Murder on the Ghost Walk

by Constance Barker

  I kissed Grandma Rose on the cheek. “Thanks. Call me on my cell phone if you have problems or questions. We should be back in an hour or so.”

  Jessica hollered, “What? You don’t think we can handle this. We’ll be done before you. Karen may be drunk again. You're going to need more help than we do.”

  I smiled at her, and waved to Andrew. Jessica was right. Talking to Karen was going to be a challenge. And it would be easier without Pinball, but Grandma didn't want him hanging around in the tea room.

  We loaded into Jaxon’s car, but lacked a destination. However, we knew that Karen Broadhurst was a member of the tour group from Pittsburgh, and earlier they enjoyed an outdoor fish fry down by the river. It was a popular outing in Sinking Springs, one which Jaxon and I knew well.

  The light was fading and we guessed that the fish fry was over. So, we headed to the local B&B instead where the tourists were staying and not the river.

  After finding a parking spot, we made for the front door of the Billowing Sheet. Sounds emanating from the place suggested that our choice was a good one. We passed through the lobby and toward the noise.

  Jaxon pointed, “There she is. In the bar, just like we thought.”

  The three of us approached Karen. She was sitting at a table with two other women. She had one empty, and one half full, tumbler in front of her.

  Jaxon smiled and pointed to the drinks. “Do you mind if we join you?”

  Karen studied him. “There are a lot of empty tables in here. Why do you need to sit with us.”

  Pinball barked, “Because we need to talk to you.”

  I was sure my face was pink, a blend of white from the fear raised by Pinball’s voice, and red from my embarrassment. I squeaked, “Sorry about that, he is a little intense, but he means no harm.”

  Jaxon continued. “We do need to talk with you. You said something of interest to us, and we want to know a little more about it.”

  Karen glared at Jaxon. “I don’t know who you are, but isn’t she the waitress from that monkey tea room.”

  Pinball’s voice bellowed again, but not quite as loud. “You know a chimp isn’t a monkey, right?”

  I laughed. “Actually, that’s pretty sharp of you, Pinball. We did know that monkeys are actually great apes, not monkeys, but Grandma Rose liked the name Monkey’s Eyebrow better than Great Ape's Eyebrow. And in a small town, Grandma Rose figured no one would care.”

  Karen’s eyes never left Pinball, then she laughed. “Smart too. Who is this specimen.”

  Pinball grinned, and out of habit, flexed his biceps. “My name is Pinball.”

  Karen pulled a chair over from an adjacent table and patted the seat. “Here. You can sit next to me, handsome.”

  Pinball slowly sat, while his gaze bounced from Jaxon to me, looking for support.

  Karen scanned our new muscle bound colleague while the woman sitting to her left spoke. “He’s much too young for you, Karen. Put your eyeballs back in your head.”

  “Let him speak for himself, Josie.”

  Pinball actually blushed and fell quiet for once. Jaxon came to his rescue. He pulled two more chairs to the table and we sat. “Thank you.”

  The woman to Karen’s right made small talk. “This town is so quaint. It is a pity what happened on the ghost walk.”

  I nodded in agreement. “Thank you. We’re not used to this kind of thing. And now we have organized protests at the police station, asking for the ghost video to be released. It is a bit overwhelming.”

  Karen sipped some brown liquor and grimaced. “Wow, it has a kick but this bourbon is so good.” She wiped her lips. “And Emily is right, this business with Jack’s death is awful. It put our plans in limbo, we were supposed to leave tomorrow, but the police are asking for us to stay an extra day or two. Jack always seemed to have a way of making things far more complicated than they had to be.”

  Jaxon asked, “Did you know him well?”

  Karen chuckled. “I guess. But turns out I didn’t know him as well as I thought?”

  Pinball scrunched his forehead. “What does that mean?”

  I glanced over to Jaxon and understood he was about to ask the same question, but was beaten to it by Pinball. He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

  Karen locked eyes with Pinball, “You aren’t going to believe this, but he was my boyfriend. We separated on the bus ride here.”

