Dead Demon Walking by Linda Welch Read Free Book Online

to
sit cross-legged with his back against the bed’s footboard. “The
same woman, are you are positive?”
    “ It has to be.”
    “ She could be a potential
client with a bad phone.”
    Possibly. I tend to take the negative
view, look at the worst-case scenario. I fixate on what can go
wrong instead of what can go right. That’s just me. Sometimes there
is an innocent explanation. So why not think so this
time?

Chapter Five
     
    As ridges and folds of far distant
terrain disappeared beneath the clouds, I unsnapped my seatbelt and
shifted first one way then another, trying to get comfortable.
Economy class is not designed for tall people. I don’t think it’s
designed for people of any width and height.
    Did I remember everything? Put the
newspaper on hold - check. Put mail delivery on hold - check. Give
Janie the Boston hotel’s phone number in case she had to call me
and I forgot to charge my cell phone battery - check. I’m not
paranoid, honest. I happen to believe in Murphy’s Law, which says
anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Murphy and I have a
close relationship.
    I shouldn’t worry about
Mac. He’d be safe in Janie’s care. But his sad doggy look got me
where it hurt. It’s amazing how a dog can express emotion. When
MacKlutzy is mad his ears go back flat on his skull and he slits
his eyes. When he is sad or does not feel good, the ears go down
and out horizontally - a Scottie’s ears can’t droop - and those
eyes get all big and dewy. When I handed him to Janie his look
said, how can you desert and betray me yet
again? He doesn’t understand why I leave
him, just that I do.
    But he does that every time he stays
with Janie and is always fine when I collect him.
    Jack and Mel tried to make me feel
guilty. They hid from me when I wanted to say good-bye. I walked
all over the house, calling them, and not a whisper.
    They’ll be fine,
Tiff. Nothing could happen to them. The
house could go up in flames and they would be okay.
    “ What are you fretting
about now?” Royal asked. He gave my hand a warm squeeze. “Jack and
Mel?”
    I huffed out a breath. “No. The house
burning down.”
    He chuckled deep in his throat and
laid his head back on the cushioned headrest.
    I folded one leg beneath me so I sat
at an angle, and watched him doze. I gently brushed away
copper-gold strands caught on his lip. His profile, etched against
the dim cabin, made me forget to breathe. I let my head settle on
his shoulder and inhaled his scent. He smiled and groped for my
hand.
    Then an evil flight attendant paused
on her patrol to tell me to sit up and buckle up.
    I had more than enough time
during the flight to mull over what I should or should not do about
Jack and Dale Jericho. I would have to invite Dale to my home and
persuade him I could summon the spirits of the dead. I could not tell him the truth.
That would be worse than foolhardy, it would be plain
stupid.
    But if I didn’t bring Jack and Dale
together, Jack would be impossible to live with. If I did . . . how
would Jericho react? He’d call me crazy.
    The plane banked to begin descent and
my stomach went along for the ride; I closed my eyes as it tried to
crawl up my throat.
    “ We have a two-hour layover
before our flight to Boston,” Royal said cheerfully.
    I opened my eyes to see him looking at
the diagram of a terminal concourse on his cell phone’s tiny
screen. “Where do you want to eat?”
    I give him a look as sour as what I
felt in my belly.
    ***
     
    Royal leased a car at Boston Logan.
Not just any car: a red Mustang convertible. I didn’t know you can
lease those. I fell in love with the machine in two minutes
flat.
    Twenty minutes after leaving the
airport, we entered a crescent-shaped terrace, tall white buildings
in an unbroken half circle fronted by a small treeless park girded
by black cast-iron railings. Stone steps flanked by white railings
went up to entrances on the first floor instead of the ground floor
- single-families