Read To Sketch a Thief for Free Online Page B

could make her life miserable too. Of course, in the end she and Zeke both knew that she held the wild card in their little game. That card was the house, Mac’s house, with its precious cache of memories tucked away in every corner. It would be almost like losing him again if she had to sell it, but she would, if living there with Zeke became untenable. Mac would understand. And as hard as it would be for her, it would be even harder for Zeke. He’d once again be subjected to a parade of owners who would pack up and run at the first hint of ghostly goings-on. How long might it take before he found another sympathetic, open-minded buyer who would not only hang around and put up with his antics, but also try to help him solve the mystery of who had murdered him? Rory doubted there was a matchmaking website for lonely ghosts.
    “I’m guessin’ the deceased was the mutt’s owner,” Zeke said casually, as if they’d been having a polite conversation all along.
    In the name of tranquility, Rory decided to accept the scrawny olive branch he was extending. “Brenda Hartley,” she said, between sips of wine. “And the dog’s name is Hobo.”
    “Hobo, right. So, for some strange reason you’re feelin’ obligated to give Hobo here a home?”
    “I haven’t decided yet. For now I’m just boarding him overnight.”
    “Don’t I get a vote?”
    “It wouldn’t matter, since I have veto power,” she said, realizing a moment too late that she probably could have chosen a more diplomatic way to put it. Still, the truth was the truth no matter how you disguised it.
    Zeke’s face clamped down again. “So do I,” he growled under his breath.
    So much for détente. Rory was quickly running out of patience and the virtue that came with it. She tried another tactic. “Do you want to hear about the case or not?”
    Zeke took a moment to assess the playing field. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, “I surely do.”
    Rory swore she heard a note of mockery in his voice, but she let it go. She had no interest in spending the rest of the night in a pitched battle with him. Instead, she gave him a quick recap of what had happened at the Hartley home. Having already briefed Cirello and Leah she had the story pared down to its essentials.
    “Any valuables missin’?” Zeke asked, following her lead into neutral territory. “Place torn up at all?”
    “Nothing looked out of order, but I never went upstairs.”
    “It’s a damn shame I don’t know how to get outta this place when I want. I could’ve scouted out the rest of that house for you and no one would ever have been the wiser.”
    Rory almost groaned out loud. With all that had happened, she’d forgotten about his attempt to materialize in Brenda’s house. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was dig up another bone of contention for them to argue over. Unfortunately the subject needed to be addressed and there was no point in postponing it now that he had brought it up.
    “I’m sure that’ll be a help one day,” she said wearily, “but not until you’ve gotten it down pat and we’ve worked out a way to be sure no one else is around to catch your little ‘beam me up, Scotty’ routine.”
    Zeke’s brows bunched together over his eyes. “I’m not sure I get your drift. Sometimes you make less sense than a hat without a brim.”
    “Sorry, it’s an expression from an old TV series. Just about anyone alive today would understand the reference.”
    “Right there’s your first problem,” he said, doing a slow fade out then in again to underscore his point.
    “There’s a second?”
    “Folks these days spend entirely too much time starin’ at one kind of screen or another.”
    Rory could hardly argue with that nugget of wisdom, nor did she want to. All she really wanted at that moment was to eat the leftover slice of pizza that was waiting on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and crawl into bed. But she had to make sure that she and Zeke were on the