Blue Dahlia (In the Garden 1)

"Hey, we're good. " Hayley brushed off the amount of work. "We can handle it. And, you know, I was thinking. David said they saw her going toward the old stables, right? So maybe she had a thing going with one of the sta-blehands. They got into a fight over something, and he killed her. Maybe an accident, maybe not. Violent deaths are supposed to be one of the things that trap spirits. "

"Murder," Roz speculated. "It might be. "

"You sound like my stepmother. I talked to her about it," Stella told Roz. "She and my father are willing and able to help with any research if we need them. I hope that's all right. "

"It's all right with me. I wondered if she'd show herself to one of us, since we started looking into it. Try to point us in the right direction. "

"I had a dream. " Since it made her feel silly to talk about it, Stella topped off her glass of champagne.

"A kind of continuation of one I had a few weeks ago. Neither of them was very clear - or the details of them go foggy on me. But I know it - they - have to do with a garden I've planted, and a blue dahlia. "

"Do dahlias come in blue?" Hayley wondered.

"They do. They're not common," Roz explained, "but you can hybridize them in shades of blue. "

"This was like nothing I've ever seen. It was . . . electric, intense. This wildly vivid blue, and huge. And she was in the dream. I didn't see her, but I felt her. "

"Hey!" Hayley pushed herself forward. "Maybe her name was Dahlia. "

'That's a good thought," Roz commented. "If we're researching ghosts, it's not a stretch to consider that a dream's connected in some way. "

"Maybe. " Frowning, Stella sipped again. "I could hear her, but I couldn't see her. Even more, I could feel her, and there was something dark about it, something frightening. She wanted me to get rid of it. She was insistent, angry, and, I don't know how to explain it, but she was there. How could she be in a dream?"

"I don't know," Roz replied. "But I don't care for it. "

"Neither do I. It's too . . . intimate. Hearing her inside my head that way, whispering. " Even now, she shivered.

"When I woke up, I knew she'd been there, in the room, just as she'd been there, in the dream. "

"It's scary," Hayley agreed. "Dreams are supposed to be personal, just for ourselves, unless we want to share them. Do you think the flower had something to do with her? I don't get why she wants you to get rid of it. "

"I wish I knew. It could've been symbolic. Of the gardens here, or the nursery. I don't know. But dahlias are a particular favorite of mine, and she wanted it gone. "

"Something else to put in the mix. " Roz took a long sip of champagne. "Let's give it a rest tonight, before we spook ourselves completely. We can try to carve out some time this week to look for names. "

"Ah, I've made some tentative plans for Wednesday after work. If you wouldn't mind watching the boys for a couple of hours. "

"I think between us we can manage them," Roz agreed.

"Another date with Mr. Hunky?"

With a laugh, Roz ate more caviar. "I assume that would be Logan. "

"According to Hayley," Stella stated. "I was going to go by and see his place. I'd like a firsthand look at how he's landscaping it. " She downed more champagne. "And while that's perfectly true, the main reason I'm going is to have sex with him. Probably. Unless I change my mind. Or he changes his. So. " She set down her empty glass. "There it is. "

"I'm not sure what you'd like us to say," Roz said after a moment.

"Have fun?" Hayley suggested. Then looked down at her belly. "And play safe. "

"I'm only telling you because you'd know anyway, or suspect, or wonder. It seems better not to dance around it. And it doesn't seem right for me to ask you to watch my kids while I'm off . . . while I'm off without being honest about it. "

"It is your life, Stella," Roz pointed out.

"Yeah. " Hayley took the last delicious sip of her champagne. "Not that I wouldn't be willing to hear the details. I think hearing about sex is as close as I'm getting to it for a long time. So if you want to share . . . "

"I'll keep that in mind. Now I'd better go down and round up my boys. Thanks for the celebration, Roz. "

"We earned it. "