“You don’t know how you died?”
She shook her head. “Someone knocked on the door, loud. The next thing I knew, there were paramedics, fire fighters, hotel staff, and police officers swarming the room. They shoved Casper right out of the room. I tried to talk to him, to any of them—but they couldn’t see me.”
She fell silent, her eyes roving unfocused past my shoulder for a few moments. “I tried to wake up. I tried so hard. But it just … wouldn’t work.”
“I’m so sorry, Kimberly. That’s—well, it’s awful.”
A sharpness returned to her eyes as they shifted back to meet mine. “You have to help me. I can’t be dead. This isn’t how this was supposed to go!”
A silver streak burst through the front door.
“Scarlet! I just heard the craziest—” Gwen stopped abruptly, her eyes locked on Kimberly. “Thing.”
“Who are you?” Kimberly demanded, giving Gwen a disapproving once-over.
“Um—I’m Gwen.”
“Gwen, huh? Missing a tambourine, aren’t you?”
Gwen’s eyebrows surged up her smooth forehead. “Excuse me?”
Kimberly hitched a shoulder. “Tambourine, crown of daisies, something.”
I slammed my fists onto my hips and glared at Kimberly. “Listen up, this is my shop and Gwen is my friend. You will not speak to her that way! Or to any of my other friends, for that matter.”
As if summoned, Hayward and Flapjack floated in through the wall.
Kimberly’s lip curled back as she looked at them. “What kind of house of horrors are you running here?”
Hayward was stunned into silence. Flapjack, on the other hand, looked positively delighted. “Well, well, well. This is a fun surprise. I see someone finally gave you a dose of your own nasty medicine. I hope it was painful.”
I drew in a slow breath. “Flapjack, please?”
His sapphire eyes shifted to me, then to Kimberly and back again before he gave a slight nod and sat back on his haunches. He’d back down—for now.
“What are you even doing here, Kimberly? I’m really sorry that you’re … gone, but surely I’m not at the top of your list for potential haunting victims.”
Kimberly turned away from the stand-off with Flapjack. “I was told that you could help me. Apparently in addition to sub-par flower arrangements, you have some kind of Day-of-the-Dead side business going on here.”
I narrowed my eyes and made a conscious decision to ignore the snarky jab at my designing skills. “I can try. What is it that you need?”
“I want my body back. Duh!”
A startled laugh burst from my lips. “What? Oh, no, no! I do not mess with that kind of stuff. Necromancy is not even close to being on my radar. Not now. Not ever.”
Kimberly frowned. “Then what use are you? Why would that woman—ghost—thing send me here?”
“I don’t know who sent you, Kimberly, and I’m sorry if there was some kind of confusion, but I—”
“You have to do something!” Kimberly pressed, surging closer to me. She moved with stiff, almost jerky motions. New ghosts often took a little time to adjust to their new form. “I can’t be dead! I’m engaged! I was just starting my life.”
Regardless of my feelings toward the woman, it was hard to watch her struggle.
“Like it or not, cupcake, this is your new life,” Flapjack told her, not one ounce of compassion in his tone. “We’re all dead. Well, except for Scarlet. You think any of us wanted this? Of course not! It happens. You adjust. Coming in here complaining and demanding things isn’t going to get you anywhere but banished!”
“Flapjack …”
“Banished?” Kimberly repeated, her eyes darting back to mine. “If you can do something like that, then you obviously have powers! Now put me back. I’ll give you anything you want as soon as I get into my body again.”
“Kimberly, please. You have to try to understand.” I softened my tone. “I can’t change what’s been done. If there is something I can do to help you adjust to your new life, I will. But that’s the limit of my power.”
“Worthless!” Kimberly snapped, turning away. A gust of chilly air whipped behind her.
A silver shimmer caught the corner of my eye and I turned just as Ruthie Jasson sailed through the wall. Her eyes zeroed in on me like a pair of heat-seeking missiles. Was it really too much to ask the universe to wait until I was caffeinated? “There you are!”
