His first thought was how beautiful she was. A pre-Raphaelite dream of a woman in her late twenties, with a huge mane of glorious red hair tumbling down around a high-boned, sharply defined face. Her eyes were a vivid green, and her mouth was a bright red dream, with a smile tucked away in one corner. She wore a long white dress that clung tightly here and there to show off a magnificent figure. She seemed calm enough, real enough . . . so full of life, with so much still to live for. All the things she might have done, all the things she might have achieved . . . For a moment, JC couldn’t speak, overwhelmed with pain and rage at what had been done to her, at what she’d been so cruelly deprived of. He made himself look away and glanced back at Melody.

“Use the database of missing persons,” he said quietly. “Find her. I need to know her name, and exactly what happened. I need to know everything about her.”

“Way ahead of you,” said Melody. “I’m looking at the police report now, but there’s not much in it. Only the bare facts of her murder, death from a single stab wound . . . no witnesses, no suspects. Nothing here to suggest she was anyone important.”

“They’re all important,” said JC. “All the people, all the victims, who end up as ghosts. That’s why we do this.”

“This is an unusually strong manifestation,” said Happy. “Try talking to her, JC. See if she’ll answer you.”

“What’s her name?” said JC. “Do we at least have a name for her?”

“Kim Sterling,” said Melody.

JC moved in close beside the ghost, and she turned her head slowly to look at him with her lost, dreamy eyes.

“Kim,” said JC. “Kim, what are you doing here?”

“I’m an actress,” she said, in a warm sweet contralto voice. “On my way to an audition. It’s a good part, come right out of the blue; and I have a good feeling about it. This could be my big break, at last. I could really shine, in a role like this. I wish the train would come. It feels like I’ve been standing here for ages.”

JC didn’t have the heart to tell her that the train would never come, for her. Kim smiled at him suddenly.

“Do I know you? You look nice. Kind.”

“I try to be,” said JC. “But it’s not always easy. I’m here to help.”

“That’s nice,” said Kim. “But I don’t need any help. I’m fine.” She looked directly at him, and some of the dreaminess went out of her eyes. “Except . . . I have this feeling, that there’s somewhere else I ought to be.”

“Yes,” said JC.

“I feel so cold . . . and alone . . .”

“You’re not alone any more,” said JC. “I’m here. We’re all here, to help you. I’m JC.”