by Terri Reid
“See, that’s what I told my wife,” he interrupted. “That stuff’s not real. The paper made all that crap up. You should really see about suing them. That’s what I’d do; sue the pants off of them.”
“Well, actually…” Mary tried again.
“No, you don’t have to explain it to me,” he said. “I know how unreasonable these reporters can be. I can’t tell you how many times my words have been taken out of context and reported in the paper. Sure, maybe I said them, but I didn’t mean them to come out like that.”
Mary glanced past Kris to Bradley, who grinned and shrugged at her. “I thought we should check the basement,” Mary suggested when Kris started to lead them to the staircase.
“Yeah, but I thought the fourth grade teacher died upstairs,” he said. “Wouldn’t he be upstairs?”
“He mentioned something about checking out the basement the last time we spoke,” Mary said. “So, I really think we should try there first.”
Kris shrugged. “Okay, you’re the psychic,” he said facetiously, laughing at his own joke.
“Yeah,” Mary replied with a forced laugh. “I guess I am.”
At the top of the staircase to the basement, Kris put his arm out to stop Mary from venturing down, and then he turned to Bradley. “Are you sure you want your little lady to go downstairs?” he asked. “I mean, if we do find a body, it could be a little ugly down there.”
Seeing the look of astonished outrage on Mary’s face, Bradley bit back his laughter. He met her eyes and shook his head, sending her a subtle warning. In his heart, he really wanted Mary to put Kris in his place, but they needed his help to find Andrew. “No, that’s okay, Kris,” Bradley replied. “I think Mary can handle it.”
Kris dropped his arm. “Okay, you’re the boss,” he said, and with his flashlight beaming, he led the way down the stairs.
“Um, we could use the lights,” Mary commented before she stepped down the shadowed stairs.
“I’m sorry, what sweetheart?” Kris asked.
Mary reached over and flipped the switch that illuminated the lights over the staircase. “The lights work,” she said.
“You knew that because you’re psychic, right?” he laughed again.
Bradley stepped up next to Mary. “Don’t say anything you’ll regret later,” he whispered.
She sighed and nodded. “That must be it,” she called down the stairs, forcing her laughter once again.
Once they all reached the basement, Mary looked around and saw Andrew standing next to a small door that looked like it led to a utility room. She was getting hungry, and once again, she really needed to use the bathroom. Not wanting to take the time to let Kris discover the body, which, she mused, could take days, she pointed to the utility room and said, “Why don’t we check that room.”
“Yeah, he’s probably not in there,” Kris said, moving in the other direction. “That’s a utility room, and it’s probably locked.”
Mary sent a wordless plea for help to Bradley, who quickly walked over to that room and turned the handle. “Nope, it’s open,” he called. “But you should probably be the first one inside, because it’s your jurisdiction.”
Shaking his head, Kris walked back to the room. “It’s nice of you to appease the little lady and all,” Kris said. “But really, she should leave the investigations to trained professionals.”
“Actually, Mary is—” Bradley began.
“Very grateful you’d check this out first,” she said. “And after this, we can go wherever you think.”
Kris pushed the door open with an audible sigh. “Fine,” he said.
He whipped his flashlight beam across the floor in a cursory manner, not expecting anything, and nearly dropped it when he found the body in the corner of the room. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said. “There’s a body in here.”
Mary closed her eyes for a brief moment and prayed for strength. “Oh, wow, how amazing,” she said, trying hard not to sound sarcastic. “Is he still alive?”
Kris started walking into the room, his flashlight focused on the body, when Mary leaned in and turned on the light. He turned to her in surprise.
“Crime scene,” she said, waving the piece of cloth she used to protect any fingerprints on the switch. “I didn’t want you to inadvertently step on any evidence or disturb a blood trail.”
He shook his head. “Oh, yeah, you’re right,” he stuttered.
Mary studied him. His eyes were wide, and his face was pale. “Have you ever seen a dead body before?” she asked.
