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They had teacups in front of them but she knew the tea had been spiked hiskey--Gus’s favorite drink and cure-all
They swung their stools around to greet her, all raising their cups "Abby!"
She felt oddly as if they were saluting a monarch Maybe they were afraid she’d oust theuys," she said
Aldous reached for so and came over to her She noted the way his bald head shiray, sad, solemn
He’d collected another cup froht we’d have a private toast before you got caught up in all the craziness Gus was one of a kind A lot of people loved hi to miss him thethe cup froend live!" Bootsie said
She gave Aldous a kiss on the cheek and walked over to do the sauys all okay, ise?" She looked specifically at Dirk His "pirate" ship went out every day Dirk loved to play the pirate ood at it
"It’s handled I have the crew taking care of everything No way I wouldn’t honor Gus," Dirk told her
Macy ca over to her "Abby, the mayor wants to convey his condolences and the chief of police is here" She glanced at the men "If I can steal you away for a uys," she said as she acco day
She was cordial to the chief, despite the fact that she wasn’t feeling especially fond of the local police at the moment She supposed she couldn’t bla with the circumstances of an old man’s death couldn’t compare with so
And the autopsy did conclude that Gus had died of a heart attack, not surprising for soe anted to crawl around in historic tunnels as if he were a youngGus didn’t crawl around in tunnels!
Fine There was very little she could do about their lack of interest in the tunnels She’d contacted the officer in charge of her assign of her situation An old man had died It happened; that was life But, of course, she should take whatever time she needed and report in as soon as possible, let the
And she’d probably be in a boatload of trouble when she did return for an assignone over her supervisor’s head to contact another FBI unit leader
Jackson Crow
Croas in charge of a special section of the agency; he and his people were based in a field office of their own in Arlington, Virginia Froular offices, they were referred to as the "ghost busters" Despite that reference, they were held in awe by ents They had a spectacular record of solving cases She knew about Jackson Crow because he was a legend at the agency; he’d solved cases with various units before being asked to form a special one dedicated to situations that wereout of the ordinary
They were officially known as the Krewe of Hunters She assunment as a new unit had been in New Orleans, when the wife of a US senator had hosts "busted" She wanted so, that he’d needed to speak with her for a very real reason And from what she understood, while there were ru "special" abilities, they worked with evidence and cold hard facts Even so, Jackson’s units had often been called in when cases involved historic properties that were supposedly haunted
Heart attack or not, she was convinced Gus had been murdered His heart had stopped because he’d been startled or coht so horrible that he’d died of shock She hoped that her email to Jackson Crow, filled with inforonslayer, would bring hiate She wasn’t sure how she could ia, but she couldn’t let it rest She owed Gus way overnment personnel who’d turned out in respect for Gus, she was polite and circu theain her belief that he’d beenstares frorief--or suspected that, fresh from the academy, she’d try to create problems between federal and local law enforce An hour and a half later, she found herself at a table near the life-size i the spiked tea Aldous had handed her, with Grant Green, the night lish and Paul Wester Blue Anderson and Scurvy Pete Martin when she’d arrived a week ago
"I thought he was i "Lord, I loved that ic in history When ere kids, remember, he’d let us dress up? Sometimes we’d pretend to be captives that Blue had taken Or hai other men down to the ships"
"Never, ever paid us late" Paul s one of the storo and do a whole pirate day for a bunch of kids at one of the shelters He just did it out of the goodness of his heart"