Shades of Midnight Read Free Page B

while he stumbled over his explanation. Stubborn woman.
    By the time Eve returned to the parlor, Lucien had the equipment set up and ready to go. Eve came in carrying a silver tray bearing two cups of steaming tea and a plate piled high with meat and bread. She always tried to feed him too much, for some reason.
    She studied his equipment and sighed in what might be despair. "After Viola and Alistair make their final appearance for the night, you can go to the boarding house and secure a room."
    "At this hour?" Lucien asked.
    "You can hardly stay here," Eve said primly. "It wouldn't be proper."
    Lucien grumbled. Of course she was right. It was different when there was a large group investigating a haunting, as was usually the case. This time there was just the two of them, and for him to remain here with Eve would certainly be considered improper. But he cared little for what was proper, and so did Eve, as he remembered.
    "Where is this boarding house?"
    Eve smiled. "Just a block down from the train station."
    "I don't suppose you have a horse I could borrow."
    "No," she said calmly. "I always prefer to walk to town. The exercise is good for me, and this time of year the cold air can be invigorating."
    He had quite a walk ahead of him, and Eve knew it. She also knew that the October air was quickly turning from invigorating to icy. "Fine," he said as he took the plate containing his late supper, and Eve placed his cup of tea on a nearby table. She took her own teacup and saucer to a table on the opposite side of the room. All night, she had walked away from him.
    Upstairs, the bed Viola and Alistair occupied creaked and scraped across the floor. The voices drifting down were softer than they had been before, but still crystal clear and undeniably amorous. Lucien's collar became quite tight. Maybe if he continued to talk, the sounds emanating from above stairs would be less distracting.
    "Why me?" he asked as he swallowed a bite of ham and bread. "I'm not the only specialist in this field, you know."
    Eve huffed. "You were not my first choice."
    "I thought not."
    "Hugh Felder is in London, and he won't be back until well after Halloween. I was afraid to wait that long. The anniversary of the incident might be important."
    "Hugh is quite good," Lucien allowed. "I can see why you might try to contact him first." There was no insult in being chosen after anyone as talented and dedicated as Hugh Felder.
    "You weren't my second choice, either," Eve said without emotion. "Unfortunately, Lionel Brandon fell down the stairs at his last job and broke his leg. He'll be housebound for several more weeks."
    "Really?" Lucien tried not to smile. He had never liked Lionel. The man grinned entirely too much, and Lucien had found Brandon to be much too friendly with Eve, not long before the aborted wedding. She had brushed the inappropriate behavior off as the young man's normal gregarious manner. Lucien had not been able to be so cavalier. "Was he pushed by a spirit not yet ready to depart?"
    "Tripped over a board not properly nailed down."
    So, he had not been her first choice or her second. They worked in a small community. There weren't that many ghost chasers for her to choose from. Lucien took a long sip of tea, and in the ensuing silence, Viola wailed. "What about O'Hara?" he asked as he set the tea aside, anxious to continue the conversation. Anything to keep his mind off what was going on above his head.
    Eve pursed her lips. Her nose twitched as she said, "O'Hara is a moron."
    Lucien lifted his eyebrows, confused. He'd always considered O'Hara quite competent, and at one time Eve had thought him brilliant. And now she preferred facing him and their unfortunate history to contacting O'Hara. "A moron?"
    "Yes," Eve snapped. "That left you."
    "A last resort." Lucien stared at Eve for a few uncomfortable minutes. Looking at her had never been a chore, and it wasn't now. "But O'Hara..."
    "I'd really rather not talk about O'Hara, if you