The Ghost of Valentine Past

by Anna J. McIntyre

  “Sure, I had enough evidence to convince the police to arrest more than one of my clients. What they would end up paying for legal fees would be far more expensive than what I was asking.”

  “So who killed you?” Danielle asked.

  Mitcham glared at Morris. “The same client who paid me to kill Peter.”

  Nervously nibbling her lower lip, Kelly stood on the front porch of the Bradford Estate. She glanced down at her slipper clad feet. “I didn’t think this out very well,” she muttered to herself. Awkwardly, she ran the palms of her hands over her sweatshirt, as if that would, in some way, make her more presentable. Before getting out of her car, she had tried to straighten her hair, but she didn’t have a brush or comb with her. Had she taken time to grab her purse before impulsively driving off, she wouldn’t just have a comb, but some makeup as well.

  Resisting the temptation to simply turn around, head back to her car, and go home, Kelly rang the doorbell. A few minutes later, Baily Bradford opened the front door. Like Kelly, she hadn’t dressed for the day, but Baily’s silk lounging suit looked far more glamorous. She wore her long blond hair pulled up into a feminine twist, held in place by a rhinestone-encrusted comb.

  “Kelly?” Baily said in surprise, her gaze looking her up and down. “What are you doing here?”

  “I needed to talk to you, it’s important.”

  “Are you okay?” Once again, Baily looked her up and down. “Has something happened?”

  “May I please come in?”

  Baily shrugged and opened the door wider. “Sure, I guess.”

  Kelly followed Baily into the living room. The house had belonged to Baily’s parents—to Candice and Baily’s parents. But now, everything belonged to Baily. Kelly remembered Candice telling her the house had twenty bedrooms. Kelly always wondered why a family of four needed twenty bedrooms.

  “Are you alone?” Kelly asked, nervously taking a seat.

  “As alone as I ever am in this house.” Baily glanced up to the ceiling for a moment. “Marie is upstairs somewhere, cleaning something.”

  “I needed to talk to you about Peter Morris.”

  Baily’s face broke out into a smile. “He’s dead. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  “Well…umm…yeah…I suppose…You heard he was murdered?”

  Baily wandered over to the coffee table and picked up a cigarette from a crystal dish. “Of course. It’s been all over the news.” After lighting the cigarette and taking a puff, she looked at Kelly. “Mother would have an absolute fit if she knew I was smoking in the house. Oh, she wouldn’t give a crap that smoking might give me cancer; she just wouldn’t want the smoke to get into her Persian rugs.” Baily took another drag and smiled again. “But Mother is dead, just like Peter Morris. Of course, no one killed Mother—although I was tempted on more than one occasion, especially after I found out she did nothing to revenge Candice’s death. It was more important for Mother to keep up appearances. Unfortunately, by the time I found out, Mother was already dead. So, I suppose it all worked out.”

  “The police believe Logan Mitcham killed Morris,” Kelly explained.

  “Logan Mitcham? Never heard of him.”

  “He was a private detective.”

  “Was?” Baily took another puff.

  Kelly nodded. “Someone killed him. They found his body Sunday, in Frederickport.”

  Baily shook her head and made a tsk tsk sound. “Sounds like a bad week for Morris and his killer.”

  “The police are looking for Mitcham’s killer.”

  “I really don’t see why you’re telling me all this. I’m glad Morris is dead—I imagine you’re glad too. The bastard was responsible for my sister’s death. But since I didn’t kill him, none of this concerns me. Although, I am a little curious. Do you have any idea why the police believe this Mitcham guy killed Morris?”

  “They found a bloody fingerprint at the scene of the crime. The blood was Morris’, and the fingerprint was Mitcham’s.”

  Cigarette in hand, Baily cocked her head to one side and considered what Kelly had just told her. Finally, she shook her head and smiled. “Rather careless of him, wasn’t it?”

  “But the thing is, because of that fingerprint, the police know who killed Morris.”

  “So? What do I care?”

  “The police are going through all Mitcham’s files, looking for who hired Mitcham to kill Morris.”

