Rocks & Gravel (Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thrillers Book 3) by Catie Rhodes Page A

but this’ll work in a pinch. She doesn’t look as awful as she did.” Rainey gripped my arm and tugged me toward the party barn, lecturing me in her courtroom voice as we went. “Sheriff Joey Holze posted to some online social media sites today about Dean’s problems back in Louisiana.”
    “How bad?” My throat ached again, and I knew I’d end up crying if I didn’t get myself under control. The day had taken its toll on me. What Sheriff Joey did made sense. The poisonous son of a bitch hated Dean and me wholeheartedly. Me for being a ghost-seeing, devil-worshiping freak and Dean for having the temerity to run against him in the sheriff’s election. Using underhanded methods to get ahead in the election fit the nasty SOB to a tee.
    “Bad enough,” Rainey said. “He posted links to newspaper articles about Dean’s partner getting killed and about him resigning in a cloud of drunken disgrace. The article he linked to mentioned Dean and his wife-at-the-time were getting divorced and did all kinds of creative speculating about the reasons.” She puckered her lips as though she tasted something sour. “Of course, Sheriff Joey made comments like ‘Is this who you want for your sheriff?’ in his postings online.”
    “This is so embarrassing,” Hannah moaned. “I can’t believe my uncle acts like this.”
    Teeth clenched together so hard it hurt, I imagined how satisfying it would be to put signs with stuff like “gorilla cock sucker” and “dookey breath” in Joey’s yard right alongside his “Joseph Holze for Sheriff” signs.
    “You’ve got to get in there and make Dean look good.” Rainey gave my arm a shake to emphasize her point.
    “What if we leak what you found in Joey’s house?” I spoke to Hannah.
    “There’s no proof either of you found anything.” Rainey, many inches taller than me, stooped to lean into my face. I’d known her since we were six. She was the most competitive person I’d ever met. She signed on as Dean’s campaign manager with one conclusion in mind: winning. She wouldn’t tell me to keep Joey’s likely theft of the Mace House to myself to be nice.
    “She’s right,” Hannah said. “We’ve got nothing.”
    A rivulet of sweat tickled its way down my side. The day’s upheaval had pushed the election to the back of my mind. All my worries came roaring back wearing streamers and waving. How you doing, Peri Jean? Let’s par-tay. Dean’s chances of winning looked dire, and I had no idea how to help. Me showing up to a public appearance looking like a dirty possum would actually crap things up worse.
    Dean came out of the big metal building, turning his head left and right, obviously looking for me. Rainey inspected me once again, grimaced, and pushed me towards Dean.
    “What the hell happened to her?” He spoke to Rainey.
    “She was visiting Eddie.” Rainey put her hands on her hips. “Time got away from her, I think.”
    Dean took several steps closer to me and put his arms around my waist. I leaned against him, and his lips brushed mine, casually at first, then more seriously. “You’re beautiful no matter what,” he mumbled against my lips, his breath mingling with mine. I drank in the scent of soap coming off his clean skin and thought, as I always did when he touched me, we’d figure out a way to make everything work.
    “Come on in.” He threaded his fingers through mine. “I want to you to stand with me onstage. Your memaw has her camera ready.”
    Dean opened the building’s door. Both of us winced as a blast of country music greeted us.
    A loose crowd had congregated on the far side of the room. Nobody paid much attention to either Dean or me until we took the small stage. There was no microphone, so Dean raised his voice. He knew how to holler from his job in law enforcement.
    “Folks?”
    People slowly turned our way. Someone began clapping, and a short burst of applause swept through the room.
    “First, thank you all for coming out