by Carly Winter
“The only thing dumpy around here is your face, sweetheart,” Ruby said.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“I’m going in here,” Ruby said. I turned to see her ghosting through the door into where Belinda and the sheriff were talking. Even though I knew no one could see Ruby, it still startled me when she pulled moves like that. I immediately defaulted to thinking that she would be in trouble, and therefore, so would I.
“We should be in bed,” Nancy said. “Belinda’s had a horrible day. We all have.”
“Tell me about it,” I mumbled. I couldn’t get the image of Harold falling to his death out of my mind.
Ruby had also made a really good point. I never should have admitted I was one of the witnesses who’d watched him die. What if the killer wanted to eliminate anyone who could finger them? I had no idea who the murderer was, but that didn’t mean anyone would believe me.
Glancing at the door Ruby had gone through, I wondered what she was hearing. Hopefully she was listening and not trying to haunt the room. I’d have loved to be in there to eavesdrop on what Belinda had to say.
Nancy had mentioned Harold and Belinda were wealthy. Money was an excellent motive for murder.
A few moments later, Ruby reappeared and sat down next to me. “That woman is pretty full of herself,” she said, hitching her thumb over her shoulder. “Says she’s going to sue the sheriff for holding her here. She’s a victim because she lost her husband.”
I sat up and placed my elbows on my knees, my head in my hands. That way, Nancy couldn’t see my face. “What else?” I whispered.
When I didn’t get an answer, I glanced at the empty bench next to me. Ruby must have returned to the interrogation room because she was nowhere to be found. My attention was drawn to the footsteps coming down the hallway.
Adam.
He also carried a manilla folder. With a smile, he waved me into an interrogation room down the hall.
I stood and hurried over to him.
Ruby screamed from behind me, causing me to startle. I glanced over my shoulder to find her floating down the hallway on her back. “Bernie! She was just getting to the good part!”
“Sorry,” I whispered, but kept walking toward Adam.
“This stupid tether!” Ruby yelled.
After Adam closed the door, he took me into a tight embrace. “How are you holding up?” he asked.
“Tired, but I’m fine.” Dang, the hug felt nice. The tension in my shoulders faded as I leaned my head against his chest.
“Come sit down,” he said, releasing me far too soon.
With a huff and a curse, Ruby stood in the corner.
I sat down as Adam pulled a piece of paper from the folder.
“I figured you must be exhausted, so I took the liberty of typing up a statement for you since we both witnessed the same thing. Read it over and let me know if you see any changes. If not, go ahead and sign it.”
A little nig of discomfort wiggled in my belly. He was speaking for me? I didn’t appreciate that one bit, but as I read the account, I realized just how exhausted I was and suddenly, I appreciated his efforts.
“It looks good to me,” I said, grabbing the pen and scrawling my signature at the bottom.
“You didn’t read that very carefully,” Ruby said.
“It’s fine,” I replied, glancing over at her. Adam looked over his shoulder and waved.
“Ask him if we can go home,” Ruby said. “I’m bored to tears.”
I wanted to know what she had heard Belinda say to the sheriff, but I didn’t think Adam would appreciate her sneaking around. The conversation would have to wait until we were alone.
“Bernie, I can’t leave yet,” Adam said. “Why don’t you go to my house and stay there? Catch a few hours’ sleep? It’s right around the corner and you wouldn’t have to walk home alone in the dark.”
“We don’t want to stay there,” Ruby said. “No way, no how. That ghost threw a book at you!”
“He was aiming for you,” I said, glaring pointedly at Ruby. “Maybe if you were a little nicer, he wouldn’t feel the need to do such things.”
Adam chuckled and sat back in his chair. “Is she afraid to stay at my house?”
“I’m not afraid of any ghost,” Ruby said as she marched up to the table and stood right next to Adam. “That crazy guy hit my granddaughter with a book. She shouldn’t subject herself to anymore abuse, copper.”
