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

by Jana DeLeon

  “She’s right,” Zoe said. “My aunt never awakened last night while I was here.”

  “So she called you in her sleep?” September asked.

  Zoe held in a sigh. “It was a man’s voice, and since I know my aunt’s voice, I can assure you it was not her. Someone used her phone.”

  September didn’t look convinced. “I just can’t think of a reason someone would do that. I mean, if it’s a prank, it’s not a very funny one.”

  “I totally agree,” Zoe said. “But Mary Jo told you exactly what happened, so you know what to put down for my statement. I don’t have anything else to add. It was an alarming situation and not in the least bit funny.”

  “I suppose I could see if someone’s kids were on the floor that late…” His voice trailed off. The deputy was at a complete loss. Zoe was fairly certain that the only way September would find the man who called her the night before was if he were standing in front of them and admitting to doing so.

  “We appreciate any assistance you can provide us,” Zoe said, “and thank you for watching my aunt’s room last night. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep without knowing you were here.”

  He looked slightly mollified and a little pleased. “I was just doing my job.”

  “Well, if that’s all,” Zoe said, “then I’m going to collect my aunt and take her home.”

  September nodded and Sapphire grabbed her bag of personal items and practically ran out of the room. Zoe hurried behind her as she blew past the nurse’s station and out the front door.

  “Don’t you have to check out or something?” Zoe asked.

  “Which one is your car?” Sapphire asked, scanning the parking lot.

  “The white one over there,” Zoe said. “Discharge papers? Nothing like that?”

  “Mary Jo took care of it,” Sapphire said.

  Zoe made a mental note to get a gift basket for Mary Jo before she left Everlasting. Something with sweets, bath salts, and wine. The nurse had earned it ten times over.

  Sapphire jumped into the passenger seat, threw on her seat belt, and looked at Zoe with all the impatience of a six-year-old on her way to Disney World. She waited until Zoe started the car to begin firing off questions.

  “What the hell is going on? Who called you? Did anything happen at the lighthouse?”

  Zoe explained everything that happened the night before to her aunt, leaving out, of course, the part about kissing Dane. Sapphire surprised her by listening without interruption, then sitting quietly for several seconds when she was done. Finally, her aunt shook her head.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Sapphire said. “The entire thing is so ridiculous.”

  Zoe looked over at her aunt. “I thought you believed in the whole magic emerald thing.”

  Sapphire gave her a disapproving look. “It’s not a ‘thing’ and of course I believe the legend. What’s ridiculous is that anyone thinks I have information that leads to the location of the stone but haven’t retrieved it myself.”

  “But you said if the stone was removed, the magic might leave Everlasting.”

  “If I knew where the stone was, I would simply ensure that no one else could find it.”

  “Seems like someone already did that since it hasn’t surfaced after all these years. Plenty of treasure hunting and construction has gone on in Everlasting since it was first established. I think we would have heard if anyone had unearthed a giant emerald.”

  “Yes, that does make it more interesting.”

  “I’m not sure ‘interesting’ is the word I’d use to describe this. ‘Worrisome’ is better but not strong enough. The reality is, as long as someone thinks you hold the key to finding the stone, you’re not safe. The lighthouse isn’t safe. They’ve tried twice already. The first time you fell and the second time they made me believe you had relapsed, just to get us out of the way. What if they up their game next time to actual injury?”

  Zoe studied her aunt’s face, and although she could tell Sapphire was struggling for the serene outlook she preferred to live by, her eyes gave away the worry she felt.

  “What should we do?” Sapphire asked.

  Zoe clenched the steering wheel and shook her head.

  She didn’t have an answer.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The welcoming committee was sitting at attention when Sapphire entered the lighthouse. Zoe had no idea how they knew Sapphire was coming as her aunt hadn’t made a single noise walking from the car to the house, but they were all waiting expectantly when the front door opened. As soon as Sapphire entered, they crowded around her, meowing and shoving one another around, trying to rub her aunt’s legs.

