Page 159 of Ghost

Mason could only shake his head.

During lunch, neither Arthur nor his secretary would discuss the work they were doing.The only thing Arthur would say was it was too early to comment on anything.He would need to do a lot of research.

“Needless to say,” Arthur said as he pushed himself away from the table, “it will be after Thanksgiving before I can have a preliminary report for you.”He looked at Mason.“You’re a very wealthy man, Mr.Montgomery.”He then looked at Ellen.“You do realize that Hobonny will belong to Mason here, don’t you?”

“Do what?”Mason jumped up, nearly knocking the chair he’d been sitting in to the floor.

“Yes, Arthur.I understand completely.”

“And that whatever money you’ve spent there will be lost unless Mason here agrees to reimburse you?”

“I do,” Ellen answered, after dabbing the napkin to her lips.

Arthur frowned.“I must say, I’m rather surprised at how calm you are about all this.”

“Arthur, I’m old but not senile as yet.”Ellen’s eyebrows raised and her head tilted slightly.That shut Arthur down.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Mason pulled his truck up in front of Nick’s small grocery store and deli.Deb had told him that the only thing she wanted him to bring was beer for Thanksgiving.He’d decided that he’d get two cases.Since Mitch was going to be there, he was sure that one wouldn’t be enough, especially if there was a football game on.

“Hey, Mason,” Nick called out as Mason walked in.“Let me guess, you’re here for beer.”Nick laughed.

“How’d ya know?”

“You pulled your truck down, so I figured you’d be getting more than just one case for tomorrow and Friday.”

Mason shook his head.“You know Mitch.He can drink an entire brewery dry.”

“You want the usual?”

“Yeah, I was thinking two cases, but since it looks like you’re going to be closed on Fridayandthe entire weekend, I guess I should get four.”Mason nodded to the sign on the counter letting everyone know that they were indeed closed on till Monday, the week after Thanksgiving.

“Nicky just got back from school, so I’ll get him to put it into your truck.”Nick went into the back of the store.

Mason wondered over to the deli section, thinking he might want to get something for his dinner tonight.He didn’t feel up to cooking after working all day.He, Paul and Mitch had really pushed it hard to get the downstairs bathroom at Paul and Deb’s place finished before Thanksgiving.Paul’s parents were going to be arriving sometime this evening and although they’d gotten it functional, Deb wanted it to be completely finished before having house guests.