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that made her skin crawl, and she fought a strong
impulse to move away from him. “Is there something I can do for you?”
    Reaching into his overcoat, he pulled out a leather-bound
checkbook. “I want to pay you,” he said, slapping the checkbook on the desk and
pulling out a gold-plated ink pen, “to verify that my house in Pearl City is
haunted.”
    “Verify?” Mary asked.
    He nodded, his focus on the check
he was writing. “I’ll make it worth your while,” he said. “Not only will you be
paid well for it, but the publicity you receive will send your career soaring
and you will be in demand throughout the country.”
    Mary shook her head, but he didn’t notice. “I’m sorry,” she
said firmly. “But I’m not interested.”
    Abruptly looking up, he stared at Mary with an unbelieving
look. “I beg your pardon?” he asked.
    “I said I’m not interested,” Mary repeated, trying to keep a
polite façade of friendliness on her face when all she really wanted to do was
escort him out of her office. “I’m not in the ghost verifying business.”
    Misunderstanding, he shook his head. “Oh, that’s no
problem,” he said, a look of relief on his face. “I can tell you what to do.
What papers you have to fill out.   Where to send the press releases.   I’m an expert on paranormal activity.”
    She nodded slowly. “If you’re an expert, why do you need
me?” she asked.
    “Well, my house is one of the top ten haunted houses in the
country,” he said. “And I always strive to provide valid, professional and
impartial sources to verify its authenticity.”
    “Impartial sources that you pay?” she asked, her eyebrow
lifting in skepticism.
    “I only pay to cover expenses,” he said, ripping the check
from the book and handing it to her.
    Mary shook her head and refused to take it. “No, really, I’m
sorry,” she replied again, “but I’m not interested in verifying that your house
is haunted.   That’s not what I do.” She
raised her hand to stop his response. “It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s that I
won’t do it.   My gift is for helping
ghosts move from this plane to the next.   It’s not to… “ she paused trying to find the
right word, “use the ones who are still here.”
    “But my ghosts don’t want to move on,” he argued. “They want
to stay at my house.   They want to
protect the house. They want to keep other people out.   That’s why the people who stay with me
experience so much paranormal activity. Because the ghosts
are trying to scare them away.”
    “Well, with so much activity, I’m sure you have plenty of
verification without me,” Mary responded. “Thank you for stopping by.”
    The man’s face turned red and his eyes hardened. “Do you
think you’re better than me?” he demanded.
      Taken by surprise,
Mary stepped back from her desk and studied the man. “No. No, I don’t think I’m
better than anyone,” she said. “Mr.—?”
    “Atkinson. Sol Atkinson,” he said, dropping the check on her
desk. “Then you think it over, because I don’t take no as an answer. I’ll get
back to you later in the week for your reply.”
    Without giving her a chance to respond, he turned on his
heel and strode out of the office, the door banging shut behind him.
    “What an utterly unpleasant man,” Rosie said, moving back to
the desk and lifting up the check. “Mary, this man just wrote you a check for
five thousand dollars!”
    Stanley looked over Rosie’s shoulder at the check and rolled
back on his heels. “Must want something pretty badly iffen he’s willing to pay that much money just for a verification ,”
Stanley said. “Worth doing a little investigation of Mr.
Atkinson.”
    Nodding, Mary lowered herself to her chair. “I’d be happy to
hear anything you learn about Mr. Atkinson,” Mary said. “But I’ve already
decided that I want nothing to do with that man. He really gives me the
creeps.”
    “Perhaps Bradley ought to be here