The Dead Guy Next Door

The Dead Guy Next Door Plot Summary

Introduction

# Visions of Destiny: A Psychic Detective's Awakening Riley Thorn had spent thirty-four years running from the family curse. While her mother read palms and her sister channeled spirits, Riley buried herself in proofreading spreadsheets, living in a crumbling Victorian mansion with elderly roommates, pretending the voices in her head were just stress-induced hallucinations. She'd built a fortress of normalcy around herself, complete with sensible shoes and a beige existence. But on a humid Tuesday night, everything shattered. Standing in the dim hallway outside her apartment, Riley watched through the cotton candy fog of an unwanted vision as her perverted neighbor Dickie Frick answered his door in a bathrobe. A gloved hand raised a gun. Two shots. Blood pooling beneath Dickie's surprised face. The vision hit her like food poisoning, leaving her retching and shaking. When the bullets found their mark three nights later exactly as she'd foreseen, Riley realized she couldn't hide from her psychic inheritance any longer. Especially when the devastatingly handsome private investigator Nick Santiago knocked on her door, looking for answers about a murder that hadn't happened yet.

Chapter 1: The Vision That Changed Everything: Riley's Prophetic Warning

The vision slammed into Riley's consciousness like a freight train derailing in her skull. She'd been walking down the third-floor hallway of the Bogdanovich mansion when reality tilted sideways, plunging her into a nightmare that hadn't happened yet. Dickie Frick shuffled to his apartment door in his stained bathrobe, middle finger tattoo proudly displayed on his left buttock. Through the pastel clouds of psychic sight, Riley watched a figure in dark clothing approach. The visitor's black-gloved hand held a gun with casual familiarity. Two quick shots echoed through the vision. Dickie's face registered surprise, then nothing, as blood spread beneath his crumpled body. Riley stumbled to her bathroom and vomited up her dinner, her body convulsing from the psychic download. She'd inherited the family gift of clairvoyance, but unlike her mother Blossom and sister Wander who embraced their abilities, Riley had spent three decades trying to be aggressively normal. The visions made her physically sick, a cruel irony that her body rejected the very gift her bloodline carried. But this vision felt different. Urgent. Inevitable. She called the police tip line with shaking fingers, reporting that someone was going to murder Richard Frick at 712 Front Street within the next few hours. The dispatcher sounded bored, probably marking her down as another Friday night drunk with an overactive imagination. Riley then pounded on Dickie's door, desperation making her bold. The sleazy bar owner opened up wearing nothing but stained underwear, reeking of cheap beer and old sweat. "Someone's going to kill you tonight," she blurted out, her voice cracking with urgency. Dickie's bloodshot eyes narrowed with drunken contempt. "Yeah? Well, get in line, sweetheart." He slammed the door in her face with enough force to rattle the frame. Three hours later, Riley jolted awake to the sound of two gunshots echoing through the mansion's thin walls. Her heart hammering against her ribs, she crept to her peephole and peered into the hallway. A figure in dark clothing emerged from Dickie's apartment, face obscured by shadows but moving with the calm purpose of someone crossing items off a to-do list. Not running, not panicked. Just walking away from murder like it was another Tuesday night. By the time police arrived, Riley had become their prime suspect. After all, she was the only one who'd known the murder was coming.

