by Angie Fox
“I hope it’s okay, but I told Frankie he could tag along.” I reached for my bag that I’d left hanging off the end of the bannister and resisted the urge to show him the urn inside. Ellis had seen Frankie plenty of times, and I’d rather not dwell on why the gangster had insisted on joining us. We should at least get out of the driveway before Ellis decided this wasn’t going to work.
“I’d rather it be just us,” Ellis said, disappointed—in me or in the situation, I couldn’t tell which. Lucy tried to climb his leg and he bent to greet her. The skunk didn’t like to come out when Frankie was around, but she appeared to have made an exception for my date. She nudged her nose against his leg and grunted happily.
He scratched Lucy on the sweet spot behind her left ear. She responded by flopping against him and twitching her left back leg. Okay, that made me melt a little.
“I realize it’s a bit odd.” Not the petting-the-skunk part, but the fact that we had a third-wheel ghost.
“But you already told him he could come,” Ellis said, guessing the truth as he glanced up at me.
“Something like that,” I winced.
Frankie chuckled behind me. “He’ll be okay once you take him ghost hunting. You two ain’t happy unless you’re fixing something.”
I smoothed my sweater and tried to relax. I didn’t need Frankie playing Dr. Phil. I had this handled.
Ellis stood. “Ready?”
“Sure.” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. I’d tried to style my hair into an effortless, Melody-style messy updo, but only managed to appear as if I’d just finished cleaning the attic. So I brushed my hair down into its usual, simple style and decided to let things happen naturally.
It would be my theme for the night.
We made our way outside and I saw Ellis had brought his personal vehicle, a black Jeep Wrangler. He opened the door for me, and I placed Frankie’s urn in the back so that the gangster could have his own space. Perhaps he’d take the hint and not infringe upon ours.
No such luck. Ellis hadn’t even started the engine when Frankie shimmered into view in the space between us, with an arm around the back of each of our seats. “Ask him if he’s got any Benny Goodman CDs.”
“I don’t think Ellis listens to your kind of music,” I said, with quite a bit of certainty.
Ellis slipped his key into the ignition. “I assume that was aimed at Frankie and not me. You can tell him I’ve got satellite radio,” he said as the engine rolled over. “Has Frankie ever listened to the Big Band station?”
“There’s an entire station for that?” I asked, a little disturbed as Frankie whooped and did a fist pump.
Ellis grinned, gravel crunching under his tires as we pulled out. “They’re doing a whole hour on Paul Whiteman tonight.” Ellis hit the button for the station and soulful, jazzy swing music filtered through the car.
Frankie flopped onto the backseat like he’d just been let out of jail.
“I’m making an executive decision,” Frankie said, eyes closed, tapping his fingers to the music. “I’m hanging out with him even if you don’t.”
We talked about little things on the way there, both of us fully aware of our smart-mouthed chaperone. Although Frankie hardly seemed to notice us while bebopping and playing air-trumpet.
Ellis took Highway L over to the old logging road on the west side of town. As the sun set fully, we drove past barns full of antiques and a series of orchards in hibernation, waiting for spring.
Whitewashed fencing gave way to a battered limestone wall and I knew we were close. Ellis had partnered with his uncle to buy the fifteen-acre Wilson’s Creek spread, with the idea that they’d renovate the old Southern Spirits distillery building and turn it into a modern restaurant and bar. Only his uncle had died before they could complete it. Ellis had been in the middle of renovations when I’d helped him rid the property of a frightening poltergeist.
We turned onto a wide, black-topped road. A large brick building stood at the end, with broad wooden carriage doors at the front. New outdoor lights lit up the building, making it feel welcome and open. Tall windows lined the first and second floors. The wood turret off the back had been completely refurbished. Old-style painted lettering, done in white on the brick, read “Southern Spirits since 1908.”
The Jeep drove over a smooth, newly paved parking area.
“The place looks great,” I said, truly happy for him. Ellis was one of those people who could envision something new and then find a way to make it real. It made me proud to know him.
He seemed pleased at my response. “I hope you like the rest,” he said, leading me to a set of newly refinished arched wood doors. He opened one for me. Frankie floated inside ahead of me, and I could see his glowing form zip straight into the kitchen area at the back.
The space inside appeared dark at first, until I noticed dozens upon dozens of battery-powered tea lights lining the bar inside the door, and the windowsills, and illuminating a path laid out on the gleaming hardwood floor. Strands of white lights twinkled from the rafters above.
The large space, with its high rafters and red brick walls, seemed like it belonged in another world entirely.
“What is this?” I asked, hesitating, feeling my face go warm.
The building had been a carriage house before the gangsters had used it to run whiskey. Along the left wall, Ellis had set up a table for two under one of the arched doorways. He took my hand and led me inside. “I dressed the place up for our date.”
I’d known he was resourceful, but wow. It appeared so…magical. And real. And a little frightening. He seemed to be expecting a lot from this date and from me.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “I thought you’d like it, but you look spooked.”
My heart rattled in my chest. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before,” I admitted.
“Then relax and enjoy it,” he said, leading me to the table.
