by Ashlyn Chase
Merry faced the gate with her hands on her hips. "Well, she's getting visitors today."
"What are you thinking? You're not going to climb over that fence are you?"
"No. The gate. It's smoother on top."
"Holy crap, Merry. Are you nuts? What if she shoots you for trespassing?"
"I'm not going home without talking to her." Merry fitted her boot between the grates and boosted herself as high as she could by straightening her arms and locking them. Then she swung one leg over. Now straddling the fence, she paused.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are you stopping?"
"I'm stuck."
"You're what?" Roz examined Merry's clothing. "I don't see anything caught on the fence."
"It's not that. Either I'm going to break a wrist or perform a female castration on myself."
"Holy mother… Well, you got yourself into this. Think of something to get yourself out."
"This is a very delicate operation. Let's see, I could…" She shifted one hand quickly so she didn't twist her wrist on the dismount. Then she swung the other leg up behind her and braced that knee at the top. At last, she sprang away from the gate and landed on the concrete walkway on the other side. "There!"
"Very impressive." Roz crossed her arms and stayed where she was.
"Now you try it."
"Hell no! I might want to have children someday."
"If I can do it…."
Roz gestured to her own body with both hands. "In case you hadn't noticed, I weigh a little more than you. I don't think I could support my weight on my hands like you did."
Merry tipped her head. "Of course you can. Just lock your elbows."
"Yeah, and break my wrists. Look, Merry, I love you and everything, but I can't do this."
"But you were going to be my witness. I can't do this without you." Merry knew she was whining, but didn't care. Whatever it took. She had to confront this woman.
"Look, I'm sorry. Maybe I can witness your conversation from here. Just refuse to go inside. That might not be a bad idea, anyway. You wouldn't want to give her access to her gun."
"What makes you think she has a gun?"
At that moment, the front door opened and revealed a tall, fit man with brown hair askew. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Oh, uh… Is this where Lila Crum lives?" Merry asked.
The man eyed both of them with suspicion and crossed his arms. "What business do you have with Lila?"
"It's personal," Merry said, as she trotted up the steps.
A female voice from inside the house called out,
"Kevin, who are you talking to?"
The man continued staring at Merry and said, "She isn't feeling very well right now."
"This won't take long. Can you ask her to come to the door?"
"For fuck's sake, Kevin!" the voice yelled. "I asked who you're talking to."
Merry yelled around him. "Look, I just want to talk to you for a minute."
"Go away," yelled the voice. "I don't want to hear about your religion or anything else you're selling."
The guy at the door didn't appear to like being ordered around. His lips thinned as he glanced back into the house. "They're not selling anything, Lila. Get out here and talk to them." He left Merry there with the door open and strolled out of view.
Merry turned to Roz and shrugged as if to say, What do I do now?
Roz shook her head vehemently, so Merry waited on the doorstep.
Before long the guy reappeared wearing a jacket and called back over his shoulder, "I'm going, Lila. You're welcome for last night."
"Wait!" the woman yelled.
The guy rolled his eyes and waited next to Merry. She just had to ask, "Are you her boyfriend?"
"No. I'm her bartender." He called back into the house, "I have to get home. I need to change and get to work so the fun can begin all over again."
"You do this for all your customers?"
"Nope. I've never done this before and probably won't do it again."
The woman, presumably the very rumpled Lila Crum, stumbled to the door. She pushed her scraggly brown hair off her face and blinked a couple of times as if to clear her vision. "Sorry, Kevin. What did you say about last night?"
"I said you're welcome."
"For taking me home, or…"
"Or what?"
"Did anything else happen?"
He looked exasperated. "You don't remember anything, do you? If you mean did I take advantage of you, the answer is no. I helped you to your bedroom and tucked you in. Look. You're still wearing your clothes."
She looked down at her wrinkled brown shirt and black jeans and nodded. "So where did you sleep?"
"On your couch."
"Oh. Well, uh—thanks."
"Yeah, like I said, you're welcome." Then he charged down the stairs and halted on the walkway. "Shit," he muttered. "Lila, will you unlock this damn gate?"
"Oh, sure." She disappeared into the house and returned with a set of keys. As she handed the key ring to Kevin, she finally turned her attention to Merry. "How the hell did you get in?"
"I had to climb over the gate. You might want to leave it unlocked. A person could get hurt that way."
Her eyes narrowed. "You're trespassing. That means I can shoot you."
"I wouldn't if I were you. See that woman there?" She pointed to Roz. "She's a very talented lawyer and my best friend. I doubt you'd want her to witness my murder."
Kevin had unlocked the gate, but Roz wisely stayed on the other side.
"Well, maybe I'll just shoot you both."
