Ghost Gone Wild (A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel) by Carolyn Hart Read Free Book Online

level—” He broke off, no doubt realizing I hadn’t followed a word. “Anyway, lots of goo oozes out as the flies try to get through the webs, but the Featherfoots are a web ahead.” He stopped to laugh at his own wit. “It’s a hairy, hairy game, and I got bought out for a cool nine million.” He slid onto a bar stool, propped an elbow on the counter.
    I stared. “How old are you?”
    “Twenty-four.”
    “You said you came back to Adelaide. Where were you?”
    “Austin. I went to school there, but I didn’t finish. I was halfway through my junior year when I started working on
Featherfoots
again. I first had the idea in high school. Everybody laughed at me. Like they always did.” There was a trace of bitterness in his voice. “Because I like spiders. I especially like Featherfoots. They are kind of a woody brown or gray mottled with white. What I really like is they can hang for hours in a web without moving. And the webs”—he sounded triumphant—“are always horizontal.” He spread his arms wide. “Cool, huh?”
    Nine million dollars. Long live
Featherfoots
.
    “Okay. I get it. You created this game and sold it, and you are rich. Why did you come back to Adelaide?”
    If Bobby Mac and I had ever had nine million, or even one, my destination of choice would have been Paris.
    Nick’s young face was abruptly pugnacious. “I had some scores to settle and money”—his tone was arrogant—“makes me a player. See, nobody ever thought I was a player. Well, I’m showing them, one by one. I’m having a hell of a good time. I started with Cole Clanton. He played football.” Years of loathing curdled his voice. “Big Bad Cole.” He drawled the name with venom. “He showed his ass one night on a campout, but he was such a big deal he turned it around and pretty soon everybody was dumping on me. See, we were at church camp and a jumping spider—a
Phidippus audax
—crawled out of a log Cole was sitting on. He gave a squeal like a girl and bolted like a stuck pig. The guys started laughing at him. His face turned red and he grabbed a stick and headed for the log. He was going to kill the spider. I yelled at him to stop, that it was a
Phidippus audax
and wouldn’t hurt anybody. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but I said it was a cool spider with eight blue eyes, four big ones on its face, and it could jump fifty times its body length. He kept on going. I tackled him, and by the time everybody pulled him off of me, the spider was gone. Cole had gotten in some punches, and my right eye was swelling up. He pointed at me and yelled, ‘Look, one blue eye. I got it. You’re a
Phidippus audax
. I guess you got a whole family out here. Gee, Phidippus, how could I have known?’ Well, the guys all cracked up. That’s what they called me the rest of the way through school. Phidippus.”
    “So you came back and you’re busy getting even.”
    He gave two thumbs-up. “When money flows, anything goes.”
    “I see.” Indeed, I did. No wonder Aunt Dee hoped I could save Nick from himself. “I suppose there are others who have earned your ire?”
    He looked blank.
    He might be in his own way a homespun philosopher, with all due respect to spiders, but his vocabulary lacked muscle. Possibly, if time permitted, I might suggest a reading list, starting with “Babylon Revisited,” though Nick was obviously not a serious drinker even if he was seriously rich. However, efforts to engender a more charitable attitude could await the successful completion of my assignment.
    I felt a little lurch inside.
    I didn’t have an assignment. But Nick was in danger and I was here. I would have to do what I could. I had much yet to learn about Adelaide’s youngest millionaire and who might have wanted him dead, but tomorrow was time enough. For now, I hoped Wiggins would forgive me—
Wiggins, are you there? Are you anywhere?
—if I sought a place to stay. It would be easiest if I stayed here, though the prospect had