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Of course she did

"Just keep your distance and don’t get in our way" There was a hint of growl in Cody’s voice "Daise?"

"Ha with my full arms "I can’t do both"

He extended one hand "Haot frostbite"

Stacey raised the video ca," I said shortly "And will you please get the fuck out of our way, Stacey!"

She did, but she trailed after us Our footsteps boomed on the metal ramp that provided access to the Osikayas froabbling voices co from the ballroom on the upper deck

In case I haven’tship Think Titanic on a slightly s Back in her heyday, she was a passenger steamship on the Great Lakes She had more than a hundred staterooms, some of them with private baths, which was pretty is are long gone, but structural eleilded balustrade re the state deck toward the ballroom--or at least I did until Cody froze

"What?" Stacey said behindthe entrance to the dining hall and ballroo party inside--and ht out of a Tim Burton movie She wasn’t entirely transparent, but she wasn’t opaque, either Her ure hovered a few inches above the floor, her head canted to one side at an unnatural angle, her feet dangling in ivory-colored satin puht," I said, and took the lead, hoisting the spirit lantern

The ghost in the doorway turned, creating an eddy of cold air that s lilies

I sucked intulle bridal veil knotted around the apparition’s neck Her face was dark and ed in their sockets, the whites laced with a patchwork of broken blood vessels, and her tongue protruded frohost bride askedout the words with difficulty She held out her aresture "’Ave oo theen my huthband?"

Ew And yet I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her Soht

"No," I said softly "I’ here, ma’am This isn’t your place anymore And I’m here to help you find your way back to where you can rest in peace"

I opened the shutter on the spirit lantern, and radiant white light tinged with an ethereal hint of blue spilled forth The ghost flew backward, ar behind her on the worn green carpeting In the ballrooany wall panels and etched-glass skylights, wedding guests cried out in alare of events

Cody darted past me, hammer in one hand and a nail in the other "Hold it steady, Daise!"

I did

Unfortunately, we hadn’t counted on the fact that beneath the carpeting, the floors of the Osikayas were steel Cody’s ha, but his nail sihost drifted, toes trailing over the carpeting "’Ere’th my huthband?" she asked a pair of brides each other "’Ave oo theen ht, they shook their heads

"Oh, my God!" Stacey Brooks was in the middle of the ballroom, camera raised "This is fantastic!"

I flashed her with the spirit lantern

"Ow!" She glared at me

"Daisy!" Cody pointed toward the far end of the ballrooot to get her over there"

"Right" Now that the ghost was no longer blocking the exit, wedding guests werebride and her new husband As the groouy in a tuxedo looked a lot like any other "You I need you to go stand over there in the far corner"

He gaped "Are you out of your er intoit crack like a whip "Goddaroo in the corner of the dance floor

I shuttered the spirit lantern and approached the ghost "Hey," I said to her, pointing "Isn’t that your husband over there?"

Her bulging eyes blinked, or at least they almost blinked Her eyelids couldn’t quite close "’Oo!" she , head canted "’Ow could oo do thith do roo between his fingers in terror I waited until the apparition had reached the edge of the parquet before opening the shutter on the spirit lantern again, letting the brilliant light cast the ghost’s shadow on the squares of polished wood

Fro hi off a knee slide worthy of Kevin Bacon in Footloose He planted a nail shost bride’s shadow, raised the ha blow

The ghost vanished