The Ghost and the Baby

by Anna J. McIntyre

  “Hmm, that would work. I’ll do that too. Very tricky of Lily. This way she’ll get more gifts.” Heather took a sip of her coffee.

  “From what Lily told me, she got so much at the shower in California, she doesn’t really need much,” Danielle said.

  “Diapers—she will need lots of diapers. Trust me,” Heather said.

  “Very true,” Walt said with a chuckle.

  “Anyway, the other reason I’m here, I wanted to give you this.” Heather paused a moment and licked off the sticky cinnamon roll frosting from her fingers before digging a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She handed it to Danielle.

  “What’s this?” Danielle asked, unfolding the paper.

  “It’s about the humane society. They outgrew their current site. Plus, the building needs to be condemned. Chris donated land, but they have to raise money for construction costs. You know how he feels about these kind of projects being supported by the community. I was thinking it might be a fundraiser you would like to spearhead. Maybe tie it in with your annual July Fourth celebration.”

  “We hadn’t really thought about what we might do—if anything—for the Fourth this year,” Danielle said.

  “Oh, you have to do something. Anyway, just imagine how it will piss Pearl off if the entire community shows up at Marlow House for the Fourth.”

  Danielle chuckled. “Heather, you are awful. We can’t do something just to irritate our neighbor.”

  “Don’t be such a little goody-goody, Danielle. I’m not saying do it to piss her off. The humane society is a great cause. I’m just saying pissing her off will be an added benefit.” Heather grinned and popped the rest of her cinnamon roll in her mouth.

  “You are a brat.” Danielle laughed.

  Heather shrugged.

  “I like the idea of a fundraiser for the humane society,” Walt said. “We need to start planning now. It’s only a little over a month away.”

  Danielle groaned. “We really can’t make this a habit—planning last minute charity events.”

  “You’ll get in the groove,” Heather told her. “An annual fundraiser for the humane society for the Fourth might be kind of a cool tradition. And while it’ll be a pain to pull it together this year, it will be easier next year—and the year after that.”

  “If we do decide to do it, it will be sort of ironic,” Danielle said.

  “Ironic how?” Heather asked.

  “Think about it. What do dogs hate? And what do they have every Fourth?”

  “Fireworks?” Heather asked.

  It was the last day of May. It was also Walt and Danielle’s first wedding anniversary—commemorating their first and official wedding when they had eloped. While most of their close friends knew their Valentine’s Day wedding was only a formality, an event that allowed them to all gather and celebrate Walt and Danielle’s love, they also knew the pair had started their life together months earlier.

  The doorbell rang. Danielle, who stood in the hallway, glanced at the clock before going to answer the door. They needed to leave for their dinner reservation in thirty minutes. She wondered who was here.

  A moment later she opened the door and had her answer; it was Police Chief MacDonald.

  The chief looked Danielle up and down, noticing her high heels—something he had only seen her wear on several occasions—a dress he had never seen her in—diamond earrings dangling from her earlobes, and the heart locket he had given her on her Valentine’s Day wedding.

  He let out a low whistle. “Wow, you look great. I take it I’m catching you and Walt on your way out?”

  “It’s our official wedding anniversary,” she said with a grin. “We’re having dinner at Pearl Cove, but we aren’t leaving for another thirty minutes.” She opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

  “Not if I’m interrupting.” He remained standing on the front porch. “We got the results in on the skeletal remains, but I can tell you about them later.”

  Danielle threw the door wide open and waved him in. “Please, I’ve been waiting to hear what they found.”

  Five minutes later the chief sat with Walt and Danielle in the parlor.

  “The remains were for two people, a man and a woman.”

  “Why did they think there might have been a third person?” Walt asked.

  “It wasn’t so much that they suspected there was a third person, but they didn’t feel confident without further tests to say two of the thigh bones were from the same person. Not only was a portion of one femur missing, the level of deterioration appeared different than the rest of the bones. They believe it had something to do with the soil around that area.”

  “Do they know how they died?” Danielle asked.

  “The man, from blunt head trauma. The woman, she was shot. But we knew that already.”

  Danielle frowned. “You did?”

  The chief nodded.

  “Keeping secrets from me?” Danielle grumbled half-heartedly.

  “So do you have any idea who they were? Do you know their approximate ages?” Walt asked.

  “They were young adults,” the chief said. “Probably in their twenties.”

  “Were they able to do any DNA tests?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes, but if we were hoping some close match would come up, that hasn’t been the case so far,” the chief explained. “The matches that did come up were distant cousins, and no relatives from the northwest. The woman is believed to have blue eyes, and over eighty percent of her ethnicity was Great Britain. They believe the man had brown eyes, and sixty percent of his ethnicity came up Italian.”

  “And no close relatives showed up?” Danielle asked.

  “Not surprising. They believe those bones are about seventy years old,” the chief said.

  “Maybe so, but it would not be out of the question for one of their siblings, their children or grandchildren, or even a cousin to have taken a DNA test in the last few years,” Danielle suggested.

  “Maybe so, but considering the age at the time of death, it is entirely possible they never had children,” the chief reminded her. “So that limits the possibilities. And even if they had siblings, those siblings might have died before DNA testing became common.”