“She’s right next to me, isn’t she?” Adam said. “I can smell her. And feel her. It’s a little cold over here.”
I nodded.
He turned to Ruby. “There hasn’t been any paranormal activity at my place. I’m sure my ghost wouldn’t mind you two visiting for a few hours… as long as you’re nice.”
It was the first time I’d seen him speak directly to her. Usually, he talked about her to me. Her eyes widened and she stepped away from him as if taken by surprise.
“I’ve got another couple hours of work here,” he continued. “I’ll bring home some coffee and bagels.”
“He really believes I’m here,” Ruby whispered, laying her hand over her heart. “He believes I exist.”
“Yes, he does,” I replied softly.
“Maybe he’s not so bad after all.”
Despite my exhaustion, I grinned.
“What did she say?” Adam asked.
“She said that we appreciate you offering your place and we promise to be nice to your ghost.”
“I never said that!” Ruby yelled. “Quit putting words in my mouth, Bernie!”
“Great,” Adam said, pulling the keys from his pocket and taking one off the ring. He slid it across the table. “Here you go. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
Ruby shook her head. “I can’t protect you from that poltergeist, Bernie. You’re making a huge mistake staying at Adam’s place.”
We’d be fine. Besides, poltergeist or not, I needed to sleep, and Adam’s house offered me the shortest route to something besides a metal bench to do so.
And when I woke, I’d find out what Ruby heard in the exchange between Belinda and Sheriff Walker.
Chapter Five
Someone was watching me.
I had no idea how long I’d been asleep or where I was. But a scream tore from my throat when I opened my eyes and saw a bearded man wearing a cowboy hat standing over me.
Apparently, I had scared him as well because he also yelled and jumped away from me as I tried to untangle my legs from the blanket and stagger to my feet. Instead, my limbs remained snarled in the blanket and my shoulder hit the carpet with a loud thud.
“Why are you screaming like that?” the man shouted. “You’re loud enough to wake the dead!”
I finally freed myself and rose to my feet just as Adam ran out into the living room trailed by Ruby, his gun at his side. “What’s going on?” he asked, his gaze darting all around.
The sun shone brightly through the living room windows. What was the time? My breath sawed from my lungs while I ran a shaky hand over my hair. Staring at my bearded voyeur, I took in his faded jeans, the dingy white shirt with a huge bloodstain down the front, and cowboy boots. The deep lines on his face and the salt and pepper hair indicated he’d been probably in his sixties when he died. Adam’s ghost.
“Well, well, well,” Ruby said, her sights firmly set on the apparition. “Look who’s finally decided to show himself.”
“I don’t want any trouble, ma’am,” he said, holding his hands in front of him, as if that would stop Ruby from approaching. “I was simply wondering why the girl was sleeping on the couch. We don’t see too many of the female persuasion in this here house.”
Well, that was good news. “Because I was tired!” I said, rubbing my eyes. At least I knew Adam didn’t have a string of women traipsing through his condo. “Why else would I be asleep?!”
“I could see you were snookered, like you’d had one too many tequilas,” the ghost said, then hitched a
thumb at Ruby. “How you rest with this one always talking, I have no idea.”
“Oh! I love tequila!” Ruby squealed.
The ghost narrowed his gaze on me. “Why can you see me?” he asked. “I haven’t been seen in decades.”
I didn’t possess enough energy to recite that story, so I ignored the question.
“Bernie,” Adam said, still glancing around the room. “What’s going on here? I feel like I’m missing out on a big conversation.”
“You are,” I replied. “I woke to your ghost standing over me.”
Adam’s eyes widened with surprise. “Seriously? You can see him? Did he try to hurt you?”
“I don’t want to hurt no one,” the visitor said.
Thank goodness. “Yes, I see him, and no, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Don’t you think it’s time you introduce yourself, fella?” Ruby asked. “Or do we just make up a name for you? Maybe call you Old Coot Carl? Or Old Timer Tim?”
