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The ghost had come down the stairs behind them. Nate felt him stop on the landing.

Listening.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Sandra said, switching tactics, her voice dropping into something warmer and more confiding. “The house has been on the market for fourteen months. The sellers inherited it. They’ve never lived here. They want it gone.”

Fourteen months.

In this market, that didn’t indicate a problem with the price alone. Overpriced houses with original woodwork still collected offers from optimists. Fourteen months meant the optimists had come, walked these halls, and left in a hurry.

Nate glanced at the staircase.

The ghost stood on the landing with his arms crossed, chin up, looking smugly satisfied.

Ordinary people might not be able to tell you why they felt unwelcome in this building, but it kept them from wanting to come back all the same.

Nate faced Sandra. “The price would have to come down quite a bit.”

Sandra looked dismayed. “I understand, but there has been some interest this week.”

Nate didn’t believe her for a minute.

“I’ll call you,” Sandra said.

She walked him out. The porch board creaked in the same place. Behind them, the front door — the swollen, stubborn, humidity-locked front door — swung shut on its own and closed with a soft, perfect click.

Sandra stared at it.

“Drafty,” Nate said.

He crossed the gravel to his truck without looking back. He didn’t need to. The whole way, he could feel that bright, furious attention fixed between his shoulder blades, watching him leave.

Good, it seemed to say. Stay gone.

Nate got in, set his notebook on the passenger seat, and sat for a moment.

It was a lovely house.

But it would be a bad, bad decision to buy it.

Chapter

Two

Back at the motel, Nate sat on the edge of the bed with his notebook open and a gas station sandwich going stale on the nightstand. His full attention was focused on his notes.

Roof leak?

Foyer floor damage

Electrical concern

Pocket doors need repair

The list went on. Too many lines of expensive problems in a house he wasn’t going to buy.

And the line that bothered him the most:

Haunting: inconsistent physical influence.