A Ghostly Suspect

by Tonya Kappes

  “His ways?” I asked.

  “Mom?” David ran into the other room. “Mom, please tell me what I’m supposed to do? I know how to read people, but I’m not like you.”

  “His ways?” I talked over David’s pleas. “David, please. I have to hear what she’s saying.”

  Frustrated, David sat down in the chair across the table where Debbie’s clients would sit and stared at her empty chair where her ghost was, only he couldn’t see her.

  Debbie continued when she could see that David was calmer.

  “Kent was fired. He hadn’t told her. She thought he was going to work every day. She came to me for financial advice. I told her there was no money coming in and Kent was no longer going to his job.” Debbie’s eyes were more than haunting—they held fright. “It was never written in the cards how she was going to leave him.”

  “Why has he been stalking you?” I questioned.

  She pointed to the CDs on the shelf in the corner of the room where her crystals and extra items she needed were stacked. “Look for his name.”

  “She wants me to find the CDs with Kent’s name on them,” I said to David.

  He didn’t waste any time. He jumped up and grabbed a stack. Recording a session was an extra cost to the client, and I’d never had mine recorded because I didn’t want any sort of evidence I was a Betweener.

  “Here.” He handed me the stack.

  We thumbed through them as quickly as we could. There were at least ten of them.

  “I’ve got to go soon,” I told them and looked at my watch. I was going to be cutting it close to meet Jack Henry. “Do you mind if I take these and bring them back?”

  “Only if you tell me about my mom coming to visit before she was murdered like you said you would do,” David reminded me.

  All of us headed back into the family room, and I put the CDs in my crossbody bag.

  “Your mom came to see me and insisted I confirm I was a Betweener.” It was nice that I didn’t have to explain my gift and that David completely understood what I meant. “I haven’t had a client in a while, so when I continued to ask her why, she was upset. I don’t think she wanted me to know she knew her own death was coming and that she was going to be murdered.”

  “How did she know?” He sucked in a couple of quick breaths as though he were trying to gain composure.

  “I was reading someone’s cards, and I saw it in their cards.” Debbie had drifted into the room.

  “Whose cards? Kent’s? Someone else’s?” I asked while I watched more and more of her living memories come back to her. “Maybe they had something to do with it. I mean,” I spoke to her and forgot about the others in the room. “Tell me,” I told her when she looked away from me. “Who was it?”

  “Mervin.” Her words washed over me. I could feel the color drain from my face.

  “Your ex?”

  “My husband.” Those words did me in. “I’m not sure how he found me in Kentucky.”

  “Emma?” David was huddled over me when I came to. “Are you okay?”

  “Emma Lee?” I rolled my eyes up toward the back of my head when heard Jack Henry. “Get her some water.”

  My head was in Jack Henry’s lap, and he was rubbing my face with a cold washcloth.

  “I’m sorry,” Mazie apologized, crouching down next to me with a glass of water in her hand. “I didn’t know what to do when you passed out. I grabbed your phone and called Jack Henry.”

  “Here.” Jack Henry tilted my head and put the glass up to my lips.

  I took a drink before grabbing the glass out of his hand and gulping it down.

  “I was thirsty.” I licked my lips and pushed myself up to sit. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what…” I stopped talking when I remembered what had happened. “Your mom and dad aren’t divorced,” I blurted out and looked at David. “She said your dad came to see her and she read his cards or something like that.” The details were a little fuzzy. “But then she admitted she saw her own death in his cards and that they weren’t exes.”

  “That’s it.” Jack Henry stood up. “We are leaving, and I’m going to have Zula Fae keep an eye on you.”

  “No, you’re not.” I shook a finger at Jack Henry. “I’m tired of you telling me what I can and can’t do. Here are your choices.” I had to find out if Mervin killed Debbie. There was no turning back for me at this point. “You can either go to Mervin’s house and check it out with me and Mazie, or I’m going without you. You can walk out that door right now and pretend you never heard this.” I looked at Mazie. “If I ever pass out again, don’t you dare call anyone. Not even if my heart stops. Got it?”

