A Bite of Murder

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  “Ack! Why do you do that?” Anna complained, putting a hand on her chest to slow the beating of her heart. “Stop popping up like that all the time.”

  “Sorry about that. I just got excited is all,” he admitted.

  Anna shook her head, sliding her key into the ignition. “Where the heck did you disappear to? What good are you if you’re not eavesdropping on the conversation?”

  “I heard most of it but got bored.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “So, you just wandered off?”

  “Not exactly. I did a little more digging that only a ghost could do while you finished up with Payton.”

  “Oh?” Putting the car in reverse, she backed out onto the street.

  “I went back into the guy’s office. I can tell you one thing, that place is a horrific mess.”

  “Is that all you learned?” she said, continuing down the road toward her apartment above an empty shop space. Tourists were already out and walking around, looking in store windows and grabbing a bite to eat at the little cafes.

  “No, that isn’t all I learned.”

  “So?”

  “On his desk, there was a letter of eviction.”

  “What?” she blurted out. “You mean an eviction notice?”

  “That’s right. It seems that he won’t be holding onto that shop space for much longer, and I don’t envy whoever has to clean it all out if he decides to just leave it as is. Some people do that, you know?”

  “So, he is just putting on a show? Ignoring it?”

  “That’s my guess. Otherwise, he just never looks at his mail and therefore missed it.”

  “Okay, so what does all of this have to do with the murder.”

  To this question, Harlem smirked proudly. “The letter was sent from the office of Jason Dobbs.”

  Anna’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope. It seems Jason owns the property and Payton was likely behind on his rent.”

  “Sheesh, I knew Jason Dobbs owned some of the property around town. Belle told me that. I guess evicting people who don’t pay is just part of the job.”

  “That’s right, but what if someone was in a desperate situation and blamed Jason for being evicted. Why they might even take a dagger from their own shop and kill the guy.”

  Anna slowed the car and pulled over the side of the road, so she could look Harlem in the eye. “Wait a minute. You think that he lied about selling the dagger?”

  “He doesn’t have any sort of record or proof that he sold it, does he?”

  “I suppose not, but murder?”

  “Look, I know the thought crossed your mind,” Harlem pointed out.

  Anna turned one corner of her mouth down and squinted at him, mostly upset that he was right. “Okay, okay. That is one potential theory.”

  “It’s the best one we have so far. He had possession of the dagger at one time and has a potential motive for the killing.”

  Taking her foot off the brake, she pulled back out into the street to continue her drive. “Okay, we’ll keep that theory in mind. In the meantime,” she thought out loud, her voice trailing off.

  “What?”

  “The only way to know for sure if he had the dagger and didn’t sell it is to track down William Percy.”

  Chapter 8

  * * *

  After retreating to her apartment for a while and hopping online, Anna was able to track down an address for William Percy. While he was a man in his late forties, he was pretty active on social media as well, mostly updating followers about where he was going to be that week. Being a trucker, he was often not in town. He spent weeks at a time on the road, hauling merchandise across the country to various states.

  It became apparent that he was a private trucker. He took commissions and jobs from various contract employers instead of working for one specific trucking company. He could be traveling anywhere at any time—always on a different route.

  This kind of job also meant he owned his own truck to haul the various loads. Anna had to silently admire the type of work ethic, time, and dedication such a difficult job might present. It was much harder than her own job helping to manage that drive-in theater with her sister and Valerie.

  Speaking of which, she realized that she would probably be in for a scolding later that day from Valerie for not being there all morning to help with the set up of that night’s vampire flick—Dance of the Vampire Brides.

  While she still wasn’t overly excited to see this next movie, she did like the idea of the vampires being women in this one instead of a man. However, she wasn’t holding her breath. She was sure it would be just a cheesy and over the top as the last ones.

  “You’ve got the address. Are we ready to go?” Harlem asked, floating back and forth in the tiny apartment with impatience.

  Anna had seen tigers pacing back and forth, but this was something new. She couldn’t help but chuckle at him.

  “What is so funny?”

  “You. You’re just raring to go.”

  “Yes, I’m getting anxious to figure this out.”

  Anna scrunched her eyebrows together. “Oh? Why is that? This isn’t any different than some of the other murder cases we’ve faced.”

  “That’s just it. The other cases we’ve helped solve always have something paranormal involved.”

  “Well, yeah. If you’re helping to do some snooping, of course, there is,” she joked.

  He stopped his pacing and looked down at her unamused. “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m just trying to keep things light-hearted, you know?”

  “What about you? Why are you so laid back about this case? You’re usually chomping at the bit, either to get the case solved or to get your sister uninvolved.”

  Anna sighed. It was true. Seeing Belle get all mixed up in dangerous and supernatural events around Sunken Grove bothered her. She’d spent part of Belle’s teenage years caring for her sister after their parents died. She was overprotective in some ways. Wanting to stop her from getting mixed up in murder . . . and potentially worse situations . . . was almost a knee-jerk response.

  However, this time around Belle was laid up sick in bed. Despite having gone out that morning to do some investigating, she just didn’t have the energy to keep going.

