And if she found them, she would find her answers. She would finally know what she was. God, she really, really hoped this guy was as good as Derek believed.
Just thinking Derek's name, or maybe it was Miranda's whole stud muffin talk, either way, Kylie got flashbacks to last night. To the whole shower scene and to the hot kisses they'd shared.
"Wow. If he actually finds them, what do I get?"
Derek's question played in her head. She knew he was joking, he didn't expect payment of any kind for helping her. And perhaps that was part of the reason she wanted to reward him. Or not exactly reward him.
She just wanted ...
Don't go there, she told herself. It was way too early to start thinking about those kinds of things. Think about decorating cupcakes. Or think about making the call.
Grabbing her phone off the kitchen counter, she sat down at the computer desk. Taking a deep breath, she dialed the PI's number.
"Brit Smith Agency," he answered.
"Hi." She didn't exactly know where to start. "Uh, my name is Kylie Galen."
"Derek's girl?" the man said.
Kylie felt her stomach wiggle at being called "Derek's girl." It sounded really nice, even though Kylie wasn't officially his girl. Then again, seeing him naked ... Don't go there.
"Derek said that you might be able to help me find someone."
"Yeah, something about your dad being adopted. Let me get to my computer and I'll take notes."
"Sure." While Kylie waited, she looked up at her computer and decided to check her e-mail. She moved the mouse to wake up the computer.
Seconds later, a Springville Times newspaper article appeared on the screen. When Kylie started reading, she realized it wasn't just any article.
It was the Springville Times obituaries. Springville? Wasn't Della from Springville, Texas? But why was she ...
"Ready," Mr. Smith said. "What's your father's name?"
Kylie looked away from the computer. "Daniel Brighten."
"Parents' names?"
"I don't have their first names," Kylie said.
"Okay," he said. "What county was he born in?"
"I ... don't know."
"But it was Texas, right?"
Kylie started feeling less and less hopeful that this would lead her anywhere.
"I'm not really sure."
"Okay," he said, and this time his okay sounded less enthusiastic. "Maybe we should start by you telling me what you do know."
Her mind started gathering information. "His parents lived in Dallas when my mom met him. I've been ... calling all the Brightens in the Dallas area. So far I haven't found anyone who claims they knew my father." She went on and told him about how Daniel had died in the Gulf War. And even told him a little about how her mom and Daniel had first met. It wasn't a lot to go on and she knew it.
"That's not a lot to go on," Mr. Smith said, just proving her point and making her even less enthusiastic. "But I'll see what I can dig up. I'm working a big case right now, and it might take a while before I start on this, but when I have something I'll let you know. Meanwhile you keep on asking questions."
"Questions to who?" Kylie asked.
"Your mom, of course."
"I think she's told me everything she knows," Kylie said.
"Maybe," Mr. Smith said. "But parents are funny about divulging info about relationships and things like this."
Kylie bit down on her lip and wondered if he could be right. For certain her mom wasn't the most open-book type of person. "I guess you could be right."
"Yeah, and even if she's not keeping something from you on purpose, she might not see something as important. She does know you're looking into finding his family, doesn't she?"
"Uhh. Not really."
There was a silence. And she supposed Mr. Smith was wondering if he could get in trouble doing work for an underage kid.
"I plan to tell her," Kylie said. "I just haven't really had the chance." Or decided how to do it.
"Good. Believe me when I say that these kinds of things work out best if you're up front about them."
"Yeah," Kylie said, and tried to figure out how that conversation would go with her mom. How could she explain that she wanted to meet Daniel's real parents, not just his adoptive parents, because she needed to know what species of supernatural she was?
Hanging up from the PI, Kylie sat there feeling let down. The PI thing didn't sound like the answer anymore. And if that didn't work, what would? If only she could get some more information from Daniel.
She looked up at the ceiling. "You wouldn't be able to come for a visit, would you?"
No spiritual cold filled the room. Kylie was about to get up when her gaze went back to the computer screen and the obituaries. She noticed that the dates on the deaths were back eight months ago.
A terrible thought hit. Was Della looking at obituaries because ... she thought she might have killed someone during those blackout days when she turned?
Kylie's gaze went back to the screen to faces of the people who had died. Only a few obituaries listed cause of death, and none said, "drained of blood." While her heart knew that she should feel bad for the deceased, she couldn't help but think of Della. How hard would it be to even think you might have killed someone?
The next few days passed in an uneventful blur. Kylie had tried to talk to Della about what she found on the computer, but Della refused to talk about it. She'd tried to ease into a conversation about Daniel with her mom, but her mom had brushed her off.
While every morning she woke up right at dawn to a blast of icy temperature, the spirit left without any visual or verbal contact. Nothing from Daniel either. So it appeared even everyone in the spirit world was giving Kylie the brush-off.
Kylie wasn't sure what that meant. She got Daniel's absence. He had said his time on earth was now very limited, but what about the female spirit who insisted that someone Kylie loved was about to die?
Holiday told Kylie not to worry, that when the spirit needed to talk, she would speak up. Holiday even tried assuring her that, more likely than not, the ghost's lack of presence was more good news than bad.
Either she'd realized things weren't as imminent as she had first thought, or the situation had been handled. Kylie hoped it was the latter. But her gut told her not to get her hopes up.
While Holiday and Kylie had met twice since she'd confessed her mistake of passing info on to Burnett, Holiday had remained almost distant, very matter-of-fact. Kylie had tried apologizing again, but Holiday had stopped her and said it was forgotten.