Phantoms by J. A. White

Author:J. A. White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Published: 2021-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

14

Ice Cream and Revelations

There was too much to explain over the phone, so Cordelia arranged a meeting at Moose Scoops, Ludlow’s local ice cream shop. In an attempt to stay profitable during the winter, the owner had purchased a couple of fancy coffee machines. It seemed to be working. The shop was crowded, mostly with teenagers. As usual, Sawyer was working the counter. He was a young man who always had a dumbfounded expression on his face, as though you had just told him a joke and he was still trying to figure out the punch line. Cordelia liked him. He never rushed them out, no matter how long they lingered at their table, and even tossed them a free scoop of ice cream now and then.

“Hey, Sawyer,” Cordelia said, approaching the counter while Benji and Agnes snagged a table. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Sawyer said. “What can I get for you?”

Cordelia ordered a decaffeinated cappuccino for herself, a scoop of ice cream for Agnes, and the mocha smoothie that Benji liked. After collecting their drinks, she joined her friends at the only available table. It wasn’t as private as Cordelia would have preferred, but she doubted it mattered. The nearby teenagers were too involved in their own dramas to bother eavesdropping on a bunch of kids.

“How much do I owe you?” Benji asked, digging in his pocket.

“My treat,” Cordelia said. She had a funny feeling that their working days might be over, and she didn’t want Benji to waste his money. Perhaps he had already drawn the same conclusion, because instead of insisting he pay—as he normally did—Benji simply smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Agnes hadn’t even taken a bite of her ice cream, which was very un-Agnes-like. Cordelia could sense her moods in a way only a best friend could, and she had known within seconds that something was wrong. It was possible, of course, that Agnes had come to the same conclusions as Cordelia—but if so, she would be angry, not sad.

This was something else. Something personal.

“You okay?” Cordelia asked.

“Not really,” Agnes said. “But I want to hear what you have to say first. It’s all part of the same big mess.”

“Okay,” Cordelia said. She pulled out her phone and opened the Notes app. “I couldn’t sleep last night because of all the ideas bouncing around my head, so I decided to write them all down. I split my thoughts into three sections: Things We’ve Been Told, Things That Seem Wonky, and Next Steps. That last one is blank for now. I was thinking we could do it together.”

“Wonky?” Benji asked.

“Let’s start with Things We’ve Been Told,” Cordelia said, checking her notes. “Shady Rest was founded by Leland Knox. He rescued endangered ghosts and moved them to safe locations. When Mr. Knox died, his granddaughter Laurel took over the business. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave her enough money, so she was forced to take paying jobs capturing dangerous phantoms. When this proved too much for Victor—the only one at Shady Rest who could see the ghosts—he quit.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.