So much for that.
Trying to ignore the mounting frustration inside her, she went back through the kitchen and over to the other side of the house. Just past the sitting room was a small guest bath, something she guessed had been shoehorned in there around the same time the kitchen had been “updated,” since in general, the front parlor or whatever you wanted to call it would have been somewhat bigger than its current footprint.
Beyond that was the room she guessed had been the home’s main living space, since this was the only place where she’d seen a TV so far. It was mounted to the wall above the fireplace, which didn’t look as if it had been used in years and in fact was filled with a large silk flower arrangement that needed a good dusting.
In here, Delia got the feeling more than ever that someone was watching her. “Alba?” she ventured again.
One of the blue-striped curtains at the window moved ever so slightly. It could have just caught a current of air from the whole-house swamp cooler…or that faint flutter could have been caused by something else entirely.
Unease moved down her spine, even as Delia told herself she’d been in this particular situation plenty of times before. Not every ghost wanted to reveal itself, and sometimes it took a good deal of coaxing to get to a place where they could actually communicate.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t keep trying, especially if it meant she wouldn’t have to go upstairs. For some reason, that idea seemed extremely unappealing, even though it was a bright, sunny day and she knew she didn’t have anything to worry about.
All right, more like hoped than actually knew, but still.
A soft footfall behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin, but then she realized it was only Aaron, holding his phone and looking apologetic as he stood just inside the entrance to the room.
“Sorry,” he said. “I hate to bail on you like this, but I just got a call from an agency over in Bullhead City that I applied with, and they want me to come in now. I can’t really blow them off, not when I need to get a new position as soon as possible. Are you okay with staying here by yourself?”
Absolutely not, her mind said at once, but Delia quashed that thought. She’d come here to cleanse the house, and she wasn’t anywhere close to accomplishing that goal.
“Sure,” she replied. “I think I’ve picked up on a few things, but I still don’t know who’s here or what they want.”
Aaron’s expression grew troubled. “I suppose I can try to reschedule — ”
“No,” she cut in. Considering the financial mess he was currently dealing with, the last thing she wanted was for her own cowardice to prevent him from getting a job he needed. “It’s fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am.”
He hesitated, but it seemed clear to her that he wasn’t going to argue too much, not when he wasn’t in a position to blow off a potential employer. “Okay.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys attached to a silvery fob set with what looked like inlaid turquoise and mother-of-pearl. “Here are the house keys. When you’re done, you can text me and then leave them under the mat. I’ll swing by and get them when I can.”
Delia wanted to ask if that would be taking something of a risk, but she figured he knew the neighborhood better than she did and had a much clearer idea of what was safe and what wasn’t.
Instead, she took the keys from him and put them in her jeans pocket. Since he was standing right there, she thought she might as well ask the question.
“Do you ever have problems with cell service here?”
He nodded, then said, “Oh, yeah. I guess I should have warned you about that. This property is kind of a digital sinkhole. It looks like you have service, but sometimes you still can’t send a text or get the internet to work right. Calls usually go through, though, for whatever reason.”
Well, that was something. Delia knew she’d been able to get at least one text out to Caleb, so it sounded as if the service was just unreliable rather than being completely nonexistent.
Obviously trying to be helpful, Aaron added, “If I need a clear signal, I usually drive up to Heritage Park. It’s about five minutes from here — just go back out to Casino Drive and head north. The road ends there, so it’s hard to miss.”
“Thanks for the tip,” Delia replied. Maybe it wasn’t the most convenient thing in the world to leave the property altogether to get in touch with the outside world, but it was better than nothing.
“How long do you think you’re going to be?” he asked, and all she could do was give a noncommittal lift of her shoulders.
“It’s really hard to say. I can sense someone in the house, but they don’t seem very eager to make contact. I’ll keep plugging away, though — it’s still early enough that I can spend a couple of hours here and not have to worry about driving home in the dark.”
Which she’d done once or twice when a client she’d worked with in Las Vegas had insisted on her handling a transaction in Laughlin. There really wasn’t all that much to the drive, but all the same, she didn’t like traveling over those long stretches of empty road, even if there were plenty of other cars sharing the highway with her.
“Okay,” Aaron replied. “Then I’ll swing by after I’m done with my meeting. If you’re still here, great, but otherwise, I’ll just pick up the keys and head home.”
Wherever that was right now. He’d mentioned an Airbnb, but she didn’t know whether it was located here in Laughlin or back in Vegas somewhere.
“Sounds good,” she said.
