Page 2 of Ghostlighted (Ghost Townies #2)

“Belay that thought, because one of my tasks today is conveying the title for the place to the previous owners’ relatives.

” She held up both hands, fingers crossed.

“With luck, they’ll decide to reopen and avail themselves of Jae-Seong’s fabulous pastries again.

But even if they do, Isaksen’s still needs to diversify. Hence today’s trip to the coast.”

“Can Jae-Seong manage the bakery without Haley?”

She shrugged. “It’s just for the day, and the baking’s already done. They’ve got a couple of part-timers who can cover service.”

“Let me guess.” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. “Could those part-timers be more of Ricky’s cousins?” I’d never been able to tie Ricky down to a final count, but his cousins were everywhere .

“I’ll never tell.” She smirked. “Maybe you should ask him.”

“Maybe I will. He’ll be here later.” My neck prickled at the thought of seeing him again, of spending time with him again. My mandatory Manor moratorium was good for that, at least. “I’m helping him set out vegetable starts in Sofia’s garden today.”

“Sheesh.” Taryn rolled her eyes. “Watching the two of you tiptoe around each other is like watching glaciers migrate.”

My eyebrows snapped together. “Hey! That’s not fair. Ricky’s important. I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Okay. I guess I can accept that.” Her expression turned calculating, almost sly. “You’ve got five days free. Seems like a perfect time to move that glacier a little farther down the mountain.”

I looked out the window at the back of Sofia’s scarecrow. “You really need to work on your metaphors.”

Taryn studied me, eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to do it, are you?”

“Do what?” I suspected my attempt at nonchalance was a total failure.

“Take Friday off.”

“It’s either that or spend all day on these stupid help files, and believe me, a few hours at a time is all I can handle.”

Taryn spread her hands. “Then why take the jobs? It’s not like you need the money now. Or are you saying I didn’t negotiate appropriate compensation for you when Dad offered you the Manor job?”

“Of course not! But even if you hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. The work over there is fascinating.”

Fascinating was an understatement. The Richdale family cast a vast shadow over the area.

The town of Ghost wouldn’t exist if not for them, nor would nearby Richdale or Richdale University.

My neighbor, Patrice DeHaven, taught paranormal studies there when she wasn’t lurking inside her house in self-imposed introvert seclusion.

In the last half of his life, Thaddeus Richdale’s time, money, and energy had all been devoted to his quest to reach beyond the veil.

Not because he was a particularly spiritual person, you understand.

No, he just wanted to shake down Josiah, his departed father, for the location of the fortune Thaddeus was convinced Josiah had hidden from him.

Saul had hired me to organize Thaddeus’s papers, and I was finally making some progress. This event couldn’t have come at a worse time, but the Manor needed the rental fees, so I had to deal.

Both Taryn and Avi were looking down at me, shaking their heads as though I’d disappointed them hugely. Gil, the traitor, had his back to me, ears tilted back, only the tip of his ginger tail twitching.

“Stop it. Both of you.” I leaned sideways, the better to glare at Gil. “You too.” I sighed. “Oh, fine. I’ll think about taking Friday off.”

Taryn grinned. “That’s all I ask.”

The ping of an incoming text emanated from the oversized leather purse Taryn had slung on the counter when she’d arrived.

“That’ll be Haley. I need to get moving. Which brings me to my second task of the day.”

She strode over to her bag and extracted two envelopes, one a thick eight by ten manila and the other a standard business size with some kind of logo where the return address should be. She slapped the bigger one on the counter.

“What’s that?”

“The court documents from the settled lawsuits, as well as an updated contract from Avi’s publisher for his last book.” She tapped two fingers on the clasp. “They’ll be returning the advance, too.”

Avi surged forward, his feet not touching the floor. “They did? I didn’t expect that.”

I gestured to where Avi was standing to peer down at the envelope. “Avi says he didn’t expect to get the advance back.”

Taryn gave me a pitying look. “Maz. Avi didn’t get the advance.

As the person who turned in the manuscript, you did.

Although frankly?” She faced in the direction I’d indicated.

“Avi, your publisher was so ecstatic to get it, I think your agent could have asked for double and they’d have come through.

” She grinned. “Have I told you how much I like her?”

Avi and I both said, “Several times.”

Taryn ignored me, still directing her comments toward Avi’s general location. “I made sure that she negotiated to send all the editor’s notes here to Maz.”

“Me? Why?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be dense, Maz. So Avi can do the edits, of course. Nobody has to know they’re being done by a ghost.”

“But I can’t interact with a computer,” Avi said. “Remember last week when I crashed your laptop?”

I winced. “Right.” That had been a near disaster, but I’d only lost an hour or so of work on those lousy help files, so it could definitely have been worse. “Maybe you could use dictation software or something.”

Avi dipped his chin and glared at me over his glasses. “Exactly how would I do that, Maz? You’re the only person, place, or thing who can hear my voice.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess that would be a problem. Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

“And this”—Taryn flourished the smaller envelope and waggled it in the air until I took it—“is for you.” She grabbed her bag. “Gotta go.” She turned and power-walked out of the room.

I opened the envelope warily and peeked inside. My eyes widened, and I threw it onto the counter where it skidded to the edge and fell to the floor.

“Taryn!” I stormed out of the kitchen and planted myself in the family room just as she reached the front door. “Why the hell did you just hand me a check for a hundred and twenty-five grand?”