“This is just great,” I said to Rebecca. “Not only is there a murder right after I come back to town but now I have to treat everyone like a suspect. My life really sucks sometimes.”
“Umm, why are you talking to yourself?”
I turned around and saw a guy in a leather jacket approaching me. Rebecca and Bart looked as well.
Great, it looked like the number one suspect came to me.
Four
“And who might you be?” I asked, my hand already in my bag. I was ready to mace this guy if he tried anything. Was he here to get rid of any evidence or maybe even potential witnesses? He sure looked like the bad boy type: leather jacket, longer back hair, icy blue eyes that looked through everything.
“You didn’t answer my question. Why are you talking to yourself?”
This guy was persistent, I had to give him that.
“I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to Bart Samuel if you must know.”
The guy laughed. “Wow, you’re a bigger nutcase than I thought. And what’s with the cowboy hat?”
“It’s hot, plus if it rains it’ll help keep my hair dry. I just washed it.”
“You do know that Bart Samuel is dead, right?”
“Of course. I’m a ghost hunter. I’m opening an office in town pretty soon. If you have any dead relatives and such you want to talk to about missing treasures, I’m your gal.”
The guy smirked at that. “I’m Kane Xavier. PI. Mr. Samuel hired me to find out who was sending him death threats.”
“Great job, it looks like he won’t require your services any longer.”
I turned to Bart. “Is this true?”
He nodded. “We only had one meeting but yeah that’s the guy.”
“You’re really going for the kooky awards aren’t you?”
“Mr. Samuel just confirmed that he hired you. What I don’t know is how you’ll help him now. He’s dead.”
“The man paid me upfront. I’m going to find out who killed him, otherwise, I’d feel like I took advantage.”
“You don’t look like the kind of guy who’d have much of a problem with some easy money.”
“Ouch,” Kane said. “I’ll have you know I have a code I live by. At least I don’t go around pretending I can talk to dead people.”
I turned to Bart. “Is there anything you can tell me about this jerk that’ll make him believe I’m telling the truth?”
Bart shrugged his shoulders. “’Fraid not. His service is called Kane Xavier PI, but you could have guessed that on your own.”
“Thanks for the help.” I turned back to Kane, who was smirking now. He was looking at me like I was some kind of zoo animal. “It looks like Mr. Samuel is very popular. Not only does he have the police department looking for his killer, now he has a ghost hunter and a PI.”
Bart beamed at that. “It’s nice to know people care.”
“Oh please,” I said to Bart. “The police are just doing their job. I’m doing it to get my business off the ground and this guy is doing it because apparently, he has a conscience.”
“I’ll have you know that I do have a conscience and I don’t like that a crazy lady is implying otherwise. Now, can you please step back so I can survey the scene. This was where he was killed, right?”
“And how would you know that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Bart agreed. “How would he know that?”
I took a few steps back, now the pepper spray clearly visible to all in my hand.
Kane shook his head. “You’re one strange lady. You’re basically stepping into it. Look down.”
I quickly looked down and immediately jumped back.
There were some blood stains on the stones there.
“Very observant,” Bart said. “I definitely want this guy on my case.”
“And what am I? Chopped liver?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kane said.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Of course you weren’t. I forgot I was speaking to a crazy person.”
“I’ll have you know that I was diagnosed as perfectly sane by several child psychologists, so don’t you go around telling me I’m crazy.”
Kane lifted his hands up. “Calm down. There’s no need to wave that thing around, is there?”
I only now noticed that I still had the pepper spray in my hand. I put it back into my purse. “If you try anything, I won’t hesitate to use it and you should know I’m pretty fast.”
Kane groaned. “Just drop it. I’m a PI, not a monster.”
“Sorry. I guess I was wrong about you being a killer.”
“Apology accepted. I’m surprised that you’re able to admit when you’re wrong.”
“You don’t even know me. Plus, I’m a sort of PI myself.”
“A ghost hunter and a PI?” Kane whistled. “That must keep you quite busy.”
“I’m a ghost hunter PI,” I corrected him.
“Excuse me, but can you two stop bickering and get back to solving my case? I’d really like to move on now.”
I gave Bart one of my disapproving looks. It was his turn to put his hands up in the air and step back, or float back in his case.
Rebecca remained quiet and had an interested smile on her face.
“What are you smiling about?” I asked her.
“I wasn’t,” Kane said and rolled his eyes.
“Once again, I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Then who were you talking to? I thought Bart was on that side,” he pointed to where I usually turned when I talked to Bart.
“He is. I’m talking to Rebecca. She’s a ghost who just also happens to be my best friend.”
“Sorry I asked,” Kane quickly said.
Rebecca flew around the PI.
“I like him. He’s got fire. And not to mention he also happens to be hot as hell.”
“Rebecca! That’s…not appropriate.”
“I just call it like I see it. C’mon, don’t tell me you didn’t notice that, too?”
As a matter of fact, the only thing I had on my mind was solving Bart’s murder.
