Rush Read Free Page B

Halloween. No-one had even put out a jack o’lantern.
Guess we weren’t getting any trick-or-treaters.
    I opened my apartment door. Frederick
was standing in the middle of my living room. I jumped and banged my elbow on
the doorjamb.
    “Jesus, Fred. You could give a guy some
warning.”
    “My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle
you.”
    I took off my jacket and hung it on the
nail some former tenant had left in the plaster next to the door. “Is
everything all right?”
    “I just wanted to check in with you.”
    He wore the same dark-brown sack suit
and derby hat as usual. The handlebar moustache that graced his upper lip
always made me think of this old-fashioned ice-cream parlor my parents had
taken me to once, when my mom was still alive. He looked like one of the line
drawings on their menu, come to life. Or afterlife, as it were.
    “The annual Halloween visit?” I said.
    He smiled wryly. “How are you doing,
Max? It’s been a while.”
    “I’m fine. Settling in.”
    “Do you like Avery’s Crossing?”
    “Sure. It’s okay.” I’d liked it a lot
better before I’d run into Trent.
    Fred pulled out my desk chair—my only
chair—and took a seat. I never understood why he did that. It’s not like he had
a real, physical body that needed rest. He was a ghost, for crying out loud.
    I shrugged and dropped to the bare wood
floor, crossing my legs tailor-style. “What’s going on?”
    Fred steepled his hands. “Perhaps you
might tell me.”
    “Don’t play word games with me tonight.
I’m too tired and too high to follow.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Dude,
I just happened to run into my stepbrother and his girlfriend. This at a party
thrown by a guy I never met until today, who happens to be a buddy of Trent’s.
You know anything about that?”
    He regarded me thoughtfully. “Not
really, no. Just that you came here to be near him.”
    “Wrong.”
    “You could have gone to school anywhere.
But you chose this place.” His dark eyes crinkled at the corners when he
smiled, just like he was a live person. “Did you really think it was
coincidence?”
    “No. But I didn’t come here to see him.
I came because it’s a good school and because Brad and Marie are here.”
    Fred laughed. “Does it make you feel
better to tell yourself that?”
    “Yes.”
    “You’re a smart fellow, Max. I don’t
think you’re fooling yourself as well as you think you are.”
    Whatever the hell that meant.
    “You like your stepbrother’s girlfriend.”
    I sat down cross-legged on the bare
wooden floor. “She’s hot, but I wouldn’t say I like her. I don’t even know her.
I like Selene.”
    “But you find Caroline attractive.”
    “Yes. I do. What’s your point?”
    He cocked his head. “I’m not sure.”
    Right. Fred never did anything without a
reason. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s his girl, not mine.”
    “You’re an honorable man.”
    I snorted. “No, I’m not.”
    “I think you don’t give yourself enough
credit.” Fred smiled. “I know you quite well, after all.”
    He could think what he liked. He didn’t
know my plans regarding Caroline, although he’d figure it out soon enough.
    “Caroline isn’t the kind of woman I
usually go for,” I said. “She’s too much like Trent.”
    “I thought you said you didn’t know her.”
    “I don’t. But if she’s dating him, she
must be the type I can’t stand.”
    “I see.”
    “It’s weird, though, about the party.
What are the odds I’d run into a friend of Trent’s and get invited to his
party? You have anything to do with that?”
    “Nothing at all. Pure coincidence.”
    “Uh huh.”
    “Truly.” He looked sincere. Could I
believe him? “I wouldn’t manipulate you like that.”
    “I don’t believe in coincidence.
Something is going on.”
    Fred nodded. “Spirits are stirring,
gathering around you.”
    That went right along with all the
murmuring I’d heard on the way home. My blood was sluggish with alcohol