Read Online The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll - Free Book Online Page B

to her on the couch. German sat on the yellow chair, not knowing, of course, that that’s where Danielle preferred to sit.
    â€œDo you know a man named Benjamin Gould?” She kept looking in Danielle’s eyes to see if they registered Ben’s name or the fact that he was so near to her. They did not.
    â€œGould? No.”
    â€œYou’ve never heard of him before?”
    Danielle paused and looked at her hands, thinking, but in time shook her head no.
    â€œDon’t ask her that, German! I told you, ask about her accident.”
    Once again Danielle did not hear Ben speak. Back in her bedroom a telephone rang. “Could you wait just a minute while I answer that?”
    German smiled. “Sure.”
    When they were alone again, Ben demanded, “What are you doing? Of course she doesn’t know who I am—I already told you that!You’ve seen how she reacts: she doesn’t know I’m here. How the hell is she supposed to know who I am if she can’t see me?”
    â€œWhat is this, Ben? What’s going on?”
    â€œ
I don’t know!
I swear to God I don’t know. That’s why I wanted you to come here and see it for yourself. This is what ruined us, German.”
    Returning a few minutes later, Danielle saw the tall woman talking animatedly to no one. Her head was turned to the right while she gestured with one finger and spoke to the emptiness next to her. Danielle tried to mask her surprise with a neutral voice.
    â€œI’m sorry, but that call was from my mother. She’s coming by in a few minutes and I have to go out with her. Maybe you can come back some other time.”
    German stood quickly and pulled Pilot toward the door. “No problem. I’ll call and we’ll set up another date.”
    â€œGood.” Danielle opened the door. Ben stepped quickly through it.
    Out in the hall again, German said to Danielle, “Can I ask one last question before I go?”
    Because he was so eager to hear the question, Ben did not notice the old woman down the hall who he had seen the first time he was here.
    â€œThat’s him, Danielle. That’s the man I was telling you about.”
    The three turned toward this neighbor who was once again standing twenty feet away near the door to her apartment. She had a broom in her hand and was pointing with it at the empty space next to German.
    â€œRemember I told you about the man at your door that day? Well, that’s him.” Face set in accusation, the woman pointed again at invisible Ben.
    Danielle was regretting ever having answered the door this morning. “Who are you talking about, Mrs. Schellberger?”
    â€œ
Him
. That’s the man who was fiddling with your door that day.”
    Danielle couldn’t see Ben, although the others did. Except for the dog, none of them saw Ling the ghost, who was also there. But Pilot didn’t understand what the human beings were talking about. On the other hand, Ling saw everyone and understood everything. However, the ghost could do nothing to resolve this.
    Maybe there was a way. Snapping its fingers to get the dog’s attention, Ling said to him, “Run away.”
    Pilot tilted his head to one side, confused by the command.
    â€œRun away. Create a diversion.
He needs your help
.”
    Now the dog understood and, without further ado, jerked his leash out of German’s relaxed hand. He sprinted off down the hall toward the stairwell. Ben ran after him. Luckily, Ben was wearing sneakers, so his footsteps weren’t really heard in the confusion of the moment. The three women watched Pilot run away. Only Danielle was surprised when German didn’t go after her pet. Mrs. Schellberger wasn’t surprised because she saw Ben chase it.
    â€œAren’t you going to try and catch your dog?” Danielle asked.
    Ignoring the question, German looked instead at the old woman, who appeared to be growing angrier the longer she