“When it rains, it pours,” I sighed as I cast a miserable glance at Gwen and Hayward. At least Lizzie wasn’t scheduled to come in until after noon. There was no way I’d be able to ignore all of this long enough to get any work done. “What are you doing here, Ruthie?”
“I’d think it would be fairly obvious,” she answered, folding her arms. “You’ve got to get that cheapskate to agree to turn over the alimony money. If he doesn’t get into the right preschool, his entire life could be over before it even starts!”
“Who is this?” Kimberly snapped, glaring at Ruthie. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. Listen, lady, I was here first. So whatever your problem is, you’re going to have to wait your turn!”
I held up my hands. “Actually, you’re both going to have to wait your turn. I have work to do. Real, pay-the-bills work. I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for either of you right now. You can come back Sunday evening at seven-thirty. That’s when I have office hours, so to speak.”
Both frantic women started arguing with me, their high-pitched voices blending into one screechy roar.
Flapjack hissed but it didn’t do any good, he was drowned out by the chaos.
“Okay, I very rarely do this, but you’ve both gotta go.” I reached under the counter and retrieved a small iron bar I kept there for desperate times. Kimberly and Ruthie didn’t even realize I’d said anything to them; both were too busy complaining and arguing. Ruthie spotted the iron bar and opened her mouth, likely ready to spew another grating remark, but I was quicker. With a swish of the bar, she vanished with a whoosh sound. Kimberly’s eyes went wide and I whipped the bar through her silhouette too, wincing as she disappeared. “I’m sorry,” I told the remaining spirits with a cringe.
“Scarlet!” Gwen squawked. “What did you do?”
I put the bar away. “Dispersed them.”
“What does that even mean?” she asked, searching the room with frantic eyes.
“They’ll both reset to where they died. It’s disorienting, but I promise they’re not hurt in the process.”
“You’re sure you didn’t … kill them?” Gwen ventured, peeking between her fingers.
“Gwen, they’re already dead!”
“Right, right.” She nodded but didn’t look convinced.
I massaged my temples and let my eyes slide closed for a moment. “I needed a second to think, and I’m pretty sure we can all agree that wasn’t going to happen with the two of them around.”
“Quite right, Lady Scarlet. I haven’t heard such a commotion since The Great War.”
“You were in a war, Hayward?” Gwen asked.
“Well, not in the war, but the effects were felt at every doorstep.”
Their conversation was ridiculously off topic, but I let it slide. At least they were talking to each other again.
“Your little trick won’t hold them off for long,” Flapjack said, ignoring Hayward and Gwen’s side chatter.
“I know,” I replied. “But I’ve got work to do. I don’t have the time or energy to deal with either one of them right now.”
“I wonder who whacked the witch,” Flapjack mused, entirely too pleased over the whole thing.”
I shot him a scowl. “I don’t know. Sonya must know what’s going on. In fact, she called me last night.”
“Oh?” Flapjack said. “About what?”
“I don’t know. I was with Lucas and we were—” I stopped as Gwen’s ear perked. She spun around to face me, a wide, expectant smile on her face. “Anyway, the point is that I didn’t answer
. I figured it was something about Kimberly, but I never imagined she was calling to tell me she was dead!”
“We need to figure out what happened.”
Gwen came closer. “That’s what I was coming to tell you!”
Hayward joined us, his war-era tales packed away for another day. “You know what happened, Lady Gwen?”
“Not exactly. There are a few stories going around town. Most people are pegging it on the fiancé. You know it’s always the husband or boyfriend!”
“That’s not true,” I replied, frowning. “Look what happened last time we assumed that.”
We all took a beat of stilted silence, remembering Rosie, the ghost who had given all of us a run for our money a few months before.
I drew in a breath and shoved aside the memory. “How did she die? Let’s start there.”
“No one knows for sure,” Gwen answered. “She was found in her hotel room. She’d tried to call 911, but she was already dead by the time the paramedics got there and located her room.”
“I’ll call Sonya,” I said, reaching for the phone.
