Ghost Music by Graham Masterton Read Free Book Online Page B

know.”
    â€œOh, come on, Kate. You and I will both disappear for two weeks, and Victor won’t even get suspicious?”
    â€œGideon, you’ll
love
it! When you see this family’s apartment, you won’t believe your eyes! It’s truly spectacular. Marble bathrooms, antique furniture. Views out over the harbor.”
    â€œI’m really not sure.”
    â€œWhy? I’ve told you I’ll cover all of your expenses.”
    â€œWell . . . I have to admit to you, Kate, I’m not the most sociable guy in the world. I can’t sit down at the breakfast table in the morning and have meaningful conversations over the Cheerios, especially with people I’ve never met before. As it is, I don’t usually utter a sound until noon, and then it’s a strangled growl.”
    â€œDon’t worry about it. We’ll have our own private suite, with a four-poster bed and our own bathroom and our own living room. If we want to keep to ourselves, I promise you, nobody will mind at all.”
    I had to admit that the offer did seem attractive. I hadn’t had a real vacation in over three and a half years, and I hadn’t had a woman in my bed since Milka—apart from one-night stands with a red-haired flight attendant called Genna and a backing vocalist for P Diddy called Lateesh. Nobody as poised and as magical as Kate. Even if she
was
another man’s wife.
    â€œSo, ah—where are we talking about?” I asked her.
    â€œI’ll give you a clue. You’ll need your coat, and your gloves, and a scarf, maybe.”
    â€œOh. Someplace chilly. Someplace chilly with a view of the harbor. Seattle, maybe?”
    â€œFarther east,” she smiled. “Much farther east. Stockholm.”
    â€œStockholm, South Dakota? No, there’s no harbor there. You mean Stockholm,
Sweden
?”
    â€œYou got it. In the old town, close to the Royal Palace, looking right out over the harbor. You won’t believe how beautiful it is, especially at this time of the year.”
    â€œSounds amazing. I mean it. Sounds
really
amazing. But who are these people you want me to meet?”
    Kate sipped her wine. “They’re a family of four. He’s a doctor, the mother works as a physiotherapist. They have two daughters.”
    â€œAnd can I ask why you want me to meet them?”
    â€œI can’t explain, but it’s important. And you have to admit that Stockholm in late September—it’s different. Different from Palm Springs, anyway.”
    â€œDo you think I
need
a doctor?”
    â€œOf course not.” she smiled. “In any case, he’s a gynecologist.”
    â€œI’m baffled. We only just met, we went to bed together just once, and now you want me to come away with you for two weeks to meet a Swedish gynecologist and his family. Do you want their approval? Am I being vetted or something?”
    â€œNo, Gideon. It’s nothing like that, I promise you. I just want you to come to Stockholm and see things differently.”
    I didn’t know what to think, but I stood up again, and went over to my desk. I leafed through my calendar and said, “Yes . . . well, I guess I could manage it. I have to finish one more link for
Billy Wagner
, but I should have that all wrapped up by tomorrow. So long as I’m back by the fourteenth. I have a meeting with DDB about a Diet Pepsi commercial.”
    â€œOh, yes. You’ll be back by then, I promise you.”

Nine
    Just after nine o’clock, Kate finished her glass of wine and said she ought to think about leaving.
    â€œDo you have to?” I asked her. It was much warmer now, because I had lit tall white church candles all around the living room, and the walls were alive with shadows, like dancing witches. “Have one more drink before you go.”
    â€œAll right. You’ve persuaded me.”
    â€œIs Victor home tonight?” I asked her, as ten o’clock