I had a feeling my current roommate didn’t know about the interview and wouldn’t be thrilled to find out.

Which meant him catching me here, at said interview, was not good news.

Basically, this was about to turn into a turd tango.

“What is your name?” I didn’t have a lot of time before Corb caught up to me, and then the yelling match would happen.

The creature that may or may not have started as human swayed faster. I snapped my fingers at him twice, once with each word. “Name. Now!” A trick Gran had used in front of me more than once to make people sit up and take notice.

His shoulders hunched a little. “Robert.”

“Robert.” He was probably lying but whatever. “You stay here until I get back.” I pointed with the flashlight at the gravestone and he put his hand out . . . only it wasn’t a hand. It was a skeleton with bones for fingers and not much else. And I just stared because I wasn’t sure I could do anything else. My brain shut down a little, and I might have peed myself just a tiny bit.

Here’s the thing. Believing is one thing; seeing is another, altogether. Don’t believe me? The first time you see a ghost or a bogey, you and I can discuss the physiological effects. And while it was not my first time, it was the first time in a long time.

As it was, I just turned on my heel and strode toward the gate as if my body weren’t totally freaking out. “Corb.”

He startled as he lifted his head and saw me. “Bree, what are you doing here?” His blue eyes narrowed, and even in the dark, I thought I could see them glimmer. He said, “Damn it, Eammon gave you a card, didn’t he? He asked you to come.”

I nodded. “He did. He thinks I’d be a good fit, so I’m here for an interview.” I tipped my chin up, daring him to challenge me.

He snorted. “You’re too old. Our oldest trainees are in their early thirties, and even that is too old in my opinion for this job.”

Oh, he did not. “Say that again? I think my hearing is going. Eh, sonny? What did you say to me old self?” Okay, so I’d slid into some form of pirate speak, but I figured there was no point in pretending to be normal now. “I can’t be hearing you with my aged ears, not as good as they used to be.” I bent forward for effect, touching my lower back as if I were a hundred and ten, not forty-one, thank you very much.

I looked up as he rolled his eyes. “This job isn’t for . . . we don’t hire women for the most part,” Corb said, trying to take another tack that was almost equally insulting. “Go back to the loft.”

Sounded too much like telling the little woman to go home so the men could take care of things. I think not. I stood straight and gave him my best resting bitch face.

“No. If you’ll recall, you have no say over me or my life. We aren’t married. We aren’t even,” I made a rude gesture with the flashlight and my free hand. If he wanted old school, I’d give it to him. The light bobbed in and out of my cupped hand several times. “Not that us doing that would give you any say, either.”

Would he get the Seinfeld reference? Probably not. Too young.

His jaw flexed and I flipped the flashlight up, so it pointed directly at his face, blinding him. “I’ve already picked the lock and made friends with one of your creepy skeleton people, so I’m doing just fine. Thank you very much for your lack of faith in me and my rickety old female body.”

His eyes narrowed along with the line of his mouth. Pity, his mouth was lovely and full. “We are hiring because three of our recent hires were killed, Breena. On the job.”

Oh. Well, I suppose that wasn’t a shock. Eammon had mentioned it could be dangerous, and they didn’t pay you twenty thousand a month to twiddle your thumbs at a desk job. Gran had always said the shadow world wasn’t for the faint of heart or the slow of wit. I was neither.

I lowered the flashlight and shrugged. “And who would care if I was gone? Not Himself. My parents and Gran are long gone. No kids, despite my advanced age.”

His very nice jaw flexed again, and he shook his head. “I’m one of the interviewers and I won’t pass you. That would mean you’d need the other four to agree. And that’s just to get to the training. It doesn’t take into account the final test after all the training.”

“Fine. If I fail, then I fail. You’re acting like they might actually pass me, and you don’t like that.” My eyes widened. “Is that what you think? That they might hire me, and you don’t want to work with me?”

“It’s bad enough you showed up on my doorstep without any warning!” he snapped. “You’re making my life miserable!”

“That,” I held up a finger, “was a funny night. I will hold on to that until the day I die.” I laughed, remembering the shock on his face. The sheets wrapped around his waist and the very obvious arousal I was ruining as his girl of the night left in a hurry. It had been raining, my makeup had run down my face, and I’d had all of two bags and no money. He’d had to pay the cab driver for me. That part wasn’t so funny, but the girl running out? Hilarious.

