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built. When it seemed that her senses could not be more overloaded, her clit was pulled hard between hot, disembodied lips. The climax exploded within Toni’s body, radiating out from between her legs. She crumpled weakly against Kip’s chest and in that instant it was just the two of them. Gone were the spectral touches. Kip laced his fingers through her hair and gently pulled until he was staring into her eyes. “You are the one I’ve been waiting for,” he said and then threw back his head and cried out in release. Toni felt his cock shudder and pulse inside her.
    The cocktail party had disappeared and when she closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him, he too was gone. She was alone on the sofa, kneeling on the yellowed dustcover, still clinging to the back cushion. With eyes wide she scanned the room. She turned and sat on the couch and saw him leaning against the doorjamb. He was just as she’d first seen him. He tugged his collar up around his ears, smiled at her. “I’ve gotta go now, but I need you to do me a favour. You have to show them that I didn’t do what they say I did. You’ve gotta prove it so I can rest. I’m so damned tired.”
    “I’ll do whatever I can,” she whispered.
    Kip winked. “I know you will. I’m counting on you, doll.”
    Tears stung the corners of Toni’s eyes as she watched Kip dissolve away. She sat for a moment, then gathered her clothes, changed out of the party dress and sandals and returned them to the closet. She’d just finished tying her boot laces when Thomas, Bridget and Mike burst into the VIP room.

Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Toni stood in the shower and let the hot water beat against her shoulders, waiting for the knots of tension to dissolve. She was bone-weary from her ghost encounter and only wanted to sleep. The team had been debriefing her for the past hour and it had taken some doing to convince Thomas that Kip hadn’t hurt her. Toni had told him over and over again that she’d just talked to the ghost and that he’d only wanted her to promise to try to prove his innocence. She hated lying to Thomas, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that the two had shared more than polite conversation. From what she’d learned about her powers, she knew that the sexual energy had been necessary for the spirit to communicate with her. Toni scrubbed her skin but couldn’t wash away the guilt that consumed her. She stepped out of the shower, towelled off and slid into an oversized T-shirt. She found Thomas sitting at the desk staring at his laptop.
    “Feel better?” he asked.
    “Mm. Just wiped out.”
    “You need your rest. We’ll hit it hard tomorrow.”
    Toni kissed him on the temple and slid into bed. She turned on her side and glanced at the screen while she waited to drift off. “What are you looking at?”
    “Just some of the newspaper clippings from the fire.”
    The photograph of the marquee taken from below came up on the screen. “Preston Stringman’s daughter Priscilla took that you know,” Toni said.
    Thomas nodded.
    “Are you coming to bed soon?”
    “In a bit. Get some shut-eye, Tone. We’re going to go check out the police records in the morning.”
    Toni closed her eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
     
    * * * *
     
    The team gathered around the long conference room table, sipping from to-go cups of coffee from the hotel. A uniformed officer told them that the detective would be in shortly. Minutes later a short, well-dressed man with dark hair frosted blond at the tips and sporting what looked like a spray tan, entered carrying a file box. He dropped it on the table, and Toni noticed a neon-orange sticker on the side marked ‘Closed’. The man smoothed the lapels of his tailored wool suit, straightened his silk tie then extended his hand. “Bob Schmidt,” he said, reaching across the table and shaking each of their hands in turn. Toni noticed that his nails were manicured and buffed.
    He grabbed a leather-bound