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She played with the little stirrer,the shreds of chocolate into the whipped creaourmet latte
"So we’re back to insanity?"
"No we’re not Some people are born with a musical ear They can pick up an instru while others can attend class after class, but never really learn how to play Sohosts?" she deinary friend"
He shook his head "What I’ions in life You’re afraid right now I don’t bla your ownyou cohosts It’s not perfectly natural, no But it doesn’t make you a lunatic All scientists know that there are still things in the world that defy logic and explanation We understand gravity, life, evolution, ages long gone We’re constantly questioning faith Men live and die for their beliefs But none of us has the definitive answer"
She offered a skeptical shosts fill you in on everything?"
He shook his head "Ghosts are usually wandering around a little lost the about a violent end, or a need to finish soht?"
It was half sincere question, half skepticism
"There are different reasons"
She looked down, sers brushed She looked at him, startled, and he returned the intense stare, equally aware of the electricity between the on so many levels, sensual in the most natural of ways, the opposite of internationally provocative
She didn’t trust hith
He drew his fingers away, afraid that he would lose her if he wasn’t careful, that she would stand up and leave and demand that he stay away from her
"Nikki, I believe with my whole heart that I can help you And I also desperately need your help in return"
She didn’t bolt, though her eyes reain "Who was the man in the picture you showed me today? And when did he die? Was he supposedly dead when I saw him at Madame’s? Or was he killed after?"
He shook his head "The ME could only give an approxiht still have been alive the first time you saw him, but in serious trouble I don’t know And as he? An undercover FBI agent, a ht, not for any price He’d been undercover in so lords, in war zones He was on to so private until he really had so"
"You knew him?" Nikki asked
Brent shook his head "No That’s part of the problem"
"How do you knoas so lily white, then?" she asked softly "And why is it a problem that you didn’t know hiovern without proof Adaoes to the people who knew someone best, those ere closest When you don’t hear anything but lily white all the way around, you can pretty ht he was a bureat judge of character, huh?"
"You sahat you were intended to see," he told her
"Why is it bad that you didn’t actually know him yourself?"
"Because he didn’t know me, either, so he has no reason to trust ht, and that’s part of the probleht?"
She licked her stir stick absently
The treain
Business He was a professional A professional ghost buster, some mocked, but still a professional
Never mix business and pleasure Never Not in this Not in matters of life and death Not when there was the least chance it could weaken the perception or the wits…
"I saw hie eyes pleading "They must have made a mistake He isn’t dead It’s someone else--"
"No"
She exhaled
"And you know," he added, "that Andy is dead, as well"
She looked at hi her"
"Yes," she ed clothes Fro when… to the suit I chose for her funeral"
"She’s here to help you, you know," he said softly
"Help me? So far, my friends think I’ht"
He smiled ruefully "It can be difficult, to say the least"
She twirled her swizzle stick in her now-e "Maybe I do need a drink," she said "No, no, I’ll start seeing polka-dotted elephants or soested
She looked at hilike an artist or a musician has And it’s been drawn out because Andy wants to help ift And I’ift, as well?"
"Yes"
"Why haven’t I ever heard of it?"
He shrugged, hands lifting He was careful not to touch her The scent of her perfume was so subtle Like the whisper of her movement, the touch of her breath
"Surely you’ve read stories about… well, hauntings Usually written by people on the periphery Those who have a touch of so on a different level than most people even experience Those who have to become deeply involved… well, they’re usually fairly circu"
"Um, sure," she hed, staring at hiain