He pulled a remote out of his pocket and the music system switched on. Frank Sinatra began singing “Angel Eyes.”
Ellis pulled out a chair for me.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you,” I said, determined to let myself be taken care of. Aside from my sister and my friends, I was used to relying on just me.
Beau had never gone out of his way like this.
A bottle of red wine rested on the table. Ellis took the seat opposite mine. He began to open the wine.
Everything looked so wonderful. He was a great guy, but none of this solved our real issue. In fact, it almost felt like a tease. Like I’d learn to enjoy this and then have it taken away. “I appreciate all of this. I really do.” He’d gone through a lot of trouble. “But it doesn’t solve our real issue.”
He placed the bottle back on the table. “Okay, what does?”
Just like a man. “This isn’t a three-step process.” Or a twelve-step one. Or heaven knew what it would take to placate his mother. “I don’t have the answers. That’s the problem.”
He scooted his chair forward and planted his elbows on the table. “I told my mom that if she ever threatened you again, if she hurts you, if she tries to take anything from you, she’ll lose me.”
“Wow. I never expected that,” I said, tossing my hands out and accidentally knocking a tea light off the table. I let it go and we both watched the light skitter across the floor and into the darkness. “She may be…difficult, but she’s your mother.” She’d forced him to choose and he had, but at the same time, “You still have to live with her.”
“We do,” he corrected.
“Oh, no. She’ll never accept me.”
“Not right away,” he conceded.
“Not ever.” Trying to join Ellis at family events would be torture, pure and simple, for both of us. He had to accept that. “Then there is the small matter of her sway over the town. And her friends.” They’d be after me even if she and I called a truce. “You saw what happened when you gave me your jacket outside the library.”
> Ellis bit back a curse. “You were cold!”
I stood. He had an answer for everything, but I called bull on that one. “You gave mean old Nellie Holcamp gossip for a month. Don’t even pretend you didn’t realize that.”
He abandoned his chair and it toppled over behind him. “I don’t care about her. I’m not afraid of this. I saw it when my mom threatened you. Making this a secret gives it power. I say you admit you like me, you date me, and damn the consequences.”
I huffed out a breath. “You make it sound so easy.”
“It is.”
I recognized the incident with Virginia Wydell for the threat that it was. He thought of it as a way to set us free. “You stood up for me against your mom and I appreciate that, but you’re missing the point. I’m the one she’s after.” I held up a hand when he started to protest. “Maybe she’ll stop going after me directly since you told her to, but her minions won’t. The town is still against me. I’m taking all the heat for this.”
He watched me carefully. “And you care more about heat than you do about me?”
Of all the… “That’s not fair.”
“You’re afraid,” he said, skirting the table. “I get that. I’m with you on it. But hiding isn’t the answer. If we don’t face this, we’re always going to be on the defensive, and that’s not right. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
I’d been on the offensive before. I’d shown up at my almost-wedding reception to give Beau and his mom a piece of my mind. It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
He stood over me, too close. “You take risks in other areas of your life, but not for me.”
“That’s not fair.” With the ghosts, I didn’t always have a choice.
The lights cast shadows over his handsome features as he ground his jaw tight. “You adopted a skunk because you found her hurt in your yard.”
“Well, of course.” He couldn’t go by that one decision. “Lucy needed me.”
But Ellis wasn’t finished. “You let a dead gangster live in your house.”
I held my arms out. “He can’t exactly go anywhere else.”
He took a step forward. “You tore up your garden trying to free him.”
“We were running out of options.”
He refused to let it go. “You stormed into what would have been your wedding reception and smashed my brother’s face into the cake.”
“That was kind of liberating.” I also threw the ring that accidentally hit Ellis in the forehead. “Your brother cheated on me.”
“He deserved to lose you,” Ellis thundered. “I don’t.”
His words hung in the silence between us, and I could see a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. “I’ve made it clear I’m serious about you. But I can’t do this alone.”
I stood frozen, hating that he was right.
He swallowed, as if he’d said too much, but he stood his ground. “Either you end it tonight and leave me be, or you make room for me and let me in.”
Heavens. It terrified me to leave, and to stay.
“How do I know you’re really serious about this?” I asked. He’d let me go before. He hadn’t fought for me at the beginning, either.
He took my hands in his. “I’ve been saying yes for a while. I’m saying yes right now,” he said, more determined than I’d ever seen him. “Are you?” He frowned when I hesitated, and his grip loosened. “I’m not going to beg you. You have to want to be with me.”
I felt his hands slipping from mine.
I wasn’t ready. But at this point, it didn’t matter. This was my one chance and I had to grab it or let it go for good.
“I want to try this,” I said quickly, tightening my grip so he didn’t slip away. I wanted to be with him. Despite his family and the town and all of it. “I’m just not used to deciding.” Beau always chased. I always let him. Things sort of happened.
Of course, that hadn’t ended well.
Beau had done everything for show. Ellis wanted the real deal. He wasn’t playing at all, and while I appreciated his sincerity, that terrified me as well.
“I can work with a good try,” he said, squeezing my hands, “so long as it’s an honest one.” He drew me closer and bent down for a sweet kiss that was all promise, and maybe a bit more.
