Ghost of a Chance (20 page)

“Pixie is missing. She wasn’t in the
bathroom, and wasn’t in any of the unoccupied rooms. Where’s my
father?”

“In the kitchen, helping the boys make more
coffee. He said you looked worse than roadkill that had sat in the
hot sun for three days, and could use a cup or two.”

“A gallon is more like it,” I answered,
rubbing my forehead. I was so tired it was getting difficult to
think with any sort of clarity. “Have you seen Pixie?”

He shook his head. “She hasn’t been
downstairs. I’d have noticed her if she used the front stairs, and
the back stairs only go to the kitchen. Don’t worry about her,
Karma. She can’t get out, and she can’t get into any trouble in the
house.”

“I can’t help but worry about her. I’m
responsible for her! There’s a murderer in the house, and there’s
no telling what horrible things he could do to her…”

“
He?”
Adam asked.

“Or she. The point is, there’s a murderer
running around, and I can’t find Pixie.”

He looked thoughtful. “Very well. I’ll go
look for her.”

“I’ll get the guys from the kitchen to help.
She’s probably just hiding somewhere, thinking it’s cute to cause
us worry, but I don’t like her off on her own until Meredith is in
custody.”

“You’re certain Meredith is the killer,
aren’t you?” Adam asked, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh yes. He’s guilty of murder. The job is
going to be proving it.”

“If you’re so certain, then why am I busting
my balls to interview everyone else?”

I couldn’t help smiling at the disgruntled
expression on his face. “Because you’re a member of the watch, and
you won’t commit yourself to a suspect until you’ve sifted through
all the evidence. I don’t mind doing the interviews with you, if
that’s what you’re implying. In fact, I think they’re helpful. I’m
positive there are a few secrets that need to come out.”

“Spoken like someone who has bared her
soul,” he answered with a wry smile. “Some of us may not wish to
have all our secrets out in the open.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry
about. I was thinking more along the lines of what other machines
Meredith has up his sleeves. I’ll check the kitchen and the ground
floors. Shall I send the spirits up to help you?”

He nodded and went upstairs. I found my
father and the two ghosts sitting in the kitchen quite cozily
around a small table, the scent of brewing coffee making my mouth
water.

“—and I said to her, ‘Karma, don’t let one
little incident ruin the rest of your’—oh, hello, honey.”

“I don’t suppose there are any more of those
croissants left?” I was too tired to muster up even the feeblest
glare at my father for airing my dirty laundry to the two spirits,
although I did mentally utter a couple of swear words when it was
apparent they were now very wary of me.

“Yes. You’re welcome to them,” Jules said,
nudging a plate of two croissants toward me as if he expected me to
snatch it up and decapitate him with it.

I acquired both coffee and a croissant,
saying nothing to them other than “Adam would like to see you two
upstairs. Pixie has gone missing, and we’re trying to find her.
Dad, you can help me search down here.”

We looked all over the ground floor of the
house, but there was no sign of Pixie.

“I take it by the silence from upstairs that
Adam isn’t having any better luck,” I said, one finger tapping on
my lips as I mulled over possible hiding spots that would appeal to
a teenage polter.

“There’s always…” Dad waved a hand toward
the basement door.

“She wouldn’t go down there. Would she?”

He shrugged. “She’s an odd one. Maybe she
likes dead bodies.”

“Way off the ew meter there, Dad.” I sighed.
“All right, let’s go check.”

“I’ll do it, honey. You just stand on the
stairs and alert the marines if Spider’s body rises up and tries to
eat my brains or something.”

I followed him down the stairs, thanking my
stars that I hadn’t inherited his warped sense of humor.

Dad flicked on the lights, moving swiftly to
the junction in the room. “Body’s still there. Doesn’t look like
it’s moved.”

“I’m not concerned about him becoming a
zombie,” I said dryly.

“It’s ‘revenant,’ not ‘zombie,’ Karma. How
do you expect to get ahead if you don’t use the correct
terminology? Was it here the unicorn was hiding?”

He slipped behind the heater, then emerged
to dust cobwebs off his sleeves.

“Yes. Anything?”

“No.” He stooped to pick up something. “Not
unless you’re interested in a handful of apports. These appear to
be… oh.”

