The Helena Diaries - Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Series Novellas) Read Online Free PDF Page A

worry. For someone who never worried about anything, it was an oppressive feeling.
    Maryse was halfway up the sidewalk to the café before I realized she had no intention of letting me out of the car. I starting yelling, and she gave me this aggrieved look before opening the passenger door to let me out of the car, then proceeded to nag on my ghostly flaws again until I pointed out that everyone in the café thought she was talking to a car door.  
    In continuing her Bitch of the Day routine, Maryse sat at the edge of the booth opposite from Wheeler, clearly trying to prevent me from sitting down. Like that would stop me. I quite literally had all day to stand on the table if I chose to. Instead, I took the classy out and slid onto the booth beside Wheeler, who shivered and commented about a draft.  
    Great. If I never learned to move things, maybe I could freeze people to death.
    Wheeler started in on the inheritance requirements—Maryse couldn’t leave town for one week or she forfeits the inheritance, and she needed to provide Wheeler with an heir since she has no children of her own. So far, none of this sounded dire and certainly wasn’t the thing I couldn’t remember but thought I needed to. Then Wheeler said after the week passed, the land would be safe in the hands of the person she designated, if something were to happen to Maryse.
    Maryse looked confused and asked what happened if something dire occurred before that week had passed. Wheeler told her the land would then pass to the next heir—in this case the only other heir, Hank.
    That was it!
    The important thing I’d forgotten!
    Holy shit! This was way worse than I’d suspected.
    Maryse had to make sure she didn’t kick the bucket for at least a week, or the land would go straight into the hands of my useless, money-grubbing son, and it was clear by what she said to Wheeler that she’d clued in to the perilous state her existence had just taken on.
    Wheeler assured Maryse that the land’s real value was sentimental and she had no reason to suspect anyone would wish her harm for an amount as small as the annual lease payment, but she didn’t look completely convinced. Wheeler was wrong, of course, but he had no way of knowing that, as I’d never shown him the papers that were stolen from my safe. He had no idea that the real value of the land was FAR beyond sentimental.
    Suddenly, Maryse’s truck wreck took on a whole new level of importance. What if it hadn’t been an accident?
    Maryse finished the paperwork and left the café, but instead of leaving, she loitered outside on the sidewalk until after Wheeler drove away. Then she told me to spill because she knew I was hiding something. I really need to work on my poker face, even if Maryse is the only one who can see it.
    She was mad as a hornet when I told her that the missing papers from my safe detailed out exactly how much oil was located beneath the ground in the preserve. Billions of dollars’ worth, to be exact.
    She yelled at me that I’d made her a walking target for Harold and Hank, and with the stupid requirements for the will, she couldn’t even leave town to hide from them. I tried to convince her that she had a secret weapon in me because I was an invisible sentinel who could warn her if anything was amiss.  
    Unconvinced, she called me The Angel of Death and tore out of the parking lot. I didn’t even try to jump in the car. I was beginning to wonder if Maryse was right about me.
     

Trouble in Mudbug—Chapter Eight
     
    Wherein Helena goes blind at the Mudbug Hotel
    The investigation was stalled and my detective had fled, so I knew I had to take charge. First up was learning how to walk through walls and move things. It was time I started taking my ghostly role seriously.
    Recalling how the ladies at the beauty shop were running me down the day before, I figured I’d start there attempting to move bleach around, but they had the television on the Oxygen network and I