by Josie Belle
“Dennis and Blue got into a fistfight because Blue claims the house has a ghost, and Dennis said that if it does it means that clearly one of Blue’s relatives must be evil and is haunting the house because they’re trapped here and can’t move on to the beyond.”
“I don’t think I’m qualified to speak on this,” Maggie said. “You need someone who knows about paranormal stuff. Like spirits and poltergeists and all that jazz.”
“You’ll do just fine,” Blue said. “You’ve been in the house and felt the presence of an otherworldly being. Since you and Sam bought the house it belongs to you. So, does it feel as if the presence is evil or not?”
Maggie blew out a breath. The presence didn’t feel evil but it was definitely there. She didn’t care what Sam said.
“No, it’s not evil, I think,” she said.
“Aha,” Blue snapped at Dennis. “There you have it. Not evil.”
“But she said ‘I think,’” Dennis insisted. “She doesn’t know. It only figures that it’s evil and someone in your family caused it or maybe it’s Ida or Imogene. They never did marry and they lived in that house for a mighty long time by themselves. Maybe they were witches.”
Blue struggled to get to his feet. He had his hands balled into fists and a fire in his eye when he bellowed, “Why you . . . I’ll knock your head off for that.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Doc Franklin said as he pushed Blue back down into a seated position. “Settle down there, Blue, there is absolutely no fighting in my office and you know it.”
“But he’s slandering my family,” Blue protested. “I can’t have that. I lost three dates for next week because of him. If this keeps up, I may have to learn to cook for myself.”
“It might do you some good,” Doc Franklin said.
“Don’t even joke,” Blue said.
“I’m just stating the facts,” Dennis protested. “I can’t help it if the ladies are afraid of you now that they know you have bad kin in your family. You can’t blame the ladies. If it’s genetic, they have to be worried for their safety with you. Who knows when you might snap.”
“What? I’d never hurt a lady, and I do not have bad kin,” Blue protested. “No one in the Dixon family is a killer.”
“That’s right,” Maggie said. “Just because we found a skeleton . . .”
She caught herself too late. All three men turned to stare at her in surprise and Maggie knew there was no taking back what she had just said. Oops.
Chapter 12
“What skeleton?” Doc Franklin asked.
“Um,” Maggie stalled.
“Skeleton?” Dennis lit up like a firecracker. “Ha, I knew it. There’s a murderer in your past, Blue Dixon.”
“There is not!” Blue shouted. His face was a mottled red.
“This wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I sent for you,” Doc Franklin said to Maggie.
She bit her lip. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault,” he said. “A skeleton?”
“Yes, in uniform,” Maggie said. “It seems he has been there for a very long time. Sam is trying to identify him as we speak.”
“Just wait ’til I tell the ladies about the skeleton in your closet. Get it?” Dennis chortled. “We’ll see who is getting the home-cooked hot dishes then, won’t we?”
“Why you . . . that’s it. I’m going to punch you right in the mouth,” Blue said.
Dennis put up his fists, looking like he was ready to go. Doc Franklin stepped in and held up his hands, stopping the two of them from getting anywhere near each other. He frowned at the men on either side of him.
“Why do I get the feeling that this is more about casseroles than it is about the Dixon house being haunted or not?” he asked.
Dennis’s eyebrows lowered and his upper lip curled. “It’s his fault.”
Blue raised his hands in exasperation. “What is my fault? You start bad-mouthing me to all of the ladies, saying that there are evil ghosts in my family home and that I am likely to go crazy and kill people and that’s my fault?”
“Me and my brother had it pretty good with the ladies before you got here,” Dennis said. “They took good care of us with Sunday dinner invites and doing our laundry. Then this clown shows up with his pretty manners and suave suits and my brother and I have had to learn how to do our own laundry and we haven’t had anyone drop off a meal in months.”
“Maybe it’s because you two have the manners of barnyard animals,” Blue said. “Sylvia Perch told me that you just dumped your laundry on her doorstep like she was your maid.”
“She liked doing it,” Dennis protested.
“Really?” Maggie asked. The feminist within her was having a conniption. “You actually think she wanted to launder your shorts?”
She said it in a tone that made it clear she thought he was as dense as a cinder block. Dennis’s cheeks turned a vibrant shade of red, and she knew she’d made her point. Dennis wasn’t one to stop digging himself into a hole once he’d begun shoveling, however, so he started to protest.
“Well, she was perfectly happy to do my laundry until he showed up and started giving all the ladies flowers and candy and taking them to movies,” he said. He glared at Blue. “You ruined everything.”
“I’d say it’s more like I liberated those poor ladies, if you ask me,” Blue said. “If a woman does something nice for you, you should do a kindness in turn or at the very least let her know you appreciate it. Good god, man, everyone knows you’re rich. Why don’t you use some of your wealth to spread some joy to the ladies? Then you’d be in the running again as they’d likely overlook your abysmal manners. You should try to evolve a few steps beyond knuckle-dragging cave dweller.”
Dennis started to growl, so Doc Franklin stepped in between them again.
“Seems to me you fellas need to find a compromise,” Doc said. “How about if Blue schools you in the art of winning over the ladies?”
