Ghosts Beneath Us: A Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery (Spookie Town Murder Mysteries Book 3) (20 page)

He was scaring her, but she knew he was trying to protect her. “All right, I’ll go back to town for a while.

“I’m curious, you’ve never found that missing man, Alfred, then have you?” She’d heard him and Abigail talking about the old man’s disappearance a few days before.

“Not yet. If he doesn’t show up by tomorrow I’ll be putting in a missing person’s report at the police station. I go by his house every day, but it’s still empty. No one appears to have been there for a while.”

“I’m sorry. Abigail said he was a feisty old gentleman and you had taken a liking to him.”

“That’s true. I keep having this strange feeling that I know him better than I had thought. I’d probably seen him around town when I was young or something. I don’t know.”

Frank came to his feet. “All right. I think it’s time to leave. Night’s coming and Abigail expects me over at her house. I don’t want you to be here alone so I’ll wait around until you pack some things and I and my truck will escort you in your car until you hit the highway into town. I don’t trust those two jackals not to come back and give you some kind of grief.”

“If you insist. It won’t take but a jiffy for me to pack. I have most of what I need already above the shop, seeing Abigail and I are still working there. All I have to do is replenish a few of the basics: clean towels, toiletry refills and stuff.” She met his eyes and she felt tears in hers. “Thanks Frank. You and Abigail, everyone, have been so good to me. I really appreciate it.”

“Think nothing of it. We are neighbors. You’re one of us. Remember I told you we take care of our own in Spookie. That’s what we do.”

Smiling at him, she left the room. He was right. She didn’t want to be alone in the house when night fell. Something about those two who’d just dropped in on her suddenly made her want to flee the house. There’d been something menacing about them; something wrong in their eyes. And it was best to be safe instead of sorry. Her mother always used to say that and her mother, in her healthier days, had been a very smart woman.

Chapter 9

Frank

The following morning Frank got up, fed the dogs and released them into the backyard for exercise. It was going to be another warm day. The sun rose above him in all its glory but it didn’t lighten Frank’s mood. The situation with the missing and dead old folks worried him. He had to find out what was going on and deal with it before someone else got hurt. Sheriff Mearl maintained he was on the case, tracing leads and doing his job, but the police officer wasn’t that dedicated so, as usual, Frank didn’t have much faith for a swift resolution. The people who had disappeared and were threatened were his neighbors, his friends, and he had to do something.

He had the nagging suspicion Lansing Corporation was at the center of the mystery and it was vital he made contact and infiltrate them somehow. He’d already searched on the Internet for them but, surprise, surprise, there was no Lansing Corporation. How had they managed to hide from the Web he had no idea, but they had. How was he going to find them? He was mulling over his options while cooking up breakfast when a loud pounding exploded on his front door.

Frank opened it and there stood Myrtle. Her dress was yellow which made her look like a giant walking flower and her hair was a nimbus of rat’s nests surrounding a pale face. She grinned at him with her cherry-pink lips. For some reason, and there was rarely a sensible one when it came to Myrtle, she had a ratty umbrella in her one hand, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. He recognized that look on her face, though. Oh, oh, more trouble.

“Myrtle, how nice to see you. Isn’t it a tad early, though?”

“Not too early to go after the criminals who tossed my friend Tina out into the damn ocean and incinerated my trailer down to a pile of ashes. I only wanted to see if you’ve learned anything more about either. And has Alfred showed up yet?”

“No to all you’ve asked. Sorry, old friend. But I am working on it. Come on in. I was just about to have breakfast. Scrambled eggs with bacon. You may join me if you’d like.”

The old woman’s face drooped at his words then was transformed by a rapid smile when food was mentioned. For Myrtle life was simple. She got through every day to become a day older and if it was with a roof over her head and a full belly she was grateful.

She trailed him to the kitchen and dropped herself in a chair. Frank scooped out a hefty spoonful of scrambled eggs from the pan, put them on a plate and set it before her. With a mouth full, she asked, “So you didn’t find out anything else about Tina’s disappearance from the ship, either?”

