A quick nod, a flicker of relief, no words. So ghosts could talk to other ghosts? Good on Granny!
“I can send you on to join your family, if you like,” she murmured, as if talking to herself.
“Look? First?” The voice was little more than a mental whisper but conveyed the message.
Evie translated that as unwilling to leave until they looked at something first. Typical. “Lead the way.” Holding her cell phone as if that had been the goal of her search, she stood up again.
Jax watched warily, rightfully so. Even Evie knew talking to thin air was peculiar. The aura drifted toward the elevator just as the doors opened and several people stepped out. The aura passed through them, leaving them shivering . Evie tugged Jax into the now-empty car.
Since they’d already ascertained there were no cameras in here and no others joined them, Evie felt free to speak once the doors closed. “Did you know Marlene Gump? The lady on the fourth floor?” She rubbed her bare arms to warm the goose bumps.
The aura oscillated a little before finding speech. “Yes. Helped me.”
Evie tried to contain her interest. Mostly, she offered old spirits an energy gateway to whatever was on the next plane. She’d been doing it since she was a kid but understood little. But then, she’d been confined to Afterthought’s ghosts.
Here in the city, she had more opportunity for study.
She’s learned better than to ask for a name. Names seemed to disappear first. Instead, she asked, “What floor?”
Again, the hesitation. She was fairly certain she heard “Five.” She pressed the button and squeezed Jax’s arm in appreciation of his silence.
On the fifth floor, Evie followed the faded aura down the hall to an office in a corner. The name plaque readSavanna Johnson, RN. The ghost passed through the door. Evie couldn’t do that.
No one answered her knock. “What’s the protocol on entering an empty office?”
“If it’s unlocked, go for it. We can come up with an excuse later. Locked, forget about it.” His aura reflected more curiosity than fear. He even turned the knob for her.
The door opened. With delight, Evie entered a cluttered office spilling over with files, what appeared to be medical textbooks, and an assortment of junk vases and knick-knacks. A cabinet of first aid supplies looked like a yard sale jumble.
She winced. She wouldn’t want even her finger bandaged by this person. She looked for the aura and found it growing brighter in the dusky gloom. Dust-caked blinds looked as if they hadn’t been opened in a decade. Perhaps no one actually worked here.
“Mine,” the spirit whispered, hovering near the desk.
Had Savanna Johnson died and this was her ghost? Had the home not had a nurse since then?
Puzzled and curious, Evie appropriated a Kleenex and used it to open the top drawer. The spirit seemed to shake its head negatively. Evie touched the handles of the rest of the drawers until she reached the bottom and received a positive response.
Macho Man stood watch at the door while Evie rummaged through candy bars, potato chips, and the detritus that normally gathered at the bottom of a purse, like old lipsticks and Kleenex—until she finally reached an object that screamed This Does Not Belong.
She removed the brown velvet jewelry case and opened it—a diamond solitaire. “Yours?” she asked the now happily glowing aura. Surely if the nurse had died, her heirs would have cleaned out her desk?
Remembering Reuben’s description of all the people poking around Granny’s apartment—maybe the resident nurse hadstolena dead patient’s ring? Especially if the relatives weren’t right there to stand guard, like Stacey. The place might have a culture of appropriation.
“Granddaughter’s. Return?” the spirit whispered, again tentatively.
Without knowing a name... “What was your apartment number?”
The aura grayed to hesitating gloom, then spun around to locate an emergency exit map on the wall. “Me.”
A translucent finger pointed at a room midway down the fifth level hall, on the right side that overlooked the front lawn. “Room 552?”
The spirit didn’t have an answer for that. It just waited expectantly.
Instinct had her asking, “Was Marlene looking for this?” Evie held up the ring box.
The aura nodded definitively. “Got caught.”
“She got caught looking in here?” Before she died, presumably. That was worrisome.