“No,” he said, his body beginning to sway. “And I think I might be getting…”
Bradley grabbed him and pulled him out of the room, dragging him to a wastepaper basket in the corner of the room where he emptied out the contents of his stomach. “You’ll feel much better once you get that out of your system,” Bradley said.
Kris retched again, and Bradley shook his head. “Dude, you really need to lay off those donuts.”
Chapter Thirty
“Well, apple cider donuts are always delicious,” Rosie said, flipping through a cookbook. “Although, perhaps we should be thinking about a cake.”
Kate looked up from her list and sighed. “There are so many options,” she said. “And I know we want everything to be perfect. What do you think, Margaret?”
Margaret O’Reilly’s image was on the screen of the electronic tablet that was propped up in the middle of Rosie’s kitchen table. “I think apple cider donuts sound delicious,” Margaret said. “And since it’s Halloween night, they seem appropriate. Or, we could do something with pumpkin.”
“Pumpkin cheesecake,” Rosie exclaimed, hurriedly turning the pages in the book. “I have the most amazing recipe for it.”
“Oh, that does sound good,” Margaret said. “What if we do one cheesecake of pumpkin and another of salted caramel? I have a lovely recipe for that kind.”
Kate leaned back in her chair. “Well, if we’re going to do those two, we also have to have a dark chocolate one,” she insisted.
“Yes. Yes, we do,” Margaret agreed with a chuckle. “It wouldn’t be a balanced meal without chocolate.”
All three women laughed, and Kate jotted down the three desserts. “Okay, I have the recipe for that one, so each of us will bring a cheesecake,” Kate said, and then she turned to Rosie. “But, I’ve never made a cheesecake before, so can I come over here and make it with you watching over my shoulder?”
“Of course, dear,” Rosie said. “And I’m sure your cheesecake will be delicious.”
“Thank you, Rosie,” Kate replied, and then she looked down at her list. “Great. I think we have the menu. Is there anything else we have to discuss?”
“I hesitate to bring this up,” Margaret said. “But I think you need to know. Mary called me this morning, and she was upset.”
“Goodness, why?” Rosie asked. “Is there something wrong with the baby?”
“No, nothing like that,” Margaret reassured her. “She was upset because she discovered you two shopping together and she hadn’t been invited.”
“I knew she didn’t believe us,” Rosie said. “It was the purses in the child seat, wasn’t it?”
“Well, she didn’t go into that much detail,” Margaret replied. “But she did know that you weren’t telling her the truth.”
“That’s what you get for trying to lie to a private investigator,” Kate said with a sigh. “So, is she still pretty upset?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Margaret answered. “I suggested that perhaps the two of you were shopping for a baby gift for her and that’s why you didn’t want her around.”
“Oh, that was brilliant,” Rosie said. “And when she finds out what we were really doing, she’s going to be so surprised!”
“Speaking of surprises,” Kate said, “Margaret, when are you and your family arriving?”
“I told Mary that Timothy and I would be coming early enough to help her take Clarissa trick-or-treating,” Marga
ret said. “But he has the entire day off, so if you need us to come even earlier, that would be easy. The boys will come closer to the event.”
“I know that Mary’s working on a case right now,” Kate said. “And she’s signed up for the Halloween party at Clarissa and Maggie’s class. So, I don’t think she’ll be hanging around her house too much.”
“Stanley volunteered to keep her busy and away from things if we need him to,” Rosie added.
“And since Bradley volunteered to make all the food for the family get-together,” Margaret said with a chuckle, “perhaps we could have him barricade the dining room and kitchen so Mary can’t see inside and tell her it’s because he wants to surprise her.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Kate agreed. “Especially since Bradley is working so hard to make the refreshments.”
Rosie looked from Kate to Margaret and shook her head. “But I thought we were making the refreshments.”
“We are, darling,” Margaret said. “But Bradley is pretending to do it so Mary doesn’t get suspicious.”