“What?” Dennis and Blue cried together. They looked equally appalled at the idea of spending any time together.
Doc continued, “The ladies like Blue because he treats them well, you want the ladies to like you, Dennis, so it seems to me the only solution is to get Blue to teach you how to woo the ladies. And Blue, there are far too many ladies for you to manage on your own, so it shouldn’t be a hardship to share.”
Dennis looked at Blue suspiciously. “My brother, too.”
“Great,” Blue muttered. “Now I have the Applebaum brothers for an entourage.”
“Well?” Doc asked.
“No more cracks about my family,” Blue said. He gave Dennis a dark look.
“Deal,” Dennis said. He held out his hand and Blue shook it. “But you have to admit a skeleton in the house could be good material.”
Blue considered him for a moment and then turned to Maggie with a confused look. “I’ve been in that house a few times to check on things, and I’ve never seen a skeleton. Where did you find it?”
“It was in the basement in a root cellar that had been blocked off by a shelf full of canning jars,” she said. “We never would have found it but the light went out and Sam and I went down to check the circuit breaker. While we were checking it out, I found the door to the cellar and there he was.”
“How do you know it was a he?” Doc asked.
“The uniform,” Maggie said. “It was military with pilot’s wings, but the section where the name would be had rotted away. We’re thinking he may have been a soldier in World War Two.”
Doc Franklin’s eyes went wide at this, and Maggie knew that he had been just a kid during the Second World War.
“I don’t suppose you remember anyone going missing around then?” she asked.
Doc ran a hand through his white hair. “Killed in battle, sure, but missing, no.”
Maggie nodded her head. She’d figured if it was someone local there’d have been a story about him. No, whoever this guy was he had to have been someone who was passing through.
<
br /> She glanced at Blue. “How about you? Do you remember any soldiers in the family or that were friends of the family?”
Blue looked thoughtful and shook his head. “I really didn’t know my cousins that well during the war. They were several years older than me and I was just a kid back then. We didn’t get close until I was a teenager.”
Maggie looked at Dennis and he shrugged. “We didn’t live here then. My family was in Dumontville, working in the factories.”
“It was a long time ago,” Maggie said. “Sam is bringing in someone from the Richmond PD to help him, an old pal of his named Andy. I hope he can give us something to go on.”
“Do you think the skeleton is the presence in the house?” Blue asked. He sounded equal parts thrilled and nervous. Yeah, sure, because the house wasn’t his problem anymore.
“No idea,” Maggie said. “Sam insists that there is no ghost. He thinks it’s just drafty.”
“But you don’t agree?” Doc Franklin asked.
“I don’t know,” Maggie said. “One minute I think one thing and the next I think something else entirely. You’re a man of science, what do you think? Are ghosts real?”
Doc tapped his finger against his lips. Maggie knew this was a stalling tactic of his that he employed when a patient was pushing for a diagnosis and he wasn’t ready to render an opinion.
“The world is full of the unexplained,” he said.
“Oh, boo hiss,” Dennis said. “That’s no answer.”
“Maybe not, but unless either of you gentlemen is in pain or still bleeding, I believe our time together is done.”
Doc pulled the curtain between their two beds, giving them privacy to dress. He then gestured for Maggie to follow him and led the way out of exam room three.
“Thank you for coming by,” Doc said. “I wasn’t having much luck sorting that mess until you showed up.”
“I can’t believe they were fighting over the ladies,” Maggie said. “That’s crazy.”
“Not to a lonely old man it isn’t,” Doc said.
“So, how are you and Alice doing?” Maggie asked.
Doc beamed at her and that was all the answer Maggie needed. “She’s been teaching Bianca how to make pie.”
Maggie’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead. Bianca was Doc’s grown daughter from a prior assignation. Alice had always wanted children but had been unable to have any. When she found out about Doc’s daughter with another woman, the betrayal had run deep, even though Doc himself hadn’t known. For Alice to be reaching out to Bianca was huge.
“That’s great, Doc,” Maggie said.
He nodded and looked a little emotional when he continued, “Alice is thinking that if Bianca and her fiancé Max have children she will get to be a grandmother, and goodness knows, she’d make a terrific one.”
“Are you kidding?” Maggie asked. “She’d be amazing and since neither Bianca nor Max have any real family, well, it does seem right, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does,” Doc agreed. Again, he looked a bit emotional so Maggie gave him a quick fierce hug. When she stepped back, he said, “But enough about us, what about you and Sam? The big day is coming and I hear you two are planning to get hitched in the middle of the town square with Tim Kelly manning the bar. Is that true?”
“The town green with a bar?” Maggie asked. “This is the first I’m hearing of it. Sheesh, Doc, I don’t even have my dress yet.”
“Well, don’t you think you’d better get on that?” he asked. “Time’s a-wasting and you and Sam have a lot of years to make up for.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I am on it. We will get it together. You’ll see. It’ll be amazing.”
Doc grinned. “I never doubted it for a second.”
Maggie left with a wave and a case of nerves that felt like bats swooping around in her belly. What was she going to do? The wedding was just weeks away. She had done nothing. Her house was haunted. There was a skeleton in her basement. And she was pretty sure she was developing a rash.
