Page 103 of Ghostly

“Oh, no. Some tenants have reported occasional flickering, but that’s just the old wiring. And it gives a sort of charm to the house, don’t you think?”

The man stopped not a foot away from Ida and swept the living room, his gaze passing straight through her. “I suppose.” He dragged his words like a teenager, weary of his parents’ interventions.

“I’m sorry we had to delay this. You know how meetings are! Always run late.” Farrah’s laugh was empty. “Anyway, I have the essentials sorted out. The kitchen has recently been refurbished, so forgive me if there’s something out of place. And as an apology for my tardiness, you can stay here tonight, and we’ll get the deal done tomorrow.”

“I suppose.”

Wow. A silver tongue, you are.

Farrah showed the new tenant around, and Ida dragged behind them. The man checked the bathroom and gave a neutral nod; wrinkled his noseat her former bedroom, but at least Gabriel’s…the otherbedroom seemed to meet his approval.

They said goodbye in the hallway. The man ventured to the living room and, after emitting another sigh, sat down and turned on the TV.

“Okay, buddy,” Ida said. “All is not lost yet. So you’re a little shy, but that’s fine. We can’t talk, anyway. But surely you have good taste in movies.” Finally there’d be some noise and life (albeit fictional) around here.

He flicked through the channels.

“Come on. Iknowyou have good taste in movies.”

He stopped on a channel showing a chess tournament.

“And… we’re moving onward…” Ida waved both hands at the remote. “You accidentally landed here. This can’t be it.”

The man stared at the screen for a few seconds, then settled deeper into the sofa, leaned his head back, and nodded to himself.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Ida shook her head and popped into the deer statue.

Worst. Tenant. Ever.

Chapter 25

The restaurant hosting the dinner party was on the top floor of a skyscraper, offering stunning views of the city. Hundreds of lights buzzed below, converging into rivers of cars that ran through the maze of buildings; far beyond, the lights stopped in a ragged line, halted by the darkness of the shore. As much as he fed on the energy of the city, Gabriel wondered how lovely and peaceful it would be on those dark waters. Just a boat and him. Well, him and…

Not Ida.

He turned away from the wall-to-floor windows, spanning the entirety of the restaurant, and reached for another hors d’oeuvre as the waiter passed by. A special area of the restaurant had been cleared of tables and set apart for the party; the invited, the men all somber and proper in their black tuxes, the women stunning in elegant evening dresses and glittering jewelry, gathered in small groups.

“Vane!” A rotund man with a receding hairline approached him. “All alone here, huh? We were talking about the Brentsen case, you know, the one where the toilet…” The man’s chuckle died off. “Right. Forgot you weren’t here for it.”

Forgot, my ass.

“Anyway.” The man clasped his shoulder. “Glad to have you back.” And he walked off.

Gabriel had no idea who the lawyer was, and he doubted the other man knew him in person. An annoying voice that kept resurfacing, despite Gabriel trying to keep it smothered under his tight daily routine, whispered to him—you’reabout as glad to be here as they are to have you back.

Wynona, clad in a hard-to-miss burgundy cocktail dress, broke off from a group after shaking hands with a man, and headed to Gabriel.

“How is it going?” he asked.

She flicked a perfectly curled lock of hair over her shoulder. “Well. Most of them are very dull, but I’ll take dull over dismissing. Now, you?”

Gabriel forced a smirk. “I’ve only had one person ask me whether I’m sleeping with my current client.” He’d known these people were (fittingly) judgmental assholes before but… had he always found them so exhausting?

“Mrs. Ashford-Abernathy?” Wynona sounded amused. “Isn’t she well over seventy?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he said, and Wynona laughed—a perfect, melodic, slightly restrained laugh, to fit into the polite environment.