Janet McNulty - Mellow Summers 05 - Oh Holy Ghost

by Janet McNulty

  Suddenly, an ominous chill snaked down my spine. My feet planted themselves to the ground as my breathing quickened. Fear rose within me. Frantically, I waved my flashlight around trying to locate the source of my panic. All the light seemed to be blotted out leaving me only in darkness. Blood pumped so hard that I heard a constant thump in my ears.

  “Mel? Mel?”

  A soft touch on my arm caused me to jump.

  “Mel, it’s okay. It’s me. Jackie.”

  “What?”

  I faced her. Light returned to the area as my breathing slowly steadied.

  “Mel, you’re sweating. What happened?” Concern filled Jackie’s face as she studied me.

  “I don’t know really,” I replied, “I just suddenly felt very afraid.”

  “Sounds like a panic attack.”

  “I never had them before.”

  “You alright, Mel?” Tiny joined us wondering about our absence.

  “Yeah, I’ll be okay,” I said. “Just had a panic attack, or something.”

  Tiny eyed me suspiciously, but let the matter drop.

  Figuring that there was nothing to find, I started for the car.

  “Wait, stop,” Tiny put his arm out. He pushed me back a bit. Picking up a stick, Tiny carefully used it to brush some fallen leaves aside revealing a footprint. “This looks recent.” He grabbed a flashlight and focused the beam on the print. “A boot made this. A man’s boot, I’d say.” Tiny felt around the print measuring its size and depth. Pulling out his phone, he took a picture. “Well, I’ll send this off to your detective.”

  “And how will I explain our being here?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Tiny. “Leave it to me.”

  I frowned. It wouldn’t matter what story Tiny gave the detective. He’d put it together. I was getting a little predictable.

  “Can we go now?” whined Jackie. “It’s freezing out here.”

  My nose had gone numb minutes ago. “Yeah, let’s go,” I said, “I don’t think we’re going to find anything else. Besides, the sun’s coming up and I don’t want to get caught out here.”

  We headed back to our vehicles. Smoke filled the air as we started them up and took off down the icy road. A boot print. Only one boot print. I had no idea how that would help me find the woman’s killer. What I needed was information. I needed to know her identity, her friends, and her enemies.

  Once back in town, Jackie and I parted with Tiny and his gang and went searching for an early morning diner that served breakfast. We stumbled upon one and found more than just food. Randal Hopkins was there as well.

  “Good morning, ladies,” he greeted as Jackie and I seated ourselves in accordance with the sign.

  “Morning,” I mumbled.

  Jackie just stared at him wide eyed. Was she developing a crush on him? She barely knew him.

  “Out and about early this morning, aren’t we?” Randall brought a chair to our table and sat with us, coffee in hand.

  “You girls ready to order?” asked the waitress.

  Jackie didn’t register the woman’s question.

  “Two specials and two coffees, please,” I said.

  “Yeah, that sounds good,” whispered Jackie in a dreamlike state.

  I hadn’t seen her like this since high school when she fell for the star football player. Unfortunately, her heart got broken when the football player proposed to the head cheerleader. It was a clichéd relationship that caused Jackie to mope around for a week in dirty clothes and unwashed hair. The only time I ever saw her looking anything less than the epitome of perfection. Now, she focused on the city councilman who seemed to be a rising star in the local community.

  “Beautiful morning,” commented Randall.

  “Gorgeous,” breathed Jackie.

  I kicked her shin to snap her out of it before she made a fool of herself.

  “OW!” Jackie’s outburst brought a few unwanted stares.

  “Sorry,” I said sipping my coffee, “Forgot where my foot was for a moment.”

  “You know, I have a small mystery that needs solving,” said Randall.

  “Really?” Jackie’s hopeful expression betrayed all of her thoughts. “Mel, here is great at solving mysteries.”

  “Jackie,” I said.

  She ignored me. “She has solved at least four of them. All murder cases and one robbery case. Mel is great at it. Of course, it helps that she has a bit of an advantage.”

