A Grave Mistake

by Leighann Dobbs

  Her brows mashed together as she squinted at them. “Are they playing poker?”

  “Yep. We got our regular poker game going so I don’t have much time, but you girls better take good care of that special item … I tried to keep it safe when I was alive.”

  “Oh, right. And just what is this special item?”

  The ghost looked at her slyly out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, come on. I know you girls know about it. Otherwise, why would you be looking?”

  “We need to keep the relic away from the bad guys.”

  “Yes, of course. That’s no secret. You’ll know it when you see it and know what to do with it.”

  “Yes, but what, exactly, is it?”

  “Why, it was one of my prized possessions. You do know who I am, don’t you?”

  Celeste shook her head.

  “Well, I might have been a bit before your time. I’m Ezra Finch. One of the very first pharmacists here in the state of Maine.” The ghost puffed up in a swell of pride. “People came from all over the country to get my medicines.” He leaned in close to Celeste and winked. “Some say they were magical.”

  “Magical?” Celeste’s brows shot up.

  Ezra laughed. “Sure. You know what I mean?”

  “Sort of,” Celeste said. “So, where can we find this relic?”

  Ezra’s thin, ghostly lips pressed together. “Well, I can’t say where it is now. I don’t leave the graveyard here, and I know there’s been some changes since my time. But be that as it may, I provided a clue before I left this world.”

  “Okay.” Celeste was starting to feel impatient with the ghost’s vague talk and wondered if senility ran in the family. “What’s the clue?”

  “Why, it’s in the center,” Ezra pointed toward the middle of the graveyard. “The most important part of the graveyard, of course.”

  Celeste glanced in that direction. All she saw was rows of gravestones. “Could you be more specific?”

  “Specific? You want me to spell it out?” Ezra glanced at his wrist. “I’d love to but I don’t have time. I gotta get to the poker game. The boys are waiting, though I do wish we had a fourth. Anyway, you girls should be smart enough to figure it out, and if you can’t, then maybe you aren’t the ones it should be entrusted to.”

  And with that, he turned and walked off toward the now-empty chest tomb poker table, his ghost fading with each passing step. When he was almost invisible, he turned back and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. Don’t make a grave mistake.”

  Celeste could hear the echo of his laughter as he slowly faded into thin air.

  “What is it?” Jolene asked. The others respected Celeste’s unusual gift of talking to ghosts and had learned that when it looked like she was talking to no one, it usually meant she was talking to the departed. They’d learned to be quiet and let her do her thing.

  “I’m not sure. I might have just talked to a senile ghost, but he seemed like he knew we were looking for a relic and he pointed me this way.” Celeste pointed her finger in the direction Ezra had indicated.

  Jolene and Celeste started in that direction with Morgan and Fiona following. The center of the graveyard was easy to find. It had stones back to back in a square with a large black obelisk in the middle, about fifteen feet from the trunk of the big, old oak.

  “What are we supposed to be looking for?” Fiona asked.

  “That’s the problem. My ghost friend was very vague.” Celeste bent down to inspect one of the gravestones. “Maybe it's one of these epitaphs.”

  “They are fascinating,” Jolene said from behind one of the old stones. “Like this one. We must all die, there is no doubt. Your glass is running, mine is out.”

  “How about this one,” Fiona chimed in. “Thou lovely child in parents hope, in early years cut down. Companion now of the ghastly group, that lie beneath the ground.”

  Morgan made a face. “Those are depressing. I don’t see a clue in either of them. Do you guys?”

  They shook their heads, then Morgan added, “Did your ghost give you anything more specific? I mean, we could be looking at these graves all day and not find a thing.”

  Celeste shrugged. “He just said it was the most important part of the graveyard and not to make a grave mistake.”

  “Don’t make a grave mistake?” Jolene repeated. “Thaddeus said that, too. He said his great-grandfather used to say it.”

  “That’s who my ghost was, I think.” Celeste looked down at gravestone of Ezra Finch. He would have been just old enough to be Thaddeus’ great-grandfather.”