Kane looked at me strangely. “I think…I’ll be on my way now.”
“Good,” I said. “But don’t go on my account because I’m going now, too.”
Bart followed me.
“Fine,” I told him. “But you’ll have to behave. Rebecca will keep an eye on you.”
“Scout’s honor,” Bart said, though I didn’t believe a word coming out of his ghostly mouth.
I went back to my car with the two ghosts in tow. This was definitely not going to be an easy living situation for the next few days.
Kane stayed behind with a confused look on his face.
“Do you think maybe I came on too strong with that ghost thing?” I asked Rebecca.
“Maybe just a tad,” she said. “Maybe just a tad.”
“I’m so sorry you had to listen to Mrs. V go on and on about charlatans. You know she’s still not over you breaking her grandson’s heart, right?”
“Gran, please, that was like literally a decade ago.”
“Some wounds heal slower than others.”
That got my attention.
“Are you telling me Mrs. V told you something? About Jonathan perhaps?”
Gran shook her head. “She didn’t have to say anything. I see that boy almost daily. He loves coming into my bakery for treats.”
“Let me guess, donuts?”
“Actually, chocolate eclairs.”
“Not a very cop-like dessert, but to each their own.”
“I think I’ll go…out,” Bart said as he impatiently flew from one end of the kitchen to the other. “Listening to this lady gossip is giving me a headache.”
“Don’t forget to come back. We still have to make a suspect list.”
“Yes, mother,” Bart said and flew through the kitchen door. Where he was going, I had no idea.
“Who was that? Rebecca?”
“No, it was that guy that died today. Bart Samuel. I’m solving his murder.”
“Bart Samuel? Is he gone?” Gran asked sheepishly.
I looked around. “Yup. He got tired of our ‘lady gossip.’”
“Good. He’s a vile man. I don’t think I want him in my house anyway.”
“How so?” Gran wasn’t known for hating anyone. She always found at least something nice to say about a person.
“He’s been buying up properties in town left and right. When he learned I was the one who got the old travel agency office, he practically threatened to put my business in the ground. I’m not saying that I think he should have been killed, but I can’t say I feel sorry for him one bit. The world is probably a better place without him.”
Bart was annoying but I didn’t know he was that hated.
“I just thought he was building a hotel and restaurant by the lake.”
“He is, but it seems it’s his mission to own most of the town as well. He even told me once that he would like to run for mayor. He made it sound like it was already in the bag.”
Gran visibly shivered at that thought.
“Interesting. So I’m guessing you signed that petition?”
“The Keep Silver Bells Green one? Of course. I was completely against the building of that hotel there. It’s not like we get many tourists anyway so I didn’t really see the point. I guess Mr. Samuel wanted to turn this into a tourist town. Either way, it was an eyesore. I hope they tear it down now that he’s dead.”
“One can only hope,” I agreed.
I took a couple of cookies and stuffed them in my mouth. Rebecca was looking out the window, presumably on the lookout for Bart.
“It’s getting dark but I’m too awake. Has the nightlife improved since the last time I was here?”
Gran shook her head. “Not to my knowledge, but I’m probably not the person to ask. Why don’t you call up your cousin Sarah?”
Sarah was always nice to me even when I was blabbing on about seeing dead people, so that was certainly a rare quality.
“She’s still in this town?” I asked.
“You make it sound like a bad thing. I’ll have you know I spent most of my life here and I don’t regret one moment of it. This is where I met your grandfather, if you don’t remember.”
I remembered the story well. It was just another town my grandmother was driving through after finishing high school, trying to find her purpose in life. And there he was, fishing by the lake. One thing led to another and my mother was born.
It was a nice story, I just didn’t want it to be my story.
“Do you have her number?” I asked Gran. “I think I misplaced mine a couple of cell phones ago.”
Gran shook her head. “You really should appreciate your family more. Sarah always asks about you when she comes by.”
“I’ll make it up to her. I promise.”
I went to my room. I laid in bed and put Sarah’s number in my cell. I felt like a teenager again.
After a couple of rings, she answered.
“Hey, this is Meredith. I’m back in town and just wanted to know if you’d like to hang out? I know it’s getting late, though…”
“Don’t be silly! I’ll come right over!”
Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang.
It was Sarah. She looked just like I remembered her. Long blond hair just like mine except now she had streaks of light brown in hers as well.
I gave her a big hug. It was hard to believe that I hadn’t spoken to her in years. Of course, I regularly spoke to her when I moved away, but after a couple of years, we spoke less frequently until finally, we didn’t speak at all. It was mostly my fault, I had to admit. It was hard to care about the mundane stuff going on in Silver Bells when I was chasing all manner of ghosts around the country.
“Do you want to go out and have a drink or something?” I asked Sarah after she greeted Gran.
“Yes, but first we have to dress up!”
I was definitely having dèjà vu back to my teenage years. It felt like I traveled back in time and I wasn’t so sure if that was a good thing.
Sarah was already up in my room and I followed suit, Rebecca right behind me.