Maybe you had to be there. Or maybe you just had to be me with a terribly mean sense of humor.

“It was not funny! I’d been trying to get in her pants for months! You screwed me over!” he said, keeping his voice low and growly. Like he was going to intimidate me? I think not.

I burst out laughing. “It was funny, and nobody got screwed that night. If the worst thing that happens to you is that your plans for getting laid get sidetracked, you aren’t doing too bad.” I pointed the flashlight at him, right in his face again because he was irritating me. “And if you’ll remember, you offered me a place to stay. I just took you up on it.”

“I was drunk,” he growled. “That’s not the kind of offer you think your cousin’s ex is going to take you up on! It’s polite social etiquette to offer, but you were supposed to turn me down! And you didn’t even call before you showed up.” As if I’d broken social protocol by not phoning. Ha!

“Not my problem. I got it on video, remember?” I grinned up at him, and he glowered and made a reach for the flashlight which I dodged easily. “So. You go on to your place as one of the interviewers, and I will continue on with Robert as my guide.”

Corb frowned. “Who the hell is Robert?”

“Robert. One of your people over there.” I swung the flashlight over to the gravestone, where, of course, Robert was not. “Oh, you turd!”

“You . . . fine, go through with it. You’ll see you aren’t cut out for this job.” Corb brushed past me, leaving a trail of that very fine cologne he wore. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but I liked it. Part of me wanted to bury my nose in the crook of his neck and just breathe it in. Then again, I was single for the first time in twenty-plus years, and my hormones were off the chart.

Like, I’d never wanted to get laid so badly in my life, and I had nobody to jump. Sucked to be me.

“I like your cologne,” I said. “What is it?”

He paused. “Night.”

I nodded because it figured. “You don’t put too much on. Unlike the other young guys who seem to think they’re going to waft out a circumference of smell that will draw the ladies in,” I said as I turned.

Corb had disappeared just like that Eric guy earlier. I blinked and swept the flashlight around me, seeing nothing. “Going to be like that, is it?”

Fine. I swung back toward the gravestone, and there was Robert, his skeletal hand right where it had been before. “Really? Make me look like a loser, will you? Some friend you are.” As I walked toward him, something my gran had told me bobbed toward the surface of my mind. I tapped at my head to encourage it. “What was it? Give a skeleton food or drink, and they’ll stick around to help you?”

He leaned forward and his swaying picked up speed. I felt like there was something else I was forgetting, but I couldn’t remember it. Damn it.

The food trick was worth trying, anyway. I dug in my purse and pulled out a nougat-filled chocolate bar, unwrapping it quickly, then holding it out to him. “You want a bite?”

His long-haired head swung my way as he rocked side to side, giving me a few glimpses of bone under the darkness. “Friend?” He reached out, took the bar with one hand and shoved it into his mouth, chewing noisily.

There was a thud and I looked down at the ground to see chunks of the chocolate bar sitting between his feet, chewed, but not digested. He gave a low moan like he could really taste it.

“You with me then?”

I think he said yes, but the chocolate and nougat were giving his teeth a bit of a hard time. The aroma of chocolate was strong, and I tried not to think about the smell it might be masking on the dead-who-knows-how-long skeleton.

“Come on then, let’s go see what we can find, okay?” I flicked the flashlight forward, impressed that Robert could stay crouched at my side as he shuffled along.

Bones clacking.

I shook my head. This was crazy.

Crazy.

And I was embracing it like the nutter that Himself had accused me of being. I held my chin up a little higher, continually sweeping the area with the flashlight. I was not going to be surprised.

The tombstones I touched on with the light were broken and in complete disrepair. Terrible. That was going to make for a lot of pissed-off ghosts.

Fading in and out, shadows moved between the graves. My guess was on the ghosts that would be unhappy with how their graves were being treated. Let’s be honest, that was a huge part of the draw for Savannah tourism, and it wasn’t wrong.

Disturb the dead, and they will make sure you know about it.

I clenched my teeth.

A thick fog rolled in off the ocean, creeping around the remaining tombstones and masking the figures I’d seen. Hiding the path at my feet.

“You’re kidding, right?” I muttered as my flashlight barely pushed through the thick ground cover. I adjusted my bag and glanced at Robert, who was still there despite the disappearing act earlier. “Any ideas?”