Murder By Design Read online

  “You should be happy I see all dead people, since you thought I was conjuring Ryan because of a crush, which I never had.” Well, not after Ryan had appeared as a ghost and Marner and I started dating. I did have a crush on Ryan back in the day, but we needed to leave the past in the past.

  “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “Cezar isn’t the first ghost besides Ryan I’ve seen. I saw Hannah too. That’s why I was asking about her being missing.” Ryan’s girlfriend had been sitting in my kitchen one day, a murder victim. “And one of Nick’s victims was hanging around for a while too, the guy whose body I found in the field. So I think what we can conclude is that murder victims show themselves to me, looking for help.”

  There was a long, stark pause. “Do you have any vodka?” Marner asked. “Because I really need a drink right now.”

  A drink. I could do that. I would do whatever was necessary to make sure he heard me out and didn’t just write me off as a nutcase. “Sure. On the rocks?”

  “Or straight out of the bottle. Either way is fine.”

  I was going to assume he was joking.

  “Grab something for me too,” Cezar said. He had shifted out from under Marner and was sitting next to him.

  He was being very quiet and patient, I had to admit. I was impressed. But I couldn’t respond to him until Marner was willing to believe me. I got down one of my highball glasses and filled it with ice. I kept a few dusty bottles of liquor over the fridge and I got down the vodka. I knew it was de rigueur to keep it in the freezer, but I wasn’t a big vodka drinker and the freezer was filled with microwaveable edamame and pints of ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

  Back in the living room I handed the drink to Marner and he took a long sip. Cezar shot me a bitter look.

  “Nothing for me?”

  I shook my head slightly.

  “So…” Marner looked like he was trying to figure out what to say to me. Maybe he was mentally ordering my room at the psych ward. “What the hell happened when the sheriff showed up and didn’t find a body?”

  “He accused me of falsely calling 9-1-1. But I think he might be willing to let it go because I haven’t heard anything more about that.” I bit my fingernail. I had put that concern out of my mind and now it came back. I wondered if it was just a fine or something more serious.

  “So Cezar is dead.”

  “Yes.”

  “Who else knows that?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. The killer. Other than that? Maybe nobody. I’m guessing someone has filed a missing persons report by now.”

  “They better have,” Cezar said.

  “What does this have to do with you being dressed like a waiter and sneaking around the Schvitz?”

  Right. That. “Cezar asked me to find a key to a storage unit where he has some money stashed. One of his colleagues has a spare key and Cezar knew he would be there tonight.”

  Marner cursed. “Does that mean that you were digging around in some guy’s clothing in the locker room? Because I’m guessing you didn’t ask him for the key while you were serving his steak.”

  “Just locker twelve. I wasn’t in the locker room for more than three minutes, I swear. Then I got scared and hid in the freezer and there was a whole pig in there. What are they going to do with that?” I shuddered at the memory. “It was like I fell into Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Ohio edition. It was horrifying.”

  “You’re lucky you didn’t get trapped in there, Bailey. Or get caught sneaking around. The guys who run that place have concealed carry permits.”

  “I kind of realized that a little too late. But all’s well that ends well, because I’m out and Cezar got the key.” I turned to the dead mobster. “Cezar, show Jake the key.”

  Cezar mocked me. “Show Jake the key,” he said in a high-pitched voice.

  I had no idea what the attitude was for, but I was going to ignore it since he pulled the key out from the waistband of his swim trunks (yuck) and dangled it off of his index finger out in front of his body.

  “Do you see it?” I asked Jake. “To the left of you.”

  Marner had been looking at me, skeptically, but now he turned at my directive and actually jumped. “Holy shit. What is that?”

  “It’s the key to the storage unit. Cezar has it dangling from his finger.” I was curious what it looked like to Marner. “What do you see?”

  “I see a key hanging in mid-air.” He had reared back initially, but now Marner reached out and flicked the key with his finger. It swayed back and forth on the ring, which was still secured on Cezar. “How is that possible?”

