The car ride was quiet, and Jess frequently glanced at Laura's frigid face. She'd tried to make conversation, but Laura's short one word responses had put an end to those attempts. She could practically see the cogs in Laura's brain rotating. And the result wasn't going to be good.

Jess thumbed at her necklace, which only seemed to irritate Laura more.

It was with relief that they pulled up outside the address Ash had given her. She couldn't stand the atmosphere between her and her best friend. It was suffocating.

The gates were open and the two girls peered into the driveway to see an older woman led in front of the door to Ash's RV.

'We shall not, we shall not be moved,' she chanted, to the amusement of the waiting police officers.

'What the Hell is happening?' demanded Laura.

'I don't know,' Jess answered, completely bemused as the woman used her cane to ward off any officers that passed within whacking distance.

Laura just stared at the spectacle as the older woman continued to chant and block the police. Her knuckles turned white where they were still wrapped around the steering wheel.

'Ever since your sister came to town, things have just been completely whacked,' she spat.

Jess frowned, not expecting the venom in Laura's voice. 'I don't think we can blame Ash-'

'Do you see that old woman on the floor? She's stopping the police from searching your sister's RV,' screeched Laura. 'Everything was normal before Ash came. But she just brings this chaos.'

'The cops just don't understand-'

But Laura interrupted her again. 'No Jess, it's you who don't understand. You don't even see how much you've changed since she came.'

'I haven't changed,' Jess refuted.

Laura threw her a withering look. 'You lied to the police. You had me lie to the police. When your sister broke into Charity's room, you just stood by like it was nothing. It's like I don't even know you anymore.'

'Don't be stupid.'

'I'm not being stupid. I'm telling you how it is. This you, is someone I don't know. It's like your sister had poisoned you.'

'Laura-'

'And the worst part is you keep running back to her. You said that you weren't close, but then what are we doing here?'

Jess looked away and unbuckled her seat belt. 'I said some things to her yesterday. Things that I shouldn't have.'

Laura just watched her before sighing. 'I can't even tell if you're lying. Because I realise now that you've always lied to me. And I'm done with liars. I'm done with people pretending to be who they're not.'

'I haven't-'

'Save it Jess. There's something you're hiding from me. I can feel it. So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you? Because I know it's bigger than your sister.'

Jess' lips pressed together tightly. There was no way that she was going to tell Laura about Charity. Her friend would have her carted off to the funny house before she could say 'I see dead people'.

'That's what I thought,' Laura said bitterly. 'Your sister's messed everything up.'

'She's my family,' defended Jess.

'I wouldn't go around telling anyone that. She's weird and that type of weird doesn't wash off.'

Jess gritted her teeth. She'd seen Laura's viper tongue inflict damage on other people, but she'd never been on the receiving end of one of her snide comments.

'Thanks for the lift, Laura,' she bit out, and slammed the car door.

'Get your sister to drive you back,' Laura muttered out of the window before speeding off down the road.

Jess watched the leaves flutter around in the wake of Laura's hasty exit. Her skin felt hot despite the brisk morning. She hated arguing with Laura, but this felt like something much worse than their usual spats. This felt deeper.

Would Laura have even accepted her if she knew the truth about her family? Sure, Ash was weird, but she wasn't a bad person, and yet Laura had already judged her as someone to avoid. Deep down, Jess worried that Laura would have judged her the same if she really knew what was happening to her.

Turning away from the empty road, she walked up the drive where the older woman was still led out, seemingly thoroughly pleased with herself.

Jess could feel Ash's gaze on her, but it took her a few seconds to spot her standing by the flowerbed. She still wore all her jewellery but instead of her rainbow coloured t-shirts, she had opted for a white jumper and jeans combo. It was as conservative as Ash was ever likely to go.

She seemed bothered by something, and it didn't appear to the cops trying to gain entry to her vehicle.

'Now look here,' the Sheriff blustered. 'Cease this at once.'

'Not on your life, sonny. This is unconstitutional. To enter a young woman's home without evidence.' The woman shook her head, appalled.

'We have a warrant to search the vehicle.'

'Utter rubbish.'

'If you do not allow us entry, I shall have to arrest you,' warned the Sheriff.

'I'd like to see you try.' The older woman cackled.

Jess sidled up to her sister, who had stopped staring at her and was now trying to hide her smile at the older woman's antics.

'How long has this been going on?' Jess asked.

'Two hours,' the Deputy answered, checking his watch. 'Do you think you can call off the old woman?' he asked Ash.

'Who you calling old?' shouted the woman, fixing the Deputy with a glare.

He tipped his hat, looking contrite, but leaned down and whispered into Ash's ear. 'This isn't making things better for you.'

'She's just having some fun,' Ash argued.

'Tobias isn't kidding when he said he'll arrest her.'

Ash unfolded her arms. 'I'll try, but it's not like I control her.'

