“Not what, Mr. Grimm, butwho.” Laura flashed a dazzling, triumphant smile. Ten had a feeling this was the look she wore when she revealed gossip to her book club.
“Who?” Ten asked, taking a closer look at the box.
“That’s what I want you to figure out.” Laura pushed the box toward Ten, who was finally able to read the airplane sticker.
“Flight ready. X-rayable item,” he read, finally realizing what the box was. “This is a temporary cremation urn.” All the annoyanceTen had felt toward Laura vanished in an instant. “Where did you say you found this box?”
“Out on the curb with the rest of the trash. A couple of blocks from my house.”
Ten turned the box around, so he could see all four sides of it. “Usually there’s a sticker that lists the name of the funeral home, the name and address of the deceased, and other information. Where’s the sticker?”
“This is how I found the box.” Laura said with a shrug. “But you don’t need the sticker’s information because you can just talk to the crispy critter and get them to tell you their name, right?”
Ten gritted his teeth. “Spirits don’t usually stay with their remains. It’s possible they’ve already crossed over or they could be elsewhere, visiting family and friends, or maybe even stuck in the place where they died.” There were millions of places the spirit belonging to these remains could be. What Ten knew for certain is that there were no ghosts in the room with them at present.
“Okay, so what do we do next?” Laura asked, her earlier exuberance back in full force. “Do we hold a séance? Grab a Ouija board? Call in more experienced psychics who can actually reach the spirit of this poor abandoned soul?”
“No, we’re not going to do any of those things. Let’s get some information from you. What’s your last name, Laura?” Ten asked.
She raised an eyebrow expectantly.
“Cooper,” Ten said, answering his own question and earning a gasp from Laura. “Address?” he asked. “Never mind, it’s 884 Stanton Hope Street, here in Salem.”
Cope jotted down everything Ten was saying, including Laura’s phone number. “Do you know the address of the house where you found the box?”
Laura shook her head. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
No, Ten thought, she was too busy being excited over her chances of living in the Big Brother house and having the best gossip at the next book club meeting. “Do you have an Apple Watch, iPhone, or fitness tracker that records where you go on your walks?”
“I don’t like anything to interfere with my walks. I like to smell the fresh air and listen to the sounds of the birds chirping.”
Or the sounds of neighbors fighting. “Thank you for bringing this box to us, Laura. We’ll take it from here.” Ten stood up, hoping the woman would as well.
“What do you mean, you’ll take it? It’s my box. I’m the one who found it. I should be the one to keep it. What if there are treasures inside?”
Ten couldn’t believe his ears. “What do you meantreasures?” he asked, not sure he wanted the answer.
Laura shot Ten a look that said she thought the psychic was out of his mind. “Gold teeth, silver fillings, jewelry. You know,actualtreasures,” she said.
“Did you just admit to grave robbing?” Ten asked, trying hard not to smirk at the woman. “If you know as much about me as you said earlier, than you know my husband is a member of the Salem Police Department.” Ten pulled out his phone. “I’ll just text him and ask him to come down here.”
“No!” Laura half-shouted. “Keep the box, and the treasures.” She headed for the door. “I can’t wait to tell all my friends that you’re a fraud.” Jerking open the door, Laura strode from the room.
Ten sighed. “I can’t wait to tell her that her husband is banging the smoking hot twenty year old nanny.”
Cope snorted. “Not to mention a co-workerandhis accountant.”
“The girl who works the drive-thru window at McDonalds,” Ten added, with a giggle.
“The neighborhood dog walker,” Cope screamed with laughter.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Carson asked, with Cole standing behind him. “That woman just flounced out the door threatening to sue us.”
Ten was laughing too hard to answer. He wouldn’t ordinarily get pleasure from another person’s misfortunes, but Laura had been completely rude to him and Cope, not to mention her reprehensible idea of sifting through another human being’s ashes hoping to strike it rich.
Cope filled the brothers in on what happened, between bursts of laughter.
“I think we need to call Ronan and the others to come down here and take a look at the box. We obviously have to find a way to reunite this person with their family.” He wasn’t sure Ronan would be able to help this poor lost soul. Ten wasn’t going to give up until these remains were properly laid to rest.
