Free The Ghost and Miss Demure by Melanie Jackson Page A

me straight. What else did I do?”
    Tristam stared at her, looking entirely too thoughtful for her peace of mind. “Do you remember seeing the man in the library?”
    “Well, sort of. I remember thinking that there was a man in the library. He was wearing a period costume.” She frowned at her cup, trying to recall exactly what she had seen. Everything was very faraway and dreamlike. She remembered feeling like her skin was going to catch fire even when the rest of her was chilled to the bone. “His eyes were gold like yours. I think.”
    “Don’t worry about it, Karo. Doctor Monroe says that it’s quite normal to hallucinate after a bad shock. And the good news is that you aren’t hurt physically.” He leaned forward and stretched his long, lean arms across the table until he was nearly touching her. She could feel the magnetic pulland had to clamp her hands firmly to the table to keep them from crawling his way. She was restored to her wits; there was no excuse for bad behavior this morning.
    “Ah. That’s good,” she said.
    “Here, have a doughnut. They are a bit stale but I think still edible. The sugar will give you energy. The carpenter swears by them.”
    “How old are they?” she asked suspiciously, considering taking one simply to keep her hands busy.
    “Old, but the date on the box says they’re good for another month. And they don’t even need refrigeration! American food is amazing.”
    “Hm. I think I’ll pass. I make it a rule never to eat anything that mold won’t consume.”
    “That’s probably sensible, especially around here.” He paused, then said, “I moved your car into the carriage house. We’ve had some flooding out on the road and I didn’t want to risk anything happening to it if the creek overran its banks.”
    “Thank you. You were able to move the tree then?”
    Again, he stared at her.
    “Someone must have gotten there ahead of me, because the road was clear when I went down this morning. Maybe it got washed away.” Her host leaned back in his chair and Karo’s pulse settled back to its normal pace. “By the way, your muffler and back bumper are missing.”
    “Hm? Oh, I know. I lost them yesterday. I should have gone back for them but I was afraid to stop. That battery has been known to take long breaks between uses.” Karo drank some more coffee andtried to recall exactly what had happened to her out by the gate, but it was all rather fuzzy and undetailed. She couldn’t swear positively that there had actually been a tree in the road.
    “Autos. What are we to do with them?” he said agreeably, though she was willing to bet that his car had no such idiosyncratic behaviors.
    “You did say last night that you knew my father?” she asked, needing to be reassured that she remembered something of yesterday besides her boss’s splendid hair and eyes.
    “By repute. I enjoy World War One history and subscribe to some of the journals he writes for. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and he’ll decide to visit while you’re here. Does he still fly that old Feiseler Storch?”
    “As often as Mom allows. You said that you were a closet airplane buff? Is that why you hired me?” she asked. She couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. “You wanted a good excuse to invite my dad out here?”
    “How cynical! No, I hired you because I needed someone right away and you were the only remotely qualified applicant that would come anywhere near the place. I was getting desperate.” He laughed softly at her expression. “There! Now we’re even. I’ve just been appallingly rude to you, and I didn’t even mean it. Your resume is actually quite impressive.”
    “I bent the truth a bit. Well…I omitted a few details.”
    “That’s good. I’m afraid we will need to do a lot of creative lying about this place. Clearly I hired you because it was destiny. I was commanded byangels. Your voice on the phone was a clarion call! Deep calling unto deep—”
    “Talk about pure mashed