Redecorating

"All right. I'm off to bed. Long day. Good night, Mr. Bell," Kincaid said cordially. "Interesting playing cards with you."

"Expensive, too," said Judge Congdon. "What are you going to do with all those winnings, Mr. Bell?"

"I'm going to buy my fiancee a mansion."

"Where?"

"San Francisco. Up on Nob Hill."

"How many survived the earthquake?"

"The one I'm thinking of was built to stand for a thousand years. The only trouble is, it might hold ghosts for my fiancee. It belonged to her former employer, who turned out to be a depraved bank robber and murderer."

"In my experience," Congdon chuckled, "the best way to make a woman comfortable in a previous woman's house is to hand her a stick of dynamite and instruct her to enjoy the process of redecorating. I've done it repeatedly. Works like a charm. That might apply to former employers, too."

From Clive Cussler and Justin Scott's paperback book The Wrecker.