of us here—and you have Jackson Crow and me aboard the ship. Now we need your help. You must remember something, or you couldn’t have known that the Archangel would be on the Destiny . You’re certain of this?”
    Byron Grant nodded. He was, minus the stage makeup, a handsome, fit young man who— other than being dead!— seemed somber and sincere. Blue eyes, sandy-blond hair. The boy next door. The kind of guy who’d marry his high school sweetheart.
    â€œI never really saw the killer,” Byron admitted. “He took me pretty quickly.”
    â€œWhat made you so sure he’d be on the ship?” Jude demanded. “Tell me what happened, step by step.”
    Alexi gave Byron an encouraging smile and he smiled back at her. Then he turned to Jude.
    â€œI was doing the play. Anyway, it ended at around 10 p.m. I usually stayed to take off my makeup at the theater, but I got a call from Elizabeth at around ten twenty. She said the lights were off at the house and thought she’d left them on. I told her to wait for me, said I’d leave right away. I got out of my costume, but didn’t bother with the makeup, just grabbed my hoodie and I was out the door.” He frowned as he described what had happened that night. “I phoned her back after I left the theater. She didn’t answer. I probably should’ve called the police right away but I drove home as fast as I could. Her car was in the driveway, and the lights were on in the house. I was a little pissed at her, figuring she’d decided to go in but hadn’t bothered to call me. I walked up to the door, which was unlocked, and threw it open. I got as far as the entry.”
    He bit down on his lip and shook his head.
    â€œI saw her. I saw her on the floor,” he said. “I ran over to her, but I was just thinking she’d fallen. Then I saw the blood.”
    Alexi lifted a hand as if she’d reach out to comfort him.
    She lowered her hand to her lap, her eyes filled with sympathy.
    â€œI hurried to her, bent down...and then he was behind me,” Byron said. “He had a knife at my throat, ripping, even as I tried to turn to see his face. I flailed out at him—got him in the jaw. The knife sliced through my arm when I did that. Defensive wound, I guess they call it. But...I was bleeding out. And I only saw one thing.”
    â€œWhat?” Jude asked, determined not to let his question sound impatient.
    â€œA ticket. It stuck out from his pocket. He was wearing some kind of suit jacket, pocket on the right. The ticket was for the Destiny —out of NOLA. And this sailing date was on it, so I knew. I knew he’d be on this ship.”
    â€œI see,” Jude murmured. “And then?”
    â€œAnd then I was dead. I didn’t realize it—or have any awareness of it or anything else—until I seemed to rise over my body where the bastard had stuffed it inside a Dumpster in an alley.”
    They were all quiet for a minute.
    Jude suddenly blurted, “But you—you were hovering around the crime scene in NOLA. You jumped on a bar. A drunk girl tried to give you money.”
    Byron shrugged. “Some people see me. I don’t always know who sees me, though. I tried hitchhiking and eventually found someone who saw me and drove me to NOLA. It’s only a couple of hours,