“Casper?” She scoffs. “Trissa, be for real, are you okay?”
“Yes, Gabs, I promise. Casper—which c’mon, you have to admit that’s cute, even if you don’t like the whole ghost thing,” I pause as she chuckles and clucks into the phone, “He’s been kind of a tough nut to crack, but I think I might have gotten through to him.” I smile as I drop the box onto the bed and grab the phone from my shoulder.
“Uhh, not to rain on your parade, butwhat?You’re not a fucking squirrel, Triss. And he’s not a nut—it’s a freaking ghost! What if you piss it off?” Gabbi’s voice is shrill with concern and I wince.
“I know Gabs, I know. I’m being… careful… ish” I wince again. I’m lying, and Gabbi knows me too well to be fooled. I take a deep breath and try again, “Okay. So, here’s the thing… I kind of met someone by accident and he’s really cool so far and willing to meet me eventually. He doesn’t even care about the whole, ‘I’m a shut in’ thing! But I’m confused because I feel this like—electric connection to Casper and I’m starting to feel kind of grimy going after them both but I mean, does it count if one of them is technically dead? And to be fair, Cian could be a balding middle-aged man who lives in his mom’s basement and scratches his balls with cheese puff fingers…” I’m breathing heavily as the words tumble out and I hunch my shoulders, biting my finger and cringing as I wait for Gabbi to respond to my verbal diarrhea.
She’s quiet for a beat before she sucks her teeth and cries, “Aye yai yai! Wait… rewind! So you’re not only trying to twist sheets with a literal ghost, but you also met some random guy— what? Online? And you’ve already told him where you live even though you’re like the perfect target because you livealonein a giant house that you have no way to actually leave?” Gabbi’s voice cracks as it crescendos and I flinch.
“That—That,” I clear my throat and start again, “That about… y-yeah. When you put it that way it doesn’t sound… ideal.” Doubt is quickly piercing the little bubble I’ve built up around myself over the past few days.
“No, you think?” I can hear the worry in her voice, even through the mocking, and it deflates my bubble even more.
I sigh and walk over to the antique-looking desk in the corner of the room. I run my finger along the decorative edge and frown, “Gabbi, I—I’m sick of playing it safe. I’ve just been coasting through everything; and with Cian and Casper— I know it’s stupid, but it’s the first time I’ve really felt alive and like, hopeful…”
She sighs and hums before letting out a frustrated growl, “Ugh! You’re the worst. For the record, I don’t think any of it is a good idea… but I know you’ve been struggling lately. I’m so thankful that you finally cut Kyle loose, but just be careful not to fill his absence with more of the same, yeah?”
“Cross my heart,” I smile as I absentmindedly open one of the little drawers on the desk. It’s empty aside from some mismatched buttons. I push them around curiously before starting to close the drawer.
“Speaking of Kyle,” Gabbi’s voice sounds laden with irritation and the mention of Kyle’s name in that tone makes me jump, accidentally pulling the drawer out.Shit!“Carmen was at Josh’s house the other night and she said Kyle was actingrealsingle.”
I blow out a puff of air and pray this desk isn’t some priceless piece. “Yeah, well I kind of figured that after his less-than-subtle texts the other night.” I bend down to line the drawer back up in its track and notice something stuck at the back. It looks like some kind of paper.
“Yeah, girl that’s not why I’m bringing it up,” Gabbi sighs and I can almost picture her rubbing her temples in exasperation as she continues, “You know how Carmen is the definition of a motormouth, right?”
I laugh and nod, “Mhmm,” I met Gabbi’s cousin Carmen at one of the few birthday parties I attended years ago. She’s a couple of years younger than us but she hangs out with a lot of the same people that Kyle does. I run over to the box on my bed and dig around until I find the backscratcher shaped like a cat with two outstretched arms I got as a white elephant gift at a dorm party a couple years ago.
“Well, she’s been interning at the firm and she overheard a conversation about your estate and the inheritance… and she ran her mouth and let some of those details slip when Kyle wastrying to flirt with her.” I pause for a minute as I’m sticking the wooden cat arm-first into the empty desk slot.
“So he knows about the money I’ll get if I stay here for the six months…” I laugh bitterly and roll my eyes. “That explains why he was so pissed when I ended things the other night.” I shrug and refocus on my task, slowly sliding the cat into the hole and carefully scraping the paper away from the back wall.
“I’m sorry, Triss. I really hate to pour salt in a fresh wound, but I don’t trust that fool, and I trust him even less now. I just have this weird feeling that he’s not gonna stop trying to slide back in before payday, y’know?” I can hear the trepidation in her voice and it sends a chill down my spine. She’s right. Kyle escalated with stealing that money, and with how sloppy he was about hiding his cheating.
I purse my lips and my brow creases with worry. “I don’t think he would do anything crazy,” my words are cautious, mimicking my actions as I slowly pull the backscratcher out of the opening. “If he tries to get back together, I’ll just tell him the truth—I’ve moved on with someone out of this world!”
Gabbi lets out a choked laugh before saying, “Girl. C’mon now.”
I grin as I see the piece of paper right inside the hole, reaching in and grabbing onto it as I set down my handy dandy backscratcher. I flip over the little paper and my eyes widen with surprise. “Huh.” It’s a business card. With my address.
“What’s up?”
“What? Oh—I’m sorry Gabs, I’m a little distracted. There’s this old desk in my room and I found a business card in it with this address, but it looks pretty old.”
Gabbi snorts, “Yeah, it is. Unless one of the tenants was doing some shady shit on the property it should be a card forGunn Antiques.”
My fingers tingle and I gasp, “Why does that sound so familiar?”
“Because… on your first night in the house I told you the previous owner was an Irish immigrant named Tavish Gunn who ran an antique store out of the house? In case you haven’t noticed the place is kind of like a museum for antiques.” Gabbi chuckles flippantly before she adds, “Although you were still pretty high, so I can see why you wouldn’t quite remember.”
There’s a ringing in my ears and I feel slightly queasy but I force myself to ask, “Gabs…did—did, was there anyone else who lived in the house with him? With Tavish?”
Gabbi hesitates, probably picking up on my sudden mood change. “No.”
I blow out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and smile. For a minute there I almost thought—
“Well, not when he died. He had a son, but like I said…sad story. He was murdered sometime in the seventies in a failed burglary attempt.” Gabbi’s voice sounds far away as she continues, “I don’t know all the details but I do know that no one has diedinthe house.”
My face is frozen with shock and I try to swallow around the lump in my throat.Ho-lee-shit. Holy fuck!I drop the business card and pull my phone away from my ear, switching it over to speaker and pulling open my web browser. “Do you know his name? The son?” My voice is shaky with the adrenaline that’s coursing through my veins like a tidal wave.
