October Ghosts (A Southern Romance Monthly)

by Hockenberry, CJ

  That and he'd been trapped in a hole before.

  By her hand.

  The letdown from the emptiness and the blood made it easier to clear the house of non-essential personal. Of course the found blood spread like fire throughout the reporters and news crews as they set up to deliver their six o'clock report.

  The Sheriff arrived and had everyone involved held inside the house—with the cameras still rolling.

  Margo wanted to stay in the basement as they waited on the CSU team. She sweet talked the Sheriff and promised him she'd stand guard. But once he was up the stairs and the doors closed, Margo started looking around for Matt.

  "Hey…where are you?" She stuck her head into every nook and cranny of that basement. "I know you're still here. You need to come out right now and talk to me. We need to get our stories straight." Margo moved to the other side of the basement and reached for a locker in the back corner of the room. She yelled out and jumped back when Sarah stepped out, a gun in her hand, pointed at Margo's face.

  "The gun was Sarah's idea," Phil said as they watched the real Reality TV in front of them.

  Chloe came into the van and he pulled her into his arms. He was still nauseated and he dehydrated. Matt had already consumed four bottles of water and a few energy bars. But what he really wanted was downtime with Chloe in a house in the woods.

  "Sarah!" Margo hissed. "What're you—you can't point that at me."

  "Yes I can. You've done a good job of framing me, haven't you? Except this time. This time," Sarah smiled. "I get to frame you."

  "Frame me?"

  "Yeah. You see that blood really is Matt's. I found him. And he told me what you did to him."

  "No he didn't. You're lying. Where is he?"

  "Oh you mean his body?" Sarah took a step closer to Margo. "It's in the best place for it. Your apartment. Uh huh. Which is where the Sheriff is going to search after an anonymous call."

  "You wouldn't dare. And I know you're lying because you'd never hurt Matt. You were in love with him."

  "Yes I was. But then you changed all that. Oh yes, don't look so butt-hurt, Margo. I know all about what you did to him."

  "I didn't do anything to him."

  "Yeah, that's what you say. But you see, you did such a bad job rigging all those scares to malfunction, not one of them actually killed him."

  "They weren't supposed to kill him," Margo blurted out, unknowingly. "They did what they were supposed to do. Scare him away from you, and away from every other interruption."

  "You dumb idiot," Sarah said. "And what if that fall through the stairs would have killed him?"

  "I didn't know there was well there. No one did. And if he had of died, I'd have collected on the insurance so it was no loss."

  "You're telling me you aren't in love with him? I mean, I figured that's why you framed me for all that crap."

  "Love Matt Hunt? The guy's a pussy and you know that. He's a hottie with no brain. He's someone the girls watch the show for so they can masturbate looking at him. But he's got no brains up here." She pointed to the door past the stairs. "Do you know how easy it was to get him to come here by himself? And then make him stand right where I wanted him so I could shove him down that shoot? Took me two hours to tear all those boards down, and then I had to put them back up. All because he was worried about me," she pointed at her chest. "Not you or anyone else. He is mine to do with as I please because he trusts me."

  Matt sighed and leaned into Chloe. She pulled his head against her chest and cradled him. He knew she was responsible for this because he'd seen her face in the light. It just didn't make it any easier hearing it.

  "I think you're wonderful," Chloe said in his ear.

  He grinned as he watched Margo blow her wad.

  "So I'm assuming you wanted him to die in that little hole?" Sarah asked.

  "No. Of course not. But how great of a story is this? All this attention? All this publicity? This is what's going to sell the show, Sarah. Because Matt's the prince and all the little girls out there love it when someone saves the prince. And once again, all the evidence would point to you. So you need to get the hell out of my way and if you so much a put Matt's body near my apartment, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself. Framing you wasn't enough. I should have shot you."

  Sheriff Harhmon stepped inside the van, a mic in his ear. "We got what we need. My men are at the top of the stairs. Tell Sarah to back out easy."

  Phil nodded. He grabbed a microphone from a mounted table. "Sarah. We got it."

  Sarah gave no indication on the screen that she'd heard him, except for the fact she lowered her gun. "You're such a dumbass. You think everyone just hangs on your every word. And the bad thing is, you spout shit and don't even know it." She turned and walked past Margo and ascended the steps.

  Margo was right behind her. "Where the hell do you think you're going? You're going to get that dead body out of my apartment or I'll make you bleed."

  "You mean like you did Matt?" Sarah didn't even glance back. She opened the doors and stepped through.

  But when Margo ran up those stairs, she got a different greeting.

  "Margo Murray, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Matthew Hunt."

  Epilogue

  The banners across the county's ME's office said HAPPY RETIREMENT HENRY. The rooms were full of friends, co-workers, associates and family. Chloe considered herself part of the family. She'd known Henry as long as she'd known his niece Nana—since elementary school. And that was too far back to want to count.

  It was November fifth. The leaves finally started falling, the air stayed cooler and crisper throughout the day, and Halloween was a pleasant memory and happily put to the side.

  Chloe and Nana sat on Henry's couch in what was soon to be his former office and chatted about their lives. Nana was still single and doing more photography work for the Sheriff's office. It was good work and she enjoyed it, but she was more worried about who the next ME would be.

  "My luck it's going to be some rotted old man."

  Chloe laughed. "I bet he'll be hot and he'll be gorgeous."

  "And you would be wrong because they don't make them like that." Nana looked around, her mane of red hair shifting over her shoulder. "Say where is that dreamy man of yours? I wanted to tell him congratulations on his new job."

  "Oh, Matt's here somewhere. You know how much he loves to schmooze."

  It was true, Matt Hunt had decided to stay in Roswell, Georgia and get a different job. This one wasn't as exciting as ghost hunting, but it did bring him home a steady paycheck and it also excited him. He'd decided to drop the idea of haunted houses all together and drift into the exciting and challenging world of what he called hoodoo.

  "So how does it feel having him take Kevin's place?"

  Chloe shrugged. "It was weird at first, but he's really catching fire with it. Literally. His sleeve caught fire off the volcano candle we got in yesterday."

  Both of them laughed and nudged their shoulders together. "It's so good to see you happy," Nana said as she leaned on Chloe's shoulder. "Have you talked to Kevin?"

  "Yes. About a week ago. He's doing fine. And of course he apologized another seven times on the phone."

  "Well the idiot should have known not to hang a witch in his boss's office for Halloween publicity."

  "Yeah…" Chloe sighed. "He didn't realize his finger prints were in the system from that DUI he got a few years ago. He was speeding, his passenger had coke—and not the sugary kind. So, he was booked." It had hurt to find out the witch hanger was her own assistant, and it'd hurt even worse to have to let him go. She couldn't keep someone in her shop she didn't trust. "He'll be fine." She patted Nana's knee. "We'll all be fine."

  "Yeah… I just want to find me a hottie to have mad sex with."

  Chloe felt all warm inside when she thought of Matt naked in the bed with her. Every night. And every morning. Not to mention those long, tank draining showers. "You'll find someone. Just wait a
nd see."

  About the Author…

  CJ is an avid reader of romance. Her tastes in romance range from sweet romance, to even a hybrid of cozy/romance to suspense. When she starts a book she has no idea what the tone or the story will be. She starts with two people and watches as the story unfold.