I was still dialing when Lucas backed through the front door, a large coffee cup from Siren’s Song in each hand. “You would not believe the line over there! How is there only one coffee shop in this whole town?” He chuckled to himself and then turned away to let the door slowly swing closed. He walked right in between Gwen and Hayward, oblivious to the somber, and yet chaotic, scene he’d entered into.
“Here’s your hazelnut—” He froze, one cup extended toward me. “Are you okay?”
I had a feeling that was going to be a frequent question over the course of our relationship.
“Kimberly, the bridezilla I told you about? She was found dead in her hotel room last night. I’m calling Sonya, the wedding planner, to find out what happened.”
Lucas swore under his breath. “The one who called you last night?”
I nodded and waited for the call to connect.
“Hello?” Sonya’s voice sounded muffled and far away. She likely hadn’t gotten much sleep.
“Sonya? It’s Scarlet, over at Lily Pond Floral Design. I just heard the news.”
“Oh, Scarlet, thank you for calling. I’m working through notifying everyone involved with the wedding plans. Canceling events is something I’m familiar with, but as you can imagine, this isn’t exactly the usual reason weddings go belly-up.”
“I’m sorry I missed your call last night.”
“Oh! Don’t worry about it. I was going to see if Drea could stop by your shop and pick up a few flowers.”
I blinked, the puzzle pieces in my mind shifting into a new configuration. “So, it wasn’t about Kimberly?”
“Yes and no.” Sonya drew in a sigh. “We had a little bit of a fiasco with the cake tasting. Long story short, I was having some cake samples sent to her hotel room last night in a last-ditch effort to nail something down. I was going to see if I could have Drea run over to get a couple of flowers to garnish the samples. Kimberly wanted to make sure the flowers wouldn’t affect the taste of the cake.” Sonya sighed again and muttered something that sounded like, ridiculous woman, on the exhale.
“In the end, it didn’t matter. I don’t even think she ate the samples. Drea offered to take the samples to the hotel for me since she and Kimberly and Casper were supposed to get a later dinner together. I was just glad I wouldn’t have to see Kimberly again.” Sonya stopped herself. “I’m sorry, Scarlet. You must think that I’m horribly unprofessional and callous. I’m sad that she’s suffered such a tragic fate, but I can’t say I’m sorry to lose her as a client. She was a nightmare to deal with, as I’m sure you know.”
“Well, I—um, she was … unique.”
Sonya laughed. “You really are an angel, aren’t you?”
I nibbled my lower lip. I wasn’t about to repeat some of the less-than-savory thoughts I’d had about Kimberly in the weeks since her initial consultation. But let’s just say they were far from cherubic.
“Do you know what happened to her?” I asked.
“No,” Sonya replied. “Drea called me this morning to tell me the news and I’ve been making phone calls for the last couple of hours. She said she went to the hotel last night to drop off the cake samples but bailed before dinner because the not-so-happy couple was arguing and she didn’t want to listen to it.”
“Oh?” My eyebrows hitched up my forehead.
“That was a fairly common thing,” Sonya continued. “Casper and Kimberly were one of the least compatible couples I’ve ever worked with. I keep my lips buttoned in situations like that, but it was difficult with them. I wanted to take Casper aside many times and tell him to run for his life.”
“Yikes.”
“I don’t mean to be cruel—”
“I understand. Listen, my other line is buzzing,” I lied. “As far as the wedding, I’ll refund the security deposit to the family as a goodwill gesture.”
“Actually, they were wondering if you could put it towards funeral arrangements. They’ve decided to hold the funeral here in town at the Lilac House, since Kimberly was so fond of it.”
“Oh. Um, yes, of course.”
“Great. Two birds, one stone. I’ll give you a call later to go over the details once I’ve talked to the family. Her parents are flying into Seattle a little later today.” The lack of compassion in Sonya’s voice was starting to disturb me. Sure, I wasn’t a prime member of the Kimberly Gardner Fan Club, but I wasn’t able to sweep aside her death as easily as Sonya. Then again, it might be easier for her, seeing as how she didn’t have Kimberly’s ghost barging into her morning-coffee routine.