Chapter 2: Fake Engagement, Real Danger: An Unlikely Partnership Forms

Nick Santiago arrived at Riley's door two days later with the swagger of a man who'd seen everything twice and wasn't impressed by any of it. The former cop turned private investigator had been hired by Dickie's elderly aunt to find her nephew's killer, though she'd made it clear she thought Dickie was a disgusting disappointment who probably deserved what he got. Nick was annoyingly attractive in that dangerous way that made smart women do catastrophically stupid things. Dark hair that looked like he'd run his fingers through it, blue-green eyes that seemed to see straight through her careful defenses, and dimples that could probably talk a nun out of her habit. When he caught Riley staring from her doorway, those dimples made their first devastating appearance. "You the psychic neighbor?" he asked, approaching with the casual confidence of a man who owned whatever space he occupied. "I prefer 'reluctant clairvoyant,'" Riley replied, trying to match his casual tone despite the fact that her ex-husband Griffin had just arrived with a news crew, ready to exploit her involvement for ratings. Griffin Gentry was everything Nick wasn't. Polished, ambitious, and utterly self-absorbed, with spray-tanned skin and perfectly styled hair that looked like it had been carved from plastic. He'd divorced Riley after cheating with his co-anchor, taking half her assets and getting her fired from her job at the TV station. Now he stood in her hallway treating her like a story to be consumed, his voice dripping with false concern as he told the cameras about Riley's supposed mental instability. That's when Nick stepped in. Without missing a beat, he slipped his arm around Riley's waist and announced to the news crew with perfect authority, "My fiancée has been through enough tonight. No more questions." The lie rolled off his tongue so smoothly that even Riley almost believed it. Griffin's face went pale beneath his foundation, and the news crew reluctantly packed up their equipment. As they left, Nick's hand lingered on Riley's back, warm and reassuring in a way that made her forget how to breathe properly. "Why did you do that?" she asked once they were alone in the hallway. "Because you looked like you needed saving," he said simply, his dimples softening the intensity in his eyes. "And because your ex-husband is a dick." The fake engagement that started as a moment's impulse quickly became their cover story. Nick needed access to Riley's housemates and their goldmine of neighborhood gossip. Riley needed protection from Detective Weber's increasingly hostile interrogations. What neither of them expected was how naturally the lie would begin to feel like truth, or how dangerous that would become for two people who'd sworn off complications.

Chapter 3: Secrets Behind the Strip Club: Uncovering Nature Girls' Dark Business

Riley's elderly housemates proved to be fonts of unexpected criminal intelligence. Mrs. Penny, the sharp-tongued octogenarian with purple hair and a mysterious military past, revealed that Dickie had been running an illegal gambling operation out of his strip club. Mr. Willicott, despite his failing memory for names, produced a meticulously kept notebook showing that Dickie owed him over two thousand dollars from bets on recreational sports leagues. "Summer dodgeball championship," Willicott explained with pride that transcended his dementia. "The Mother Chuckers beat the Balls of Glory in overtime. Dickie never paid up." Nature Girls squatted on the wrong side of Harrisburg like a festering wound that the city had given up trying to heal. The neon sign flickered weakly in daylight, advertising pleasures that looked tired even from the parking lot. Nick had traced Dickie's financial records to the establishment, but getting information from the surly staff would require finesse. Riley surprised him by announcing she'd already gotten herself hired as a server. She'd also somehow convinced the bar to hire Gabe, her mysteriously perfect spiritual guide, as a bouncer. Gabe was built like a linebacker but had the personality of a golden retriever, which made Nick irrationally jealous in ways he didn't want to examine. "You're not working in that shithole," Nick declared, his protective instincts flaring like a match struck in darkness. "I'm not asking for permission," Riley shot back, her chin lifting with stubborn determination. "I'm telling you what's happening." Their fake engagement was starting to feel uncomfortably real, complete with the kind of arguments that couples had about dangerous jobs and reasonable precautions. Nick found himself caring more than he wanted to admit about Riley's safety, which was exactly the kind of complication he'd spent his adult life avoiding. The club reeked of stale beer and broken dreams, its interior decorated in what could charitably be called "aggressive sleaze." Riley served drinks to men who leered at the dancers while placing bets on everything from baseball games to cockfights. She watched Betsy, a blonde waitress with artificial nails and natural stupidity, cozy up to a nervous man in an expensive suit who looked familiar but out of place. Behind the bar, she discovered Nature Girls was more than just a strip club. It was the nerve center of an illegal gambling operation, complete with a back office where money changed hands and threats were whispered. When the health inspector arrived for his monthly visit, instead of checking temperatures he collected an envelope thick with cash. The night Riley's cover was blown, she found herself in the middle of a spectacular bar fight that she'd accidentally started by defending herself from a groping customer. But before the chaos erupted, she'd managed to gather crucial intelligence that would crack the case wide open.

