Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Standing between Natalie and whatever treasures Lionel’s apartment might hold was Lionel’s landlady.
Mildred Roth, in a well-worn robe and slippers, stood in her doorway looking Natalie and Liam up and down suspiciously.
Next to her hovered the ghost of her recently departed husband Ralph, his toupee perched slightly askew on his head, where it would sit for the rest of his afterlife.
“Can I see some identification?” Mildred asked, arms folded over her amply buxom chest. “Since my husband Ralph died last year,” she repeated for the second time in as many minutes, “I can’t be too careful about who I let in.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Of course,” Natalie agreed.
Although, did Mildred really believe that someone other than Natalie would show up to collect Lionel’s clothes and junk mail the day after she’d spoken with his publisher and arranged this visit?
Natalie reached for the purse hanging on her shoulder. She pawed through it in search of her wallet, hiding somewhere amid the old receipts, slightly used tissues, countless lip balms and one dusty unwrapped mint.
Purses were bottomless pits of life’s debris. Men didn’t know how easy they had it. Liam’s wallet was right there, easily accessible in the pocket of his jeans.
Finally her hand hit on her wallet, which then opened up a whole new search as she pulled out an insurance card, her AAA card, various store loyalty cards, the local gas station’s credit card, a Visa card, her bank card, a gift card for a local restaurant and finally, her driver’s license, which of course was last.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it over as she ignored Liam’s amused expression.
She nearly apologized to Mildred for the delay but smothered the urge. Mildred had done this to herself by asking for identification to begin with.
Finally, after the woman had done everything except whip out a blue light like a bouncer at the door of a night club, she handed the license back to Natalie. “I’ll just go and get the key. You wait here.”
There was no question of Natalie and Liam not following her inside since Mildred had slammed the door on them. Ralph, however, stayed.
“She’s a real joy,” Liam mumbled.
Putting her back to the ghost of Mildred’s husband, Natalie turned to face Liam. She opened her eyes wide and shook her head, hoping he’d get the hint.
He frowned. “What?”
She opened her eyes wider.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
With a huff she gave up. It couldn’t be the first time Ralph had heard his wife insulted. “Forget about it.”
“No, tell me,” Liam said, putting his hand on her arm.
Telling Liam now would mean Ralph would know she could see him. Which, actually, might not be too bad. Maybe he had some information about Lionel. Besides, Ralph wasn’t scary. Not like those Salem spirits.
“Mildred’s husband Ralph is standing right here.”
Liam let out a sigh. “Of course he is.”
“You can see me?” Ralph asked, taking a single step back from Natalie, as if she were the scary one in this scenario.
That was refreshing. Most ghosts had a habit of standing much too close.
Natalie finally raised her gaze to look directly at him. “Long story, but yes, Ralph, I can. And now that you know, I was wondering if you could maybe answer some questions for us about—”
The door opened to reveal Mildred, key in hand. Natalie slammed her mouth closed. Talking to Ralph was one thing. Talking to his widow about him was another.
“Follow me,” Mildred ordered as she closed her own door firmly and headed down the dim hallway ahead of them.
Liam’s gaze dropped to Mildred’s house slippers. He shot Natalie an amused glance and then said, “Our pleasure.”
Lionel’s apartment was upstairs in a building that did not have an elevator.
Liam’s expression as Mildred started up the steep old staircase in front of them told Natalie his feelings about carrying all of Lionel’s things down these stairs.
“At least the university already picked up his book collection,” she whispered to Liam, who didn’t look all that much happier at the reminder.
She could only hope the remainder of Lionel’s belongings were few and lightweight.
Finally, one flight up, Mildred stopped in front of a door and glanced back at them. “Mr. Graves rented the apartment furnished, so the appliances and furniture remain here.”
She narrowed her eyes at them as if in warning, then swung the door open wide.
Natalie leaned to be able to see around her. Mildred needn’t have worried. No one was going to steal the nubby orange and green sofa. Or the avocado green oven and stovetop.
“We’ll be sure to only take the professor’s personal belongings,” Natalie assured her while extending her hand to take the key.
Mildred shook her head, dropping the key into the pocket of her robe. “Tell me before you leave. I’ll come back up and inspect the premises.”
“Of course.” Liam nodded, which seemed to satisfy her.
“And don’t take all day,” she added. “My stories come on TV in an hour and I don’t like to be interrupted.”
“We’ll work as fast as possible,” Liam promised.
“All right. Have fun you two,” she said, laughing before she headed back down the hallway, leaving Ralph and the faint scent of cigarette smoke behind her.
Natalie noticed Liam literally had his lips pressed together to keep from commenting.
Ralph, who must have noticed Liam’s reaction too, laughed. “Go ahead. You can say it. Mildred’s a bitch. I know. Believe me.”
Natalie’s lips twitched but they had more important things to do than talk about Mildred. Now that they’d moved through the open door and into the apartment, they’d be able to see exactly what they were in for.
Somebody had dropped off stacks of empty used cardboard boxes. Maybe someone from the university when they’d come to get the books. Maybe it had been Mildred, though Natalie couldn’t imagine her making the effort.
Either way, there were a lot of boxes. If the number was any indication of the amount of stuff they’d have to haul out of there, Mildred’s stories might be getting interrupted. It was going to take more than an hour to sort and pack it all.
“Ralph, do you think you could come in with us and answer a few questions about Professor Lionel Graves while we’re packing up?” Natalie asked the ghost as Liam disappeared through a doorway in the back of the apartment.
“That stodgy old coot? Sure but I don’t know much. He didn’t talk to the likes of me. Mostly just to complain. The heat was too hot. The sidewalk was icy. The pipes banged too loud. His window was stuck. If a person could complain about it, Lionel Graves did.”
