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“Which is admirable, but you’ve got to let this go for a bit. I know it’s the topic du jour. You’re fixed on it, and you’re not doing anyone any favors. Realign your priorities to larger issues and fixate on those. Make whatever payment is coming up, and we’ll have it sorted out by next month. All right?”
Gregory wondered if Robert meant they’d have it sorted, or if he meant they would have buried and forgotten it in favor of other, possibly manufactured, excuses. “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”
“Good. Now. Pour yourself a glass of something nice. Watch a show on the television. Then go the hell to bed. Tomorrow, don’t even think about this. Think about the party. What you’re going to say to the board of directors. Maybe even go have a nice lunch away from your office. Can you do that for me?”
“I can. Thanks, Robert. Good luck getting some sleep.”
“Stupid jetlag,”Robert said, then hung up.
Thoughtful, Gregory tapped his pen against his notebook.What don’t you want me to know? What are you hiding? And how bad is this going to get when that accountant digs up the rest of the answers?
He considered asking Gran about the payments, but Robert did have a point. It was late. Gran should be trying to sleep.Talk to Hanna,whispered a voice in his mind, but the same reasons popped up. It was late. Hanna should be trying to sleep off her busy day.
Funny how she just got here, but already, I want more reasons to talk to her. I want to tell her everything and hear what she thinks of it all. Just to watch her face as she listens and see her thoughts reflected in her expressions. I haven’t even had many friends like this, where I couldn’t wait to tell them what had happened. Not like I do with her.
A friend. Did he really want to be her friend?
Yes. If all I could ever be was her friend, I would take that in a heartbeat. I would cherish it. Her friendship would be the best thing that had ever happened to me. But what if I could have more? All the best lovers begin as friends, don’t they?
He sat at his desk, pen tracing idle lines on his notepad as he pondered what it might mean to be friends, and more than friends, with the quick-witted woman who slept to the right of the staircase.
6
What Waits Beneath the Surface
Agood night of sleep did wonders for Hanna’s outlook on life, despite jetlag’s attempts to throw her off. She awoke refreshed, if cognizant of a wariness that lurked at the back of her mind. Stuart seemed more at peace now that he had an ally, but a prickly, ambient restlessness charged the air despite his apparent ease.
It felt to Hanna like everyone found some equilibrium after that first, difficult day. Darlene kept to herself but would nod once as they passed in a hallway or eyed each other across a meal. While Hanna wouldn’t call her interactions with Darlenepleasant, she decided that perhaps Darlene had resigned herself to Hanna’s presence. The tart comments stopped, anyway, for which Hanna was very grateful. She couldn’t very well riposte with sharp comments of her own when her opponent was her employer’s mother.
Vivian thrived with companionship. Hanna took to reading aloud while the older woman took her tea or sat by her window. Both could feel Stuart’s presence, and Vivian assured Hanna that the small ghost sat politely at their feet, listening as Hanna read.
Now and then, she would look up to catch Gregory peeking in the door, a tiny smile on his face. He’d blush when she smiled back, then duck away to return to his work. Quite a bit of work, she discovered. It often ran into the first part of dinner or called him back to his office after the meal. She found she missed his presence when he couldn’t stay long and soaked in his company whenever she could.
Simple conversations sparked into lengthy talks if given an opportunity. More than once in the next couple days, Martin found them lingering in a random corridor, chatting about whatever topic they’d fallen into. The termfast friendsseemed made for them. Hanna couldn’t help but wish they had a chance for more.
Every day mounted in busyness as Saturday’s party approached. Hanna picked up what she could to help ease both Gregory and Martin’s load, waving off their objections that they would appreciate the help but she shouldn’t feel obligated. Organizing the cleaners. Helping the caterers measure the hall and plan the table layout. Advising on decorations. By the time she said goodnight to Vivian on Wednesday night, Hanna was ready for a long soak in the claw-footed bathtub followed by a night of sleep in her fluffy bed.
A notification blinked on her laptop when she arrived in her bedroom. One message from Athena:“Call me when you have the chance.”Hanna fired up the video chat again.
Athena had braided her hair into two long braids over her shoulders.“There you are. A bit later than I anticipated. Your presence was missed while I cleaned out the house today.”
“Did the dudebros finally leave?”
“They did. It looked like one of them attempted to hack off the lock on the cellar. I’ve left them pungent reviews on the rental site and charged them for a new lock.”Athena rolled her eyes.
“What category does ‘let evil creature out of the basement’ fall under, anyway?”
“Miscellaneous Damages. There doesn’t seem to be a category for ‘metaphysical damages and need for spiritual cleansing’.”
Hanna laughed. “Imagine that. What’s up?”
“I have information on your child ghost.”Athena sorted through a stack of papers on her desk until she found the ones she wanted.“Stuart Marsh was indeed part of Operation Pied Piper. He was evacuated in the earlier rounds of the operation. At the evacuation center, he was taken in by one Marion Pritchard. She was what you would call a ‘widow of means’. Her husband had died at home at least a decade before, leaving her with quite a lot of money.”
Hanna leaned her elbows on her desk and cupped her chin in her hands. “I’d assume she had a lot of money, given the size and location of this house. They didn’t have children?”
“That is where this becomes interesting.”Athena shuffled the papers so another was on top.“They did have children. Three of them. Each has a birth record, and a death record. None of them lived past the age of three. All causes of death are listed as, ‘sickened and died’.”
Hanna blinked. “That seems strange. Maybe they just had poor genetics together?”