  Walking back to the coffee table, Baily leaned over and smashed out her cigarette in an ashtray. “Who says anyone hired Mitcham to kill Morris? You said he was a private investigator, not a hit man.”

  “Baily, they know who hired Morris.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “They know JusticeNow hired him to kill Morris. He wrote it in his file.”

  Baily shrugged and picked up a fresh cigarette. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Just as Baily was about to light the cigarette, Kelly said, “I know you’re JusticeNow.”

  Baily paused for a moment, then lit the cigarette. “I don’t know anything about a JusticeNow.”

  “I understand why you did it. Morris ruined so many people’s lives. But they know, and you need to be prepared. You need a lawyer, now. Tell them you had a breakdown, anything. But don’t let Morris destroy you like he did Candice.”

  “Kelly, I think you’re acting a little crazy. I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who this JusticeNow is. It has nothing to do with me.”

  “I recognized you on the forum. I went there too. You’re JusticeNow. You talked about your sister, what Morris had done.”

  “I’m sure my sister wasn’t the only one that man destroyed.”

  “Maybe not, but I know that’s your handle. Logan rented the condo below mine. The police were there this morning. They didn’t know I was there and overheard them. According to what I overheard, Mitcham made a note that JusticeNow hired them to have Morris killed. I know they’ve been on that website. I told them about it.”

  “You told them about me?”

  Kelly shook her head. “Not that you posted on that site. I never told them anything about you going on there. But I recognized you. I didn’t see the point in dragging you into all this. I didn’t think you had anything to do with it. But when I overheard them this morning—”

  Baily had been taking cigarettes from the crystal bowl and fishing matches from a silver box sitting next to it, so Kelly didn’t pay any attention when Baily opened the wooden box on the coffee table—not until Baily retrieved a small revolver and pointed it in her direction.

  Letting out a gasp, Kelly asked, “What are you doing?”

  “They can go to that website all they want. But I never once mentioned my real name—to anyone on the site. Only to Logan, and he’s dead now. It seems you’re the only one alive who knows my secret.”

  “My god…what did you do, Baily?”

  “I did what my parents should have done years ago, when they found out Morris’ part in Candice’s death.”

  “You killed Logan Mitcham.”

  “I didn’t have a choice. The deal was, I would pay him half up front and give him the balance when the job was done. He told me where to meet him. But when I got there and gave him the rest of the money, he told me that was simply the first installment. He intended to blackmail me. What he didn’t know was, I never meet strange men at night without this.” Baily waived her gun and then aimed it back at Kelly.

  “What are you going to do?” Kelly found herself trembling.

  “I don’t have a choice. You’re the only one who can link me to JusticeNow.”

  Kelly shook her head. “That’s not true. Mitcham kept files on his clients. It’s only a matter of time until the police find your file, and I’m sure he made a note of your real name.”

  Baily smiled. “Logan was so foolish. After I shot him, I went back to his car. Do you know what he had in his trunk? He kept a file box with all the clients he
intended to blackmail. I took the files with me. Burned them. Those clients should thank me.”

  “Please don’t do this, Baily!”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “I don’t believe you made her do this!” Chris angrily railed at MacDonald. Hands on hips he looked from the chief, who sat behind his desk, to Danielle, who had just returned from the morgue.

  “He didn’t make me do anything, it was my idea. And how did you know I was here?”

  “I stopped by your house. Walt told me you’d come down to the police station to check on the status of the case. You know, Walt’s not going to be happy with you when I tell him.”

  “I don’t get it. What did Danielle do that was so wrong? You talked to Mitcham’s spirit at the beach,” MacDonald asked.

  Chris faced the chief. “Seeking out spirits—especially potentially hostile ones—can be as dangerous as using a Ouija board.”

  MacDonald looked from Chris to Danielle. “Is that true?”

  Danielle shrugged. “I think that might be overstating it a bit.” She sat down.

  “How did Harvey and Stoddard work out for you?” Chris asked.

  “Okay, I agree, they were annoying.”

