FLAPPER GIRL | ❝All those people, all those lives, where are they now?❞
In all her ninety-something years of death, all Effie Connolly wishes for is some excitement in Button House... from anyone other than the fellow ghosts she's stuck in purg...
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CHAPTER TEN a snapshot in time
⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰
"NOW, YOUR BUSINESS plan indicated eighteen guests rooms, didn't it?" Fiona asks her clients, completely unaware of the two ghosts spying on her every move — Effie and the Captain loom closely behind, but out of Alison's sight so she will not catch on to their plan.
"Oh, yeah," Mike mumbles, "the business plan, yeah."
"Ah, well, I'm immediately realising we can't accommodate that many rooms. I'm such a silly duck!" At this, Fiona cackles through a painfully fake laugh, making Effie's toes curl in her heels. "A lot of space needed for facilities, spa, swimming pool, etcetera. So I think my evaluation might have been a teensy bit premature. My fault."
"Right..." Alison sighs.
"We'll see what it comes to once we get a clear picture from these chaps, shall we? Great."
"Sorry, does that mean—"
Brrrring! Fiona's mobile phone rings, and she has no hesitation in answering it. "Ciao. Oh, hello, Gerald! Yes..." She clip-clops away in her stilettos, leaving the Coopers dishevelled and confused in her wake. The two ghost spies, however, have simply gathered more evidence to support their brewing plan. They back away into the next room, the cogs turning in their minds.
"Yes," the Captain hums, "she's a wily one..."
"So, what's the plan?" Effie asks. "We need to do something before Miss Gooseberry-Head over here wreaks more havoc."
"I'm still formulating a plan of action. Patience is key, Euphemia."
"Will you stop calling me Euphemia all the time?"
"If it bothers you that much—"
"Because that's not my name!"
The Captain straightens his back, caught off guard by her answer. He blinks vacantly at Effie, realising she is serious, and raises his eyebrows at her. "Wait... it isn't?" he asks, and she nods. "Then what is Effie short for?"
"Nothing. It's just Effie. I haven't a clue where you got Euphemia from."
"I suppose, when I was a lad... oh, never mind, why didn't you tell me so?"
"I have told you," Effie replies incredulously. "Several times... for the last ninety years."
"Oh, that's balderdash!" the Captain dismisses her claims with a wave of his swagger stick; once again, she knows there is little point trying to remind him of her name, so they focus back on the task at hand. She can see the Captain considering all of their options. "I tried recruiting reinforcements, but that lot in the basement had no intention of budging whatsoever. And as for the Yanks, well, you know..."
