The Ghosts That Linger

By Krystin Dyers

Pitting an unconventional P.I. on a spiritual mission against a hard-nosed, no-nonsense detective, The Ghosts That Linger combines sizzling sexual tension with the ability of love to last a lifetime — and beyond.
Lydia isn't an ordinary private investigator — with her ability to communicate with the spirits of the dead, she makes her living solving hauntings and helping ghosts with unfinished business cross over to the afterlife. So when murder cases force her to work with by-the-book Detective Brody Hammers, it's no surprise that the two can't seem to get along. Detective Hammers is arrogant, stubborn, and just as determined to work a case his way as Lydia is to work it hers. But as circumstances keep throwing the unlikely duo together, they find themselves fighting against a deeper connection, a love from a past life that just might make staying apart even more painful than working together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Oct 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094414614

Book preview

Murder for Two

Lydia Rothwell sat up in bed, heart pounding in her chest. This was the third time this week she’d had a dream of being murdered.

This dream in particular was more harrowing than the others. Those had been short, brief flashes of an extinguishing of life. This dream, on the other hand, had been detailed and heartbreaking.

She had been enjoying herself at a bar, having drinks with friends. As the night went on, Lydia could feel herself growing more tipsy, more unsure that the ground beneath her feet was actually stable. When it came time to leave the bar, she made her way unsteadily out the door, nearly taking out a man walking in at the same time.

She could hear her friends calling out behind her, asking if she needed a ride, but she waved them off. She would be fine. The surety of it rang in her bones. Nothing could stop her.

She stumbled down the sidewalk toward home, then turned to take the riverside path instead. It was quicker and she was cold. She wanted to get home under the warm covers and pass out as soon as possible.

Lydia heard footsteps behind her, but she didn’t pay them any mind. People had a right to walk along the river at night — wasn’t she doing that herself? But then a shadow crept up from behind her, casting a dark shape on top of her own, and she turned.

Before she even had a chance to see anything, she felt a sharp pain on the side of her head. It knocked her off balance and she fell sideways, smashing hard into the concrete. She could feel a warm stickiness running down her scalp, mixing into her hair. She tried to get up, hands feeling blindly at the ground beneath her, but then another flash of agony ripped through her skull. It was harder to move now, harder to think at all. She managed to open her eyes one more time and saw through blood-streaked tears the blurry outline of a dark figure in front of her. Then there was one last blast in her head, and then nothing.

Unlike someone else, who might be able to chalk this dream up to a night of watching too many horror movies, Lydia knew differently. Ever since she could remember, she had had visions of — glimpses into — the spirit world. Some called her a medium, but privately she preferred the term ghost hunter. Rather than shy away from these talents, Lydia had harnessed them to create her own private-investigation firm.

While she had been disturbed by the previous dreams, she hadn’t really gotten enough information to initiate an investigation. The spirits had only been able to convey the last few brief seconds of their lives. Flashes of red, choking screams, a gurgle of blood. But this dream — it was different. She knew both the bar the girl had been at and the riverfront trail she had been taking on her way home. It was more than she needed to officially open a case.

Section Break

After trying and failing to catch a few more hours of sleep, Lydia rose with the sun and got dressed, slipping on a pair of high-waisted faded skinny jeans and tucking in a purple T-shirt. She threw her shoulder-length teal hair up into a messy bun and splashed some water on her face, glancing at herself in the mirror. The bags under her eyes were darker than usual, making her hazel irises stand out even more in her pale face, but there was nothing much she could do about that. Makeup wasn’t her forte, and she had more important things to worry about — like murder. Leaving the mirror, she grabbed her backpack and headed out the door.

The drive to the trail was short, and soon Lydia was walking along the concrete path, looking for signs of trouble. The peaceful sound of gurgling water on her left was a stark contrast to the malevolent foreboding that had formed in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t a question of whether or not something bad had happened here — she knew it had, as her visions didn’t lie. The spirits sent them to her directly from their own memories. What she didn’t know was what had happened afterward — had the killer moved the body? Would he still be lying in wait? What exactly should she be preparing for?

Lydia didn’t have to wait too long to find out. Just as she was rounding a bend in the trail, she saw a faint nub of white poking out from the water’s surface. Swallowing hard, she walked to the water’s edge and looked down. There, floating ominously among some driftwood, was the facedown body of a young woman. Her blond hair billowed out around her like a fan, stained with gelatinous gobs of blood.

Lydia sighed, then pulled out her smartphone. While she preferred keeping the police out of her investigations, when a body was involved, she didn’t have much choice.

Section Break

Within minutes, police had arrived and roped off the scene. Lydia had been escorted to a patrol car, where the responding officers told her to wait until the case detective could arrive. Her town’s police force had three primary detectives who rotated through cases. Lydia was faintly acquainted with all of them through her work, but there was one in particular she dreaded. So when she saw his familiar tall shape emerge out of a nearby police vehicle, she sighed.

Detective, said Lydia as he walked up to her. It was not Detective Brody Hammers’s appearance that she detested — in fact, she found that part of him quite easy to be around. His full head of light-brown hair was swept back into a casual wave, framing a pair of light-blue eyes set in a face that was all cheekbones and jawline. His nose was straight and narrow and paired quite well with the full set of lips above a well-defined chin. Put it all together with his tall frame and wide shoulders, and he was devilishly handsome.

No, what Lydia hated about him was his by-the-book, know-it-all attitude. He never trusted her to solve crimes on her own. It was insufferable and put a real crimp in her investigations.

Ms. Rothwell, he replied, his lips set in