by Terri Reid
“If you are going to do that, you need to tell me first,” Kate said. “And then you can go.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Maggie said. “We’ll be sure to tell you.”
Maggie and Clarissa walked together to the small area set aside for the speaker. “Hi,” the woman said, greeting the two girls. “Did you come to hear ghost stories?”
The girls nodded. “Are they scary?” Clarissa asked.
The woman shook her head. “Not too scary,” she admitted, and then she lowered her voice. “I don’t want to frighten too many people.”
“My mom says you can’t see ghosts,” Maggie said. “That you tell other people’s stories.”
The woman leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Can I tell you a secret?” she asked.
The girls nodded again. “We love secrets.”
“I’ve seen ghosts, but I really don’t like to talk about it,” she said. “It makes people uncomfortable, so I mostly tell stories about other people who can see ghosts.”
“My mom is like that,” Clarissa said. “I think you would like my mom. Her name is Mary O’Reilly.”
Terri smiled and nodded. “I’ve heard of your mom,” she said. “And I think I would like your mom, too.”
“We’re going to listen to your stories for little while, but then we have to go. Is that okay?” Maggie asked.
“That’s perfectly okay,” Terri replied. “Why don’t you sit towards the back so you can slip out quietly when you need to.”
“Okay, thanks,” Clarissa said.
The girls listened to the storyteller for about ten minutes, sitting at the edge of their chairs as she told of local ghosts who haunted area venues. Then Maggie reached over and touched Clarissa’s hand, almost causing her to jump out of her seat in fright. Maggie clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing and then motioned with her head that they needed to go. They climbed out of their chairs and went in search of Kate, who was browsing through the music section.
“Mom,” Clarissa whispered. “We’re going to go out to the statue now.”
Kate smiled down at them and nodded. “Okay, I’ll be out there in about five minutes.”
Letting themselves out of the door, the girls walked hand in hand around the front of the library to the small park area located just north of the building. A statue of two men on a raised platform stood in the middle of the park, and next to it, on a bench, their ghost friend from the library was waiting for them.
“There he is,” Clarissa said, pointing with her other hand. “I can see him.”
Maggie nodded. “He likes this place, too,” she said. “Especially when it’s crowded in the library.”
“Good afternoon, ladies,” the ghost friend said cordially. “It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”
“It feels like Halloween outside,” Clarissa said, and then she cocked her head in thought. “Do ghosts like Halloween?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, I believe we do,” he said. “It gives us a chance to get out among the real people without being discovered.”
“Do ghosts actually go out trick-or-treating?” Maggie asked.
“No, we don’t need sweets,” he said. “But I am sure that you would be surprised at how many of those you pass on the streets are not really who you suppose them to be.”
Clarissa rubbed her arm. “That gave me goosebumps,” she said.
He laughed. “Well, any good ghost story is supposed to give you goosebumps,” he replied. “And will you be going trick-or-treating?”
“Yes,” Maggie replied excitedly. “We’re going to go together, and we’re going to get enough candy to last until Christmas.”
Clarissa nodded in agreement. “And we’re not going to eat it all at the same time and get sick.”
He chuckled, his deep laugh resonating in the space around them. “Well, that is an excellent plan,” he said. “My favorite treat was candied apples. Do they still give those away?”
Maggie shook her head. “No, they can’t,” she said.
“They can’t?” he asked. “Why not?”
“Because everything has to be wrapped up,” Clarissa explained. “So bad guys can’t make us sick.”
He shook his head, and his face became somber. “There are those who would harm children with poisoned candy?” he asked.
“Yeah, but not lots of people,” Maggie reassured him. “My dad says it’s just a few asses that spoil it for everyone else.”
Clarissa inhaled sharply. “Maggie, you’re not supposed to say that word,” she said.
The ghost chuckled again. “Clarissa is probably correct,” he said. “But I must agree with your father’s sentiment.”
“Are you going to go trick-or-treating on Friday?” Clarissa asked him.
He smiled at her. “Yes, I might take these long legs of mine out for a walk,” he said. “But if you see me, you mustn’t make a fuss.”
“Yeah, ‘cause people get weird,” Maggie agreed. “But we’ll wave at you.”
“And I will most assuredly wave back at you,” he said.
Clarissa stared at him for a moment and then smiled. “I know who you are,” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement.
He smiled at her. “Well, I suppose now you know another secret about me.”
“Um, would you like to go to a party?” Clarissa asked.
“I haven’t been to a party in a number of years,” he replied with a gentle smile.
“Well, we’re having a party at our class at school,” Maggie said. “And to make sure the party is educational, our teacher asked us to do reports on famous ghosts.”
“And you’re our famous ghost,” Clarissa added. “But the other kids, they won’t actually have a ghost there, just us. I mean, if you can come.”
He looked from one hopeful face to the other. “Ladies, I will do my best,” he said, and then he looked up. “And now it seems that your mother is coming for you. I bid you both a good afternoon.”
“Bye,” Clarissa said.
“See you on Friday,” Maggie added.
“Girls, who were you talking to?” Kate asked.
