“He said your hand—” Ruby reached for my arm, but I pulled it back.
Blood had already soaked through the plaster. I didn’t want her to see.
“Yeah, I cut it. But enough about me. We have some cameras to set up.”
“Jo…” Lucky started then hesitated.
Ruby glanced at Lucky then shifted a little closer to me. “Cameras?”
“Yeah. Lucky is a film director. He borrowed some motion-sensor stuff.
That way, if Raul comes back, you’ll have advance warning.”
“Oh!” Ruby’s face lit up. “That’s a great idea. It will make it easier tosleep.”
“Huh…” Lucky rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, looking
surprised.
I glared at him. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “Just… nothing.”
It took a second, then realisation made angry heat rise into my face.
“What? You thought I was making it up?”
“Eh…”
“Oh, you absolute jerk.”
“Be fair. It was a weird story to begin with, and then I arrived to find
you’d nearly burnt your house down. I thought you’d gone batty.”
I punched his shoulder, softly enough that I wouldn’t hurt him but hard
enough that he knew I was serious. “Well, the neighbour’s real, the ex is real,
and the ghosts are real, too. Go get your cameras.”
“Oh yeah, and the ghosts.” He rolled his eyes skyward. “I’d nearly
forgotten about that delightful angle.”
“I saw them.”
“Agree to disagree. Weirdo.”
I folded my arms as Lucky stomped down the hallway, but a smile curled
at the corners of my mouth. He was back to insulting me. That was miles
better than the cautious concern.
Ruby stood perfectly still by my side, alternating glances between
Lucky’s retreating back and my face. I shrugged. “Don’t mind him. He’s
crusty around the edges but a marshmallow inside.”
“All right.” She rubbed her hands over her arms. “But maybe we don’t
really need the cameras. I don’t want to inconvenience him.”
“Oh, don’t worry. He drove more than an hour to get here. He’ll be way
more annoyed if we send him away without doing anything. Come on.” I
ushered her ahead of me towards the front door. As I left, I scanned the
kitchen a final time. The burnt cake rested on the stove. The setting sun filled
the room with an orange glow. The bitter tang of smoke still hung in the air,
but it was gradually filtering out through the open windows. And the doll on
the sill, her blue eyes shining, watched me go.
Lucky OPENED the back doors of his van and began carting boxes of
equipment up to Ruby’s porch. I tried to help, but he insisted he didn’t want
anyone else touching his stuff. I think he mostly just didn’t want to get blood
over it.
“All right”—he slammed the van’s doors closed—“that’s everything. We
have four sets of cameras. I’d suggest putting one in the front porch here,
facing that direction so that it catches the windows, too. Where did you want
the others?”
Ruby and I exchanged a look. “One at the back door,” she decided. “And,
uh… what do you think, Jo?”
“One in the foyer. And one in the upstairs hallway.”
Lucky sighed as he turned to Ruby. “You don’t have to humour her ghost
theory, you know. ”
“N-No, I think those would be good places. I mean, w-we should have
some coverage inside the house, just in case—”
“All right, I’ll set it up. I’ll also need some space to set up a monitoring
area. A table about this long.” He held out his hands.
“Dining room,” Ruby said. She was gradually shrinking behind me. “I
don’t really use it for eating anyway.”
“Works for me.” Lucky had already taken a camera out of a bag. He
brushed a cluster of cobwebs away from the porch’s back corner and
examined the area. “I’m going to have to drill some holes. You all right with
that?”
“Sure. Whatever you need to do.”I nudged Ruby’s shoulder. “Let’s go get something to drink while we
wait.”
Inside, the house felt cooler than the outdoors, so I kept my jacket on. I
couldn’t stop myself from scanning the shadows as we moved through the
foyer and towards the kitchens. “No problems with the house today?”
“No. It’s been lovely and quiet. I had time to package the last set of dolls
and get them ready for mailing. I’ll start on a new batch this evening, if I
have time.”
“Good. They’re still selling quickly?”
“Within five minutes.” She laughed. “If this gets any bigger, I’ll have to
hire employees. ”