I turned at the sound of Adam’s calling my
name from upstairs. “We’re down here. They appear to be what,
Dad?”

“Nothing important.”

“There you are. We looked upstairs and
couldn’t find her. Anything down here? What did Matthew find that
wasn’t important?” Adam asked as he made his way down the basement
stairs toward us.

“Apports, I gather. From the floor in front
of the heater.”

“Let’s see.”

Dad shot me an odd look as he dropped a
couple of jade green stones into Adam’s hand. We followed Adam up
the stairs and into the better light of the hall, both of us
peering over his shoulder.

“Those are apports all right,” I said.

“Hmm.” Adam poked at them with his finger.
“Green. I’ve never seen these before. My apports are white.”

“They must be Pixie’s,” Dad said, zipping
into the living room to fuss with things that didn’t need fussing
with. “She must have been in the basement when we weren’t
looking.”

I watched Adam, fear building steadily
inside me, as he turned the apports over in his hand. “She has to
be here. She can’t leave. She must be hiding somewhere. Did you
look in Meredith’s room?”

He nodded. “Jules looked there. Tony went
into Savannah’s. There were only the designated occupants. No Pixie
in either room.”

“She has to be here,” I repeated, rubbing
the back of my neck wearily.

“She is. You know as well as I do that it’s
almost impossible to find a polter when they don’t want to be seen.
I’m not too worried about her; she appears to be savvy enough to
take care of herself.”

“I doubt if she can handle a murderer,
though.”

Adam squeezed my shoulder. “I set Jules to
watch Meredith’s room. If he leaves it, we’ll know. That’s the best
I can do until we find Pixie, OK?”

I hated to leave the girl alone and
unprotected, but I didn’t see any alternative. If Meredith was
being watched… well, that would have to do. “All right. Dad, I
guess you’re up.”

“Interview?” His face brightened.
“Excellent! Do you mind if I don’t sit?”

“Not at all.” Adam led the way over to our
little table and took a seat opposite me.

Dad walked around us in a fast circle, one
that caused dizziness if watched too long. I raised my eyebrows at
Adam, distracted by a sudden thought.

“You don’t seem to have any problem sitting
still.”

“Decades of training. I wanted a job in the
mundane world, and although I used glamours at times, I figured it
was better if I learned to pass as a mortal before the third arm
dropped off. Plus, I’m a quarter human.”

“It does help,” I agreed.

“You don’t seem to have inherited much of
your father’s traits. They’re downright quiescent,” he said, giving
the pair of us a questioning look.

“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Dad asked. “She does
have my eyes, though. And my good taste, in all things but her
choice of men. The rest of her comes from her mother, sadly.”

I ignored my father and gave Adam a little
smile. “Like you, I knew I was going to make my way in the mortal
world. It just took a little work to stifle the polter traits.”

“You disapproved of Karma’s choice of
husband?” Adam asked, shifting his attention to Dad.

“Good lord, yes. I loathed the man, and he
me,” Dad answered, whipping around us in his circuit of
restlessness. “He hated all our kind, except those he could
sexually exploit. I didn’t understand at first why he wanted to
marry Karma, until I figured out his perverted sexual tastes.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad.”

He patted me on the shoulder as he went past
me. “No offense intended, honey. You know I loved your mother
deeply, at least until she turned into a shrew.”

“
Dad!”

“Sorry. Until she decided she needed a life
without me. I have nothing against mixed marriages—but Spider
didn’t want you for yourself, as I did your mother. He wanted you
because of what you were.”

“Did Spider ever threaten you?” Adam
asked.

“Hell, yes. All the time!” Dad answered
cheerfully.

“He started by threatening to cut me out of
Karma’s life, but by the time he knew she wouldn’t go along with
that, the threats turned to permanently eliminating me.”

I gawked in astonishment. “He threatened
your life? You never told me that!”

He gave me an oddly meaningful look as he
passed by me. “Unlike some people not a million miles away from
here, I don’t feel obliged to spill every secret I have.”

“God damn it, you listened to my private
conversation with Adam!”

“I couldn’t help but listen to it. You
didn’t even bother to leave the room.”

