Page 29 of Ghost

M ason was walking down the street towards Mr. Stockbridge’s house when he pulled up in a brand new, maroon Jaguar. I guess he can afford to do a total reno on that house, Mason thought. He waved as Mr. Stockbridge hefted himself out of the car.

“Hello, Mason.” He closed the door and locked it. “Good to see you again.” He approached Mason with his hand outstretched.

“Hi, Mr. Stockbridge. Thanks for meeting me.” Mason took that man’s hand in his and briefly shook it.

“Please, call me Alfred.” He smiled. “I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

“What for?”

Mr. Stockbridge laughed. “My dear man, because of you, the real estate market around here is going to skyrocket. And to be perfectly honest, I can’t wait to get my family home back.”

Mason could feel a slight blush rush to his face. “I don’t think I have anything to do with the real estate prices.”

Alfred shook his head. “You have no idea.” He looked at the two houses. “These homes used to be some of best and had the very best families living in them. It will do my heart good to see them come back to their former glory.”

“I have to agree with you there. They are very fine buildings,” Mason agreed quickly, nodding his head. “I’m anxious to see what kind of condition this one is in. My friend has a wife and four kids, so....” He let his voice trail off.

“I understand,” Alfred agreed as he pulled a set of keys out.

“As I said, there is only one woman living here at the moment. The only reason I’ve let her stay on as long as I have, are one, I felt sorry for her, and two, she kept anyone from squatting in the vacant apartments, that and she’s been here for years. Let’s go have a look.”

Mason’s mouth fell open a bit as he stepped inside.

There was a great hall that went all the way to the back of the house.

Although the end of the hall was closed off, Mason could see in his mind the floor plan before it had been divided into apartments.

Not too much unlike his own home, it had a grand staircase, but unfortunately it had been painted avocado green.

“I know it’s not much to look at now, but I know with a little TLC, this could be a grand home once again,” Alfred said softly behind Mason. “I bought the place from the original owner’s family and tried to keep it as original as possible.”

“Wow. I can see what a great house this is.” Mason looked around the hallway. “I don’t think it will take too much to turn it back into a single-family home.”

“That was my intention all along,” Alfred commented.

Alfred pointed to the left. “There are pocket doors here, behind this wall and door. This was a one-bedroom apartment with a small kitchen in the back. It’s vacant.

” He motioned to his right. “Same with this one, and this is where Grace lives.” He leaned in towards Mason.

“Quite frankly, I think Grace would be better off in a nursing home. She’s up in years, don’t’cha know? ”

Mason nodded, looked at the wall that had been put up with a cheap, hollow-core door.

“Up the stairs is another apartment.” He pointed upwards. “There were four bedrooms up there originally.”

Mason again nodded. “This would be perfect for Paul and his family.”

“Why don’t we have a look upstairs first?” Alfred asked. “Then look at everything down here?”

“Sure,” Mason agreed.

When they got upstairs, Mason could see that yet again, it would be easy to remove the wall at the top of the stair with the same hollow-core door. He ran his hand over the banister of the stairs. “It’s a shame that this was painted.”

Alfred opened the unlocked the door. “It is. Sadly, it was done before I bought the property.”

“Hmm,” Mason acknowledged. “But, who knows, it might have saved the wood beneath it.”

Alfred nodded as he pushed the door open. “I think this is in fairly good shape. Might need a good clean and a coat of paint.”

Mason wandered through the upstairs. It was a lot like his house with the exception that a small kitchenette had been installed. But once again, easily removed. The bathroom was another matter.

“Alfred, um... this bathroom....”

The man behind Mason sighed. “I agree. I think it needs to be ripped out and start over.”

“It’s in pretty bad shape and it look as if it was an afterthought.”

“There’s no doubt that it was just stuck in wherever they could fit it.” He shook his head. “These old houses didn’t have bathrooms originally.”

Mason nodded. “So far, that’s the only big obstacle that I can see. Everything else is just cosmetic. Of course, I haven’t seen the electrical.”

“Oh, I had to have that redone before I could use this as a rental property, so it’s not all that old.”

Mason looked at Alfred. “That’s great news. I can tell you firsthand, it’s very expensive.”

Alfred snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

They both headed back downstairs, not bothering to lock the upstairs apartment, and looked at the other empty apartment.

Again, other than removing the one wall and door, it was all basically cosmetic work that needed doing.

And of course, removing the small kitchenette.

Mason was thinking it could easily be turned into a full bathroom.