She walked away and sat cross-legged beside the older woman.

'This is how we got things done in my day,' the woman told her.

'True, but I would much rather not have to bail you out of jail.'

'A bit of healthy protest is good for the soul.'

'And those police benches are not all that comfortable.'

'Neither is this floor.' The woman grimaced.

'Why don't we let the fine officers do what they came here to do, and you can sit in your chair and criticise them as they go past?'

The older woman considered the offer. It was true her back was aching, and the cold wasn't doing her arthritis any good.

'Can I have some of the ginger tea, and a slice of lemon drizzle cake?'

Ash winked at her. 'As long as you don't share it.'

The older woman snorted. 'Not a chance.'

With more dexterity than Jess thought possible, the woman was on her feet and hobbling away to a seating area laid out in the sun. Ash carefully placed a blanket around her shoulders and over her legs before promising to be back with her bargained treat.

'All yours, Sheriff,' Ash called out over her shoulder, setting the man's teeth on edge.

'Oh Ash, bring me my jar of one dollar bills.'

'Tabitha, this isn't Arizona,' Ash reminded her.

'So?'

'So, just because they're in uniform doesn't mean they'll strip for you if you offer them money.'

The Deputy choked and the other officers hid their smiles, with one openly winking at the older woman who beamed back at him.

'Enough of this. Get in there and start the search,' barked the Sheriff, his face beetroot red.

'Behave,' Ash mouthed to the older woman, who pretended not to see.

'Can you really trust her to behave?' the Deputy asked, as he followed Ash and Jess inside.

'Tabitha just likes to have a bit of excitement now and again, but she's had her fun now. She'll most likely be good.'

'Most likely?'

Ash shrugged, placing the battered kettle on the stove. 'I don't control her,' she reminded him.

He muttered something under his breath, which made Ash smirk, though Jess didn't hear it.

'Go ask if your officers want tea or coffee,' Ash commanded. 'I can at least play at being the good host.'

Sighing to himself, the Deputy went back out the front door, leaving Jess and Ash alone.

'So what did you see this morning?' Ash asked instantly.

Jess closed the kitchen door. 'Are you sure it's safe to talk here?'

'I'll know if anyone is coming.'

'Right.' It was still hard for Jess to think of her sister being an actual psychic.

'You saw Charity?'

'You don't seem surprised,' Jess noted.

Ash busied herself with pulling the cake out of the fridge.

'Ash?'

She looked up, seeing Jess waiting. 'I suspected that you'd already seen her,' she admitted. 'That's why I came over to see her room. I wanted to know if you'd really seen her or whether you were seeing her spirit.'

'And you didn't think to tell me then?' Jess demanded.

'I wanted to be sure, and then I got arrested, and things spiralled out of control.'

'You're telling me,' grumbled Jess.

'I never wanted to keep things from you. But can you understand why I did? Why Nana did? We didn't want you to feel trapped.'

'And look what they got me.'

'Tell me this. Would you have gone to university if you knew?'

Jess avoided her sister's gaze. The question felt too close to how Laura made her feel in the car. Laura saw her sister as an oddball, and really was Jess any different.

'That's why I kept it from you,' Ash said after the drawn out silence. 'I didn't want it weighing on you, especially if you'd never shown any signs.'

'I think that ship has sailed.'

'At least some good might come out of it. We need to tell the Deputy about what you saw.'

'You think he'll believe me?'

'He's believed us up to now,' Ash said.

'She was different from the ghosts in the cemetery,' whispered Jess. 'She looked dead.'

'Ghosts can choose how they appear, how they were in life, or the moment before their death. Which makes me wonder why Charity wanted to appear that way to you.'

'It was like she was trying to say something, but she didn't make a sound.'

Ash slammed the cupboard shut with more force than she intended. 'The dead don't speak. Nana never knew why, it was just something that her mother told her. Did she seem agitated or fearful?'

'She seemed angry.'

'Not uncommon,' dismissed Ash.

'Seemed she was pretty angry with me specifically,' Jess said.

'You're alive. She's dead. Sometimes that's enough.'

'But why is she even still here? Why are there any ghosts here at all?' demanded Jess.

Ash pulled out seven mugs, including Tabitha's favourite, and filled five with coffee and two with tea bags. She paused, then pulled another mug from the cupboard and raided a small cache for a different tea bag.

'Some can't let go of life. Some fear what lies beyond. Some want justice. Those who have violent deaths typically struggle to move on.'

'It looked pretty violent.' Jess shuddered, thinking of the thin line across Charity's throat.

Ash passed her a mug. 'To help with the shakes.'

Jess took it, watching the water ripple on the top as she tried to calm herself. It was warm and sugary as she took her first sip. The liquid heated her inside, and she closed her eyes, breathing in the steam coming from the mug.

