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for?” Sophie scooped up several squares of the mirror. “Let’s get this cleaned up. Come on, ladies, we can have this done in a heartbeat if we all pitch in.”
    With each of them taking a stack of the still-intact mirror squares out to the garage and placing them in an empty box Toots found, the job was done after several trips. They all agreed that they’d done just about enough work for one day.
    “Let’s switch our rooms and call it a day,” Toots said. “I have visions of a tall, frothy cold drink laced with all sorts of bad stuff just waiting for me. I have to say our tasteless pop tart did leave plenty of booze behind.”
    “Yeah, she had to. Remember, she went to that rehab clinic in Mexico? The Informer was the first paper to break the news.”
    “Yes, of course I do. That’s how I was able to get this house before it was put on the market. Of course I had to agree to purchase it ‘as is,’ and that is why we’re both huffing and puffing like two old women.”
    Sophie grinned. “We are old women.”
    “Bullshit. You might be, but I plan to live it up, regardless of my age.”
    “Old women but young at heart. How’s that sound?”
    “It sounds like the crock of brown crap that it is. Now, let’s get something to drink before we rust.”
    Both women laughed like teenagers as they raided the liquor cabinet.

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Chapter 7
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    Toots and Sophie spent the next hour switching rooms. When all was said and done, Toots didn’t feel one bit better about moving into Sophie’s room. “Can a ghost follow you around?” she asked when they were out of Mavis’s and Ida’s earshot.
    “Sure, I don’t see why not. Why do you ask?”
    “Because I’m not sure if trading rooms is a good idea or not. What if this ghost or whatever the hell it is follows me to your room? Then what? We can play musical rooms all we want. Eventually, Ida and Mavis are bound to get a bit suspicious. Ida might even suggest I make an appointment with Dr. Sameer. I think I’d rather be haunted by a ghost than treated by him.”
    Sophie shot her a dirty look. “I feel the same way, but remember, he helped Ida. We have to be thankful for that. Can you imagine her living here in these conditions? We’d have to bury her.”
    “I’m not so sure her condition was as bad as she wanted everyone to believe. Oh, I know her hands looked terrible, but that’s just like Ida. She will go to extremes to get her way. I think Dr. Sameer was good for her, but I don’t believe it was his medical skills that cured her.” Toots laughed.
    “She’s been acting very strange the past few mornings. Have you noticed? I don’t think she’s sleeping well. Maybe she’s being haunted, too, and doesn’t want us to know,” Sophie suggested.
    “Now that you mention it, she has been acting rather odd. Maybe there is a…spirit or something in this house. It is the former home of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Maybe they’re pissed at that little pop tart for what she did to their home,” Toots said, though she didn’t believe a single word of it.
    “Could be. Maybe I can sneak into her room later tonight. I’ll try the shoe trick. It can’t hurt.”
    “I thought you had to know what shoes the person would be wearing the next day,” Toots said.
    “Yes, but Ida always wears those silly kitten slippers in the morning. I’ll give it a try, see if her behavior changes.”
    Toots heard Ida and Mavis bustling about in their rooms, so she whispered, “What about the camera and those voice things you mentioned? I haven’t seen them. Do you really have this stuff, or were you just feeding me a line of bull?”
    Sophie gazed around the room, which looked like a low-class brothel. “Now why would I lie about something so serious? Of course I have the equipment. It was the first purchase I made the minute I collected Walter’s life insurance. In case he