She itched the skin at her elbow as she climbed back into her car. Everything was going to be fine. They’d figure out who the skeleton was, the ghost would leave, and the wedding would fall into place just as it should. No worries.
She drove back through St. Stanley, pondering all that had happened over the past few days. She’d bought her dream house. Yay. Her house was haunted. Boo. She was marrying the man of her dreams. Yay. She hadn’t done a thing to plan the wedding. Boo.
Well, at least things seemed to be very balanced. She couldn’t argue with the distribution of good and bad but she sure wished the timing were different.
At the stop sign she pulled out her phone to check and see if there was a voice message from Sam. She always kept the volume off on her phone, since she didn’t like to hear messages coming in as she then felt compelled to answer them, which would be awkward when she was with a customer. No, it was much easier to wait until she had a minute and then listen to them all at once.
There was no voice mail from Sam nor was there a text message. She put her phone away and continued driving through town. Near the police station she instinctively glanced at the squat redbrick building to see if she could get a glimpse of her man. Sam-watching, sort of like bird-watching, was her new favorite hobby.
She saw his familiar head of dark brown hair and looked more closely to confirm that it was him striding up the walkway toward the station. He wasn’t alone. She assumed that his friend from the Richmond PD was the person in the official-looking slacks and dress shirt walking beside him. Somehow she had not expected the man she had pictured as Andy to have curves like that.
As Maggie watched, Andy tossed her long, glossy black hair over her shoulder and tipped her head back to show a delicate profile and a flawless smile as she laughed at something Sam said. Hmm.
Maggie felt her right front tire skim the curb and she jerked the wheel to the left to keep from running off the road. She continued on to her shop, mulling over this alarming turn of events in her mind. To her credit she only glanced over her shoulder back at Sam and company twice—okay, three times but really that was it.
Chapter 13
Maggie thanked Mrs. Kellerman for her help and went to make a fresh pot of coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need it to get through the afternoon.
She had sent Sam a text asking about his friend Andy’s arrival and Sam had texted back that she had just gotten to town and he was taking her over to the house to inspect the scene.
Okaaaaaay, then. Maggie assured herself that she was okay with it. Completely 100% okay with the man she’d pictured in her head actually being a gorgeous woman. Yup, nothing to worry about here.
She was just taking her first bracing sip of coffee and repeating her “no worries” mantra when the front door opened and Joanne came in with baby Patience strapped to her chest in one of those complicated wrap things that Maggie was quite glad was not in vogue when she’d had her daughter. One glance at the baby and she could feel her skin getting sweaty and sticky.
Although, she had to admit Patience looked to be the picture of contentment snuggled close to her mama. Maggie was hit with a pang of guilt. Had she damaged Laura and given her abandonment issues by not lashing her to her chest during her baby years? She shook her head. What was she thinking? Laura was a bright and beautiful confident young woman on an internship in New York City. She was totally fine. Apparently, mother’s guilt had no expiration date. Awesome.
“Okay, so Michael called me and told me that Pete told him that Sam told him that the two of you found a skeleton in your house last night. True?”
Maggie hadn’t thought Sam would let the story out so early. Then again, given how gossip moved at the speed of sound in St. Stanley, she was surprised it had taken this long for someone to come in and ask about it.
“True,” she said.
Joanne gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. Baby Patience stirred and Joanne cringed and began to rock from foot
to foot in a soothing “rock-a-bye baby” motion. Once Patience settled, she looked up at Maggie.
“Details,” she whispered.
“There isn’t much,” Maggie said, keeping her voice soft. “We found it in the basement in a blocked-off root cellar, but we don’t know who it is—er, was. The clothes, well, the uniform looks to be from the forties.”
“This is unbelievable,” Joanne breathed.
The door opened again but this time it was Ginger. She was wearing one of her favorite broomstick skirts with the sparkles on the bottom. She saw Joanne rocking back and forth and gently closed the door behind her.
“Explain,” she hissed at Maggie.
There was no need to ask what Ginger was referring to, so Maggie told her the same thing that she had told Joanne. Ginger’s eyes went wide and she looked nervous.
“So there is a ghost in the Dixon house. Oh my god, in your house!”
“I think so,” Maggie said.
“Sam doesn’t?” Joanne asked.
“No, he is certain that all the banging doors, lights flickering and drafty breezes were just the house settling or the wind,” Maggie said.
“Even after finding the body?” Ginger asked.
“Skeleton,” Maggie corrected her. “There was no body, just bones.”
She gave an involuntary shudder and her friends did as well.
“What are you going to do?” Ginger asked. “What if the poor man was murdered there? You can’t live in a house where there was a murder.”
“I know,” Maggie said. “But both Sam and I think that if we can figure out what happened, we’ll feel better about it. I mean maybe there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this.”
The door opened again and in strode Claire. She was dressed for work at the library in a black skirt, green blouse and black pumps.
“I only have a few minutes until my break is over,” she said. “I have to be on the reference desk in fifteen minutes, so start talking.”
She glanced at her wristwatch and then at Maggie. Taking the hint, Maggie gave her the short version of the events of the past evening.