  It made Anna more invested in the case. She realized her own level of curiosity wasn’t so different from her sister’s, especially when her sister wasn’t as involved. Finally looking up at Harlem again, she shrugged one shoulder. “This case may not have a paranormal element at all, you know?”

  “But it was a voodoo ritual dagger used to kill him,” Harlem reminded her.

  “Yeah, but our two suspects might not have used any voodoo or folk magic in the killing. It may have just been a matter of ease using the knife.”

  Harlem sighed. “Okay, okay, but I don’t want to rule it out just yet.”

  “Don’t worry. We won’t,” she replied, looking back to the computer screen. “I just need to find out if William Percy is in town or on the road, but it looks like he hasn’t posted in the last two weeks or so.”

  “So, maybe he’s on the road, then.”

  “No. It seems like he posts more when he is on the road. Taking pictures of places he has been. The weird thing is, hardly any of these have any likes or comments on them. It’s like he was posting all of this for his own benefit.”

  “Or he was hoping for a little attention.”

  “He could be lonely. As far as I can tell he doesn’t have any family to speak of. Also, trucking is a pretty lonely job. Not to mention, he isn’t part of a company, so it isn’t like he’d even have fellow employees or drivers to be buddies with.”

  Harlem folded his arms. “So sad.”

  “Anyway, I say we go down to this address he has listed and see if he’s at home. At the very least he can help us clear up the little matter of who had the dagger.”

  “Where is this place?” Harlem asked, leaning down to h
ave a look at the computer screen.

  Anna clicked over to a new tab and entered the address, pulling up a digital map. “Looks like he’s about ten minutes outside of town on a bayou road. Could be an old farmhouse or plantation. That’s generally what’s around, you know?”

  Harlem hesitated, his initial eagerness to get out the door fading. “I’m well aware.”

  “What’s wrong?” she insisted to know.

  “Think of this. What if he is the killer? Are we going out to a secluded spot to ask him about the murder weapon? Come on, that can’t be very smart. If Belle was doing this, you’d insist on either going along or calling the cops.”

  Anna shook her head. “Stop worrying. It’s not like I’m going in there and asking if he murdered anyone. I could just say I had hoped to buy the dagger from the shop and heard he’d purchased before I got to it. I’ll ask if I can buy it from him.”

  Harlem looked at her with a skeptical frown.

  “I’m taking you along, aren’t I?” she defended herself, feeling more and more like her sister.

  He held out his hands in protest. “What am I going to do?”

  “You’re a ghost. Scare him off if he tries anything.”

  Pursing his lips, Harlem floated toward the door. “I hope this works out the way you planned. The last thing we need is another body.”

  “Or another ghost haunting the drive-in with you,” she joked.

  Harlem was not amused.

  Chapter 9

  * * *

  The sky had turned gray as morning shifted into the afternoon. Driving out of town, tiny droplets of rain dotted along the windshield of Anna’s car. Above the cypress trees, the gray clouds rolled in looking like menacing towers filled with water.

  “Looks like we’ve got a storm coming,” Harlem noted, leaning forward in his seat to look out at the darkening sky.

  “It would seem so.”

  “Perfect weather for a murder,” he said.

  Anna rolled her eyes. “No one is getting murdered. Honestly, he may not even be at home. Then, you won’t have to worry anymore about it.”

  “We can only hope,” he agreed.

  The real worry would be if William bought the dagger. If so, did he have a motive to use it against Jason Dobbs?

  “Also, I sent a text to Valerie saying I was heading out this direction. If I randomly go missing, everyone will know something is up. Also, you can always tell my sister what happened to me if anything does.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you,” he argued, not liking the way she was talking. He knew she was just pushing his buttons. Anna had originally been pretty standoffish to him, seeing as he was a ghost and all. However, as she’d grown more comfortable and they’d become friends, she’d also become more playful. She sure knew how to rub him the wrong way if she wanted to, though.

  He was only now realizing that he felt protective of the drive-in sisters, especially Anna. They got mixed up with so many creepy happenings, he just hoped that his knowledge of the occult could help them out.

  He never wanted to see either of them hurt, or worse, on account of one of these strange occurrences.

  It didn’t help that Sunken Grove seemed like a breeding ground for paranormal activity. In his life’s studies, he became aware of the fact that certain areas and locations throughout the world had a thinner veil between the living and the dead. Sunken Grove seemed to be one such place, which is why it drew in some of the more daring tourists looking to do a little ghost hunting.

  Harlem couldn’t help chuckle at the thought. What if those ghost hunters knew that he, a real ghost, was just oh so close to them?

  “What’s funny?” Anna asked, having heard him laugh quietly to himself.

  “Oh, nothing. Just thinking what would happen if a crew of ghost hunters ever came to the drive-in.”

  Anna smiled at this thought. “We’d have to put on a show for them. We are in the business of entertaining, after all.”

  This time, Harlem laughed out loud. “So true.” He was honestly glad for the turn in mood. He was already beginning to feel more secure about this little trip. Somehow, it seemed like things would work out okay.

  “I think this is the turn off right here,” Anna noted, gripping the wheel and navigating the car onto the dirt backroad. If the rain really started to come down, that road would turn into mud. It would be harder to get back out.

