by Rose Pressey
“The message from the cards means beware of the friend. Something evil has a hold of the friendship.” He handed the cards back.
“What friendship?” I asked.
“That’s something you will have to figure out. Why do you have the cards if you can’t read them?” he asked.
“You should tell him the truth, Cookie. He obviously has some psychic ability,” Charlotte said.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, here goes. I asked about the cards because my cat told me to ask.”
All right, that didn’t sound so great. And there was no way I was ready to tell anyone else the truth. He quirked an eyebrow. He was probably seconds away from calling the police to have me escorted out.
“I meant to say my grandmother. She told me.”
That was technically the truth. He had looked at me like I was crazy when I’d said my cat told me to ask.
“Well, I guess that’s close enough,” Charlotte said.
I thanked him for helping me and headed back to the bed-and-breakfast. Nothing else could be done that night.
Chapter 22
Cookie’s Savvy Tips for Vintage Shopping
Don’t be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone.
Just because it’s not something you’d usually wear
doesn’t mean you can’t wear it.
All of a sudden, a loud scream rang through the bed-and-breakfast, echoing off the walls. I practically jumped off the bed. Maureen and Charlotte jumped.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. What is going on in this place? It’s worse than a haunted house. I’ve seen less scary things at the movies,” Charlotte said.
“If I wasn’t dead, that would have scared me to death.” Maureen fanned herself.
I jumped up and rushed over to the door of my room. Hannah had screamed, but I had no idea why.
“Let’s just hope that she saw a mouse or something, and nothing worse,” I said as I hurried toward the door.
“A mouse is bad,” Charlotte said.
I rushed out the door and down the stairs, trying not to fall and tumble to the bottom. When I reached the foyer, I made a left into the living room and found Hannah standing in the middle of the room, as if she’d seen a ghost.
The ghosts had been with me up in my room, so I knew it wasn’t one of them. Had another ghost appeared? I certainly hoped not.
“Hannah, what’s wrong?” I asked as I ran over to her.
“She looks as if she might faint,” Maureen said.
“Get some water and splash it on her,” Charlotte said.
I knew that Charlotte would like nothing more than for me to do that, but I wasn’t quite sure that was necessary just yet.
“I just saw someone peeking in the window,” Hannah said.
I looked over her shoulder at the window behind her. “Which window?”
The room had four windows—two on the front of the house and two on the side. The other walls were entrances to the kitchen and the foyer.
“It was that window right over there,” Hannah said, pointing to the window behind her, which was at the front of the house.
I ran over to see if someone was still standing there.
“Don’t go over there. They might see you,” she said.
They had already seen her, so what difference did it make if they saw me? I wanted to actually catch someone looking in the window. What did they think they were doing? That was just creepy. Something rattled.
“What was that?”
I didn’t want to tell her that it sounded like a doorknob rattling. I had to be brave.
I peered out the window at the trees, the surrounding flowers, and the shrubs, but there was no sign of a person.
“Hannah, are you sure there was someone out here?”
She nodded. “Yes.” Her words were barely audible.
This must really have scared her a lot if she was too scared to speak.
“I’m absolutely sure someone was looking in the window. I think they were trying to break in—probably to kill us,” she said.
“That’s a terrible thing to say,” Charlotte said.
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions. Maybe it was someone looking for a room,” I said.
“I’m not letting anyone that creepy stay here. Look around.”
I moved over to the other window to take a look, but it was the same thing. There was no sign of a person.
“Wait right here, Hannah, I’m going to go outside and take a look around.”
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Charlotte asked. “You don’t want to be the one murdered.”
Everyone was jumping to conclusions. We needed to stay calm. Just because someone had recently been murdered didn’t mean that it would happen again, nor that it would happen here at the bed-and-breakfast.
“I’ll go with you, Cookie,” Ramon said.
I moved to the dining room and then into the kitchen. The old screen door squeaked and banged shut behind me as I went out the back door. I’d meant to be quiet on my way out, but the door had slipped out of my hand. I froze, wondering if the person who had been out here had heard the noise. There was no sign of anyone, so I went around to the side of the house.
Still nothing seemed unusual. I walked close to the window and peeked in. Hannah was standing almost in the same spot, looking terrified. She was waiting for me to return. I hoped she wouldn’t look over and see me at the window. It would scare her all over again, thinking that I was the person she’d seen before.
I noticed that some of the flowers looked as if they’d been stepped on. Hannah was right: someone had been there. I noticed a footprint to the right. Just one, which was odd.
I backed away from the window so that I could turn around and go back into the house—and bumped right into someone. I let out another scream, but when I turned around, I realized that Ken was the one standing behind me. He grabbed my arms to keep me from falling.
“Cookie, are you all right? I’m sorry if I scared you.”
I managed to catch my breath, although my heart was still pounding pretty fast. “I’m fine. I just didn’t know you were behind me.”
“Exactly why are you looking in the window?” Ken asked.
