Pulling out the book, I dropped the bag near where King was loosening Richmond’s collar and belt. He jerked his head up, his lips twitching when he saw the book.
“That’s a spell book,” he said. “You’re a Warlock.”
“Yeah.” It was true enough. I wastrainedas a warlock, even if I wasn’t one.
His eyes narrowed, and he looked me over again. He didn’t think I was here for a sex-cation like I’d told Richmond, but hehad obviously thought I was here for a vacation. Now he was beginning to wonder who I was and what I was doing here.
“What happened to Richmond?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I raised a shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe he had one too many before work?”
King’s lips went thin, and he gave me a narrow look. “You know, now I have to take you in so you can give a statement. I have to search you, your things, the house?—”
Rolling my eyes, I held up a hand. “Okay, how about this? I’ll tell you what I’m doing here, and you just keep it out of your reports?”
Already shaking his head, King said, “I can’t promise that because my statement needs to be as complete and accurate?—”
“Okay, okay,” I said, snorting. “I bet you were a real teacher’s pet. All glowing comments on the report card about how much of a gift you were in class.”
With a dry look, King took out his notebook from an inner pocket and said, “Subject evades answering basic questions,” as he wrote.
“Fine,” I said. “I’m here because a client was having an issue with the house.”
“The client being the owner?” King asked. “Wait. Start with your actual name.”
“So suspicious. Parker Ferro is my actual name,” I said, watching as he wrote. “F-e-r-r-o. Private Investigator.”
“I assume you have a license to go with the job?” King said.
“Maybe,” I said. “You want to check all my pockets to see if you can find it?”
Thing was, I did have the license, but sometimes I like to poke the bear. You know, just to see what happens.
Raising an eyebrow, King said, “You want me to search you? Anything I found would have to go into evidence.”
So, the bear would take all my supplies, which would leave me defenseless while fighting this ghost. Grumbling, I pulled out my wallet and handed over my pocket license, watching as he noted down the details. As he wrote, I swept through the pages of the spell book, looking for the ones that Laurel had marked with sticky notes.
The one titled “Ghosts” was mostly about the lore. Underneath, it described the common types of ghost. It was a long list, with everything from a Chinese Hungry Ghost to a Ghost Orb. I rolled my eyes. Of course Laurel would give me the spell book equivalent of an encyclopedia.
Handing me back my ID, King glanced back at Richmond who was still muttering to himself. Without looking back at me, he said, “I should go outside and use the car radio. The weather must be affecting the signal.”
When he reached for the door, the knob wouldn’t turn. He checked for a lock, but the deadbolt was open. Throwing me a dark look, he moved to a window in the family room and tried opening it, but it stayed stubbornly down.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Maybe the rain made the door and the windows swell up?” I suggested.
“You want to try again, Ferro?” He clipped his words.
“Maybe the storm is making it high pressure outside and low pressure inside?” I said. “Pushing the door shut?”
“That’s—Do you know how much pressure—” He stopped. I raised an eyebrow. “You need to tell me what’s going on. We’re all trapped here. Did you do this?”
His hand went to his weapon, and I looked up at the smooth, white ceiling (can lights, I noticed, unobtrusive and a good use of space).
“My client owns the house,” I said. “And it’s haunted.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
