Part 1 (2/2)
He didn't reply. Sadie bit her lower lip. He was the one who'd insisted on finding his own place but he'd delayed that move only because of her money situation. She knew Zack would've moved out immediately if she hadn't needed the help financially.
”Right,” she replied, all business now. ”Well, I should get back to work. Make hay while the sun s.h.i.+nes or, in this case, wash blood while there's blood to mop.”
They ended the call with uncomfortable chuckles, and Sadie dropped her cell phone onto a stack of towels next to the tub. She sunk down until her face was submerged beneath the water and then screamed until all the air exploded from her lungs in a blast of bubbles.
After lathering and rinsing away the smell of body decomp from her hair and skin, Sadie reluctantly removed her pruning body from the Jacuzzi jets. She sat with a plush hotel housecoat wrapped around her damp body as she devoured the gourmet meal. It was delicious, but she had to admit that it still fell short of a burger and shake from d.i.c.k's Drive-In.
Sadie redressed in clean, casual clothes and washed the meal down with excellent coffee poured from a fancy carafe. Looking out the hotel window, she admired the startling beauty of Puget Sound. All in all, this job was one sweet ride. If you didn't mind ghosts and gore. Her gaze slid sideways to the connecting door and the room beyond. There was still work to be done.
Sadie didn't need the respirator for this next phase of cleaning and she was more than a little grateful. She still suited up in disposable Tyvek coveralls, gloves, and booties before pa.s.sing through the connecting door, but the respirator stayed behind. She brought with her an additional waste bin. She'd already removed large sections of carpet and underlay and placed them into rubber bins for proper disposal later.
It was in the wee hours in the morning when the redhead ghost reappeared, perching herself so that she hovered just a few inches above the edge of the bed. She watched Sadie for some time before saying anything.
”My name is May Lathrop,” she said slowly, her bottom lip quivering with emotion.
Sadie glanced over and offered her a sympathetic smile. ”I know. Your name was in the paper.”
”It was?” She blinked rapidly as if she might cry and then swallowed her tears and began pacing the floor anxiously. ”How did this happen? Who did this to me?”
”Sorry, I don't know, but I'm sure the police will try their best to find out,” Sadie replied, then added, ”I'm guessing you took a job here, right? At the Eminence? I imagine whoever hired you for an hour or a night . . . well, I guess he was messed up in the head.” Sadie tapped the side of her own head.
”I have a corner off Union Street. This is a much fancier place than I'm usually at,” May said. Her fingers reached to stroke the fabric of a fine high-back chair in the corner, but her hand simply dropped through the material without contact and May choked back a sob.
”Don't suppose you remember what you were doing here?” Sadie shook her head. ”I don't mean what, I mean who. Do you remember who hired you or even where you were before coming here?”
”I remember getting a message from someone to meet for a private party. . . .” May shook her head. ”I was getting out.” May walked closer and sat back down on the hotel bed, but her shape hovered over it instead of sinking into the cus.h.i.+ony duvet. ”I wanted to be an actress, you know. I even had a part a few years ago. I was a dancing toilet brush in a commercial for a toilet-bowl cleaner.” She giggled at the memory and then hung her head. ”I know that sounds lame.”
”No it doesn't,” Sadie said, even though it really did. ”Look, we all make mistakes and bad choices.”
”Yeah, but you're still alive so you at least get a chance to fix your mistakes,” May protested.
There really was no arguing with that.
”So how come I'm still here, if I'm dead?” she asked. ”Is it because I wasn't good enough for heaven?”
”I don't know exactly how these things work.” Wearily Sadie plopped herself down onto the chair next to the bed and folded her gloved hands on her lap. ”But usually if someone doesn't go right over to the hereafter once they're gone, it seems to mean that they have something they need to deal with in the here and now. Some kind of message, or final request they want to have delivered. That's where I come in. I can try to help you with that. You got family?”
”Somewhere. I haven't kept in touch. Last I heard they'd moved somewhere in Texas.”
May's eyes filled with tears and she ran her hot-pink fingernails through her hair. For the first time Sadie noticed the index finger on May's right hand was missing. That was a little something that hadn't made the papers. Obviously Detective Petrovich was keeping that tidbit to himself as part of his investigation.
”I was saving up to get out of this business. Had nearly a thousand put away already. Plus some jewelry a couple regulars gave me worth maybe a thousand more. What happens to that money?”
