Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,25

go there?

JK: You tell me.

The trace had narrowed him down to an area south of Edinburgh, toward the Borders. The area that included the Ewans’ house. Was he manipulating this? Could he?

Exodus: Was I demonstrating the new system? Dale would’ve been better at that.

JK: He certainly would since you’d sold out to him several months before.

That kept him away from the keyboard for some time, although fortunately he was still online for the trace to home in on. And it was looking increasingly like the Ewans’ residence.

Exodus: No.

JK: Google yourself. You were quick enough to find the stories about the break-in.

Exodus: This is weird.

JK: No kidding.

Exodus: Who are you anyway? What were you doing at Dale’s?

JK: Who do you think I am?

Exodus: Do you work for the company?

JK: Genesis? I wish.

Exodus: Then you are a techie. A bit of a hacker.

JK: Oi!

The insult was in the “bit of a hacker,” not in the crime.

Exodus: Dabbled myself at school, before I discovered game making. Are you hacking Dale?

JK: Would you mind if I was?

Exodus: Don’t know. Depends why and for what. Do you work for someone? I don’t even know your name.

No, and you’re not going to.

JK: I work for a psychic who’s going to rid Dale of his poltergeist.

There was a small pause.

Exodus: Is your employer responsible for the poltergeist?

JK: Do you mean, is she taking the piss? No. She does stuff like this. She’s genuine. Mostly.

Exodus: You believe “stuff like this” is possible? The paranormal? Poltergeists? Ghosts?

JK: I grew up with Sera MacBride. I know it is.

Exodus: Then I really could be a ghost?

For some reason, that froze her fingers on the keys. It just came over as so genuine, so…lost, and trying not to be.

JK: You COULD. Although I’ve never come across one that hacked into my computer before.

Exodus: I didn’t hack. You put me here by downloading some of my VR file from Dale’s computer.

Whoa! Jilly flopped back in her seat. She felt like clutching her head. She’d been sidetracked from doing any more than the briefest scan of those files on her memory stick, but right now, she couldn’t think of a better reason, or any other reason, why he would know this.

She leaned forward again, fingers back on the keys.

JK: Are you Dale’s poltergeist?

Exodus: Don’t be daft.

Jilly let out a breath of laughter. She didn’t know why it was funny, but in the circumstances it just was.

Exodus: You have a beautiful smile. You should do it more often.

JK: Nobody smiles at a stalker. Bastard.

Exodus: Hey, calm down!

Jilly broke the connection, breathing deeply. After a moment, she grabbed some tape from her desk drawer and stuck it over the built-in webcam.

Sera came out of her office, conducting a client to the front door. From her face, Jilly knew it was a serious case.

“Tomorrow at ten,” Sera said to Elspeth for the appointment book.

Jilly said, “Got time to fit in a visit to the Ewans?”

“I need them to go away first.”

“No, I think their poltergeist is Genesis Adam. I think he left some of his messed-uppedness there when he went to Australia, and it’s got all muddled up now with VR.”

Sera blinked and lowered her hip on the edge of Jilly’s desk. “That’s a hell of a theory.”

“I know.” Jilly sighed. “But something bloody weird is going on there, and it started the night of the break-in.”

Sera stood up. “All right, let’s go and pick their brains. We might even persuade them to bugger off this time.”

Chapter Six

Elspeth had phoned ahead to make sure their visit was convenient. But there was another car parked in the drive when they arrived. A bright red sports car.

This time, the door was opened by Dale Ewan, who invited them in cordially enough, although another guest was still standing in the big entrance hallway with Petra.

The guest wore stylish black, all traily lace and silver chains, almost like a punk Victorian. Apart from the sunglasses and the length of her skirt. And the fabulous boots. She had a pale, dramatic face with natural black eyebrows and red, luscious lips, and although she wasn’t actually beautiful as such, Jilly doubted anyone noticed or cared, so forceful was her overall style.

Despite her glamour, she spared Jilly and Sera a quick smile. Perhaps it was this which obliged Dale to introduce them. “This is an old friend of ours, Roxy May. Roxy, this is Sera McBride and Jill—er…”

At least he remembered my first name. Jilly’s initial sardonic thought got suddenly lost as the name