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Dex?” she said. “But only because you don’t have to
    go out in it.”
    He offered her his standard, baleful kitty stare, reminding her who was top
    dog around here, then dropped his head back onto his paws.
    dog around here, then dropped his head back onto his paws.
    It suddenly hit her. She’d become a cat lady: a single, living-alone,
    muttering-to-herself, hadn’t-been-on-a-date-in-months, hadn’t-had-sex-in-far-
    longer-than-that cat lady.
    She chuckled in spite of herself, knowing how that would have horrified her
    late grandmother, the one who’d left her this house. Olivia Wainwright,
    daughter of a multimil ionaire, granddaughter of a former senator, cousin of a
    current one, descended from a long line of Southern debs and socialites . . . a
    spinster. Frankly, she suspected her grandmother would be more horrified by
    that than she would by the fact that her granddaughter had an unhealthy
    connection with the dead and worked with a bunch of eccentric paranormal
    types.
    After setting the coffeemaker, Olivia stuck a piece of bread in the toaster, if
    only to keep herself from reaching for a donut when she got to the office. Julia
    brought them in almost every day—a habit that had lingered from the other
    woman’s previous days as a Charleston cop. Of course, a donut obsession
    wasn’t the only thing that had stuck around after Julia left Charleston. Her last
    partner had, too. Not that he could be seen by anybody but Julia.
    Ghosts . Huh. Once upon a time, the very idea would have made Olivia
    laugh in outright disbelief. That was before she, herself, had become a
    semiregular in the land of the dead. Now, it wasn’t that tough to believe
    anything. eXtreme Investigations was staffed with the best of the paranormal
    best.
    There was Julia, of course, her boss, who was seldom without her ghostly
    best friend. Aidan McConnel ’s psychic visions had proved remarkably helpful
    in solving crimes. Mick Tanner’s ability to touch something and know its entire
    history had led them al in some interesting directions. And Derek Monahan’s
    ability to see a murder victim reenacting his own death again and again
    added to the power of Olivia’s own shared-death experiences.
    “Crazy stuff,” she muttered. But al part of her life now.
    Not real y thinking about it, she picked up the remote and flipped on the
    smal TV that stood on a corner counter just in time to hear a news anchor say,
    “Coming up after the break, the latest on remains found after Monday’s fire at
    a bar on Ogeechee Road.”
    Her stomach tightened instinctively, her mind immediately tripping back to
    those surreal moments Monday morning when she’d felt like somebody else
    was propel ing her body to that crime scene. Olivia was used to feeling like
    she’d stepped into other people’s bodies; the feeling that someone else had
    taken over hers was something she didn’t like. Not one bit. Especial y since it
    had nearly gotten her kil ed.
    You should turn it off. You don’t need to be thinking about this.
    But of course she didn’t.
    The news program segued into a long commercial break, but the cheerful
    jingle of a national fast-food joint didn’t distract her. Instead, despite al her
    efforts, her tension rose.
    After pouring her coffee, she buttered her toast and took a few bites. She
    stopped chewing as soon as the familiar news program logo reappeared.
    “And now, more on a story we broke Monday morning, about a fire at a bar
    cal ed Fast Eddie’s, which revealed a disturbing discovery: human remains
    concealed inside a wal . This morning, sources inside the Savannah-Chatham
    Metropolitan Police Department are tel ing us that the remains most likely
    belonged to a child.”
    Olivia swal owed hard, her hand shaking a little, or a lot, judging by the
    coffee that sloshed out of the mug and hit her skin. Lowering the cup to the
    counter, she absently reached for the sink, turned on a stream of cold water
    and let it run over the