Harry hit a button, and the photo popped up. There was Genevieve, her beautiful eyes wide and her arm around Betty.
The man was a bit to the side. Had he actually been with them? Or had he simply been caught in the photo?
No photographic manipulation in the world could change the fact that he hadn’t been facing the camera. But with the shot blown up and enhanced, Joe was able to get a sense of the man’s profile. He stared for a minute, sensing that he should know who it was but unable to make an ID.
Then he swore softly.
“Did I help?” Harry asked.
“You bet,” Joe told him, his heart racing. “Son of a bitch, you bet.”
15
Even though she was the one who might be in trouble, Leslie had to find out how Nikki and Adam were doing—she couldn’t help it. She was curious about her friends. But Nikki, sensing that Leslie had something on her mind, quickly steered her back to her own situation. But though she loved Adam, she realized that she just couldn’t quite explain everything that had been happening, not to him. She merely said that Matt had been coming into her dreams, even though he hadn’t made contact in any other way. She also talked about the “accidents,” and she tried to explain Joe and the fact that he was so much like Matt…and yet not like Matt at all.
The hardest thing to explain, actually, was the incident on the subway platform. She’d been so certain that she’d seen Matt there at first, urging her to move, and yet, it had been Joe who pulled her out.
“Accidents,” Adam murmured.
“Perhaps you should get out of here,” Nikki said.
“I’m not afraid of ghosts.”
Nikki smiled. “Well, we’ve both had the opportunity to learn that it’s the living who are the most dangerous.”
Leslie nodded; Nikki had voiced her own thoughts.
“And then,” Leslie said, “there are the prostitutes who’ve gone missing, along with a young social worker who knew some of them and is also missing. Plus there’s a good possibility that the explosion that killed Matt and almost killed me may not have been an accident.”
“Another good reason for you to leave,” Adam said.
“And another good reason for me to stay.”
“Because…?” Nikki prompted.
“Because I think I may be here because I can somehow help. There are ghosts in the house. I saw and spoke with Elizabeth—and Matt was the one who told me she needed help.”
“There’s a Civil War soldier in the entry, too,” Nikki said.
“You’ve seen him?” Leslie asked.
“Briefly. He seemed like quite the gentleman,” Nikki informed her.
“Really? I would love to meet him,” Leslie said.
Nikki smiled. “I’ve been at this a little longer than you. The first time I realized I was actually seeing a ghost…I thought I’d die of shock.”
“I pretty much thought I should be locked up,” Leslie murmured. “Except that…well, I think I was with Matt. That I almost stayed with him.”
“That was when you really had to admit that you see what other’s can’t,” Adam said gently. “What even I can’t,” he added wistfully.
Nikki set a hand on Leslie’s arm. “Should you really be staying at that house alone?” she asked.
“Wild horses wouldn’t drag me out of it,” Leslie said. “And last night Joe stayed in the extra room. It was just for the one night, but I can ask him to stay from now on. You know…you guys should stay tonight. Please? You may…see something I can’t. I guess you checked into a hotel, but…”
Adam waved a dismissive hand. “We can check out.”
“There’s also something I’d love your help with tomorrow if you have time before your flights,” she said. She went on to describe the little girl at the dig. “Her name is Mary, but I don’t know her last name, and there are so many Marys listed in the church register. I haven’t seen her again, but I feel that it’s urgent to reunite her with her mother.”
“I’ll do my best,” Nikki told her. “I wish Brent was here.”
“You and Leslie can fix things,” Adam said reassuringly.
Leslie started to speak, but then she realized that she’d been staring at a woman sitting alone in a booth across the room from them. Apparently the waitresses all knew her. Whenever they stopped by to refill her coffee cup, they all had something to say.
“Do you see someone you know? Have you been here before?” Nikki asked her.
“No. And, yes. I came here once with Matt.”
Nikki and Adam subtly checked out the woman Leslie had been studying. “That’s Eileen Brideswell,” he said.
“Of course,” Leslie murmured, wondering why she hadn’t recognized the woman. Not only had she seen her before, she’d even met her. Eileen Brideswell had been at the Hastings House gala the night of the explosion.
She looked exceedingly sad, though she tried to smile when waitresses talked to her. As soon as they left, though, the smile faded.
“You know her?” Leslie asked Adam.