Page 40 of Ghost
Mitch looked at Mason again.“You’re serious.”
“I am.”Mason wiped his forehead with the cold beer bottle.
“Man, you can make a fortune from this!”Mitch bounded up and started pacing.“You could be like a...an honest-to-God ghostbuster or something!”
Paul’s mouth fell open and Mason started laughing.
“I’m serious, man!”Mitch downed most of his beer before he started pacing back and forth again.“I mean, think about it.You could be on theTonight Showand everything!”
Paul had started laughing as well.
Mitch stopped and looked at his two friends.“What’s so funny?”
“Mitch, buddy, I can’t get rid of ghosts.I can only see them.If I could get rid of them then I would have gotten rid of that old woman, trust me.She is disgusting,” Mason said trying his best to stop laughing.
“Okay, that could pose a problem, I guess.”Mitch finished his beer.“Y’all ready for another?”He opened the door of the ancient looking refrigerator.
Paul and Mason both answered yes.Mitch opened the three beers.“Think about it: You could maybe, like, do interviews with famous dead people or some shit.”
That set both Paul and Mason off laughing again.
“Come on, guys.Think about it.”Mitch glared at both of them.“Fine.See if I offer up anymore brilliant ideas.”He sat down heavily next to Paul, his bottom lip stuck out like a petulant child.
“Oh, come on, Mitch.”Mason wiped the tears from his face, holding his stomach.“Youthink about it.Do you honestly think for one minute that anyone in their right mind would believe me?Do you know how ridiculous I’d look?”
Mitch didn’t say anything for a minute.“There’s gotta be a way to capitalize on this shit.”
“Thanks for thinking of me,” Mason said.“How about we just focus on getting done what we can with what time we have left.”
“What if they don’t let us back in before Mitch and I have to leave?”Paul asked.
Mason shrugged.“Then I say we party like it’s 1999!”
“Oh, yeah!”Mitch yelled, jumping up again doing some little dance.“That’s what I’m talking about.”
Paul rolled his eyes.
Mitch stopped and glowered at Paul.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.Mitch stuck his tongue out as he turned to answer the door.
“Is Mr.Montgomery here?”
Mason stood up.“Back here, Detective Stafford.”
The policeman entered the small apartment.“Hello.I thought I’d bring you up to date on where things were.”
“Thank you.Would you like a beer?”Mason offered.
“No, I wish I could but I’m still on duty.I’ll take a raincheck.”The detective pulled out his notebook.“As best as we can determine, the body we found was indeed male, but from the clothing, we kind of figured that out.Unfortunately, there is no obvious way to determine the cause of death.The Medical Examiner is thinking that the body has been there not quite a hundred years.”He looked up from his notebook, looking at Mason.“There didn’t seem to be any sense in trying to look for fingerprints or any other type of forensic evidence either.We did get a lot of photographs.They are about to remove the remains and after that, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why you can’t go back into your house.”
“What will become of the remains?”Mason asked.
“I’m not really sure.”Stafford scratched the back of his head.“I’ve never encountered anything like this before.”
“Would you find out for me, please?”Mason asked.“I kinda feel responsible for him.I mean, he was found in my house after all.”
Detective Stafford looked curiously at Mason.“You know, that’s really kind of you.I don’t know that anyone else would even have considered that.I’ll see what I can find out and let you know.”
