“First you have to imagine what hell looks like then you need to double it and—”
Her excitement waned as she folded her arms and shot him a mulish look. “Is this going to be your alternative for everything?”
“I’m sorry Miss Evans, I don’t make the rules. So what’s it to be?”
“Fine.” Holly let out a reluctant sigh. She had the feeling it would be a bit harder to go find Tina Macdonald and make up with Todd, from the burning depths of hell.
“Excuse me,” Vince interrupted. “I’m not so sure I want to go along with anything this guy says. God knows who he might stuff in here next.”
Holly put her hands on her hips. “I know this isn’t ideal but we’ll just have to work around it.”
“Work around what? The fact there’s another person in my body?” he demanded as once again she felt her arms being crossed.
“There’s no need to get snooty,” Holly retorted as she turned to finish her conversation with Dr. Hill, only to find he had disappeared from sight. “He’s gone.”
“Gee, and I didn’t even get to thank him for putting someone else in my body.” Vince’s voice was laden with sarcasm.
Holly got up and began to pace.
“Okay, now is so not the time to panic,” she instructed herself. “We just need to think this situation through. Yes, it’s going to make getting back to heaven a bit more difficult but with a bit of planning—”
Holly suddenly found herself moving back to the bus stop and sitting down with a thump.
“Stop all of that walking so I can get this straight,” Vince said. “Are you seriously trying to tell me you’ve been in heaven and they’ve sent you down for a…a…well…why have they sent you down?”
Holly let out a sigh as some of her anger evaporated. “I guess this is even weirder.” for you than it is for me. The thing is I sort of got kicked out of heaven. Don’t laugh.”
“Sorry,” he said in a contrite voice as she felt him bite down on the fleshy part of his lip. “So coming back to earth is a punishment?”
When I’m stuck in someone else’s body it is, she wanted to mutter, but sensing it wouldn’t help relations, she kept her thoughts to herself. “You see the thing is after I got kicked out I was sent to Dr. Hill. He’s a—”
“Shrink?”
“Yeah. Though he calls himself a spiritual realigner. A Spiritual Screw-up more like it. Anyway, I didn’t quite manage to shed all of my earthly issues when I died.”
“What does that mean?”
Holly sighed. There was no point being coy about this, since soon she and Vince would be sharing more than just secrets. “I still get a bit annoyed when anyone says I committed suicide,” she admitted. “Apparently it’s a problem.”
“I can’t imagine anyone who knows you would believe that you committed suicide,” Vince instantly said. “You’re probably just sensitive because of that thing a few years ago after your dad died.”
“How did you know about that?” Holly couldn’t hide her surprise. Until she started working at Baker Colwell she hadn’t seen Vince for at least twelve years and her self-harming was not something she liked to talk about very often. Or ever, even.
“I kept in touch with a few people after I moved away. Word gets around,” Vince said in a gruff voice.
“Well, thanks for not believing I did it on purpose. But even though most people don’t know about what happened back then, they still seem to think I killed myself. Which is why I need to get it sorted out. I also need to explain to Todd what really happened.”
“Good luck with that. He’s a jerk.”
“Of course he’s not.” Holly felt herself bristle again. “He’s wonderful.”
“Yeah right,” Vince said in what was obviously jealousy. Not that Holly was surprised since Todd was just that sort of guy. Girls wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him. For a moment she lost in how wonderful Todd was when she caught sight of the watch on Vince’s arm and remembered just how little time she had left on earth.
“Gemma,” she said out loud as she got to her feet and turned in the direction of her friend’s apartment. “It’s almost nine at night. I’ve got to get back around to see her so we can find Tina MacDonald.”
“Nine? Shit, I’m meant to be somewhere.” Vince turned and headed back towards the building.
Holly dug her heels in and forced him to stop. “Did I not just explain why it’s so important that I need to get all my issues sorted? I only have two days. Tick-tock, heavenly clock and all of that.”
“Well, you’re not going to find Tina MacDonald at this time of night, so why waste time? This is my body remember and I have a life. You can’t just come in here and take over.”
“Possession is nine tenths of the law,” she reminded him as she tried to head back in the other direction. “And, hey, you might learn something.”
“That you’re insane? I think I’ve already picked that one up, thank you very much. Now if you don’t mind—”
“I do mind.” Holly gritted her teeth. “Why can’t you just work with me on this?”
“Well, let’s see. For a start you seem to think that my problems aren’t as important as yours. Secondly, because it’s too late to go running around playing Nancy Drew. And thirdly, but most importantly, because you didn’t even ask or say ‘please.’”
Holly dropped her jaw for a minute. Of all the ridiculous, stupid, selfish reasons, that was just the bottom drawer. In two days time she could curse Vince Murphy all she wanted, but in the mean time she was just going to have to go along with it.
“Please, can we go back to Gemma’s place so I can get Tina Macdonald’s address?”
“If we must,” Vince grudgingly relented. “Since I’m probably too late. But first I need to make a call, and can I just ask, is this what it’s going to be like for the next two days?”
“Hey,” Holly responded. “You know I’m sure there are a lot of other guys out there who would be thrilled to have someone like me in their body.”
“Yes, I’m completely delighted at the experience. Just what I’ve always wanted. A dead girl to talk to,” Vince retorted as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Holly was about to say something when the door to Baker Colwell opened and a couple of guys wandered out. Her back stiffed as she recognized them as the two guys who had been following her earlier on. Had they been in the building trying to find her? What creeps. Not that they really looked like your normal run-of-the-mill thugs. In fact they looked more like computer geeks than…Uh-oh, Holly winced as once again she realized she had forgotten just whose body she was in.
“Vince.” The taller of the two spoke as they made their over. “Where the hell have you been, man? You know we all had overtime.”
“It’s a long story,” Vince said. “I was just about to call to explain why I’m late. Is Bob still inside?”
The shorter one shook his head and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “No, we’ve just finished, but he wasn’t happy with your no-show.”
“That I can believe, and trust me, I had every intention of being there, it’s just…well—”
“What’s going on, anyway?” tall guy asked. “First you were weird at the funeral and then when we saw you before, you ran away from us.”
“Ran away from you?” Vince blinked and Holly winced some more. Besides, how was she meant to know who Vince Murphy hung out with? Or that he even had any friends. Certainly when they were in school together, she didn’t remember him being Mr. Social.
“That’s right, and why do you have a bride magazine in your hand?” the short guy said. Thankfully before Vince (who did seem a little speechless) could answer, the tall guy’s cell phone started to beep and after glancing at the screen he just shrugged his shoulders. “Look, we’ve got to go, but we’ll see you tomorrow.”