  “Oh? What sort of advantage?” Randall leaned in closer paying very close attention.

  “Yeah,” said Jackie, “Mel, can talk to—”

  “Jackie.” My stern voice stopped her talking. “There are some things about myself I do not want made public.”

  Jackie hung her head ashamed that she had almost blurted out my secret.

  “No, I’m very interested,” said Randall, “What is the big secret?”

  “No,” said Jackie, “It’s not my secret to tell.”

  “Well, now I am really interested.” Randall Hopkins looked at me expecting me to satisfy his curiosity.

  I smiled back, but had no intention of telling him that I am sometimes contacted by ghosts who have a mystery they want solved. “To be frank, Mr. Hopkins, it’s none of your business.”

  Jackie gaped at me. Undoubtedly, she could not believe that I had just spoken so bluntly to a city councilman and one she was attracted to.

  “Fair enough,” said Randall, “Well, the big mystery right now is I have tickets to the play at the community theater and wondered if you two girls would like to accompany me.”

  Jackie perked up. “What’s playing?”

  “Fiddler on the Roof.”

  I groaned. I liked plays and all, but I really wanted to get started on figuring out who I saw get murdered.

  Just then, Tammy walked in. She spotted us and dashed over brimming with excitement. “Hey, Mel. Hey, Jackie. How’s it going? I’m just here to get some breakfast for my father and maybe something for me. Have you two eaten? Oh, course not there aren’t any plates. Can I join you?” She shoved her way into a chair.

  “We’d love to go to the play,” said Jackie.

  “Uh, Jackie, remember we had that thing to do today?”

  “What thing?”

  “You know. It concerns what happened at the parade.”

  “Oh, you mean—” I shoved a roll in Tammy’s mouth before she let spill that I had witnessed someone get killed. She pulled it out chewing on her bite. “Oh, these are good, so nice and buttery.”

  “Think you can do it without me?” asked Jackie. She really wanted to go with this Randall guy. I don’t know what she saw in him, but if that was her wish, who was I to stand in the way?

  “I guess I’ll manage,” I said as the waitress dropped off our food. “You two have a good time.”

  “I’ll go with you, Mel,” said Tammy practically jumping out of her seat. “I don’t care for plays and have nothing else to do. So we can go together.”

  “It’s all settled then,” said Randall. “You two go do what you need to and Jackie and I will go to the play.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” said Jackie in her dreamlike trance again.

  Oh, brother. She had it bad. I could see the hearts flying from her brain.

  “I’ll pick you up at seven,” Randall told Jackie as she practically drooled all over him.

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “Jackie, your food’s getting cold,” I told her.

  “Oh, I’m not too hungry,” whispered Jackie.

  “Well, I’m famished.” Tammy snatched Jackie’s plate and dug in.

  An hour later we paid our bill and left. Randall kissed Jackie’s hand while he said good-bye. Jackie, had stars in her eyes as she stared after him rubbing her hand as though his kiss were a coveted prize. Definitely, high school all over again. When she fell for a guy, she fell.

  “Jackie.”

  No response.

  “Jackie.”

  “Ye
s,” she said finally coming back to reality.

  “Come on, we have business at the police station.”

  “Oh, you two go along,” said Jackie airily as she waved us away. “I have a date to prepare for.”

  “Jackie, it’s ten hours away,” I said.

  “That’s hardly enough time. See ya’ll later.” She hurried away. Shaking my head in disbelief, I figured she could walk home. Ten hours to prepare for a date. Whoever heard of such a thing?

  Tammy eagerly followed me as I headed for the police station to meet with Jack. Unfortunately, Greg was at work so I had to think of a way to convince him to help us. As the computer technician at the police station, he was well-positioned to look up information. Jack had built their database and knew every back door; a door that I routinely made good use of.

  “Oh no! Can’t you go haunt someone else?” moaned Jack as Tammy and I walked into his basement office.

  “You know you are the only one I know who can look things up.”

