Ghost Of A Chance Part 17

"I believe I'm fading fast," Savannah said in the silence that followed her husband's dramatic exit. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to rest, as well."

"Everyone is tired, but I'd like to get a statement from you before you retire for the night."

She pa.s.sed a languid hand over her forehead. "Oh, I don't think I'm up to that, Adam. I will be happy to answer your questions in the morning, but right now...The seance was so draining...And all the negative energy in the house due to the killing..."

I slid Adam a look as I put an arm around her. "Of course, we understand.

It's been a trying night for everyone."

"I should be the one comforting you in your newly widowed state," she said as we walked toward the stairs. Adam, correctly reading my glance, followed. "You must be beside yourself with grief."

"I'm still numb with shock, to be honest."

"Shock!" She shuddered. "I know how you feel. I'm in absolute shock that Meredith could be involved in something so heinous, so reprehensible! Imagine wasting poltergeists and spirits on a brothel, when there are so many other uses for them."

I paused for a second. "Other uses?"

"Of course!" She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to face us, her hands spread wide. "There is so much we have to learn from them! From you...You know what I mean. From beings of the Otherworld! To use them to satiate carnal desires...well, that's just a waste of a good resource. And so I will point out to Meredith in the morning!"

Adam raised his eyebrows and covertly made a note in his notebook.

"Good luck with that. Meredith doesn't seem to be the sort of man who would be overly welcoming to suggestions," I said.

"He's not, but sometimes you can get through to him," she replied, slowly ascending the stairs.

"How long have you been married?"

"Nearly six months now." She must have sensed my surprise, because she tossed her head and laughed. "I know, we argue like an old married couple, don't we? That's Meredith's stubbornness for you."

"Men can be that way. He seemed awfully tight with Spider, though.

Spider's mentioned him to me a few times, but I had no idea that they had such grandiose plans. I wonder if Meredith felt threatened by Spider in any way."

"Threatened?" She paused at the top of the stairs. "Which room might I have, Adam?"

"You can rest in mine. It's down the hall, last door on the right."

"Meredith wasn't threatened by anyone," she continued, not looking left or right as she marched down the hallway. "He got along very well with your husband. I admit there was difficulty in Meredith getting funding from him for the electronic devices; Spider seemed to think they were a waste of money until Meredith showed him a prototype of the diffuser. He gave Meredith the money quick enough after that."

We stopped in front of the door to Adam's bedroom. "Do you mean that you knew your husband had a machine that would destroy spirits? And you did nothing about it?"

Her laughter spilled out into the hallway. "Oh, Karma! I did everything but threaten to throttle the man to get him to stop working on them, but it did no good. To be perfectly honest, I never thought it would actually work! I would have destroyed the horrible machine if I thought it would do what it was intended to do, but even if I did know for a fact it was truly dangerous, destroying it would have been difficult. Meredith always kept them locked away at the bank."

"Them?" Adam asked, opening the door.

"I beg your pardon? Oh, what a lovely room. I imagine it has a glorious view during the day. Is that furniture original to the house?"

"Er..." Adam looked slightly dis...o...b..bulated as he glanced around the bedroom. "Some of it. You mentioned your husband was working on electronic devices? Plural?"

She patted a large chest that sat at the end of the four-poster bed. "This is lovely, just lovely. Such a beautiful chest. Is it mahogany?"

Adam frowned. "Yes. Can you answer my question?"

"I'm sorry; I'm just overwhelmed by this lovely room. Did I say 'them?'

I'm so tired, I'm not really thinking straight. Meredith only made the one diffuser, but there were several versions of it before he got it right, so I always think of it as more than one device."

"He said he had another one," I said slowly, watching as she flitted around the room admiring the Victorian furniture. "Do you think that might have been the cause for an argument between Spider and him?"

"You'd have to ask Meredith, but I doubt it. From what I saw, they were on very good terms. Certainly nothing that would indicate Meredith would kill Spider."

"You didn't see either of them after they left the living room?" Adam asked when she opened a window and breathed in the night air with exaggerated movements.

"I so love the smell of the sea. No, I didn't see them. I stayed in the living room until everyone returned, and we decided to have the seance."

"Everyone?" I asked, confused. "Who left the room while I was upstairs?"

"Oh, goodness ... let me see. ..." She sat on the bed to take off her shoes.

"Spider and Meredith went downstairs to look for a door, as you know.

Obsidian Angel said she had to use the bathroom. Matthew said he was going to check on you, but he didn't come back until just before you came downstairs. And Adam went off to..." She paused, turning to him. "Why did you leave?"

"I had to check on Nita and the boys. Did you see anyone go down to the bas.e.m.e.nt?"

"I'm afraid I wasn't looking," she said, scooting back on the bed. "I took a few moments to do some communing with the house. Would you mind if I rested now? I feel drained, absolutely drained, by the murder and Meredith and everything."

"Of course. Rest well," Adam said, holding the door open for me.

"Oh...Karma, do you have a few seconds?" she asked.

"Sure. I'll just be a minute, Adam."

He inclined his head, gave Savannah a quick, curious look, and left.

"I'm sorry to disturb you after everything that's happened, but I thought it would be best to do it now," Savannah said, twisting a bit of her dress between her hands.

"Do what now?" Why was she suddenly so uncomfortable?