Chapter 6
It didn’t take long for Kimberly and Ruthie to find their respective ways back to my front door.
Four hours and seventeen minutes, to be precise.
Ruthie arrived seconds ahead of Kimberly, mad as a wet hen, hissing threats at me if I didn’t get her ex-husband to come around to her side. I had the iron in hand when Kimberly popped back in, screaming louder than a banshee—or, at least what I imagined a banshee would sound like. I’d never had the displeasure of meeting one before.
The best part of the pissed-off-ghost brigade was the fact that Lizzie had punched in for her shift, rendering me mute. At least to the ghosts. That left Gwen, Hayward, and Flapjack to run interference for me.
“Ladies, please, one at a time!” Hayward called out over the squawking women. I’d never heard him yell before, but I had a feeling he was about three minutes from throwing his propriety right out the window if the pair of histrionic divas didn’t put a sock in it.
“My problem is a little more important than this … this … cougar wannabee!” Kimberly shouted in reply, shooting daggers in Ruthie’s direction as they squared off on opposite sides of my worktable. “I mean, really—a baby at your age?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but he’s not a baby anymore,” Ruthie said, snarling back at Kimberly. “He’s three and it’s imperative that he’s accepted into a good preschool!”
“Ugh. Scarlet doesn’t have time to worry about your walking mid-life crisis’s preschool arrangements. She has to get my body back!”
The scream I was suppressing burrowed deeper and deeper, and I knew that when I finally snapped, it was going to be a window-breaker.
“Let them tear each other to pieces,” Flapjack interjected, floating up to sit at my side as I tried to work on a large arrangement that needed to be ready for pick-up in less than half an hour. “Saves you the trouble once we get blondie out of here.” He jerked his chin at Lizzie’s back as she hummed away, blissfully unaware of the rampaging ghosts standing right behind her.
“Scarlet told you she will help you, but you have to come back on Sunday night. That’s when we hold our meetings,” Gwen said, her voice a soothing sing-song tone. Moments like these, I realized she’d missed her calling as a kindergarten teacher.
“Oh, butt out, hippie!” Kimberly snarled.
>
Okay. That’s enough. I threw my shoulders back and cleared my throat. “Lizzie? Would you mind running this out to the delivery van?” I asked, tying a large bow around the glass vase containing a spray of blooms and greenery. It wasn’t my best work, but considering I had five ghosts in a tangled war of words, it wasn’t bad either.
“Sure,” Lizzie replied, turning around to face me. “Do you want me to do the delivery?”
“No!” Gwen, Flapjack, and I all shouted in reply. She could only hear my voice, but the effect was still enough to make her wince. A pang of guilt surged through me. “Sorry, I’m just a little on edge today. A little drive will do me some good. Thanks, though.”
Lizzie still looked hurt when she reached out to take the vase from me. I watched, a small frown on my lips, as she gingerly carried it out the back door with a determined expression.
As soon as the metal door clicked shut, I whipped around, waggling my finger at the two intruders. “Listen up! You two are going to leave me alone. I will not stand here listening to you complaining and fighting all day. Kimberly, I already told you—you’re dead. There’s no body recovery. No second chance. This is it. Got it? Dead. The end.” I rounded on Ruthie. “And you—there’s nothing I can do. I tried talking to your ex, he said no. I can’t hack into his bank account and steal the money and I can’t reach into his brain and change his mind, so we’re at an end, too.”
I stalked to the cash register and grabbed the iron bar. I brandished it at the two ghosts. “I’m very sorry. I wish I could help, but I can’t. Now, either you leave on your own volition, or you’re getting whacked. Either way, you’re going!”
“Geez,” Ruthie said, looking at Kimberly. “Is she always like this?”
Kimberly gave a bored shrug. “I think she’s deeply unhappy. I’ve never seen her smile. She needs a man.”
“Argh!” I lurched toward her with the iron but she vanished seconds before I could disperse her.
Ruthie rolled her eyes and gave a harrumph before she too vanished.
Ghosts Gone Wild: A Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries Book 2) Page 5