  “Yeah. Got it.” Mazie’s voice cracked.

  “Geez, Emma Lee.” Jack Henry started to pace. He ran his hands through his hair and gnawed on his lip like he did when he was trying to figure out a crime.

  “Did you say my dad and mom aren’t divorced?” David’s face was blank. “He has a house here?” He questioned with a hurt tone.

  “Oh, David,” Debbie sobbed. “I never wanted him to know. I was going to give his dad a divorce, but they continued to use my name, and we were working toward a deal.”

  “Your name? A deal?” I asked Debbie. Everyone turned to see the empty space I was talking to. “Now you have to give me the details. I can’t keep chasing these simple clues when you could tell me the answers.”

  “All I know is Goddess Jillian is not her name. Her real name is Deborah Holt. She’s a young show pony Mervin conned into thinking they could have a good life together if they pretended to be psychic. He told her how I made a good living at it.” Debbie made me think back to the convention center.

  “That’s why the real psychics came out to greet me when I passed. They knew my gift, but Goddess What’s-her-fake-name and Mervin didn’t even know I was standing in their booth.” I patted my pants pockets. “Where’s the luggage tag?” I asked Mazie when I didn’t remember where I’d put it then looked at my watch.

  “It’s in the car. Do you want me to go get it?” she asked.

  “No. It’s not even noon, and they’ll be at the convention until seven tonight. We are going to check out their place.” I wasn’t about to waste any more time.

  “Emma.” Jack Henry’s voice was stern. “No. You’re not. That’s illegal.”

  “It’s only illegal if I get caught.”

  The knock at the door made us all jump.

  “I have a client,” David informed us and went to the door to let them in. As he ushered them into the room to the right, we headed out the door.

  “I’ll be back,” I told him and gave him a quick hug.

  “Emma, I’m telling you that you can’t do this.” Jack ran alongside of me.

  “You can’t tell me what to do.” I got into Mazie’s car, and she drove off with Jack Henry standing on the curb.

  Chapter Twelve

  223 Cheshire Court wasn’t the slightest bit hard to find since it was about a mile from Debbie’s house. Jack Henry had called me several times during the couple-of-minute drive and stood outside of the passenger door as soon as Mazie put the car in park.

  “I’m going to arrest you.” Jack Henry’s bogus threats didn’t bother me.

  “You couldn’t stand the thought of Trevor taking me in for questioning, so I know you aren’t going to arrest me.” I tapped him lightly on the nose. “Besides, you’re too cute in that outfit.”

  Jack Henry didn’t have on his standard French gray state trooper uniform. Instead he wore a blue pair of pants with a blue short-sleeved collared shirt with the Kentucky logo on the pocket. It was the uniform troopers wore when they had classes or were on desk duty.

  Mazie had already gotten out of the car and headed around the house before I even got around Jack Henry.

  “Hurry,” Mazie whispered in a louder voice than she should’ve from the open front door. “The back door’s unlocked.”

  “See, not breaking and entering.” I scooted around Jack Henry and hi
s big sigh, but he was tight on my heels.

  “What are you looking for? A written confession?” he asked. “So what if they were still married.”

  “I’m looking for cyanide, in case you want to help.” I stopped before I walked into the front door and turned around. “I warn you, if you walk through this door, you are aiding and abetting.”

  “Funny.” Jack Henry didn’t look amused at my joke and headed in before me. He took a quick glance around the room where there were nothing but boxes. By the looks of it, they hadn’t attempted to unpack anything.

  I followed behind him into another room full of boxes that connected to a kitchen. There was coffee in the coffeepot that was cold to the touch. There were a few flyers about the psychic convention lying on the counter but nothing else.

  Mazie and I stood there, not really knowing what to do.

  “I know what to look for. Why do you think Mervin did it?” Jack Henry fired off questions and plucked gloves from his back pocket, handing them to me. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m covering us all.”