I muttered a curse against the excellent
hearing I knew he possessed. “Next time, you are free to excuse
yourself from the room.”

“What, and miss all the good bits?” He
grinned. “Not likely.”

“Can we get this conversation back on
topic?” Adam asked. “We’ve established your profound dislike of
Spider, and vice versa. Were your feelings about him enough to make
you want to kill him?”

“Every day. Every time I saw his face
smirking at Karma. Every passing year, when I saw what effect he
had on her, how he was draining the life out of her.”

“No one has drained the life out of me! I’m
just fine!”

“Honey, honey, honey.” His hand clapped onto
my shoulder. “You’re a shadow of what you used to be. You were
vibrant before you met Spider. Now you’re just… worn out.”

I twitched my shoulder out from under his
hand. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to cope with all these
compliments, so let’s get off the subject of me, and back to
Spider. Where were you when he was being killed?”

He tossed all three hands into the air. “How
do I know? I don’t know when he was killed.”

“You left the living room before I did. What
did you do after Karma and Spider went upstairs?” Adam asked.

Dad paused in his circuit for a moment as he
tried to recall. “Hmm. I went up to make sure my girl was all
right, but when it was clear she was holding her own against him, I
had a look around the house. You’ve got bats in the attic.”

“I know. Did you go downstairs into the
basement at any time?”

“Well…” Dad flitted over to the far window
and twitched back the curtain. “I did for a minute, just to see
what was down there. I heard someone breathing, and had a look-see
about that, but it was only Amanita behind the heater. I was
leaving when Spider and Meredith came in. Before you ask—I hid
behind a rowboat until they’d gone into the other section of the
room. Then I came back upstairs.”

Adam frowned in thought. “You didn’t see
anyone down there other than Nita?”

He looked downright innocent, which usually
meant he was anything but that. “No. There was no one there but
her.”

“Ah,” Adam said. “Did you see anyone going
into the basement?”

“Not a soul. I have a bit of a sweet tooth,
so I went to the kitchen to see if there wasn’t something to nosh
on. Didn’t see anyone there. Since the two ghosties were gone, I
took a few liberties with some pecan pie I found in the fridge. By
the time I was done, Karma was up from her nap, so I came back here
to see what was going on.”

Apporting as he entered the room… which
meant he was under stress or in the grip of some strong emotion,
neither of which would be applicable if what he told us was true. I
bit the end of the pen as I thought about what he could possibly
have been up to that had left him in such a state.

“Anything else you want to know?”

Adam’s pale gaze met mine for a second,
asking a question. I shook my head.

“OK. Think I’ll go have another look for
Pixie. I’m an old hand at finding little girls who like to hide,
aren’t I, honey?”

“I was never very good at hiding,” I pointed
out.

“No, but you sure tried. It was instinctive.
See you later, then.” He hurried off toward the kitchen, no doubt
to molest the pecan pie a bit more.

“Where are Tony and Amanita?”

“Hmm? Oh. Bed. I told them we’d talk to them
in the morning. Once we find Pixie, I’ll tell Jules he’s off sentry
duty.”

I gave him a silent look of
disapprobation.

“I know, you still think the boys are
suspects, but I’m telling you they couldn’t be. They don’t have the
energy to do it, for one. It takes just about everything they have
to manifest enough energy to cook. And tonight they served coffee,
and were visible a lot longer than they’re used to. They couldn’t
do that if they’d spent every bit of strength they had killing your
husband first.”

“True.” I sighed, too tired to sort through
my thoughts.

Adam eyed me as if I were something that had
crawled out of the river. “You look like hell. There’s a room on
the third floor you can use if you’d like. It’s nothing fancy, but
at least you can get a little rest.”

“I’d thank you for such a chivalrous
comment, but sadly, I feel like hell. I’d better go make another
attempt to find Pixie. I won’t be able to sleep until I know she’s
all right.”

“We can swap floors if you like. I’ll give
this floor a once-over, and you can do the upper floors.”

I nodded wearily and trudged up the stairs,
trying to think of where I would hide if I were an angsty teenage
polter. A half hour and three sweeps of the floor later, I found
her hidden in the back of a linen closet.