Dead Man Talking: A Cozy Paranormal Mystery (The Happily Everlasting Series Book 1)

by Jana DeLeon

  If she kept saying that, then she was certain it would happen.

  She had pulled a T-shirt and sweats out of her suitcase before she went to shower but now that she was staring down at the garments, they didn’t make sense. It wasn’t as if she were going anywhere else tonight, and Dane should have been gone some time ago. Might as well put on her pajamas, go downstairs to pull the dead bolts, and feed the cats. Then she was going to crawl in bed and try to get some much-needed sleep. Even though the last time she’d gone to bed this early, she’d been eight years old.

  The sheets were crisp and cool when she slid down in them and pulled the comforter up to her chin. She looked out the window at the moon, glowing up in the night sky, and drifted off.

  Her cell phone startled her out of sleep and she bolted upright so quickly, she made herself dizzy. It took her a second to realize where she was and what had awakened her, and she grabbed her phone off the nightstand. She panicked when she saw Sapphire’s name in the display.

  “Sapphire?” she answered. “Is something wrong?”

  “Is this Zoe Parker?” a male voice asked.

  “Yes. Who is this? Where is Sapphire?”

  “This is Dr. Williams. There’s a situation with your aunt. I need you to get to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  “What happened? Is she all right?”

  “I’d rather explain when you get here.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Ten

  Zoe threw the phone on the bed and grabbed her jeans and a shirt from her suitcase and pulled them on. As she was tying her tennis shoes, she yelled for Cornelius. A second later, he popped through the wall of the bedroom, startling her all over again.

  “Jesus, I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she said.

  “But the door is closed,” Cornelius said.

  “Then yell ahead or something. One of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack and then where would we be?”

  “That wouldn’t be optimum.” He looked at her and frowned. “Why are you getting dressed? It’s 11:00 p.m.”

  “The hospital called. Something happened with Sapphire.”

  Cornelius’s eyes widened. “What happened? Is she all right?”

  “The doctor wouldn’t say. I have to go to the hospital now. I’ll call Dane on the way and let him know what’s happening, but I need you to watch the lighthouse. If anyone tries anything, scare a cat at them and try to get a look at a face if possible. Remember anything they say.”

  “Of course. Please hurry. The sooner you get there and back, the sooner I’ll know what’s happening with Sapphire.”

  “I’ll get there as fast as the econobox will manage.”

  She shoved her phone in her purse, grabbed her car keys, and ran to the rental car. As soon as she hit the highway, her foot slammed completely against the floorboard, but when the car hit seventy miles per hour, the engine refused to push it any further. What the hell? Now was not the time to run up against one of those stupid engine governors, but no matter how hard she stomped on the pedal, the vehicle refused to go any faster.

  She was five miles down the road when she remembered to call Dane.

  “Crap!” She dug her phone out of her purse and dialed Dane’s number, then prayed he answered. On the fifth ring, she was about to give up hope when the call connected.

  “Zoe?” he answered. “Is something wrong?”

  She told him about the call from the hospital.

  “I’ll drive you,” he said.

  “I’m already on the highway. I meant to call sooner but I dashed out and then I was so busy thinking about what could be wrong and watching the road that I forgot. I need you to go to the lighthouse. If they’re watching, then they saw me leave. They know it’s empty. Are you at home?”

  “No. I’m still at the bar, but I’m leaving right now. Concentrate on the road and don’t worry about the lighthouse. And call as soon as you know something about Sapphire.”

  “I will.”

  She hung up the phone and banged on the steering wheel, cursing the stupid car for not going any faster. It would take Dane at least twenty minutes to get to the lighthouse from downtown, and she’d left almost ten minutes ago. If they were there, lurking somewhere nearby in the woods, that gave them a good thirty minutes to look around the lighthouse.

  It wouldn’t take them ten to find the notes she’d left on the desk in her aunt’s room.

