Page 57 of Ghostlighted
“Unintentional, I assure you. However…” Glancing aside, he gnawed on his lower lip. “I’d like to try something while you’re gone.”
“Okay. What do you need from me?”
“That’s it? You don’t even want to know what it is?”
I shrugged. “I doubt it’s going to involve human sacrifice or anything, so of course I’ll help.”
“Maz.” Somehow, he managed to lace my name with both fondness and reprimand. “Do you evernotjump into things without looking first?”
“What?”
“Never mind.” He straightened. “We know I can’t join you at the Manor, so there’s no point taking Oren’s ring with you. What if you left it in Sofia’s house?”
“I don’t know.” It was my turn to chew on my lip, frowning as I gazed out the window toward Sofia’s lawn. “Didn’t you think it, well,activatedbecause I’m a little bit Oren? It might not work without my presence.”
“Maybe, but we’re not sure, and that’s the point. This is the perfect time to test it, though. Nobody’s at Sofia’s place. It’s nearby. If you leave the ring inside and I’m able to move between here and there, that will tell us something. Then we can start testing other variables, too.”
“That’s… actually a really good idea.”
“Let’s try it now before you have to go back to the Manor. And if it does work, you should take the manuals and Gil over there, too.”
I frowned. “The manuals I get, but why Gil?”
“Seriously, Maz? You have to ask?” He gave me a pitying look. “You and Ricky deserve some privacy or you’llneverget to first base, let alone second or third.”
“Great.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m getting hookup advice from a ghost.”
He spread his hands. “If the shoe fits…”
“Fine. We’ll bring Gil.” I pointed at him. “But this isn’t because I’m looking for a booty call.”
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“I mean it, Avi. This is just so we can see if I’m a necessary part of the equation. I’m not even sure it will work.”
“It will work.” He folded his arms. “Trust me. I’ve got a feeling.”
“It’s never going to work,” I muttered, as I retrieved Gil’s visiting-Sofia go-bag.
“Stop complaining, Maz.” He followed me out of the kitchen door, Gil’s carrier in my hand. “It will work.”
“It won’t.”
“It will.”
“It won’t.”
“It will.”
“It won’t.”
What can I say? It worked.
Chapter Twenty
As much as I wanted to dive into a comparison of Frances’s journal and the housekeeper’s ledgers the minute I got back to the Manor, I ran headfirst into two logistical problems. First, I didn’t actuallyhavethe journal, and wouldn’t until we either got the physical copy back from the bookbinder or they forwarded us high-res images of the pages. However, I remembered the dates the journal covered perfectly well, bringing me to the second logistical problem.
The ledgers didn’t appear to cover any of the same dates.
