Heather Graham - Ghost Shadow

“And then-”

“They went to lockup for the night to sober up,” David said.

“Hey, hey, times a-wasting!” Jamie said. “We’ll get onto all this later. Katie, you, in the kitchen. You still know the menu, eh? Gloria is still back there. She’ll call the shots.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Katie said.

“David, the bar, if you will. Sean-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Bus tables,” Sean said, rolling his eyes. “I’m on it.”

“That damned Danny Zigler comes in, wanting work, and where is he now?” Jamie said, shaking his head with disgust.

Dead, Katie wanted to say, but she didn’t. She hurried back to the kitchen.

The breakfast rush lasted into lunch, but by then, Jamie had managed to gather all his part-time employees and the operation was running smoothly again. At two o’clock, the regular employees had the dining stragglers under control. Katie, emerging from the kitchen, saw that her uncle, her brother and David were seated at one of the tables near the bar and the band stage where her karaoke equipment was set up. They seemed to be eased back, and talking.

Like old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a very long time.

She saw that Clarinda had stepped outside and went to join her on the sidewalk. “The air! Ah, the air, the air!” Clarinda said.

“So, what was going on with Mike Sanderson and Sam Barnard last night?” Katie asked. “Did they come in together?”

“No. Sam came in-he’s been coming in here pretty regularly since he got into town. Strange, huh? He’s been living up in Key Largo all this time, never came here, as far as I know, and now, this week, here he is.”

“And, wow, really go figure! Mike Sanderson, dressing up like Robert the Doll,” Katie said.

Clarinda shuddered and grimaced. “Now, that is frigging creepy- Oh, look!”

Katie looked down the street. She didn’t see anything unusual-not for Key West in the midst of Fantasy Fest. A pirate with a peg leg was escorting a vampire down Duval. The pirate was fairly customary-and good. He had an eye patch, a real peg leg and looked as if he might have stepped off the pages of Treasure Island.

The vampire wore a sweeping black skirt with stripes of blood that continued from the bodice of the gown, a tight-fitting corset. She was wearing the typical long black wig and white makeup, along with ruby-red lips.

“Cool costume-she looks good,” Katie said.

“Look harder!” Clarinda said, laughing.

Katie did. She gasped. “That corset is body paint! Oh, my God, that is amazing!”

“Yes, it is!” Sean announced, stepping up behind them.

“You’re a lech!” Clarinda accused.

“I am not. I’m commenting on a great paint job,” Sean assured her. He yawned. “Ladies, it’s been a thrill. Such a thrill. I’m going home and back to bed. Katie, be good, be careful. I’ll be at the house if you need me. All right, well, I’ll be at the house whether you need me or not, but I’ll have my cell. And don’t worry, I’ll be here for the Katie-oke, even if Jamie guilts me into busing tables again.”

He gave her and Clarinda a kiss on the cheek and started walking.

“Hey, the car’s in back!” Katie called.

“Leave it there-by the time tonight is over, we may be too tired to walk!”

Sean left, and David replaced him. “Hey, are you going to hang around here for a while?” he asked Katie.

“Maybe an hour,” Katie said. “I’ll just stay long enough to see that Jamie really has things under control.”

“I’ll be back then.”

He gave both girls a kiss on the cheek, and was gone.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Clarinda said. “Think about it-all our lives! Except for college, of course. All of our lives, and this place is still just crazy.”

“Yes, but that’s why I love it,” Katie said. “Black, white, gay, straight, Hispanic, Russian, Israeli, you name it. Somewhere along the line, someone made a rule that we’d all accept one another, and it seems to have stuck. I do. I love it here.”

“And I’ve never even seen you in body paint!” Clarinda teased. “Hey-Jamie was just saying he wanted us in the pirate costumes tonight. Want to walk down to Front Street and the pirate-costume-slash-sex shop with me?”

“Sure. Let me tell Jamie what I’m doing.”

“You need one, too, you know.”

“Me?”

“Hey, he wants to help celebrate the Fantasy Fest pirate party,” Clarinda said. “He’s open to vampires, too.”

“Great,” Katie said. She hurried back in to tell Jamie what she was doing, then joined Clarinda on the street.

“That thing is just creepy,” Clarinda commented as they passed by giant Robert the Doll.

“And it stinks around here,” Katie commented.

Clarinda frowned. “Old booze. Sweat. Maybe someone was sick.”

They walked down to Front Street, turned right and went the few blocks to the store. It was one of Katie’s favorite places. Half of the store sold sexy lingerie, sex toys and naughty Halloween costumes. The other half carried an amazing array for the pirates of Key West. Vests, period coats, shirts, skirts and more. It was possible to be a wench, an aristocrat, an elegant buccaneer or a scurvy mate. The morning had been so busy, she’d been able to set aside everything that had been happening.

Certainly, the city did not seem to be mourning the passing of one of its strippers.

Clarinda tried on a variety of costumes, and decided on a wench. Katie was musing between a corset, blouse and skirt, and a recreation of an Elizabeth Swann costume when Bartholomew appeared at her elbow. “The corset,” he said. “Very real. Miss Swann wasn’t a true pirate wench in any way-she was forced aboard, a kidnap victim. I did love that movie,” he said.

“Where have you been this time?” Katie asked him.

“Home,” he said. She arched a brow, but the ghost had claimed her house as his own, and didn’t appear to notice the way she looked at him. Bartholomew was deep in thought.

“I’m right here, Katie,” Clarinda said, frowning.

“I’m going to go with the shirt, corset thing and skirt,” Katie said.

“Can you sing in that thing?”

“The ties are fake-there’s a zipper in back and it’s stretchy. I’ll be fine,” Katie said.

“I’ve been reading the book,” Bartholomew said. “Nice piece of nostalgia for me. Beckett was a damned decent man.”

“That’s good to hear,” Katie said.

“Pardon?” Clarinda said.

“They’ll be able to hear me fine,” Katie said. She glared tight-lipped at Bartholomew, who shrugged.

“I know that the key to all this is in the past. Did you see the part where Beckett mentions that Smith cursed him from the noose?”

Katie lowered her head. “I can’t talk to you now, Bartholomew,” she said.

“Katie?” Clarinda said.

“Sorry, arguing with myself,” Katie said. “Come on, let’s pay for this stuff.”

At the counter, she produced her credit card, assuring Clarinda that they were giving the bill to Jamie. As she waited to sign the slip, Katie gazed out the window.

The sun was filtering in. For a moment, it seemed to blind her.

Then, she saw that Tanya was standing there. Standing there, beautiful and sad in white, as if waiting for her company.

“Sign that for me, will you?” Katie said to Clarinda. “Please.”

“Where are you going? Katie, are you all right? Hey, wait!” Clarinda said.

But Katie was already on her way out.

Tanya waited, caught in that glimmer of sunlight, until Katie was nearly upon her. Then she started to walk.

Katie made her way through buxom lasses and strapping pirates, and a U.S. Navy sea captain here and there. Vampires and zombies were crowding the streets, as well. The season was changing-it was just hot instead of dead hot-but all manner of costumes were being worn-naked and in paint, almost naked, to period frock coats and heavy fabric skirts.