K is for Kj

" You really bought the house Mr. Florian,” he paused and gave Kj a concerned look, as though worried for him. “You’re a braver man than most.”

          Kj shook his head, sipping his drink before gracing the man with an answer. “Those stories are just that, Mr Lawford, stories.”

          Lawford kept his look anyway and moved onto the next customer. The story of the house was that murders had been committed up there by some long dead murderers and that the ghosts of the people killed still haunted the house. Kj took another sip of his drink and concentrated on its dark, caramel, colours. There weren’t such things as ghosts, he’d told his newly acquired assistant that when he hired him.

          “Ghosts, Mr Gregory?”

          “Yes sir, the town is full of them. So people say.”

          “No.” He looked over the desk of his home at the young man. “People’s imaginations lead them to believe they have seen a ghost.” He tapped his papers into an orderly stack and set them aside. “I suppose the people of your town hear things in older houses?”

          Mr James Gregory looked to him, startled eyebrows rising up above his wide eyes. “Yes, Mr Florian, there have always been tales about those sorts of occurrences.”

          Kj nodded, understanding, and picked up his cup of tea. “Buildings absorb memories and to an open ear, the memories occasionally speak. Buildings hold onto the memories they absorb until someone listens to them in full.” He brought himself back into the room and out of his journey into his own knowledge. Mr Gregory was staring at him, open mouthed. Kj suppressed his naturally dry smile. “My investigative business surrounds those sorts of cases, though I will consider most any case. Don’t worry Mr Gregory,” he said as he rose from his chair and guided Mr Gregory out of his small office in his home. “You’ll soon learn to listen. Goodnight Mr…”

          “Please, sir, call me James.”

          “Very well,” Kj bowed his head, “goodnight James. I will see you to the station tomorrow morning for the journey back. You remember where the guest room is?”

          “Yes sir, thank you.”

Keiran James Florian, detective, found in K.J.F Investigations Case One: Setting Up Business.