Chapter Twenty-Four

I didn't waste any time calling the ghost posse. I'd promised, after all.

"Hey, Saul. It's Maz. There's been another incident here at the house."

"Another manifestation?" Saul's voice practically quivered with excitement, although I caught the sound of another voice in the background.

"Maybe. Well, I mean Avi's here, but we're not sure about the source of the… interference. Should I call Professor DeHaven too?"

"Don't bother. She's teaching tonight. I'll fill her in on our investigation later."

That other voice—which I assumed was Jerry—said something else I couldn't catch, and Saul, clearly responding to Jerry, not me, said, "It will only take a few minutes." Another muffled response. "All right, no more than an hour, I promise. Maz?"

"Still here."

"I'll be right there."

"Great. See you soon."

Then I texted Ricky, since our date was about to be collateral damage. His response— OMW —was immediate. Avi was still staring at the library, wringing his hands, so I approached him slowly.

"Hey. Saul and Ricky will be here shortly. We'll get everything sorted."

He didn't look at me. "Will we? How?"

Hunh. Good question. "I don't know for sure, but I know we'll try. Until they arrive, though, why not go upstairs for a bit?"

He slid me a sideways glance. "Afraid I'll go poltergeist on you and make things worse?"

"No. But nothing will happen until Saul gets here, so take a little time for yourself, okay? Time enough to face the… the…" I flipped off the mess in the library. "The latest invasion when we've got backup."

Avi hesitated for an instant, but then nodded. "Perhaps you're right."

"Every once in a while, I manage. But Avi?"

"Yes?"

"You're not alone."

He met my gaze, and his expression softened. "Neither are you." Then he vanished.

As a result, I was standing at the library doors, scowling at the second coming of chaos, when Ricky knocked.

I opened the door and motioned him inside. "Hi. Sorry, but I guess I'll be taking another raincheck on dinner."

"Forget apologies." He stepped across the threshold and took my hands. "Are you okay?"

I heaved a sigh. "I'm more okay than Avi." I angled my head toward the paper pile. "I've only got sorting and cleanup ahead of me, but he's really upset about somebody violating his space again. It's bad enough that he's had a new random roommate foisted on him without his consent."

"Hey." Ricky squeezed my hands. "I think he's probably grateful for you. After all, you're the only one who can see him. The only one who's looking out for him. It was your idea to trick out the attic for him, after all."

"I guess." I pulled Ricky farther into the vestibule as Saul charged up the walk.

"What did I miss?" Saul was out of breath, but his blue eyes sparkled. "Is it another entity? Do you think this house might be a gateway?"

I shivered. "Crap, that's all we'd need. But no. I'm pretty sure we're talking about a corporeal vandal this time."

Saul visibly drooped. "Are you sure?" When I nodded, he muttered, "Drat."

"The only thing I'm marginally certain about is that they left through the front door because it wasn't latched. And whoever—"

"Or whatever ," Saul said.

Gee, thanks for that, Saul . Nevertheless, I inclined my head. "Or whatever it was, they were super focused on the boxes clearly labeled as Oren's. It doesn't appear that anything else was disturbed."

"Really?" Ricky frowned as he let go of my right hand, although he didn't release my left. "How can you tell?"

I huffed a strangled laugh, as much from the continued contact as the question. "A point."

"If it was another ghost, though," Ricky said, "wouldn't you have been able to detect it?"

"Why would I?" I flailed my free hand. "I'm not the freaking ghost whisperer. I'm not sure why I can see Avi. I mean, nobody else can."

"Right, right." Ricky released my hand. "Sorry."

"No." I sighed and laced our fingers together again. " I'm sorry. But having our house trashed multiple times is getting a little old." Ricky gave me a weird look. "What?"

"You said our house ."

I blinked. "Yeah, I guess I did." But since Avi was here first—and still was—it seemed presumptuous not to recognize his ownership. Besides, hadn't we just decided we were in this together?

"I don't mean to rush you, Maz," Saul said, "but I promised my husband I'd return soon enough for us to make it to the theater on time." He smiled, his lean cheeks pinking. "It's our anniversary."

"Oh. Yes. Sorry." I backed up, drawing Ricky with me, and gestured to the library. "Behold the incident."

Saul stared at the room, his eyebrows lifting. "Oh, my."

"Yeah. Avi met me at the mudroom door to tell me about this."

"He's not responsible for it?" Saul asked.

"He says not, and I believe him. He's really upset. I sent him upstairs to the attic to calm down."

Saul frowned. "Why would the attic calm him down?"

"We moved—that is, Ricky and the Transitions guys moved—some of the things he wanted up there so he can have a more comfortable, private space."

Saul cocked his head. "How do you know what he wanted?"

"He told me."

"He… told you. When?" Saul almost sounded hurt, as though I'd had a party and not invited him.

"Last night, after you all left."

"Ah. Of course."

"Although it's odd. It's as though he doesn't have much object permanence. He can't remember everything that ought to be here, but he recognizes important things when he sees them."

"In other words," Saul said, "when we were touring the house after Avi detected the intruder, if something were missing, he wouldn't have known."

"I hadn't thought of that." I glanced around the room, realizing that there had been remarkably few personal items in the house. Paintings, yes. Throw pillows, baskets, kitchenware, sheets, towels, blankets. Furniture. But no photographs. No tchotchkes or memorabilia. Nothing that would identify the people who had lived here as anything other than a couple who knew how to remodel and decorate. I turned to Ricky. "When you were here before, working for Avi and Oren, did they have personal items around? Pictures, knickknacks, mementos, anything like that?"

Ricky frowned. "Yeah. Mostly Avi's stuff, since Oren was holding off shipping his things until after the remodel was done."

"You see any around here?"

He pivoted slowly in place, scanning the shelves. "Now that you mention it, no."

"Where do you suppose it all went? Did someone come in after Avi's death to box things up?"

Saul shook his head. "No. Oren was adamant that everything remain as it was. As their attorney, I locked up everything myself."

I spotted what looked like an upside-down picture frame under a fan of papers in the corner and edged over to it. I picked it up and turned it over. It was a picture of two men, one of them clearly Avi, standing on the sidewalk under the maple tree, the house in the background. He was smiling at the camera, joy practically radiating off of him. The other man was a little older, his dark hair silvering at the temples. He was smiling too, but not at the camera. Instead, he was gazing down at Avi with such a tender expression that tears prickled in my eyes.

"That's Avi and Oren, the day they added Oren to the deed and changed both their wills in the other's favor," Saul said. "I took that picture myself and sent it to both of them."

Oren . He looked… lovely. My throat closed and I blinked rapidly, a hollow in my chest. I'd never had a chance to know him, never would get that chance. He'd never known me, and yet he'd left me this house and all his worldly possessions.

And also apparently Avi, his unworldly… Well, not possession, no. His person . The center of his life.

I made a silent vow to myself right then that whatever happened, I'd be the best steward of the house, of Oren's legacy, that I could be, and that included looking out for Avi. I set the picture in an empty spot at eye level on the nearest shelf.

"You know," Ricky said, "whoever ransacked these boxes was looking for something. I suspect that the wreck they made in here was because they were in a hurry, not because they were angry."

My eyes widened. "Shit! The pantry!"