Suzette shoved her hands through her long dark hair as Randy walked into her office. “Randy,” she said, “I think we need to get someone to replace Maria temporarily.” She motioned to the neat piles of paper that covered every inch of her desk, the credenza and about a quarter of the floor. “It’s either that, or I’m not doing any more cases until Maria comes back or until I get rid of some of this paper, whichever comes first.”

Randy nodded absently, “I think you’re right. Suz, I hate to ask this but are you up to a case in Williamsburg?”  

“Randy, give me a break!” She exclaimed in exasperation. “Look at all this paperwork. I honestly can’t take on another case right now. We don’t get paid until I get the invoices finished so I can send out the bills. We have our office payment due in three days and we don’t have the money to cover it.”

“I know,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

Suspiciously she looked up at him. “What kind of a case? I don’t want any more of my biological family’s trumped up cases.”

Randy laughed. “It’s seems a bit strange that they treated you so badly when you all were in Hawaii, then when you walked out on them, they want to be involved in your life.”

Suzette frowned. “I don’t understand it myself. I saved my biological grandfather’s life. He and his wife treated me like crap. Now that I’ve been ignoring their phone calls, letters and telegrams, they’ve resorted to hiring us to investigate bogus cases. As busy as we are, we don’t have time for their stupidity. I don’t have the patience, either.” 

She sighed. “I used to wish that I could find my biological family and now that I’ve met some of them, I wish I hadn’t found them.”

“Well, I didn’t do a complete background check, but our client is one of the Williamsburg Foundation’s Board of Directors. The man who called says the case concerns arson.

When she looked startled, he added, “Just to make it more interesting, Mr. Sanderson, who is an attorney, said that the only way the fires could have been started was by ghosts.”

She shook her head. “It sounds like someone has been drinking.”

“He sounded stone sober and extremely worried. He’s offering us an extremely lucrative retainer and generous expenses. He must be serious because he’s wiring the retainer to the tune of ten thousand dollars.”

Suzette slowly rose to her feet, leaned on the desk and demanded, “Did you really and truly say ten thousand dollars?” She started to smile, “That would pay off our office loan. We’d own these sixteen hundred square feet free and clear.” She laughed, “To get out of debt, I’d stay up all night to get the paperwork done so I could leave tomorrow if I needed to.” Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

Randy said, “Maria wants to work from home. Since I’m sure you don’t mind taking all your paperwork piles over to her and explaining what you need done, I can tell Mr. Sanderson that you will take the case.”

“I thought you said he wired the money.”

“He did, but I also told him that we weren’t taking the case unless you were agreeable.  He sounded a bit grumpy when I told him that, said something about a woman’s place, but I told him we were partners and that’s the way it was.”

“Why don’t you call now and put him on speaker phone. We can both talk to him.  I’d like some background information.”

When Sanderson answered, Randy said, “Mr. Sanderson, I’ve talked to Suzette and she has agreed that we should take the case. Once the retainer has arrived, Suzette can make her flight arrangements, but in the meantime, she would like to ask you a couple of questions.”

“Check your bank account young man. The money should be there. I had my secretary wire it as soon as I hung up. I want Miss Bishop here ASAP. Things have developed that make it imperative that this mystery be solved immediately.”

“What things, sir?” Suzette asked, leaning forward curiously.

“Over my objections, the Board of Trustees have agreed to allow the Democratic Party to hold one of their pre-convention fund raisers in the Governor’s Palace next week. It has been our policy to not allow our historic area to be used for commercial venues but the amount of money they offered the Foundation changed board member’s minds and policy very quickly.”

“Excuse me, sir, but I’ve had some experience in planning events of this caliber. I would think that they would have reserved the location for their event months ago.”

“True. They were scheduled to have this event in D. C., but the event center burned to the ground. Someone thought they might earn more money if they could hold it in the Governor’s Palace here in Williamsburg. They have informed me that there will be no problems, since they are charging ten thousand dollars for each person who attends the dinner. There will only be 100 people attending,” he said angrily. “But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be problems.”

“You told Randy that ghosts have caused the fires. Why do you think that?” Suzette said carefully, not revealing her thoughts about ghosts and arson.

“Because every fire has taken place in a building on our ghost tour. The tour talks a lot about ghosts who like to move candles or cause fires.” He paused to swallow noisily. “We’ve had more problems than arson although that is my main concern.” 

“What kind of problems?”

“Fires were started in the George Wythe House and the Raleigh Tavern. All the doors at the Governor’s Palace were found unlocked one morning but we found nothing missing. It’s one of the show places in Williamsburg.”  He said grimly, adding, “There have been other incidents as well.  Expensive items missing from one building. Some have turned up in other buildings, but most have just disappeared. I have a list of all the things that have happened.” 

He paused, “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what any negative publicity would do to our museum. We have some items that have been lent to us. If the donors find out about the thefts, some of them might request that their items be returned and--”

“You can’t return them because some of them have been stolen.” Randy said.

Suzette said skeptically, “So you think that ghosts are behind all these other incidents?”

“I doubt if it really is ghosts. It just seems odd that so many places on our ghost tour have been vandalized and in a way that suggests ghosts. I’ll have a list for you as soon as you get here.” They could hear the tension in his voice. “When will you come?”

Suzette looked at Randy. “If I can work things out, I’ll come either tomorrow or the next day.”

Miss Bishop, I’ve heard great things about you. Please come tomorrow if possible.  The incidents and accidents are escalating, both in frequency and in intensity and,” he paused, then continued is a frantic voice, “I am afraid that this may turn into a life or death matter.”