 CHAPTER 1 (section 3) copyright © 2001, S. Y. Affolee “I want whatever that is living in my house to leave.” Simone blinked. “Living?” “In a manner of speaking,” Edna said a little vaguely. “I’m not quite sure what it is. Two nights ago I had a friend staying over. She saw it, actually. Never was quite the same. And Carmen had the audacity to leave right away too.” “What exactly did she see?” Adrian asked. “The dead ghost of my husband. Ha!” The older woman snorted in derision. “My husband, for goodness sake. Wherever he is now, he is not masquarading as a ghost. He knows I’m pretty well off for the rest of my life. Our son will get the inheritance once I’m gone. Nothing contested at all.” “So she could actually identify who the ghost was?” he said surprised. “Yeah. Carmen went to the study to try to find a book. Avid reader she is, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had already read half the books we owned already. She said she saw him sitting at the desk writing something. He looked up to say hello to her.” “Doesn’t sound like a very scary ghost to me,” said Simone. “Oh, you don’t know Carmen. She’s an atheist. So it was a great shock to her that the possibility that people turn into ghosts after they die was very disconcerting.” “Did you ever see the ghost?” Edna shook her head sadly. “Nope, never did Rob when I went down to check the study myself. It would have been nice to talk to him.” “You don’t seem like the type of person who is too distressed about the idea that your deceased husband is a ghost,” Simone replied. “So why come to us?” “Well, ghost or not, I need to get rid of him,” Edna said resolutely. “I’m moving to my sister’s in about a week. My son already has his own house and doesn’t want to take care of another. I need to sell it and I don’t want anything undesirable in it to scare off potential buyers.” “It could be an intruder that perhaps bears some resemblance to your husband,” Adrian pointed out. “The police will have to deal with it then.” “Yes, I’ve thought that possibility through too. And I wanted someone to deal with the two possibilities. That are capable of dealing with both of the possibilities. In fact, I am willing to pay triple your ordinary rate if you get the job done. The money from selling the house would more than cover that expense.” Simone’s eyes suddenly gleamed at the mention of tripling the rate. “I’m sure we could find out what the problem is.” “Don’t both of you have to decide on this?” For the first time, Edna turned her eyes consideringly to Adrian. “I don’t want to force you to take a job that you don’t want to take.” Adrian gave both women a congenial smile. From underneath the table, Simone tapped the tip of his shoe in warning. She grinned at him. His eyebrow raised fractionally in feigned amusement. “Sure,” he finally said. Simone silently let out a held breath. “Sounds like an interesting case.” |