The Silent Ghost by Sue Ann Jaffarian Read Free Book Online Page A

walls might spill their secrets if she just listened closely enough. Granny followed after her like a puppy. When Kelly returned to the counter, she asked Tanisha, “Do you know who your father bought this place from?”
    In response, Tanisha went to her desk and yanked open the bottom drawer of her desk. “My fathergave me a copy of the real estate paperwork, in case I ever needed it.” She pulled out a file and brought it back to the counter.
    Together, they sifted through the documents. Kelly examined the deed. “It says here you and your father both own the loft.” She looked up at Tanisha. “I thought you said your name wasn’t on the property.”
    Tanisha shrugged. “So I lied about that. What do you expect? You track me down, show up unannounced, and start nosing around. It was a defensive lie.”
    “My girl T’s got a point,” said Granny.
    Kelly snapped her head around to glare at the ghost, who drifted away in the pretense of examining something.
    Kelly returned her attention to Tanisha. “Don’t you do the same as a reporter hunting for a story?”
    In response, Tanisha gave her a shrug and a small, lopsided grin.
    Kelly went back to checking out the documents. “Seems the previous owner was a Rhoda Saatela.” Kelly looked up. “I wonder if we’d be able to find her? Doesn’t sound like a common name.”
    Again, Tanisha went to her desk. This time she fired up her laptop. “I subscribe to a pretty good people search site. Let’s see if she’s listed anywhere.”
    Granny followed Tanisha to the desk. “Now you girls are cookin’.”
    While Tanisha searched for Rhoda Saatela, Kelly buried herself in the real estate documents, hoping to find more clues to past owners. “Says here the building was converted from a warehouse into lofts in the late 1990s.” She held up a real estate flyer.
    Tanisha glanced over at it. “Yes, I remember that. It’s the sell sheet the seller’s realtor was handing out.” They both went back to their tasks.
    After a few minutes, Kelly heard Granny say, “Leave Tanisha alone.”
    Whipping her head around, Kelly saw Granny confronting a ghost standing directly behind Tanisha. Granny was next to it, her head tilted up as she shook a finger in the taller spirit’s face. “Shecan’t help you if you’re bothering her.”
    At the laptop, Tanisha was still working away, but her fingers were moving slowly. Every now and then, she stopped and shook her head like a dog shaking off water.
    Kelly jumped off her stool. In two long strides she was at the desk. “Tanisha, you okay?”
    “Yeah,” she answered, but her words came slow. “I’m mentally fighting her off, like you said, but it’s hard.” She kept working, her hand guiding the mouse through a list of names. “Can you see her? The ghost—can you see her clearly?”
    “Yes.” Kelly studied the ghost standing behind the desk. She didn’t appear to be angry or vindictive. She simply hovered in silence over Tanisha like a heavy rain cloud, her face tragic and forlorn.
    “I can see and hear you,” Kelly said to the spirit. “We’re all here to help you. Tell me what you want.”
    Granny wedged herself between Tanisha and the spirit, their hazy forms blurring around the edges. The other ghost backed up a few feet. “These girls want to help you,” Granny explained to the spirit. “They’re friends to us on the other side.”
    Kelly grabbed a large notepad off of Tanisha’s desk, then pulled a pen from a heavy mug pressed into service as a pencil holder. “Can you tell us your name?” she asked as she quickly went to work sketching the ghost.
    The spirit said nothing, but backed up a few more steps. The further she moved away from Tanisha, the less her hold on her seemed to be.
    Tanisha stopped working and took several deep breaths. “My head’s clearing.” She swiveled in her desk chair until she faced the ghost. “I’m Tanisha. This is Kelly and Granny,” she explained to the spirit. “I