She got off the bed and took a hesitant step toward me. "I was wondering ... I thought you might not like...Oh, this is so very awkward."

"I don't know what's awkward, but you needn't feel concerned about discussing something unpleasant with me. I'm stronger than I look. Is it something about Spider?"

"Yes. No. That is, I was wondering what your plans are for this house."

The words tumbled over one another as she sat on the end of the bed, one hand touching her amulet bag. "I know it's too soon after your husband's death to have any specific plans, but I thought I would mention that I am very, very interested in the house, and if the unpleasant circ.u.mstances of Spider's death have tainted the house in any way, I would be only too happy to buy it from you."

"Stop," I said, holding up a hand to interrupt her.

"It's Meredith, isn't it?" she asked, shaking her head. "You needn't worry: I have no intentions of allowing him to destroy this lovely old home by turning it into a brothel. If you sell me the house, I can protect it from him. I will continue to allow it to be a sanctuary to homeless ent.i.ties and beings. It will become the apex of paranormal study in the Pacific Northwest. I will conduct-"

"No, seriously, you must stop," I interrupted again. "You misunderstand my objections. Legally this house may have been Spider's, and thus will probably pa.s.s to me, but I don't consider it morally his or mine. This is Adam's home."

"But surely..." She frowned. "Surely I am remembering correctly what I read about poltergeists: they are guardians of the home, not actual owners?"

"That's been the traditional role throughout history, yes. But times have changed in the last century. Many polters now own the properties that were tended by the generations of their families. At some point, the original family who owned this house must have sold it to Adam."

She was silent for a minute. "With all due respect to Adam, don't you think that perhaps he's best suited for the former role, rather than the latter?

The house is in a terrible state of disrepair; it desperately needs an owner who will care for it."

"He does have two jobs," I said, feeling rather defensive on his behalf.

"And his wards seem to be very happy and comfortable. I don't think there're any signs of neglect on his part. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Er...yes." She didn't look happy at my abrupt dismissal of her attempt to buy the house, but I was not at all comfortable discussing it with her. The house wasn't really mine, and I had no intention of doing anything with it but giving the deed back to Adam.

"Get some rest. I think we can all use it."

Adam was waiting for me downstairs. "What was all that about, or am I prying?"

I looked up into his pale blue eyes and wondered what lengths he'd go to in order to protect his home and wards. "She wanted to buy your house."

"What?"

I nodded. "I told her I didn't consider it mine to sell."

"Ah. I see. Er...thank you." Two faint spots of color touched his cheeks.

"I meant to talk to you about that, but thought I'd wait until after we're through with this mess."

"There's nothing to talk about," I told him, smiling to myself over his obvious embarra.s.sment. Adam was clearly one of those men who felt awkward being beholden to someone. "The house is yours. Just as soon as the probate is worked out, I'll return the deed to you."

"That's very generous of you." He looked downright uncomfortable. I decided to end his misery.

"What do you think about what she said?"

"She's nuts if she thinks she's going to get this house-"

"No, not that. Earlier."

"Ah. Hmm, Interesting, that."

I worried my lower lip as I ran over again the brief interview with her.

"She's not telling us everything."

"Agreed. That bit about the devices, for instance. What are you willing to bet that Meredith made something else that she doesn't want us to know about?"

"Another ghost-killing machine?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe something worse."

"I can't imagine what could be worse than that horrible diffuser," I answered, anger a bitter taste in my mouth.

"I can."

"Adam ..." I stopped him before he could enter the living room. "This is incredibly awkward. There's no way I can say this without ruffling your feathers, so I'm just going to say it. Amanita didn't mention you checking on her."

His pale blue eyes held mine with apparent frankness. "That's correct."

"You're really not making this easy for me, are you? If you weren't checking on the spirits and Amanita, then what were you doing?"

"I'd rather not say." He started to walk away.

"Adam!"

"What?" He continued to walk with infuriating indifference.

"You know what! Is that it? That's all the explanation you're giving me?"

He spun around and marched over to me until our toes touched, his gaze boring into my head. "Do you believe I murdered your husband?"

"I think people who don't know you might find the facts rather d.a.m.ning.

You certainly had a reason to want Spider dead. You had the ability, as well, with your polter swiftness and strength-enhancing law-enforcement training.

And now you admit you were off doing something on your own when Spider was killed."

He leaned closer to me, until I could see little flecks of silver in his pale blue eyes. "Do you think I murdered your husband?"

I shook my head, my shoulders slumping with weariness and capitulation.

"You're too ..." I struggled to find a word to describe him, and finally settled on "honorable."

"You're just too honorable to do something so reprehensible."

"Then it doesn't matter what I was doing, does it?"

As he strode away, I followed slowly, wishing I had a better grasp on the way polter minds worked.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on here?" Adam bellowed as I entered the room.

"Imp races," my father answered from where he squatted on the floor.

Several imps, prompted by my father as he held out bits of croissant, ran around what appeared to be a makeshift racetrack. "Can you believe Murdered Vortex hasn't seen an imp race? I've got five bucks on the one wearing the pink."

"It's not Murdered Vortex. It was never Murdered Vortex. I decided Morbent Vixen was too boring, so my name is now Misericordia." Pixie eyed us all as if daring us to challenge her latest choice of name.