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and he was kissing me as though he might never get to hold me again. He broke the
kiss long enough to murmur against my mouth. Please, whatever you do, don t leave
me. Don t you ever leave me. I think I d die if I lost you.
There was no hesitation. I kissed him back with passion then broke the kiss long
enough to whisper back, I won t, love. Ever. I love you, Ethan Harwood. I didn t mean
to fall in love with you, but I did.
I no sooner spoke the words than there was a loud crash behind us. I spun in
Ethan s arms to see the dresser in the corner lying face down on the floor. Before I even
registered what had happened, a book was sailing our direction, thrown with the force
of hate.
We had another poltergeist.
Ethan pulled me behind him so fast I nearly fell. Mikey was cowering at the foot of
the bed, the dresser having just missed him. I was shaking in fright, wanting to cry yet
becoming angrier by the minute.
Michael suddenly appeared in the room with us, glowing bright blue, which I took
to mean he could see whatever was causing all this havoc.
Man, you idiot, are you trying to kill these people? As though in answer to his question,
another book sailed in our direction. Will you stop!
If ghosts can bounce up and down, I think that s what Michael was doing. He
sounded furious. His presence couldn t stay still.
Michael, for God s sake, what s doing this? Ethan s angry voice sounded strained
and harsh, partly due to the seriousness of what was happening and, I think, partly
because we had been interrupted.
I crept out from behind Ethan s broad back, watching in case our poltergeist
decided to throw something else. Mikey moved closer and stuck to my leg as if he
couldn t get close enough. Do you know who this is yet?
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Deja You
No, I haven t been able to find out. But let me tell you, when I do& His voice trailed off,
letting me know he was one unhappy ghost and if he had any say in the matter, he was
going to fix this poltergeist good.
You can t touch me. The deep voice rooted all of us to the spot and I watched Mikey
cower even closer to the floor.
Who are you? Why are you trying to hurt us? I couldn t see anything, but there
was obviously another ghost with us. Now he d opened his mouth, he could no longer
be called a poltergeist. I had done a little reading since Michael s appearance and found
out poltergeists never talk. They just throw things, drag furniture around, rattle chains
and generally disturb the peace and make noise to express their displeasure.
You don t need to know who I am. Just stay out of my way. Leave the building alone and
don t mess with anything more in there. You re going to ruin everything.
With no idea what everything was, I had no intention of backing down on the
repairs to our building and told him so. The reaction was predictable. This time a hand
mirror sailed my way. Ethan s fast reflexes caught it before it had a chance to hit the
floor and break.
Now I was mad. I moved closer to the source of all this anger and shook my finger
at him while I bawled him out.
You quit. You re going to hurt somebody if you keep throwing things. Especially
furniture. You have no right to destroy other people s property. Ethan s hand was on
my arm and he pulled me back toward him.
She s right, you know. You shouldn t be doing any of this. What are you trying to
stop? And why? I knew by Ethan s voice he d calmed down a bit, but it still sounded
tight and strained to me.
You don t need to know who I am or what I m doing. Just stop!
No. I won t stop. I stepped closer yet. I m taking back the building for the people
who live in it. You can t stop me. When we re done it will be safe to live there. It will be
a nice place to call home. My anger built as I talked.
Whew! Are you hot, Charli! Michael was glowing redder than normal, which I took as
a sign he was happy with my stand. He obviously didn t think I d get hurt doing this.
If you don t stop, you ll destroy everything.
This was a totally different tone of voice than I d heard before. It was still the same
ghost but he had obviously decided fighting wasn t getting him anywhere, so now he
was about to try something else. Well, I was ready for him and I wasn t backing down.
You re going to have to explain. I don t know what you re talking about. I spoke
to this ghost as though it was a child.
Well, if I must. But I don t know how to tell you this.
Just start at the beginning and tell me what you did.
I m the one who killed Gus Farmer.
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Kelsy George
Ethan and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Neither of us knew what it was
talking about.
Who is Gus Farmer? I asked the question since Ethan seemed content to let me do
the talking. Maybe he thought the ghost would talk to me but not to him.
He used to be my roommate. Years ago. When the building was first built.
What year are you talking about?
Nineteen-nineteen. The year after the war ended.
I looked at Ethan and wondered where to lead with my questions. It was Michael
who came to my rescue.
Charli, ask him what he did to this Gus and why you re going to ruin it if you go ahead with
the building plans.
At the sound of Michael s voice, the ghost suddenly let us know where he was. His
presence started to glow the same way Michael s did. But his colors were muddy, not
brilliant like Michael s.
Okay, so you killed Gus Farmer. How? Why? And what did you do with his
body? I m assuming something about his body started all this.
That s the problem. When you start the work on the third floor, you ll find him. Or what s
left of him. I put his body under the floor in 304.
Great. Just great! Now we had a diary and a body under the floor in the same
apartment. You know, this makes no sense at all. If there were a body under the floor,
somebody would have smelled it after the murder. Bodies don t just shrivel up. They
rot! They smell!
The ghost interrupted before I could ask another question. Not if you wrap them in
oilcloth with lots of lye around them. Keeps the smell down and speeds up the decomposition.
Wasn t this just wonderful? Now we had a ghost with some knowledge of forensic
science.
Ethan interrupted at this point and cut off the conversation quite effectively.
Look here, for tonight we can t do anything. The building renovations will go
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