  “Annoying? Walt told me how Harvey almost got you killed and Stoddard tried to!”

  Danielle frowned. “You and Walt have sure been chatting it up a lot lately.”

  “And even if they aren’t dangerous, if they want something from you, it can be the devil to get them to leave you alone. Look at Trudy! She wouldn’t give me a moment of peace until I did what she wanted.”

  “Okay, okay, you’ve made you point,” Danielle sighed. She looked up at Chris and flashed him her sweetest smile. “And we really don’t have to tell Walt about this, do we?” Chris’ only response was a noncommittal grunt.

  “Anyway they’re gone now. Why don’t you sit down?”

  Begrudgingly, Chris took a seat.

  “What do you mean gone?” MacDonald asked.

  “When I first walked in, they were doing a lot of yelling—at each other. I managed to get a little information out of them, but then, Mitcham looked at Morris and told him he didn’t intend to spend his eternity haunting a morgue with Morris, and he just—was gone.”

  “Where did he go?” MacDonald asked.

  Danielle shrugged. “I assume he tried to move onto wherever he’s supposed to go, which, as I always say in cases like this, may not be somewhere he really wants to go.”

  “What about Morris?” Chris asked.

  “After Mitcham left, Morris said there was nothing left for him here, and he just faded away. Personally, I think he did the fade thing for dramatic effect. Unlike Mitcham, who, when he decided he was outa here, just vanished—poof—like a magician in a disappearing act.”

  “You said you learned something?” the chief asked.

  “Mitcham figured so many people hated Morris that it would be easy to get them to hire a hit man. Imagine, having a dozen people paying you for the same hit. Of course, all the clients think they’re the only one, which is important, because he intended to blackmail the clients after he took their money for the hit.”

  “Are you saying more than one person paid him to kill Morris?” Chris asked.

  “I guess hating someone doesn’t necessarily mean you’re willing to have them killed. Only one of Mitcham’s clients hired him to kill Morris. That’s the one who killed him.”

  “Will Wayne claimed to be blackmailed,” the chief muttered, speaking more to himself.

  Danielle shook her head. “I don’t think Will is the one who hired the hit. Mitcham intended to blackmail all his clients who hated Morris, figuring at least some of them would pay up. My bet is, he mailed Will that letter right after he killed Morris, and before he met with the one client who’d hired him for the hit. If you go to Mitcham’s other clients who had a grudge against Morris, you’ll probably find they received the same blackmail letter.”

  “This does not feel right. Kelly has been gone for more than an hour now,” Ian told Brian and Joe. “Even if she had just grabbed some cash and run out to the store to pick up milk, she would have been back by now.” The three men stood downstairs, inside Mitcham’s condo. Brian’s cellphone began to ring. Seeing it was the chief calling, he excused himself and went into the other room to answer the call.

  “Hey, Chief. Kelly still hasn’t shown up.”

  “Brian, I think your hunch was right. If Mitcham was paid to kill Morris, the person who paid for the hit is the same person who killed Mitcham.”

  Brian glanced to the doorway leading to where Ian and Joe waited. “It that’s true, it looks like she may have panicked and fled. But I don’t think she’ll get that far without her purse or phone.”

  After finishing his call, Brian returned to Ian and Joe. “Ian, when Kelly was researching Earthbound Spirits for you, she regularly visited a cult watch website.”

  “Yeah, I know. What about it?”

  “She had two separate accounts on that website.”

  Ian frowned. “What do you mean? She didn’t have two accounts.”

  “Yes, she posted as KellyB and JusticeNow,” Brian told him.

  Ian shook his head. “Kelly wasn’t JusticeNow, Baily Bradford was.”

  “Baily Bradford?” Joe asked.

  “Yeah. I thought Kelly told you about her roommate.”

  “She did, but what does that have to do with this Baily Bradford?” Joe asked.

  “Baily is Candice’s sister.”

  “Why didn’t Kelly tell us about JusticeNow?” Joe asked.