  It was Jaxon who found the statement implausible. He leaned forward and closed his eyes while he said, “Wait, you broke up with a man found dead just a few hours later?” He raised his eyelids and stared at Karen. “That’s a little coincidental, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, it is. But I didn’t do anything wrong. He did.”

  I swallowed my tongue, burning to ask about her statement in the tea room. But I judged it best to not push this woman. “I’m not sure what that means. What did he do wrong?”

  Karen remained still and quiet.

  Emily, the woman on her right, nudged her. “Go on, tell them. It might help for you to talk about it.”

  Karen sighed. “Why do I want to tell a group of strangers my life’s story?”

  Jaxon answered, “Because we can help wrap this up, get you on your way home.”

  Karen examined Jaxon. “You’re the P.I. that helped the police with previous crimes.” Jaxon shrugged in reply, then she turned her analyzing eyes to me. “And you’re the girlfriend. Twain told us about how you and your monkey linked a criminal to his dirty deeds, helped the police make the case.”

  Jaxon sat straight. “So, then you know I’m not lying. We can help you, if you are innocent.”

  Karen chuckled. “Well, I sure as heck didn’t kill Jack.”

  Emily pleaded. “Go on tell them. You have nothing to lose by telling them, and you have nothing to hide. Tell them.”

  Karen sighed. “Okay then, not a whole lot to tell, anyway. But here goes...When we met he was so nice to me and was the most civilized man I knew, or so I thought. We dated a for a few months when he mentioned that he wanted to move in with me. I wasn’t so sure, but I agreed to it.” Karen took in the surroundings and waved her hand around the room. “We came on this trip to celebrate our relationship going to the ‘next level.’” She sniffled and stopped.

  Joise put her arm around her. “It’s alright. Let it out.”

  Karen chuckled through the sniffling. “I’m not upset about his death. I’m upset about being so stupid.”

  Josie patted her hand. “We know. And we are here for you. It was best that you found out before anything real bad happened to you.”

  “You’re so kind, Josie.” Karen made a puppy face at her as a sort of thank you.

  “I was sitting next to you and Jack, across the aisle, when you got the email on the bus.” Emily twisted her face into a mix of compassion and pain.

  Karen laughed. “The bus driver almost crashed the bus when I found out!”

  Pinball blurted out, “What? What was in the email?”

  Karen wiped her nose with a cocktail napkin. “I may have screamed a little. And kicked and punched the seat in front of me. Plus a couple of other things.” She paused. “You have to understand, it all happened so fast and I was a little leery of letting things move so quick. Then a few things seemed strange and off with Jack. He appeared to be keeping secrets. So I did a background check and man, oh man, was I surprised.”

  Jaxon said, “So the email gave you his shady background.”

  Karen nodded. “Yeah. Turns out he had been arrested a time or two dozen. He started conning people when he was just a kid. And, boy, did he fool me.”

  I felt a pang of compassion in my stomach. “But Josie, that is your name, right?” I raised my eyebrows at the woman to Karen’s left. She nodded yes and I continued. “Josie said nothing bad happened to you.”

  Karen studied me. “You pay attention real well, don’t you. You were the one who eavesdropped on us at brunch. Weren’t you?”

  I blushed. “I
didn’t eavesdrop, it’s hard not to hear people right next to you.”

  Karen waved her hand. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s all water over the floodgate.” She played with her glass. “And Josie was right, something bad could have happened. It was a good thing I did that background check. Jack asked me just the day before we left on this trip if I had savings. He said he had a once in a lifetime business opportunity but we had to invest fast. It was a bit off, almost cliche, so I did some research. Turns out, he was setting me up and in just a few more days he would have stole a lot of money from me.”

  Jaxon sat straight and looked down at his hands. “I hate to ask you this, but did you tell the police all this?”

  “Yes, and that’s the biggest reason they don’t want the tour group to leave. They think I may have had something to do with this.”

  Pinball asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice. “Did you?”

  Karen chuckled. “You know steroids make a man moody, right?”

