by Tegan Maher
“Addie!” Shelby called, a note of panic in her voice.
Her aunt appeared almost immediately, pivoting her head in search of the cause of Shelby’s obvious distress.
“Bob McKissick?” she asked, her brows drawn down. I couldn’t decide if she was confused or irritated. “So somebody finally went and offed ya, did they? Boy, was that a long time comin’. Who did it?”
He turned his scowl to her. “If I knew that, I’d be hauntin’ them instead of you. As it is, I been hearin’ all the rumors about your family for decades. I figured if anybody could see me, you could.” He huffed out a disgusted breath. “Shoulda known the rumors were true, as weird as you all are.”
“Yeah, well there you go, bitin’ the hand that feeds you, just like you always do,” Addie said, lip curled. “We better take this up to the house. Not all of us are dead, and it won’t do you any good if the girls freeze to death before they figure out who killed you.”
Considering I couldn’t feel my toes by that point, I wasn’t going to argue.
Addie stayed behind to make sure Bob followed as we made our way inside.
“What took you all so long?” Noelle asked, poking her head out of the kitchen when we went in. “I made you some hot chocolate. I thought we could—”
Her brows shot up when she saw the old man’s ghost. We’d already told her about the argument at Duck’s, and from the look on her face, she recognized him.
“Oh, no you don’t, you cantankerous old coot,” she growled, stalking forward and wagging her finger at him. “It’s two days before Christmas. You are not gonna mess it up by gettin’ murdered. You better tell me right now you keeled over from a heart attack.”
“Not unless a heart attack is caused by a pipe wrench to the side of the head,” he replied, slamming his arms across his chest, “so sorry to mess up all your ho-ho-ho garbage.”
Noelle pulled her phone from her pocket with a sigh and swiped to make a call. She waited several seconds.
“He’s not answering,” she said after she left a voicemail.
“Do you know where he’s at?” Shelby asked. We can port to wherever he is and tell him.”
She shook her head. “No. All he’d tell me was he had a Christmas surprise for me and that he might be out of range for a few hours. I have no idea.”
“Out of range?” I asked. “How is that possible?” The only time I ever lost service was when I was outside this physical plane.
Addie gave me a wry smile. “Welcome to rural livin’. Lots of places around here don’t get no cell reception. He could be in any number of places, and unless he calls for me, I can’t pin him down.”
Noelle turned to Bob. “I need you to tell me everything you can remember,” she said with a resigned sigh.
“I went out to milk the cows, not that they gave any milk what with that solar flare set up next door,” he started.
Addie held up a hand. “Don’t even go there. Richard’s farm is located a mile down the road from you. Those lights are only a problem because you make ’em one.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “You said a pipe wrench was the weapon. How do you know that?”
“Cuz I seen it layin’ next to my head, which happens to have a dent in it that matched it,” he grumbled. “You’re just a slip of a girl. Don’t tell me you’re gonna go sleuthin’ like the rest of this crew does.”
Now he was getting on my nerves. “Personally, I don’t care who bashed your head in. Seems to me like you deserved it, but then again, I don’t come from a place that takes quite the same view on folks getting their just desserts as the human world apparently does. But it seems that if we’re gonna be able to drink eggnog and open gifts and have a hayride in peace, we’re gonna have to figure out who done you in.”
Addie grinned. “I like you more every time you open your mouth.”
I gave her a half-smile and a nod. The feeling was mutual.
“Can you remember anything else?” Shelby asked.
“Well, I went back in the house because I forgot to bring the milk pail back out this mornin’ after I washed it out. That’s the last thing I remember. There were some carolers that came around earlier, but I ran them off quick enough. I think I remember bein’ mad as a hornet about somethin’, but that part’s fuzzy. Probably those danged Christmas lights. Or maybe all that caterwaulin’.”
“Do you remember who was caroling?” I asked.
He took a second to think then shook his head. “Nobody I knew. They was all ridin’ together in a big Chevy SUV.”
Okay, then we had a truck to investigate. I could see where this guy would be enough to drive even carolers to murder.
Shelby was chewing on her lip, and I tilted my head at her. “What?”
She sighed. “It’s just I can’t shake that fight at Duck’s outta my head. And I know Christine and Judd, the couple he was arguin’ with about the tractor. They’re good people. Richard didn’t exactly appear to be in a murderous rage when he left, but those are the only two options I know about.”
My thoughts drifted back to that nice man, Richard, and I inwardly groaned. “Did you, by any chance, harass the nice guy you were arguin’ with at the pizza place?”
His gaze closed, and he was beginning to lose substance. I wasn’t much of an expert on dead people, but I’d seen a few. Unless I missed my guess, he was about to run out of energy. New ghosts didn’t have much juice.
“Maybe,” he said, his tone sullen. “I might have stopped long enough to holler at him out the window on my way home. All those dad-gummed decorations and lights are an eyesore I don’t wanna look at every time I come or go.”
I hated to think it, but it looked like we might already have our man.
“Go let my cows out of the milkin’ stalls,” he said, his voice faint as he started to fade. They ain’t got no water in there.”
Then he was gone.