“Oh,” Rosie said. “Well, isn’t that clever of him.” She sighed contentedly. “I just adore clever people.”
“I just want to say thank you to both of you,” Margaret said. “It’s so comforting to me to know that Mary is surrounded with good friends who love her and do so much for her.”
“Well, we simply adore her,” Rosie said. “She’s done so much for us. I don’t know what we would do if Mary wasn’t in our lives.”
Kate nodded. “I agree,” she said. “She is a good woman, Margaret. You did a good job.”
Margaret laughed. “Yes I did,” she teased. “And I will take all the credit for how she turned out. Well, I suppose I should admit that she gets her fearlessness from Timothy. I’m a bit of a coward.”
Chapter Thirty-one
“I’m not a coward,” Kris insisted as he walked back into the utility room. “I just had a queasy stomach, that’s all.”
Mary smiled sympathetically. “I understand how that is,” she said. “So, do you need to call the coroner?”
“No,” he insisted walking over to the body. “I can examine the body myself.”
He leaned over the sprawled body, bracing his hand on the wall so he wouldn’t get too close, and slowly looked down. “Well,” he finally said, turning to Mary and Bradley with a superior smile on his face. “I’d say we have a suicide on our hands. Seems like your client wasn’t quite as rational as you thought him to be.”
“A suicide?” Mary asked. “How did he die?”
Kris pointed in the direction of the body. “His wrists are slit,” he said. “It’s an obvious suicide.”
Mary walked over to stand next to the body, being sure she didn’t step too close and disturb the still sticky pools of blood. She slowly looked around the area and then turned back to Kris. “Where’s the knife?” she asked.
“The knife?” he repeated.
She nodded her head. “The knife he needed to slit his own wrists,” she said. “I don’t see it.”
Kris looked a little put out. “Well, he obviously dumped it,” he said.
Mary nodded slowly. “So, he slit both of his wrists and then walked somewhere else in the basement, got rid of the knife and then came back here to die?”
“It could happen,” Kris defended.
“It could,” Mary agreed. “But then we would see a blood trail, wouldn’t we?”
He looked at the body and then down at the floor. The blood was only pooled around the area where Andrew’s body lay. “Well, maybe he cleaned it up,” he suggested.
“Maybe,” Bradley said slowly. “But, perhaps this was a murder that was meant to look like a suicide.”
“Why would you jump to that conclusion?” Kris asked. “The guy was obviously a little unbalanced in the first place. He actually told me he thought he saw his teacher’s ghost when he was still a kid. I mean, if that’s not unbalanced, what is?”
Frustrated, Mary walked away from the crime scene and out the door into the basement. She found an old, metal folding chair and sat down, her temper nearing its boiling point.
“He thinks I killed myself, doesn’t he?” Andrew asked, appearing next to her.
She nodded. “Yes,” she sighed and then replied quietly. “But he’s an ass, so don’t pay any attention to him.”
Andrew smiled half-heartedly. “He never liked me,” he admitted.
“What?” Mary asked, turning to him. “Kris?”
“Yeah, he never liked me after I dumped his sister,” Andrew admitted.
“Wait, he knows you?”
“Of course, it’s a small town…” he began.
“And everyone knows everyone else,” Mary finished. “But you dated his sister?”
“Yeah, a long time ago,” he said. “Everyone thought we were going to get married, but, you know, it just didn’t feel right. So, I moved to Chicago, started my own computer business, made a lot of money and then moved back to town.”
“By a lot, you mean…” Mary asked.
Andrew sighed. “A lot,” he said. “Enough to retire before I was fifty and buy an old school that no one wanted,” he said. “I still dabble in investments, but I’m what you would call independently wealthy.”
“Did his sister ever marry?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, she’s got a bunch of kids, and they live on a farm outside of town,” he replied. “I think she’s real happy.”
Mary took a deep breath and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Andrew asked.
