"Rearing," he answered. "I take it you're not a horse girl."
"Not really, although I do have an affinity for wolves."
"Sure," he said, and looked a bit puzzled.
"A beautiful home you have," I said. "Who knew electrical engineers made so much money?"
"We don't. But I just sort of have a habit of..." But he blushed and looked away.
"A habit of what?" I asked.
"Maybe money. It's weird. Everything I do, it just sort of works out for me."
"Lucky you," I said.
"I suppose. This way, Samantha. I can show you where she appears to me."
She being his ghost of course. I was led through the entryway and down a small hallway, then through the kitchen and living room. I noted the 90-inch TV hanging from the wall. Yeah, a lot of money. Along the way, I kept an eye out for any ghostly activity. To my eyes, ghosts appear as a collection of energy. And by energy, I mean the surrounding staticy energy that only I can see, energy that lights up the night for my eyes. The more the energy that's gathered, the brighter the ghost. As far as I could tell, there were no ghosts.
At an office that was surely fit for an ace detective, there was a desk of epic proportions. Not just U-shaped, but a complete wraparound desk, with a narrow opening that afforded access within. Once inside, Charlie no doubt felt that he could conquer the world. Or at least eBay, or whatever the hell he did in here. At any rate, this would make a helluva crime-fighting command center.
No less than three full computers sat on the interconnected desk. Two laser printers. Stacks of paper, folders, a Kindle, an iPad, another tablet computer of unknown origin. Trinkets and other knickknacks filled the remaining desk. Or tried to. There was, after all, a lot of desk space to fill up. Between two of the computers, I saw a complete Star Wars fleet of X-Wing fighters and flying bookends (which is what they always looked like to me), and other oddly-shaped spaceships that someone had spent far too long gluing together. I'm looking at you, Charlie Reed. There was the roundish Millennium Falcon, tilted at a proud angle, ready to unleash its full arsenal upon the forces of evil, which, I assume, meant Darth Vader, although Darth Vader was the star of three movies of his own.
There were other toys/figurines, too. Batman and Superman waging an epic battle, forever frozen on his desktop, each delivering an epic punch that would probably hurt. There was Wonder Woman with her long, Amazonian legs. I didn't have long legs, Amazonian or otherwise. I had short legs, and maybe a little too muscular, according to Danny back in the day. The dick.
"She appears there," said Charlie, sidling up next to me a little quieter than I was prepared for. Hard to sidle up next to me with my own super hearing, but he'd done it. Anyway, he was pointing to a side hallway through a nearby archway. Yes, the study was so big that it had two entrances.
"Mind if I have a look?"
He didn't mind, and so I did. The hallway branched to the left and right. The right dead-ended at a floor-length series of drawers and cubbyholes. The left opened into another bathroom. Neither end revealed a ghost, although I was sensing a lot of... energy in the hallway. I stood there and let it sweep over me, and sort of reveled in it.
"You see anything?" he asked.
"No ghost girl," I said.
"Well, that doesn't surprise me. We're early."
"Of course," I said, and stepped back into the office. "Which of these computers do you use?"
"This one here."
"Mind if I sit? Do as they do in Rome, as they say?"
"Sure," he said, pleased all over again that he seemed to be loosening further.
I moved over to it and sat down in it. Leather, with lower back support. A full array of paddles and levers underneath. Brass studs. High neck support. I veritably disappeared into it. Cozy as hell. How anyone could actually get any work done in it was beyond me. The sucker was just begging to be tilted back and slept in. Or meditated upon.
"You work from home?"
"Rarely."
"So this office..."
"Is mostly just for show," he said, and blushed a little, and I realized he'd made a small joke. If anything, the whole damn house was for show. Yes, he was definitely loosening up. "I am working on a novel, though," he added.
"Ghost story?"
He chuckled. "Actually, it's a fantasy novel."
"Fantasy? Like sexual fantasies?"
He laughed again. "More like a Game of Thrones, although there is sex in it. I try to make the story as real as possible. Except, you know, the dragons and shit."