“Nothing else of importance. No one saw or heard anything just as you’d uncovered. I’ve kept in touch with the captain and there’s no further news. We might never know what happened to Tina, but I’m afraid she’s gone. Truly gone. I’m so sorry. Alfred is still missing as well. No one’s seen him in over a week.” Frank shoved away the haunting image of the man in the window’s glass. Just because it’d looked like Alfred didn’t mean it had been Alfred. He was beginning to believe Alfred was as gone as Tina, Beatrice and Clementine. They were, most likely, all dead. His gut told him that.

“Oh I figured Alfred was most likely dead, too. Then I saw his ghost out in the woods with the others–Beatrice and Clementine–this morning on my way over here. That clinched it. Alfred’s a goner. Funny thing is I haven’t seen Tina yet. And I’ve been looking. Possibly coming back from the ocean takes a while longer or something. Maybe she’s lost her way and is on some other continent or something because she never was good with directions and finding places. I don’t know.”

Frank settled in a chair beside Myrtle and began to eat. “You saw Beatrice’s, Clementine’s and Alfred’s ghost in the woods?”

“Sure did. I had a bloody mob of them surrounding me this morning. Yakking, poking at me and grabbing at my clothes. Wanting to tell me things or just gawk at me. Like I said before, they’re really riled up these days. Anyone could see something is going on. But what pests! Then I yelled at them to go where they belonged and they slid back into the dirt and grass.

“You know the ghosts live deep in the ground beneath us, don’t you?” She pointed a finger downwards. “They’re everywhere but they hide and sleep in the earth. They’re always trying to reach us. Tell us their sad stories. Murder victims are the absolute worst. They’re the strongest ones, for a time anyway, because they are often so angry or they want justice for what happened to them. Then after some years they’re as ineffective as the other lost souls.”

“Do these ghosts ever show themselves in mirrors or as reflections in windows?”

Myrtle thought about that, scratching the side of her face. “Never heard of that myself or seen it. But who knows? Like I said those ghosts are everywhere. Some can see them, like me; some can’t.”

He knew she was waiting for him to say more, but he didn’t.

“Why, Frank? Have you been seeing ghosts?”

He laughed as if the very notion was a joke. “Everywhere.”

She didn’t laugh but the look she gave him said it all. He couldn’t fool her.

Avoiding any other further interrogation, he went on, “You know Kate had some people in suits who stopped by and wanted to buy her mother’s house? I tried to waylay them but they slipped away before I got there.”

“Describe them.”

From Kate’s description he did.

“They sound like the two numbskulls who came to my trailer some time back and tried to pressure me into selling. The same two, I reckon. The man was sickly nice and the woman was way too prissy and pushy. I sent them packing. Now look, my trailer’s a hunk of melted metal and I’m living in a dead woman’s house.”

“Talking about Tina’s house…I wanted to pass something by you. Kate was given a telephone number for Lansing Corporation. That’s the company that wants to buy all the land. I now believe they’re somehow involved in all our problems and I was thinking about calling that number and pretending to be Tina’s nephew. I want to meet those two in person and ask them a couple questions.”

“Tina doesn’t have a nephew.”

“You and I know that but they don’t. I’ll only pretend to be her nephew and now sole owner of her house and land who wants to quickly unload it. I’ll invite them to Tina’s house to discuss price. Then perhaps I’ll get some answers and if not, I’ll tail them after they leave. See where they go. Hopefully they’ll lead me back to their lair.”

“Sounds like a dandy plan to me, detective. Here’s the house keys.” She pulled them from a pocket in her dress and threw them at him. He caught them. “When you going to do this?”

“Soon as we get done with breakfast I’ll drive over, let myself into the house, and make the call. See if I can get them flushed out.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing, I suppose. At least we’re finally doing something to get to the bottom of things.” Done with her breakfast, Myrtle jumped up from her chair and headed for the door. “While you sit in my friend’s house and play act at being someone you’re not,” she presented him with a devious smile, “I’m going to go watch the big machines clear away what’s left of my trailer and then go visit the Modular Home Center to let them know they can now deliver my new home.”

“I bet you can’t wait for that new trailer, huh?” Frank walked her to the door and let her out.

“It’s not a trailer, it’s a
modular home
.”