  “Get Greg to help you.”

  My face fell at the mention of Greg’s name. Ever since he had picked up extra hours, I didn’t see much of him. And I’d much prefer his company right now instead of Tammy’s. “Come on, Jack. You know you like solving these cases.”

  “Nope.”

  “You know that body that turned up yesterday?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I saw her get murdered.”

  Jack’s eyes widened at that. He dropped the hot dog dripping with mustard into his lap. “You saw it. Then you already know who did it.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I don’t. See I saw her get killed, but the murderer kept his back to me. And from the angle I was looking, I couldn’t make out any discerning features.”

  “So what do you need me to do?”

  “I need you to look up the woman’s identity and any useful information.”

  Jack’s lips pursed a bit as he thought about it. I had piqued his interest. Maybe I wouldn’t have to resort to threats.

  “Come on you,” Tammy marched over to Jack. “We need information and you have it. Now spill.”

  “What the—” began Jack.

  “I said talk!” Tammy turned Jack’s chair so that he faced her, their noses only an inch apart. “We’re on the case. Now there is an easy way and a hard way to do this.”

  Jack glanced at me. I just stared back at him and shrugged, equally perplexed by Tammy’s outburst.

  “Don’t make me bring out my guns,” said Tammy as she flexed her biceps, which were surprisingly toned.

  “Look, you don’t need to—”

  Tammy cut Jack off. “Or perhaps it’s something else you want. You need more friendly persuasion.”

  Friendly persuasion? It was so nice to know that I had just brought a psychopath with me on an investigation.

  Tammy flipped her hair and rubbed her hands over her hips.

  This was getting to be too much. I reached out, snatched her by the collar of her coat and ripped her away from Jack before she could give him a lap dance.

  “Hey. Wha—” yelped Tammy.

  “Park it right there,” I said as I thrust her into the corner of the room.

  “Jack, we need your help and you know Greg’s schedule as well as I do. Now either you give me what I want to know, or I’ll let her jump on you again. Your choice.”

  Jack shoved the hot dog out of his lap and pushed himself to his computer. The clicking and clacking of keys told me that I had gotten through. “The victim’s name is Helen Campbell,” said Jack. “African-American, divorced, her ex has custody of the kids.”

  “Anything else?” I prodded. “Her habits? Where she worked? Who she knew?”

  “She got out of rehab three years ago.” Jack continued punching the keys. “Let’s see. She and her husband divorced because of her heroin addiction, and the courts awarded him custody of the kids. She checked into rehab at a place in upstate New York that specializes in heroin addiction. According to the judge’s ruling, if Helen got cleaned up and proved she could hold a job, she would be allowed visitation rights. Guess it was the push she needed. Anyway, she got clean and moved here three years ago.” More keys clicked. “After getting a job as a waitress, she took night classes at the college to learn accounting. Once she got her degree, she got a job at City Hall.”

  I mulled over what Jack said. So she made some bad decisions, but managed to get her life back on track.

  “According to the original police report, the coroner wanted to rule it a suicide.”

  “Suicide?” That sounded odd.

  “Yeah, but Detective Shorts had noticed the strangulation marks on her throat, so he asked for a second opinion. There’s nothing unusual in the autopsy report. Stomach contents are normal. No drugs or alcohol in her system. Cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation.”

  That fit what I had seen through the window.

  “Any forensic leads?” I asked.

  Jack pushed up his glasses as he put his nose to the monitor. “No. No fibers, no hairs. A great big nothing. The killer was probably wearing gloves. There were postmortem bruising and scratches.”

  “What?”

  Jack leaned back in his chair. “It means someone moved the body after she died.”

  “So she was killed in one location and dumped in another.”

  “Yeah, it sure looked that way. They don’t know where she died. But her body had bruising on the arms and legs. Here.” He brought up pictures.

  Seeing pictures of a corpse is not that comforting. It provided a cold reality of what happened to us all when we die. I shook off my internal thoughts and studied the photographs.