“Just a nice ghost,” Maggie said.
“Uh-huh,” Clarissa agreed. “A really nice one.”
“Well, of course you were,” Kate said, shaking her head slightly. “Why do I even ask?”
Chapter Thirty-three
The small café in downtown Polo was nearly empty when Bradley and Mary entered it. Of course, it was well past the noon hour, and most people were back at work. “Hi, you want a menu?” the waitress asked them as they walked in.
Mary smiled and nodded. “That would be nice,” she said. She’d finally gotten used to the familiar expression in small town restaurants where locals already knew what they wanted and didn’t need a menu.
“Just take a seat anywhere,” the woman replied. “My name’s Viv, and I’ll be back in a second to check on you.”
Bradley led Mary to a booth that was wide enough for Mary’s pregnant shape to slide into. “How are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m starving,” she admitted. “I’m so glad you suggested we eat before we drive back to Freeport.”
“You folks from Freeport?” Viv asked, setting two glasses of water down on the table.
“Yes,” Bradley said. “We’re just here for the day.”
Viv pulled a notepad and pencil from the apron on her uniform, but then she paused, studying Mary. “You’re Mary O’Reilly,” she said. “The woman from the paper. The one who can see ghosts.”
Mary nodded. “Yes, I am,” she said.
“Did you hear that the police found Andrew Tyler’s body in the basement of the old school?” she asked. “What a shame. He sure seemed like a nice fellow.”
“Yes, he did,” Mary replied, her private investigator instincts kicking in. “Did you know him?”
“Well, I’m a little bit older than he was,” she said. “But I knew that teacher. The one he was investigating.”
> “Oh, you knew Kristen Banks,” Mary said. “How did you know her?”
“We all went to high school together,” she replied.
“That’s what I love about small towns,” Mary said. “You make friends in high school, and you stay friends even when you grow up.” She paused for a moment and then pretended she had just thought of something. “Oh, we met someone else today. Um, Mitch. I think his name was Mitch…” she hedged, biting her lower lip for emphasis.
“Oh, Mitch Howse?” Viv asked.
“Yes, that’s it,” Mary said with a smile. “Mitch Howse. Did he go to school with you, too?’
Viv nodded. “Yeah, Mitch, my brother Vic, and Danny all served in Vietnam together.”
“Serving together like that really creates strong bonds,” Bradley said.
Viv nodded. “Yeah, it does,” she agreed thoughtfully, and then she shook her head, as if to shake something off, and smiled down at them. “So, what can I get you?”
“A BLT sounds good to me,” Mary said. “And I’d like fries and coleslaw.”
“Got it,” Viv said, scribbling it down. “How about you?”
“I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries,” he said.
“It comes with coleslaw,” Viv reminded him. “And it’s good coleslaw. I make it myself every morning.”
“Oh, well then, I’ll have some,” he replied with a smile. “Thanks.”
“Great,” she said. “The food will be up soon. Can I get you anything to drink in the meantime?”
Mary shook her head. “No, water’s fine for me,” she said.
“Me, too,” Bradley agreed.
They waited for her to walk back into the kitchen before they spoke again. “So, Mitch knew Kristen,” Mary said. “That makes things a little more interesting.”
Bradley nodded. “And he knew Danny, too,” he added. “I wonder if he got home from his deployment before Danny.”
“And I wonder if he was interested in Kristen,” Mary added.
“Well, I can hunt down the military records for Mitch,” Bradley offered.
“That would be great,” Mary replied. “And then I can talk to Kristen and also go through her journal. It’ll be very interesting to see if Mitch is part of her entries.”
Bradley reached over and took Mary’s hands in his. “The only thing I ask,” he began, “is that you make sure you don’t put yourself at risk. We know that whoever did this is not afraid to kill again to cover his tracks.”
“Poor Andrew,” Mary said. “All he wanted to do was solve an old mystery.”
“That’s the problem with mysteries in small towns,” Bradley said.
“What?” Mary asked, leaning forward.
“Everyone knows what you’re doing,” he whispered. “And it’s really hard to keep a secret.”
Mary sat back when Viv came back into the room. She was carrying a cream pie in her hand. Placing it on the counter, she expertly sliced it up into eight perfect pieces. Lifting the cream-covered knife up, she turned to Mary. “Nothing like a sharp knife to get a job done,” she said, carefully wiping it off on a red-checked dish cloth. “Can I save you a piece?”
“Is it banana cream?” Mary asked.
Viv nodded.
“No, don’t save me a piece” Mary replied, and then she winked at Viv. “You should bring one over right now. I think today’s one of those days when I definitely deserve dessert first.”
“Two forks?” Viv asked, scooping a large piece out of the pan and placing it on a plate.
“Sure, I’ll share,” Mary replied. “As long as he takes the half with all the calories.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Mary locked the door to her office and closed the blinds so she had a little privacy before she walked over to her desk and pulled out the journal and the stack of letters she’d found hidden away the night before. She sat down, sipping on a bottle of water, and then flipped through the journal to find the last page.
