Black Rose

want to ask, why haven’t you done this before? You’ve lived in that house your whole life and never dug down to identify a ghost who lives there with you. And, let me add, even after my experience, it’s hard to believe that sentence just came out of my mouth.”
    “I don’t know exactly. Maybe I was too busy, or too used to her. But I’ve started to wonder if I wasn’t just, well, inoculated. The family never bothered about her. I can give you all sorts of details on my ancestors, strange little family anecdotes, odd bits of history, but when it came to her, nobody seemed to know anything, or care enough to find out. Myself included.”
    “Now you do.”
    “The more I thought about what I didn’t know, the more, yes, I wanted to find out. And after I saw her again, for myself, that night last June, I need to find out.”
    “You saw her when you were a child,” he prompted.
    “Yes. She would come into my room, sing her lullaby. I was never afraid of her. Then, as happens with every child who grows up at Harper House, I stopped seeing her when I was about twelve.”
    “But you saw her again.”
    There was something in his eyes that made her think he was wishing for his notebook or a tape recorder. That intensity, the absolute focus that she found unexpectedly sexy.
    “Yes. She came back when I was pregnant with each of my boys. But that was more of a sensation of her. As if she were close by, that she knew there was going to be another child in the house. There were other times, of course, but I imagine you want to talk about all that in a more formal setting.”
    “Not necessarily formal, but I’d like to tape the conversations we have about her. I’m going to start off with some basic groundwork. Amelia was the name Stella said she saw written on the window glass. I’ll check your family records for anyone named Amelia.”
    “I’ve already done that.” She lifted a shoulder. “After all, if it was going to be that simple, I thought I might as well wrap it up. I found no one with that name—birth, death, marriage, at least, not in any of the records I have.”
    “I’ll do another search, if it’s all the same to you.”
    “Suit yourself. I expect you’ll be thorough.”
    “Once I get started, Rosalind, I’m a bloodhound. You’ll be good and sick of me by the end of this.”

    “And I’m a moody, difficult woman, Mitchell. So I’ll say, same goes.”
    He grinned at her. “I’d forgotten just how beautiful you are.”
    “Really?”
    Now he laughed. Her tone had been so blandly polite. “It shows what a hold Baudelaire had on me. I don’t usually forget something like that. Then again, he didn’t have complimentary things to say about beauty.”
    “No? What did he say?”
    “‘With snow for flesh, with ice for heart, I sit on high, an unguessed sphinx begrudging acts that alter forms; I never laugh, I never weep.’”
    “What a sad man he must have been.”
    “Complicated,” Mitch said, “and inherently selfish. In any case, there’s nothing icy about you.”
    “Obviously, you haven’t talked with some of my suppliers.” Or, she thought, her ex-husband. “I’ll see about having that contract drawn up, and get you the written permissions you need. As far as work space, I’d think the library would work best for you. Whenever you need it, or want something, you can reach me at one of the numbers I’ve given you. I swear, we all have a hundred numbers these days. Failing that, you can speak with Harper, or David, with Stella or Hayley, for that matter.”
    “I’d like to set something up in the next few days.”
    “We’ll be ready. I really should be getting home. I appreciate the drink.”
    “My pleasure. I owe you a lot more for helping me out with my niece.”
    “I think you’re going to be a hero.”
    He laid some bills on the table, then rose to take her hand before she could slide out of the booth on her own. “Is anybody going to be home to help you haul in all that loot?”

    “I’ve hauled around more than that on my own, but yes, David will be there.”
    He released her hand, but walked her out to her car. “I’ll be in touch soon,” he said when he opened the car door for her.
    “I’ll look forward to it. You’ll have to let me know what you come up with for your sister for Christmas.”
    Pain covered his face. “Oh, hell, did you have to spoil it?”
    Laughing, she shut the door, then rolled down the window. “They have some gorgeous