  “Well, I’m no David Copperfield, so you’re going to have to believe me that this is a ghost holding a physical object for the sole purpose of convincing you this is real.” If he didn’t believe me after this I had no clue how to proceed.

  “That’s unbelievable.”

  “So are male rompers, and those exist. It’s right in front of you, Jake. You can see it with your own two eyes.”

  Marner tried to grab the key, but Cezar yelled, “Hey! Back off, bucko.” He yanked it out of Marner’s reach.

  Marner sat back, jaw dropping. “This is freaky as hell.”

  “Tell me about it. I’m not sure which is freakier—that I can see ghosts, or that you can’t but they’re around.” At least I was aware of when a spirit was sitting on my sofa. It would really be awkward to have a ghost creeping around without my knowledge.

  “So they talk to you?” He seemed stunned, but curious, almost like he genuinely believed me. “What do they say?”

  I shoot a bemused look at Cezar who was rolling his eyes.

  “I’m not a moaning spectre,” he said. “What does he think I say? Help me?”

  “I think you have told me that,” I said. I turned back to Marner. “Usually they say whatever they want. Ryan likes to give me a hard time, just like he did in real life. Phil, the Torso Murder victim, was kind of melancholy. He talked about his parents. Cezar is a piece of work who has a particular fondness for Britney Spears.”

  “You know it.” Cezar crossed his arms over his stomach. “That girl has been through a lot, I give her props.”

  “This is weird.” Marner tossed back the rest of his vodka and made a sound in the back of his throat. “So this guy is sitting next to me? How the hell do I know when we’re alone or not?” He eyed my cleavage again.

  Relief made me downright giddy. That sounded like a man who might actually believe me. “Now that you know, I can tell you. Before I couldn’t because you didn’t, and I hated it. That’s why I’ve, uh, pulled back a few times. Ryan was being a jerk and hanging around at inopportune moments.” It was really hard to get your intimate on when you had a third party watching without your consent.

  “Ryan needs his ass beat then. If he’s blue-balling me on purpose I am not okay with that.”

  “What are you going to do, beat up a dead guy? At least now we can talk about it.” I stood up and went to pick up his glass. He looked like he needed a refill.

  “I don’t really want to talk about it.” Marner reached out and fiddled with the belt on my robe. “I want to be alone with you. That’s all.”

  I’m a sucker for his eyes. I can’t help it. And now I kept thinking about him in that towel, sweaty and mostly naked…

  I turned to Cezar. “Remember when we talked about you leaving? That would be now.”

  “Yeah, I caught on. I’m not exactly an idiot.” Cezar looked sour. “But tomorrow we need to get back to me.”

  “What about me?” I asked. “Everything isn’t about you all the time.”

  “It is if I say so.” He started to sing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

  I needed to find his body yesterday, but it would have to wait for tomorrow. Tonight was all about me and Jake. Jake and me.

  “I promise I will go see your son tomorrow,” I told Cezar. “Goodnight. Have a safe trip back to purgatory.”

  He gave a chuc
kle. “I’m going. Goodnight, kid. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  That could mean anything, but I wasn’t going to ask for clarification. I just waved to him, and told Marner, “Let me get you another drink. I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine.”

  Cezar poofed and I added, “He’s gone, by the way.”

  Marner stood up and rubbed his head, following me into the kitchen. “I am struggling with this, I have to say, but I can’t figure out any other explanation.”

  “Sometimes is the simplest answer is the right one.” I set his glass down and poured more vodka, then fished around in the fridge for a bottle of white wine I knew I had chilling in there.

  “I also can’t believe you were in the Schvitz.” He grinned. “You’re a little more ballsy than I gave you credit for.”

  That was satisfying to hear. Just because a girl liked to wear a dress didn’t mean she couldn’t be bold. “I was scared, I’m not going to lie.”

  “Speaking of lying, I knew you were when I saw that outfit. You wouldn’t put something like that on unless you were being forced to.”

  “I basically was. Cezar has been blackmailing me by singing diva songs at three a.m. I had no choice.” I backed up, triumphant at having found the Pinot Grigio. “Oh!” I let out a started cry when my butt collided with Marner. Hello. How had he gotten there?

