Ghost Mortem (Ghost Detective #1) - Jane Hinchey Page 0,20
the door, I set him down and watched as he trotted outside and disappeared down the stairs.
“He’ll be okay?” Chewing on my lip, I swiveled my head to look at Ben then back to where the cat had disappeared, worried something would happen to him. What if a dog came along and chased him? Or what if he got distracted and got hit by a car? Or someone thought he was a stray and picked him up? So many possibilities, none of them good.
“Relax, he’ll be fine,” Ben assured me.
“Have you always been able to understand him?” I asked.
Ben shook his head. “No. This is new to me too, but I figure it’s something to do with my ghostly situation.” A chill shivered its way up my spine a second before Ben teased in my ear. “Awwww, look at you, being a caring pet parent.”
“Shut up.”
My phone rang and reluctantly I abandoned my position by the door to answer it.
“Audrey Fitzgerald.”
“Miss Fitzgerald, my name is Athena. I’m calling from McConnell Law Firm.”
“Riiiiight…” I frowned, wondering what on earth they could want.
“To schedule an appointment for you to meet with one of our lawyers, John Zampa,” she continued.
“An appointment? Why?”
“I believe it is in regard to Mr. Benjamin Delaney’s estate.”
I lapsed into silence.
“Who is it?” Ben mouthed at me.
Putting my hand over the mouthpiece, I muttered, “Is John Zampa your lawyer?” Realization dawned and Ben’s mouth formed a perfect O.
“Hello? Miss Fitzgerald? Are you there?”
Clearing my throat, I removed my hand. “Yes, sorry, I’m here.”
“Oh good, I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m here,” I repeated.
“As I mentioned, we’d like to set a time for you to come in and meet with Mr. Zampa.”
“To go over Ben’s will?”
“Yes. Would this afternoon work? Two o’clock?”
“Wow. That’s fast.” Considering my unemployed status, I didn’t really have any excuse not to attend. But attending made Ben’s death even more real. More real than I wanted it to be. More real than I could face, despite the fact that his ghost now hovered in front of me with a look of concern on his face.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“They want to talk to me about your will,” I whispered back.
“Sorry?” Athena spoke into my ear and I belatedly remembered that she was still on the line.
“Two o’clock is fine. I’ll see you then.” I disconnected the call and eyeballed Ben. “Care to tell me why I’m meeting with your lawyer this afternoon to discuss your will?”
Ben had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell you about that, but I never thought it was going to be an issue.”
“What?”
Before he could respond, Thor returned, announcing he was ready for breakfast. Knowing I had nothing in the house remotely suitable for a cat to consume, I snatched up my car keys. “Right, might as well get this over with. You coming, Thor, or will you wait here?” I felt stupid asking a cat what he wanted to do, but under the circumstances, I figured it was the best thing to do.
“I’ll come with you. Your driving can’t be any worse than that human from yesterday.” He was referring to the police officer who’d driven my car home for me—and delivered Thor. He’d sported a bleeding scratch on the back of his hand for his trouble.
The drive to Ben’s house was spent in complete silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. As soon as I’d pulled up in the driveway and opened the door, Thor had launched himself over me and disappeared down the side of his house, presumably to the cat door at the rear.
“Guess he really is hungry,” I muttered, slamming the door and locking it. Slowly I approached the house. Yellow and black crime scene tape blocked the front door.
“Now what?”
“We ignore it,” Ben said.
“What? No way. I’m not going to get arrested over disturbing a crime scene. You saw how happy those two morons were to arrest me yesterday,” I protested, visions of being carted off to jail playing across my mind.
Ben sighed. “You have a point.” While he was busy pondering what our next course of action should be, I pulled out my phone and dialed.
“Galloway,” the voice on the other end barked.
“Detective Galloway, this is Audrey Fitzgerald.”
There was a moment’s pause, then. “Audrey. How can I help you?”
“Look, I’m at Ben’s house—and yes, I know, it’s a crime scene…I can see the tape. But here’s the thing. I’m looking after Ben’s cat. I need supplies.”
“Can’t you go buy