The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (good short books .TXT) 📕

Tessa’s hand flew up. Did her V-neck dip too low? But when her fingertips brushed the special badge, she winced internally. She’d gotten distracted with memories when she arrived at Cheryl’s house and hadn’t taken it off.

“A reaper badge,” Tessa said cautiously, unsure whether her mother was upset or not. “Gloria said you didn’t think I was ready for this, but she does.”

Cheryl’s expression wasn’t readable. “She’s your direct supervisor now. I won’t have time to micromanage all of the agency managers, nor do I care to. If Gloria’s wrong, she’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of either Gloria’s managerial skills or Tessa’s ability to not screw up her new responsibilities. But in the world of Cheryl Randolph, it was pretty good. Tessa decided to take it as a victory and not push her luck.

Cheryl crossed the room and pulled two wine glasses out of the antique hutch there. She splashed what Tessa guessed was close to an exact ounce of red wine into each of them and handed her daughter one. “Care to sit on the back porch while the chicken roasts?” She grinned. “Since you were early.”

Tessa accepted the glass and followed her mother through the house and out the back door. Cheryl glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need a sweater? The evening’s a bit chilly.”

“I think I’ll be okay.”

They settled into chairs and sipped in silence for a few minutes, each looking over the back yard and its prim landscaping.

Finally, Cheryl said, “So, did you have a chance to use that today?” She tipped her head toward the badge.

“Gloria mentored me on several reaps. I used the badge at the hospital for an elderly woman and again at the chemical plant. But I didn’t need it for the rest of them.” She wasn’t about to tell her mom they’d gone to Mr. Green’s property and used Gloria’s new invisibility to spy on the people there. Cheryl was in a more flexible, sweet mood than usual, but there was no way she’d condone what they’d done, even if it was to help an innocent man escape wrongful charges.

As though Cheryl picked Silas out of Tessa’s thoughts, she said, “I heard about your landlord being arrested for Artemis Green’s murder.”

Maybe it was the wine. More likely, it was being in her childhood home and all the feelings that brought up. But whatever it was, Tessa felt herself sort of crumble inside at her mother’s words. “It was all my fault. Gloria was right. I shouldn’t have lied to him. If I hadn’t, he never would have followed me on Mr. Green’s reap and gotten himself caught on camera.” The words sounded anguished, even to her own ears, but she couldn’t help it.

Still, as soon as they were out of her mouth, Tessa regretted saying them. She just knew Cheryl would give her a dressing down for putting Silas in harm’s way.

Only she didn’t. She did something else entirely.

Cheryl smiled slightly, mostly in her eyes. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Tessa had to fight through her startled feelings to choke out an answer. “He’s a really nice guy.”

“Cute too.” Cheryl winked.

Tessa’s laughter surprised her. “Mom!” she chided. But then she shrugged and admitted, “Super cute.”

“I know I’m not your supervisor anymore, so maybe my opinion on this doesn’t matter, but I don’t agree with Gloria. I don’t think this is your fault—you weren’t lying to Silas just for the sake of lying. You were trying to protect him. You didn’t know it would work out this way.” She gazed across the back yard, a wistful look on her face. “We so often can’t predict what our loved ones will do.”

Tessa knew Cheryl was remembering Michael Randolph, who had made a decision to take Tessa’s place when she was scheduled to die. Cheryl hadn’t known her husband was going to do it.

As though dragging herself back to the current time, Cheryl returned her gaze to her daughter. “Things will work out for your Silas. The police still have a lot of work to do to prove he’s guilty of Mr. Green’s murder.”

They fell into silence again, sipping wine and losing themselves in their own thoughts. Tessa wasn’t so sure that the police would do much more to prove Silas’s guilt. The words that Mrs. Cross had used, open and shut case, drifted back to her.

But thinking about her elderly neighbor gave Tessa an idea about where to go next in her own investigation.

Chapter 10

TESSA SORT OF THOUGHT it wasn't a regular thing for grim reapers to have a day off. At least, when she’d looked over her contract, that wasn't included.

Oh, she had plenty of time off—when she wasn't actively on a reap or filling out paperwork, Tessa could pretty much do whatever she wanted. But, still, unless she specifically requested vacation time and her jobs were shifted to other reapers in the agency, Tessa expected to work some every day.

How did that idiom go? There were two certainties in life and the death one kept her and many other reapers busy. She wondered if taxes were so certain, how come accountants only worked hard one or two months of the year?

But when she got up the morning after having dinner with Cheryl, her app was blank. There were no reaps scheduled for her that day.

"Thanks, Gloria." Tessa smiled. Clearly, her friend had arranged it so Tessa would have the day free to investigate Artemis Green’s murder. And luckily, she knew exactly where she wanted to begin.

She gathered her supplies, making sure to grab the magical badge Gloria had given her the day before, and headed out the door.

Her intention was to knock on Mrs. Cross's door and see if she knew Lark’s address. But Tessa was surprised to find Mrs. Cross already in the hallway, heading for the lobby. The bandana was no longer on her head, and the curlers were out, tight round tunnels of hair