  “You shouldn’t bend over in that robe,” he murmured.

  “You can’t stop me.”

  He slid his hands over my hips and his lips over my neck. “I don’t really want to stop you. That was more a warning than anything else.”

  “Is there where I’m supposed to ask if that’s a gun or you’re just happy to see me?” I was gripping the wine tightly and trying not to sound breathy as he nuzzled my neck.

  He laughed softly. “Exactly.” Gently, he turned me around. “Come here.”

  The wine was between us but that didn’t stop Marner from making me forget there was anything other than his mouth on mine. He tasted like vodka and naughty intentions, his hands busily working their way under the silk fabric I was wearing.

  Feeling the thrill of freedom from intrusion from dead people, I let go of the wine, my robe, and the last of my doubts.

  Chapter Seven

  “What are you doing today?” Marner asked me over coffee the next morning. He was wearing his jeans and nothing else, his hair sporting a cowlick as he sprawled out in the chair on the opposite side of the kitchen table. He looked adorable and sexy. Mostly sexy.

  I was struggling to contain a smile, feeling more than a little content as I sipped my coffee. Well worth the wait. That was all I was going to say about that. “I don’t have to work, which is a plus.” I really didn’t want to ruin the mood of contentment between us, so I didn’t mention Cezar and his requests, i.e. demands. I wanted Marner to bring it up first. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to spend the day with you. And if you don’t want me to, I’m going to spend the day convincing you that you should spend the day with me.” He gave me a slow, mischievous smile.

  There had been a time when I had thought Marner was a good-looking guy, but I hadn’t looked at him and felt myself in danger of combustion. Those days were gone. Long gone. This man lit me on fire. Not a good look for a redhead, but a hot one.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said. “Especially if it involves you feeding me pasta.” Marner was a great cook. I was feeling pretty damn lucky to have him. My cheeks warmed. And boy. Did I have him. Wow.

  He reached for my hand and clasped it. “I can feed you pasta. So what do we have to do to get this dead guy out of your house for good? I don’t need my greatest performances interrupted.”

  That made me laugh. “I don’t want that either. I told Cezar I would take the storage unit key to his son, and that I would do a quick search of his house.” I sipped my coffee. “As bizarre as it sounds, if I find the body and/or the killer, the ghosts disappear. So far, anyway.”

  “You’re not going to his house alone. I’ll go with you.”

  It was such a sweet gesture, my insides felt warm and fuzzy. But I thought it was potentially a bad idea. “You can’t go with me. You’re a cop. You don’t want to be involved in this.”

  “I don’t want you involved in this. But you are. So I want to help you figure it out so Wozniak moves on, or whatever you call it.” He stood up. “Do you want some eggs and bacon? I’m starving.”

  “Sure.” Another few months of dating and I was going to be a roly-poly. But given how many months I had struggled to eat from anxiety over Ryan’s death, I figured I wasn’t going to worry about it if I gained a few pounds. “Thank you,” I said, feeling choked up suddenly. “For everything, you know?”

  The smile fell off his face. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, thank you. For believing me.” I blushed a little. “And for…this.” I wanted to say thank you for liking me, but that was so lame I stopped myself. It wasn’t even what I meant, precisely. How did you let someone know you were grateful they were in your life? So I settled for, “I enjoy our time together.”

  If it had been Ryan or a dozen other guys I knew, they would have said something like “I enjoyed last night, that’s for sure,” but that wasn’t Marner’s style. He saved the sexy for the right moments, and didn’t use it as a way to avoid his emotions. He was well adjusted and all that. Grown up. A man, not an overgrown boy.

  Instead of going for comedy or changing the subject uncomfortably, he said, “I’ve always thought you were an amazing woman. Being with you makes me happy.”

  Swoon. I practically felt an egg drop into my uterus. “Being with you makes me happy too.”

  Marner winked and stood up. “Let me fry you an egg.”

  Fry my insides. That’s what he did. I was wearing my robe again, and even that thin fabric felt too warm. I stood to help him by getting the frying pan out from the cabinet. It of course required me to bend over. I admit it, I knew what I was doing. Marner made a sound in the back of his throat.

