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Cassie had recovered enough to talk, but she read straight from the menu so she didn’t have to make eye contact with the woman. “I’ll get the chicken gumbo, please.”
“All right, you want shrimp added to that?”
“No, thank you.” Cassie closed her menu and handed it to the woman without looking up.
“Perfect. I’ll get that right in for you.”
“Thanks.” Laura waited until the waitress walked away before she shot Cassie a look. “What was that about?”
Cassie took a long sip of her water. “What was what about?”
“Why’d you freak out?”
“I didn’t freak out.”
“You freaked her out.”
“I thought I saw something.”
“Something like what?”
Cassie cleared her throat and attempted a mischievous smile. “You know this place is haunted.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “I know you don’t believe in that crap.”
The words stung more than Cassie expected. “Hey, you never know.”
“I deal in science, remember? There are no such things as ghosts.”
“Speaking of—the science part, I mean—how’s work been going?”
“Oh, you know, it’s going.”
Laura launched into a long explanation of the trouble she’d been having with one of her bosses refusing to assign her new clients, despite her excellent track record. It sounded less about Laura’s performance and more about trying to butter up one of her male colleagues, who was the nephew of some B-list celebrity.
Cassie listened with one ear, but her mind wandered. She’d planned on keeping Laura as far away as possible from any business of murder or ghosts, but a part of her must’ve still hoped that their attempt to reconnect would come with a chance to be open and honest about everything going on in her life. Bitter disappointment rose like bile in her throat.
“What about you?” Laura asked after a long pause.
“Me?”
“Yeah, what’s been going on in your life? How’s the museum?”
“The museum’s great. I love it there. A lot of work to do, but I don’t mind.”
“What’s the oldest, weirdest thing you’ve handled?”
Cassie laughed. “I don’t deal with a lot of the older pieces. I’m mostly working with modern art. I just finished redesigning the 19th and 20th century photography exhibit, but now that it’s done, I need to clear space for a new installation. Less artwork and more organizing.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Why?”
“You always liked the old stuff. I remember how obsessed you used to be with Greek mythology and architecture and stuff. It’s too bad you’re not working on that.”
“I told them I wanted to work on modern pieces.” Cassie sounded defensive, but she couldn’t help it. “That was my choice.”
“Oh, okay.” Laura looked confused. “As long as you’re happy.”