  The others came to stand beside her. “Looks like he’s got a snappy saying on his, too,” Fiona said. “When two become one, the healing’s begun. In my favorite place under the sun.” She moved closer to the stone, squinting at the bottom. "This line is harder to read … Look to the west, I can finally rest."

  “That makes sense he would talk about healing,” Celeste said. “He was quite proud he was one of the early Maine pharmacists and said people came from all over for his medicines, as they had powerful healing properties.”

  “Like Morgan,” Fiona pointed out.

  “Yeah. Maybe he had paranormal powers, too,” Morgan said.

  “That would explain why he had the relic, but I don’t see how this gravestone could give us a clue,” Fiona replied.

  “Wait a minute,” Jolene said. “I don’t think it does. You said he said it was in the center, right?”

  Celeste nodded.

  “And then he said don’t make a grave mistake, right?”

  “Yeees.” Celeste drew out the word.

  “Well, don’t you guys see?” Jolene flapped her arms. “It’s not on the graves. It’s on this obelisk which is probably in the exact center. Looking at the graves is a mistake.”

  Celeste felt a spark of hope. “Yes! That makes perfect sense.”

  The obelisk was one foot wide and four feet tall. It was made of smooth, black marble. The three sides were flat, like a long, thin triangle. It was topped with a round ball.

  Too bad Celeste didn’t see any clue on it.

  The four girls circled the object a couple of times.

  “Okay, I don’t see any clue,” Fiona said finally.

  “Well, it’s not going to be obvious.” Jolene’s voice rose in exasperation. “If it was too obvious, it would be too easy for anyone to find the relic. We have to use our brains.”

  Jolene bent down to brush dirt away from the bottom of the obelisk and Fiona rolled her eyes.

  “It’s always something cryptic,” Fiona muttered as she bent closer to the sides of the obelisk, which were polished smooth on the edges but had a rougher pattern engraved down the middle. The pattern reminded Celeste of a Celtic knot, but not exactly. As she stared at it, she realized it looked familiar.

  “Hey, I think I’ve seen this pattern before.” She ran her hand along the pattern, feeling the bumps of the carving with her fingertips.

  Fiona came around to stand beside her. “Hey, you’re right. I think this same pattern is on the Oblate Museum building. Don’t you think, Morgan?”

  But Morgan wasn’t paying attention. She stood in a rigid line looking toward the woods across the field, like a springer spaniel sighting a bird.

  Celeste looked over in time to see the sun glint off a glass surface. Someone was watching them with binoculars.

  “Stop right there!” Jolene barked as the four sisters took off running in the direction of the intruder.

  ***

  But the intruder didn’t stop. Which pretty much ruled out Thaddeus’ nephews. Surely, they wouldn’t be running away from intruders on their own land?

  Morgan ran as fast as she could. Beside her, she could see Fiona trying to keep up, her fist clutched around the pebbles. Up ahead, the figure weaved its way west—toward the road. He had a good head start and he was fast.

  Morgan willed her legs to go faster as she tried to gain on the person. It was a man, she thought, but she couldn’t get a g
ood look while concentrating on running and trying not to whack into any of the trees. He looked to be average height, and was wearing a thick, hooded sweatshirt so she couldn’t see his hair. It would be all but impossible to recognize him later.

  The man was getting close to the edge of the woods and Morgan figured he probably had a car parked on the road. They’d need to catch up pretty quick if they wanted to stop him. “He’s getting away!”

  “There’s no way we can catch him before he gets to the road,” Celeste huffed between breaths.

  “Maybe I can slow him down,” Fiona yelled.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Morgan watched Fiona pull her arm back then fling it forward, releasing the stones she’d been holding. Morgan held her breath as the stones bounced ineffectively off the trees. No magic there. Fiona's face crumbled in disappointment and Morgan’s heart pinched for her.