  “Oh, my precious babies,” Sapphire said, and bent over to give each of them a scratch on the ear. She gave Sleepy additional time and praised him for running over the intruder’s face. Then she thanked all of them for helping Cornelius and apologized if they’d been startled by the ghost, assuring them that he was just trying to take care of their home.

  Zoe skirted the cat frenzy and headed into the kitchen, where Dane was measuring a shiny new stainless steel range cooktop. He looked up at her as she walked around the island.

  “They’ve been sitting like that for the last ten minutes,” he said. “Usually they want to be as far away from the racket as possible, but not even me grinding down some of the edges on the cabinets seemed to faze them.”

  “I don’t even want to speculate,” Zoe said.

  Dane nodded his understanding. Speculating on what was at play put them right back into the netherworld of Everlasting, and they already had more otherworldly things to process than either of them wanted.

  Finally, Sapphire finished making the rounds and walked into the kitchen to give Dane a hug and kiss on the cheek. Then she took a good look at the room for the first time since she’d walked inside. Her eyes widened.

  “Oh!” Both her hands came up to touch her cheeks. “Dane, this is simply gorgeous. The light green on the cabinets and the glass door fronts…I can’t wait to see it with those countertops and the backsplash.”

  Dane smiled and Zoe could tell he was happy that she was pleased with his work. “Give me an hour and those countertops will be in. I’m measuring for the cutouts now. The edges are already done. I’ll need another couple days for the backsplash, though.”

  “You know I always tell you I’m not in a rush,” Sapphire said, “and that’s true, but I will say I can’t wait to see it all done. Every room you remodel I think is the best one, but I’m going to go ahead and say it now, the kitchen is definitely my favorite.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” he said.

  “Like it? I love it. If my bedroom weren’t so lovely, I might just sleep in it.”

  “I don’t think it’s fit for sleeping,” Dane said, “but in a couple days you’ll be back to baking everyone’s waistline up another size.”

  “Yes, well, I guess that depends on if I’m around in a couple days, doesn’t it?” Sapphire asked. “Zoe seems to have some concerns about my safety, and as much as I’d love to dismiss her as being ridiculously dramatic and overprotective, I’m afraid that would be foolish. I’m an optimist, but not a fool.”

  Dane sobered and nodded. “The situation is serious. You could have been hurt that first night and Zoe could have been last night, driving to the hospital like Mario Andretti.”

  “It was more like Fred Flintstone,” Zoe said. “Given the top-end speed limit on the car, I was about to stick my feet out the door and push.”

  “Both were uncalled for,” Sapphire said, “and potentially dangerous. So we all agree that something has to be done.”

  “Yes,” Dane said, “but the big question is what?”

  “That’s easy,” Sapphire said. “First, we set a trap and catch the thieves.”

  Zoe looked over at Dane, wondering which one of them was going to point out the obvious flaws in her aunt’s logic. When he remained silent, Zoe figured he’d decided that as a blood relative, it w
as Zoe’s responsibility to call her aunt crazy.

  “I think that might be difficult,” Zoe said. “The thieves are probably waiting for me to leave before they return. It’s easier with a lone target.”

  “So we’ll make everyone think we left,” Sapphire said. “Then we’ll catch them in the act.”

  Zoe looked over at Dane for help, but he was still staring at Sapphire, his expression a mixture of uncertainty and contemplation, which was potentially scarier than Sapphire suggesting such a plan in the first place.

  “Okay,” Zoe said, “we are not qualified to pull off a sting. And despite the fact that we have an old ghost hanging around, this is not an episode of Scooby-Doo.”

  “Well of course we aren’t,” Sapphire said. “I have an army of cats. Not one silly dog.”

  “I think she’s onto something,” Dane said.

  “You’re serious?” Zoe stared at him in dismay.

  “Why not?” he asked. “You and Sapphire can put out word that you’re going to visit someone overnight or whatever, then head out of town and hole up in a motel. I’ll leave at my usual time, then sneak back over after dark and wait for the thieves to show up.”

