Good Buy Girls 05 - All Sales Final (12 page)

“And just what does that leave me with?” Dennis demanded. “The chair? How is that fair?”

Maggie was beginning to understand why Blue had popped him.

“I know about orchids,” Blue said. “I can help with those.”

“Excellent,” Doc said. “And you can split the cost of replacing Clyde’s chair.”

Blue nodded as if that seemed fair to him.

Dennis looked smug as if he’d gotten away with something until Doc looked at him and added, “And since you don’t know anything about orchids, I think you can weed Mavis’s ten-by-ten patch in the community garden.”

“Aw.” Dennis started to complain but Doc cut him off by holding up his hand.

“Enough,” Doc said. “Maggie is here to tell you both about the house and put this nonsense to an end.”

Maggie glanced at their expectant expressions and she turned to look at Doc in confusion. “What is it exactly that you wanted to know?”

“Is there a ghost in the house?” Blue asked.

She frowned at him. They’d already discussed this.

“Yes, is there?” Dennis asked. “Does it seem malevolent?”

“Huh?” Maggie looked at Doc in confusion.

“Dennis and Blue got into a fistfight because Blue claims the house has a ghost, and Dennis said that if it does it means that clearly one of Blue’s relatives must be evil and is haunting the house because they’re trapped here and can’t move on to the beyond.”

“I don’t think I’m qualified to speak on this,” Maggie said. “You need someone who knows about paranormal stuff. Like spirits and poltergeists and all that jazz.”

“You’ll do just fine,” Blue said. “You’ve been in the house and felt the presence of an otherworldly being. Since you and Sam bought the house it belongs to you. So, does it feel as if the presence is evil or not?”

Maggie blew out a breath. The presence didn’t feel evil but it was definitely there. She didn’t care what Sam said.

“No, it’s not evil, I think,” she said.

“Aha,” Blue snapped at Dennis. “There you have it. Not evil.”

“But she said ‘I think,’” Dennis insisted. “She doesn’t know. It only figures that it’s evil and someone in your family caused it or maybe it’s Ida or Imogene. They never did marry and they lived in that house for a mighty long time by themselves. Maybe they were witches.”

Blue struggled to get to his feet. He had his hands balled into fists and a fire in his eye when he bellowed, “Why you . . . I’ll knock your head off for that.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Doc Franklin said as he pushed Blue back down into a seated position. “Settle down there, Blue, there is absolutely no fighting in my office and you know it.”

“But he’s slandering my family,” Blue protested. “I can’t have that. I lost three dates for next week because of him. If this keeps up, I may have to learn to cook for myself.”

“It might do you some good,” Doc Franklin said.

“Don’t even joke,” Blue said.

“I’m just stating the facts,” Dennis protested. “I can’t help it if the ladies are afraid of you now that they know you have bad kin in your family. You can’t blame the ladies. If it’s genetic, they have to be worried for their safety with you. Who knows when you might snap.”

“What? I’d never hurt a lady, and I do not have bad kin,” Blue protested. “No one in the Dixon family is a killer.”

“That’s right,” Maggie said. “Just because we found a skeleton . . .”

She caught herself too late. All three men turned to stare at her in surprise and Maggie knew there was no taking back what she had just said. Oops.

Chapter 12

“What skeleton?” Doc Franklin asked.

“Um,” Maggie stalled.

“Skeleton?” Dennis lit up like a firecracker. “Ha, I knew it. There’s a murderer in your past, Blue Dixon.”

“There is not!” Blue shouted. His face was a mottled red.

“This wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I sent for you,” Doc Franklin said to Maggie.

She bit her lip. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” he said. “A skeleton?”

“Yes, in uniform,” Maggie said. “It seems he has been there for a very long time. Sam is trying to identify him as we speak.”

“Just wait ’til I tell the ladies about the skeleton in
your closet. Get it?” Dennis chortled. “We’ll see who is getting the home-cooked hot dishes then, won’t we?”