Chapter 4: Political Corruption Exposed: From Gambling to Government Conspiracy

The pieces began falling into place like dominoes in a rigged game that had been running for years. Representative Rob Bowers, the nervous man Riley had seen with waitress Betsy, wasn't just a customer at Nature Girls. He was being systematically blackmailed, and Dickie Frick had been the bagman, collecting evidence and delivering threats on behalf of a mysterious boss who operated from the shadows of Harrisburg's political machine. Nick's investigation led him straight to Mayor Nolan Flemming, the city's golden boy with perfect teeth and dead eyes that belonged in a shark tank. Flemming's name appeared on Nature Girls' liquor license as a silent partner, buried in paperwork that most people would never think to examine. His communications director, Duncan Gulliver, was a neckless mountain of muscle who looked like he could snap bones without breaking a sweat or losing sleep over it. Riley's psychic abilities, dormant for so long, began awakening with violent intensity that left her gasping and bleeding. Visions crashed over her in waves she couldn't control: Duncan's cold eyes as he pulled the trigger, Flemming's political smile masking something rotten at the core, blackmail photos hidden in Dickie's office safe. Each vision extracted a physical toll, but they were getting clearer, more detailed, more useful. The truth was uglier than anyone had imagined. Flemming had been using Nature Girls as the center of a blackmail ring, collecting dirt on politicians and businessmen throughout the state. When Dickie tried to cut himself a bigger piece of the pie by extorting Rob Bowers independently, he'd signed his own death warrant in blood. Duncan Gulliver was the executioner, a man who killed with the same emotion most people used to swat flies. Professional, efficient, and utterly without conscience. But even cold-blooded killers made mistakes, and Duncan had left a witness alive. When Representative Bowers was found dead in a car crash on the Market Street Bridge, the official report called it an accident. Nick knew better. The damage patterns were wrong, the skid marks told a different story, and Riley's visions showed her exactly what had happened in those final moments. But their investigation took a deadly turn when they realized someone was watching them, following their movements, preparing to clean up the loose ends that threatened to unravel the entire conspiracy. Riley Thorn, with her growing psychic abilities and stubborn courage, had painted a target on her back that glowed brighter with every vision.

Chapter 5: Embracing the Gift: Riley's Psychic Powers Become Essential

Riley's grandmother had always said the family gift was a burden and a blessing in equal measure. For thirty years, Riley had felt only the burden, the nausea and headaches that came with unwanted glimpses of other people's secrets. Now, as bodies piled up and danger circled closer, she began to understand the blessing hidden within the curse. Gabe, her spiritual teacher who'd appeared at her door like an answer to prayers she'd never prayed, guided her through meditation and energy work in the mansion's cluttered rooms. Riley learned to drop her mental shields, to invite the visions instead of fighting them like an infection. The process was terrifying and exhilarating, like learning to fly by jumping off cliffs and hoping her wings would work. Her first intentional reading came when she held a fake fingernail found in Rob Bowers' wrecked car. The acrylic nail was painted in distinctive yellow and black checks, and the moment Riley's fingers closed around it, the vision exploded behind her eyes with crystal clarity. She saw Betsy, the waitress from Nature Girls, trapped in the passenger seat as Duncan Gulliver's car rammed theirs into the bridge barrier. The impact was devastating, but Betsy had survived, wounded and terrified, crawling out through the passenger door while Duncan was busy staging the accident scene. She was alive, hiding somewhere in the city, and she was the key witness they needed to bring down the entire conspiracy. Nick watched Riley's transformation with a mixture of pride and terror. The woman who'd answered her door in pajamas just weeks ago was becoming something formidable, her psychic abilities sharpening like a blade being honed for battle. But power came with a price that showed in the dark circles under her eyes and the way she sometimes stared at nothing, seeing things that hadn't happened yet. When Riley used her abilities to track down Betsy's hiding place, guiding them through the city's maze of cheap motels and safe houses with supernatural precision, Nick realized they were no longer just solving a murder. They were at war with forces that would kill anyone who threatened their secrets, and Riley had become their most dangerous enemy. The question was whether they could expose the truth before the truth got them all killed.

