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“Has she answered yet?” Leo asked.

“Not yet. Give her a minute.”

“Fine.” Leo considered a little longer. “I think blue for the dining room. A dark blue, though.”

Nate finished his mouthful, trying to picture it. He hadn’t settled on anything for that room yet, but he liked the suggestion.

“With cream curtains, maybe?”

“Yes,” Leo said, pleased. “That would look nice.”

“I’ll get some samples next time I’m in town. We can have a look.”

Leo smiled at him. “I’d like that.”

Chapter

Forty-Five

The next day, someone knocked shortly after lunch, while Nate was holding two paint samples against the dining room wall.

“Are you expecting someone?” Leo asked, momentarily distracted from deciding between two shades of blue which Nate insisted were identical because he obviously lacked an eye for fine detail.

Nate set the samples down as the knock came again. “No.”

He went to answer the door. Leo followed, curious.

The man on the porch wore a neatly buttoned shirt and a ridiculous bow tie featuring ducks.

He looked vaguely familiar, though Leo couldn’t have said where he’d seen him before.

And then the visitor looked straight at him. “Hello, Leo.”

“Hello,” Leo returned, a little taken aback.

The visitor smiled while Nate’s eyes narrowed. “You can see him?”

“Yes.”

“And hear him?”

“I can.”

Leo moved closer. Now this was interesting. This man seemed to be able to perceive him just as well as Nate could.

“You’re a medium,” Nate said.

“No,” the man replied. “I’m not.”

“Then how?”

The man glanced into the foyer. “May I come in?”

Nate stayed where he was.

“I’ve met you before,” Leo said, almost sure now. “But I don’t remember when.”

“I came here once before Nate bought the house.”