Esprit de Corpse Read Online Free

and congratulated her as they left the room. It felt like a wake. People seemed subdued, their clothing somber. Of course, only a week ago, their president and CEO had died after murdering his former protégée.
    And that would be me.
    I hadn’t realized Shannon would now be CEO, but Iver PR wasn’t a publicly traded company. It was a family business and Shannon was Conrad’s only family. His estate must have been settled very quickly.
    Another man—a stranger to me—spoke softly with Shannon. I understood turnover in the public relations industry was high, but I was surprised that in the year I’d been gone, so many new people had joined the company. But just then, a few people I did know drifted out. There was my former friend Frannie, talking on her phone. I wanted to say hi, but she paced right by, her face a stony mask.
    Last to leave was Shannon. She looked tired and drawn—hardly the picture of corporate power.
    “Hi, Shannon. Long time no . . .” But of course she couldn’t hear me. I’d forgotten. She continued along the hall with her head down, reading a document as she walked. I moved over to walk behind her. Panic gripped me when I saw it was a contract. But then I saw it wasn’t printed on parchment and relaxed.
    I could tell, though, that it wasn’t some ordinary client contract. I caught a few words, peeking out between her hands. It read like something big and overarching, probably to do with the company. Well, of course. She’d just been appointed CEO, so she’d have to sign something, right?
    I followed her down the hall. In my mind, she’d taken over my office when she’d taken over my accounts, but that didn’t appear to be the case. In fact, as we passed by I saw it was Frannie who sat behind my old scratched desk. Same old desk accessories. I took a quick inventory but she had a new plastic stapler. Not the vicious metal one that had attacked me that day, beginning all my troubles. No wonder Dante had accidentally arranged for the wrong one to be retrieved for my appeal.
    So where had the right one ended up?
    A vague recollection nipped at my brain, but movement within my old office distracted me before I could grapple with it.
    Frannie looked up as Shannon strode past. She glanced away again quickly, eyes narrowed and mouth hard. Was she not happy that Shannon was now in charge?
    Shannon stopped in front of the VP’s office. I knew it was hers because the credenza displayed a picture of a very young Shannon with her mother. I’d never met Shannon’s mom; she’d died when Shannon was small. I might ask Sybil to pull up her records and let me know where she resided these days.
    But instead of entering, Shannon moved on down the hallway, heading into the big corner office that had been her father’s. I guess it, along with the entire company, was hers now.
    The overall atmosphere was a big downer. So Conrad had died. Big deal. It’s not like he was a great guy or anything. But no doubt a lot of these folks had fallen under his spell. It must be quite a surprise to find out the guy you hero-worshipped was actually a self-centered, murdering bastard. I know I’d been shocked as all hell when I’d finally put the pieces together. Maybe these people hadn’t reached the “I loved that guy only to find out he was a total skegger” stage of grief yet. They would have been exposed to his magical charisma right up to the day he died. Me? I’d been out from under his spell for a year now.
    Plus being clubbed to death by the guy could really knock over his pedestal.
    Shannon entered the office, closing the door right in my face!
    How rude.
    I reached out to turn the handle only to miss. Clumsy. I tried again. Oh, for the love of . . . I wasn’t missing; I couldn’t grasp the handle. I tried pushing the door open next, but my hand went right through it. Now how was I going to . . . ? Right! Through the door, of course. My hand was no longer solid on this plane. How soon we