Chapter Twenty-One

I think Saul must have broken a land-speed record after I called him, because he showed up, panting, at the same time as Professor DeHaven, who only had to walk over from next door.

"He's here?" Saul asked between gulps of air. "Really?"

"Right there. Sitting on the second stair from the bottom." I pointed, and Avi raised a hand to wave. Saul, however, was focused at least a foot to the left of Avi's face, where Gil sat two steps up.

"Have you spoken with him this time?" Professor DeHaven asked.

"Quite a bit. He's upset because he thinks somebody was in the house while I was gone."

"Mortal or spiritus?" she asked.

I looked at Avi, who shrugged. "He doesn't know. He wasn't actually, er, manifesting at the time. Just felt that something was off."

"Well." Saul rubbed his hands together. "What do you say we inspect the house and see if we can collect any evidence, one way or the other?"

"I checked all the doors and windows," Ricky said. "It doesn't seem like anyone broke in."

"I knew I should have stuffed the keyholes again," Avi muttered.

"Trust me, I'm glad you didn't," I replied.

Saul gazed at me, his eyes sparkling. "He said something?"

"Yeah. He's the one who jammed the locks."

Saul practically danced with joy. "Manipulation of physical materials with a predetermined goal!"

"Uh huh." I glanced at Avi's stormy expression. "Let's get on with this, shall we?"

We started with the library. Professor DeHaven's attention immediately snapped to the shelf next to the turret. "Those books are not where I placed them. Could the intruder have moved them?"

"Yeah, um, no. Avi had a little bit of a tantrum—"

"I was sad !"

"—and tossed a couple of books and some papers around. I put those there."

"Ah," she said with a disapproving sniff.

We didn't find anything hinky in the library, the family room, the kitchen—in fact nothing on the first floor at all, so we all trooped to the second floor. I noted that Avi's feet sometimes seemed to meet the treads. At others, they either floated above them by an inch or so or looked as though they were embedded in the wood.

When we stepped into the main suite, Avi gasped and pointed to my suitcase, which I hadn't yet unpacked.

"Look! Someone was rifling through your belongings! Obviously looking for valuables!"

I grimaced, heat rushing up my throat because I hadn't planned on anybody viewing my less than pristine housekeeping, especially not my new employer, a guy I wanted to impress, and my neighbor who, if she could memorize the placement of all the books in the library after only a couple of hours, probably had her own house organized to within an inch of its life. It didn't help that Gil trotted over and leaped into the suitcase to make a nest amid my T-shirts.

"Nope. I, er, haven't bothered to unpack yet. That's kinda how I left it this morning. Well, without the cat."

Avi frowned at me. At first I thought he was judging me for untidiness, the way Professor DeHaven seemed to be doing. But then he reached out as though to touch me, although he stopped with a foot to spare. "Why haven't you unpacked?"

I shrugged. "I didn't want to presume. I mean, this was your room, yours and Oren's. I didn't want you to feel like I was taking over."

Avi's smile was wry. "Oren and I never slept in this room. I never slept here, because I was waiting for our first night here together. Please, Maz. It's okay for you to move in. It's your home too now."

"Uh…" That sentiment, along with Avi's gentle tone, hit me right below the heart. This was not the reaction of a selfish man—or a vengeful spirit. My concerns about his character, born from Carson's comments and diluted by Ricky's explanations, pretty much died. Maybe having an ethereal housemate wouldn't be so bad. "Thank you. But are you sure? If you want this room, I can take one of the others. It's not like there's a shortage of bedrooms."

He shook his head. "No. You take this one. I promise I'll respect your privacy and won't come in unless you invite me." He directed his gaze toward the wall, and I wondered briefly whether he could see through it to the stairs beyond. "I really prefer the attic now, to tell the truth. But it would be nice if more of my things were up there."

I turned to the others, who had been watching me, wide-eyed. "Avi says he'd like the attic to be his space now, but he'd like some of his things moved up there to make it—"

"More homey," Avi said.

"—more homey."

"I can do that," Ricky said. "Just tell me what and when. I'm used to hauling things up the stairs."

Avi smiled at him. "I always liked him. Although I think he had a bit of a crush on Oren. Not that I could blame him."

"Maybe after everyone else leaves"—Saul made a noise of protest—"you can point me to whatever you'd like. I'll tag it and Ricky will move it up when he has a chance."

Avi nodded. So did Ricky, their heads bobbing in synch, and they both said, "Sounds good to me."

"And on that note," I said, "moving on."

I fell in behind Avi and everyone else fell in behind me, but our little parade was pretty pointless. If anything had been missing—especially something small—I'd never have known. Avi just seemed bewildered, touching certain things with a spark of recognition but not searching for anything in particular.

After an hour or so of traipsing around, saying, "Anything missing?" about a billion times, Saul and Professor DeHaven left. Ricky hesitated at the door. And took my hand. My breath hitched as he smiled at me, but Avi was smirking at me from the landing, and I wasn't willing to put on a show for his benefit.

However, Ricky didn't seem to have a goodnight kiss in mind, anyway. He squeezed my hand once and let go. "Call me when it's convenient for me to move Avi's things and I'll be here."

"Thanks." I smiled down at him. "I really appreciate your support. For me and"—I jerked my head in Avi's direction—"for him."

He grinned and raised a hand in farewell to us both. "What are friends for?" As he headed down the porch steps, I scooped Gil up to keep him from following, and Avi joined me at the door.

"So we think nobody broke in?"

I shut the door. "There's no evidence of it. But you felt something and since neither one of us knows how this works, I'm not about to say you were wrong."

"I appreciate that." Avi glanced down at the floor and his see-through shoulders rose and fell once, twice, three times.

"Avi?" I reached out but hesitated before my hand met his arm. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. Do you think it could have been another ghost?"

My skin prickled, my breath hitching. "I'm not sure, but I suppose it's possible."

"Maz." He looked up at me, his eyes wide, although I couldn't tell if the expression on his face was fear or hope. "What if… what if it was Oren?"