“Good evening,” said Funnel the bloodhound as he came plodding toward us. “Oh, light. I do like light.”
“Correction, it was fun,” Paws groaned.
“This is Mr. Buxton,” said Funnel. “He’s been wanting to speak with you.”
For the first time I noticed that the dog wasn’t alone. Trailing behind him was a man.
The ghost who came forward wasn’t what I’d been expecting. He was short and round and had a receding hairline. He was crying uncontrollably.
“Which one is the witch?” sobbed Mr. Buxton.
“That’d be me,” I said.
“We’re just hangers-on,” said Greer, pointing between herself and Charlie.
“I’m just so sorry,” Mr. Buxton wailed into the cold night.
None of us knew what to do, but it didn’t look like Mr. Buxton was going to stop crying any time soon.
“I’m Lemmi,” I said. “Does this have something to do with the Kayla Caldwell case?”
“Yes,” Mr. Buxton hiccupped.
“Why don’t you try to explain what happened? Maybe go slowly,” I said, trying to sound soothing.
The man looked at me through watery eyes. He looked sad and desperate and I felt very sorry for him, but I couldn’t help him if he wouldn’t explain what he was so upset about.
Knowing that Kayla was already there didn’t help. I was starting to regret bringing her at all, in fact.
“Kayla found out I was embezzling money. At least, that’s what she thought was happening. I just borrowed it. I swear I was going to return it, and I did, not long after she went missing. I returned every penny and I never did it again.”
The ghost was crying uncontrollably again, clearly making Paws uncomfortable, not to mention the rest of us.
After several minutes, Mr. Buxton collected himself and continued. “I should have turned myself in immediately when Kayla confronted me,” he said. “Not that she knew it was me, but she knew something was wrong. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I know I was horrible, but now I’m stuck as a ghost! I feel terrible. I’d like to make it up to her. I left her sister all the money I could, and it was a considerable amount. Still, I was a fool. I was a coward. I didn’t do enough in life, and I’d like to make it up to her now. I just don’t know how.
“I followed her that night, I did, but it was to make sure she didn’t go to the police or something crazy like that. While I was driving behind her I just got so nervous that I revved the engine, and then when I saw her car crash, I didn’t think it had gone very far. I didn’t think it got into the water, but clearly I wasn’t thinking at all. I’ve thought about nothing else for the last twenty-five years. I don’t think she should forgive me, but I would like to apologize to her. Her sister has had a good life, but I know it would have been much better with Kayla in it.”
Greer, Charlie, and I exchanged glances after hearing this tale. It was unprecedented, and Paws at least was very skeptical of the man’s apology. Then again, Paws was a cat and he hated feelings in general.
“I don’t know that this is something you can apologize away,” Charlie warned.
“Certainly not, but I have to do something,” said Mr. Buxton. “What else am I supposed to do?”
“You could try getting drunk,” said Greer. “I have a bar.”
“You work at a bar,” said Charlie, then she elbowed her.
“Look, I was hoping you could find Kayla for me. That’s all I want. Just please see if she wants to talk to me.”
To my great surprise, Kayla came around from behind the bushes at that moment. She had heard the entire conversation, and she was eyeing Mr. Buxton nervously, twisting her hands in front of herself and looking around at the cemetery as if she’d never seen one before. I suppose since she wasn’t buried in one, there was some chance she hadn’t.
“Kayla,” said Mr. Buxton, his eyes going wide. He went to her with outstretched arms, but she took a step back.
“We’ll leave you two alone,” I said.
Greer, Charlie, and I wandered away. The two of them needed time to talk and for Kayla to do whatever she was comfortable doing. When I looked back, Mr. Buxton was blubbering again.
As for me, I just hoped it didn’t take her too long, because I was dead tired and couldn’t wait to crawl into bed.
We talked a little while longer, and soon Kayla joined us. She was sniffling, but she looked happier than she had been before.
“I tried to forgive him, but he didn’t want me to,” she said.
“You have a good heart,” said Charlie, beaming.
“Thank you,” said Kayla. “ I like that it was him taking care of my sister. I’ve been so worried about her all this time, if I had only known how well taken care of she was I wouldn’t have worried so much. And you both said she seemed good?”
“She seemed very good,” I said. “She wants to move to Florida. I think she’s sick of the cold weather here.”
Kayla smiled warmly, “That sounds nice.”
“What will you do now?” I said.
Kayla shrugged, “I like the lake, but I’m not sure. The world is my oyster!”
Then she thought about it and added, “I still haven’t been buried, right? Does that mean I can spend time wherever I’m buried?”
Drat. Those were the kind of questions I hated. I didn’t know enough about being the Witch of Mintwood to set her straight, but I thought she was correct, or else why did I have such an active front lawn every night?
“Would you convince my sister to take my ashes to Florida? Then maybe I can be close to her. I’ve spent a lot of time by the lake, and I think I’ve seen enough of it. I always did want to see the ocean,” said Kayla.
“I sure can,” I said. Her sister might want Kayla close to her anyway, so she could visit. She had been without a grave to visit all these years, I figured she’d probably like that.
We waved goodbye to Kayla and told her we’d visit her soon with news from her sister. After that the three of us didn’t have any reason to linger, so we piled back into the Beetle to head home.
“This whole seeing ghosts thing is crazy,” said Charlie.
“Just crazy,” said Greer.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Paws.
We were ready for a fun night with friends at the bonfire. Another case solved, another competition won. Now that I’d dealt with the easy stuff, all that was left was what I was supposed to do about Jasper Wolf. Oh, and learning all my witch spells.
I was in big trouble.
The End
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By Addison Creek
Witch of Mintwood Mysteries
Witch Way to Mintwood
Witch Some Win Some
Witch Some Win Some (Witch of Mintwood Book 2) Page 19