“Sorry. Modular home.”

“You want the truth? I can’t wait to be back on my own land and out of Tina’s spook house.” Myrtle stood on the porch and her rheumy eyes watched back at him from under the shade of it. “Her place is infested with the critters. It’s as if since she went into the sea the ghosts have gone wild and have overrun her place. It’s so crowded there I spent the night on Abigail’s couch. She said I can stay as long as I want.

“She baked me chocolate chip cookies last night. Sweet girl. She’s a great cook, too, you know?” The old woman gave him a knowing grin, always trying to be a match maker.

“I know. But, don’t forget, Myrtle I have a whole spare room upstairs you’re welcome to use anytime. You don’t have to sleep on anyone’s couch.”

“I know that.” She waved her hand at him in an affectionate gesture and patted his arm. “But as I see it my new home will be up and ready to move into within days. The Modular Home Center promised me that. Nothing like a big fat bonus to get things done in a timely fashion. They just bring in the two halves by truck, drop them on my land, stick them together and connect all my electricity, plumbing and Internet and I’m good to go.

“Though I will keep your generously kind offer of a room and a bed in mind if that sofa gets too hard to sleep on.”

And Frank was sure she would.

“Meals included with that offer?” she tacked on at the last second.

“Of course.”

“Might take you up on that then, Mr. Big Shot Author, next meal time.” She chuckled and pivoted around to go down the steps.

She hobbled off across his front yard towards the road, her umbrella swinging beside her. She wasn’t going near the woods today, she’d informed him, because of the aggressive wraiths. He’d offered to drive her to her old homestead but she insisted on walking. She’d declared it was a beautiful day and she liked walking.

Frank did the dishes then walked out the door, got in his truck and drove to Tina’s house. He let himself in with the key. The place did have an eerie ambience about it. It was gloomy, musty inside. All the windows were closed; shades drawn. The shadows that congregated in the corners and crevices of the rooms seemed to have a life of their own. Myrtle was right, the place was sort of creepy. It could just be his fancy because he was nearly one hundred percent positive its owner was no longer on this earth. Murdered, in all likelihood. As Myrtle had said, he was in a dead woman’s house.

He raised the shades and opened some windows. Rummaged around until he found the ingredients for coffee and made a cup. He wanted to look at home when his guests arrived.

He took the card from his pocket and dialed the telephone number on it. It didn’t surprise him that when the man on the other end of the line found out who he was pretending to be and what he wanted he made an immediate appointment to meet him at Tina’s house. Frank had expected nothing less.

Thirty-five minutes later, he shepherded a man and a woman into the living room and then into the kitchen. By their looks they were undoubtedly the same two who had visited Kate the day before. They arrived in their shiny car, expensive suits, phony smiles, and set off his detective’s inner alarm for falseness the minute they began jabbering. He’d bet his retired badge their hidden agenda, whatever it was, had nefarious roots and he’d uncover it one way or another.

“Come in, come in.” Frank plastered on his own phony smile and a mindless expression. He subtly became someone else because when he wanted he could be a good actor. Years as a homicide detective had honed his skills. Today he was playing a good-natured but dumb country boy in dire need of cash hoping to hastily unload his dead aunt’s property. He’d dressed for the part in frayed jeans and a T-Shirt with holes in it; had left his hair uncombed and hadn’t shaved that morning to make himself look scruffier than usual. Now all he had to do was create a believable performance.

The man, as he entered, was examining Frank closely. The woman, dressed in a steel gray suit with a pastel silk blouse and heels, was studying him as well, but more secretly from under half-masted eyelashes. He pegged her as the brains right off; the man, the brawn. She was the one he had to convince.

“Good morning Mr. Stanus.” The man shook Frank’s hand. Stanus was the fictitious name Frank had given them on the phone. The man, as Kate had described him, was taller than Frank and thin. His hair was short and a striking shade of silver. Yet he wasn’t old. Frank pegged him at being about forty. He had cold blue eyes that reminded Frank of blue glass. “I’m Scott Lethgrow and this is my colleague Maria Smith. We represent the Lansing Corporation.” He shoved a business card at Frank, the same one Kate had been given, and shook his hand.