Page 29 of Ghost of a Chance

W hat was Professor Thompson talking about? “Is there any other reason he would have had this book?”

“Are you sure?” Kirsty asked with an edge in her voice.

Professor Thompson gave her a look that said he was done with this conversation. Granted, she never did bother to look at the copyright date. “What book would he have been using?”

She jotted down the name of the new textbook. “Is there a chance he would have had this old one because it was cheaper? I did that for a few of my classes.”

“No. If he couldn’t afford the book I have some I keep on hand. I’ve never seen this book in my classroom. I wasn’t teaching until after it was discontinued,” he offered. “Is that all?”

“What was he working on at the time of his death? Jasper mentioned he’d come to the lab to study for a big exam the night he died.”

“I’d have to check my class notes, but you were in the class, Cotton, do you remember?”

“Uh, no.” Jasper looked dejected. She resisted the urge to reach over and comfort him.

“I’ll use your PR person’s email to send you the info when I find it. Anything else?”

“No. Thank you for your time,” she said.

“No problem.” The professor paused for a moment before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “I have to say, I am interested in how you’re going to work physics into your next novel,” he said.

“Have you read them?”

“I read the first one. My daughter recommended it to me,” he said.

“I’m working on using physics to rule out how the ghost in my current manuscript is tied to an object,” she said. It was easier to talk about her theory as if it were fiction.

“Ah, there is so much we don’t know about matter and movement through time and space.

You might want to check out chaos theory,” he said.

“Of course that relies heavily on mathematics but it also deals with random and unpredictable behavior. I’m not saying that something like what you described is possible in the real world but in your fictional one where there are ghosts… maybe.”

“Maybe. Thanks for your time, and for reading my book.”

“You’re welcome. I enjoyed it,” he said.

They left the classroom and Jasper, who’d been quiet the entire time, continued to brood as they walked back to the car.

It had started raining again but they were both prepared with their brightly colored ponchos this time.

She pulled on the hood and thought about the book in her bag and how, according to the professor, there was no connection to Paul.

Where did that leave them?

She was going to have to do another séance or take the book to Aza. She had an appointment booked with her in two days. For right now that was all she could do.

Until then, she had to contend with Jasper and what this meant for him.

“I don’t think Paul is in this book,” she said once they were seated at a nearby diner that Jasper drove them to.

“Why not?”

“You heard the professor, this wasn’t even a book he was using.” Could it be someone else trapped in the book? But then why would they haunt Jasper?

“Why would someone else want to hang around? Paul is the only logical—”

“Sherlock.”

“We haven’t ruled Paul out. He could have picked it up for some research into an older discounted theory. I mean that makes more sense than it not being him when this book’s been haunting me.”

This wasn’t something that Jasper seemed ready to let go of.

But she was going to start looking into anyone else who might have had this book.

Idly she picked up the book, really examining it.

Before, she’d assumed that Jasper had checked this, that this information was confirmed. It was time to do her due diligence.

It was obviously used. As she flipped through, she returned to the sketch of the tree in the corner. There wasn’t a name in the top corner, just a stamp for a used bookstore. Pity. She wrote her name in all of her books—not that she lent them out, she just liked claiming them in a way.

Her stomach rumbled. In the chaos of their investigation, neither of them had much to eat. They both ordered patty melts and onion rings.

“Once we get the professor’s notes on what Paul was studying, we can probably figure this out,” Jasper said.

“Yeah, that will help. There has to be something we’re missing,” she said. Jasper nodded, his face grim.

He’d shut down and retreated. She was disappointed too, and this was just supposed to be a publicity thing for her. This was his life. He’d been living with a ghost since his roommate died. It had to be a blow to realize it might not be his close friend at all.

She wanted to discuss it more, but Jasper wasn’t responding to anything she said with more than a grunt.

She lost her patience with him. He kept forgetting they were in this together .

Earlier that thought would have sparked joy inside of her.

Now it felt like a warning to not let herself get in too deep.

“I get it’s difficult to hear that it might not be Paul, but taking it out on me isn’t going to change anything.

