Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene

any better than I did most nights. He was in the shower already. I took off my shorts and T-shirt and jumped in with him.
    “Why is the water always boiling?” I winced as the water hit my skin. “And why are you always cold? No one has a fire in the summer. Is it some magic thing?”
    He handed me the soap. “I don’t know. All I know is I feel cold all the time. No matter what I do, I can’t get warm. Do you want me to come with you this morning to look at the dead sorcerer?”
    “Yes.” I grabbed the shampoo and dumped a small amount on my short blond hair. “Thanks. I know you don’t like Abe.”
    He smiled. “But I like you, Skye, and I would do anything to repay your kindness.”
    “I think you’ve repaid that already.” We switched places under the water, after I’d adjusted the temperature. “Addie loves you. So does Kate. And what’s this about repairing that old rusted pickup in the yard?”
    He shrugged. “The engine was very rudimentary. I traded some of Addie’s apple butter for the parts I needed. Did you know her apple butter and jam are famous? They have the picture of the inn on them.”
    “Anyone can do that,” I explained. “But I think the jam and apple butter were pretty good. People bought them like crazy when she was alive.”
    “And she stopped because of her death?” He shivered as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. “I shall speak with her about it. Perhaps we could continue her legacy and bring in some extra money.”
    I turned off the water and took the towel he offered me. “I’m sure she’d like that. Have you ever made jam or apple butter? It’s one of my least favorite things to do.”
    “Not surprising. Addie says you’re not a home-maker. I assume that means you are uninterested in anything about the home. That explains the conditions you were living in before I arrived.”
    “Smart ass.” I flicked him with the end of the towel. “I have better things to do.”
    He put his arms around me. Lucas never tried to kiss me, though we frequently had sex.
    “Did Jacob not require home-making skills of you as his wife?”
    “No. He liked that I was a cop and didn’t care that I’d never ironed a shirt in my life.”
    “He was an intelligent man, it seems.”
    “Yes.” I moved away from him and scrounged in a drawer to find clean work shorts and a tank top. I could feel him watching me as I dressed and dried my hair. “Is something wrong?”
    “No. I was just thinking that you are unlike any woman I have ever known. You don’t require silks nor furs and jewels.”
    “So you remember women from your past?”
    “They are like ghosts, flitting though my mind. I couldn’t tell you their names or where I know them from.” He put his hands to his head. “It maddens me.”
    I tossed the damp towel in the hamper knowing it would be washed and dried before I got home. “Maybe you shouldn’t try so hard.”
    “You mean because I might be an evil sorcerer from the past as you read on your computer. People feared me and were glad to know that I had disappeared.”
    “No, because you might be putting too much pressure on yourself. The answers will come when you’re ready. There’s a reason you can’t remember anything.”
    “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
    “Maybe because I’m already dead.” I shrugged as I ran a comb through my hair and stared into my blue eyes in the mirror. “Or maybe because you’ve been nice to everyone—except Jasper. I have to wake Kate. See you downstairs.”
    Kate was already up when I reached her bedroom. She ran to hug me, her brown eyes wide awake and looking toward the new day.
    “When did you get home, Mommy?”
    “I’m not sure what time it was.” I hugged her. “At least you were asleep. How was school yesterday?”
    “It was okay, except that the teacher put me in a group with snotty Suzy Smith.” She opened her eyes wide and tossed back her light brown hair. “ I’m not doing any of this. My