Page 31 of Cosy & Chill
Open for Business
“I swear this place is haunted!” Leo groused on Tuesday morning when he reached into the utensil drawer and couldn’t find the spatula. He rummaged around for a little while, not really watching what he was doing, then picked up a spoon to stir the scrambled eggs.
They’d spent four nights in the house and every single morning something hadn’t been in the place where they’d left it the night before. It was starting to bug Leo no end.
“Did you say something?” Finn wandered into the kitchen, damp curls a riot after his shower. Sharing a house with Finn was proving enjoyable. They liked many of the same foods, shared a taste for red wine, and preferred tidy rooms to cluttered ones. At the market, Leo had heard horror stories about incompatible house mates, about arguments and endless mess. They had none of that. He’d drawn the jackpot with Finn and getting to see him all sleep-mussed or in nothing but ratty jeans and a see-through T-shirt was a bonus, even if he’d never say so.
“I said I’m convinced this place is haunted.”
“What’s missing now?”
“The spatula I used to stir the risotto last night. I’d swear I put it back into the drawer after we’d washed up.”
“You did. I saw you do it.”
“Yeah, well… it’s not there now. No doubt it will turn up in the wardrobe upstairs or by the bins or somewhere equally unlikely.”
“Hm.” Finn headed across the kitchen to the coffeemaker. He filled Leo’s mug and brought it to him. “Here. Caffeine first. Mysteries later.”
“Doesn’t it bother you?”
“Not much. Whatever moves the cutlery hasn’t touched your work stuff or mine, and that’s the only thing that would tee me off. A mislaid spatula isn’t a big issue in the scale of things. Besides…”
“Besides what?”
Finn delayed answering in favour of setting the breakfast table.
“Besides what?” Leo asked when they sat down with plates of scrambled eggs, toast, and mugs of coffee. “You were starting to say something.”
“I was thinking—”
“A dangerous thing to do so early in the morning.”
“Look who thinks he’s funny. Do you want an answer or not?”
Leo waved. “Go ahead. Make my day.”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Friday night… we both kept hearing noises as if somebody was in the house.”
“We said we were hearing each other.”
“Right. But what if… What if thereissomebody coming in at night?”
“A ghost, you mean?”
“I’ve no opinion on ghosts. Whether they exist, I mean. Or even if they can move things if they do.”
Finn was rambling and Leo wondered if he needed more sleep. “Not a ghost, then.”
“I was thinking about burglars. Or someone looking for a place to sleep.”
“Not burglars.”
“Why not?”
“They’d have to be the neatest housebreakers in existence. My parents got burgled once and you couldn’t miss it. They made a lot more mess than just put a drawer back in the wrong position or misplace a spatula. What would you want with a spatula anyway?”
“I didn’t say I had all the answers. Just that it was an idea.”