  Sapphire shook her head. “No way. You’re not doing it alone. Either we’re all in it or none of us are. There’s two of them. You need all of us working together on this.”

  Zoe opened her mouth to launch another protest, then paused. Was it really as horrible an idea as it originally sounded? Cornelius had never seen the thieves carrying a gun, and they’d fled after Sapphire fell, so violence probably wasn’t one of their primary objectives. If they thought the house was empty, they wouldn’t come armed for battle.

  Sapphire put her hand on Zoe’s arm. “Honey, it’s going to happen eventually. This way, we’re controlling the time and we’re ready for them.”

  Damn it! Zoe knew her aunt was right but she didn’t like admitting it. Until the thieves were caught, every night Sapphire spent in the lighthouse she’d be jumping at every creak, just waiting for them to strike again. Short of getting her armed guards, setting a trap was the fastest way to resolve the situation and get Sapphire’s life back to normal.

  “Okay,” Zoe said finally, “but you are to remain out of sight and ready to call the cops. This is not the time for you to test some Bruce Lee move or whatever else you’ve taken up lately.”

  “I start MMA classes next month,” Sapphire said. “It’s a shame they didn’t offer them sooner.”

  “Yeah, that is a shame,” Zoe said. “So what’s the next step? You said earlier that ‘first’ we needed to set a trap and catch the thieves.”

  “Oh, then we find the emerald and make sure it’s secure,” Sapphire said.

  Zoe blinked. “Just like that. We’re going to find the emerald even though we have no clue as to its hiding place.”

  “I didn’t say it would be easy,” Sapphire said, “but it should be fun.”

  “First things first,” Dane said, interrupting Sapphire’s personal Lord of the Rings quest. “We need a plan for tonight.”

  “You want to do it tonight?” Zoe asked.

  “Why wait?” he asked.

  He was right, of course. There was no reason to wait until tomorrow night or the next night or the following week. All that did was give the thieves an opportunity to get the jump on them.

  “Great!” Sapphire clapped. “Then let’s head into the living room and start planning our coup.”

  And so they began.

  Given that she worked for a news station, Zoe had been to her share of war room meetings, but the one she was in now took the prize for the strangest collection of participants ever. Zoe and Dane sat on the couch and Sapphire was seated in her recliner. Cornelius, who’d attempted sitting in a chair but kept falling through, had finally given up and stood near Sapphire. But it wasn’t the ghost that tipped the hand all the way to weird. It was the ten cats sitting in a row on the coffee table, quietly awaiting word from their leader.

  Zoe looked down at her laptop where she’d been taking notes. “This is what we have so far. Sapphire will call everyone she knows and let them know that I’m taking her to Portland overnight for a girls’ spa adventure to celebrate her hospital release. We will also go downtown where Sapphire will stop in on everyone she knows and provide them the same story.”

  Sapphire nodded. “That should get word around to everyone in town.”

  “Even the dead,” Cornelius said, and laughed. “Sometimes I kill myself. Oh, look, I did it again.”

  Zoe gave him the side-eye and kept going. “What we need to figure out now is how Sapphire and I get back here without anyone knowing.”

  “I have an idea on that,” Dane said, “but we’re going to have to enlist some help.”

  “Who can we trust?” Zoe asked, and put her hand up to stop Sapphire before she started listing everyone she knew. “Who can you trust?” she asked Dane.

  “Sam and Monte,” Dane said. “They already know some of what’s going on and they’re pissed that someone’s harassing Sapphire.”

  Zoe nodded. “And we know for certain they aren’t involved since they were sitting in the bar with you when everything when down. Not that they were ever suspects, but it doesn’t hurt.”

  “Agreed,” he said. “So this is what we’ll do. You and Sapphire will leave downtown and go to the Eastbound Motel just outside of town. The motel should have quite a few festivalgoers registered, so your car will be easy to hide in the mix. I’ll have Monte and Sam pick you up and bring you back here.”