He rushed back up the stairs and wedged himself between Merry and the homicidal reporter. "You're not shooting anybody, Lila."
Lila peered around him. "Who are you, anyway?"
"You don't recognize me? You took my picture… and you printed it in the newspaper."
Kevin stepped away and Lila eyed her curiously. "Oh! You're Allison," she finally said, smiling as if they were long lost friends.
"That's debatable." Merry crossed her arms. "First of all, how did you come up with that name?"
"What do you mean, 'come up with' it? I do my research. I don't invent the facts. I just report them."
Merry laughed, then quickly cleared her throat. "Let me say this differently. How did you research my name?"
"I talked to some guy hanging around outside your building. Long black hair… black eyes… black clothes… kind of pale."
Merry recognized the description of Sly, but that only confused her more. Lila continued, so she must not have felt the need to protect her source.
"I figured you two were related since he had the same last name. Flores, isn't it?"
Merry took a step back. "Is it?"
Lila nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure he said his name was Sylvestro Flores. I have it written down somewhere."
Merry was so stunned she almost forgot what she had originally wanted to confront her about. Almost. "So, where do you get off trying to ruin other people's love lives? Are you so miserable that you want everyone else to be miserable too? Jason Falco is a decent, honorable
man, and you had no business—"
Lila laughed. "Oh, for fuck's sake. You can't be serious."
"I'm as serious as a gas attack."
Kevin chuckled. "Uh, I think that's supposed to be 'serious as a heart attack'."
"Oh." Merry felt the blush rising from her neck to her face.
Lila laughed hysterically. When she could speak again, she said. "Look, don't bother lecturing me. I have first amendment rights and I can print whatever the hell I observe and I saw him cheat on you with my own eyes."
"Bullshit," Merry yelled. "He wasn't cheating. You were at that bachelor auction and you knew he was obligated to take that woman out. And the other woman you saw was just a fan who happened to recognize him as he was out getting some fresh air. It's because of people like you that he has to avoid being seen in public."
> Lila leaned against her house. "Oh, isn't that sweet. You decided to stand by your man."
Merry wanted to jump the woman right there and scratch her eyes out. She took a step forward and Kevin jammed his body in front of her again.
Roz came rushing up the walkway, shouting, "Don't touch her, Merry. So far, you're okay and all we needed to do is warn the woman."
"Warn me? About what?"
Roz straightened to her legal-eagle pose. "Leave Merry and Falco alone, or I'll slap you with a lawsuit for libel."
"Why is she calling you Merry?"
"Because that's my name, doofus."
Kevin shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I don't like the possibility of getting in the middle of a cat fight. If you've said what you came to say, you should go, now."
Roz nodded. "I agree. Let's go, Merry. She's been warned."
Merry hesitated long enough to give the bitch the evil eye. "Fine," she said between clenched teeth. "But I'll be watching you." She pointed at Lila as she joined Roz.
Lila's eyes lit up as though she enjoyed the challenge. "Oh, you do that."
***
"Come on, Morgaine. You've been stalling all week. I know you don't like interacting with the nosy bitch, but I'll be right there with you. If she gives you any trouble, I'll trip her and you can enjoy watching her fall ass over teakettle down the stairs."
Morgaine tittered. "Chad, all I can say is I'm glad you're on my side. Okay, let's go." She tossed her book onto the coffee table and wrapped a black shawl around her shoulders.
"Sorry about the draft."
She shrugged. "You can't help it. I understand."
"Do you mind taking the stairs? It's only one flight, and the elevator's kind of a pain in the ass for me."
"Sure. No problem. I wish I could just go to the penthouse directly, but his aunt made it clear that we're not to bother him." She opened the door and hesitated a moment before she closed it. "Are you out?"
"Out and hovering over the stairs. You realize you wouldn't have hurt me even if you had slammed it on
my foot, right?"
"Oh, that's right. Well, pardon me for being courteous."
"I was just busting your chops. Let's do this thing."
Morgaine descended gracefully down the steps to the second floor.
Chad really liked Morgaine. He couldn't figure out why she didn't try to date more. She's certainly pretty enough by anyone's standards—in a gothy way, but still… I guess her need to stay close to the telephone cramps her style. It was a shame Dottie made them curtail their noisy phone calls. That was part of the fun. Now they'd lost customers and didn't know what they'd do to make ends meet.
Morgaine was training Gwyneth on the psychic hotline and hoped to train herself to act as a medium. That was the deal. She'd help Chad, and he'd help her. He hoped they'd be able to pull it off. It was one thing to open your mind and listen to a spirit who's trying to communicate with you. It's quite another level of difficulty to open your mouth and let them use your vocal cords. He wasn't sure this psychic thing was really a good gig for them.