”Without a will . . .” Sadie shrugged. ”I'm not sure.”
”I worked hard for that money. I want to see something good come of it. There's a charity that helps women called WATS,” May said. ”It stands for Women Against the Streets. They were really good to me. When I needed medical help once, when a john got rough, they took care of me. Just a bunch of Good Samaritan volunteers, but they really cared, you know? They also helped me into my low-income apartment and got me into some free acting cla.s.ses.” She got to her feet and stood with new determination. ”I want WATS to have my money and jewelry. Maybe they can use it to help other girls.”
”That's really nice of you.”
”So you'll take care of that for me? Make sure WATS gets my money? It's in a shoe box on the top shelf of my bedroom closet.”
”It's not that easy,” Sadie said. ”Your apartment will be taped off by police. I can't just barge in there and take something.”
”But I'm giving you permission!”
”Somehow I don't think the cops will believe me when I tell them your ghost said it was okay for me to take your cash.”
She giggled softly. ”Okay, well, it's not like you even have to tell them.”
”Breaking in isn't a specialty of mine either,” I said.
”You don't have to break in. My apartment is in the bas.e.m.e.nt of a house. There's a large rock with painted yellow daisies in the flower bed next to the door and I keep a spare key under there. Twice I had my purse stolen on the streets. After that, the second time, I learned not to keep cash or keys on me.” She rattled off the address of her place and Sadie got a pen and paper from the desk in the corner of the room and took down the information.
”Okay, I can't promise anything,” Sadie said. ”But I'll do my best to make sure this happens for you.”
Then Sadie got to her feet and approached May.
”It's time for you to move on.” And time for me to get back to work. ”I want you to close your eyes and think about the most beautiful thing in the world. Think back to a time of peace and tranquility in your life and imagine a loving soul ready to embrace you. Let go of this place and all the ugliness and pain in this world,” Sadie told her gently.
May did as she was told and exhaled a long, slow sigh before her body began to glow brightly. A s.h.i.+mmer appeared around the edges of her shape and then, after a few more moments, she'd vanished entirely.
Sadie smiled and her heart beat excitedly in her chest. This part never got old. The s.h.i.+mmer meant that May had moved on and wouldn't return. If they simply disappeared without a s.h.i.+mmer, it meant they were still here, just not visible. As much as Sadie could do without the drama of being a ghost whisperer, she had to confess she felt a small thrill at helping make someone's final wishes come to fruition. She figured she was somewhat like the Easter bunny or tooth fairy except she delivered messages from the great beyond instead of chocolate or cash.
At the end of the cleanup she notified the front desk so that they could discretely go to the safe room with linen carts and use them to haul all her stuff down through the freight elevators. They would deliver the bins and equipment to the back alley delivery entrance where Sadie's Scene-2-Clean company van was parked.
Sadie snagged all the little shampoos and soaps from the bathroom and then re-dressed into her blouse and skirt before she made her way downstairs to chat with the manager of the Eminence.
She knocked on Herbert Sylvane's office door and he called her to come in. The office wasn't as plush as the hotel itself. A large black desk monopolized the room, while bookshelves held a few hard covers but mostly knickknacks. The desk was tidy with a few papers stacked in an inbox at one end and a small statue of the Virgin Mary at the other. Herbert Sylvane walked and talked stiffly like he had a stick where the sun don't s.h.i.+ne. His skin was pale and his hair was dark. Aside from the fact that he dressed like he'd just stepped out of a GQ cover, he had a down-home warm smile that immediately put Sadie at ease.
Ever the gentleman, he got up from behind his desk and remained standing until she took a seat across from him.
”Cleaned up the mess already?” he asked her.
”Yes, basically it's done. I know you wanted everything finished by today but, if it's okay with you, I'm going to let the ozone generator run for a couple more days, just to be absolutely certain there's no smell.”
”Absolutely.” He steepled his manicured hands beneath his chin and smiled. ”That's a great idea and I appreciate your thoroughness. Nothing says five-star elegance like the smell of rotting flesh.”
He winked at Sadie and it triggered a memory.
”Have we met before?”
He frowned and shook his head. ”Maybe . . . have you stayed here in the past? Thankfully, I haven't had reason to call a trauma cleaner before.” He continued. ”So everything went as expected? No surprises that caused you any delay?”
Sadie thought briefly of May Lathrop, then shook her head. ”I've been doing this for a few years, so these kinds of messes no longer surprise me,” she said.
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