“Why you . . . that’s it. I’m going to punch you right in the mouth,” Blue said.

Dennis put up his fists, looking like he was ready to go. Doc Franklin stepped in and held up his hands, stopping the two of them from getting anywhere near each other. He frowned at the men on either side of him.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is more about casseroles than it is about the Dixon house being haunted or not?” he asked.

Dennis’s eyebrows lowered and his upper lip curled. “It’s his fault.”

Blue raised his hands in exasperation. “What is my fault? You start bad-mouthing me to all of the ladies, saying that there are evil ghosts in my family home and that I am likely to go crazy and kill people and that’s my fault?”

“Me and my brother had it pretty good with the ladies before you got here,” Dennis said. “They took good care of us with Sunday dinner invites and doing our laundry. Then this clown shows up with his pretty manners and suave suits and my brother and I have had to learn how to do our own laundry and we haven’t had anyone drop off a meal in months.”

“Maybe it’s because you two have the manners of barnyard animals,” Blue said. “Sylvia Perch told me that you just dumped your laundry on her doorstep like she was your maid.”

“She liked doing it,” Dennis protested.

“Really?” Maggie asked. The feminist within her was having a conniption. “You actually think she
wanted
to launder your shorts?”

She said it in a tone that made it clear she thought he was as dense as a cinder block. Dennis’s cheeks turned a vibrant shade of red, and she knew she’d made her point. Dennis wasn’t one to stop digging himself into a hole once he’d begun shoveling, however, so he started to protest.

“Well, she was perfectly happy to do my laundry until he showed up and started giving all the ladies flowers and candy and taking them to movies,” he said. He glared at Blue. “You ruined everything.”

“I’d say it’s more like I liberated those poor ladies, if you ask me,” Blue said. “If a woman does something nice for you, you should do a kindness in turn or at the very least let her know you appreciate it. Good god, man, everyone knows you’re rich. Why don’t you use some of your wealth to spread some joy to the ladies? Then you’d be in the running again as they’d likely overlook your abysmal manners. You should try to evolve a few steps beyond knuckle-dragging cave dweller.”

Dennis started to growl, so Doc Franklin stepped in between them again.

“Seems to me you fellas need to find a compromise,” Doc said. “How about if Blue schools you in the art of winning over the ladies?”

“What?” Dennis and Blue cried together. They looked equally appalled at the idea of spending any time together.

Doc continued, “The ladies like Blue because he treats
them well, you want the ladies to like you, Dennis, so it seems to me the only solution is to get Blue to teach you how to woo the ladies. And Blue, there are far too many ladies for you to manage on your own, so it shouldn’t be a hardship to share.”

Dennis looked at Blue suspiciously. “My brother, too.”

“Great,” Blue muttered. “Now I have the Applebaum brothers for an entourage.”

“Well?” Doc asked.

“No more cracks about my family,” Blue said. He gave Dennis a dark look.

“Deal,” Dennis said. He held out his hand and Blue shook it. “But you have to admit a skeleton in the house could be good material.”

Blue considered him for a moment and then turned to Maggie with a confused look. “I’ve been in that house a few times to check on things, and I’ve never seen a skeleton. Where did you find it?”

“It was in the basement in a root cellar that had been blocked off by a shelf full of canning jars,” she said. “We never would have found it but the light went out and Sam and I went down to check the circuit breaker. While we were checking it out, I found the door to the cellar and there he was.”

“How do you know it was a he?” Doc asked.

“The uniform,” Maggie said. “It was military with pilot’s wings, but the section where the name would be had rotted away. We’re thinking he may have been a soldier in World War Two.”

Doc Franklin’s eyes went wide at this, and Maggie
knew that he had been just a kid during the Second World War.

“I don’t suppose you remember anyone going missing around then?” she asked.

Doc ran a hand through his white hair. “Killed in battle, sure, but missing, no.”

Maggie nodded her head. She’d figured if it was someone local there’d have been a story about him. No, whoever this guy was he had to have been someone who was passing through.