  “You’re lucky I’m hungry,” he said. “Or I’d drag your tempting little butt back to bed.”

  “I have no objections to that.”

  Apparently his stomach wasn’t the most urgent need. A while later, when we were finally getting serious about making breakfast, Ryan walked in the back door, slamming it shut hard.

  “Mom, I’m home.”

  To his credit, Marner barely reacted to the door opening and closing entirely on its own. He glanced over at me. “Cezar?”

  “Nope, it’s Ryan.”

  I couldn’t tell if Marner was happy about that or not. “Can he hear me if I talk to him?”

  “Yeah, I can hear you, dickhead,” Ryan said, leaning over the frying pan and taking a deep breath. “I miss eggs. I miss a lot of things.”

  “He can hear you,” I assured Jake. “You just can’t hear him. He says he misses eggs. He’s actually standing right next to you.”

  Marner searched the air around him. “That’s mind-blowing. I’m trying to go with this, but I’m having a hard time here.”

  “I know.” I gave Ryan a pointed look. “I’m sure Ryan won’t stay long.”

  “You get a boyfriend and then you dump me. Isn’t that what all BFFs complain about? I never thought you’d be the one to throw me over for a guy.” Ryan put his fist to his chest and spoke dramatically. “That hurts, Bai. I thought we were more than that.”

  I rolled my eyes back in my head.

  “It’s very disturbing to watch you talk to the air,” Marner said. “I’m not going to lie. I need an adjustment period on this.”

  “I needed one too, and I can see Ryan.”

  Marner stirred the eggs. “For the record, Ryan, I’ve missed you, man. Just so you know.”

  The stupid mocking smile fell off Ryan’s face. “Yeah, you too. Thanks, partner.”

  With a lump in my throat I relayed the words to Marner. Neither one of them said anything else for a second and
I figured that was as bromance as they were going to get.

  “Also, tell him if he hurts you I will kick his ass,” Ryan said.

  Exactly. The second they got too close to real feelings, it had to go back to smack talk.

  “I’m not going to say that,” I protested. “And by the way, you have no ability to do that, so stop.”

  “What?” Marner asked.

  “Nothing. So what’s up, Ryan?”

  “So…I have it on good authority that Cezar is lying to you. I can’t tell you what about, but I got a warning to pass on to you.”

  That was as vague as my sister’s birth control methods. She always just waved her hand and smiled and then turned up pregnant again. Which reminded me, I needed to call her. I was supposed to be planning a trip to see her in Texas before she had her fifth (yes, fifth!) little peanut.

  “What kind of warning? I mean, is he secretly a demon, not a dead mobster?” I was half-joking. I didn’t know how any of this stuff worked, really. Maybe that was possible. The thought made fear inch up my spine.

  Ryan looked at me like I was the very definition of bonehead. “Of course not. Give me a break.”

  While I didn’t appreciate his disdain, I was relieved. “So what do you mean then?”

  “I’ve told you everything I know.”

  “Ever since you reappeared, you’ve been very secretive,” I told him. “It’s not like you.” But then I realized it was. Ryan had kept many secrets from me while he was alive. Why would now be any different? “I don’t even know what to do with that warning. Geez, Louise.” I was getting a little fired up.

  Not only had Ryan come into the house uninvited, without knocking, which was typical now that he was dead, he’d interrupted my morning with Marner to tell me Cezar was lying to me. I could have figured that out on my own. Cezar had his own best interests in mind, and I knew that it was likely he either embellished the truth or avoided it. This was not news.

  “Don’t get your panties in a wad.” Ryan smirked. “Oh wait, you’re not wearing panties, are you?”

  Guilty as charged. I’d just got out of bed. Not that it was any of his business. Yet I couldn’t prevent heat spreading across my cheeks. It wasn’t fair. My mother never blushed. She also didn’t have my transparent skin tone. So not only had she failed to pass on her steely nature, she hadn’t even given me the coloring to mask my moments of visually obvious embarrassment.