Free Dead Suite by Wendy Roberts Page B

exorcism and then killed
     herself in jail.”
    “Obviously you’ve done your research. That’s good.” Gayla picked up her fork and resumed
     eating while she talked. “So you can see why the house took a long time to sell. Then
     we come along. All we want is to fix the place up inside and out and make sure that
     everybody forgets about that little mishap.”
    Sadie didn’t agree with calling the murder of a child a mishap, but she didn’t say
     so—mostly because her mouth was full of stew. She swallowed and then asked, “Why don’t
     you try hiring other workers?”
    “The fly in the ointment here,” Owen said, picking up where his partner left off,
     “is simple. We need to do renovations but the workers don’t want to do jobs there
     because they think the place is haunted. Right now, only a very few people have been
     inside and experienced what’s going on. We want to keep it that way.”
    “Right,” Gayla added. “If we can take care of the problem and get the place fixed,
     it’ll be all well and good, but if the house begins to have a reputation for being
     haunted”—she threw her hands in the air—“then poof! There goes our profit.”
    “And
is
it haunted?” Sadie asked.
    Owen snorted dismissively.
    “I’m asking Gayla.” Sadie narrowed her eyes in Owen’s direction and he covered the
     smirk on his face by drinking from his glass of wine.
    “Well, we had the locks changed and there didn’t appear to be any sign of a break
     in,” Gayla said, turning to Owen. “What else could it be?”
    “I’m sure a couple creative teenagers could slide open those old windows without a
     problem,” he reasoned.
    “And what about the workers who got hit by paint cans and stuff?” Sadie asked, regarding
     him coolly. “Were those same teenagers invisible?”
    “Even grown men can have active imaginations,” he offered, and the way his gaze scraped
     hotly over her body Sadie didn’t require any imagination to guess his thoughts.
    “None of it really matters,” Gayla said, waving her hand as if to wipe the slate clean.
     “Of course it could be kids or jokes, and we have no way of knowing for sure. Right
     now it’s all about perception. We’ve told all our workers we’re spending a couple
     weeks to ensure the house is ghost free, and if they believe all is well they’re sure
     to come back and finish the job. We’ve given them deposits and we don’t want to lose
     that money either.”
    “Which brings me back to what I said earlier,” Sadie said, pushing her empty dish
     aside and dabbing her lips with her napkin. “The staff at Madam Maeva’s will do a
     great job. You don’t need me.”
    “Like I told you before, I heard Maeva speak at a workshop before and that’s what
     sold me on her company.”
    “You attend psychic workshops?” Owen sounded surprised.
    “It was open to the public and I happened to be staying at the hotel.” She shrugged.
     “I was curious and it was fascinating information. Maeva’s a compelling speaker. “But
     we want
you
. All we ask is that you go over to the house a couple times with the Thingvolds and
     help them out.”
    Sadie realized Gayla Woods was a woman who was very used to getting her own way.
    “We’re prepared to pay you double your usual rate.”
    And Sadie was prepared to take that offer.
    “Are you sure?” Owen didn’t appear to be on board with the extra payment, which suddenly
     made the deal that much more appealing. Besides, beggars couldn’t be choosers and
     if they wanted to pay her double her rate in order to make her sit around ghost busting
     with the Thingvolds, she wasn’t in a financial position to turn the offer down.
    “You have a deal. I will work with Rick and Rosemary Thingvold in their attempts.
     I can’t make any guarantees.”
    “Agreed,” Gayla said, but Owen was silent.
    Sadie shook hands with Gayla and then offered her hand to Owen, who reluctantly shook
     it.
    After the meal, Owen