Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (3 page)

“You are right. Maybe I do need to get laid.” She said
through half closed eyelids. “But not with a girl, if I ever do
change my
mind though, you will
definitely
be my
first
choice.” Drew laughed then and gave her friend’s bottom a
little squeeze.

“Such a….” Liza started then went to the living room
to get her clothes. “I’m getting in the shower. Alone, and yes,
it will probably be acold one.” She said after Drew raised her
eyebrows at her.

Drew didn’t know how she had gotten through that.
The countless psychiatrists that her mother had her sit with for
months after that night couldn’t even get that much information
out of her. Maybe it had just been time to let it all out. She
just hoped that Liza wouldn’t feel uncomfortable around her
now knowing her deepest, darkest secret.

Liza was feeling a bit nauseous after hearing about
Drew’s horrible childhood experience. She took a longer than
normal shower just thinking about everything and soaking up
the heat of the water to try and get the feeling back into her
chilled bones. How the hell was she was supposed to get Drew
to fall in love after all that had happened to her? That would be
like setting up Elton John with Ellen DeGeneres, some things
just weren’t meant to be! If her Nana said it was to be though
then she supposed it would all just have to fall into place
somehow. With Drew’s eviction it was as good a time as any
to get the ball rolling she supposed.

“Well, I have to get back soon.” Liza said as she came
out of the bathroom looking like her normal, school teacher
self.
Tim and the kids are going to be coming home this
evening and I have been very bad and need to get the house
cleaned up before they get home. What do you say we go grab
a bite to eat before I head out?”

“That sounds like a great idea! Believe it or not, I am
starving.” Drew smiled. She was glad that they could go back
to being their old selves again. Though Drew wasn’t feeling
like her old self. She was feeling fresh and renewed. She felt
better than she had in a very, very long time.

Though it wasn’t the fanciest place in the world, the
girls both knew that they couldn’t go wrong with the Waffle
House. There was nothing like sticky syrup, hot melted butter,
and soggy waffles to soak up all of the liquor from the night
before.

“Johnny Depp.” Drew said breaking the silence after
they had made their order.

“Where!” Liza exclaimed jerking her head aro
und.
Drew thought that if she had moved it a centimeter more it may
have actually popped off of her neck.

“Behind you!” Drew clicked her tongue, which was
one of her annoying little habits that Liza had learned to ignore
after so many years. Liza almost fell out of her chair trying to
see in the booth behind them. “What I was going to say was,
Johnny Depp is hot.
Of all the men in the world, I could
handle being stuck on a deserted island with him.”

“Sheesh, I thought you meant you saw him! For crying
out loud Drew!
You should really learn to think before you
speak and then when you do actually speak, let it all out in a
full sentence!”

Drew had to laugh as she watched Liza settle back
down in her seat. Yes, they were going to be just fine. If there
was one person in the whole world that she could count on for
anything at all, including a good laugh, it was Liza.

“Harry Connick, Jr.” Drew said. Liza cocked her
eyebrow up over her coffee mug. “No really, I think I just saw
Harry Connick, Jr. walk in front of the Waffle House.” That’s
when Liza spit her hot coffee all of Drew.

As Drew was locking up the front door that evening to
head to Boudreaux’s for her first night back on the job, she
noticed another paper stuck to her door. “Wow, Liza, I guess
you really can get evicted twice in one day.” She said to
herself.
She took the paper down though and noticed that it
wasn’t an eviction notice after all; it was a real-estate flyer.
The paper was hot pink and she swore it was still warm, like it
was hot off the press.

House and 10 acres for Sale:
$20,000

Furnished, castle-like, stone mansion with all new plumbing,
wiring, and appliances. 6 bedrooms, 3 Bath, swimming pool
and privacy fence.

Call (555) 555-5555

 

“Is this a joke?” Drew looked around to see if anyone
was hiding in a corner laughing at her now.

There was no way someone was going to sell a house
like that for $20,000 or for anything close to that for that
matter.
They
would have to be desperate for
drugs or
something or, just downright insane, either one was a norm for
New Orleans. She thought that she had $5,000 saved up in the
bank already and if she turned in her life insurance that her
mother had bought her when she was born she imagined that it
would be worth at least $5,000 by now. So, maybe she could
work something out. The place must be a real dump though.
She shoved the paper in her bag and promised herself that she
would at least inquire about it tomorrow.

Drew’s first night back at Boudreaux’s was absolutely
crazy.
It seemed the little hole in the wall had picked up
business since the last time she had worked. She raked in $300
in tips and she didn’t even have to flaunt anything. It was
great, but it was now 6:30 in the morning and she had to be at
the gallery by 9.
She calculated that this double shifting
wouldn’t last more than a week.

The walk home at 6:30 in the morning wasn’t quite as
peaceful as you would imagine it would be. Everyone stayed
out until dawn there on the weekends and it seemed that rush
hour never ended on the nearby highway. Dodging stumbling
drunks and the homeless lying on the edges of the sidewalks
was something that Drew had gotten use to as well.

By the time she walked home and grabbed a bite to eat
and a shower she still had an hour before she had to leave
again. She couldn’t decide if she was going to take a nap or
make a phone call. Since she only had 2 days left her eviction
from
the
apartment
she
decided that
the
phone call
was
probably her best and most important option.

It seemed the phone didn’t even get to ring before a
gruff voice answered her call. “Yellow!”

A sarcastic man she thought, great! “Um, yea. I am
calling about the house for sale? The one for $20,000? It was
on a flyer on my door last night.” She waited for the guy to
start laughing and correct
her that
the price was actually
$200,000 or more like $2,000,000.

“Great! When do you want to sign the papers?” The
guy said excitedly.

 

“Well, can I take a look at the place first?”

