She shoved me, and I smiled, thinking how I loved to rile her. When that flush of irritation rose to her cheeks, she practically glowed.
“Seriously,” I said. “Let’s do something. Judith and Eric are at a meeting, which means your mom is likely busy. Nobody will even miss us.”
She shifted on the bed, and I couldn’t keep my eyes from straying to her tanned legs peeking out from beneath the frayed hem of her short denim cutoffs.
Flopping back onto her pillows, she turned her head to me in a staccato movement. “What did you have in mind?” She lifted the hem of her shirt and scratched at her stomach, the action revealing soft, smooth skin like ivory. I swallowed hard.
Because my brain was already there, I said, “Let’s go skinny-dipping.”
“Why, stud Kholt, are you trying to get me naked?”
How did I answer that? Yes, I was absolutely trying to get her naked, but these feelings I had for her were mine and mine alone. She’d never once even hinted that she may feel the same about me. That made me sad but also a bit determined. I was only fifteen. She had just turned sixteen. I had plenty of time to try to win her over and get her to feel even a fraction of what I felt for her.
“Will you hit me if I say yes?” I had to at least test the waters, right?
“Nah,” she said, shrugging a graceful shoulder that peeked from where her oversized tee had fallen off it. “My body is kind of bangin’.”
I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. She didn’t often joke about herself like that, especially not with complimentary things. She often tried to make her self-deprecation into jokes, but I saw right through that. This? This seemed genuine, and I reveled in it. She was definitely in a good mood.
“Yeah, we can head down to the pond,” she said. “But I’m wearing a suit, you perv.” She smiled, and I once again got lost in those budding fern eyes. “Will you wait for me?”
“Always.”
I snapped back to the present and answered her smile. She waved me over and then went back to talking with Dev. I made my way to them and pulled out the chair to her right.
“What are you guys poring over?” I asked as I sat.
“These are the different blueprints for the two steamboat houses,” Dev said, pointing at the table. “Hanlen and Harper were able to gather a bunch of them from city records, and we’re just trying to piece together when the additions were made so we can have a bit of a timeline for some of the spirit activity.”
“That’s cool,” I said, meaning it. “Did you guys find out any more about the previous homeowners?”
Dev looked at me, shocking me once again with the color of his ocean-water eyes. I wondered if they were contacts like Lark wore or if it had something to do with his magic. “We did. A little, anyway. That’s one of the things we need to discuss here this evening before we head over to the Ninth.”
“Speaking of . . .” Lark said and stood.
“Guys!” she called, and everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to her. I loved seeing her in boss mode. It made her even sexier—if that was possible. “Bring it in. Let’s get these discussions started so we can head over. My witchy intuition is screaming at me that we need to get over there. I think we’re going to have a really good night of activity.” I could almost sense the joy coming off her. She really did love her job. And despite all the things that were likely weighing on her mind right now, she was content to lose herself in the joy of doing what she loved, at least for a little while.
Everybody took their places at the table, and Harper and Hanlen filled everybody in on the research they and Burke had uncovered. Apparently, the deed had been in a company name for quite a while. After some additional digging, they found that it was a shell company but were having a tough time tracking the trail. All they knew for certain, and more from speaking with people who had lived in the area, was that a large, multi-family unit lived in both mansions and there was a lot of traffic.
There were many mentions of a middle-aged woman named Susan, so they were going on the assumption that she was the head of the household. What that meant, was anyone’s guess. My brain churned with this knowledge, and I kept coming back to something.
“Hey, guys?” I said, feeling a little bad about interrupting but needing to get my thoughts out. “Given all our recent talks lately about Balance of Light, doesn’t this situation sound a lot like what we grew up with?” I asked and then glanced at Turner before looking at Lark.
“Now that you mention it,” Turner said, “yep, it does. A bunch of people living together in the same houses, one person seemingly in charge, lots of traffic in and out. And what did you say, Hanlen?” he asked and turned to her. “That one of the neighbors mentioned them having church services under a big tent on the lawn by the levee?”
Hanlen shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what he said. Said it was really weird and always gave his wife the creeps.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Turner exclaimed. “How many cults are in this damn state?”
“I bet we’d be surprised,” Harper mumbled, and I could see that she knew more than she was letting on. I wondered how many of her clients were dealing with trauma from being in narcissistic, manipulative relationships or circumstances.
Dev took charge of the conversation again. “Okay, so we know that we will likely encounter the captain; his wife, Mary; their son, Paul; the little girl, Miranda; the three children the one homeowner lost to the river; and the Katrina drowning victims again. But now we need to be on the lookout for any of the people from this ownership phase. If you encounter anyone, make sure you ask a lot of questions. We need to fill in some of these holes. And it’ll be great for the show. The locals will love having all that history revealed.”
Everybody nodded.
“Oh!” Lark said, sitting up straight. “I almost forgot. I haven’t listened to my voice recordings from the walk-through the other day when I met Mary Doullut. We have some of the best equipment and speakers here at HQ. Should we listen?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah, we should listen,” Dev said and went to get the stuff. Van helped him set everything up as Lark pulled her voice recorder out of her bag and consulted her notes, getting it to where she wanted it before plugging it into the sound equipment.