Chain of Lust (Spirit World 2)

That money could buy her groceries for a week. Maddie shrugged nonchalantly, trying not to look too desperate for money. “Sixty is fine.”

“Good.” Jerry gestured at an old computer perched on a battered desk. “Know how to use that one?”

“I’m computer literate.”

A grin flashed on her new boss’ face. “Thought I’d read you worked as accounts payable or something, on your résumé.”

“Claim adjuster,” she corrected.

“Oh.” Jerry scratched his head. “I need you to inventory everything in here onto the computer. Need to keep track of what we have.”

“What kind of programme do you use?”

“Lotus, I think.”

“Lame.” Maddie cleared a stack of magazines from the chair and sat on it. She turned the computer on. The out-dated machine groaned into life. The screen flickered morosely. This thing was as old as dinosaurs. “Don’t you have a retail inventory programme or something?”

“Like what?”

“Never mind. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Guess I’ll let you get started, then. You can stay until nine if you want. I’m closing the shop late today. Got stuff to do.”

“Cool.” More hours meant more money. “It’s going to take me a while to clean all of this.”

“I’d imagine.” Jerry turned to leave. “Let me know if you need anything. There’s a coffee machine in my office, and the restroom is downstairs. You need the key from me, though. Only temporarily, until I make duplicates for you.”

“Okay.” Maddie scanned the room, feeling a bit overwhelmed as she heard Jerry’s heavy steps on the stairs. This job would take her forever to do. On second thoughts, it might not be a bad thing. She could milk for more hours and bring home extra money. God. She really needed the cash. If she didn’t get evicted by the end of this month, it would be a miracle.

She got up from the chair to open the window. The air in the room was stale. Cool air breezed past her after she managed to force the stubborn latches open. Outside it was raining again. The sky was dull and gloomy. Sighing heavily, Maddie rolled up her sleeves and started work.

Two hours later, it seemed she hadn’t made a dent on the cleaning part. There was just simply too much stuff to organise. And most of it looked like junk. Why didn’t Jerry have a sidewalk sale and be done with it? Most of the merchandise didn’t seem able to fetch big dollars anyway.

Maddie decided to stop cleaning and grabbed some DVDs to inventory. She waited impatiently as Jerry’s old computer struggled to load the Lotus programme. She narrowed her eyes. Whoever had made the spreadsheet didn’t know what he was doing. She ended up creating a new worksheet and starting from scratch. Just when she was about to type her first entry, the computer sputtered and died.

“Come on!” Maddie hit the keyboard. “Don’t do this to me.”

The computer stayed dead.

“Ugh!” She stomped her foot in exasperation. Just when things looked promising, shit always happened to her. Every time. She had no choice but to get up to tell Jerry about the computer.

All of a sudden, something snagged her waist.

No.

Maddie yelled as her body lurched in mid-air. Her back stuck to the ceiling. She wildly thrashed, trying to find something to grab. Some invisible hands gripped her hard and wouldn’t let go.

“Who are you?” she barked. “Put me down, damn it!”

Derisive chortles echoed around the room. The hair on her nape rose.

She’d seen weird things in her life, but the owner of that laughter sounded very creepy. Panic started setting in. Usually, she could see the spirits who bugged her. This time, she couldn’t.

“Help!”

Something caught her ankle and dragged her towards the window.

Oh, crap. “Jerry!”