‘Of course I can,’ he said, scowling. ‘I have gone through puberty, you know. If I really put my heart and soul into it for about three months, I can squeeze a few hairs out of my chin. Anyway, don’t change the subject. You still haven’t told me how you interpret your job.’

His phone pinged at this same moment and he picked it up and glanced at it.

Jeremy Arlo

Busy here too. I enjoyed meeting you!

He frowned. Jeremy wasn’t even hinting at getting together again. If anything, this felt like a brush-off. He wasn’t accustomed to having to do so much of the running himself, but if he was going to earn the money he needed to keep his finances on track, then it seemed that he would have to work a little harder.

Achilles Cleverley

Fancy doing it again sometime?

‘I imagine the entire arc of the novel and describe it,’ explained Beverley. ‘Then the ghost commits all my thoughts to the page.’

‘I’d love a job like that,’ said Achilles. ‘Not the ghosting part, that sounds too much like hard work, but the imagining part. It would be great to say, Oh, I’ll just be an investment banker and imagine millions of dollars moving around the globe, but someone else can do the actual slog for me while I swan around on my yacht in the Mediterranean.’

‘You don’t understand the process,’ said Beverley. ‘It’s a lot more complicated than you might think.’

‘And do you enjoy it?’ he asked.

‘It’s not a question of enjoyment,’ replied the ghost. ‘Some of us have to work to pay the rent.’

‘Ha,’ he said, stuffing into his mouth a forkful of chicken coated in a shaved Parmesan that was so sharp it sent a shiver down his back. ‘And do you plan on making a play for my brother while you’re on the job, so to speak?’ he asked, determined to annoy somebody, anybody.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Well, you know that Nelson and your predecessor had something going on before she died, right?’

‘What are you talking about, Achilles?’ asked Beverley.

‘Didn’t you know? He was quite taken with her. Or so he told me. They went out for drinks one evening, apparently. He was thinking of asking her to move in with him.’

‘Wouldn’t that have been a little premature?’

‘Well, you know Nelson. He got talking to her, so he figured, she’ll do. Anything to put off focussing on the obvious.’

‘And what obvious is that?’ she asked.

‘That he’s a bender.’

Beverley rolled her eyes and turned back to the ghost. ‘You’ll have to forgive my son,’ she said. ‘He thinks he’s being funny but, actually, he just likes to shock.’

‘You talk to each other in a curious way,’ said the ghost.