Split at the Seams (3 page)

“Must you always be difficult?” he snapped as if I were a child.

I cringed, because reacting this way made him sound like a parent or grandparent and I didn’t like it.

“Don’t speak to me like I’m ten years old. When it comes to finding out about where my grandparents went, I
will
be difficult.” Was our relationship ever going to be remotely comfortable? “Tell me what you think you’ve found.”

Oren stopped in front of me and grabbed my hand. His icy fingers stung my skin. “Sierra, I think I might be on to something here, but I can’t explain it. Just come along and let me know what you think.”

I opened my mouth to answer when the phone rang.

I shook his fingers off mine and rushed to the side table where the phone sat. My skin thawed out when I left his cold presence. I was really going hot and cold today.

“Hello?” From where I stood I could see the back of Papan’s head as he lounged on the couch, switching between channels.

I should be doing the same on my day off.

“Oh, thank Goddess you’re there!” my assistant Ebony said, breathless.

“Eb, what’s wrong?”

“You gotta get into the office ASAP! There’s someone here I think you need to talk to.”

“Ebony, I’m kinda in the middle of something.”

“Well, get out of it,” she squealed in my ear. “You have to come right now.”

“Can’t you handle it?” She’d been handling her own cases for weeks now and I was getting some great feedback from our customers.

She sighed into my ear. Ebony was always about the drama. “Look, that’s what I’ve been doing all day, okay? But this…no, I need you.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And I really don’t want to spend any more time with this
person
than I have to, so can you hurry? Please.”

I rolled my eyes in frustration, catching Papan’s eye. He was watching me intently.

Breaking eye contact, I said, “Sure, Ebony, I’ll be over as soon as I can, all right?”

“Cool, just hurry.” And with that, she hung up.

I lowered the phone back into its charging cradle with a hundred thoughts running through my mind. What, or whom, could make Ebony so edgy she needed me there, when she’d been doing so well on her own for weeks? And why couldn’t I catch a break? All I wanted to do was sit on the couch beside Papan and talk.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Sure,” I answered, avoiding his eyes.

“You don’t look okay.” He made a move to stand up.

“Papan, it’s just work stuff. You know how easily Ebony freaks.” I didn’t want him to get worried, and I certainly didn’t want to be reminded about Ebony’s claim that she’d slept with Papan. It bugged the hell out of me, I couldn’t help it. “I have to go.”

“
We
have to go,” Oren called from the hallway.

I’d almost forgotten about him. I sighed. “Will this take long, Oren?”

“Why?”

“I need to get to the office. Ebony needs me.”

“I thought it was your day off.”

I wasn’t even going to ask how he knew. “There’s no rest for the wicked, I suppose.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Okay, okay. This can wait a little longer. Go take care of business and I’ll be waiting outside your office block in an hour. Don’t be late!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Oren turned a stern look my way. “Sierra, I think I’ve finally found something.” He continued on his way and left without a word of goodbye.

I didn’t like the glimmer of hope in his eyes—it could become contagious. And after all the hours of wondering and trying to figure out what had happened to my grandparents and where they could be, hope was the last thing I needed to fixate on.

“He doesn’t waste a word, that’s for sure,” Papan said, sitting up.

I stepped into the living room, trying to fight the compulsion of sitting beside him and ignoring everyone else. With my stomach full, I would’ve preferred the
date
we’d made. “Will you be okay on your own?”

“Of course, Fox.”

“Good, I’ll catch you later.”

“Hey, Fox.”

I raised an eyebrow and met his gaze. “Yeah?”

“We need to finish what we started. I’ll wait up for you.”

I nodded, feeling all nervous and shy. What was this, high school?

“We sure do,” I whispered, stepping out of sight and back into the hallway. I didn’t want him to see me blushing like a silly school girl with a huge crush.

Things with Papan were changing as quickly as everything else in my life. Even though it excited me, it also scared the hell out of me.

Chapter Two

I have an office situated in the center of Serene Hills, the only part of the suburb where the ground is mostly flat, and where many independent small businesses thrive. Most stores in this part of town actually do quite well because they’re all specialized in one field or another. There are also several accountants, lawyers, real estate and tax agents—a few of which have offices in the same building I do. The local pub thrives, as well as the selection of cafés and other dining options lining the area.

When I decided to move my business away from home and into an office, this seemed like the best place to be. The rent is reasonable and the location’s centralized.

I stepped out of my car and crossed the busy road to reach the red-brick building some might call an eyesore.

The sun was as tenacious as it gets on a typical, hot afternoon in the Sydney suburbs. My lower back was drenched in sweat, which collected at the waistband of my jeans. It also caused my T-shirt to stick to my sweaty back, but I managed to peel it away as soon as I strolled into the building.

Not all the heat was to do with the season. Papan had a lot to do with it too, but I couldn’t focus on him without remembering what happened with Jonathan.

So I pushed it all away and instead waved at Benita, the accountant whose office was situated directly below mine. Hers was relatively small, so she liked to keep the door open to spy on everyone who walked in and out of the building. She even had her desk sitting parallel to the door.

She smiled and waved back, before adjusting her glasses and returning to the paperwork in front of her. She was a quiet woman with frizzy dark hair, and didn’t engage much in useless chatter. She didn’t have a receptionist or assistant and took care of everything on her own, though her husband liked to pop in during lunch and after work to help. They looked happy together, and had only been married about three months. Both Ebony and I had attended their wedding in November.