“Hannah thought she saw someone peeking in, so I came out here to take a look.”
“Really? Maybe I should take a look around,” he said.
“I haven’t seen anyone so far. I did notice the footprint in the dirt right here.”
Ken looked down. “Are you sure it didn’t come from your shoe?”
“It looks small, but it’s not mine,” I said.
Without warning, a drizzle of rain fell.
Ken touched my arm. “Come on. We’ll go back inside. I don’t want you to get wet.”
Hannah insisted we have a cup of tea with her. She said it would calm our nerves. Ken had checked again for any sign of someone wandering around outside, but the person was never seen again. The size of the shoe print made me think it was possibly a woman, though Hannah thought it was a man.
Chapter 23
Grandma Pearl’s Pearls of Wisdom
You don’t have to be hateful.
Just say, “Bless your heart.”
The sun had just peeked over the horizon. Soon I would have to get ready for the big day ahead.
It seemed like the best place to find any information was at the barn. I decided to go there and see if anyone else had information for me. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask. Soon the Derby would be over, and everyone would be gone. It would be almost impossible to solve the murder after that. If I didn’t do it now, it would forever be a cold case. Unless, of course, the police had clues that I wasn’t aware of, but I thought I’d done a fairly good job of finding things. Dylan was working on getting more information at this exact minute.
The barn was quiet, except for the sounds of the horses. It was mid-morning, and things had settled down after all the horses had been fed and exercised. I didn’t see Danielle, Mand
y, or anyone I knew. The ghosts were quietly following behind me. It was unusual for them not to be chatting away, but I was enjoying the break. I shuffled along the dirt path over to the office area, thinking I might find someone there. Twisting the knob, I realized the door was locked. I headed back over toward the stalls. If I didn’t see anyone this time, I would leave. I’d made it halfway across the lot when I spotted something on the ground.
“Look, it’s a phone,” Charlotte said at the same moment.
I reached down and picked it up. I looked around to see who might have dropped it. There were a few people at other barns, but they all looked occupied and as though they couldn’t have been over here anytime recently.
“See if it turns on so you can see who owns it,” Charlotte said.
After scanning my surroundings one more time, I swiped the screen. To my surprise, the phone was still working.
“It still has a charge,” I said happily.
“Good. Now find out who it belongs to,” Maureen said.
When I looked up the owner’s info, I was shocked to find out who it belonged to.
“This phone belongs to Mandy,” I said.
Charlotte’s eyes widened. “Check out everything on it.”
“You’d better take it back to your car just in case she comes back looking for it,” Ramon said.
“He has a good point,” Charlotte said.
I slipped the phone into my pocket and hurried back toward my car. I couldn’t wait to see what I could find on the phone. Maybe it would be nothing though. I got in the car and hurriedly swiped the phone back on.
There wasn’t much battery life left, so I needed to hurry. I didn’t even know which part to look at first. I decided to look in the notes section. There were just more poems written there.
“She really loves those awful poems,” Charlotte said.
I looked through the contacts but didn’t see anything unusual.
“Check the photos,” Maureen said.
I went to the photos and scrolled through. That was when I saw the photo of Mandy and Danielle. It must have been taken in happier times because they were actually smiling. Well, halfhearted smiles, but that was still something. I studied the photo for a long moment. That was when I noticed something on Danielle’s wrist.
“What is that?” I asked.
“What is what?” Charlotte asked.
The ghosts leaned in for a closer look. I zoomed in on the screen. Danielle was wearing a bracelet. But it wasn’t just any bracelet. It was exactly like the one that had been found at the crime scene.
“I see what you’re talking about,” Charlotte said.
“What is it?” Maureen and Ramon asked in unison.
“It couldn’t be, could it? Danielle wouldn’t do something like this.”
“Anything is possible,” Charlotte said.
“Tell us,” Maureen said.
“The bracelet that Danielle is wearing is just like the one that was found at the scene.”
“Do you think Danielle killed me?” Ramon asked.
“I don’t know . . . I didn’t think she would be capable of such a thing,” I said, still staring at the photo.
“We need to ask her about the bracelet,” Charlotte said.
How could I ask any questions with ghosts talking in my ear? Nevertheless, Charlotte was right yet again. I needed to ask Danielle. If she’d lost her bracelet, I would know that she was the killer. Or at least it would be reasonable to think that. But she would be suspicious that I was on to her if I asked. I would have to think of a clever way to find out if she’d lost the bracelet. In the meantime, I didn’t know what to do with the phone.
“What do I do with this thing?” I asked.
“You have to keep it,” Charlotte said.
“What if the police need to see it?” I asked.
“You can’t let anyone have it right now.” Charlotte reached for the phone, but, of course, she didn’t make contact.
I was so confused and didn’t know what I should do. It would be easy to turn the phone in to the police. Maybe they would really appreciate a look at it. I stuffed it into my pocket though I was still torn about what to do.