  “Now what?” Walt asked.

  “Now that we know they were killed about seventy years ago, we know they could have been buried there when the Mortons still owned the property—or after Pearl’s grandmother bought it,” the chief said.

  “Any chance it’s Pearl’s grandfather?” Walt asked.

  The chief shook his head. “No. Andy told Brian and Joe his cousins had their DNA tested—and he was right. There was no match with any of them. Plus, when Brian was searching on the grandfather, to find out if he was really buried in Reno, he learned he had blue eyes. Our mystery man had brown eyes.”

  “I find it hard to believe the Mortons were responsible for those bodies. Like Faye told me, her family was in the funeral business, and if they had to get rid of some bodies, it wouldn’t be in the backyard,” Danielle said.

  “Actually, there have been instances where a funeral home will illegally dispose of a body to cut costs and pocket more of the burial expense,” the chief explained. “Faye should know that.”

  “Yeah, but in their own backyard?” Danielle frowned.

  The chief shrugged. “It has happened before.”

  “Do you think that could be what this is?” Walt asked.

  “We’re checking it out, but considering both victims appear to have been murdered, I doubt it,” the chief said.

  “Maybe Maisy caught Daisy and Kenneth together, and in a fit of anger killed them before they had a chance to run away with each other. She might have panicked and buried them in the backyard. Maybe that’s why she wanted to buy the house back,” Danielle suggested.

  “That thought crossed my mind. But I’ve seen a picture of Kenneth Bakken’s parents. They were from Norway and both blue-eyed,” the chief said.

  “That’s righ
t. Two blue-eyed people will have a blue-eyed child,” Danielle muttered.

  “Plus,” the chief reminded her, “Daisy kept in touch with her friends over the years, so the woman’s remains can’t be hers.”

  “Kenneth also sent his sister a postcard about a year after he left,” Danielle added.

  “If it’s not Daisy and Kenneth, or Pearl’s grandfather and a mystery woman, who was buried next door?” Walt asked.

  Thirty-One

  Finally, alone in the classroom, Lily did what she had been dying to do since her students had come in from the last recess of the day. She shoved one hand under her blouse and scratched her protruding belly. Standing by her desk, still scratching the itch, Lily let out a sigh of relief followed by a burp. The heartburn was annoying but an improvement over the morning sickness she had experienced earlier in her pregnancy.

  No longer scratching, she gently rubbed her belly and then gave it a light pat before removing her hand from under her blouse and then giving the garment a gentle tug at its hem. Her belly was not overly large for being almost six months pregnant, yet considering her petite stature, it seemed larger. Already a busty girl, she was even more so now, which was why she had opted for traditional maternity clothing similar to what her mother had worn, which consisted primarily of loose-fitting smock-like blouses and dresses. Tight or form-fitting maternity clothing gave her figure a more provocative look, which she felt inappropriate for a second-grade teacher.

  Surveying the room, she felt a brief pang of sadness. She would miss teaching, but if she later wanted to return, she knew she could. Today was Friday, June 9, the last day of the school year. Ian had left for California earlier in the week to meet with a producer and his agent, and wouldn’t be returning until that evening. Since he was out of town, Danielle had promised to meet her after school and help her move some boxes to the library.

  “I’m here!” Danielle announced a moment later when she walked into the classroom. She had come prepared to work, wearing her old jeans, a work shirt, and comfortable shoes. Once she stepped into the room, she frowned and glanced around. “Where is everything?”

  Lily nodded to the six cardboard boxes stacked neatly by the door. “That’s about it. And the aquarium.” Sitting on her desk was an aquarium. The water had been removed, yet everything else remained, including the fish, which were now swimming around in plastic bags of water.

  Danielle glanced around the room. “Wow. Everything is taken down, even your bulletin boards.” She looked back at the boxes. “How in the world did you fit everything into those boxes? I’ve been in your classroom before. Where are all your books, games? No way did they all fit in there.” Danielle briefly pointed to the boxes as she asked the question and then walked to Lily.

  “I raffled everything off,” Lily said with a grin.

  “Raffled?”

  Lily nodded. “Yeah. For the last few weeks I’ve been letting my students earn raffle tickets. Keeps the little darlings in line.” Lily chuckled. “I didn’t really want to bring all that stuff home. I know I could have given it to another teacher, but this was more fun, and the kids loved it. I made sure they all went home with something. So my books, CDs, games, a few stuffed animals, all got a good home.”

  “But not the aquarium?” Danielle asked, looking to the desk.

  “I’m giving that to Evan. He helped me pack up everything this last week. Came in every recess.”

  “He’s a good kid,” Danielle said.

  “Yeah, he is.” Lily smiled.

  “So what’s in the boxes?” Danielle asked.

  “Some things I’m leaving for the other teachers—mostly seasonal stuff for the bulletin boards. They told me to go ahead and leave the boxes in the library.”

  “Are we dropping the aquarium off at Evan’s house?” Danielle asked.

  Lily glanced up at the wall clock. “No. The chief said he would pick it up. He should be here in about five minutes.”

