“I’m in the morgue. Easy clients. They don’t ask for much.”
“Ewwww.” She immediately regretted her reaction. A morbid sense of humor would probably help in a job like that—and somebody had to do it. She figured he was a real party killer, though.
Merry had carefully arranged it so her job minimized the likelihood of dealing with death. But her neighbor seemed unfazed. In fact, he grinned, as if pleased that his job came with shock value.
She needed to get to the store, so she cleared her throat andsaid, “Well, I’ve got to go… Oh, by the way, do you know where Sly lives? I want to bake some kind of thank-you desserts for Konrad and him.”
Nathan tipped his head, as if sizing her up. Then he shrugged. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but you seem like a nice girl. Sly doesn’t exactly ‘live’ anywhere. He keeps his stuff in the basement, but don’t tell anyone.”
“Oh—I see. He’s homeless, then?”
“I didn’t say that. He has a roof over his head, he just doesn’tliveanywhere.”
The way he emphasized the word, live, made her realize she had missed some sort of big hint. She lowered her voice and hoped that taking a conspiratorial tone might get him to open up. “What do you mean? I won’t tell, I promise.”
“I mean, he’s not alive. He’s undead and only comes out at night. Hates garlic… Ring a bell?”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yeah. We have a vampire in the basement.”
Merry thought she heard a short gasp from the top of the stairs and then a soft click.
“Don’t worry. You can use the laundry room down there without disturbing him. You might want to wash your clothes during the daylight hours—when he’s dead to the world.” Nathan laughed at his own joke, but Merry found nothing funny about it.
Hair prickled on the back of her neck and her mouth dried up.Nathan must be crazy. And lucky me, I live right across the hall!
She mutely followed him out the door and down the steps. Nathan mounted his bicycle, said good-bye, and rode away. A few feet down the sidewalk he looked back and called over his shoulder, “Don’t bother baking a cake for Sly. He won’t eat it—liquid diet and all. You can give it tome, though.”
Chapter 2
Dottie paced across her worn carpet in front of Jason.Damn it. Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?
“He was probably joking, Aunt Dottie. Either that or he knew you were listening and thought he’d have some fun with you. I’ve noticed he has an odd sense of humor.”
She balled her fists and jammed them on her bony hips. “I know what I heard, Jason. Now if you don’t want to investigate it, I’ll send Ralph, but someone has to look in the basement. What if there’s a coffin down there?”
Ralph chuckled from the other room, then joined them. “I’ve been down there to clean the lint traps in the dryers, and while I’m there I check the water heater and oil tanks. I think I’d have noticed a coffin, dear.”
“Well, I’m not going down there until you check again, so I hope you enjoy doing your own laundry.”Hey, maybe I can get some help around the apartment out of this scare, if nothing else.
He smirked. “So, it’s okay formeto get bitten by the creepy vampire…”
Uh-oh. Time to backpedal.She wouldn’t be much use as a maintenance man if anything happened to Ralph.
Dottie raked her fingernails over her scalp, through her short, graying permed hair. “You’re right. I should call the police and make them check it out.”
“Pleasedon’t! I can’t have them here all the time. It’ll be in the newspapers and call attention to where I live,” Jason said.
“Oh, you’re being silly. No one will write a story about where you live. I’m sure they must know that celebrities want their privacy.”Honestly! He’s so full of himself, sometimes.
Ralph scowled. “And you think they’ll respect that? Dottie,will you listen to your nephew? He owns the building, and if he doesn’t want the cops to arrive for every practical joke or minor incident, don’t call the damn cops! He was nice enough to give me a job and us a place to live. If it weren’t for him, I’d have been unemployed for a lot longer than eleven months.”
Jason sighed. “I’ll check it out for you.”
“No. I don’t want anything to happen to you, either. Didn’t you say you were having dinner with the nurse downstairs?”
He her cast a sidelong glance. “Yeah… Why? You don’t want me to sendherdown there, do you?”
