Ghosts of July (Shamans of the Divide, Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-three

The shift went slowly. Painfully slowly.

I was wiping down the stools at the end of my shift when Sherilee walked in. I glanced up and said hello, but paused when I saw the look on her face. Her brows were knit together and she had a frown. A few seconds later, I realized why.

Willard, the sheriff's deputy, walked in behind Sherilee with his Stetson in his hand.

I looked at Sherilee and then at the deputy.

"What is it?" I finally asked.

"Willard seems to think Lara's gone missing," Sherilee said.

"She's a flake," Lem called from the bowels of the kitchen. "The new girl's just partied too hard with her boyfriend and is sleeping it off somewhere."

"Evenin', Mr. Carroll," Willard said with a nod toward the kitchen. He looked at me.

"Have you heard anything from Ms. Espinoza in the last couple days?"

"I haven't worked since Friday afternoon," I said. "This is my first shift back and Nana hasn't mentioned it."

"The first shift she missed was last night," Virginia said from the bus tub. "Then this afternoon. That's why July's here."

Willard scribbled in a small notebook he pulled from his shirt pocket.

"Has someone reported her missing?" I asked, eyeing Lem picking up the phone. He was calling Nana, I knew it.

"Her mom's been trying to get in touch with her since Sunday night. Said she's been staying with her boyfriend in a trailer out by the river. But there's no sign of anyone out there and the boyfriend's been in Nebraska since last weekend staying with his mother."

None of us had much to offer Willard and it wasn't long before he bid us all a good evening and told us to give his office a call if we heard anything. A few minutes after he left, Nana burst through the doors. Lem met her by the cash register and the two whispered back and forth while Lem caught her up. Nana shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her right hand. It was her tell. She was worried. Making her way over to me, she pulled me into a half hug against her.

"Hey there, Buttercup," she said. "You should head on home now. It's been a long afternoon."

Nodding, I moved to hang up my apron and grab my backpack from the lockers in the kitchen. Reaching for my stuff, I noticed the phone Skye had left with me. I'd forgotten all about it.

Tossing it in my back pocket, I walked out the back door and fired up the car. As I was backing out of the spot, my back pocket vibrated. Freezing, I looked around, wondering if spirits were attacking me. Staying perfect still, I held my breath and felt it again.

The phone. I'd already forgotten about putting it in my pocket.

Chuckling at myself, I pulled it out and got to the home screen. It was a text message from Skye—he'd programmed his phone number into there as promised.

 

 

Text Message From: Skyes Phone

Hey... Renn said they just finished

warding your place. You should be

all good. Get some sleep. I might

wake you up later.

My first reaction was disappointment that Renn hadn't messaged me to let me know. Upon checking the phone's directory, my heart sank a little further when I realized Renn's phone number wasn't even programmed into the stupid thing. It was just Skye and my old friend Coyote. I wondered how they'd managed to ward the house with Nana at home, but she'd looked so tired earlier today that I was certain she would have slept through a hurricane.