“Oh no,” Charlotte said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Mandy is here. It looks as if she is looking for something too.”
I followed Charlotte’s pointing finger and spotted Mandy. She was looking on the ground and at the same time headed this way. It definitely looked as if she was searching for something. I was frozen to the spot. She would probably know that I had the phone if she spotted me. I would have guilty written all over my face. Maybe I should just toss it back onto the ground and run away.
“If she sees you with it, she will probably freak out.”
“Maybe I should leave it where I found it,” I said.
Charlotte shook her head. “It’s too late now. She’s looking this way.”
“I don’t want to talk with her right now.” I hurried away from the area.
I was hoping Mandy wouldn’t come after me. I glanced over my shoulder every few seconds to see if she was following me. I got the impression that she was suspicious of me. Of course, I locked the car door and prepared to start the engine immediately so I could get out of there.
I had my hand on the key in the ignition when a knock sounded on the window. I couldn’t hold back my scream as I jumped. The ghosts screamed too. Mandy was standing by the window.
“Drive away,” Maureen said.
It was as if the boogeyman had jumped out from under the bed and found me. Everyone in the car was panicked. Mandy stared at me with a confused expression. She probably wondered why I wasn’t lowering the window. I guess I had no choice but to talk to her. It would be too awkward to take Maureen’s suggestion and drive away.
“Just act casual and calm,” Charlotte said as I rolled down the window.
I forced a smile even though I was panicked. “Hi, Mandy. How’s it going?”
She stared at me for a second. “I’ve lost my phone. You didn’t happen to see it when you were walking around, did you?”
Now would be the real test. Could I pull off the lie adequately? My heart thumped faster.
“No, I didn’t see a phone. Sorry.”
I felt bad about lying. But I couldn’t give the phone back now, could I?
She watched my face. “I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Sorry I couldn’t help more.”
She looked around.
“Drive away,” Maureen said again.
I couldn’t take off with her still standing by the car door. But what did she want? I told her I hadn’t seen the phone. Was she suspicious? She had to be. That was why she was still there by the car. She probably saw me looking at something. The phone was in my pocket. If she knew it was right there, no doubt she would have freaked out.
“Would you mind giving me a ride?” Mandy asked.
“Say no,” Charlotte said. “She is up to something, Cookie. You have to tell her no.”
I was never good at telling people no. “Sure, I guess I could do that.”
“No!” The ghosts said in unison.
Even Ramon didn’t want me to give her a ride.
“Great. Thanks,” Mandy said as she moved around to the other side of the car.
“What are you thinking, Cookie? What if she is the killer? What if she sees the phone in your pocket?”
“She can’t see through fabric,” I said. “You’ll have to move to the backseat, Charlotte.”
“Oh, great. You give her a ride, and I have to go to the backseat. You know I get carsick back there. This just keeps getting worse.”
Mandy opened the car door and slid in. “I really like your car.”
“Thanks,” I said as I cranked the ignition.
An awkward silence fell over us. I was more than a little tense. I wished I had been able to tell her no. I hadn’t thought of an excuse fast enough though.
“So
where do you need to go?” I asked as I backed out of the parking space.
“I just need to go to the store around the corner,” Mandy said with a smile.
Her smile didn’t seem genuine though. I wasn’t sure what it was about her, but she gave off a creepy vibe—dare I say almost an evil one? I was surprised that the horses didn’t pick up on her strange vibe. I didn’t consider myself sensitive to other people, but she was putting out strong feelings. I pulled into the street and headed for the store. I had to admit I was speeding a little because I wanted to get her out of my car. She was quiet for most of the trip.
“I really need to find that phone. I hope no one picked it up and decided to keep it. I would hate to see what happened to them if I find that out.”
I pulled into the parking lot. I stared at her somewhat in disbelief at what she’d just said.
“That is creepy,” Charlotte said.
“She is strange,” Maureen said.
Ramon was quiet. I think there was something he wasn’t sharing with me about Mandy. Mandy opened the car door and stared at me, which made me completely uncomfortable.
“Thanks again,” she said with that fake smile.
As soon as she closed the door, Charlotte said, “Now get out of here before she gets back in the car.”
I punched the gas and pulled out of the parking lot. Now that Mandy was out of the car, the air had lightened. But I still was spooked from the whole experience.
“Ramon, is there something you are forgetting to tell me about Mandy?” I asked.
“He forgot to mention how completely weird she is,” Charlotte said.
“Not that I can remember,” Ramon said quietly.
“Tell the truth.” Charlotte was back in the front seat.
“I am telling the truth,” Ramon said.
When I checked the rearview mirror, Ramon was looking out the window. It looked as if there was something on his mind. Maybe it was just the fact that he was stuck in this situation. I stopped at a red light.
“Hey, what is that?” Charlotte pointed at the seat beside her.
I reached down and picked up a piece of paper. I was sure it wasn’t mine.
