Chapter 11: No Obligation

The Victorian had survived an earthquake, two renovations, and the installation of a glass elevator in its former stairwell. Sau-lin considered the elevator the cruelest injury. Ashby Merritt called the house Belgrave, although no Belgrave had owned it. The old name had been stripped from the gateposts. Fresh brass letters gleamed above a garden wall painted the color of expensive oatmeal. A green open-house sign stood at the curb. Callum stopped beside it and looked up four stories of blue-gray shingles, white trim, and bay windows polished against the evening fog. "Stay near me," he said. "We have been over this." "No flooded cellars. No broken mirrors. No manifestations in front of clients." "How fortunate you put that last." He glanced at her. Sau-lin smiled and entered the house. Near him, she had enough substance for the Ashby Merritt coordinator to mistake them for invited buyers. The woman wore a…