What's worse is sometimes you have to summon the spirits, and God knows where they are. I mean, I'm hanging around my old apartment because I don't know where else to go. Outdoors is a really bad idea on windy days and if you think rain or snow feels lousy hitting you on your skin, imagine what it feels like passing right through you. Brrrr… "Oh, good, we're here."
Morgaine raised her fist to knock and hesitated.
"Come on, my witchy friend. You can do this."
She heaved a sigh, but before she could bring her
knuckles down on the door, it opened. Dottie stood there as if she had been looking out the peephole the minute they arrived. She probably had.
"Morgaine! What brings you downstairs?"
She fidgeted and looked uncomfortable. "I… um. I need to get in touch with Jason."
"What do you need Jason for?"
"Tell her to mind her own business. Tell her to go jump in the river. Tell her to—"
"I need to ask him about the investigation."
Dottie's eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. The private detective… We must get that ghost out of our building."
Morgaine waited, but Dottie didn't appear to want to share any more information. Either that or she didn't have any.
"Would you help me speak to Jason about it, please?"
"Oh, you don't need to do that. I know Jason found someone very good and hired him."
Morgaine sighed again. "Look, Chad is badgering me to give him some kind of news or an update about what's going on."
"Badgering you? Since when have I badgered?"
Morgaine looked to her left side and said, "Yes, you've badgered me, Chad. You've been a royal pain in the ass about it, so don't sound so surprised."
Dottie stared at her and raised one eyebrow. "You're arguing with the ghost right now? He's here with you?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. He's driving me nuts."
"Oh, well we can't have that, can we? Come in, dear. Jason's not home."
"I wondered why I hadn't seen him. So why didn't she say that in the first place? And what does she expect to gain by inviting you in if she doesn't know anything, and—" Morgaine looked at the ceiling and said, "Shut up, Chad." Then she accepted Dottie's invitation, followed her inside, and sat on the flowered slip-covered couch.
Dottie glanced at the ceiling nervously. "I don't think I want him in my home. You have to invite them in, don't you?"
"That's vampires. Ghosts can go wherever they damn well please. What a moron."
Morgaine shook her head. "If I could keep him out, I would, believe me. Unfortunately, he'll just pull some nasty stunt to get my attention if I try to ignore him."
"Oh, dear," Dottie muttered. "Well, maybe I can call Jason and find out the private detective's name and number. I'm sure we can get you some kind of information if we try."
She looked at the ceiling and raised her voice. "I'm just going for the phone book, Chad." She inched over to the roll-top desk as if the unseen presence had a gun trained on her.
"This could be fun, but as long as she's cooperating, I'll leave her alone and let her do her thing. I'd almost rather she'd stop and be her rude self again. Then I could blow a cool breeze down her neck and frighten her out of her wits. Now that would be enjoyable."
She flipped through a few pages of a private phone book with a black leather cover. "Okay, this is his mother's number. I'm sure he's staying with her while his father's in the hospital."
"Oh? What happened to his father?" Morgaine asked.
"Heart attack." She looked at the ceiling again. "So you be nice to him when he gets home. Apparently it's
been quite an ordeal."
"Yeah, yeah. Get on with it, pokey."
She dialed ten numbers and waited. And waited. They all waited. Finally her eyes lit up and she said, "Hi, Jason. You're just the one I wanted to speak with. How's your father?"
"Who the fuck cares… I want to know who shot me. Can you hurry it up, please?"
Morgaine frowned. Fortunately her eyes focused in the opposite direction, so she might as well have been frowning at the toaster.
"Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that," Dottie said. "Listen, dear… I'm sitting here with Morgaine, the girl from 3B who can hear our ghost. And, well… apparently the ghost is here too."
"Chad. My name is Chad. Or Charles. Or Mr. Washington. Look, just because they took away my body doesn't mean you can just forget my name. I'm an entity with an identity. Hey, I like that. Tell her that, Morgaine!"
Morgaine shook her head.
"Oh, I'm all right, but the ghost is pestering Morgaine to find out what's going on with the investigation. I was hoping you could tell us something."
Dottie grabbed a pen and paper. "Yes, I'm ready. Okay… Joe Murphy. 555-4329." She appeared exceedingly pleased. "Thank you, Jason. I'm sure that will help to satisfy our spirit visitor. So, when are you coming home?"
"Hey, Morgaine… maybe you can ask her to invite the detective over and you can practice your medium lessons. That way I can give the detective some leads
and ask him questions directly."
Morgaine nodded toward Dottie as if to tell Chad to wait for her to get off the phone. Damn manners.