Read Online The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon - Free Book Online

in his own security measures. No one was getting in that way.
    “It seems secure,” Nick told Foster, who watched him with those big brown eyes.
    Tiny stared at him too. “Locks don’t stop ghosts,” he said.
    “Not you too,” Nick growled. “Is everyone here nuts?”
    “I’ve seen him,” Tiny said. “I saw him. The ghost in the yellow socks.”
    “Where did you see him?” Foster asked with quick interest.
    Tiny’s eyes shifted evasively. He shrugged. “I see him sometimes.”
    “Was he dead when you saw him?” Nick asked, always practical.
    Tiny looked confused. “He’s a ghost,” he explained.
    Foster said with a casualness that would only deceive Simple Simon, “Tiny, I wanted to ask you something. Do you know who has keys to my apartment besides you and Mrs. Mac?”
    “You do,” Tiny said helpfully.
    Shaking his head, Nick turned away to investigate the bedroom.
    “But anyone else?” Foster persisted. “Has anyone ever asked to borrow your keys?”

    The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
    39
    Tiny looked scared. “No.”
    “Are you sure?”
    His eyes shifted uneasily back and forth.
    “Who borrowed your keys?” Foster pressed.
    More recalibrating of the eyes. Tiny licked his mouth and began to hum.
    “It’s okay, you can tell me,” Foster said. He smiled encouragingly. “I won’t tell.”
    “No one,” Tiny said, and shrugged his big shoulders.
    Nick watched this mild-mannered interrogation with increasing exasperation. It was obvious the big man was lying. He knew his own instinct to shove the guy against a wall was not a good one, but he felt pressured leaving town with this still unresolved.
    “I lost them,” Tiny announced suddenly. “Mrs. MacQueen yelled at me.”
    “You lost them?”
    Tiny’s left eye started twitching in response to Nick’s tone.
    “When did you lose them?” Foster persisted.
    Tiny shrugged. “I don’t remember. “A while back.”
    “Yesterday? The day before yesterday?” Nick couldn’t conceal his impatience with the pair of them.
    Tiny shook his head. “Mrs. Mac found them again.”
    “When?”
    Tiny looked at Nick like he was the moron. “I don’t remember,” he said slowly and clearly.

    * * * * *
“Do you need a ride to the airport?” Foster asked after Nick insisted on helping him carry a couple of boxes of his belongings downstairs.
    “Nah.” Nick set Foster’s keys where he couldn’t miss them on top of the dining room table. “I’m flying out of Burlington International. I’ll leave my truck at the airport.”
    Foster nodded. He looked a little forlorn, more so because he was trying hard to keep a stiff upper lip.
    Nick hesitated. “You’ll be fine, kid. When I get back…” He didn’t finish it because really his responsibility was finished here. He did not want to develop this acquaintanceship; the kid was not his type. In more ways than one.
    Foster said quickly, “Oh, I’m set now. Thanks for all your help.”
    “One thing for damn sure, MacQueen needs to change the locks on all these rooms.
    Those missing keys mean anybody could get into these rooms anytime.”
    “Maybe Tiny just misplaced them,” Foster offered hopefully.

    40 Josh Lanyon
    Nick shook his head. People could be so naive. “It’s kind of a coincidence, don’t you think?” He considered it and said abruptly, “Let’s go talk to MacQueen now.”
    “I don’t think I should press my luck,” Foster said. “It kind of undermines my argument for taking Watson’s rooms if they’re not any more secure than my own.”
    The unexpected logic of this surprised Nick. He said, “Well, I’m going to talk to her. I don’t like the idea of someone waltzing into my place while I’m gone.”
    He started downstairs and found Foster with him. “I thought you weren’t going to press your luck?”
    Foster grinned that funny little grin. “I’m lending moral support.”
    “Is that what it is?”
    “Sure.”
    A tinny voice drifted up to them.
    “U.S. District