  Dane jumped up from his chair, startling Monte and Sam and their glasses of whiskey.

  “I’ve got to run.” He tossed some bills on the table and hurried out of the bar without taking the time to explain. He could do that tomorrow when it was daylight and he was certain the lighthouse was secure.

  Because of the festival traffic, his truck was parked two blocks over, so he took off running. When he sped around the corner on the street where he’d parked, he frowned. Something didn’t look right. As he got closer, he realized his tires were flat. All four of them.

  Cursing, he turned around and ran back to the bar and hurried over to Monte.

  “I need to use your truck,” he told Monte.

  Monte and Sam glanced at each other, clearly confused but cluing in to the urgency.

  “Sure,” Monte said, and rose from his chair. “I’ll settle up with Shorty later.”

  “I’m coming too,” Sam said, not wanting to miss out on whatever was going on.

  Dane hurried out of the bar and down the sidewalk, wishing Monte and Sam moved a little faster, but that was as futile as wishing his tires back to normal. The two old fishermen shuffled along at the fastest pace they could manage and were both huffing like freight trains by the time they reached Monte’s house. Monte fiddled with his keys, trying to open the front door, and Dane struggled to control his impatience.

  No way those tires went flat on their own. Someone had done it, and he was betting money that word had gotten back to the Belmont brothers that he was asking questions about them. It was just the kind of juvenile trick they’d play. He just hoped they’d only let the air out and that the tires weren’t slashed. If they were, the trick would be juvenile and expensive.

  They traveled through Monte’s living room and kitchen. Monte grabbed the truck keys off a pegboard hanging next to the door that led into the garage, and they headed for the truck. Monte gave Dane the keys and he ran around to the driver’s side. As he climbed inside, he realized Monte and Sam were getting in the passenger’s side.

  “What are you doing?” Dane asked.

  “We’re going with you,” Monte said. “Something’s wrong and we’re going to help.”

  Dane didn’t have time to argue and wasn’t about to get in a scrap with two seniors, so he shoved the key into the ignition and turned.

  Nothing happened.

  He tried again. Still nothing.

  “When was the last time you drove this truck?” Dane asked.

  “I don’t know,” Monte said. “A month. Maybe two. When I went to the eye doctor.”

  “That was in June,” Sam said.

  Dane groaned. “Your battery is dead. How can you go four months without driving?”

  “Social Security is direct deposit,” Monte said. “My bills are auto-drafted and the bar serves food. Doctors are the only thing I need to leave for.”

  “Sam?” Dane asked. “I don’t suppose you have your car keys on you?”

  Dane knew Sam usually caught a ride with Shorty at closing time. His house was a good four blocks away but if Dane could go without the slow twosome, he might be able to get to the lighthouse before tomorrow morning.

  “Now don’t go getting your panties in a bunch,” Monte said. “I’ve got one of those jump-starters on the shelf there. It will only take a minute.”

  Monte’s minute became a very long eight spent over missing cables and much discussion over the proper way to attach the starter. Finally, Dane all but pushed the two out of the way, and when the truck fired up they all climbed
back inside. Dane backed out of the garage and took off down the street as fast as he dared given that festival people were still filtering down the streets to their cars.

  “Hey,” Monte said, “you never told us what the emergency is.”

  Dane glanced over at the two men and shook his head. All this running around and neither of them had bothered to ask that question until now. Their boredom level must be high for them to sign up for anything without question.

  “I need to get to the lighthouse,” he said, and explained the situation.

  Monte and Sam exchanged worried looks.

  “Did the doctor say what happened to Sapphire?” Sam asked.

  “No,” Dane replied. “Just that Zoe needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  “And all your tires are shot?” Monte asked.

  Dane nodded. “Either someone let the air out or slashed them. I’m hoping it’s the first.”

  The two fishermen exchanged looks again.

  “What?” Dane asked. “You keep looking at each other like there’s something I’m not saying. If you know anything about all of this, spill it.”

