Hannah used her hand to demonstrate the look. “Like proper, never a strand out of place and always perfect.”
“Half of the population.” Kipp shook his head in apparent frustration. “Was he a police officer?”
“No,” Hannah replied. “He worked for an insurance company in Southaven.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “An insurance adjuster?” A cop made sense. He’d have experience with death, know police procedures and have the ability to hide evidence as he clearly had done to keep under the radar. An insurance adjuster? No, I didn’t believe that for one second.
“Yes, he told me that,” Hannah said.
Kipp gazed at Hannah intently. “How much did you know of Percy?”
“Everything,” she answered in a wistful tone. “We were in love.”
Got it, she loved the guy, but he killed her. I couldn’t get past the fact she had yet to show a single moment of dislike for the man who ended her life. Something was off here.
Kipp obviously didn’t care or had yet to notice, since he continued without pause. “Do you know where Percy lives?”
She shrugged. “He never told me where he lived and never took me anywhere but to a house he rented.”
Rented, my ass!
“Have you ever seen his wife, learned her name, anything of that sort?” Kipp asked.
She winced at the mention of wife. “He kept us separate and I never asked about his other life. Our life was the only one I was ever concerned about.”
I wanted to shake her to break the spell of love woven over her, but Kipp remained calm. “Did you ever go to his workplace?”
She shook her head. “He’d never let me. With his wife and all, he said he didn’t want to hurt her.” She sighed. “He had such a gentle heart.”
I glanced to Kipp with a “can you believe her” look and he gave a quick nod in agreement before he focused back on Hannah. “I know your family wants to bring you home. Do you know where you’re buried?”
Hannah glanced down at her hands and her lips pursed as if searching for an answer.
I suspected we’d sit for a while. Ghosts only remembered what they needed to cross over and anything that took place since their spirit materialized. She’d remembered why she died because she needed the information to move on, but other than that, I doubted she’d remember anything of importance.
“The night was so dark when I…” She never looked up. “After I woke up, everything confused me. I couldn’t think straight. All I wanted to do was get home to my parents.”
I could’ve let Hannah struggle, but my heart ached for her. Most of the time, I helped ghosts so they’d leave me alone. To help one because I truly wanted to, I never thought the day would come. “Do you remember the last place you were—not when you died—but what you were doing before?”
Hannah pondered for many seconds before she whispered, “We had spent the night together at his rented house. He drove me home afterward, but I picked a fight about what I wanted. I’d never seen him so angry and before I could make sense out of anything, he pulled off the road and dragged me into a forest.” She glanced up and misery weighed on every part of her expression. “If I’d never got mad, never said anything…”
Silence drifted around us.
Think, Tess! Say something to make her feel better!
I came up empty.
Kipp finally broke the awkward pause. “Something doesn’t add up here. There’s no way you could’ve gone to the safe house if Percy wasn’t in law enforcement.”
“Safe house? Law enforcement?” Hannah stared wide-eyed at him. “You said that before, but I’m sure he’s not a cop.”
“I don’t think he told you the truth,” Kipp said.
The sadness in Hannah’s expression deepened, and coming from a dead woman, it was grave sorrow indeed. “He lied to me?”
“Only a cop would have access to the house, but there’s no Percy Mills on the force.” Kipp cocked his head. “Did you ever see his identification—anything with his name on it?”
Hannah wrapped her arms around herself and glanced at the ground as she shook her head.