“That sounds like Lionel.” Natalie laughed.
Liam came out of the bedroom, his arms filled with so much clothing he could barely see over the pile.
“Uh oh. Is there a lot in there?” she asked.
“This is it for what was hanging in the closet,” he said, dumping everything into the nearest box.
“That’s not too bad then.”
“Not bad. Just weird.”
“How so?”
“It’s all the same. Or almost the same. Two almost identical jackets. Seven of the same pair of trousers, just in slightly different shades of brown. And ten long-sleeved button-down dress shirts. All white.”
“Didn’t Steve Jobs always wear the exact same outfit? He said it saved him the brain power of making a decision about what to wear every day. So he could think about more important things. Like inventing the iPhone or whatever.”
“As far as I can tell the only thing Lionel Graves uses his brainpower for is being a pain in the ass,” Liam grumbled.
Ralph let out a bark of a laugh. “I like him.”
“I’m going to look for trash bags. We can donate this box of clothes but I’m not touching the stuff in the underwear or sock drawers, or the dozen or so handkerchiefs in there. Those are all getting tossed.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Check for money in those drawers. And in the pockets of that stuff. Oh, and the toes of the shoes,” Ralph called to Liam, who of course couldn’t hear him, before turning to Natalie. “That’s where I used to hide my valuables.”
“Good to know. Thanks.” She moved to check the pockets of the clothes already in the box, which yielded nothing but a sticky old butterscotch candy.
Maybe Liam would have better luck. “Liam, keep an eye out for valuables when you dump those drawers,” she called out. “And Ralph says to make sure to check inside the shoes.”
Liam appeared in the doorway, laden bag in one hand and a man’s fedora in the other. “Apparently, the man only owned one pair of shoes and they were on him when he died. Because there are none in the closet in the bedroom or under the bed. I checked. But look. I found this cool hat.”
Natalie envisioned Lionel’s chronic dandruff and cringed. “Liam, do not put on that hat.”
He pulled his mouth to one side. “You’re no fun.”
“And you don’t know what I do since you’ve never seen Lionel.”
“Fine. I’m hitting the bathroom next. I’m assuming any toiletries and towels can get tossed.”
“No, to tossing the towels. Animal shelters can use them. We can donate those. But yes to the toiletries. And all those vitamin bottles I spotted on the kitchen counter too,” Natalie added as she flipped sofa cushions making sure there was nothing important underneath.
Liam stopped halfway to the bathroom door and turned toward the kitchen. He came out a moment later with a plastic grocery bag. He came toward her and put the bag down on the floor near the door. “These go home with us.”
“The vitamins? Ew, why? I’ll buy you new vitamins if you want them.”
Liam leveled his stare on her. “Natalie.”
“What?”
“It’s not just vitamins. There are prescription bottles in there too.
You can’t just toss medicine in the trash.
It has to be disposed of properly, for one.
And two, I’d like to make note of what the man was taking.
Aside from the rest of the circus surrounding Graves, his cadaver is first and foremost in my lab for research purposes. ”
“Oh. Yeah. I forgot.”
Shaking his head, he smiled and moved closer. Palming her head, he pressed a kiss to her mouth. “I do love you.”
“I love you too. And Ralph is still here.”
“Oh. Right.” He took a step back. “You find anything out here?”
“Not really. The place is pretty sparse. He had no television. There’s a clock radio. And a clunker of an old printer. But what’s weird is I haven’t found a computer. Not a desktop. Not a laptop. Nothing.”
“Is it possible he left it in his office on campus? Or maybe it was university property,” Liam suggested.
“Maybe.” Natalie spun to look for Ralph, who was currently poking around in the kitchen. “Ralph, did you ever see Lionel working on a computer in here?”
Ralph wandered out. “Yeah. Sure. He had a big set up. That’s why I remember it. The man seemed cheap as hell in all other things, except for that.”
“Did Lionel use a laptop?” she asked Ralph. He easily could have carried that to his office on campus and left it there.
“You mean one of those thin ones you can carry around with you? No.” Ralph shook his head. “It was over there on the desk. And it had a big TV screen on the shelf and a separate typewriter thing. And there was a big box on the floor under there with all these wires and flashing lights.”
Natalie spun to face the desk. There was a power strip underneath with a dozen or so outlets. As if there were indeed more electronics to plug in. The problem was there was only one thing plugged in there now. The printer.
She turned back to Liam. “So if Lionel had a monitor, a keyboard and a CPU all set up over there, where is it all now?”
Switching her gaze to Ralph she asked, “When was the last time you saw the computer here?”
“I mean I don’t make a habit of spying on our tenants—”
“Ralph,” Natalie said in a low tone.
“Okay fine. I came in here and saw it probably a week or so before he died. He was on there on that Face page—”
“Facebook,” she corrected.
“Yeah. That. He was grumbling and cussing and typing away. I had to come in and see what was up.”
“And then? When did you notice the computer missing?” Natalie asked.
“Just now. When you asked me about it.”
“Didn’t you come upstairs when they found Lionel dead?”
“Yeah, but you know there were a bunch of people in here. And I don’t like being around dead bodies since, you know.” He indicated his own ghostly body. “I stayed in the hallway.”
Natalie drew in a breath and glanced at Liam, remembering he’d only heard half of her conversation with Ralph. “So the computer disappeared sometime between when Lionel was fighting with me on Facebook and now.”
“That doesn’t exactly pin down the time it went missing,” Liam said.
“No, it doesn’t.” And she didn’t know what to do about that.