Ghostly Findings

GHOSTLY FINDINGS COPYRIGHT © 2023 by E.M. Leya For sales information, please contact Emma Marie Leya on Facebook All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or author. Requests for permission to copy part of this work for use in an educational environment may be directed to the author. This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons or locales, living or dead, is entirely coincidental Cover Art by: Annabella Stone Editor: Crowder Editing TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ABOUT THE AUTHOR ALSO AVAILABLE FROM E.M. LEYA CHAPTER ONE Lance finished cleaning up after his final autopsy of the day. His feet ached and all he wanted to do was go home, take a hot shower, and fall into bed. He didn't even have the energy for his nightly walk to the park and back. But those weren't as enjoyable now anyway since his friend Cel quit going in the evenings to watch her grandchildren play. They still got together for their Friday night dinners, but he missed her during the week. He still had Ray around most nights, but he was always lost in an audiobook, catching up on all the great writing he'd missed over the one hundred years since he'd died. Before Lance had introduced him to audiobooks, Ray had tried to read over people's shoulders, but seldom got to finish reading any book doing that. It was funny how big of a part ghosts had become in his life in such a short time. It was only a little over two months ago that he'd realized he could see and hear ghosts. He assumed the ability had been triggered by the car accident he'd been in and the head trauma he'd gone through at the time. Being one of the lead medical examiners, it made for interesting afternoons sometimes when the ghost of one of the people he was doing an autopsy on stood beside him as he worked. "Headed home?" Carrie asked as he walked into the break room. "Yeah, more than ready to call it a day." He gave his assistant a weak smile. "It was a tough one." "Glad we don't get a lot like today," she agreed. "Tomorrow we'll be back to people dying of old age." "I sure hope so." He'd spent hours on a ten-year-old boy today. Working on kids was never easy, but it was even worse when you didn't know why the child suddenly died without an obvious reason. Even harder when he now had to tell the child's family that the child died of an enlarged heart. Sadly, they were seeing a lot of younger people coming through after the same issue. Hell, he was glad he didn't have kids. Losing a child would kill him. "I'm going to go for a long run and try and forget today." Carrie grabbed her purse out of her locker. She was always running, now training for another marathon she'd run toward the end of the month. "I can't wait to get off my feet. I don't know how you do it." "You get used to it." She waved. "See you in the morning." "I'll be here." His voice held no enthusiasm. He turned and followed Carrie out of the building, giving her another wave as he climbed in his car. Being late July in Texas, the car was like an oven, and he left the door open as he cranked the air conditioner to get the cool air circulating. Nights like tonight were when it would be nice to have a motorcycle like his boyfriend, Angus had. It was still so strange to think of him as a boyfriend, but that's what he was. They'd been together officially a little over a month now, and while they were taking things very slow, Lance was already half in love with the man. He'd met the detective during an autopsy a few months ago and that had led them to work together to solve five murders in the area. It had been Angus and his mother who had helped Lance adapt to seeing ghosts since Angus's mother, Lizzy, could see them as well. It was nice to have someone to confide in who knew about his strange ability and didn't judge him for it. He'd thought he was hallucinating at first. If Lizzy and Angus hadn't helped him, he would have checked himself into the state hospital, convinced he was going crazy. With the car cooled, he shut the door, latched his seat belt, and pulled out of the parking lot. As always, rush hour traffic had him stopped at every traffic light, and it was another twenty minutes before he was home. As he pulled into the driveway he smiled, seeing Angus's car parked in front of his house and Angus sitting on the front step of the small porch with what looked like takeout bags from their favorite Chinese restaurant. He parked the car in the garage and climbed out, coming around the front instead of in the door that led from the garage. "This is a nice surprise." He leaned in and gave Angus a soft kiss. "I didn't feel like sitting home alone. I needed company. I hope you don't mind." Angus held up the bag. "I got you extra egg rolls." "You know the way to my heart." Lance put a