She glanced at Blue. “How about you? Do you remember any soldiers in the family or that were friends of the family?”

Blue looked thoughtful and shook his head. “I really didn’t know my cousins that well during the war. They were several years older than me and I was just a kid back then. We didn’t get close until I was a teenager.”

Maggie looked at Dennis and he shrugged. “We didn’t live here then. My family was in Dumontville, working in the factories.”

“It was a long time ago,” Maggie said. “Sam is bringing in someone from the Richmond PD to help him, an old pal of his named Andy. I hope he can give us something to go on.”

“Do you think the skeleton is the presence in the house?” Blue asked. He sounded equal parts thrilled and nervous. Yeah, sure, because the house wasn’t his problem anymore.

“No idea,” Maggie said. “Sam insists that there is no ghost. He thinks it’s just drafty.”

“But you don’t agree?” Doc Franklin asked.

“I don’t know,” Maggie said. “One minute I think one thing and the next I think something else entirely. You’re a man of science, what do you think? Are ghosts real?”

Doc tapped his finger against his lips. Maggie knew this was a stalling tactic of his that he employed when a patient was pushing for a diagnosis and he wasn’t ready to render an opinion.

“The world is full of the unexplained,” he said.

“Oh, boo hiss,” Dennis said. “That’s no answer.”

“Maybe not, but unless either of you gentlemen is in pain or still bleeding, I believe our time together is done.”

Doc pulled the curtain between their two beds, giving them privacy to dress. He then gestured for Maggie to follow him and led the way out of exam room three.

“Thank you for coming by,” Doc said. “I wasn’t having much luck sorting that mess until you showed up.”

“I can’t believe they were fighting over the ladies,” Maggie said. “That’s crazy.”

“Not to a lonely old man it isn’t,” Doc said.

“So, how are you and Alice doing?” Maggie asked.

Doc beamed at her and that was all the answer Maggie needed. “She’s been teaching Bianca how to make pie.”

Maggie’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead. Bianca was Doc’s grown daughter from a prior assignation. Alice had always wanted children but had been unable to have any. When she found out about Doc’s daughter with another woman, the betrayal had run deep, even though Doc himself hadn’t known. For Alice to be reaching out to Bianca was huge.

“That’s great, Doc,” Maggie said.

He nodded and looked a little emotional when he continued, “Alice is thinking that if Bianca and her fiancé Max have children she will get to be a grandmother, and goodness knows, she’d make a terrific one.”

“Are you kidding?” Maggie asked. “She’d be amazing and since neither Bianca nor Max have any real family, well, it does seem right, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does,” Doc agreed. Again, he looked a bit emotional so Maggie gave him a quick fierce hug. When she stepped back, he said, “But enough about us, what about you and Sam? The big day is coming and I hear you two are planning to get hitched in the middle of the town square with Tim Kelly manning the bar. Is that true?”

“The town green with a bar?” Maggie asked. “This is the first I’m hearing of it. Sheesh, Doc, I don’t even have my dress yet.”

“Well, don’t you think you’d better get on that?” he asked. “Time’s a-wasting and you and Sam have a lot of years to make up for.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I am on it. We will get it together. You’ll see. It’ll be amazing.”

Doc grinned. “I never doubted it for a second.”

Maggie left with a wave and a case of nerves that felt like bats swooping around in her belly. What was she going to do? The wedding was just weeks away. She had done nothing. Her house was haunted. There was a skeleton in her basement. And she was pretty sure she was developing a rash.

She itched the skin at her elbow as she climbed back
into her car. Everything was going to be fine. They’d figure out who the skeleton was, the ghost would leave, and the wedding would fall into place just as it should. No worries.

She drove back through St. Stanley, pondering all that had happened over the past few days. She’d bought her dream house. Yay. Her house was haunted. Boo. She was marrying the man of her dreams. Yay. She hadn’t done a thing to plan the wedding. Boo.