“It’s a lot for someone to believe in faith. Is your cousin still on board? Can she fake her appendix hurting or something?”
“She could, but it wouldn’t go over well since she had it removed last year.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” I push my fingers through my hair, closing my eyes as I think. I could go down and cause a scene, but it wouldn’t solve the problem. “There’s a bird cam watching robin’s eggs in the graveyard right in front of Stuart’s grave. It’s running on ethernet, not Wifi, if that means anything to you. Julia is checking if she can hack into the livestream and give us an hour loop. Digging up the grave isn’t gonna happen tonight.”
“Is there any other way you can keep your aunt off the property?” Ethan asks, brows furrowing.
“Save for setting the place on fire, no. She’s a determined single mom who’s in a lot of debt. Normally I’d admire the shit out of her determination .”
“She’s bringing her interior designer today,” I tell Ethan since he missed that part. Nik pokes his head in from the kitchen, face paled. “Who is Pagan.”
“I’ll drive over there,” Ethan starts. “And say I’m with the county and—”
“She knows what you look like,” Keith says apologetically. “She asked if it would be weird to follow Anora on her socials and I said yes, so of course she did.”
“Nik?” Ethan suggests and Nik shakes his head.
“Druid, remember? That thing could sense me the moment I walked in.”
“Okay,” Ethan says calmly. “We’ll handle it, don’t worry.”
“I have an idea,” I start. “You’re going to hate it, but I know one way for sure to keep her from setting foot on the property. We turn it into a crime scene.”
Nik cocks and eyebrow. “You’re gonna kill someone?”
“No. I mean, I’m going to go to the police and I’ll tell them everything.”
ChapterTwenty-Four
“Absolutely not,” Ethan rushes out. “That’s a horrible idea.”
“Is it?” I ask, wincing. “They can’t arrest me for any of it. And the police have worked with psychics before. That’s what I’ll say. I had a vision and I think it’s something they should check out.”
“We shouldn’t raise suspicions until after we desiccate a corpse.”
“I normally would agree but right now, saving the Feng Shui lady’s life is urgent. And—shit—there’s that Wicca gathering or whatever it’s called coming up soon.”
Ethan closes his eyes, shaking his head. “Fuck. There’s a chance they could exhume Stuart’s grave to get a DNA sample.”
“And if that’s the case, they’d be doing half the work for us. The coroner’s office in PV is pretty small, as I found out today when doing all my research. They’d take the body there, right? Or do they just grab some crusty hair and put him back in the ground? That sounds insensitive but the guy is a massive prick. Either way, at the least the ground will be softened up.”
“It would depend on what they’re doing,” Ethan tells me and lets out another slow breath. “I can come with you.”
“I’ll be fine. Stay here in case I get held up and you have to go kick some ghost ass or something. Keith, you have Ethan’s number, right?”
“I do.”
“Good. How long until your aunt is supposed to go to the house?”
“She didn’t specify, but it won’t be until after she gets off work around five. She’ll be there before the designer.”
“I have a couple hours then. I’ll update you as soon as I can,” I tell Keith.
“I feel like I need to wish you luck, so, uh, good luck,” he replies.
“Thanks.” I end the call and sit on the couch next to Ethan. I’m sweaty and smell like horses so I need to run upstairs and take a quick shower before I go into the police station. As much as I hate admitting the looks matter, appearing put together will help me look a little more credible.