 CHAPTER 1 (section 4) copyright © 2001, S. Y. Affolee At that point the waiter came back with their meals. Simone heartily dug into the pasta and briefly felt sorry for Danny who kept worrying about her own looks and dieting. But obviously she has a reason to worry—even with her surgically altered body, she hadn’t been able to get a man attached to her yet. Edna glanced at her soup in disgust and took a spoon to daintily sip at it. “Soup of the day. I should have asked for a menu and paid more attention.” “Is there anything else we need to know about this ‘ghost’?” Simone asked bringing back the purpose of the discussion. “Was your friend the only one who saw it?” “Well, Dargood and Mina thought they saw him,” Edna admitted. “Friends as well?” asked Adrian. Edna made a small disgruntled sound at the back of her throat when she took another sip of the soup. “Exactly what did they put in this?” She grabbed a glass and took a swig of water before answering. “No. The butler and the maid. They were cleaning out one of the main rooms when they saw him walk down a hallway heading towards the study. Dargood went to investigate, but the ghost disappeared soon afterwards.” “They wouldn’t mind if we interviewed them?” said Simone. “It’ll just be some simple questions.” “Oh, no of course not.” “Your friend will also be available?” asked Adrian. Edna shook her head. “I’m afraid Carmen is out of the country. She told me Rob’s ghost gave her a revelation. Personally I thought it gave her a mild heart attack and now she’s aware of her mortality. But no, she took the first plane out. She told me she was heading to Tibet of all places. Said she need the help of a couple of recluse Buddhist monks to help her soul search.” “Or perhaps she just needed a vacation,” Simone remarked. “She’s retired,” Edna said puzzeled. Adrian shrugged as he swallowed. “One less witness then. You will tell us if you see anything.” “Of course. And you must start right away. I want all of this cleared up as soon as possible.” “Well since we don’t have any other urgent cases...” Simone said slowly. “Wonderful then! I’m sure you need to stake out the house tonight. I have guest rooms already available. You can set up all your equipment wherever you like. I’m not particular.” Adrian and Simone exchanged looks. It seemed as if Edna had read up on stakeouts. Or watched a lot of movies. But since she was paying several times their usual rate, they could afford to overlook some strange eccentricies. “Sure,” Adrian said. “We’ll look up on it tonight. Expect us around six. And as you said, we do need a little time to set up some equipment.” The rest of the meal went rather smoothly although bland. Edna Greenville monopolized the conversation with the topic of her son, Madison Greenville. Evidently he was a researcher at Biosyn, a biotechnology firm located in central Ridgefield, a larger town south of Elanne, who excelled in school and life in general. He had married some socialite’s daughter down in Ridgefield and had the proverbial two point five kids: a son, a daughter, and a cat named Poodles who had recently had kittens. The whole litter was at the moment residing with Edna. Evidently Edna’s granchildren thought she would be better at giving them away then they would. At the moment, she had been dismally unsuccessful. Afterwards, the moustached waiter came to bear the check while beaming at Adrian. Edna Greenville departed earlier and Simone was compelled to wait for her partner when he was detained briefly by their waiter. Outside, the afternoon heat hit them in slow pulsing waves. She could not wait to get back to the cooler office. She quickened her pace to keep up with Adrian’s strides. “See, I told you not to judge a client so quickly.” “Huh.” She hated when he told her ‘I told you so’ but was loathe to voice her opinion out loud. It would only give him more fodder to tease her with. “What was the waiter wanting to know? Did we talk too loud in the restaurant?” “Nothing so mundane.” Simone turned to see him slowly turn a charming shade of bright red. “What on earth did he say to you?” she asked fascinated. “If you must know, he asked me out.” “Really.” He coughed. “I told him I was not that type of guy and politely turned him down.” “He must have been disappointed.” “I can’t believe it.” “I can.” She slanted him a sideways look. “Have you ever noticed your affect on most people? I swear you could get by on charm alone. You should have been a salesman or politician.” “I despise both of those professions. They shouldn’t be even called jobs.” “Well, I guess you’re right on both accounts.” “We should get ready for the assignment. We should meet at her house. I’m going back home to pack.” “Then Danny will know.” “Yeah, she’ll have to know. But she’ll forgive us when we tell her about the money.” “Oh yeah, the money.” More money to support those doctor visits. “But she’ll still be miffed. You know how Danny is.” “I’ll be the first one to point out she’s flaky,” he said frankly. “We really don’t need a secretary. All she can do is type.” “Then why on earth did you hire her in the first place?” And then mentally kicked herself. It was for the looks of course. “Nevermind.” “She’s our advertisement. A walking, talking advertisement.” They arrived back at the office to find that Danny was not at her desk. Instead, she was standing over a huge boquet of long-stemmed red roses in a crystal vase, gawking. “A delivery?” Simone inquired blandly. “Who’s it from?” Danny started at the sound of her voice and looked up at them. “Oh, hi. I see you’re back from lunch. Denise brought it up. She said it was from her pathetic ex-boyfriend who’s trying to win her back, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw the flowers out. She figured we might like some color in the office.” “Color?” Simone looked surreptitiously around. She had to admit that the office was done in minimalist style. The only claim to color in the neutral surroundings was a framed abstract painting at the far wall. “Well, they are nice. But I’d prefer sunflowers and daisies.” “Sunflowers and daisies?” Adrian said surprised. “I had you pegged for cherry blossoms.” “Too obvious.” He picked up a small white envelope from the petals and read, “To Denise.” He turned it over and broke a black seal and slid out a simple card that said, “I miss you. Please come back.” “That’s supposed to be a private note,” said Danny. “We can seal it back and Denise will never know,” Simone replied. She took up the envelope and examined the seal which seemed to be an intricate black blob in the form of a writhing serpent. “Or maybe not. This seal looks too complicated to duplicate.” The serpent was coiled in a bed of what looked like black flowers. Adrian and Danny looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, you’re right,” said Adrian. “But since Denise doesn’t want any of her boyfriend’s stuff anymore, she won’t miss this anyway.” |