  Jolene took a cue from Fiona and thrust out her palms. A stream of purple energy shot out, but too many trees were in the way. The energy hit a pine tree, splitting in in half. The two halves fell away from each other and landed with a thud. Morgan jumped over one of the halves and continued forward.

  A few seconds later, the girls burst out onto the road just in time to hear a car squealing around the corner. They’d lost him.

  “Damn it!” Jolene stood in the road, staring in the direction of the car.

  Celeste bent over at the waist to catch her breath and puffed, “Who was that?”

  Jolene turned back to face her sisters. “Someone following us.”

  “Or watching us,” Fiona said.

  “Well, I know one thing,” Jolene added. “Whoever it was wasn’t a paranormal.”

  “How do you know that?” Fiona gasped as she held onto her right side.

  “Because if they were, they would have just used their paranormal powers to fight us or escape instead of running.”

  Celeste straightened. “Maybe they weren’t supposed to capture, just observe us.”

  “You mean let us do the detecting work and then swoop in at the end and take the relic?” Jolene nodded. “That sounds like something Bly would have his men do.”

  “That’s for sure.” Morgan blew out a breath and kicked at a stone on the ground. Looking down, she noticed something that sent a jolt of recognition to her brain. She bent closer and nudged at the object with her toe. Her heart froze as she watched it roll off the pavement into the sand on the side of the road—it was a Black Crow licorice, just like the one she’d seen next to the dead body.

  Chapter Five

  Jolene wrapped her fingers around the mug of steaming hot chocolate and leaned toward her sister Morgan, who sat opposite her in the oversized chair in the East sitting room of their home.

  “So, you think whoever was watching us was the same person that killed the guy with the map?” she asked Morgan.

  Morgan nodded. “They’re definitely linked, somehow. I can feel it. And how many people eat those licorices, anyway? It’s too much of a coincidence.”

  Jolene glanced out the large bay window, with its panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean below the cliff only a couple of hundred feet from the home. It made sense, except for one thing—the guy they had seen hadn’t used any paranormal powers. But maybe he wasn’t trying to capture them or hurt them—just because he didn’t use the powers didn’t mean he didn’t have them.

  One thing was for sure. Whoever killed the guy with the map was after the relic. And now, it looked like he was after them, too.

  But who was the killer? One of Bly’s men? A rogue paranormal? Or someone else altogether? All they had to go on was a piece of candy and a dead body.

  “Is there any word on who the dead guy was?” Jolene settled back on the couch and looked up at Luke Hunter, Morgan’s boyfriend. “Maybe if we can figure out who he was, we can get a bead on who was following us.”

  “I’m one step ahead of you on that. I asked Brody and he said his name was Hale Swain.”

  Fiona tapped her fingernail on her pursed lips. “Hale Swain … that name sounds kind of familiar.”

  “Are you thinking of Gunner Swain, the archeologist?” Celeste asked. “I’ve heard Cal mention him a few times.”

  “Maybe. Do you think they are related?” Fiona asked.

  Celeste shrugged. “Who knows? But what’s an archeologist got to do with any of this?”

  “Good question. And Swain isn’t exactly a unique name. It may not be related, but maybe we should check into this archeologist guy.” Morgan turned to Luke. “Did Brody say if the police have any leads or any idea why this guy was in town?”

  Luke shook his head. “Not really. They think he was killed with some kind of new-fangled taser in a bar fight.”

  Jolene snorted. “I guess they would. They don’t know about paranormals.”

  Luke knew about them, though. He knew all about the Blackmoore sisters’ abilities. In fact, that’s why he’d come back to town in the first place, after spending two decades in military service. He hadn’t known it at the time, but his new job with a secret government agency was designed to keep him close to the Blackmoore sisters. A happy side effect of that was that he’d reconnected with his former high school sweetheart, Morgan.

