The Ghost Detective Books 1-3 Special Boxed Edition: Three Fun Cozy Mysteries With Bonus Holiday Story (The Ghost Detective Collection)

by Jane Hinchey

  “Audrey?” It was Mom’s voice now, I cracked open one eyelid with herculean effort and saw Galloway herding Mom away. “I’ll take good care of her, I swear. But it’s best if y’all leave. I’m sorry.”

  “Take care of her,” Dad said gruffly, then ushered Mom away. I lay on the floor and listened as my family left, heard the front door close, then Galloway was back, kneeling by my side.

  “How you feeling?”

  “Like the cheese fell off my cracker.” I croaked, blinking at him.

  He chuckled. “Well, now you have first-hand experience of what it feels like to be stunned.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Can you stand?” He asked.

  “Are my limbs still attached? I can’t feel them.”

  “Oh, you will.” He promised.

  “What do you mean by that?” His words had an uncanny sense of timing because just as I asked, I felt the first zing of sensation returning. Pins and needles multiplied by ten thousand. “Holy shit,” I whimpered, shaking my hands, trying to dispel the awful feeling. But hey, at least I was moving again.

  I struggled upright, glanced down at my crotch, thankful to see I had not wet myself after all. With Galloway’s help, I made it to my feet, and he guided me onto a chair. “Sit here and get your bearings.” He ordered. “I’ll clear up. Although… ” he paused in gathering up the dirty dishes, “if this was an elaborate ploy on your behalf to get out of cleaning up, well kudos to you, it worked.”

  I snorted. “Yeah. You got me.” I watched in appreciation as Galloway cleared the table, stacked the dishwasher, gathered up the empty bottles and put them in the recycling bin, and by the time he’d done all that, I was ninety-five percent back to normal.

  Placing a steaming mug of coffee in front of me, Galloway took the seat opposite. “Better?”

  “Much.” I blew on the hot brew before taking a sip. “I had a thought.”

  “Surprising since you just fried your brain.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Everyone is a comedian. No, but seriously, I’ve been thinking about Dudley Kelsh.”

  “What about him?”

  “Where did he get that painting from? He had to know it was there. Is that why he left his estate to the historical society? So it would be found after he’d died.”

  “You think he was the thief?”

  “As bizarre as that sounds, it’s possible. I mean, I would never have pegged Keagan as a counterfeiter, but you said he had a full-on production line going on in his home studio, all with the intent of ripping off unsuspecting buyers. You think you’re buying a Rembrandt, but in reality, you’re buying a Keagandt.”

  “True.”

  “And Noreen!” I waved my left hand around, almost knocking my coffee over. “Who would think sweet, little, mild-mannered Noreen was ripping off her clients, stealing from them?”

  “Again, true.”

  “And Lacey Stevens.” I stopped short and blew out a breath. “I’m really not sure what to make of her,” I admitted. I told Galloway of the background check I’d run on Lacey, how she was fired from her last job and suspected of arson, but no charges had been laid. But her former boss and lover had an AVO against her. “But despite all that, I’m not coming up with a motive for her killing Anita.”

  “You said she propositioned Logan? Maybe it was that. Maybe it’s him she wants, but Logan’s a stand-up guy, no way he’d cheat on his wife. Only way to fix that problem?”

  “Get rid of the wife.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But why is she sleeping with the son?” That’s what had me puzzled. Did she start up an affair with Tyler in the hopes of making his dad jealous? But it kinda defeated the point if Logan didn’t even know about it. Stifling a yawn, I scratched at my head, then, realizing something wasn’t quite right with my hair, I patted all over my head, my eyes widening in horror. “What’s happened to my hair?” Shooting up from the table, I raced to the bathroom.

  “Holy shit.” My reflection confirmed it. I was now sporting an eighties frizzy, crimped style. Galloway came up behind me, smiling over my head at my reflection in the mirror. “I like it. It looks kinda sexy.”

  “Pft, you’re deluded.” But I turned my head from side to side, trying to see the allure, not sure if he was serious or pulling my leg. Then I got distracted by his hands as they slid down my arms and across my abdomen.