  Jaxon popped out of his chair like a spring loaded Nerf gun and I almost fell as I stood too fast. We both anticipated Pinball’s explosion. Karen leaned back in her chair expecting the same. But all remained calm.

  Pinball glimpsed up to me, then Jaxon, letting us know it was under control. Then he turned to Karen. “You’ve had a bit to drink, I get it. But, the girl they are holding is someone I care about, a lot. If you know something about this murder, I would appreciate if you would tell us. I know she is innocent and need to get her out of jail.”

  Karen laughed, sipped a little more bourbon, then said, “This little adventure of mine is just full of surprises.” She tipped the glass vertically, emptied the contents, and slammed it on the table. “I’m going to need another one.”

  Emily cautioned, “I think you have had enough, Karen.”

  Karen snorted. “Didn’t you learn anything from our tour guide, Mr. Twain? Too much bourbon is barely enough. He was right.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Some days are longer than others, and it was now 9:15 p.m. I would normally be at home making my preparations for work tomorrow. But not today. I returned to The Monkey's Eyebrow with Pinball and Jaxon with investigative work to do.

  We found Jessica, Grandma, and Andrew huddled around a table, working on Jaxon’s laptop. Scattered over the table were coffee and tea cups along with a few half eaten pastries.

  Daisy was happy to see us and she signed “I missed you.” I said, “That’s very sweet, Daisy, we missed you too.”

  Jaxon plopped in a chair and asked, “So, did you find anything in the databases?”

  Jessica groaned. “Yeah, this tour group is full of boring, normal people. Nothing jumps out. No police records, except for John ‘Jack’ Richardson. But we knew that one already.”

  Jaxon rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not surprised. But, we found out a few things about Karen. She was Jack’s newest girlfriend and about to be Jack’s next victim. Only she smelled something off and found out who he really was.”

  Grandma wondered, “Well, that is interesting if you look at it the right way. Maybe she did it.”

  Jaxon snorted. “She’s tough, so maybe. But she was with Twain the whole time in the museum. She didn't have opportunity. And she was drunk. It's real hard to do something like this when you’re sober.”

  Jessica chuckled. “So, now, we know why she's drinking. Her boyfriend turns out to be a conman, who was setting things up to rob her blind, then he ends up dead. I’m surprised she can function at all. That is a lot for anyone to deal with.”

  I nodded. “Yes, it is. But I’m still not sure about her. She is an odd duck, and she had a strong motive. Twain claims he was escorting her, I know, but she was there in the museum that night.”

  Jaxon noted, “She is on our list for sure, but we need to explain how she would have had the opportunity.”

  Pinball thought out loud. “Maybe she had an accomplice.”

  Jaxon stared at the big man. “Yeah, but all her other friends are older woman. To murder a man like that would have taken some strength, or a great amount of anger. Her friends don’t fit that profile.”

  Andrew interjected, “But they are holding George for some reason. And he was a friend of Karen.”

  Jaxon nodded. “Yes, but George met Karen on the bus ride. I find it hard to believe someone you just met would commit murder for you. Unless they both lied about meeting on the bus.”

  Jessica shot back. “On it. I get where you are going.” She paused, holding her hands out over the keyboard. “Um, how do I do a deeper search on George Wicks with this thing?” She stared at the laptop.

  Jaxon went over to Jessica and spent a minute showing her a new method to search for information.

  Grandma pinched her lips. “So we still don’t know who did it then?”

  Jaxon chuckled. “No. But the police have Nikki and George in custody and that means something. The police must know more than we do. They choose to hold those two. Why?”

  Grandma replied with another question. “Why don’t we ask them? They trust us and know we may be able to help with the investigation.”

  Pinball remarked, “I don’t ever trust the police. Just look at Nikki. They are holding her and she had nothing to do with this. The cops don’t know squat.”

  Grandma ignored Pinball. “I can ask Lambert tomorrow morning. He likes to come in for coffee and I think he is sweet on me. I might be able to convince him it is in his best interest to share.”

  I grimaced. “Grandma, what is with you today? But it’s not a bad idea.”

