When I started working for Candace the next day, I wondered how Lara had managed to do her job for years without going insane.

To be fair, it wasn’t like the phone was ringing off the hook. Candace had a separate line for business, and I only got a handful of calls that day. E-mail requests were about the same. Still, I was kind of amazed at the varied personalities I had to deal with. It was easy for me to tell the difference between a major haunting and a minor one, and the latter usually got scheduled out later. Some people didn’t take that too well. Equally frustrating were those who didn’t even know what they were asking for.

“It’s like an occasional knocking in the walls,” one man explained to me on the phone. “Usually when the air-conditioning kicks on.”

“You have central air?”

“Yup.”

“I don’t suppose ... it might actually be something going on with the air-conditioning?”

He considered this for a few moments. “Doesn’t seem likely. It’s never done it before. I’ve had this system for years.”

“Well,” I said patiently, “things wear out over time.”

“I dunno. I’m pretty sure it’s a ghost.”

I sighed. “Have you had any other signs? I mean, have you actually seen an apparition or felt any cold spots?”

“No,” he said after another long pause. “But I’ve sometimes felt warm spots.”

“Warm spots?” I asked. “That’s not usually an indicator of a spectral presence.”

“Well, they’re there. Even when the air-conditioning’s on, it still feels pretty hot in the house.”

I gritted my teeth. “If the air-conditioning’s broken, that would explain the noise and why it’s not cooling your house.”

The guy was obviously still skeptical. “I think it’s a ghost. Do you think she can come out and take a look?”

“Yeah, but it might be a while. Her schedule’s pretty booked.”

“That’s okay,” he said. “The ghost kind of adds character. Maybe I won’t even have her get rid of it.”

We scheduled the appointment, and I hung up, thinking bleakly that that had been ten wasted minutes of my life I would never get back. I also found myself again thinking of Dorian. Not that he would do phone customer service, of course. But that customer’s personality was exactly the kind Dorian loved to taunt. I could see him nodding along seriously with the guy: “Intriguing. Tell me more about your ghost.”

Still, it occurred to me after a few days that I really was making Candace’s life easier. I was also helping out Charles, who was relieved to no longer have to deal with air-conditioning ghosts. I decided the annoyance of customer service was a small price to pay for their hospitality.

A week or so into my gainful employment, Evan surprised me with a daytime visit. He was in his usual jeans and T-shirt but had obviously cleaned up and didn’t have the typical wear and tear from working outdoors.

“Wondered if you wanted to go see some more local sights,” he told me. “There’s a plantation south of here that’s a historic monument.”