“I see.” The rude spirit made sense. “And if I continue along this path, I’ll stay here forever?”
“I guess so. I don’t know if there’s someplace worse you could go or not. Looking around, I can see you have some pretty groovy digs. You might not want to downgrade.”
“Hmmm…I’ll have to think about whatever you just said.”
“I said—”
“Never mind, I understood you well enough.”
“So you’ll give the ladies a statement of retraction?”
“Certainly not. I said what I said because I saw what I saw and heard what I heard.”
“You’re a friggin’ piece of work, you know that?”
“I know nothing of the kind. And I imagine you know nothing about the afterlife. Unless you’ve been there and back, everything you say is just theory.”
Chad blew out a deep breath of exasperation. “I can’t think of a better explanation, can you?”
“I’ll admit I’ve been puzzled about why I’m still here, but I don’t have the answer, and I’m sorry to say this, but neither do you.”
***
Konrad sat on his sofa with Roz and played with her cute new haircut. “You couldn’t get Reginald to admit he lied?”
“I’m afraid not,” Roz said. Her shoulders sagged. “Chad is staying for a while, hoping to wear him down.”
“That’s surprisingly decent of him.” He stretched. “I have a little good news. I was able to rebook our photography class date. We can start this week.”
“Oh, by the way, I thought of another career that might be fun. It’s not something we can try on a date, though.”
“Really? What is it?”
“Hairstylist. I spoke to the instructor at the school where I got my hair cut, and she said training was less than a year and the job prospects in urban areas look good.”
“It might be fun for you, but I can’t see these big meaty hands of mine doing something that requires that much dexterity.”
“Hmm…I guess you have a point. But maybe I could go for hairdressing, you could go for management, and then we could buy a trendy salon.”
“With what?”
Roz grimaced. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about the hefty down payment on a mortgage like that.”
“So are you still interested in the photography classes?”
“Maybe. Just don’t take any pictures of me, okay?”
He looked her up and down. “Are you back to the body issue again?”
“Well, yeah. I hate having my picture taken. I either blink or have some goofy look on my face. And then it’s there for all eternity.”
“Not with digital cameras. These days if you don’t like a picture, you can delete it.”
“I guess.”
“Maybe it will help distract us until either the case comes to trial or Chad persuades Reginald to fess up to whatever he did.”
“Yeah, about that. I’m afraid the circumstantial evidence might be hard to disprove.”