  Jaxon nodded. “It’s a great idea! Sometimes the most obvious, straightforward approach works.”

  I sighed. “So what else can we do. This is getting frustrating. We don’t have a good person-of-interest, except for Karen who has an alibi.”

  Jaxon pointed to the work counter. “Is there any coffee? This is going to be a long night.”

  Grandma nodded and went to fetch a cup.

  Andrew asked, “Guys, I have to be honest. I think I’m more confused than when we started. Who should we focus on?”

  Jessica huffed. “I’m glad you said it, because I’m confused too. What do we do next?”

  Grandma gave Jaxon his coffee and he took a long sip without adding sugar or cream. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then said, “Pinball’s accomplice idea could explain a lot. It gives Karen the opportunity via someone else. Maybe she and George worked together. And don’t forget, he was the first to find the body. He actually touched it and could have been messing with evidence. So, if George helped Karen, why? Did he lie to us? Maybe he knew her before the bus trip?”

  Jessica pointed at the computer screen. “Jaxon, is this normal?”

  He checked the scrolling data. “Yeah, this takes a while and runs a number of cross checks, so you get a lot of stuff flashing on the screen. But when it’s done, it will show you a summary.” He took a new spot next to Jessica with a better view of the computer screen.

  Grandma asked, “What are you searching for?”

  Jaxon replied, “Anything that links Karen Broadhurst and George Wicks.”

  Jessica cut in. “Shouldn’t we do that for everyone Karen seems to know?”

  Jaxon smiled. “That is precisely why I am drinking coffee at nine thirty in the evening.”

  Jessica laughed. “Mike is going to kill me. But I’m not going to back out now. Not until we figure out who did this awful thing. Is there more coffee?”

  Grandma chuckled, “Daisy, can you bring the pot?”

  Andrew’s face fell long. “I thought Daisy couldn’t be around the food or drink.”

  Grandma waved her hand at the handyman. “She’s not supposed to. But we are closed to the public and can do what we want.”

  Daisy brought a half filled pot and put it on the table. She smiled and waited for a morsel of food as a tip.

  Andrew was the softie that gave in. He broke off a piece of an eclair and gave it to her. “Sh
e loves her sweets almost as much as I do.”

  Jaxon smiled at Daisy and she squealed in delight. Sweets and attention are two of her favorite things.

  Then Jaxon stared at the floor, creased the corners of his eyes and slowly lost his smile. “You know, something has been eating at me. How did someone break the case in the library, get the knives out, make their way over to the conservatory, and kill Jack?”

  I stammered. “How did I miss that?”

  Jaxon chuckled. “It’s easy. First we have a ghost sighting leading two people to a dead man, pretty unusual. Then second, a drunk, loud woman dominated the tour. Then, a man with two knives in the back tends to draw one's focus. But whoever broke that case might have had a cut or two on their hands. It was why I asked Nikki to show us her hands. And I saw George’s hands when he was in here. Free of injury. So why are the police holding those two?”

  Grandma huffed. “Like I said already, I'll ask Lambert in the morning and he will likely share his reasons.”

  Andrew cut in. “I get it. What if they found glass shards on someone, or now that I think about it, fingerprints on the knives.”

  Jaxon smiled back at him. “The knives may be the key to finding who did this.”

  I asked the obvious question. “So how do we investigate the theft of the knives? We don’t have access to any of the evidence.”

  Jaxon smiled. “Our focus was affected by the ghost sighting, and if the video does show a ghost, the police are probably distracted by it, too. At least a little. Plus, when I was at the station you could feel the tension in the air. Some might even think the ghost did it, just as assumed for the murders of Mr. And Mrs. Montague.” He studied his toes once again. “And now there are protests at the police station. It is fair to assume they are looking for clues from the knives, but they have their hands full. Maybe they want some help.”

  I sighed. “So we are back to talking to the police.”

  Jaxon nodded. “Yep. I think I need to spend a few minutes with you, Rose. We need to develop an agenda for your talk with Lambert in the morning. There are a more than a few things we want to learn from him.”