The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (best ereader for comics .txt) 📗

up and spoke more firmly. “And I don’t want you to start feeling guilty or anything like that. Parents make sacrifices for their kids. Your dad was happy to make the one that he did. He loved you. I love you.”

Tessa didn’t answer. It was too late. Guilt had already crept its way into her from every angle, like primordial black, tarry ooze, invading her peace. She shouldn’t be alive. Her dad had missed out on over half his life. And for what? So his daughter could be a waitress with no prospects—living paycheck to paycheck in a crappy apartment?

“Reaper work is complicated, Theresa,” Cheryl said, studying her daughter’s face. “There are a lot of nuances to it. You’re already learning that lesson well with Chet Sanborn. Sometimes, things don’t go the way they’re supposed to. All facets of life are complicated. Even death. It’s best not to overthink all the whys and wherefores. Just keep on doing your job. And right now, for you, that means finding your mark before he sets off a fracture between the worlds.”

Chapter 13

TESSA STOOD OUTSIDE of work trying to get her lungs to work properly again. The news about her dad had left her shocked and exhausted. She wasn’t sure what to do next. It was as though her day—her life—had gone completely sideways.

She allowed herself to wallow for a few minutes while the sun beat on her face. It had already chased away some of the spring morning chill, and sunlight glared off Linda’s windshield.

Tessa straightened her shoulders and marched toward the car. The thing about her dad was going to take a while to process. She was pretty sure sleep was going to be a thing of the past for a long time coming. But there were other things to do in the meantime. Like find Chet Sanborn’s spirit.

She was still confused about whether not finding him would cause some kind of demon apocalypse or if Gloria was right and it was no big deal. She didn’t really want to find out, and beyond that, she wanted to finish the job she’d set out to do.

After that . . . well, she wasn’t sure. Something had begun to niggle at her mind. Anger. She was angry with the reaper who took her dad instead of her. Angry at all reapers in general.

She didn’t think she wanted to be one after this. But that was a decision for another day.

Linda must have caught on to Tessa’s black mood because she didn’t cause any trouble, starting right away. In fact, she sounded like someone had given her a whole new engine. Tessa nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about.” She patted the dashboard. “Good girl.”

For a minute, she bit her lower lip and wondered where to go next. She glanced at the clock. It was lunchtime.

She headed to Frank’s Bar and Grill. She wasn’t sure why—except that it was the last place she’d seen Chet Sanborn’s spirit. She knew he wasn’t likely to be there again—not since the wake was over. But it was as good a place as any to start her search anew.

Plus, after Ricardo had talked them up, she had a craving for one of Frank’s cheeseburgers.

Speak of the devil.

Ricardo sat at the bar again, hunched over his meal. Tessa was surprised—she’d figured the creepy guy would spend most of his time at the casino. The night before, she downed her beer fast, paid her respects to Mary Sanborn, and left.

Maybe she should spend a bit more time talking to Ricardo this time. He seemed like he hadn’t been telling her the full story.

She sat next to him, earning herself a big, missing-tooth smile. She forced herself to smile back. “Oh, hey. Fancy meeting you here again.”

“Right back at ya, girlie. You’ve been here more lately than when you worked here.” He guffawed at his own joke, sloshing a little beer out of his glass. He wiped his hand on his pants. “Oh, hey, you want another beer?”

Or course she didn’t. It was barely noon. Still, she’d had a rough morning, so she did give it some thought.

“No. I think I’m going to have a burger. Then I need to get going.”

She ordered from the bartender and then sipped the ice water he’d dropped off.

“Ya know,” Ricardo began, “I was surprised to see you at Chet’s wake last night. I never saw you hanging out with him or anything before he died.”

“He was my neighbor.” She shrugged. “Hanging out isn’t the right term for our relationship. But I felt compelled to pay my respects.”

“Compelled, huh.” Ricardo took a gulp of his beer. “That’s one way to think about it.”

Tessa paused and then decided to see if she could get some information flowing. “Yeah, well, it’s true. I’ve learned some interesting things about Chet these past few days.”

“Interesting how?” Ricardo took the bait.

“Melinda Chino told me Chet owed the casino money. Do you know anything about that?”

Ricardo’s bushy eyebrows traveled upward. “Nah,” he scoffed. “That’s gotta be a lie. If anything, it’s the other way around. Chet won the grand prize at the blackjack tournament just a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if he managed to get paid before he checked out.”

Ricardo grabbed a handful of nuts from a bowl in front of him and munched away.

Tessa leaned back to get out of range of any peanut dust that may fly out of the unpleasant man’s mouth. But what he’d said was interesting. Could Melinda have owed Sanborn money? If that was the case, why had she sent her goons to his apartment? And then to her apartment? Could she have been trying to get the prize money back?

Her brow furrowed as she thought about it. None of it made any sense. Why would the casino put on a tournament and then try to steal the prize money back after it was awarded?

Tessa could only think of one reason. She continued to lean back since