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“A clogged garbage disposal. I was rather hoping you were the plumber. Chad said he’d call one for me.”
“How long ago was that?” Sam asked.
“Well, this morning, of course. He was helping me, but something happened, and he had to leave. He did say he’d call someone. But then, that was five hours ago.”
“How often do you see him?”
“Every morning, working on that car out there before he starts work at his shop. Heaven knows what he finds so fascinating about that rusty old thing.”
Sam followed her into the kitchen, eyeing the half-filled bucket sitting beneath the open drain trap. “What happened?”
“Potato peels. My garbage disposal didn’t like it much better than the celery that got stuck last week.”
He picked up the pipe wrench from the floor in front of the cupboard. “They don’t like carrot peels, either.”
She sighed. “I’m not sure my disposal likes anything. Chad keeps telling me I should replace it.”
“Any idea where he went off to?” Sam asked, climbing beneath the sink to empty the peels that were stuck in the trap.
“I have no idea. He’d just loosened the pipe when he got a phone call. Talked for a couple of minutes, then left.”
“That right?” Sam asked, clearing the pipe, fitting it back into place. “Wonder where he took off to?”
“Wherever it was, he was in a hurry.”
He gave one last twist with the wrench. “If you have a towel, I’ll wipe this down for you.”
“Thank you. That’s very kind of you,” she said, picking up one from the counter. “Hard for me to get down there, these days.”
Sam mopped up the water that had spilled, got up, held the towel over the sink, wringing it out. “Don’t suppose you heard what they were talking about?”
“You can hear for yourself. He left a message on my machine. Something about a ghost.”
28
A ghost?” Sam said, as the woman handed him a clean dish towel to dry his hands.
“That’s what I heard. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. It’s just that he had the call on speaker while he was working under the sink. It was all very odd. Something about how they knew he’d taken their ghost and to bring it back. He said he didn’t know what they were talking about. All he had was a phantom. Honestly, I have no idea what it was about. Something he didn’t want to talk about in front of me, because when he saw me walk in, he picked up the phone and turned off the speaker.” She offered an apologetic smile. “I would have left to give him privacy, but, before I knew it, he was racing out the door.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“No. But later he said he’d call a plumber for me. I don’t think he did, though, or someone would have come by now, don’t you think?”
“Probably.” Sam ran the faucet, turned on the disposal. “Good as new,” he said, as he shut them off.
“I can’t thank you enough. How much do I owe you for this?”
“Glad to help.” He nodded at the telephone on the wall. “You were saying something about Chad leaving a message?”
“Yes. I was outside, and the recording came on before I could get to the phone.” She pressed a button on the answering machine, stood back so he could hear.
It’s me. Oliver is on his way there and he’s not answering his phone. I need you to get a message to him. They’re—
The sound of the phone picking up, then, Chad? Is that you? Why are you talking so soft?
Just get this message to Oliver. He’s on his way.
What about my sink? You said