This was either going to be fun or a total disaster. I had a feeling it was probably going to be a mix of the two, like most things in life.
Five
“Did you bring anything with you?” Sarah asked when she saw the collection in my closet. Apparently, Gran hadn’t had the heart to throw anything out, though now I wished she had.
“I’ve got a couple of things in my luggage,” I said.
We spent the next half-hour looking through my meager collection of shirts and pants.
“Not a dress in sight!” Sarah said in shock.
“Sorry, it just seems so old fashioned.”
Sarah was wearing a nice flowery dress herself. She gave me the side eye.
“Sorry, not for you of course. But I was living in Chicago. Do you know how bad the weather there is? And not to mention windy.”
“You’ve got a point there,” Sarah had to admit.
We settled on jeans and an extra fancy blouse. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror and didn’t hate what I saw.
“I can’t believe we’re going to be thirty in like two years,” Sarah said.
“I can’t believe it either,” I said.
“Thankfully we don’t look it.”
I gave her a look of my own. “Thirty is not that old, though it sure sounds like it. Another decade I guess.”
“Speaking of decades, how does it feel to be back in Silver Bells after almost ten years?”
“It feels…constricting, if I’m to be honest. I love Gran and of course I love seeing you but I never thought I’d be back here. At least not permanently.”
Sarah had a faraway look in her eyes. “I thought about going to California,” she admitted.
“Wow. Really? Why didn’t you?”
“What would a small-town girl like me do in California? It’s just a daydream really. I would probably hate it anyway.”
“I think we should go on a trip. After I settle back in and my business starts making some money, we could make it a vacation, just us cousins!”
Sarah wasn’t sure about that idea. “Speaking of businesses, how has it been going all these years?”
I sighed. “Well, I’m back here so you can guess. I’ve done plenty of ghost hunting and ridding, but it doesn’t really make you rich.”
“You could have been one of those TV psychics, giving readings to celebrities and stuff.”
I laughed at that. “I was actually approached by one of those channels. But once they realized I was the real thing they called me too ‘raw’ for reality TV.”
“Figures. Well, enough chit chat. It’s time to show my cousin a little bit of the nightlife in this town.”
Sarah got up to go and then she stopped and looked around the room. “Is Rebecca here?”
“No, she’s downstairs looking out for Gran. Gran doesn’t want the recently dead guy to come into her house so Rebecca is going to play watchdog.”
“I still can’t believe my cousin actually sees and speaks to actual ghosts. Why didn’t I get any powers?”
“Believe me, you don’t know how many times I wished I was normal.”
“The grass is always greener…”
“Exactly.”
We said our goodbyes to Gran and Rebecca. It was already dark out so Sarah decided she was going to be the designated driver. She had a cute Toyota that looked a lot better than my own wreck of a car.
It took about ten minutes for us to come to the town center, which wasn’t much to look at really. I could hear music coming from one location. Sammy’s Bar & Grill.
“I don’t remember this being here,” I said, a little bit in awe. The place was packed full of people and the music was actually good. It was playing some alternative rock ’n roll.
“It opened a few years after you left,” Sarah said.
A couple of people greeted her as soon as they saw her. When she introduced me, they all kind of slinked away.
“And here it goes,” I said. “It seems the welcoming party is in full swing.”
“Don’t be silly. They just have to get used to you being back. And the best way to do that is to just act normal.”
“Have you met me?”
“Fair enough,” Sarah said as she led me to the bar. “But you do still drink, don’t you?”
“Of course, not too much, though. It interferes with my ability to see the dead.”
The bartender, a cute guy in his mid-twenties, looked at me strangely.
“And she’s not joking,” Sarah said. “This is Danny, Sammy’s son,” she said as a way of introduction.
“I’m Meredith, Sarah’s long lost cousin,” I said as I shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said and smiled. It seemed that he didn’t have a problem with my gifts after all.
We ordered two Bahama Mamas and enjoyed the atmosphere a bit.
“Gosh, it’s so strange being back here,” I said again.
“I for one am glad you are,” Sarah said. “It’s been kind of boring without your antics in this town.”
“Antics?” I raised my eyebrows.
“You know what I mean. You never could keep anything to yourself and you always went on and on about seeing ghosts and such.”
That much was true. I wasn’t a huge fan of keeping things hidden. I even solved a few missing person cases in my day. But instead of getting praise and admiration out of it, all I got were funny looks and suspicious gazes.
Sarah drank water for the rest of the night since she was the designated driver while I ordered two more Bahama Mamas. I was starting to feel a little tipsy which wasn’t a bad thing at all. It was good to let go and not think about the dead, at least for a little while.
Sarah and I were on the dance floor when a familiar face made its way through the crowd.
“Crap,” I said under my breath.
“Relax, I invited him,” Sarah said. “He is my boyfriend after all.”
My mouth hung open in shock. I couldn’t believe my favorite cousin was dating my ex of all people.
Ghostly Apparitions (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 1) Page 3
