I almost laughed. What a ridiculous thought. That guy was the biggest player around. I was sure of it. The slick hair was a dead giveaway.
The lock turned. My heart jumped into my throat. I waited for the door to swing wide. When it did, I found myself staring at a ghost wearing a silk smoking jacket and holding a pipe. He leered when he saw me.
“Well, well, well, I didn’t realize my guest would be so attractive. I could do without the hair color though. But we can change that. I’m sure there’s some coloring of Xavier’s that will work wonders on it.”
Susan popped up beside him. “Blissful, meet Henry Blount. Henry, Blissful.”
“Charming. What a delight,” Henry purred.
My stomach roiled like I was about to hurl chunks the size of footballs. Even in death this guy gave me the creeps.
“Henry said we can look around,” Susan said, chomping her ghost gum. Her gaze swept Henry from head to foot and then to me. “But be careful. Even though he’s a spirit, he can still make the bed shake, if you know what I mean.”
Gross. I did.
“Did Xavier live alone?”
“Yes, though I suppose now I’ll be getting a new resident.” He pouted out his bottom lip. What grown man did that? “And I was just getting used to him.”
“So no one else is here?”
“No one.”
I swept past Susan into the house. It was dark. I could’ve waited for my eyes to adjust to the dimness, but seeing as I didn’t have a flashlight, I’d have to see with other means.
“Can one of y’all glow a little for me?”
“Only if you let me smell your shoes,” Henry said.
“Ew. And why did I need the ghost protection thingy again?” I said to Susan.
“Oh, Henry wouldn’t have let you in without it. I told him.”
He waved a bony hand dismissively. “I can see it from a mile away. You’re welcome here.”
Susan did me the honor of glowing for me to see. I entered what looked to be a chamber of torture. In one corner sat an open iron maiden, points particularly sharp and glistening. A rack was set to one side, just waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Finally a chair similar to those used in electrocution was pushed to the wall.
“Who was Xavier?” I said. “How can one person have all this weird stuff? And who would want to date him? I’d run screaming from this place.”
“He loved wooing women,” Henry informed us. “That’s why we got along so good.”
“His computer. Do you know where he kept it?”
He ran his fingers carefully over his slicked hair. “I don’t pay much attention to such things, but it would be either in his bedroom or his gadget room. You’ll know it by the sticker on the top—skull and crossbones.”
Sounded like a laptop. “Isn’t this the gadget room?”
Henry shook his head. “Not quite.”
“Lead on.”
I crept up the stairs to a room decorated in red and black. “Is this seriously his bedroom? It’s more like a pimp’s room.”
Susan laughed.
There was silk everywhere along with a round rotating bed, a mirrored ceiling and black satin sheets.
“Talk about kinky,” Susan said. “If he’d been my ex-boyfriend, I would’ve given him an STD for sure.”
