Free Brighter, a supernatural thriller by V. J. Chambers Page B

Heather. "Even if I wasn't kind of worried about you, I'd still want to see you. I miss you. I never see you anymore."
    "I know," said Ramona.
    "That stuff you were saying about Cecelia could easily apply to you, you know?" said Heather. "We used to be really close, and now we never see each other. You won't come over. You only call when you're upset about something."
    Ramona was quiet on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry. I guess I just get busy. I don't mean to."
    "Cecelia probably didn't mean to either."
    "Right," said Ramona. "She's probably not possessed by a demon."
    "Probably not."
    "Okay," said Ramona. "I do want to come see you. Really. And I'm going to call you. I promise."
    "You'd better," said Heather. "You're freaking me out." Behind her, she heard the screen door to the porch open, and she turned to see Rick coming out. He was just getting home from work. She waved at him and blew a kiss. "I have to go now," she said to Ramona. "Take care of yourself. Don’t go thinking anything too weird, okay?"
    Ramona promised. They hung up.
    "Who was that?" asked Rick, settling down in a chair opposite Heather.
    "Guess," said Heather. "You want a beer?"
    "Ramona?" he asked. "A beer sounds great."
    "Yep," said Heather, reaching into the mini-fridge that sat beside her, and getting out a Sam Adams. She handed it to Rick, who used his lighter to pop off the cap.
    "What's going wrong with her lately?" he asked, taking a long drink.
    Ramona's always having issues was kind of a running joke between the two of them. Heather shook her head. "I think she's losing her mind. She called me about some weird theory she had that the kids who live on the river are turning people into clones or they're demon possessed or something."
    Rick laughed. "How's she figure that?"
    "Oh, she says it's a pattern. People change after they hang out with the river hippies."
    "Huh," said Rick. "That's weird. You remember my friend Mason, right?"
    Heather shook her head. "No. I don't think so."
    "He was at our wedding."
    "Baby, there were a lot of people at our wedding."
    "Well, anyway, that happened to him. He used to be a totally cool guy, and then he started hanging out with those kids on the river. He started dating that Dawn chick. You remember Dawn, don't you?"
    "Um..." Okay, she didn't mean to be superstitious, but that was just fucking weird . Rick wasn't seriously mentioning the same person that Ramona had.
    "Never mind, it's not important. So, anyway, he just got totally different all of the sudden. He was really depressed. And when I talk to him, you know, sometimes, I could just swear he wasn't the same person anymore."
    Heather frowned.
    Rick shrugged. "Maybe he's demon possessed." He grinned.
    Heather tried to smile back, but she couldn't. There wasn't anything to Ramona's ravings. Was there?
    "What you said just reminded me of that is all," he said. "I don't really think he's possessed by demons, baby."
    "Good," said Heather. "Because I don't think I could handle a crazy best friend and a crazy husband." And she definitely couldn't handle going crazy herself.
    * * *
    Blair Casey came into the library. She didn't speak, but she slid inside the door, locked her eyes with his, and sauntered to the counter. She leaned over, breasts and hair spilling out, nearly touching Garrett. She smiled at him.
    He knew why she was there. He'd done something wrong. What had it been?
    At first, he thought that it was the mere fact he'd been at The Brass Frog, but he'd been going to The Frog for months now, and Blair hadn't seemed to mind. So it didn't make sense for her to get pissed about it now. As he stood there and stared at her, her face inches from his own, the smell of her—patchouli and tobacco smoke—enveloping him where he stood, he knew that what it had to be. He'd fucked up because he'd talked to Ramona Brinks. That was it. It had to be. He'd told Ramona that he'd seen something the night he'd been run out of town. It had been about Blair and