Read Online Haunted by Heather Graham - Free Book Online Page A

gentlemen.”
    â€œGentlemen?” Mae said with a sniff.
    â€œI’m unhappy about the whole thing, I suppose. And yes, I called Adam after I got the letter, but that’s the point—I expected Adam Harrison himself,” Matt admitted ruefully. “And then again, maybe it all did have something to do with her appearance.” He glared at Clint and Carter. “Not that she resembles Lavinia in any way.”
    â€œShe doesn’t. She’s really much prettier,” Mae put in.
    â€œBut,” Matt continued. “She doesn’t look like any hard-core investigator, does she?”
    â€œLooks can be deceiving,” Carter said.
    â€œHey, they say you’re going to let Liz do a seance,” Anthony Larkin reminded him. “How hard-core would that be?”
    â€œLiz was close with Gramps, too,” Matt said. “A really great nurse to him toward the end. I owe her.” He shrugged. “She begged when I told her that I had people coming down who were supposedly ghost experts. She wanted first crack at a seance, before any out-of-towners took over. She also holds her Women’s Town Meeting in the house once a month, and it’s a big event that makes the house a good income.”
    Anthony shrugged. “Figured it had to be something like that. I ran into her down at the drugstore. She said that she’d been pleading with you, just for herself, since she’s so sure she feels all that cold stuff, especially in the upstairs bedroom. And she said that the writer could come in, and the new guy from the Chamber of Commerce. So…it’s a crock if you’re keeping out that pretty girl because she’s more about ghosts than finding out if something natural is going bump in the middle of the night.”
    â€œAnd damn, but she is good-looking,” Clint supplied.
    Matt nodded slowly. They were all right—and he had been one hell of an ass to the woman. She had just hit a raw nerve with him, he supposed, looking as if she had just stepped off afashion page, heels clicking on the floor, manicured nails expressive in the air as she spoke, her face that of a sophisticated angel—or siren, one or the other.
    Redheads were always trouble.
    â€œI’m just irritated, I guess. Maybe I do owe her an apology.”
    The phone rang stridently from the bar. He felt a surge of anger. She was already calling. Mae picked up the phone.
    â€œHello…yes, Penny, he’s here. He’s got his cell phone turned off again, huh? Well, he’s sitting here, sure as can be. Shouldn’t have that cell phone turned off, Matt, you know that,” she said, her hand over the receiver.
    â€œShirley at the station knows where I am, and that’s all that matters,” Matt said.
    â€œPenny knows you’re here now, come on over and talk to her! Please!” Mae insisted, seeing the stubborn set to his jaw.
    Matt cast Mae an evil eye, then rose to accept the receiver from behind the bar. Penny came on the line.
    â€œYes?”
    â€œMatt, I heard you gave that girl from New York an absolutely wretched time!”
    â€œPenny, I really did no such thing. And how did you hear so fast?”
    Matt looked around. Sure enough, Marty Sawyer—Penny’s nephew—who had been watching Carter’s pool game was now nowhere to be seen. He’d slunk out already.
    â€œMatt Stone! There is so much good to be done here! Principal Joe from the grade school was telling me how much the schoolchildren just loved the living history productions we did last summer, and you know as well as I do that you can’t keep that kind of program going if we don’t make sure that the house is entirely safe. And you’ve already agreed that we can let the seance go on.”
    â€œBecause even though I don’t believe in such a thing as a ‘medium,’ I like Elizabeth!” he said irritably.
    â€œYou’re going to make a tiny