  “I could use a shower.” I breathed.

  With his mouth on my neck, his voice vibrated through me. “I like where this is going.”

  “Me too.” Turning in his arms, I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he effortlessly lifted me. My legs clamped around his waist, my mouth fused to his, and this time when the world spun, it was in a good way.

  17

  “Back again so soon?” The waitress at the Firefly Bay Hotel Restaurant smiled, tablet at the ready to take my order.

  “Yesterday’s breakfast was to die for.” I smiled in return, “I couldn’t resist coming back.” Plus, I still hadn’t done my grocery shopping. But I had another reason for choosing this particular establishment to quench my need for food. I was determined to get to the bottom of the enigma of Lacey Stevens.

  “What can I get you today?”

  “I’ll have the pancakes.”

  “With bacon?”

  “Yes, please. And coffee. Black.”

  “Coming right up.” Before she could turn away, I added, “before you go, is Lacey Stevens working today?”

  “Yes, she's the chef this morning. She’s on breakfast and lunch all week.”

  “I was wondering if it was possible to have a word with her?”

  The waitress frowned. “Well… she is working, but I can let her know you’d like to speak with her. Is there a problem?”

  “Oh no, no, nothing like that.”

  The waitress nodded. “Okay. I’ll let her know. Your order won’t be long.”

  My coffee arrived, and while I savored the lifesaving capabilities of caffeine, I eyeballed Ben, who was flitting from table to table, checking out what everyone was having for breakfast. He’d been obsessed with food lately, and I wondered if he’d been watching a bit too much of Master Chef.

  The kitchen door swung open, and I glanced over, surprised to see Lacey step through, carrying what I assumed to be my order. Hot on her heels? Anita.

  Sliding my pancakes in front of me, Lacey straightened and wiped her hands on the white apron she wore. “I heard you wanted a word. I can spare you a minute.”

  “I’ll make it quick,” I promised. “Did you kill Anita Finley?”

  She snorted, not surprised in the least by my question. Pulling out the chair opposite, she sat. “No, I did not.”

  “But, you are having an affair with her son.”

  “There’s no law against two consenting adults having sex.” She shot back.

  “No, there isn’t. But Anita was your friend. Why would you have a relationship with her son? And I hear you propositioned her husband, too.”

  Heaving a sigh and rolling her eyes to the ceiling, Lacey placed her palms on the tabletop and leaned toward me. “I’m a woman of a certain age who has needs. It is absolutely no one’s business how I have those needs met. Sleeping with Tyler has nothing to do with Anita.”

  “But why? Why Tyler?” I needed to understand.

  “He’s gorgeous, and he’s young.” Her voice dropped. “Young men have stamina.”

  Anita gasped in what I guessed to be outrage, but I ignored her. Lacey continued. “When I first laid eyes on Logan, yes, of course, I tried it on. The man is gorgeous—I can see where Tyler got his looks from. And hey, if he’d agreed to a dalliance, I was totally okay with that, but it wouldn’t have meant anything. Sex is just sex.”

  “It is not!” Anita protested. “It’s an act of love between two people.”

  “And that?” I pointed to the diamond pendant I could see nestled beneath her button-down blouse. The one Anita had hired me to find.

&n
bsp; “Is this what this is all about? This damn necklace?” Lacey did the one brow arch thing, and I did my best not to let it distract me—how did people do that?

  “Here. Take it.” Lacey tugged the chain from around her neck, tossing the necklace on the table. “Tyler gave it to me as a gift. At the time, I didn’t know it was Anita’s precious necklace.”

  “Would it have mattered if you’d known?” I gathered the necklace into my palm and closed my fingers over it.

  Lacey shrugged. “Believe it or not, my friendship with Anita had nothing to do with Tyler and vice versa. She was my friend, and I will miss her.” To my utter surprise, Lacey’s eyes misted, and she fanned her face before the tears filling her eyes could spill over.

  “Well.” Anita huffed, taken aback. I glanced at her, but Anita was studying her friend intently. “I don’t think it was her,” she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest. I wasn’t so sure.