  “We don’t know anything,” Monte said, “or we’d have told you, but I saw that Hinkley boy head out of the bar right after you talked with Shorty. Were you asking him about the Belmont brothers?”

  “Yes.”

  Monte nodded. “Then my guess is Hinkley tipped them off.”

  “I figured that might be the case,” Dane said. “Why does that have you looking like you ate something bad?”

  Monte glanced at Sam again, then looked back at Dane. “You don’t think someone would hurt Sapphire just to get Zoe out of the lighthouse, do you?”

  Dane clenched the steering wheel. No. He hadn’t thought that was a possibility.

  But he was thinking it now.

  Zoe rushed into the hospital and Mary Jo looked up at her in surprise as Zoe ran up to the desk, out of breath.

  “Where is Sapphire? Is she okay? What happened?” All of the questions came out at once.

  Mary Jo rose from her chair and gave Zoe a concerned look. “Ms. Sapphire is fine. I just looked in on her a couple minutes ago. What is this about? You’re panicked.”

  Zoe’s stress level dropped by a thousand times, but her confusion shot right up to replace it. “I got a call from Dr. Williams. He said something had happened to Sapphire but he wouldn’t talk about it over the phone. He said I needed to get here as quickly as possible.”

  Mary Jo’s frowned. “Honey, there’s no Dr. Williams on staff here.”

  What the hell?

  “You’re sure?” Zoe asked.

  “Positive. I know every doctor who walks through those doors.”

  Zoe pulled out her cell phone and showed Mary Jo the call activity. “Look. That’s a phone call from Sapphire’s phone that she has in her room with her.”

  Mary Jo stared at the phone, her eyes widening. “I don’t like this. Come with me.”

  Mary Jo headed for the hallway, and Zoe ran around the desk and through the door to join her. They hurried down the hall to Sapphire’s room, and Mary Jo quietly pushed the door open and they walked inside. Sapphire lay on her bed, snoring lightly.

  “Her vitals all look good,” Mary Jo said. “Where is her cell phone?”

  “It was on the tray with her Kindle when I left today.”

  “Well, it’s not there now.”

  Zoe dialed Sapphire’s number and a couple seconds later, they heard the phone signaling an incoming call. The sound was coming from the bed. Mary Jo lifted the covers and located the phone next to Sapphire’s side. She pulled it out and handed it to Zoe, who checked the display.

  “There’s the outgoing call,” Zoe said.

  “And you’re sure it wasn’t Sapphire?”

  “It was definitely a man’s voice. Who is the doctor on call tonight?”

  “Dr. West, but she’s a woman and has a voice kinda like those singing cartoon chipmunks. I don’t think she could sound like a man even if she tried.”

  Zoe motioned to the door and they went into the hallway.

  “Is the front entrance the only way to access these rooms?” Zoe asked.

  “No. There’s employee access on the other side of the building, but no one monitors it. We use key cards to get in.”

  “Can you find out who used their key card in the past couple hours? Someone made that call and I want to know who.”

  “I can ask security if they’ll give me a log, but they’ll probably ask for a supervisor’s approval. Maybe we’re overreacting. Maybe it was just a joke.”

  It was clear Mary Jo was grasping at straws, but Zoe didn’t have time to make her feel better. The truth wasn’t pretty, but it was what they had to deal with.

  “Look,” Zoe said, “I know Sapphire still doesn’t remember what happened the night she fell, but I have reason to believe someone broke into the lighthouse and startled her. She dropped a flashlight and Mace when she fell.”

  Mary Jo looked stricken. “You don’t think someone is trying to hurt Ms. Sapphire, do you?”

  “I don’t know what to think, but I don’t like any of this.”

  “I’m calling the sheriff,” Mary Jo said. “She’s got all them fools just lounging around in tight pants. One of them can lounge outside your aunt’s hospital room.”

