Part 17 (1/2)
”I can certainly understand that.”
”I've got a couple of things to do here, then I'm on my way.” Zach hung up the phone and a half hour later, she heard his knock at the door. A little frisson of awareness went through her as she turned the k.n.o.b to let him in and he brushed past her into the living room. No matter how many times she saw him, she couldn't quite get over how handsome he was, or the way his presence seemed to fill a room.
”Hi,” she said.
”Hi.” He smiled, his dark gaze lingering a moment on her face. She tried to read his thoughts, but his expression was carefully guarded.
He held up a manila folder stuffed with papers. ”I pulled this off the Internet. I figured we could go over it, but on my way over here, I remembered you saying you had a computer in the apartment.”
She nodded. ”I use the second bedroom for an office.”
He followed her in, heading for the desk in the corner where her computer was set up, checking out her exercise equipment along the way. ”No wonder you look so good naked.”
Her gaze flew to his face and she saw that he was grinning.
”Sorry, I couldn't resist. What I meant was, it's obvious you take care of yourself. I think that's really important. I do so much legal work sitting at my desk, I try to get as much exercise as I can. We've got a gym in my office building in Westwood. I try to get in there at least three times a week.”
It shows, she thought, remembering his lean, hard-muscled body when they had been in bed. Her cheeks burned at the memory and Elizabeth glanced away, hoping Zach wouldn't see.
”Why don't you sit at the desk,” he said, ”since you're familiar with the machine.” He waited while Elizabeth sat down in the chair, then took a seat in the chair next to hers.
Elizabeth flipped on the computer, moved the mouse to the icon for Internet Explorer, brought up Google.com and typed the word ghosts in the search box. A few seconds later, she was staring at pages of Web sites that all dealt with spirit phenomenon.
”Just prowl around a little,” Zach said. ”I think you'll find it interesting.”
She started clicking away, a little surprised to discover how many people were seriously involved in the study of hunting ghosts. Apparently, Maria Santiago was just one of millions who believed in spirits. She scrolled down another page, surveying the dozens and dozens of sites, clicking on one that looked interesting now and then. Shadowlands; Ghosts and Hauntings; History and Hauntings; All about Ghosts; Ghosts Online; Photos of Ghosts and Apparitions. The list seemed endless.
She clicked on one of the sites that claimed to have actual photos. White spots and eerie distortionssome even looking like transparent faces, but with the way film could be manipulated today, the evidence wasn't convincing. Still, as Zach had said, millions of people seemed to believe ghosts actually existed.
”Check this out.” Leaning over, his hand covered hers on the mouse, moved it up, returned to the search engine, and typed in ghost research.
Aware of the heat of his touch and the loss she felt when he pulled away, she read the list on the screen in front of her. As he stood behind her, his chest brushed lightly against her shoulder and a tremor of warmth slid into her stomach. Elizabeth ignored it and started to read the sites on the page.
American Ghost Society; Ghost Research Foundation; Ghost-Labs Research Society; Toronto Ghost and Hauntings Research Society; Paranormal Investigative Research and Information Training. She clicked on one of the groups, skimmed some of the information.
She clicked on another and another. ”These people are deadly seriouspardon the pun.”
Zach laughed.
”Look at this. They not only believe in ghosts, they go out and try to prove they really exist.”
”Yeah. And check out the equipment they use.” Zach punched up a site. ”Digital cameras, 35mm cameras, video cameras, audio recorders, electromagnetic field detectors, temperature sensing equipment.”
Her eyes widened at the long paragraphs under each item naming the different brands and models of the various equipment available. ”Unbelievable.”
”After reading some of this stuff,” Zach said, ”believing in ghosts doesn't seem nearly as far-fetched as it did before.”
”I guess not.” But Elizabeth still wasn't convinced. She turned to look at Zach, found his eyes once more on her face. For an instant, she saw the heat, the hunger, then he looked away. She ignored the sudden pounding of her heart and the clutch in her stomach.
”What what do you think we should do?”
Zach cleared his throat and returned to the business at hand. ”Well, according to most of these sites, we need to research the history of the house.”
”Which Maria is trying to help us do.”
”Right. And if a little girl did die there, it would validate Maria's vision and the voice you think you heard.”
”At least we'd have something.”
But when Maria called on Tuesday, she grimly reported that as far as the workers knew, neither a child nor anyone else had ever died in the house.
”Thanks for trying, Maria. You didn't haven't had any more visits?”
”Not since she came before.”
”That's good to hear. I was thinking, maybe if you told your doctor you were having trouble sleeping, he might give you something that would help.”
”Si, I was thinking that, too. At night I worry that she will come and I am too afraid to sleep.”
”You mustn't get discouraged. I'm still working on this and so is Zachary Harcourt.” Though he was back at work in L.A. ”We'll let you know as soon as we find something.”
The moment Maria hung up, Elizabeth dialed Zach's office number. His secretary rang her right through, which made her wonder if Zach had left instructions she be given special treatment. It was ridiculous to hope that he had.
”Sorry to bother you,” she said when she heard his deep voice, ”but I thought you'd want to know. Maria called. She says, as near as she can find out, there hasn't been any sort of death in the house, a child or anyone else.”
Zach sighed. ”I really didn't think there had been. I haven't spent much time on the farm since I left San Pico, but I figured I would have heard if something like that had happened.”
”So we're back where we started.”
”Not exactly. I didn't want to mention thisnot until we heard from Maria. I was hoping the answer might be simpler.”
”What is it?”
”There was another house in the same location before the new one was built. I remember it being there when I was a kid. The place wasn't worth fixing. My dad had it torn down to make room for the new house he wanted to build.”
A s.h.i.+ver raced down her spine. She'd been reading up on ghosts, soaking up information from the sites on the Net. Houses might change. People might change, but for a ghost, time was eternal.
”What you're saying is that a child might have died in the old house. Which means it could have happened years ago.”
”'Fraid so.”
”What's our next move?”
”I've got a couple of ideas. I've been asking around, talking to some people I know. They think I should call someone, an expert on this kind of thing.”
”WhoGhostbusters?”
”Sort of. There's a woman a friend of a friend. Her name is Tansy Trevillian. She's got a good reputation, as far as I can tell. She's supposed to be what they call a sensitive.”