The ghost narrowed his gaze on Ruby. “Okay, Sea Hag Shirley.” He then disappeared.
I dropped back on the couch and leaned my head against the cushion.
“Who is he?” Adam asked. “Why is he in my condo? What’s he doing here?”
Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes. “Relax, copper. Give the girl a minute to catch her wits.”
“He’s gone, Adam,” I muttered, still trying to wake fully.
“Are you okay, Bernie?” Adam sat next to me on the sofa and took my hand in his while he set down his gun. “Can I get you anything?”
“Did you bring coffee?” I asked.
“No. Canyon Coffee wasn’t open yet when I came home. I’ll make some.”
“Thanks.”
My heart calmed as I took some deep breaths and Adam hurried into the kitchen. I’d seen his ghost. Even though the apparition had thrown a book at me, he seemed fairly harmless—more curious than anything. As I recalled the meeting, I burst out laughing.
“Has anyone ever called you a sea hag before?” I asked, turning to Ruby.
Ruby lifted her chin trying to seem upset, but she also fought a smile. “No. I’ve been called a lot of things, but Sea Hag is a new one for me.”
“He called her a sea hag?” Adam asked. Life would be so much easier if he could hear Ruby.
“Too bad he can’t keep up,” Ruby muttered, hitching her thumb over her shoulder toward the kitchen.
“Yes, he did,” I replied to Adam. “After she called him an old coot and an old timer.”
Adam sighed and shook his head while watching the coffee pot. “Ah. More name-calling. Wonderful. He’s going to end up hating me. Did he say why he’s here?”
I shook my head. “He seemed just as scared as me. He looked like some type of cowboy or miner. There was a huge bloodstain down the front of his shirt.”
“You know what they say,” Ruby said. “Save a horse… ride a cowboy instead.” She hooted. I rolled my eyes and ignored her.
“Bloodstain!” Adam exclaimed. “Do you think he was shot or something?”
“That would be my guess. It looked awful.” The blood had covered his chest down to his belly. “He had to have died that way. There was too much blood loss.”
“Probably a cowboy from the old times,” Ruby said. “Ran his mouth and got a bullet for his trouble.”
As I stared at my ghost, relief swept through me that she hadn’t been alive when shooting someone in the street was an okay thing to do. She wouldn’t have lasted a day.
As Adam poured two cups and brought it over to me, the occurrences of the night before came flooding back. “What happened at the police station after I left?”
“I took Trevor White’s statement, then I came home as well. I thought I’d be there a lot longer than I was.”
“Can you tell me what he said?”
Adam shrugged. “It’s an ongoing investigation, but I can give you the basics if you promise to keep it to yourself.”
“Promise,” I replied with a grin. I loved that he trusted me.
“Harold and his wife were jerks. The friend, Nancy, wasn’t nice either. He described them as very self-important. At first, he thought they were some kind of celebrities because they said they were from Los Angeles, but quickly decided they were just rude.”
I took a long gulp of the hot liquid. “This tastes amazing, Adam. Thank you.”
“Sure. I should have asked if you needed cream or sugar.”
“No, this is perfect. Where is Trevor from?”
“He and Art are from the Seattle area—a place north of the city called Everett.”
“What are they doing here?”
“It rains a lot in Seattle. They’re golfing buddies here for the weather. They spent a few days down in Phoenix, then came up to see the wonders of Sedona.”
“What did Art have to say?”
Adam yawned and stretched his hands over his head. “I don’t know. The sheriff interviewed him and I haven’t read the file.”
We sat in silence for a long moment. Harold may have been killed by one of those people who had ridden on that Jeep tour and I longed to know which one had done it. But what if the killer was someone else on that cliff? Someone no one knew was there?
“Did Jack give any other hints on who he thinks pushed Harold?” I asked.
Adam pursed his lips and shook his head. “No. In fact, he clammed up and said he wanted a lawyer.”
“That makes him look guilty,” I said.
“Tell me about it.”