“Oh, right.” He said disappointed. “
Well, the place is
really in great condition. It sets off by itself, sort of out in the
country, do you have email? I can send you some pictures of
it? It needs a little TLC on the outside, the inside is spectacular
though. At least it was five years ago. I haven’t been in there
since then. Probably needs some dusting.”

“Can’t I just meet you there? Can you tell me where it
is?” Drew said a little confused.

After a long pause and then what seemed like an
eternity of arguing that she wasn’t going to buy anything until
she saw it, he finally decided to meet her there in 30 minutes.
She would have to break out the Harley and she would have to
call in late to work for the first time in 2 years but there was no
way she was missing this one. She couldn’t wait to see what
kind of scam this guy was trying to pull off.

The first road that she was supposed to take after
exiting the highway was a washed out gravel road that she had
never before in her many years of living in New Orleans
noticed. As soon as she turned onto the road she spotted a fat
old man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth leaning against a
brand new silver Cadillac. He even looks like a con man. She
thought to herself.
She pulled up in front of him and he
automatically held out a hand with a ring of keys.

“I will sit here for ten minutes. No more! Go take
your peak and then meet me back here. If you take longer than
that you can call me as soon as you get to a phone.” He started
to get back into his car.

“Wait, you aren’t going to go with me?”

 

“Nope, I haven’t stepped foot on this land in 5 years
and I ain’t goin’ do it now.”

 

“Alrighty then.” Drew clicked her tongue, stuck the
keys to the house in her pocket and put her helmet back on.

 

“You got ten minutes, little lady.” He warned her
again.

 

Drew gave him the thumbs up and then took off down
the road. “Weird.” She mumbled to herself under her helmet.

About a mile up the dirt road and through some thick
ass trees she noticed an old cemetery to her right.
The
cemetery wasn’t in the best
shape
she
noticed.
Since
everything was pretty much flat or sinking in New Orleans she
could pretty much see the house and everything around it once
she cleared the trees.

She had to pull over and catch her breath.
It was
absolutely beautiful in a gothic sort of way. There were a lot of
vines
and weeds
growing
up over
the iron fence that
surrounded the castle, and yes, it was a castle, and it looked
like a crap load of trash that had blown up around the fence and
yard as well. It had definitely been a while since anyone had
been up here.

She was glad that she had worn jeans and her Harley
boots because it looked like it was going to be a wade through
some tall grass and no telling what was living in the grass and
weeds.

“Ten minutes? How the he
ll am I supposed to check
out this freaking mansion and be back in ten minutes?” She
said out loud.

The place looked like it belonged in a Bram Stoker’s
novel. The only thing it was missing were the gargoyles on top
of the roof and the blood sucking undead of course.
Though
she couldn’t quite see the fine details of the architecture from
where she was standing and hadn’t been inside yet. Who
knew, maybe there were blood suckers living in there after all,
or not living she supposed.
She drove the bike around the
fence as far as she could without running into more thick
weeds.

It looked like there may have been a garden at one time
and some very nice landscaping around the castle and then a
privacy fence took up residence at the back of the house. She
imagined that was where the swimming pool was. “It’s
probably the home of the Swamp Thing by now.” She said to
herself.

In her heart she had already made up her mind though.
She didn’t care if the entire roof was falling in, she was in love,
and she would get this house for whatever price she had to pay.
It was going to be a lot of hard work getting it cleaned up
though.

She started to turn around when she noticed a light
flash in one of the upper windows. She squinted to see more
but it was too bright outside. She figured maybe the crazy guy
had someone up there cleaning or something but then she saw
that the padlock was still locked on the outside of the gate and
that there were weeds entwined around it as well. There was
no way someone was in that house.

“The sun must have reflected off of a mirror or
something.” She said again, shrugging to herself.

She got back on her bike wishing that she had more
time to at least go inside the fence and raced down the road to
try and make a deal with the guy.

He had started to back up when she came around the
corner and stopped when he saw her. She pulled up beside the
driver’s side window and he rolled it down with a dreadful look
on his face.

“Look,” she said after taking off her helmet, “I’ve got
$5,000 saved up in the bank right now and I can probably come
up with another $5,000 by the end of the week…”

“Done!” He said excitedly. “I’ll take the $5,000 you
got saved up today and you can use the other $5,000 you got to
get the place cleaned up a little bit. Where do you bank at? I’ll
meet you there this afternoon with the paperwork.”

Drew was halfway through her work day and still in
awe. She had wondered how she hadn’t drooled on herself after
watching the guy roll off and she still hadn’t closed her
dropped jaw. She couldn’t believe that she was going to own a
castle of her very own, and a cemetery she added to herself,
this very afternoon for only $5,000. Maybe it was all a big
scam. Maybe she would find out in a couple of days that the
paperwork was fake and that she was out 5 grand but hey she
was moving in tonight and getting a couple of days worth out
of it anyway.

“Drew Taylor! I can’t believe that you would fall for
such crap!
Did you really hand over $5,000 to some fat, cigar
smoking creep?
Are you seriously moving into that place
tonight? Have you lost your mind? Have you fallen off of
your rocker? Have you…”

“LIZA! Enough!” Drew covered her eyes with her free
hand willing the headache that was forming away. “Yes, I am
moving into the house tonight and probably all of those other
things that you said, but I just took one look at the place and
had to!
Will you please come down tomorrow after work and
see it? I took the next couple of days off at the gallery and then
I have the weekend to get organized. I would just really love
for you to come and see it. You will understand then why I had
to do it. Don’t say no!” She said as Liza started to protest.
“And bring Tim’s weed eater and lawn mower I need to borrow
it for a couple of days. I love you!” And she hung up. She
didn’t think that she had ever heard so many buts come out of
one person’s mouth before in such a short time.