“Yes! You must scour the professional journals and all of the newspapers for reports of my death.”
“Wait, what do you mean famous?” Liam asked over Lionel, drawing her attention back to him. “Who is this guy?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that. Your new cadaver is Lionel Graves.”
Liam frowned. “Why is that name so familiar?”
“The event in Salem… The professor on the panel?—”
“Who was a dick to you?” Eyes widening, Liam finished her sentence.
He’d heard her rant about it enough that he should be able to grasp the full ramifications of Lionel being here, now, and only able to communicate with her.
“Correct.” Natalie nodded. “My nemesis is your new cadaver and Mudville’s newest spirit.”
“Nemesis… Really? I must say I am enjoying this. I don’t believe I’ve ever been anyone’s nemesis before. That is quite entertaining,” Lionel said, looking pleased and oh so smug.
“Entertaining? Seriously? You’re dead,” she spat, annoyed she’d pleased him.
“Yes. And again, very astute of you to notice,” he sniped back.
Liam, watching her argue with thin air, closed the folder and tossed it back on his desk. “This is going to be fun.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s going to be a blast,” she agreed, matching Liam’s tone.
As Lionel grinned, displaying crooked yellowing teeth, Natalie had to wonder if the man didn’t understand sarcasm.
Chapter Nine
“I have a list of ideas of where you should begin your research into the cause of my death,” Lionel began.
Since Lionel was a ghost, Natalie assumed it was a mental list. That didn’t mean she was any more interested in hearing what this micromanaging control-freak had to say.
When she didn’t move or respond, Lionel glared. “Miss Chase, you’ll need a pen and paper to take notes”
Take notes?
“No,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No?” he asked, as if it was his first time hearing the word.
She raised a brow. “Not until you give me an apology.”
“An apology? Whatever for?” he asked, his tone rising with his obvious surprise.
“For your mocking me. In public. You called into question my ability to see the dead in front of the entire conference and on Facebook.”
“I will admit I was incorrect on that one minor point. You do seem to have some sort of abilities when it comes to communicating with… them.”
“Them? No. Not them. You. You’re dead,” Natalie took great pleasure in pointing that out.
He wobbled his head from side-to-side with a low hum. “Perhaps.”
“Perhaps?” Natalie choked. “How can you possibly question it?”
Pompous, judgmental… ugh!
Even now in death when he could walk through walls, when he was invisible to every living person except for Natalie, the narcissist still couldn’t admit he was wrong.
