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To her surprise, the ghost shook her head. She pointed toward the second floor and the stairs, and then put her hands against the side of her cheek as if to mimic someone sleeping.

Clear as mud. But Delia knew she had to do her best to puzzle out what the spirit was attempting to communicate. “You were at a…sleepover here?”

A nod, and the ghost girl pointed at the stairs again.

Now this was starting to make sense. “And you…wanted to come downstairs for something?”

Another nod, followed by the ghost lifting her hand to her lips, then tipping it backward as if in imitation of someone drinking from a glass.

All right, now they were getting somewhere. “You got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, but you tripped on the stairs?”

While the ghost didn’t smile, something about her expression seemed brighter, as if she was glad she had finally found someone who understood.

She rolled her two index fingers around themselves, making a motion like someone tumbling head over foot.

Then she leaned her head to one side at an angle that should have been impossible for anyone who was still alive, and for just a second, Delia thought she could see a bone sticking out of the back of her neck.

Ouch.

So she’d come to a slumber party not long after the family who’d lived here back then had moved in, and, moving around in the darkness in an unfamiliar house, she’d lost her footing on the stairs and fallen to her death.

“Did anyone know you were here?”

A very small shake of the ghost’s head. It seemed she’d been the quiet sort of spirit, the kind that hovered in the background but didn’t participate in any kind of actual haunting.

So how in the world had Ty Carter been aware of her presence in the home?

A mystery that would need to be cleared up later. For now, it seemed better to focus on helping the girl’s spirit to go on to a better plane of existence.

Very gently, Delia asked, “Do you want to stay here?”

Another shake, more emphatic this time.

“I can help you move on.”

The girl’s gaze met hers, hopeless and sad, and her shoulders lifted.

“No, really,” Delia said, even as she thought that no one so young…

even a ghost…should be wearing that expression.

“I’ve done this for a lot of other spirits.

You just have to give yourself permission to cross over to the next life.

This wasn’t your house, and there’s no real reason for you to stay here.

You need to accept that this life is over, but something new and wonderful is waiting for you on the other side. ”

A parting of lips, as if the spirit wanted to ask a question and then realized it would be impossible, given that she couldn’t speak.

However, Delia thought she understood what the ghost was trying to ask.

“I can’t tell you what’s there,” she said quietly. “I’m not the kind of psychic who can travel in that realm. But everything I’ve read and heard tells me it won’t be so different from this world, except that it will be easier to become your higher self, the person you were always meant to be.”

As she listened, the girl looked almost solid for a moment. Her big eyes — Delia thought they’d probably been blue when she was alive — widened even further, and a smile played around her mouth for a second.

And then she was gone.

“Very good,” said Ty Carter, who’d appeared out of nowhere and now stood a few feet away from the kitchen. Probably, he’d come down the hall while she was busy talking to the ghost, but it was still a little disconcerting that he’d been able to approach so quietly.

Delia turned back toward him. He stood there looking oh-so-casual, arms hanging loosely at his sides, something in his expression almost satisfied, as if he’d been hoping for this particular outcome.

“You heard all that?” she replied. She didn’t think she’d been speaking very loudly, but it wasn’t as if there was any other noise in the house to conceal the sound of her voice.

“Enough,” Tyler said. He came a little closer, although not so close that it felt anything like an invasion of her space. “I wanted to see what you’d be able to do with Becky.”

“That was her name?”

He nodded. “She came here for a slumber party and fell down the stairs in the middle of the night, and she’s been here ever since.

” A pause, and he added, “Or rather, she was here up until a few minutes ago. But she was a quiet girl in life, and she was quiet in death. None of the families who lived in this house even knew it was haunted.”

Since this was what Delia had already pretty much pieced together, she only said, “But somehow you knew.”

“I did,” Ty replied, still with that almost Buddha-like calm surrounding him. “And I wanted to see how you would handle it.” He stopped there, expression now approving. “It seems your reputation is well-deserved. I also think you might discover you have talents you didn’t even know existed.”

She put her hands on her hips and sent him a flat stare. Okay, he’d been right about the spirit who’d inhabited this house for thirty-plus years, but she still wasn’t sure she liked hearing him make those sorts of pronouncements. “Such as?”

A smile that would have done the Mona Lisa proud. “Oh, I think I’ll leave you to figure that out for yourself.”

Before she could reply, he’d turned away from her and was walking swiftly down the hallway to the entryway.

A moment later, she heard the door shut — not slammed, but closed firmly enough that it was clear there wasn’t much point going after him.

Another second or two passed, and the sound of his motorcycle revving came clearly from the driveway.

Delia let out her breath and looked around. The house was utterly calm, and she knew no other spirits dwelled here.

All the same….

“Well, that was weird,” she said aloud, then headed for the front door so she could let herself out.