  “Okay, you want me to start moving the boxes to the library?” Danielle asked. “You don’t need to be lifting anything.”

  “If you want to. But I need to go over there anyway to drop off my class diary, so I can go with you after the chief gets here.”

  “What’s a class diary?” Danielle asked.

  “It’s something this school does. I think it’s pretty cool. At the end of each year, the students have to write a one-page essay on the school year. The pages are inserted in a binder for that year. I’ll show you when we go to the library. It’s fun to read those old books. A lot of kids whose parents went to school here love to go look up what their parents wrote.”

  “Would Walt be in there?” Danielle asked.

  “No. They didn’t start it until the 1930s. But Marie’s are in there. Also Adam’s. His are kind of funny.”

  A knock came at the classroom door. The next moment it opened and in walked Chief MacDonald and his two sons.

  “Hey, Chief, Eddie, Evan,” Danielle greeted them.

  While additional greetings were exchanged between the adults, the two boys ran over to the desk and looked in the aquarium. Eddie picked up the castle and examined it while Evan gently poked one of the plastic bags filled with water and a live fish.

  “You ready to set up an aquarium?” Lily asked. “I think our little fish are anxious to get back swimming in the big tank.”

  “I suppose,” the chief said, not too enthusiastically. “Not sure if I should thank you or curse you. The last time I had an aquarium was when I was in college.”

  “Aw, come on, the boys will take care of it.” Lily looked at Evan and Eddie. “Won’t you, boys?” They both nodded and continued examining the rest of the aquarium accessories.

  “Yeah, right,” the chief grumbled, walking to the tank.

  “Evan helped me take it apart,” Lily told him. “So he will be a big help putting it back together. And there is a book in there on how to take care of the fish.”

  The chief grinned at Lily. “Yeah, I know. Evan has been so excited about getting the aquarium.”

  “I’m surprised you aren’t at work,” Danielle told the chief.

  “I took the afternoon off, since it’s the boys last day at school. After we get this thing set up, I promised them we would go out for an early dinner of pizza.”

  “Fun.” Lily grinned.

  The chief and his sons helped Danielle carry the boxes to the library, and then returned to the classroom to pick up the aquarium. After they left, Lily and Danielle returned to the library to drop off Lily’s class diary.

  Danielle stood in the library and looked at the binders stored on the bookshelves along the back wall. Danielle had expected them to take up more room, yet the eighty-some binders only occupied a corner section of the bookshelves.

  “The students are no longer allowed to look at the books without adult supervision,” Lily explained, standing next to Danielle. “The pages are fragile in the older books.”

  “Can I look at some?” Danielle asked.

  “I think you’re adult enough…did you wash your hands?” Lily teased.

  “Actually I did.” Danielle grinned and stepped closer to the bookshelf, looking for the oldest binder. When she found it, she removed it from the shelf and took it with her to a nearby table and sat down.

  Flipping through the pages, she read the names. Finally, she came to a page marked Marie Hemmings. There was no essay or text, just a hand-drawn picture of a little girl holding hands with her mommy and daddy.

  “Aww, Marie was just in first grade when she drew this,” Danielle said. “I wish they had started this earlier, when Walt was going to school here.” Danielle turned the page to see what the other students had drawn or written that year, while Lily left to hand her class diary into the school librarian.

  Ten minutes later, Lily returned to find Danielle still sitting at the table, looking through the same binder.

  “Anything interesting?” Lily asked as she took a seat across from Danielle and t
hen let out a burp.

  Danielle glanced up from the open binder. “Lovely.”

  “Just wait until you’re pregnant and your body turns on you,” Lily grumbled.

  Danielle chuckled and looked back down at the binder. She turned the page. “Hey, here is a familiar name!”

  Lily craned her neck to see. “Who?”

  “Maisy Faye Morton.”

  “Is her evil twin in there?” Lily asked.

  Danielle flipped the page. “Yep. They both wrote essays.” She turned back to Maisy’s essay and began to read aloud.

  “I liked school this year. I won a certificate for reading the most books in our class. My sister Daisy Faye is in my class with me. We are always in the same class. That is because we are twins, and my father says our school is not big enough for two fourth-grade classes. This year our teacher had a hard time telling us apart. Our father can always tell us apart. He says we look alike but are different. Daisy likes to run and play with the boys. I like to read books. Daisy likes vanilla ice cream. I like chocolate ice cream. Daisy does not like anything chocolate. This summer we are going to visit our grandparents.”

  “So what did the evil twin write?” Lily asked.

  After turning the page, Danielle began to read aloud.

  “This year my favorite classes were PE and art. We did not have music this year. At home my father makes my sister and me take piano lessons. He says girls should play the piano. I don’t know why. My sister likes playing the piano. I am glad school is almost over. I love summer. In the summer I get to go to the beach and play outside.”

  Danielle closed the book. “I wonder if any of these people ever come back and read what they wrote?”

  “I know the parents who went here sometimes do. A few of them have cringed after their kids read theirs.” Lily chuckled.

  “I wish they had been doing this back when Walt was at the school. How fun to read his thoughts at that age.” Danielle stood up and returned the book to the shelf. “I would love to read what Adam wrote. But we should probably get going.”