Chapter 6: Blood and Betrayal: The Mayor's Deadly Web Unravels

Finding Betsy Quackenbush proved easier than expected once Riley stopped fighting her psychic abilities and started wielding them like the weapon they'd always been. Using the fake fingernail as a focus object, she guided Nick's team through Harrisburg's underbelly to a seedy motel where the former Nature Girls server was hiding with a bandaged head wound and a story that could topple the city's government. Betsy wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but she'd been smart enough to realize she was in mortal danger after Representative Bowers died in what was supposed to look like an accident. She'd been Bowers' secret girlfriend, and he'd been feeding information about city contracts and zoning decisions to the mayor's criminal enterprise through their pillow talk and stolen documents. "Rob was gonna leave his wife," Betsy sobbed, her mascara creating black rivers down her cheeks. "We were gonna go to Florida and start over. But then that bald guy showed up at the bar, and Rob got all scared and stupid." The night of the crash, Bowers had panicked and tried to run with evidence that could expose Mayor Flemming's corruption. Duncan Gulliver had been waiting for them on the Market Street Bridge, ramming their car with professional precision. But in the chaos of twisted metal and broken glass, Betsy had managed to escape while Duncan was busy making sure Bowers wouldn't survive to testify. She'd been hiding ever since, too terrified to go to the police because she knew some of them were dirty, too injured to run far, and too smart to trust anyone who came looking for her. Her testimony, combined with the financial records she'd helped Rob steal from the mayor's office, would be enough to bring down the entire conspiracy. But getting Betsy to safety meant getting past Duncan Gulliver and whatever corrupt cops were still protecting the mayor's interests. The endgame began when Flemming made his most desperate move, kidnapping Riley's best friend Jasmine to draw Riley into the open. The confrontation was set for City Island, where families gathered for baseball games and fireworks, where no one would suspect the mayor of murder in broad daylight. Riley arrived alone, despite Nick's furious protests, because she'd seen his death in a vision and refused to let it come true. What followed was a chase through the streets of Harrisburg that ended at the state capitol fountain, where Riley made her last stand in waist-deep water turned blue for the Fourth of July. As Mayor Flemming's hands closed around her throat, dragging her under, she felt a grim satisfaction. She'd saved Nick. She'd saved Jasmine. If this was how her story ended, at least it meant something.