  The girls had learned that keeping their ‘gifts’ a secret was wise, so they didn’t tell many people about them. That included Luke’s brother, Brody Hunter, who happened to be a member of the Noquitt police force. They figured what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

  Fiona leaned forward on the couch, her red curls sliding across her arm as she put her cup of tea down on the coffee table. “Do you think whoever was following us could have figured out the clue on the obelisk?”

  Morgan shook her head. “I doubt it. They weren’t in hearing range. All they would have known was that we were looking at the obelisk as well as the gravestones.”

  Celeste’s brow creased. “What I don’t understand is if he was following us, then how did he end up at the nursing home before us? And the aide implied there was more than one person.”

  “Maybe that really was his nephews at the nursing home.” Jolene turned to look at her mother and she felt a flood of warmth. For years, she’d resigned herself to the fact that she’d never see her mother again and now here she was, sitting across from her looking happy and on the way to good health. “Do you know if Finch had any nephews?”

  The room they were in had been her mother’s favorite and they’d continued to use it even after they thought she was dead. But, for Jolene, using the room had been bittersweet. Her mother’s touch was evident throughout the decor, from the soft blue and gray colors to the giant starfish and shells, to the chippy, white-painted furniture. On the one hand, the room had made her feel closer to her mother, but the constant reminder that Johanna was gone had always made her heart ache.

  Seeing Johanna sitting in this very room with Belladonna curled up and purring in her lap was something Jolene never thought would happen, and the sight of it still made her heart sing.

  Johanna shook her head, her long, silvery hair swinging like silk. “No, he was the last of the Finch family line.”

  “Speaking of the Finches, I talked to Ezra Finch—well, Ezra’s ghost—and he seemed to know we were looking for a relic,” Celeste said.

  Johanna pressed her lips together. “Ezra … he was before my time. Your grandma would remember, but I think he was famous for something.”

  Celeste nodded. “He said he was a pharmacist and his pills had almost magical healing powers. I think he might have been a paranormal.”

  “That makes sense. That’s why he would have a relic.” Luke twisted up the side of his mouth. “What exactly is the relic, anyway?”

  Jolene sighed. “That’s one of the problems. We have no idea.”

  “Gonna make it kind of hard to find, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. We don’t have too many leads except the obelisk in the graveyard.”

  “And you think that’s a clue to the Obl
ate Museum because the pattern on the side matches?” Luke asked.

  “Yep, I looked them both up on the internet,” Jolene said, then in a lower voice, added. “Even though I didn’t have to.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense. The Oblate Museum has only been around for five years … there’s no way Ezra Finch could have put a relic there because he was already dead,” Luke pointed out.

  “The museum has only been open for five years, but the building has been there since the early 1800s. It was there when Ezra was around. Back then, it was a grange hall.” Johanna petted Belladonna’s silky fur and the cat let out a little meow as if in agreement with what she’d just said.

  “But if Ezra hid a relic in there ninety years ago, wouldn’t someone have found it by now?” Morgan asked.

  Jolene shrugged. “Maybe. But maybe he hid it really well. We don’t have any other leads, so we have to follow this up.”

  “Well, then, I guess I know where we’ll be going this afternoon,” Morgan said.

  “Yep, we’ll be making a visit to the Oblate Museum.”

  Chapter Six

  It was Jolene’s turn to drive, so they all piled into the TrailBlazer and made their way to the Oblate Museum across town. Fiona sat in back, her stomach swooping as she noticed the blue flashing lights parked in front of the old building.

  Celeste peered out the window as they pulled to a stop. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know, but we better find out.” Jolene jammed the car into park and they piled out, running up the steps and right into Brody Hunter.

  “Whoa.” Brody held his hands up in front of him, stopping them at the top of the steps. “Where are you guys going?”

  Jolene craned her neck to see around him. “What’s happening in the museum?”

  Brody’s eyes narrowed. “It was robbed.”

  The sisters exchanged a look. “Robbed? What did they take?”

  Brody looked at them sideways. “Why do you ask?” He turned to Morgan. “And is it a coincidence I keep running into you at crime scenes?”