  “But both of them drive single-cab trucks,” Zoe said. “And they can’t exactly pull up in the driveway and let us out. For all we know, one of them could be watching from the woods like he was before.”

  “I have an idea about that,” Dane said.

  “What idea?” Zoe asked.

  “Don’t worry about it. Just get to the motel and I’ll have it all worked out.”

  Zoe wasn’t completely comfortable with that. Not because she didn’t trust Dane but because she’d always been one of those people who had to know things. Asking her to remain in the dark was like asking her to not watch the weather report. She’d try to suck it up, but she figured she’d be asking for details before they ever arrived at the motel.

  “Then that puts us back here midafternoon,” Zoe said, “which gives Sapphire time to get some rest.” She narrowed her eyes at her aunt. “No arguments. You just walked out of the hospital today.”

  “I am happy to take a nap along with my pretties,” Sapphire said.

  “Not just rest,” Dane said. “You’ll have to stay out of sight, which means upstairs. If I close the blinds downstairs, it might look odd given that I never have until I’m done for the day. Plus, since the new lighting hasn’t been installed yet, the sunlight really helps as far as my work goes.”

  Zoe nodded. “We’ll stay in our bedrooms and away from the windows. So what about tonight? I mean, specifically when they get here?”

  “I want Cornelius patrolling outside,” Dane said. “That way, he can warn us when they’re here and we can get in position. My guess is they’ll come through the front door since he was able to jimmy that one the last time and will assume you leave that way so the dead bolt won’t be drawn. I’ll hide behind the cabinet on the front wall in the living room. I want you guys upstairs. We’ll move the refrigerator to block the back door so they can’t get out that way. When they make it into the middle of the living room, I want Cornelius to yell so Zoe will know to come down the stairs. I’ll leave my position to block the front door. Between us and the refrigerator, we’ll have all exits blocked unless they want to jump through a window. Is Cornelius okay with all that?”

  Zoe looked up at the ghost, who nodded.

  “Yes, of course,” Cornelius said. “Whatever it takes. Perimeter patrol, cat herding, I’m up for it.”

  Several of the cats hissed and Sapphire reached over to pet them. “He’s just trying to help. He doesn’
t mean to startle you.”

  “No,” Cornelius said. “I definitely meant to startle them.”

  The cats, in movement that seemed synchronized, all glared at Cornelius, then proceeded to lick their butts.

  “That’s not polite at all,” Sapphire said, giving them a disapproving look.

  “So when confronted, you think the thieves are going to stop and confess?” Zoe asked. “Promise not to do it again?”

  Dane shook his head and looked over at Sapphire. “I know you’re not a fan of guns but I’m going to bring two of my hunting rifles. We’ll keep the thieves in place until the police arrive. That’s why I want you out of sight and handy with your cell phone.” He glanced over at the butt-cleaning cats. “Also, if things go wrong, maybe you can convince your friends to create havoc.”

  Sapphire frowned. “Breaking into my home, putting my niece in a dangerous situation on the highway, forcing Cornelius to terrorize my babies…if you’re willing to load up a shotgun with rock salt, I’ll shoot them myself.”

  Zoe smiled. “Then looks like we’re set.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  By the time they left downtown, Zoe was convinced they’d spoken to half of Everlasting. If there was someone in the town who didn’t know about their spa plans then they were deaf or living under a rock. Either way, they weren’t a threat. They headed for Zoe’s car with a sizable bag of baked goods that Sapphire had insisted on since she couldn’t bake at her house, and Zoe set off for the highway.

  It was only a ten-minute drive to the motel and Dane had been right about the parking lot. It was at least half full, and Zoe had no problem finding a space at the back of the lot where her car couldn’t be seen by anyone driving by. As she cut off the engine, her cell phone signaled a text. It was from Dane.

  Monte and Sam on way now.

  “They’ll be here soon,” Zoe said. “He never did tell me what he’d cooked up.”