  After we’d all put the gloves on, we started to open up the kitchen drawers and walk around separately. I went back into the room where the front door was located and opened a couple of boxes that appeared to be only clothes.

  “Debbie didn’t say he did it. I’m having a hard time getting anything out of her other than wanting me to help David with his gift before we do find out who her killer is.” My voice projected into the other room.

  It made we wonder if she was sabotaging the entire case just so she did have time with David.

  “He’s been wanting this divorce for years, according to the date on the papers. For some reason, Debbie didn’t give it to him,” I said. “I’m not sure how he found out she was living in Lexington after she left Florida. She doesn’t know either. It was one of the last things I remember her saying before I passed out.”

  “That isn’t necessarily a reason for him to have killed her.” Jack Henry was always the voice of ‘good cop’ and tried to go by the principle that someone was innocent until proven guilty.

  “Guys.” Mazie stood in the hallway, looking into a room. “Ummm.”

  Jack Henry didn’t wait for Mazie to say anything else. He was already in the room taking photos with his phone camera, then he was on the phone.

  “Trevor, this is Deputy Jack Henry Ross.” Jack Henry stepped outside of the room to finish up his conversation with Trevor.

  My stomach hurt at the sight of all the photos of Debbie Dually hanging on the wall. They’d been altered. Some had hand-drawn daggers to her eyes, while others had them on her neck. There were a few articles from the Lexington Herald Leader about Debbie that were also hanging up. There was one written by our very own Fluggie Callahan, who used to work at the Herald before she moved to Sleepy Hollow.

  “This sure looks like someone who has a beef with someone.” I took my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through the contacts to find Fluggie’s number.

  “It looks like a killer’s trophy wall to me.” Mazie was right. The wall was filled with photos of Debbie and Goddess Jillian. “Is Debbie here? It sure looks like Mervin Dually was trying to turn Deborah Holt into Debbie Dually.”

  “No. She’s not here. And I think you’re right.” I shook my head and wondered if she was going to come back to face her killer. Her ex. Betweener clients rarely stuck around after I’d help find their killer. They generally were ready to move to the other side. Sometimes they’d linger to say goodbye or have a message for a loved one. If I knew Debbie, her love for David wouldn’t let her cross until she left him a message with me.

  “You callin’ to give me that interview?” Fluggie answered her phone in a hopeful voice.

  “Nope. I’ve called to ask you if you know a Mervin Dually?” I asked her.

  “I might’ve done a little work for him.” Her words tied Mervin to the Lexington area and how he found Debbie.

  “What sort of work?” I asked.

  “Does this have to do with his ex-wife’s murder?” she asked. There was a lingering silence between us. I wanted something from her, and she wanted something from me. Both of us would benefit. It would tell me exactly how Mervin got here and why. I would be giving her a scoop to write up for tomorrow’s paper. “What if I wait for forty-eight hours to publish whatever it is on the internet?”

  Fluggie only published a printed version of the Sleepy Hollow News once a week but updated the online version daily and as news came in.

  “Fine. Mervin Dually has moved to Lexington. I’ve got a source who told me he had found Debbie here because they weren’t divorced. My source also revealed there is some sort of trophy wall in his house. He’d kept an article written by you.” The silence on the other end was eerie.

  “I wrote an article on the psychic convention and interviewed some of them. Debbie didn’t give me her name. She simply offered her services. He called the paper, wanting to talk to me. He said Debbie was his ex-wife and was very happy for her. He said he had some of her items she’d left behind and wanted to ship them to her. I told him I had no idea where she lived but would be happy to get them to her if he shipped them to me. He shipped the boxes, and I took them to her. That’s how I got to know her and see her as a client.” Her voice cracked. “I had no idea he moved here. I never heard from him since.”

  “He’s done more than moved here.” I glanced at one of the folders on the desk in that room. “I think he killed Debbie.”

