a reason to live(79)

“You asked how big the cemetery is, which is a good question. If it’s huge, we may not have enough people in this room to cover it,” Maxine said.

“Five acres if the survey I pulled is correct,” Jenn answered. “It backs onto the forest, so it’s possible it’s been overrun by trees.”

Maxine shook her head. “If it’s the one off country road seventeen, it hasn’t. We used to go there when I was a teenager. It’s not so big we can’t handle it, though.”

“Is it still used?” I asked.

“Not often, but some of the old timers like bein’ buried there, since the original settlers of the town are.”

Capping her marker, Jenn stood back and read over her board. She’d listed the supplies needed and all the hauntings in the Gunnison area, along with what kind of ghost and frequency of the sightings.

“That should do it,” she mumbled. “I’ll find Jack’s radios and then we can head out and survey the cemetery before nightfall.”

Ten minutes later, we were loaded in her Jeep heading toward town. Gunnison was small but quaint, with a population just under six thousand. Jenn explained that Jack, Max, and Maxine were distant relatives of John W. Gunnison, the surveyor for the transcontinental railroad who first discovered the area. According to her, he only stayed in Gunnison three days, but years later, a relative came to Gunnison and settled. That was Jack’s great-great-grandfather.

“Who needs coffee before we drive out to the cemetery?” Jenn asked, pulling in front of a coffee shop named The Bean.

I started to answer in the affirmative, digging in my bag for money, when Jenn gasped and mumbled, “He’s a fine one for locking me up because a man looked at my ass when half the town females fawn all over him.”

Mia and I leaned forward and followed the direction she was looking. Down the street, we could see Jack, Max, Shane, and another good-looking man standing at the corner as two blond-haired women with large boobs flipped their hair. All three of our men looked bored.

“Is that the FBI guy?” I asked when I noticed him smile.

“Must be,” Mia answered.

One of the bimbos had the audacity to reach out and run her hand down Jack’s arm. He stepped back from her touch, his jaw clenched as he said something to her.

“That’s Amber Welsh,” Jenn bit out, her lip curled in disgust. “Jack dated her years ago.”

I was ready to grab her arm if she tried to leave the car in protest to her man being touched, but she didn’t move.

“Guess she doesn’t respect the state of holy matrimony,” Maxine sighed when Amber ignored Jack’s obvious dislike and touched him again before sauntering off, her hips swinging as she left.

Jack and the others turned their backs on the two women as they left, their attention surprisingly not on their retreating asses, and started across the street.

“At least you know Jack doesn’t flirt when he’s away from the house,” Mia stated.

“Pfft! Neither do I, and I still landed in solitary.”

“I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Maxine said, her eyes glimmering with laughter when she turned to Jenn.

“I could never pull it off.”

“You have backup now,” Maxine pointed out.

I looked at Mia and smiled. This could get interesting.

“He’d be suspicious if we went anywhere near the cell,” Jenn countered.

“Not if I was the one doin’ the askin’.”

Jenn looked back at Mia and I, and we both nodded. Then she looked at Maxine. “How much trouble will I get in?”

“Does it matter?” Maxine asked.

Jenn thought about it a moment then grinned and answered, “Nope,” before leaning forward to eject a CD. “If we’re doin’ this, we’re doin’ it right,” she laughed, waving the CD in the air. Then she pulled out her phone, searched for a number, and hit call. “Barry?” she asked into the phone, “I need your help.”

Twenty minutes later, we were standing in the control room watching a monitor as Jack, Max, Shane, and Maxine walked down the hall to solitary confinement. When they reached the cell Jack had locked Jenn in, all three men laughed.

“Men,” Mia grumbled, “they stick together.”

“How’s she going to get Jack in there by himself?”

Mia looked at me and grinned. “She’s not.”

Maxine looked at the camera in the hallway and winked, then moved into the cell. She threw back her head, laughing, then laid down on the cot. Jack entered smiling, relaxed, followed by Max and Shane. When Jack pointed at the camera in the corner of the room, catching the other men’s attention, Maxine stood up and ran out of the cell, slamming the door shut.