“I’m a little surprised by him,” I said. “I would think he’d want to put the horrible night behind him, not draw it out with more interviews and getting a lawyer involved.”
“Mr. Dimples didn’t kill anyone,” Ruby said with a huff. “He’s too cute to be a killer.”
“Anyway,” Adam continued, “I need to get back to the station. “Belinda called her lawyer and we were hoping to talk to her again before he arrives and muzzles her.”
My phone dinged and I grabbed it from the coffee table. The screen indicated someone had made a reservation and would be checking in shortly. “Looks like I’ve got a customer coming.”
“We’ve both got busy days,” Adam said.
“Yes, we do.” I stood and downed the rest of my coffee in one large gulp. “I’ll see you later. Call me and keep me posted on the case.”
“I will.”
As I hurried home with Ruby at my side, I made a mental list of things I needed to do before my guests checked in. The rooms should be ready for visitors, but I’d better double-check them in case I missed anything on the first cleaning. The living room should also get a quick dusting, and I wanted a shower. Elvira, my cat, would need to be fed, and I should see whether I needed milk and sugar for coffee in the morning. If I did, a quick jaunt to the grocery store would be in order.
“Who’s coming to visit?” Ruby asked as she skipped down the sidewalk next to me. “Anyone interesting?”
“Two women from Phoenix,” I said. “One is getting married and looking at wedding venues in Sedona.”
“Oh! How fun,” Ruby replied. “Be nice to them and maybe we can score an invite. I do love a good Macarena dance.”
“I thought you hated the idea of marriage,” I said, glancing over at her while she twirled down the sidewalk, the purple mumu flaring around her calves.
“For me, I do. Or I did, I should say. I’m not marriage material. Never was.”
Wasn’t that the truth. I appreciated the fact she admitted it and never tried to force herself to be something she wasn’t while alive. Ruby may be difficult at times, but she was always unashamedly honest with herself and others.
“Adam’s ghost is sure… unusual,” she said.
“With the way you’ve been badgering him, I’m surprised he showed himself.”
Ruby chuckled and spun around in a circle. “Well, being nice wasn’t exactly working. I wonder what Old Coot Carl’s story is.”
“Maybe if you�
�re nice, he’ll tell us. And that begins by you quitting with the nicknames.”
“We’ll see,” she replied with a shrug.
She remained uncharacteristically quiet for a block, and I wondered if thoughts of the ghost occupied her mind. For the first time, she’d met someone like her who hadn’t passed on to their resting place. Why had both of them been trapped on this plane after their demise?
“So who do you think pushed the old guy off the cliff?” Ruby asked.
“He was what… twenty years younger than you?” I replied with a snicker.
“Whatever. Who do you think did it?”
“I don’t know, Ruby. I haven’t given it much thought. It’s not really my place to figure that out.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“Sure I am. Adam and Sheriff Walker will find out who did it, and then we’ll know. You never told me what you heard in the interrogation room between Sheriff Walker and Belinda.”
We rounded the corner and my house came into view.
“It wasn’t much,” Ruby said. “She was obviously pretty distraught, but something didn’t seem right to me. I was thinking about it all night, but I can’t place my finger on it. I’ll give you the details after your guests arrive.”
“Why not now?”
“Because I can feel your anxiety ramping up just walking next to you. It’s so strong, if I had a heart, it would be beating too fast. I’m sure you have a long list of stuff you want to do before they get here.”
I almost argued, hating that I was so transparent, but also appreciating that she knew me so well and respected my processes.
Still, I had to do a better job controlling my anxiety. I never realized how bad it was until I could see Ruby. With her always pointing it out, I was beginning to see that I very well may have a problem I never even realized I had. With all my exercise and eating right, I had always considered myself healthy, but maybe I wasn’t. Stress could do awful things to a body.
“You’re right,” I said. “I do have a list, but I want to find out what you overheard once everything is settled.
“Ten-four, Danno.”
Chapter Six