5
It was already getting dark, and the idea of going back out in the cold was the last thing I wanted to do, but we had a milk cow at my farm. I knew we couldn’t leave his in their stalls, especially with it so cold. Shelby had explained earlier that horses drink more water when it’s cold than they normally do, and I didn’t think cows would be any different. We had to go.
I turned to Shelby. “Do you know where he lives? We could port there.”
“I do, but I think it would be better if we drove. That way if somebody sees us, they won’t wonder how we got there.”
I wasn’t used to being around people who didn’t know about magic, so I hadn’t taken that into consideration. “Okay,” I replied. “I guess we better go, then.”
With the roads as slick as they were, it took us twenty minutes to make a trip she said usually took ten. It was full-on dark by the time we pulled onto a dirt road, so it wasn’t hard to make out what had to be Richard’s farm up ahead on the right. He did have an unusual amount of Christmas decorations, but to me, it just looked festive. I wondered why Bob had taken such issue with it.
Shelby slowed in front of the house. His display was impressive, to say the least. Every gutter on the house had lights of some sort, and he’d taken the time to string rapidly blinking chaser lights in what was probably one-foot intervals across all the flat surfaces on the roof except for one. A Santa and his sleigh, complete with all eight reindeer, sat on that section, and a nativity scene was in the front yard along with several of those blow-up decorations. Lighted candy canes lined the length of the driveway and the front of the house and all the way across the front border of the yard, and several signs expressing Merry Christmas in various ways lit the space up even more. I smiled when I noticed a family of light-up plastic raccoons holding one that said Feliz Navidad. It was more than I could take in all at once.
“Wow,” I said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many decorations and lights all in one place.”
She nodded. “He definitely goes all out. I think it’s nice, though.”
There was a farm on the left a little past Richard’s place. Even though the whole bottom floor of the house was lit up, there wasn’t so much as a candle in the window in the way of decorations.
“Huh,” Shelby said, almost to herself. “Looks like the Jones farm sold. I hadn’t heard that, but then again, I haven’t exactly been in the loop lately.”
“That explains why there aren’t any decorations, then,” I replied, holding my hands to the vents. Even though the car had warmed up considerably since we’d left, I didn’t feel like I was ever going to be warm again.
She hummed. “Maybe. I think maybe we’ll have to stop by for a neighborly visit on our way out. See if they saw anything.”
“Isn’t that kinda weird, to just drop in?” I asked.
Shelby shook her head as she navigated around some potholes. “Not so much here. We’d just be bein’ neighborly. We could say we came to see Richard’s lights because a lot of folks do that and decided to pop in and introduce ourselves. Cody’s uncle is the local vet, and he and I worked with him until I left for college. I’ll give them Will’s number.”
“But how do you know he has animals?” I asked.
She pointed toward a horse trailer in front of a barn and smiled. “I don’t know anybody who has one of those just for funsies.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Bob’s farm was the next place on the right, and I couldn’t help but shudder when I looked toward the house. I’d seen my fair share of dead bodies, but that didn’t mean I was okay with them just lying around. From the way Shelby glanced that direction, I was guessing she felt the same way.
“Try not to think about it,” she said as she rolled to a stop in front of the barn. “Let’s just go let the cows out and get out of here.”
Since we both knew our way around a barn, it didn’t take long for us to liberate the five black-and-white milk cows and make sure their water trough was full. There was a large round bale of hay in the pasture, so they’d have plenty to eat. We jumped back in the car, careful to stomp off our boots before we did. Luckily, most of the mud around the barn had been frozen, so we weren’t covered in the red clay that Shelby had described to me.
With a final glance toward the house, we turned around and left. Shelby paused at the end of the driveway, then turned around and waved a hand while muttering a few words.
“Probably best if our tracks aren’t there,” she said by way of explanation. “I erased them.”
That was a good call. The last thing we needed to do was muddy the investigation even though the snow would have probably covered them in just a few minutes. No reason to take any chances.
Fate was on our side when we passed the newly occupied farm. A young blond woman in an oversized hoodie, pajama pants, and mud boots was getting the mail.
“Is that normal dress around here?” I asked, and she grinned.
“It is when you’re just running to get the mail.”
“Isn’t it awful late to be running to the mailbox?” The vision was made even stranger when the woman waved to us.
“It’s only six,” Shelby replied. “Maybe she just got home from work and changed, then remembered she’d forgotten. I’ve done it, especially around the holidays when I’m expecting gifts or cards. Or better yet, gift cards.”
Shelby rolled to a stop in front of the woman and rolled my window down.
“Howdy,” she called, leaning across me as the woman stepped gingerly through the snow toward us. “You must be the new owners. I’m Shelby Flynn, and this is my friend Kira. My family owns a farm a few miles down the road.”
“I’m Michelle Young. We just moved in yesterday, and I started my new job today. Haven’t even had time to get the decorations up yet. We’re doing it as a family tomorrow.”
I thought it was odd that she mentioned that, especially since she sounded a little defensive.
Shelby waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. We’re just putting our tree up tonight. I wanted to bring Kira out to show her your neighbor’s lights. He does that every year.”