I let myself enjoy the moment, and him.
Because in a second, he was going to notice the cold spot forming next to us.
Chapter 14
I drew back from Ellis’s warm embrace, feeling…wonderful.
Then I saw Frankie chain-smoking behind him.
A trail of smoke curled over Ellis’s right shoulder. “Good,” Frankie said, flicking ash off the end of his smoke. “You’re done.”
Hardly.
Go away, I mouthed to the gangster. Frankie of all people had to give me this moment. He knew how much it meant.
Ellis drew me close and bent down for another sweet kiss when I felt the back of his neck go cold. He flinched, then glanced behind him. Even though he couldn’t see the ghost, the cop in him knew who did it. His eyes narrowed. “What do you want, Frank?”
The gangster stepped back, more offended than accommodating. “You believe this guy?” he asked, gesturing with his smoke. He held a mixed drink in the other hand. “Your man should be thanking me. I talked you back into him.”
He did nothing of the sort. “Shoo.” I rested my head against Ellis’s broad shoulder. “We’re busy.”
Frankie stirred his drink with his finger. “Tell him the candy shop’s closed.” He shook off his finger and sipped the cocktail. “Ahh… Sticky Pete pours ’em the best.”
“I thought you were going down to the speakeasy,” I said. “Why are you back so soon? Did you find your gun?”
“Yeah,” Frankie said, “and it’s going to be another eighty years before I get it if I wait for you two.”
Ellis jolted my head off his shoulder. “What are you saying about a speakeasy?” he asked me, his tone gentler than I would have expected. “I thought Frankie couldn’t leave the property.”
I sincerely wished there were a better way to tell him this, but Frankie had beaten me to the punch. “There’s one in your basement,” I told Ellis. “Surprise.” At least he’d agreed to date me before this all happened.
It took him a second to process it. “How long have you known about this?”
“Frankie told me tonight,” I assured him, hoping that would make it better. It wasn’t like I was holding out on him.
“You’re missing the point,” Frankie said, as if we were a trial to him. “While you two were canoodling, I learned Crazy Louie has my revolver.”
“Is the gun located in this realm?” I asked.
Frankie rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t need you otherwise.” He took a long drag from his cigarette. “Louie’s body is down there. Slumped over a bar table with my gun stashed in the front pocket of his suitcoat.” He pointed his smoke at me like I was about to go back on my promise. “You gotta get me that piece.” He took another drag. “We bury it with my ashes and I bet I’ll be free by midnight.”
Stranger things had happened.
Then again, we were in the middle of my date. Things had been going so well, after our argument at least. Ellis had been really sweet, but this was a big boyfriend favor.
No, I don’t need you to kill a spider or move a couch. I just need to stop kissing you so we can go to a haunted speakeasy and reclaim my gangster friend’s gun before he chain-smokes himself to death. Wait. Scratch that.
To his credit, Ellis did seem to be taking the news of the hidden mob hideout fairly well. He rubbed a hand over his chin. “I thought I’d been over every inch of this property.”
The South Town Gang hid their bar well. “These are criminals,” I said, trying to make him feel better. “They’re sneaky.”
Frankie took another drag from his cigarette. “Stop trying to butter me up.”
I took Ellis’s hand. “Handsome Hen
ry could be down there. His friends certainly will be. This is our best shot to track him down.”
Ellis shook his head the same half-astonished, half-enticed way he did when I told him I had a ghost in the first place. “Show me where to find my speakeasy,” he said plainly.
“Yours?” Frankie chuffed and put out his cigarette on the floor. “I think lover boy is in for a surprise.” He glided away from us and into the darkness beyond.
“This way,” I said, following.
“Just a sec.” Ellis flipped on the lights just in time for me to see Frankie go straight out the back wall.
“We need to go outside,” I said, heading for the back door about ten feet from where Frankie had disappeared.
“Frankie doesn’t waste time,” he said, digging for his keys.
“Not when guns and booze are involved.”
“Well, aren’t we lucky, then?” he asked, honest-to-goodness amused.
We shared a knowing glance, and it lit me up inside. Dang. Where else was I going to find a guy who talked me through my issues, forgave me my mistakes, found amusement in my resident ghost, and would help me track down a hit man, no questions asked?
I had to make this thing between us work, because if we ever broke up for good, I’d be doomed to singlehood for the rest of eternity.
“Hold it,” Ellis said as we headed for the door. “This isn’t all fun and games. I want you to be careful.” He gave me a long look. “I’ve dealt with the mob in New York. These are violent criminals. Pay attention to every move you make around them.”
“I understand,” I said, glad that he wanted to protect me. When Frankie tuned me in to the other side, the ghosts could hurt me, even kill me. Still, if one of them went poltergeist and got violent, Ellis could be in just as much danger as I was. He’d drawn a poltergeist off me the last time we solved a case, and it had nearly killed him.
We found Frankie outside in the clear, black night, lighting up another cigarette. “I bet on a racehorse as fast as you once,” he mused as the end of his smoke went hot. “I shot him.”
