Chapter Fifteen

She brings me to this old B n B in the middle of this place. How does she know where we are. I suspect she's got contacts in every town in the country. She just seems like that kind of person. The girl all the guys want but only for one night.
Lust not love.
The sex - not the morning after.
But something about that fact intrigues me ever so slightly. It kills me to admit it, but i'm starting to take a shine to this crazy ghost.
She opens the door and walks in, for the first time looking hesitant. She creeps into the hallway of this haven for all things dusty. The whole place looks slighty royal, but like it has been left unmaned for a decade or two. Like someone loved it, but lost interest. Maybe that's what happened to my leader here. What kind of a person would get close enough to this ghost to be able to make the choice to lose interest?
A stately middle-aged woman walks out of what could be the lounge/bar area. Her hair stood rock-hard on her head, like the kind of rock-candy sticks you get at the beach. Her face-paint make-up looks like Van Gogh's shirt sleeve after a day at the canvas and her scent is an elegant mix of bad perfume and bad B.O.
Edie walks up to this woman, dumps herself in front of her and grunts, without looking her in the eye. The woman looks Edie in the face with a certain bemusment (none so like the bemusment going on inside my head)
"Hi Edie"
"Hi Mum"

The lounge is smoky and serves as a hideout for Edie's Mum in the daytime. My guess is that this place doesn't get much business and there is no Mr. Edie's Mum to be seen. Mum knocks back another G & T, albeit more G and T.
"So - you've come back"
"Yeh well I got lost"
"Oh. And you're friend?" She motions towards me
"He's my pimp"
"Oh Edie, please. Hello, my name is Caroline and welcome to my house"
"Hi, I'm..."
"You're not allowed to speak to her" interrupts Edie. Her mother looks startled by this.
"Edie, please"
"You - go up to room 3, it's upstairs, the key is behind the desk out there. I'm going to kill my mother and then meet you up there. Do it now if you don't want to become an accessory."
I get up and leave. On my way to the keys I wonder whether Edie was kidding when she said she was going to kill her mother - they certainly seem to have a history. But then, who doesn't with their parents. I wander up the stairs that creak with every step and I let the dust wander up my nostrils. As if i have a choice.
I step inside the room and shut the door behind me. It just gets better and better.