I took the stairs two at a time, but when I reached my floor, I glanced down the darkened corridor and decided to take the next flight up.

Taking my time up the stairs to the third floor, and eager to see the workman I’d finally arranged to meet, I was looking forward to surprising Papan. He didn’t know, but I planned to have his office fixed. Both windows in his office, as well as the glass on his door, had been shattered by a certain werewolf hunter, and the last time I’d seen the inside, it had been a mess.

As I approached his door, I felt good about doing this. He’d refused my help when I offered it, but we were friends, and I wanted him to get his business back on track as soon as he could step out of the shadows again.

“What the hell?” I quickened my step and stood on tiptoes when I reached his office. I peered inside, shocked. Not only was the glass already fixed and his name neatly displayed on the door, but the inside appeared to be spotless and both windows had been replaced.

“Are you Sierra Fox?”

I spun around, ready to defend myself, but calmed down when I noticed it was just a man dressed in a handyman’s uniform. He looked a little disheveled and his unshaven face glistened with sweat.

Trying to remain calm, I caught my breath. I really had to start relaxing, or I was going to have a heart attack.

He took a step back. “Sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine. I didn’t see you there. And yeah, I’m Sierra.” After everything that had happened to me lately, how stupid of me not to check the shadows. It might just be a harmless handyman now, but next time it could be a rogue ghost. Or something much worse.

There were plenty of worse things out there. I’d encountered a few already, and the thought of running into more made me sweat a little.

“I’m Mike from Odd Jobs, we spoke earlier.”

I nodded and pointed at the door. “How did you fix it so quickly?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. “See, that’s just it. I didn’t fix anything. It was like this when I got here about five minutes ago.”

“It was already fixed?”

“Yes, Miss.”

Who the hell fixed it? I was pretty sure Papan hadn’t arranged for anyone to fix it. His idea of dealing with the damage had been to tape a cardboard box in front of the glass hole, and kick things aside.

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”

“It’s okay, but I need to charge you for coming out here. The boss man won’t be too happy if I wasted time on an appointment without payment.”

“Sure. Just charge me for a standard quote.”

He nodded, scribbled a few things on the clipboard in front of him and I ended up paying for a quote that would never happen. Before, having to waste money needlessly would’ve annoyed the hell out of me, but today I didn’t mind. Though, I’d have to ask Papan if he knew anything about this.

“Thanks,” the handyman said.

“Sure, sorry for wasting your time.”

He smiled and made his way down the corridor. I watched him until he disappeared down the stairs, before glancing at the hallway window. That too had been shattered the night Papan’s office was totally trashed. He’d changed into a wolf and jumped out of it while trying to escape Vixen.

I shook myself out of the reverie and decided I couldn’t keep putting off whatever was waiting for me in my office. Besides, time was ticking and Oren would be waiting outside soon. He was very persistent and wouldn’t stop until he showed me whatever he thought he’d found. I was trying not to think about it too much. He’d tried to find out what could have happened to my grandparents’ ghosts for weeks, but hadn’t turned up anything. That he thought he was on to something should make me happy, but I just didn’t want to be disappointed again.

I rushed down the stairs and into my office.

“Oh, there you are, where have you been?” Ebony pushed off the armrest of her swivel chair as soon as I strolled into our colorful office.

Once upon a time, everything had been drab and falling to pieces—mostly secondhand things I’d accumulated and stored in my garage. But after a big job that cost me a temporary ghostly possession stint and a whole lot of trouble, we’d gotten enough money to invest some back into the business. Ebony and I took several weekends to paint the walls a serene blue, and buy furniture from IKEA. We both loved the process and the results.

Well, maybe not as much as having paid my outstanding debt to the Spook Catcher Council. I’d finally washed my hands of a debt that had been killing me since I left them over six years ago.

“Sierra!”

“Sorry, Eb, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

She rolled her eyes. “No kidding. Listen, I’ve got someone here to see you. She wants to hire us for a case.”

“And why couldn’t
you
deal with it?”

Ebony grabbed a hold of my hand, flashed a smile over her shoulder and then dragged me back out into the darkened corridor. “It’s one of those ancient ghosts you like to chitchat with at the restaurant you and Jonathan go to.”

I frowned. “The Wickers?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re both here?”

“No, just her.”

“That’s strange.” I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.

The Wickers were a married couple who also happened to be harmless, silent ghosts. They both died in a car accident after leaving their favorite place to eat—Luigi’s. They were always together, and I’d never seen them anywhere but at the restaurant. The owner actually had a table especially set up for them. I didn’t know where they went before or after, but I always chatted with them.

“I know! It’s strange, right? That’s why I had to call you in. I can’t deal with this by myself,” Ebony whispered.

“Why not? She’s just like every other ghost you’ve encountered lately.” Actually, if anything, Mrs. Wicker was probably an easier spook to deal with. She didn’t have any nastiness in mind or was running amok causing havoc.

“You don’t understand,” Ebony hissed, leaning closer. “She’s acting all weird. One second I can hear and see her, the next she flickers off.”

“She’s probably zoning out—”

“No, this isn’t zoning out.” Ebony’s blue-gray eyes were wide. “I’m telling you, there’s something really weird going on with her. Almost like…she’s barely holding on.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ebony tightened her grip on my hand. “Instead of standing out here and whispering about it, why don’t you just come inside and see for yourself?”