Ghost Mortem (Ghost Detective #1) - Jane Hinchey Page 0,55

weight."

"Did you notice though that the lawn isn't all dug up? There are no drag marks until you cross your boundary line and into the woods?"

He looked at me. "You're right." He eventually said, "I hadn't picked up on that." Before I knew it Ben was out the back door and on his hands and knees to examine the grass. Shaking my head, I placed the bowl of water down for Thor.

"Did you see who did it?" I asked the cat. It occurred to me that none of us had actually thought to ask the one other resident of the house if he'd seen anything.

Thor paused in his kibble-eating activities and sat back, tongue licking his snout. "I did not," he answered. "I was next door poking fun at the dog."

"It's you! You're the reason Percy barks so much, aren't you? You're winding him up!"

Thor yawned. "Can I help it that he has a pea-sized brain he doesn't use?"

"Thor, that's rude. And mean," I chastised, feeling sorry for Percy the pug. Now I felt bad for complaining to Mrs. Hill about her dog’s barking when it was Thor to blame for riling him up in the first place. Thor just looked at me, then went back to eating, clearly not giving a toss.

"I need coffee," I muttered, making myself a cup while Ben crawled around the back lawn and Thor stuffed his face. I made a note to do some research on how much I should be feeding him because at the rate he was going he was going to be one overweight puss. Coffee in hand I finally faced what I'd been avoiding. Brett Baxter's journals. Stretching out on the sofa, the bag of journals on the floor, I pulled the first one out and began reading. I quickly realized one thing. They were incredibly boring. At first glance, in Brett's apartment, it had looked intriguing and I'd been slightly uncomfortable at the idea of Brett recording conversations and basically spying on the guests at the hotel. But now that I was actually reading one? What a yawn fest. A detailed record of each guest’s fashion choices, complete with where he thought the items may have been purchased from, price range, and if he thought they were trashy or not. I started flipping through the pages, skimming over the fashion commentary before tossing the first journal aside. Only another eight to go.

It's entirely possible I dozed off, for the next thing I knew there was a banging coming from the front door and I had a book on my face. Struggling up, I dislodged the book, and Thor, who'd been curled up by my side. With sleepy eyes, he shot me an accusing glare before moving grudgingly to the end of the sofa where he resumed his nap.

The banging continued. Straightening my T-shirt, I glanced out the back windows. Ben was still intent on the lawn investigation, although he was over near the border of his property now, where the grass gave way to dirt.

Stumbling my way to the front door, I assumed it was Detective Galloway so threw open the door and barked, "What?"

Only it wasn't Galloway who was pounding with fist raised. It was Steven Armstrong. He barged inside, shouldering me out of the way. I staggered and reached out a hand to steady myself. "Hey! That was rude," I told him. Now that he was in the house he didn't know where to go, so he spun on his heel and glared at me, hands on hips. I could only assume he'd had a call from Sophie.

"You've been spying on me!" he accused.

"I"—I pointed to myself—"have not." Which was true. It wasn't me. But I was splitting hairs.

"You told Sophie you knew about our relationship."

"Now that part is true." I nodded. I wasn't scared of him although I could tell he wanted me to be. He was all bluster and anger and he thought by towering over me I'd be cowed. Clearly he hadn't met me. One sharp knee to the gonads would bring him down and if he came any closer he was going to discover that for himself.

"Why?" He almost cried the word, it was so beseeching.

"Oh, was it a secret?" I batted my eyelashes and flattened my palm to my chest, mocking him. "What's wrong? Don't want your wife to find out?"

"You bitch," he growled. I saw the fist coming. Rather than dodge away I stepped closer, raised an arm to block while