Ghost Mortem (Ghost Detective #1) - Jane Hinchey Page 0,2

hit the wall behind it and chipped the plaster.

I pointed to it. “That wasn’t me!”

Mr. Brown’s eyes bulged, his ruddy cheeks and bulbous nose became even redder, and his wide girth jiggled as rage built inside him. His hand clenched into a fist, relaxed, then clenched again and I just knew he wanted to punch me in the face. Literally. Thankfully he had more sense than to risk a potential lawsuit.

“Out!” He pointed at the door. “Get out and don’t come back. You’re fired!”

I skirted around him, keeping out of reach just in case he forgot himself and decided to give me a clip around the ears as a farewell present. Hurrying back to my cubicle, I quickly gathered up my belongings.

“Oh no.” Joey poked his head over the divider between our cubicles and watched as I shoved my lip balm, phone, and a pad of Post-it notes into my bag.

“Yep.” I nodded. “I warned you not to get attached.” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I beamed at him. “See ya, Joey. Thanks for everything. Good luck with the presentation today. I’m sorry I left such a mess for you to clean up.”

“Audrey, wait.” Joey hurried after me. Stopping at the elevator, I jabbed at the button, keen to be gone before Mr. Brown re-appeared. I didn’t want to be responsible for him having a heart attack and I feared that was the only possible outcome if he laid eyes on me again.

“Let me talk to him,” Joey pleaded. “Give him time to calm down. Maybe he’ll give you a second chance.”

I patted Joey’s cheek. “Bless you.” I smiled sweetly, knowing he meant well. “But please don’t. To be fair, my assignment was almost up. Lee comes back from vacation in two days.”

“Oh.” Joey’s face was crestfallen. “Well, maybe we could meet up for drinks after work? A proper farewell?”

“Yeah sure, that’d be cool.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Stepping inside, I turned. “Text me the deets.”

God, I thought Joey was about to cry. His eyes welled up and his chin wobbled. The doors closed and I heard him call out, “See you, Audrey.” Leaning back, I waited for the elevator to deposit me on the ground floor. It didn’t have far to travel since Mr. Brown’s offices were on the third floor, but experience told me I was safer to take the elevator rather than the stairs.

The elevator arrived in the foyer and I hurried across to the rotating doors, concentrating hard on not getting squashed, smiling when I successfully navigated the moving doors to step out onto the sidewalk outside. I’d left my car a couple of blocks away, where the parking was free. I headed toward it, keeping a close eye on the people around me to avoid any further collisions. One unfortunate incident a day was quite enough.

Boss. You’ve got a message! My phone announced. Probably Joey with details of the after-work meet-up. Digging in my bag, I pulled out my phone and squinted through the broken screen to see Joey's smiling face.

Six o’clock at the Crown and Anchor.

I started to text back when it happened. It wasn’t my fault, I swear. I was jostled from behind. From. Behind. But of course, that jostling had a snowball effect and I sort of cannoned into the person in front and then shot off at a sideways angle, twisting my ankle as I stumbled over the curb—and looked up in time to see a bus bearing down on me.

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Hard fingers wrapped around my arm and yanked me back. The bus whizzed past, whipping my hair back from my face, only I’d now gathered momentum and with those fingers still wrapped around my arm, I swung around and hit my rescuer fair in the nuts.

“Oooof.” He dropped my arm to clutch at his crotch instead. “Son of a…” he groaned.

“I’m so sorry!” He was bent over, so all I could really see were his denim-clad legs—black denim, my favorite—and his dark hair as he dragged in a pained breath. I reached forward to offer a consoling pat on his shoulder when he suddenly straightened and our heads collided with a loud crack.

“Ow!” Pain ricocheted through my skull and I staggered backward, raising a hand to the egg already forming on my forehead.

“Jesus Christ,” my rescuer cursed. “Just stand still and don’t move.”

I did as I was told, watching as the dark-haired stranger straightened and I finally got a good look at him. My, oh my!