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door she resisted the urge
     to go back to sleep. Instead she spent some time in the evening cleaning Hairy’s litter
     box, catching up on laundry, and losing herself in housework. Cleaning up blood and
     gore might pay the mortgage but tidying her own house made her feel normal. When a
     large portion of the world viewed you as a freak, normal wasn’t overrated.
    Sadie took the time to dial Hugh Pacheo to tell him she’d finished the work at his
     son’s garage. A recording said the cell number wasn’t in service. Sadie double-checked
     the number and it was the same she’d called him on earlier. Either Mr. Pacheo hadn’t
     paid his cell bill or there was a problem with the number. She decided to e-mail him
     that the job was complete.
    She still had one more thing she had to accomplish. There was a certain ghost she’d
     made a promise to. Sadie had put it off but she knew she’d feel better if she at least
     attempted to find May Lathrop’s cash and jewelry and drop it off at WATS.
    May Lathrop had given Sadie the address of a small basement suite in a house located
     on South King Street near Twelfth Avenue. She had no trouble finding it, but when
     she drove slowly past there was a man sitting on the front steps smoking a fat cigar.
     She didn’t want to have to deal with other tenants who might call SPD and report her
     for wanting to break into a dead girl’s apartment.
    While she thought about what to do, Sadie decided to grab something to eat at the
     Vietnamese restaurant across the street. She ordered the chicken
pho
and took the bowl of noodles to eat at a table outside. While she ate she kept an
     eye on the place across the street. Eventually the man on the front stoop was joined
     by a woman and two chubby middle schoolers. After some discussion out front, all four
     piled into a beat-up Chevy. The car noisily backfired and chugged right past where
     Sadie was sitting and disappeared up the road.
    After finishing her soup, Sadie casually crossed the street and walked up the rickety
     wooden steps. The front door hung off-kilter due to broken hinges, and where the doorbell
     should’ve been were bare wires. Sadie rapped at the door even though she had no idea
     what she’d say if anyone answered. Lucky for her nobody was home, so she took the
     weed-choked sidewalk around the back of the house and found the entrance to the basement
     suite.
    The door had been sealed off by Seattle PD. Sadie chewed her lip nervously. She didn’t
     like to break in and she sure as hell didn’t want to end up in a jail cell. Somehow
     she doubted she’d be released quickly once she revealed she was only obeying the wishes
     of a ghost.
    But a promise was a promise. Glancing around, she saw that the back of the house wasn’t
     visible to the buildings on either side. May had mentioned a rock painted with yellow
     daisies. It took Sadie a minute to find it in the overgrown garden. Whipping out a
     pair of disposable gloves from her back pocket, Sadie retrieved the key, opened the
     door, and then quickly closed the door behind her. The apartment was filthy and smelled
     of rotten food and mildew. Sadie wasted no time going to the bedroom, which boasted
     a saggy old mattress on the floor in the corner and a small lone window with tinfoil
     pressed against it to keep light from entering. The closet held an impressive amount
     of animal-print spandex and slinky dresses made from flammable-looking fluorescent
     fabrics, but this wasn’t the time to pause and admire May’s choice in hooker attire.
    Standing on tiptoe, Sadie retrieved the shoe box. She popped open the lid and searched
     through a stack of photos and memorabilia to uncover a thick padded envelope that
     contained a stack of cash and a couple pairs of small diamond-studded earrings. Sadie
     pocketed the treasures before carefully placing the shoe box back in its location.
    After locking up the suite, she returned the key to its hiding spot and hustled