  “You do that, but I have to get back to the lighthouse.”

  “Wait! The deputy will want to talk to you.”

  “Tell him to call me, or he can talk to me in person tomorrow. Something’s not right. I’ve got to get back home.”

  Zoe rushed past the obviously distressed Mary Jo, but there was no time to explain what was going on, and Zoe was fairly certain she knew what that was. Someone had tricked her out of the lighthouse. Cornelius had seen two men. One of them could have made the call from Sapphire’s phone while the other waited in the woods until she left.

  She yanked her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Dane’s number as she ran to the car, praying that he’d made it to the lighthouse and that whoever was lurking there hadn’t gotten the jump on him. At first, she’d been scared. Then she’d been confused and worried.

  Now she was just mad.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cornelius was more stressed than he’d been that moment he first appeared at the lighthouse and found out he was dead. And that definitely ranked right up there as one of his all-time stressful moments. Zoe’s car had barely disappeared down the drive when he heard rattling at the front door. Zoe couldn’t pull the dead bolt from outside and Cornelius couldn’t touch things, so the front door had been left vulnerable.

  Cornelius popped outside and saw a man in black pants and shirt and wearing a black ski mask, working on the door lock. When his attempts were unsuccessful, he began cursing and Cornelius recognized his voice as that of the larger man the night Sapphire fell. Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation, as he’d assumed it was one of the two. Otherwise, it would mean an entire band of thieves was trying to get inside Sapphire’s house to locate something that Zoe had told him no one was ever likely to find. And that was assuming it was even still in Everlasting.

  He watched as the man took out a different set of tools and started on the lock again. This time he was successful. Cornelius heard a click and the man twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. Cornelius hurried inside after the man, trying desperately to come up with a way to stop him. If only he could touch things. He could hit the man over the head and call 911. They’d send someone out even if there was no voice on the other end. But sadly, his limited skill set only left him the option of terrorizing cats. Unfortunately, the smaller man was the one who’d seemed to have a big fear of the animals.

  Still, if cats were the only weapon he had, then by God, he was going to use them.

  He watched as the man made his way through the living room, opening drawers on the various tables and shuffling through the documents. Then he inspected all the pictures on
the walls, even taking them down and feeling the backs to make sure nothing was hidden inside. Cornelius scanned the room for a pair of glittering eyes, but all of the furry creatures appeared to have taken leave of the area.

  Cornelius hurried into the laundry room, in case one or more had fled that direction, but it was empty as well. When he came back into the living room, he saw the man disappearing up the stairs. Cornelius went up after him and watched as he entered Zoe’s room. He started off by searching her suitcase, then moved on to the rest of the room. Cornelius looked everywhere—the closet, under the bed, behind the laundry basket—but there wasn’t a cat in sight. It figured that the only time he needed to find one sitting on a toilet, they were all hidden from view.

  The door to the storage room was closed so the only place left for the cats was Sapphire’s room. Cornelius ran out of the bedroom and up the stairs, then had to stop halfway and catch his breath. Death was no fun at all. And really, if you were going to have all these restrictions—can’t touch things, can’t eat things, can’t put on a pair of pants, can’t leave a designated area—then it was only fair that you got handed a body that had Olympic conditioning. And just as soon as he had God’s ear on the matter, he planned on telling him that.

  Finally, he was able to drag in a breath without wheezing and took off up the stairs again, this time managing to make it all the way to the landing. He stopped at the threshold, not wanting to spook the animals before the timing was right, and peered inside. Sure enough, ten sets of glittering eyes twinkled at him from underneath furniture and behind curtains.

  He eased into the room and took inventory of the location of everyone, trying to figure the best way to scare them all out of the door at the same time. As he edged near the desk, he saw Zoe’s notes about the emerald right on top and on full display. More than ever, Cornelius wished he could touch things. It was paper. It was practically light as air, but when he reached for it, his hand passed right through the notebook and into the desk.