Page 2 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

Liam leveled a stare on her. “And you’ve been handling dusty books and dirty money in your outfit. So what? You didn’t change.”

He had her there.

Didn’t it figure? The one and only thing he’d actually paid attention to today of all days, the momentous day of the arrival of a fresh brain, would be the outfit she’d put on for work this morning.

She sighed. “You’re right. Don’t change. It’ll take too long anyway. Harper’s supposed to speak first but we should still be there by now. So let’s just go.”

Glancing down at himself again, he shook his head. “No. You’re right. I should change out of jeans and put on a fresh shirt if I’m going to be meeting Mansion Bob.”

Now he listened to her? She should have kept her mouth shut and they’d be out the door already.

“Don’t take too long,” she called in the direction of the room he kept as a bedroom for when he slept in the lab.

“I’m not the one who takes forever to change,” he called back.

Left alone in the working area of the lab, she looked around. It was a bit more pleasant in there since Liam had started requesting just brains for research rather than full cadavers. Much less crowded. A bit less disturbing.

Natalie.

She spun at the sound of her name, low, in a ghostly-sounding whisper.

Turning, she saw there was no one visible. “Gabe?” she asked.

Na-ta-lie.

The hushed murmur came again, this time drawing her name out. Long. Spooky. Ominous…

She pivoted to take in all three hundred and sixty degrees of her surroundings.

Liam was still in the bedroom, too far to be the whisperer. She could hear him opening and closing the metal lab storage cabinet where, acting like the former military man he was, he kept his limited wardrobe neatly folded and regimentally stacked on shelves rather than in a real closet.

What’s wrong, Natalie?

Getting angry at the unidentified voice’s question, she planted a hand on her hip. “Gabe, stop it this instant. This isn’t funny.”

Then you should leave.

A chill ran up her spine at the eerie command.

“Gabe, I swear I’m going to tell Harper to disconnect the television in your room if you don’t stop messing around right now.”

“Who are you talking to?” Liam asked, emerging from the other room wearing khaki slacks now instead of jeans, and a twin to the shirt he’d had on before, except with long rather than short sleeves.

“I think Gabe is messing around trying to scare me. Whispering my name and stuff.”

“Gabe and Millie should be at the Rotary thing with Harper, no?” Liam asked, glancing at the watch on his wrist.

Liam had a point. Gabe had actually wanted to go to this thing tonight. Apparently he’d been a Rotarian himself before he’d died.

Natalie nodded as a thought hit. “I bet Harper sent him here to get us to move along and he decided to be funny—make that creepy—and try to scare me.”

She’d pronounced the word creepy extra loudly to let him know she wasn’t amused.

Liam tipped his head to one side. “Seriously? Nat, you’ve been seeing and hearing every ghost who’s crossed your path since your heart stopped from that electrical shock. I think it’s going to take more to scare you than your ghost best friend whispering your name in my lab with me in the next room.”

“You’re right. Takes more than that to scare me. Don’t you forget that, Gabe,” she announced loudly to the room at large since Gabe was apparently playing hide and seek with her today instead of showing himself. She turned to Liam. “Ready?”

“Just have to put this in the upright,” Liam said as he strode toward the brain.