“Well, I’m either going to prove a point, or I’m going to be considered a nutcase in this small town,” she said, and then she turned to him. “Do you mind going back in where your body is laying?”
“Not if it will help them try and solve my murder and Miss Banks’ murder, too,” he replied.
She nodded. “Okay, come on, I’m going to need your help.”
They walked back into the room where Bradley and Kris were arguing. “Why didn’t you tell us that Andrew Tyler dated your sister?” Mary asked.
Kris’ jaw dropped, and he stared at her. “What? Who told you that?”
“He dated her,” Mary continued. “And everyone thought they were going to get married. But then he broke it off with her and moved to Chicago.”
“Is that true, Kris?” Bradley asked.
“Did you call someone?” Kris asked.
“That’s not the point,” Mary said. “Is it true that you were already prejudiced against Andrew?”
“Ask him about the ticket he gave me on my first night back in town,” Andrew coached.
“And how about the ticket you gave him on his first night back in town?” Mary asked.
“For jaywalking on a side street,” Andrew added.
“For jaywalking on a side street?” Mary repeated incredulously.
“Are you bugged?” Kris asked, walking over and aggressively confronting Mary. “How could you know this?”
Bradley walked over and put his hand on Mary’s shoulder. Mary smiled up at him, then turned to Kris and met his eyes. “Because Andrew is in this room right now,” she said. “And he told me about what you did. He told me about your sister. And he told me he was murdered. And now, quite frankly, I’m wondering if you didn’t have a hand in it because you have so much hate for him.”
Kris stepped back and shook his head. “You’re crazy,” he said. “You’re a nutcase. And I don’t have to stand here and take this shit from you.”
“Ask him if the police chief knows about the time he stole a car?” Andrew said.
“Well, before you leave, I have one more question,” Mary said. “Does the police chief know about the stolen car?”
Kris froze in his tracks, and he slowly looked around the room.
“Tell him that Debbie told me all about that,” Andrew added.
“Debbie told Andrew all about that,” Mary said.
Kris’ breathing intensified, and his eye
s widened. “Where is he?” he asked, his voice shaking.
“He’s standing right next to you,” Mary said. “Can’t you feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing up because you can feel his cold, dead breath on you?”
Kris grabbed the back of his neck and ran from the room. “I’m getting out of here.”
“Um, Mary, I’m still standing right here, next to you,” Andrew said.
Mary shrugged. “I was just practicing my dramatic storytelling skills,” she replied softly. “Pretty good, huh?”
“Damn good,” Bradley chuckled softly. “Come on, I think we can call the Ogle County Coroner now. I don’t think Kris is going to argue with you at all.”
“Thanks, Mary,” Andrew said. “Now we just have to find out who did it.”
Chapter Thirty-two
The library was busier when Kate brought Clarissa and Maggie there right after school. “Wow,” Maggie said. “Where did all these people come from?”
Kate looked around and then saw a small flyer attached to a bulletin board. “Oh, there’s a local writer here today, telling ghost stories,” Kate said. “I remember hearing her tell stories years ago at the Stephenson County Historical Society, and she was pretty good. Would you like to listen?”
“Are they real stories?” Clarissa asked. “Can she really see ghosts?”
Kate paused for a moment and then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “Most of her stories are collected from other people who have seen ghosts.”
“Well, we can try it for a little while,” Maggie said. “But if she’s boring, can we go look at other stuff?”
“And by other stuff, what do you mean?” Kate asked.
Maggie looked around the large room. “Well, it’s pretty crowded down here,” she said. “And upstairs is pretty boring. Could we go outside to the statue?”
“If you are going to do that, you need to tell me first,” Kate said. “And then you can go.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Maggie said. “We’ll be sure to tell you.”
Maggie and Clarissa walked together to the small area set aside for the speaker. “Hi,” the woman said, greeting the two girls. “Did you come to hear ghost stories?”