  She tried not to think along those lines.

  In a matter of minutes, a two-story farmhouse came into view. The white paint was peeling and yellowed in spots and shingles were missing from the roof. It looked like something out of one of Belle’s movies. A shiver danced up Anna’s spine as she parked out front.

  Parked in the trees just off to the side was a mini-van. Clearly, someone was home.

  “A mini-van? Doesn’t seem much like a trucker’s choice of vehicle,” Harlem commented.

  “Maybe he has family visiting?”

  “I thought you said it didn’t seem like he had any family?”

  “Maybe I was wrong. People don’t put everything on social media.” Opening her door, she climbed out, quickly followed by Harlem.

  Just as she had suspected, the rain had begun coming down harder. Large fat droplets plunked around them, riding along the top of the dirt yard for a few seconds before settling into the soil. The house had an enclosed wrap around porch, which made Anna feel a little more comfortable since it meant she wouldn’t have to stand out in the rain while knocking on a stranger’s door.

  She’d seen William in passing and knew who he was, but she’d never once spoken a word to him.

  “Now remember. Be careful,” Harlem told her in a hushed tone, even though no one would be able to hear him. “At the first sign of trouble, make a run for it.”

  Anna shook her head. “I’m sure nothing bad is going to happen. We’ll just ask our questions and then get out of here.”

  A rumble of thunder overhead ushered in a massive downpour, coating the entire yard and surrounding bayou area in a curtain of water. A second later, the echo of a familiar sound came from somewhere within the building, barely audible above the sound of the rain.

  If she wasn't mistaken, Anna could swear it was a baby crying. That couldn’t be right, could it?

  No turning back now. Taking a deep breath, Anna balled her hand into a fist and knocked on the door. She stood there quietly for a moment, her heart beating against her rib cage, as she attempted to listen to what was happening inside.

  She could make out the muted words, who could and take care of, drowned out by the rain.

  A second later, the door opened. Much to Anna’s surprise, she was faced with a woman of about twenty-nine or thirty staring back at her through the wire screen door with a baby in her arms. “Hello? Can I help you?” she asked, shifting the crying baby to her other hip.

  Anna hesitated, not sure what to say. “I’m sorry. I think I have the wrong address. I was looking for William Percy?”

  “Sorry, he don’t live here no more. It’s just me, my kids, and the husband when he ain’t working on people’s septic tanks round here.”

  Anna couldn’t help cringing at the job.

  “Trust me, doll. It ain’t a pretty job. He comes home stinkin’ worse than the cat box most nights, but it pays well, and he enjoys it for what it is.” She shifted the baby’s weight again, trying to get a better hold of the red-faced child. Thankfully, he was quieting down as the mother rocked him lovingly.

  Anna felt a little sad for the woman. She had a sweet face with rosy red round cheeks and even a slight hint of a smile, despite how exhausted she looked. Besides the child in her arms, a toddler appeared to be playing with a tower of blocks in the living room beyond.

  “That blasted thunder woke him up from his nap. Right when I was about to start unpackin’ the kitchen boxes, too. I can never get much done around here before hubby gets home. Thankfully, he takes the kids off my hands for a few hours, so I can get more d
one like unpackin’ and cleanin’. But sometimes I’m even too tired for all that and end up soakin’ in the tub and readin’ a book, you know?”

  Anna gave a sympathetic smile, happy to know the woman had an attentive husband. “That’s nice of him.”

  “We’ve been slow goin’ of it, getting all moved in and such. We were just thrilled to finally get a place to stay that wasn’t a dirty motel. Hubby’s been workin’ for over three weeks now at this new job, so we just moved in ‘bout a week ago after that last guy got kicked out. I’d say I was sorry for him, but I’d be lying. I’m all too happy to finally have a place for my kids.”

  Anna blinked a few times, thinking things through. “Oh? So, the last tenant got kicked out?”

  “That’s right. His name was Bill or Will or something. He wasn’t too happy to be leaving and made our move-in day pretty difficult. Cursin’ and kickin’ about in front of my kids. It’s a bad example, ya know?”

  “I don’t doubt it. He was really that much trouble?”

  “You better believe it, hon’. The police had to come and escort him off the land. ‘course, he’d already had his things packed up and out before then, but thought he’d put up one final stink before kickin’ off. I haven’t the faintest idea what happened to him after that.”

  “Wow, that sounds hard.”

  “Yeah, last night I got worried, too. I thought he’d come back. I swear I saw someone movin’ about outside, stalkin’ among the trees. I was about to call that chief again when my hubby said not to. He’s got a shotgun and said he’d scare anyone who came callin’ off. Luckily, whoever it was ended up leavin’, but I swear it was that fella’.”

  “This was William Percy?” Anna pressed.

  “Yeah, that’s his name. He was the previous tenant. According to our landlord, he got evicted two weeks ago. They took a week to clean the place up, and then that’s when we moved in.”

  Anna hummed quietly, thinking this all seemed like quite the coincidence. She had a good bet on who the landlord was. “And who is renting the place to you?” she asked.