  “Why would she? There were dozens of posters on that site with grievances against Morris. And Kelly was never a hundred percent certain it was Baily, she never interacted with her on the site, but she did read all her posts, which was why she was fairly certain who it was.”

  “It’s true,” Joe mumbled. “There were never any postings between KellyB and JusticeNow. I figured that was because they were the same person.”

  “Why are you asking about JusticeNow? Does this have something to do with where Kelly went?”

  “What’s Kelly’s relationship with this Baily?” Brian asked.

  Ian shrugged. “I don’t think you can say they have a relationship, per se. Their only connection was Candice, and until they ran into each other before Christmas, I don’t think Kelly had seen Baily since Candice’s funeral, and that was over seven years ago.”

  “Do you know where Baily lives?” Brian asked.

  “I believe she’s still living at her parent’s estate. Why?”

  If she peed on the sofa’s brocade upholstery, would it be a clue to lead investigators to her body? That was just one of the crazy thoughts popping into Kelly’s head as she watched a pistol wielding Baily pace the living room, trying to decide what to do—kill Kelly here, or take her somewhere else to do the dastardly deed.

  Peeing on the sofa would be fairly easy, considering Kelly had never had to use the bathroom so bad. Yet her discomfort was the least of her problems. The only reason she hadn’t started screaming for Maria—who Kelly assumed must be the maid—was that Baily had threatened to kill Maria too. Did Kelly want that on her conscience?

  There was no clock in the living room, but Kelly guessed she’d been at the Bradford Estate for at least an hour, maybe longer. She was hoarse from trying to convince Baily not to do this thing—after all, they both loved Candice. What would Candice think?

  The second time she asked that question, Kelly remembered the sad truth about her dear friend. Candice was always a little unbalanced, which made her easy prey for Peter Morris. Kelly had always assumed Candice’s issues stemmed from abuse at the hands of her mentally ill mother. But watching Baily, Kelly came to realize mental illness ran in the Bradford family.

  “Stand up,” Baily demanded, the small pistol pointed at Kelly’s face.

  “What are you going to do?” Kelly slowly stood.

  “Your car’s parked outside. We’re going to
move it.”

  “If you just let me go, I promise, I won’t say anything. And even if I did, I couldn’t prove anything!”

  “Shut up and get going!”

  “What about Maria? She might see us,” Kelly reminded.

  “I’ll worry about Maria, just get moving.”

  In the back seat of the police car, Ian gave Joe and Brian directions to the Bradford Estate. They only planned to drive by, see if Kelly’s car was parked somewhere in the neighborhood. The moment they turned down the street leading to the Bradford Estate, they spied not only Kelly’s car, but also Kelly with another woman, walking behind the vehicle. The woman made no effort to conceal the small pistol she had pointed at Kelly’s back. It appeared the woman was leading Kelly to the driver’s side of the car.

  Everything seemed to happen in an instant. Both Kelly and her kidnapper noticed the approaching police car at the same time. They each had the same reaction—run. Kelly ran toward the police car, while the gun-wielding woman fled back to her house.

  Chapter Forty

  “Perhaps things will settle down in Frederickport, now that Earthbound Spirits’ corruption has been exposed.” Marie Nichols said as she filled Danielle and Lily’s teacups. The three women sat around Marie’s kitchen table.

  “Logan Mitcham certainly compiled enough on Morris over the years to put him away for decades—if he was still alive to face the charges,” Lily noted.

  Marie absently tapped her teacup’s rim with a fingertip. “I just wonder what happened to all Earthbound Spirits’ money. I find it hard to believe there’s nothing left.”

  Danielle sipped her tea and then said, “From what I understand, loans were taken out on properties they owned, poor investments made, and someone from the organization may have embezzled funds.”

  “I read in the newspaper about Mr. Mitcham’s clients receiving blackmail letters,” Marie said.

  “Yeah, they found the original file on his computer, so there’s no doubt he sent them before he was murdered,” Danielle said. “I guess both Arlene and David had a letter waiting for them when they got home, and even Heather received one. Hers was delivered to her house. She didn’t see it until she got back in town on Tuesday.”