Ash continued to watch her as she sliced a piece of cake and loaded up a tray.

The Deputy stepped back in, opened his mouth and did a double take.

'Five coffees, one with two lumps of sugar. And a tea. I've put Tabitha's on here as well. It's in the best grandma mug,' Ash announced.

'You just wanted me out of the room,' he accused.

'I did.'

'Why?'

'Jesse saw Charity last night.'

The Deputy's neck cracked with the speed he turned to look at Jess.

'You saw her?'

'She saw her ghost,' Ash supplied, lifting the tray and making her way to the door.

'And?' he demanded, drawing a chair and collapsing into it. He pulled his hat off and played with the rim.

Jess looked at her sister, who nodded and left, carrying the tray.

'Her throat had been cut.'

'Fuck,' the Deputy coughed. 'So she was murdered.'

'She had bruises over her hips and on the top of her legs,' added Jess.

The Deputy closed his eyes, his face seemingly much older than when he'd stepped into the kitchen.

'We have to tell someone,' he said after a while.

'And tell them what?' Ash said, closing the door behind her now minus the tray. 'That Jesse saw Charity's ghost, and that's how we know she's been murdered?' She cocked an eyebrow at him.

A nerve ticked in his jaw. 'Everyone thinks we're looking for a missing person. But there's a body out there somewhere and a murderer just wandering around. What would you suggest?' he said harshly.

'We need to find the body,' Jess said. The Deputy and her sister looked at her like she was crazy, which Jess admitted to herself was very probable. 'Just hear me out. We find the body, then everything changes. Ash won't be under suspicion and the police can start looking for Charity's killer.'

'Jesse that's just...'

'It might be our only option,' the Deputy supplied.

'You can't be serious,' Ash said.

'Your sister is right. Only us and the killer know that Charity is dead. The longer the police are searching in the wrong places, namely you, the more chance that any evidence pointing to the actual killer could be destroyed.'

'What if we got you something of Charity's? Could you see what happened to her?' Jess asked.

Ash placed the kettle back on the stove. With all the questioning, she needed something to keep her hands busy.

'No, I can't promise you anything. I might see something. I might not. I'm better at seeing with people than objects.'

'But you saw something with her teddy,' Jess hedged.

'Flickers. Nothing about her death. Just odd moments all jumbled together.'

'What's the best object?' The Deputy asked.

Ash sighed. They weren't going to give up until she agreed. Pouring herself a cup of sweet tea, she took it back to the table and sat down.

'It would have to be something personal to her. Really personal. Something that meant a lot to her. People imprint themselves on objects that they hold close to them. It's like their essences get tangled together. That'll give me the best chance of seeing anything.'

'Where do we get something like that?'

'Leave that to me,' the Deputy said with confidence.

'When do you want to do this?' Ash asked, talking before her sister could ask how he planned to accomplish this feat. In Ash's mind, the less they knew about his plan, the better.

'Tonight. We're on the clock now.'

'Where should we meet you?' Jess asked.

'How much do you trust, Tabitha?'

'With my life,' Ash said without hesitation.

'Then I'll be back here at 8.'

'And then we find Charity,' Jess said.

Ash remained silent. She only hoped that her gift would play ball.

With the plan set, Ash suggested the Deputy return to the search lest anyone become suspicious.

'Can I stay here?' Jess asked, playing with the rim of her mug rather than at her sister.

'Has this got anything to do with the way you and Laura were acting earlier?'

Jess' frown deepened. 'She's angry at me. She knows I'm keeping something from her.'

'So tell her.'

'You've told people?' Jess looked up.

'Those I trust,' Ash said.

Jess looked back down at her mug. 'I'm worried that she won't accept it. That she'll think I'm...'

'A freak?' supplied Ash.

'I shouldn't have called you that.'

'It's just a name, Jesse. I've been called a lot worse.'

'Still. I was angry and drunk. I didn't mean it.'

'I know you didn't. But that's why you're worried about Laura?'

'I've had my whole life to deal with weird and as soon as I found out about this, I rejected it, rejected you. Laura has her whole life planned out. She's a practical person. I think accepting this might be beyond her.'

'She's your friend. Don't you think she'd have your back?'

Jess wanted to defend Laura, but the words wouldn't come. 'I don't know,' she said truthfully.

'You don't have to think about this right now,' Ash said, sensing that her sister didn't want to say anymore about it. 'Stay here as long as you want. Tabitha won't mind.'

'I just can't face her or the house right now.'

'I know, Jesse. But we'll figure this out.'

Ash wrapped her arms around her sister from behind, and Jess snuggled into her body. It reminded Jess of all those times her sister had looked out for her when she was growing up. Other kids might have remembered their mom tucking them in at night, or kissing their boo boos when they fell, but for Jess it was always her sister's face that appeared when she thought of their mother.

In her sister's arms, Jess felt safe.