Chapter 7: Justice and New Beginnings: Finding Purpose in Supernatural Abilities

Nick arrived in time to drag Riley from the fountain and beat Mayor Flemming unconscious with his bare hands, his fear for her safety transforming into rage that nearly killed a man. The corrupt mayor's empire crumbled in a matter of hours as witnesses came forward and evidence surfaced like bodies floating to the surface of a poisoned lake. Detective Weber, cleared of suspicion and vindicated in his investigation, arrested the surviving conspirators with the satisfaction of a man who'd been proven right about everything except Riley's guilt. Duncan Gulliver, broken and bleeding in a hospital bed, confessed to everything in exchange for a lighter sentence, his professional facade finally cracking under the weight of inevitable justice. Riley survived with a bullet wound, a concussion, and a new understanding of her place in the world that had been violently rewritten in blood and fountain water. The psychic abilities she'd spent thirty years suppressing had saved lives, brought justice to the dead, and exposed corruption that would have festered for decades if left untreated. The media attention was overwhelming and unavoidable. Riley Thorn, the psychic who'd solved the mayor's murder conspiracy, became a reluctant celebrity overnight. Reporters camped outside the mansion like siege engines, begging for interviews and readings and any scrap of supernatural wisdom she might share. Mrs. Penny, her elderly housemate, appointed herself Riley's manager and started fielding offers with the ruthless efficiency of a Hollywood agent. Nick's apartment and office burned down in the aftermath, arson committed by Flemming's remaining allies who wanted to send a message about the price of crossing powerful people. But instead of seeing it as a loss, Nick saw it as an opportunity to start over, to build something new with someone who'd changed his entire understanding of what he wanted from life. As summer faded into autumn, Riley embraced her new existence with cautious optimism that felt like learning to walk after a lifetime of crawling. She worked part-time as Nick's office manager while studying criminal justice and investigative techniques, her psychic abilities becoming tools for helping people find missing loved ones and solve cold cases that had been gathering dust in police files. The mansion filled with new sounds that spoke of life instead of mere survival: Nick's laughter echoing through rooms that had been too quiet for too long, the ring of the phone with legitimate cases instead of crank calls, the comfortable silence of two people who'd found something worth fighting for in each other. Riley had spent her whole life trying to be normal, only to discover that normal was overrated and ultimately impossible for someone with her gifts. Her psychic abilities, her calling to help others, her love for a man who understood that some complications were worth embracing, none of it was normal. All of it was necessary.

Summary

Riley Thorn's journey from reluctant psychic to confident clairvoyant mirrors her evolution from a woman hiding from life to one fully engaged with its dangers and possibilities. Her unwanted visions of murder forced her to confront not only a killer but her own fears about being different, about standing out in a world that punished the unusual and rewarded conformity. Through solving Dickie Frick's murder and exposing the corruption that had infected Harrisburg's government like a cancer, Riley discovered that her psychic gifts weren't a burden to be hidden but a responsibility to be embraced, a calling that gave meaning to years of suffering and isolation. The case revealed the interconnected nature of power and corruption, showing how a simple bar owner's death could unravel a conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of city government. But more than that, it demonstrated the power of unlikely partnerships and chosen families, the way love could bloom in the most dangerous circumstances and transform people who thought they knew exactly who they were. In embracing her psychic abilities and choosing a life of purpose over safety, Riley Thorn found not just justice for the dead, but a future worth living and a love worth fighting for, proving that sometimes the most extraordinary gifts come disguised as curses, waiting for the courage to unwrap them.

About Author

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Lucy Score

Score delves into the transformative power of love and community through her contemporary romance novels. Growing up in a family where reading was as essential as a meal, she naturally gravitated toward storytelling. This passion drove her to pursue a degree in journalism, a foundation that later informed her engaging narrative style. Score's writing is recognized for its humorous and emotionally resonant storytelling, often set against the backdrop of small towns. By combining laugh-out-loud humor with steamy romance and crafting heartbreaker heroes alongside kick-ass heroines, she offers her readers a delightful escape from reality.\n\nHer career took a significant turn when she was laid off from her job at a local newspaper in 2012, prompting her to pursue writing full-time. This decision proved fruitful as she transitioned from a self-published author to a New York Times bestseller. Notable works include "By a Thread" and the widely celebrated "Knockemout Series," starting with "Things We Never Got Over." These books not only entertained readers but also positioned her as a #1 Amazon Kindle Store Bestseller. Lucy Score's impact is further amplified through her accessible prose, which resonates with readers worldwide, as her books have been translated into over 30 languages.\n\nReaders benefit from Score's novels through their exploration of second chances and the deep bonds of family and friendship. Her stories offer not only entertainment but also insight into the human experience, often leaving readers with a sense of hope and fulfillment. Whether readers are drawn to her works for the romance or the humor, Score's ability to craft compelling narratives ensures that her audience remains engaged and eager for more.

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