Deadly Fate by Heather Graham Page B

kitchen. Twice. And she was...she was in one piece. I’m sorry. I guess I freaked out. I assumed that maybe all of you were in on it.”
    â€œShe thought I was a stripper!” Thor said indignantly.
    â€œThere are many legitimate places where people work,” Clara said, cringing inwardly.
    Jackson and Mike both laughed. “Stripper!” Mike repeated, grinning. “Hey, there, Magic Mike!”
    Thor looked at him, a brow hiked.
    â€œI’m sorry!” Clara said again.
    â€œNo one is playing tricks here,” Jackson said quietly.
    Clara winced, lowering her head. “So, she’s—real. As in really dead—and really a ghost?” she whispered.
    She’d have given her eyeteeth for Alexi to be there. Alexi took all such things in stride; she believed that ghosts had come to help her on the Destiny.
    â€œThe thing is,” Thor said, coming to hunch down before her, causing her to meet his eyes, “Amelia apparently thinks you can help her. She appeared before you.”
    â€œYou saw her!” she told him. “I know that you saw her!”
    Clara hoped he would deny it.
    He did not.
    â€œYes, I saw her because...”
    â€œHe saw her because he can see the dead,” Jackson said flatly. “Actually, many people can. Most of them never know it. Some feel a presence. Some actually see things. And some—well, I guess the dead pick and choose who they wish to speak with, just like the living. And the dead are like the living—some can barely appear. Some can learn to shift the air and make noise, even to move small objects, while some cannot. I know you’re aware that Alexi has always quietly had something extra. You know about the Destiny. ”
    She was surprised when Thor set a hand gently on her knee. “It’s hard to grasp. When you’re older...an adult. I knew very young that I saw things that others didn’t. That I heard things. That dreams could be warnings, the dead entering our subconscious minds. It’s hard. Truly hard. But, once you let yourself accept that while a large majority of the world might think you’re crazy despite the fact that you’re not at all, it gets easier.”
    â€œAnd you find that you can embrace it—and do a lot of good with it,” Jackson said.
    Thor was looking at her earnestly. She looked back at him and shook her head.
    â€œWhy?” she whispered. “Why would she come to me? Members of her film crew are here. You all are here...people she could just chat with at will, apparently!”
    Thor glanced at Jackson before looking at her and answering. “She might not trust the members of her own crew.”
    Clara sat in silence for a minute.
    â€œWe need you to be open to her,” Jackson said.
    â€œWhat?” she asked.
    â€œAmelia may well know her killer,” Thor said.
    Clara looked at him. She was amazed that this strong and serious man could be speaking to her about ghosts.
    Then again, she’d wanted to believe that he was a stripper/actor and that it was all make-believe.
    â€œSo,” she said, slowly and carefully, “you think that this ghost will just walk up to me and tell me who killed her? And then you’ll make an arrest and go to court and convince a jury to convict someone on a ghost’s testimony?”
    â€œNo, but if Amelia approached you, she did so for a reason,” Thor replied.
    She let that settle in and then she said, “You want me to go back to bed by myself and just wait and see if the ghost shows up—in my dreams? Or, um, in person?” she asked.
    â€œOf course not,” Thor said, the corners of his mouth turning up. He actually had a nice smile. To her surprise, he kept smiling gently as he smoothed a strand of hair back out of her eyes. “We don’t mean to terrify or make anyone miserable. Do you think you could get some rest on the couch here? Either Jackson, Mike or I will be in