Free JanesPrize by Margrett Dawson Page B

rested gently on her lap and she felt the
heat pulsing from it. He exerted no pressure, just sat there, letting the mute
question do his asking.
    She held on to the steering wheel and took
a deep breath. “Before I left I promised my friend Annice that I’d have coffee
with her today after work at Full o’ Beans in town. She’ll be waiting for me.”
    “I’ll come with you.”
    “No, it’s best not. I’m not ready for her
to meet you yet. She won’t be as easy to fool as my mother. She’ll ask lots
more questions and we have to have some reasonable answers worked out before
she does.” She twined her fingers into his on her lap. “I’ll come back in an
hour or so.”
    “I’ll be waiting.”

Chapter Seven
     
    “You mean you actually saw a ghost?”
Annice’s voice matched the “pull the other one” expression on her face. She was
the legal assistant to one of the foremost lawyers in town and wore a tailored
suit, albeit with a very short skirt, that showed off her great legs. She
pushed her leather satchel on an empty chair.
    “I think so.” Jane hoped that the footage
on the video recorder was good enough to convince the law firm there was
something there and poor enough to prevent anyone identifying the person in the
image. “There was definitely something on the video.”
    “This I have to see.”
    Jane shook her head. “It belongs to the
firm. I have to give it to them first.” Besides, she had to check it out
herself before anyone else saw it.
    “So tell me what happened. You set up camp,
right?”
    Jane gave an outline of her time at the
Newland mansion, omitting the part about Pierce and his stepmother, about
taking a flying leap toward Pierce. She also left out all the details about
making love with a resurrected ghost. Without all the dramatic and spooky bits
it was a pretty boring account.
    “So what was it? On the video? Were you
scared out of your wits?”
    “I only saw a faint shape, just a flicker
of movement. I couldn’t tell what it might be. No I wasn’t scared.” Sitting in
a bright, busy coffee shop she began to wonder if her adventure had really
happened.
    “Were there noises, things thrown around?”
    “That’s poltergeists.”
    “Whatever.” Annice took another sip of her
iced chai latte. “Take me out there.”
    “What?”
    “You still have the keys, don’t you?”
    Jane had foolishly confided that she
wouldn’t return the camera and the keys until Friday morning. She nodded.
    “If you can’t show me the film at least you
can take me where it’s supposed to have happened.”
    “What’s the point? You don’t believe me.”
    “Darn right I don’t believe you. I know how
fanciful you can get. You were hallucinating, being all alone and everything.
The only way to convince you there’s nothing there is to go back again. Who
knows,” she said with a sly smile as she licked some foam from her stir stick,
“you might convince me if the ghost decides to appear.” She made a woo-woo
gesture in the air with the stick.
    “Annice—” Jane paused. There was no way she
could tell her what really happened.
    “If you won’t take me I’ll go on my own.
There has to be a way to break in.” She looked at Jane, seeming to sense that
she was winning. “We’ll go tonight.”
    Jane opened her mouth to protest then
shrugged. “There’s something else.”
    “What? Extraterrestrials?”
    “I met someone while I was away.”
    Even Annice was shocked into momentary
silence. She made a “more, more” gesture with one hand.
    “He happened to come by the mansion while I
was there.”
    “He? Happened?”
    “Well, he wanted to see the old house. We
got to talking.” She felt the heat rise in her face. “I gave him a ride back
into town.” She prayed that Annice wouldn’t ask how he had got to the house in
the first place. “I’m meeting him later.”
    “Well, you certainly had an interesting
couple of days. Ghosts and hunks.” She shot Jane a glance.