  “I know you’ve probably checked me out,” Lacey sniffed, wiping under her eyes, “so you know what happened at my last job…”

  “Your affair with your boss and burning his restaurant down?” I quizzed.

  She stiffened. “Oh, the affair happened all right, but none of that went down the way he said it did. He chased me. He instigated everything, and it was fun while it lasted, but I dumped him. He was the one who couldn’t let go. He was the one who got all bent out of shape and made up outrageous allegations that I was stalking and harassing him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he burned his own restaurant down.”

  “Why move away then, if you were innocent?”

  “Hello! Mud sticks. He wanted to hurt me, but when nothing he did worked, he lied to the police and got an AVO taken out against me. No way anyone was going to hire me once word got out about that, despite it being totally bogus.”

  “Oh, Lacey,” Anita sighed, “that’s awful, honey. Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

  “Did Anita know any of this?” I dutifully asked.

  Lacey hunched a shoulder. “The past is in the past. I’m in Firefly Bay for a fresh start, no need to bring all that baggage with me.”

  “Why didn’t you give the necklace back to Tyler? When he asked?”

  “To punish him from stealing it from his mom in the first place. I had every intention of returning it, I too would like to see her buried wearing it, I’m not heartless.”

  “Oh,” Anita whispered.

  “So you and Tyler…”

  Lacey glanced out the window. “We’re finished. It was fun while it lasted, but his mom dying? I’m no good with all of that emotion, you know? I can’t help him with his grief. He needs a girlfriend for that, and that wasn’t what I was. Plus… I need to grieve for my friend too, and ending things with Tyler seemed like the right thing to do… in the end.”

  I wanted to say that perhaps the right thing to do would have been not having an affair with your best friends’ son to begin with, but I bit my tongue. You can’t take back the past, no matter how hard you try.

  Lacey stood. “I’ve gotta get back to work. Was there anything else?”

  “No. Thanks for talking with me.” Anita and I watched as she walked away, then I pulled out my phone and put it to my ear.

  “Well?” I asked Anita. “What do you think?”

  “I was so angry with her. So angry.” Anita slid into the chair Lacey had vacated. “And I haven’t forgiven her for sleeping with my boy. But I understand. Lacey made no secret of the fact that she had a very strong appetite when it came to men. I know she’d had one-night stands with guests from the hotel before. And she hadn’t known about the necklace.”

  “So she says.”

  “I believe her.” Anita glanced at my pancakes. “You better eat those before they get cold. She really is an exceptional cook.”

  After leaving the Hotel, I strolled along the boardwalk with the idea I’d walk off the hundred pounds I’d just put on when I bumped into Bob Moore and Ron Holt, members of the historical society, carrying fishing poles.

  “Gentlemen,” I greeted. “Nice day for it.”

  “Morning,” Bob stopped and put his tackle box down, Ron followed suit. “You’re Audrey, right? The gal who’s helping with the Kelsh estate.”

  “Correct. Although the place is a crime scene now.”

  “Did you see the news?” Ron asked, “that Keagan knew the painting Anita found out there was worth millions? And that he lied to us about it.”

  I nodded. “I heard.”

  “The society has really taken some hits over the last few days.” Bob shook his head as if unable to believe the goings-on of late.

  “I think Mary has everything under control,” I smiled. “She said something about elections.”

  Bob and Ron glanced at each other.

  “What? What does that look mean?” I demanded.

  Bob shook his head again. “Mary has been desperate to be president of the society for years. She’s self-nominated how many times now, Ron? Three? Four?”

  “Four, I think.” Ron joined in the nodding.

  “And what? No one voted for her?” I asked.

  This time they shook their heads.

  “Why not?”

  “Well, Anita was such a good president. Why would we vote for someone else?”

  “Oh, so there wasn’t an actual vacancy?”

  “Every two years, we have to open up the committee to new members. This includes all the official positions like president, treasurer, secretary,” Ron said.

  “And every time, the same people get voted in.” Bob supplied.