  “See the markings there?” Jack pointed to the bruises on her arm. “They’re consistent with someone carrying her over their shoulder. Thus leaving the arms free to swing and bang into something.”

  “They got the report very quick,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, Detective Shorts ordered them to make it a number one priority. Something about a witness claiming to have seen the murder, but the police brushed it off at first because there was no body. And everything gets put on this new database the moment it’s filed.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. If only he knew that I was that witness. “You’re good at this stuff. How do you know so much about forensics?”

  “I read a lot,” said Jack. “When you spend most of your time around cops and keeping files of murder victims, missing persons, and every other unsavory thing catalogued, you pick up a few things.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No. She lived in an apartment on Harvard Avenue. Here’s the address.” He wrote it down on a slip of paper and gave it to me. “If you’re planning on breaking in, don’t tell them about me.”

  “Understood.” He didn’t want to get busted for helping me out. I didn’t blame him and would never tattle.

  “If you find anything else interesting, let me know, okay?” I put on my coat and grabbed Tammy by the shoulders. A disappointed look crossed her face.

  “What was that about?” I demanded of her as I pushed her into the hallway.

  “What was what about?”

  “That thing in there with Jack. What were you thinking?”

  “I was trying to get information,” snapped Tammy.

  “By threatening him and then giving him a lap dance? Tammy, this is real life, not a Hollywood movie. If you want to help, fine. But use some common sense.”

  Tammy pouted holding her face in such a way that she had to look up to look at me. “Sorry.”

  I don’t know what I did to deserve her help in solving this. “Alright. Put your jacket back on and let’s go.” I propelled her toward the stairs.

  “So where are we off to next?”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Where would I go next? Clutching Helen Campbell’s address in my hand, I thought a moment. I needed to get into her apartment. But I had to make certain that I could get in without being noticed. A
nd I only had Tammy for company. Not a good combination. Tiny could help me.

  I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

  “Yeah?”

  “Tiny, Mel. I need you to meet me at—” I read the address to him, “In half an hour.”

  “Got a break in the case?”

  “Maybe. Not sure yet. Anyway, I need to poke around there.”

  “I’ll meet you there.”

  I hung up. Tammy had wandered off. After a few minutes of wandering around the basement floor searching for her, I finally found her talking with a young police officer by the water cooler. This was just great. I had assistance from someone who had a brain the size of a peanut.

  “You have a nice face,” said Tammy.

  Seriously? She was flirting? Rolling my eyes I marched up to her and grabbed her arm. “Excuse me,” I smiled at the officer.

  “Hey!” yelled Tammy.

  “You’re going home,” I told her as I shoved her through the hallway and to the stairs.

  “Why? I’m helping.”

  “Not this way you aren’t.” We walked out the door to the outside and the cold it had to offer.

  “But I am.”

  “By going bi-polar on Jack and then flirting with a cop. You know we aren’t supposed to be there investigating an open police case.”

  “But I was just being friendly,” wailed Tammy.

  “Too friendly. Go home.”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. “I can help,” she said. “I want to help you, Mel. I want to prove to everyone that I’m not some ditzy dame with stuffing in my head.”

  And you’re doing a bang up job of it, I thought to myself. “Remember what I told you if you wanted to assist me?” We made our way to my car.

  “Yes.” A loud BLRRRRT echoed around us as she blew her nose. “That I—” sniffle “—was to do what you said.”

  I eyed her as she dabbed her red and puffy eyes with a tissue. Okay, so I’m a soft touch. Poor Tammy wanted to do something useful and Jackie had ditched me. I opened the door to the passenger side. “Get in,” I told her, “I am giving you one last chance. But if you screw up, you’re gone.”

  Beaming, Tammy hopped in the car and fastened her seatbelt low and tight across her hips; just like the stewardesses say to do on airplanes before takeoff. A part of me wanted to laugh at her eagerness. I started the car and headed over to Helen Campbell’s apartment, and Tiny.