Page 30 of Guy (House of Frazier #4)

Guy figured that the man was talking about his children.

The other day, he’d had another woman come to his office, and she’d called her kids ingrates.

He did wonder if anyone liked their children anymore and decided that it would be a good thing to think about when he and Amber had any. Would they be mongrels or ingrates?

As he wandered around the room, Guy finished up the chapter that he was on.

It was going along well, the book, and he thought that in about a week, he’d be making notes on it.

He had to do that so that he’d not have to read every book again after writing it.

It was something that he knew a couple of authors did.

He thought it would be difficult to do when you had a lot of books out there.

He was happy for his seven, eight, counting the one that he was writing now.

“You ever talk to us?” He looked in the direction of the man before he could think that was a bad idea. “Yeah, I knew you were listening to me. I have something that I’d like for you to do for me. It’s not against the law or anything. Just the request of a dead man to his kids.”

“The mongrels, I’m assuming.” He laughed. More like a cackling of a witch, but he didn’t comment on it. “Before I agree, how did you know that you could come to me? I don’t want a bunch of ghosties taking up all my time.”

“Belinda said you did right by her and not to go blabbing it all around that you did. If you do. I’ve got me an issue that I need someone to take care of for me.

I wasn’t murdered like she was, but I have it in my head that one of the mongrels has done in their little sister.

She’s not so little anymore, I don’t guess, but a woman.

I’ve not seen her around for a few weeks.

She usually goes to my grave and puts some pretty flowers on it, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them flowers nor her.

I’m fearful that someone killed her off. ”

“What’s her name?” He pulled up his search engine to put her name in when the man, he should have gotten his name by now, started around the room. “Do you remember her name? Or yours for that matter?”

“What kind of fool do you take me for? Of course, I know my name. I know hers, too. It’s Carter.

Carter Livingstone. She’s about twenty-five now.

” Guy put it in the search line, and while it was gathering up the information, he asked the man his name.

“William Livingstone. She’s my great-granddaughter.

Had a wonderful relationship with her when she was nothing but a spud growing up.

But I knew she was going to amount to something even before she started hanging around me. ”

“The computer says that she’s quite famous. An artist. Painter.” He said that he knew all that. “It also says that she’s had some tragic background in her life. Do you know what that means?”

“I died, didn’t I?” He didn’t know if that was what they were talking about until he got to the interview that she’d done recently.

She said her grandda was a large part of her life.

“She took it kinda hard when I passed away in my sleep. I should have had a few more years left with her, but my ticker decided something else.”

“I’m sorry about that. Did you have heart problems before then?” He said that he’d been taking good care of himself for about the last two decades and didn’t want to die so young. “You look to be in your late sixties, but I’m assuming that you’re younger than that.”

“I’m eighty-four. Turned that number a week before I passed on.

Birthdays still count with the dead, don’t they?

” Guy told him that he didn’t know. Belinda had been the only ghost he’d encountered before him.

“Well, we count them up like we’re still around.

I bet old Belinda could give you her age before and after she was murdered.

Good woman that one. I wish I could have known about her before her getting killed by her mongrels. ”

“My wife is step-daughter to Belinda and half-sister to the mongrels. That’s a good name for them, too.” Shaking his head, he told him he was going to look him up, too. “If you’re no better than your mongrel kids, I won’t help you. I have enough things going on in my life.”

Putting in the man’s name, he was impressed that William had had a good life. And true to his word, he had been leading a good life up until he died. It also talked about the relationship he’d had with his granddaughter, Carter.

“She must have been a good girl.” He did some more searches on the young woman and found that she traveled a great deal with her work, her art.

He didn’t want to do that, travel a great deal to promote his books.

How would he get them done if he were forever out and about?

“It says here that she traveled to Spain recently. Could she be on one of those trips right now, and maybe she didn’t tell you?

What reason would anyone have to hurt her? Do you have any idea?”

“She was my heir. Most of the mongrels didn’t like that.

” He would assume not and told the elderly man that.

“Left it all to her so that she could oversee my businesses and money. Quite a bit of that, too, I left her. But none to the mongrels. They took enough from me when I was around, forever with their hands out like I was some kind of bank or something. Not a one of them would work a job the way that my Carter did. She’s got herself a good education, too.

Them damned kids hurt her, I just know it. ”

“I’m looking here the best I can. But until I can talk to her boss or her attorney, then we don’t want to assume the worst.” He asked him if he thought it might kill him to be so stressed out all the time.

“No, I didn’t say that, but you thinking she’s dead isn’t going to get me moving any faster than I am.

I have some leads that I can follow up on. ”

Guy had an entire notepad filled with information about Carter Livingstone before William said he was tired. That was something that he’d learned from Belinda about being around too much. It drained the dead. That was why she’d disappear for so long, so she could rest up some before coming back.

Making notes on what was going to be his investigative journey with the man, he also made notes of things that he was able to look up without knowing what he was looking for.

It said that Carter had a publicist who would have her schedule, and that was where he was going to start.

It might be a simple thing that she was on the road and nothing more.

But for some reason, he didn’t think so.

William also gave him the name of an attorney that she used, as well as his attorney.

He had more with this mystery than he had with Belinda, but that didn’t mean that it was going to be easier.

He’d had to kill one of Belinda’s mongrels, and that didn’t even faze the other woman. She’d been murdered by them.

By the time he made his way up to bed, Amber having gone up hours ago, he had two pages of notes and a long list of things that he was going to do starting tomorrow.

It didn’t just list things that he was going to be doing for the Livingstone family, but a couple of things that he needed to get done for the house.

Even though it looked like it was finished, there were things that he needed to make sure were taken care of before he could deem it perfect.

Amber had been in the bedrooms off and on for the last week and found that two of the windows were cracked and needed to be replaced.

While he didn’t think he’d know how to do that, he was going to make sure they were replaced.

He loved having his own home, something that as a kid he never dreamed possible.

Or even obtainable. But he had one now and thought that he’d never not want to be living in a house over living in an apartment or condo.

There was just too much freedom in having a place of his own.

And an added bonus was sharing with his mate, Amber, of course.