Chance of a Ghost by E.J. Copperman Page B

lip. “Of course it does. That’s what electrocution looks like to a medical examiner. I’m telling you, someone threw an electric toaster into the tub while I was bathing.”
    I tried very hard not to snicker and believe I would have succeeded if Maxie hadn’t puffed out her own lips inamusement. I contained myself quickly, but Lawrence gave me a look indicating that he’d seen my initial reaction. I plowed on. “Are you sure it was a toaster? Did you see who threw it?”
    Lawrence looked the other way. “No,” he sniffed. “Whoever did it was invisible.”
    I’d known that was the answer he’d give, so I didn’t react. “Invisible,” I said. “Like you are to most people now?”
    “How many ways are there to be invisible?” Lawrence asked.
    Mom picked up a cookie and took a bite, which wasn’t characteristic of her; she’s a closet eater. “Keep a civil tongue, Lawrence,” she said. “Alison is trying to help.”
    Maxie covered her mouth. She loves it when Mom scolds people who aren’t her.
    I decided to ignore Lawrence’s previous comment. “Did you see anything at all before…it happened?” If I’d started to think of Lawrence taking a bath and having a toaster tossed in again, I’d have to picture him in a bathtub, and that wasn’t going to do anybody any good.
    “Nothing,” he said, still not making eye contact. In fact, he floated up a little and the top of his head disappeared. Mom’s house doesn’t have high ceilings.
    “What about the plug?” I asked. That was a question Paul had primed me with before I left for the interview. He’s always careful to tell me exactly what to ask, for two reasons: One, he’s a control freak, and two, I don’t know what I’m doing.
    “The plug?” Lawrence repeated.
    “Yes, the plug on the toaster,” I answered, stuttering just a tiny bit on the word toaster. “If you were electrocuted by a toaster”—I couldn’t look at Maxie—“it had to have been plugged in. An unplugged toaster wouldn’t have done you any harm. Did you see that?”
    Lawrence appeared flustered for the first time; hechewed a little on his lips and didn’t speak for a moment, which for him was a long time. He mumbled something I couldn’t hear.
    “What?”
    “I…did not see that happen,” he answered, regaining some of his swagger. “But I was not expecting a toaster to be thrown into my bath. It’s possible I just wasn’t looking in that direction. I was reading.”
    Maxie’s eyebrows literally hit the ceiling and kept going as she rose up bodily in surprise. “Reading?” she asked. “In the bathtub?”
    Mom gave her a look. “It’s not unusual, Maxine,” she scolded mildly. “I read in the bath all the time.” Another in a series of mental images I really didn’t need to carry around with me.
    “What were you reading?” I asked. It seemed completely irrelevant, but it was the sort of thing that Paul would ask. He always asks stuff that I think makes no difference and draws information from it. It’s really annoying. Best to beat him at his own game.
    “ Variety ,” Lawrence answered. Of course. “So,” he concluded. “That should be enough to begin you on your investigation, no?”
    “Not yet,” I answered. Maxie had been expecting this (we’d discussed it on the way to Mom’s house), so she smirked slyly. “We haven’t discussed my fee. I won’t be doing any investigation unless we reach an agreement on the other issue.”
    Lawrence, sensing the trap being sprung around him, dropped his voice an octave. “ What other issue?” he asked.
    “My father,” I told him. “I do nothing for you until I see my father.”
    Maxie hovered down to position herself between me and Lawrence. She said nothing, but the look on her face (which I could sort of see through the back of her head) unmistakably said, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
    Lawrence, however, did not appear to be contemplating any kind of violence; he looked absolutely