  The other end of the phone was dead silent, and so was the entire car ride back to Sleepy Hollow, with Mazie driving and Jack Henry in the back.

  “I’m sorry, but if we are right, you’ll be taken off leave in no time.” I knew my words weren’t going to make Jack Henry any less mad about Trevor calling the head of the state police and telling him how Jack Henry had unlawfully broken into a house and impeded an investigation. As a result, Jack Henry was placed on leave until further notice.

  “Emma Lee, I knew it was wrong and should’ve called the police to stop you myself.” Jack Henry didn’t even look at me. He stared out the window.

  “I have some good news,” Mazie said in a chipper voice, though she didn’t make the atmosphere any better. “While you two were talking to the police, I got an email on my phone from the library in Cincinnati. They’ve been interviewing for a new head librarian for their downtown branch, and I applied. They had me come up for an interview. I thought I bombed it, but apparently, I’m exactly what they are looking for.”

  “Mazie! That’s wonderful.” I couldn’t help but be thrilled for her since it was such a big step up from little Sleepy Hollow. “Are you going to take it?”

  “Yes. Of course I am. I leave in a week.” She rambled on and on about how she was going to be going back and forth for a while.

  My thoughts were in my stomach with my heart. Not only was I losing a real friend, I couldn’t help but feel like I was also losing my boyfriend.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I saw you coming down the street.” Cheryl Lynn Doyle scooted a cup of coffee across the counter when I walked into Higher Ground. “I made it extra strong. I heard you’ve had a day.”

  “You heard?” My left eyebrow rose when I knew she meant the gossip had already started to circulate.

  “Yeah. Fluggie Callahan was in here when one of the sheriff’s deputies came in here looking for her.” Cheryl Lynn leaned on the counter with her forearms flat across the glass. “They took her in for questioning. They said something about her article about Debbie or something like that and how they’d taken a man and woman into custody.”

  I knew she was talking about Mervin and Deborah Holt. Trevor had called it in to have them picked up at the psychic convention before he let us drive back to Sleepy Hollow.

  Cheryl Lynn pointed back to one of the fancy coffee machines behind her. “Zula and Ernest were in here getting a fancy coffee.” She smiled. “I couldn’t hear over the machine.”

  “Gr
anny was on a date.” I didn’t want to talk about the investigation of Debbie’s murder. My spirits were low, and talking about Granny made me feel better. “She had a latte?”

  I’d never seen Granny drink anything but tea. She rarely drank coffee and many times tried to get me to switch to hot tea. No thank you.

  “I could tell.” Cheryl Lynn smiled. “They were so cute. It was like old-fashioned dating. They came in. He pulled out the café chair, and she sat down. He came up to the counter and ordered for her.”

  “Granny let him?” I couldn’t believe it. Granny was so independent, and I couldn’t even see her letting him pull out her chair, though she wanted that type of relationship for me.

  “Oh yeah.” Cheryl Lynn’s chin slowly rose up and then down. “He even scooted his chair next to her.” Cheryl Lynn let out a long romantic sigh and gazed out the window. “Where are those type of guys now?”

  “I have no idea.” I shook my head and took a couple of sips out of the mug.

  “How about a vanilla-glazed gingerbread cookie? Fresh out of the oven.”

  I glanced over her shoulders at the cooling rack where the cookies were waiting to be plated and put into the glass bakery case.

  “I will have one.” My mouth watered looking at them.

  “I thought something else was going on.” Cheryl plated a few cookies and scooted around the counter, passing me and setting the plate on the small café table next to the counter. “I’m not busy. Let’s talk. What’s wrong? You should be really happy the sheriff has someone in custody and you’re off the hook.”

  “I know, but it wasn’t like they stumbled upon the information for investigating.” I shoved the entire cookie in my mouth and watched Cheryl’s eyes grow big.

  “Are you telling me you were at it again?” I knew her question was pointed at my bad habit of snooping. “Emma,” she gasped and grabbed one of the cookies off the plate, putting it in her mouth.