"Casey Daniels - Pepper Martin 01 - Don of the Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Daniels Casey)

As soon as she was gone, I closed the door.

I made sure to keep my voice down this time. "That was really rude."

"You think?" Gus sat back and stretched. "Back in my dayтАФ"

"Yeah. Back in your day. That's what we were talking about before Ella came in here."

"I take it that means you don't believe me when I tell you that I'm a ghost." Gus uncrossed his legs. He
ran a hand over his big-as-a-dinner-plate tie. "You calling me a liar?"
 "I'm not calling you a liar. But I'm not calling you a ghost, either. Ghosts are spooky. You know, woo
woo !" I waved my hands around and hummed the theme music fromThe Twilight Zone . "I can't see
through you. You don't glow. You're not misty around the edges. Besides, I don't believe in ghosts."

"I never did, either."

"Then howтАФ"

"Listen, kid." Gus got up and tugged his suit jacket into place. "I can't explain how the whole thing works
'cause I don't understand it myself. I only know that I died and I got buried over in that mausoleum out
there. At least my body did. But the rest of meтАж " He poked a finger at his chest. "I never left. I'm still
here."

"And I'm supposed to believe this becauseтАж "

"Because I'm telling you it's the truth. My word of honor. And if you can't believe that, then believe your
eyes. And your ears. And if you can't believe themтАж " Gus undid the buckle on his belt. He unzipped his
pants.

I held my breath and my eyes went wide.

Flashed by a ghost?

Things had just gone from bizarre to way-too-kinky for words.

Lucky for me, what I had in mind wasn't what Gus had in mind. Heuntucked his shirt and tugged down
the right side of his pants and his underwear just enough for me to see that he had a vivid red mark on his
right hip. It was about the size of a quarter and it was shaped like a rose.

"There. See that?" Once he knew I did, Gus yanked his pants back in place. He tucked in his shirt,
zipped his pants, and buckled his belt. "That there is a birthmark."

"Great." I smiled like it was. "Thanks for sharing."

Gus threw his hands in the air. "Are you some kind ofmortadella ? Don't you see what I'm getting at
here? You think I'm aтАж what do you call itтАж a figment of your imagination."

"You got that right."