When Alfred went to knock on the door of the occupied unit, a small older woman appeared, in a nightgown, that wasn’t exactly pristine. Without knowing it, Alfred reached right through her to knock.

“Um, Alfred, I have a feeling you won’t need to worry about having to evict your tenant.”

Alfred looked over his shoulder at Mason, frowning slightly. “Why do you say that?”

“I have a feeling that she’s... already moved on.”

He knocked on the door again, shaking his head. He tried several more times before he took the set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door. They were immediately hit with a really foul smell.

“What on earth is that smell?” Alfred asked, his nose wrinkling.

“I feel safe in saying, that is your tenant.” Mason looked at the sad-looking woman who was standing in what had been her living area.

“Are you here to evict me?” she asked in a squeaky voice.

Mason nodded slightly. He followed Alfred towards the small bedroom but didn’t enter. When he turned around he saw Grace, in a floral dress, hair combed and wearing earrings.

She sighed and fidgeted a little. “Do you think that bright light is for me?”

Again, Mason nodded and smiled at her.

She nodded at Mason, turned and then faded away.

When Alfred walked through to the small bedroom he gasped. “Oh, Jesus.” Mason could hear him gagging. “Mason, can you go call the police, please.”

Mason felt a little sad. “Sure, Alfred. I’ll go make the call and come back.”

* * * *

I t was well after seven at night when Mason got home from the scene, having stayed with Alfred until they removed the remains of Grace Ellis, the former tenant of apartment number one.

The Medical Examiner said he thought she’d been dead at least a few weeks, perhaps even longer.

That would make sense since she hadn’t paid her last month’s rent.

Mason did ask that Alfred not say anything about finding a dead body in the house. He didn’t think that Deb could cope with that. Hell, he wasn’t sure that Paul could, either. Alfred agreed wholeheartedly.

“To be honest, Mason, I was feeling mighty guilty about evicting Grace. She had been a good tenant for many years. I’d even thought of finding her another place, so I knew she’d be safe.”

Mason patted Alfred on the shoulder. “That would have been a very nice thing. I don’t know if I could have done it at all if I were in your shoes.”

Alfred only nodded. “I’ll have to look and see if she listed a next of kin. Sadly, I don’t think she had anyone.”

“That is very sad,” Mason said as he watched them remove the remains.

* * * * *

“D amn, Mason, what’s wrong with the place that it took you so long to call me back?” Paul grumbled. “I’ve been on pins and needles for a couple of hours now.”

“Um... there was a little problem with the one remaining tenant,” Mason answered, hoping that Paul didn’t push the issue. “On the upside, most of the renovations are only cosmetic.”

Paul sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear.”

“The downside is really good, and not a whole lot to do. The bathroom upstairs is a total gut-job though.”

Paul sighed again, this time more in frustration. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“However, Alfred, Mr. Stockbridge, has given us carte blanche in doing the bathroom and kitchen renovations.” Mason took a deep breath. “But—”

“Oh, now what?” Paul cut him off before Mason could finish.

“Don’t go getting your panties in a wad,” Mason chuckled. “The but is, we won’t make any money on doing the renovation.”

“Do what?” Paul almost screamed.

“Alfred will pay for all materials and supplies and even all the paint, but... in exchange for our labor, you and Mitch will pay no rent for at least one year.”

There was complete silence.

“Paul? You still there?”

“Are you serious?” Paul asked, his voice a mere whisper.

“As long as we complete all the renovations to the house, you live rent free.” Mason smiled. “Luckily for us, all the electrical and most of the plumbing is new.”

“You’re not kidding me?”

“Nope.” Mason’s face was almost hurting from smiling. “I worked it out to where our labor is the rent for one year.”

“Woo-hoo!” Paul yelled, causing Mason to flinch and pull the phone away from his head. “Deb! Deb! You ain’t gonna believe this! Come hear this! Woo-hoo!”

By the end of the call, they’d arranged for Paul to come down when Mitch moved and start work on the house that Paul and his family were going to move into.

That would leave Deb to pack up most of the Atlanta house and get ready to move.

Once the move was all done, Paul, Mitch and Mason would return to get their old house ready to put on the market.

The one bad thing about all of this was telling Patty that the renovation on the apartment over the store was going to have to be put off until all of it was done.

Mason was not looking forward to breaking the news to her.

Oh well, there’s nothing that I can do about that.

He smiled to himself. But in the long run, it will get done much quicker with the three of us working together on it!