Shelly can’t help thinking a raccoon isn’t worth that much money. “We’re not supposed to charge everyone for their ghosts.”

Grandma looks down at Shelly. “We’re not,” she agrees. “Sometimes the rules are what you make of them. Sometimes they need to be bent—broken. Sometimes the world is made of hard choices.”

Shelly doesn’t like taking the money, but she thinks she knows what Grandma means—that Anna was someone who could afford to pay, and she and Grandma couldn’t afford not to charge. That even though Shelly didn’t really want to deal with a ghost for someone else, Anna really needed someone to help her get rid of the raccoon stuck in her chimney.

• • •

When they take the bus home from Anna’s house, Jenny Potts and her partner are waiting outside their house. Shelly freezes up beside Grandma, her heart rate spiking. Shelly likes Jenny, but she can’t help thinking about the night her mom died every time she sees her now. She can’t help worrying that there’s more bad news coming.

“Mom said someone came by for an exorcism.” Jenny gives Grandma a sheepish smile. “They beat us to it by an hour.”

Grandma raises her eyebrows. “Someone haunting the morgue?”

“No. We need a body found and you— I mean, if it’s not too much trouble, Louisa,” Jenny says. “I wouldn’t ask except nobody can find people as fast as you can.”

Grandma takes a long look at Jenny and her silent, vaguely disapproving partner then crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m going to have to charge a consultation fee,” she says. “If you want my services.”

Jenny and her partner exchange a glance. “A fee?” Jenny repeats. “We’ll have to ask.”

“It’ll have to be official,” her partner agrees. “Something through the department.” He looks at Shelly standing in the hallway behind Grandma. “The kind of official that means a crime scene is no place for a child.”

Shelly doesn’t think she’s a child anymore. She’s gotten older since her mom died. She can’t stop growing up and getting further away from her mom. She frowns at the officer and opens her mouth to tell him she’s Grandma’s assistant—that just because she’s young doesn’t mean the dead will scare her or that she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Grandma speaks first. “Shelly will stay home this time.”

Shelly feels like she just got dunked in cold water. She might not have wanted to help with the raccoon, but she doesn’t want to be left out, either. “What?”