  “So Mary has never moved from her position as secretary of the society?”

  “Nope.” Ron was back to nodding. Then he turned to Bob. “Guess she might be in luck this time around? With both the president and vice-president positions vacant.”

  Anita groaned. “They’re right, you know. Mary will be pleased.”

  “I saw her at the society yesterday.” It was my turn to nod. “She said she was getting ready for the elections.”

  “She means well.” Anita sighed. “She’s just a tad overbearing. The trouble is, over the years, she’s managed to get pretty much every single committee member offside, so of course, none of them will vote for her.”

  “Will that change now, do you think?”

  “It all depends on whether someone else is nominated.” Anita shrugged. “If no one else wants the job, then it’ll most likely fall to Mary—we all know she wants it.”

  “Will what change, love?” Bob asked, which is when I realized I’d been talking with Anita in front of them. Busted!

  “Sorry,” I grinned sheepishly. “I was talking to myself. Sorry, I do that a lot. I must look a bit of a nut.”

  “Ha!” Ron snorted. “We do that all the time, don’t we, Bob?”

  “Indeed, we do.” Bob chortled. I smiled at the two elderly men, then glanced at my smartwatch. “It’s been lovely chatting, but I’ve gotta run. Good luck with the fishing.” I started to back away.

  “Will you be joining the committee?” Bob asked before I could leave.

  “I’m not sure I’ll have the time.” I didn’t want to hurt their feelings by flat out saying no. Anita glanced at me. “That would be a wonderful idea, Audrey. You should join.”

  I tried to convey with my eyes that it was absolutely not going to happen. I waved to the men and hurried away before they could hound me into agreeing. Alas, I could not ditch Anita.

  “If you were to join the committee,” she continued nagging in my ear, “I could help you!”

  “Not going to happen,” I said from between clenched teeth. Plus, I liked to think that once we solved her murder and her killer brought to justice, Anita would move on. I’m not sure I could cope with the thought of two ghosts haunting me for a lifetime. Not that Ben was an issue. For my own selfish reasons, I liked having him around, but one incorporeal being was enough.

  “But, that does give me an idea,” I said, returning to my car.


  “What’s that?” Ben had caught up with us, and the two ghosts made themselves comfortable in my vehicle.

  “There’s something about Mary.” Reversing the car out of its spot, I headed toward home.

  Ben guffawed with laughter. “What?” Anita asked, “what’s so funny?”

  “There’s something about Mary?” He gasped through peals of laughter, and I couldn’t help but join in.

  “It’s a movie,” I told Anita. “Ben, you’re going to have to explain it to her, I absolutely refuse to do it.”

  While Ben relayed the movie storyline to Anita, I called Galloway.

  “Morning, gorgeous.” He answered on the first ring.

  “Hey, handsome,” I grinned. “I missed you this morning.”

  “Sorry, early start. And you looked so peaceful I didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

  “Naawwww, isn’t that cute?” Ben made gagging noises in the background.

  “Shut up,” I grumbled.

  “I hope you’re talking to Ben,” Galloway replied.

  Shit. “Sorry. Yes. He’s being juvenile.” Ben stuck his tongue out, and I rolled my eyes. Case in point.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “When you took Noreen’s handbag yesterday, did anyone go through it? Was it all logged as evidence?”

  “Yes, the bag and its contents were logged. Why?”

  “I have a theory.” It was an out-there theory, but it was niggling in the back of my brain. My PI training had taught me not to ignore those niggly little feelings, nor the annoying voices, although right now those annoying voices belonged to two ghosts. “Would you two please shush?” I hissed at them.

  “Sorry.” Anita immediately complied.

  “Can I help it if she wants a blow by blow account of Something About Mary?”

  She gasped. “I do not!”

  “Do too!”

  “Guys! Please! Why don’t the two of you go on ahead, huh, and let me talk to Galloway in peace?”

  “Splendid idea, Fitzgerald.” Ben winked, and the two of them disappeared. I turned my attention back to the phone. “Sorry. Two ghosts discussing movie plots do not make it easy to have a conversation.”