Michelle gave us a self-deprecating smile. “I wondered what the extra traffic was about. His yard makes me even more ashamed that we’ve put off decorating our place. We usually go all-out, too, but with moving, I’m not even sure where our decorations are right now. I considered myself lucky when I found the pots and pans!”
I picked up on her comment about the traffic. “So a lot of people drive out to see the lights, huh?”
“Yeah, or at least last night they did. It’s been quiet tonight, though. I’ve only seen one car besides yours. Well, a truck, actually.”
“Oh!” Shelby said, perking up. “What color was it? My friends said they were coming out tonight, but they didn’t reply when I texted them.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. No such conversation had taken place that I was aware of. It was a clever way to get info about the truck, though.
“It was green,” she replied. “I only know because I passed it on my way in from work a half-hour or so ago. I only saw one person in it, though. A man, I think, though I didn’t get a look at his face.”
The woman shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m gonna get back inside because I’m about to freeze, but it was nice to meet you!”
“You, too,” Shelby replied, digging into her purse. “Welcome to the neighborhood! And just in case you need it, here’s the local vet’s info. He’s a good guy.”
“Thanks,” she replied, taking the card Shelby was holding out. “That’s always good info to have, and I’m sure we’ll need him at some point. Merry Christmas!”
She turned and hustled back toward her house.
“So a green truck with a single man driving it,” I said. “That’s more than what we had when we came.”
“Yeah,” Shelby replied, “but it’s not necessarily a good thing.” She cast a sideways glance at me as she put the car in gear and pulled away. “There was a green truck and a white one in Duck’s parking lot. The one parked at Bob’s place was white.”
The green one must belong to Richard, then. My stomach sank. He’d seemed like such a nice man.
6
We decided to wait until we got back to Shelby’s to call Noelle’s fiancé. She hadn’t wanted to do it while she was driving, and it wasn’t like it was going to make that much of a difference, anyway.
“Have you heard back from Hunter yet?” Shelby asked as soon as we made it inside.
Noelle shook her head. She’d changed out of her comfy clothes and into jeans and an olive sweater that complemented her red hair and green eyes. “I’m not sure what to do. We can’t just call one of the deputies and tell them Bob’s ghost showed up here, and I can’t think of any reason why we’d know it besides that.”
“Did you talk to Coralee?” Shelby asked, and Noelle shook her head.
“Isn’t that the lady you said owns the beauty shop?” I asked. With as gossipy as Shelby had said she was, it surprised me that Shelby would think talking to her was a good idea.
“It is, and I already know what you’re thinkin’,” Shelby replied. “But even though Coralee’s the head of the local gossip mill, she’s also a good egg. She knows when to keep her mouth shut, and she also knows everything about everybody, and she knows about the ghosts and our magic. If there’s a creative way for us to explain how we know Bob’s dead as a hammer in his house, she’ll think of it.”
“You’re right,” Noelle said, pulling her phone from her pocket.
The woman must have picked up right away because Noelle put the phone on speaker and launched into the explanation within just a couple seconds. She paced while she talked, and I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. Shelby had the same habit when she was on the phone or trying to work out a problem.
“Well Hunter’s out at the Rilley farm,” Coralee said.
“What’s he doin’ at the Riley farm?” Noelle asked, then paused. Coralee told Noelle it wasn’t any of her business
. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. It seemed rude, but Noelle took it in stride.
“Fine. Protect his secrets,” she said, a smile on her face. “We just needed to know where he was at. You still comin’ out tomorrow for the Christmas Eve party?”
Coralee replied that she would, and they started to say their goodbyes.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Coralee said before Noelle could hang up. “Have Will go out. Say he had an appointment to check the cows but got held up and was late.” She paused. “Don’t make him go in the house, though. Maybe have him push the front door open and say he found it that way. That poor man don’t need to be seein’ a dead body on Christmas Eve Eve. Or any time for that matter.”
“That’s brilliant, Coralee!” Shelby exclaimed. “I knew you’d come up with somethin’!”
“Course I did,” the woman replied, a note of pride in her voice. “It’s what I do.”
They all said their goodbyes, and Noelle hung up.
“Addie!” she called, and their aunt appeared within just a few seconds.
“What?” she asked. “I was tryin’ to see if I could find Bob and pull him back to this side for a bit.”
“Hunter’s out at the Riley farm,” Noelle replied. “Can you go out there?”
Addie raised a brow. “The Riley farm? What in tarnation is he doin’ out there?”
“Hell if I know,” Noelle replied with a shrug. “Coralee wouldn’t say. All she’d tell me is that’s where he went.”
“If she says so,” Addie replied. “I’ll be right back.” With that, she faded out.
“Want me to call Will?” Shelby asked, and Noelle nodded. “Just put him on standby, though.”
The whole situation seemed a little surreal to me. The hoops they had to jump through in order to hide their magic just seemed ridiculous.
After she made the call, we gathered back in the kitchen.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Now we wait, I guess,” Shelby replied, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a large mason jar full of what looked like eggnog. “And I don’t know about you two, but I could use something a little stronger than iced tea or hot cocoa.”