He wasn’t using this book for his class.

He probably was just studying for a standard test, which wouldn’t have used this book at all.

Is there any other reason he’d have it?”

Jasper put his sandwich down and leaned across the table toward her. “If I knew that then I wouldn’t have dragged us to campus today.”

“Don’t be an ass. You said yourself you blocked out a lot after he died. I’m asking to jog your memory.”

“Nothing’s coming to mind,” he said, taking a huge bite of his patty melt.

She rolled her eyes and looked away from him. “I guess we’ll have to go back to the night he died. You said you left him at the apartment, but we know he made his way to the lab. We should retrace your steps that night as well. Might trigger something.”

He finished chewing, then nodded. “Sorry. I was being a dick. It’s just, if it’s not Paul, then I have no idea what’s going on. Am I being haunted by some random ghost?”

Probably . Her experience with them in real life was nonexistent, so she had no idea what kind of things would motivate them. “You’re forgiven. Remember I’m on your side and want to solve this as much as you do.”

“I’m grateful for that,” he said. “I’ll have to go through my socials to remember what I was doing that night. Do you really think it will help?”

“It can’t hurt. Maybe Paul talked to someone who gave him the book. We ruled it out as a class text but there are still options,” she said with fake optimism.

* * *

Jasper knew he shouldn’t take it personally. But if it wasn’t Paul in the book then he had bigger problems.

Kirsty had been nice enough after he apologized. He rarely lost his temper but after the professor had ruled out the connection to Paul, he’d been left with nothing. Nothing.

This was worse than when he brought the book to the studio and the lights had exploded. There was literally no reason for anyone else to haunt him.

Kirsty’s suggestion that they retrace his steps was his best remaining chance at closure. Even if it confirmed the sinking feeling in his gut.

He wanted to apologize. If only he could. He finished up his food and then leaned back looking around the diner. Victor had worked here when they’d been in college.

Maybe it was time to really talk to Victor instead of hiding from his guilt and grief.

Taking out his phone he DMed Victor and then started scrolling back to five years.

He hadn’t really posted much after Paul’s death.

The three of them had a running daily Snapchat streak with each other and it had made him ache to open the app knowing that he wouldn’t have a message waiting from Paul.

“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Kirsty said.

He nodded absently. It was like he’d cracked open Pandora’s box. Memories were flooding him and it was hard to keep it together.

Kirsty slid back into the booth across from him.

“Just had a thought…but what if I ticked off someone else that night? What if there’s something I’m missing?”

She rolled her shoulders and pulled her notebook from her bag. He took that as a good sign.

“Did something you noticed on your socials trigger that?” She pointed to his phone, the app still open.

“Nah. It was more what you said earlier about ruling out logical things. So if it’s not Paul it has to be someone else…just so you know I’m not ready to rule him out yet. I mean he liked Judge Judy and physics was his thing,” Jasper pointed out.

“Fine. But it will still be good to have other possibles. What have you got so far?”

“The night Paul died, I went to that frat party, and it seems I went to Pop’s Pizza before.

That was typical for us…looks like Paul was with me for pizza,” he said, zooming in on the photo.

His cousin wasn’t as tall as he was and where Jasper had black hair, Paul’s was a reddish blond.

They shared the same blue eyes. In the photo they were grinning without a care in the world.

Arms around each other, leaning over an extra-large pizza that filled the entire table.

He’d forgotten this. That night had started out fun.

For years now he’d focused on Paul’s death and not his life.

He’d meant what he said about not letting go of Paul as the ghost. It seemed more logical to him that the spirit was Paul’s.

Little patterns that Jasper had picked up, the timing of the songs and the song choices, the way it was always tuned to Judge Judy first thing in the morning at the same time as when Paul used to leave for his run.

Jasper wasn’t sure what any of that meant but his gut told him it had to be more than coincidence.

Kirsty leaned on her elbows to see the photo better. “You both look so young.”

“Yeah,” he said. Paul was locked in that moment. Now it felt like Jasper had decades on him even though it had only been five years. There was no denying that those last years had been tough. The toughest he’d ever had.