Givin' Up The Ghost (An Indigo Eady Paranormal Mystery) by Gwen Gardner Read Free Book Online

asked, with
crinkled eyes. “Because running seems to be hazardous to your health. And
mine .”
    I glared daggers at Simon, who stood there snorting.
    “I uh, I was, um, chasing the cat,” I improvised. “She uh,
she stole my hair tie.” Yeah, that was good . “See? No tie, hair down.” I
tried to smooth my hair back with my hands, but I’m pretty sure I looked like a
wild woman. Badger reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
    “I like what you’ve done with your widow’s peak,” he said.
“The white streak against your black hair is awesome.”
    “Oh, um, thanks,” I said. “But it’s natural, not bleached. I
was born with it.” My grandmother on my mother’s side was an elder in the
Viejas band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego where I came from. She’s gone now,
too, but she knew about these things. She said it meant I was special. Yeah, so
special the kids at school teased me until recently, when two-toned hair
suddenly became cool.
    He looked surprised. “Oh. Brilliant.”
    I nodded, nothing more to say. Brilliant was better
than freak.
    “I didn’t know you had a cat.” He looked at Simon.
    “Yep,” said Simon, looking around. “We recently acquired
her. She’s running around here somewhere.”
    The boys sat back down at the table.
    “Let me grab a bite and a cup of coffee and I’ll leave you
two alone,” I said. Plus, I needed to go deal with that interfering ghostie.
The nerve of her, unpacking my things! She must be quite powerful, though, to
move stuff about like that. My stomach flip-flopped a bit, thinking about it.
    “No, that’s all right,” said Badger. “We were talking about
my dad. It’s not a secret...” he shrugged his shoulders, “... just frustrating.
The police aren’t taking his disappearance seriously.”
    “Really? What do they say?” I asked.
    I know dealing with police can be frustrating. Somehow they
don’t take it seriously when you say you feel someone is in danger, or
that someone would never do or act in a certain way.
    I poured a cup of coffee and took a bite of plain bagel
before sitting down at the table.
    What Badger didn’t know, what nobody knew, was that I had
dreamed of my father’s death and had begged him not to go to work that fateful
day. But he said he had to, that everything would be all right. But it wasn’t
all right. He died that night.
    I frequently wondered if our destinies were already set. If
he had stayed home that day, would he have been saved? Or would he have died
the day after? I didn’t know. All the what ifs were enough to drive
anyone crazy. It didn’t do to dwell on things.
    Simon cleared his throat. “Badger was telling me the police
refused to take a missing person’s report. They checked around a bit, talked to
a few people, but with no indication of foul play, they think his dad left of
his own free will.”
    “And what do you think, Badger?” I asked. This was it
– the moment when we should be telling him that his dad was dead. My hands
shook slightly, and my heart sped up.
    Badger looked down at his hands for a minute before
answering. “He wouldn’t have left us. Even if he and mum were having
problems...”
    “Were they?” I interrupted. I held my breath. Most people
were touchy about the subject.
    “No, absolutely not,” he replied.
    Simon and I exchanged an uncomfortable look, which was
intercepted by Badger.
    “What?” He looked back and forth between me and Simon.
    I became intensely interested in the design on my coffee
mug, turning it back and forth between my hands. Simon squirmed in his chair,
desperately trying to think of how to say what he had to say now that the
moment had arrived.
    “What did you hear?” Badger demanded impatiently. “What’s
going on? Simon?”
    “Well, the thing is, mate” Simon began. “It’s like
this...Indigo has something to say.”

Indigo Revealed
    ––––––––
    S imon got up and poked the coals nervously after throwing