“Don’t you think it’s rude to go through someone else’s journal?” Kristen asked, appearing next to her. “Without at least waiting for her to arrive.”
“Not when I think it might help me discover who murdered her,” Mary replied.
“Oh, good point,” Kristen said. “So, what are you reading?”
Mary scanned the page. “A list of things for your wedding,” she said, looking up. “You were really organized.”
Shrugging, Kristen peered over Mary’s shoulder. “Yeah, I was one of those people who always knew what she wanted and went for it,” she said. “Who would have guessed I would end up on the wrong side of an iron banister?”
“I met someone today,” Mary said as she continued to glance through the pages. “Actually two someones today. Mitch Howse and Viv… I don’t think I got her last name.”
“Viv Kutchens,” Kristen said. “She and her twin brother were in my class.”
“And Mitch?” Mary asked.
“Mitch. Mitch Howse,” Kristen said with a smile. “He was always the nicest guy. For a while I actually considered dating him.”
“Why didn’t you?” Mary asked.
“Because he didn’t fit the profile,” she replied with a sigh.
“The profile?”
“Yeah, I was the head cheerleader, the prom queen, the homecoming queen,” she said. “You know…the most popular girl in school. There were expectations about who I was supposed to marry.”
“I take it Danny was the quarterback?” Mary guessed.
“Yeah. And the point guard for the basketball team, the shortstop for the baseball team and the lead in the school play,” she listed off.
Mary looked up at her in surprise.
“It was a small school,” Kristen explained.
“So, what was Mitch?” Mary asked.
“He was a linebacker in football, a forward for the basketball team and a catcher for the baseball team,” she said. “And he built sets for the school play.”
“Did you like him?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, but I liked a lot of boys,” she admitted. “But Danny was the one I decided I was going to marry.”
“So, Mitch and Danny both went to Vietnam?,” Mary asked.
“Yeah, they were all the right age,” she said, “so most of the boys from my class were drafted.”
“Did Mitch get home before Danny?”
Kristen thought about the question for a moment. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Yes, I remember that he got home a couple of weeks before I got the last letter from Danny.”
“Which letter?” Mary asked.
“I tucked it into the journal on the night I died,” she explained.
Mary flipped through the journal and found the slim airmail letter. “Is this it?” she asked, pulling it out and unfolding it on the table.
Kristen leaned forward and read the letter sitting on Mary’s desk. Looking up, tears shining in her eyes, she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. “That was the last thing I read before I died.”
She wiped her eyes, but the tears wouldn’t stop. “I’m sorry, Mary,” she whimpered. “I need to go. I’ll come back, I promise.”
Mary wiped the tears off her own cheeks as she watched Kristen fade away. “Don’t worry about it,” she whispered.
She picked up the journal, started reading it from the beginning, and gasped in shock. Then she began to laugh. She picked up her water bottle, took a sip and then propped her feet up on her desk. “Oh, Kristen, this is better than the movies,” she said.
Chapter Thirty-five
“You want me to do what?” Bradley asked.
“It’s not that hard,” Kate said. “Just hang some sheets from this side of the wall and block off the kitchen and the dining room.”
Rosie looked over her shoulder at the front door. “Are you sure Mary isn’t going to walk in on us?” she asked. “I don’t want her to be upset.”
Bradley shook his head. “She promised she’d call before she left the office,” he said. “So
, we’ll have at least ten minutes to get you out of here before she shows up. Now, back to me hanging my laundry across the house.”
Kate laughed. “Come on, Bradley, it’s not that hard,” she said. “You just have to use thumb tacks and cordon off this area. Tell Mary you are planning a surprise for the family get-together, and she can’t peek or it will be ruined.”
He sighed and shook his head. “You know I’m not that guy,” he said. “I’m the call-the-pizza-delivery-at-the-last-minute guy. She’s going to get suspicious.”
“Oh, I know,” Rosie volunteered. “Tell her that Stanley said that he figured you would just call the pizza guy at the last minute, so you’re doing this to show Stanley that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“So this turns into it’s about my honor, rather than I’ve suddenly started looking at that one website,” he paused and thought for a moment. “Pin interest.”
“Or something like that,” Kate said. “But, yes, it’s a challenge, and Stanley threw down the gauntlet.”
“Yeah, I can go with that,” he said. “So, what am I really doing?”
“You are really getting the sheets up by noon on Friday so Rosie and I can get in here and set things up,” Kate replied.
“And, we are going to give you a list of things you have to buy and have in the refrigerator before we come,” Rosie added.
“A list?” Bradley asked. “I don’t know…”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Rosie said sweetly, waving the list in the air. “I told Stanley that if you couldn’t do it, I’d give it to him…”
Bradley snatched the list out of her hand. “I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“You also have to remember to set all of the Halloween candy out in the front room so Mary doesn’t have to go into the kitchen to replace it when it runs out,” Kate reminded him.
“Why can’t I put it all out in the bowl on the front porch?” he asked.
“Really?” Kate asked. “What would you do if you went trick-or-treating and someone put an entire cache of candy out, unguarded, on their front porch?”
