The Ghost Who Dream Hopped

by Anna J. McIntyre

  Brian shook his head. “No…I still like her, but every once in a while…” Brian abandoned his coffee on the counter and went to take a seat at the table.

  “Every once in a while, what?” Joe asked.

  “Beverly said something really strange the other day.”

  “Strange how?”

  “Can we keep this between the two of us?” Brian asked.

  “Sure. What is it?”

  “I think Beverly is the one who’s been making those phone calls to Earl at the diner.”

  The chief pulled up in front of Beverly’s house and parked. He didn’t see her car in the driveway but assumed it was probably in the garage. Just as he headed up the walkway, he heard one of Beverly’s neighbors call out his name repeatedly.

  “Chief MacDonald!” The man sprinted up the walkway to him.

  The chief stopped and turned to the man, who was now just a few feet away.

  “Beverly’s not here,” the neighbor said, slightly out of breath. “She left to go to the store.”

  “Do you know how long ago that was?”

  “She took off about five minutes ago. I saw her out by her car; I came out and asked how she was doing. Said she was feeling better and was going to the grocery store.”

  “Well, thanks. I guess I’ll come back later.” MacDonald started to walk back to his car when the man stopped him.

  “I wanted to talk to you.” He looked nervously back to his house and then to the chief. “Before my wife comes out.”

  “Is there a problem?”

  “My wife saw something last week. I told her to tell you about it, but she didn’t want to get the boy in trouble. Said he didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Beverly. But I think you should know.”

  “What did she see?”

  “My wife was looking for Snowball, that’s our cat. Sometimes he gets in Beverly’s backyard and well…Beverly does not like cats. Anyway Beverly hired this teenage boy to do some yard work. He had been there most of the morning. When the wife couldn’t find Snowball, she noticed the side gate was open to Beverly’s backyard. She decided to look and see if Snowball had gotten in, when she heard them yelling.”

  “The boy and Beverly?”

  He shook his head. “Mostly Beverly. She was cursing the boy something fierce, telling him he didn’t know what he was doing. That he didn’t know how to follow simple instructions and told him he needed to leave and that she wasn’t paying him. He started balking, saying he deserved to be paid for the time he worked, but then she said she was going to have to undo everything he had done and that if he complained, she would tell Pastor Chad, and he would never get another job in town. At least, that was the gist of the conversation. I didn’t hear it myself, but my wife did.”

  “What happened then?”

  “He left.”

  “Where is your wife now?” the chief asked.

  “Oh, please don’t ask her about it. She’ll kill me. But I just thought you should know, considering what happened.”

  “Do you know who this boy was?” MacDonald asked.

  “I don’t know what his name is. But I’ve seen him doing work around my church.”

  “Any chance you go to Pastor Chad’s church?”

  “Yes.”

  Steve Potts lived with his parents on the south side of town. His mother didn’t look happy when she answered the door Monday afternoon and found the police chief standing on the front porch, asking for her son.

  “He’s in the dining room doing his homework. What’s wrong?” she asked. “His father is still at work. Should I have him come home?”

  “I’d just like to talk to your son,” the chief explained.

  Steve seemed surprised when his mother brought the police chief in the dining room a few minutes later, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned. When his mother wanted to linger in the room and listen, he impatiently said, “Mom, let me talk to the chief. I haven’t done anything, so chill.”

  When they were finally alone, the chief asked, “I understand you did some work for Beverly Klein.”

  Steve shook his head. “Nah, not me. I went over there when I heard she needed someone to do some yard work and help her clean the garage, but she wanted me to start the next day, and I had to help my dad do something that day.”

  “We have someone who said they saw you over there working in the backyard last week.”

  Steve smiled and shook his head again. “That would have been Kevin.”

  “Kevin?” The chief frowned.

  “Kevin Gormely. When I couldn’t do it, I told her Kevin might be able to. Kevin and I both help Pastor Chad around the church. But I guess it didn’t work out with Mrs. Klein. That woman is sort of a nut.” Steve paused a moment and frowned. “Wait a minute, you don’t think he’s the one who hit her over the head, do you?”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you meant by—she’s a nut.”

  “According to Kevin, he showed up early Saturday morning like she asked. She told him she had to run some errands, and while she was gone, she wanted him to start cleaning out her flower garden in her backyard. I guess he was there for about three hours when his girlfriend stopped by to say hi. He says she wasn’t there that long, but Mrs. Klein got back at the same time she was leaving. She didn’t say anything to the girlfriend, but when she went into the backyard, she just started freaking out. Accused him of not following directions, and then refused to pay him. She even threatened to say something to his girlfriend’s parents about her being there. Her folks are really strict, and they don’t like her hanging out with Kevin. Mrs. Klein knew that, because they all go to the same church. But if you think Kevin attacked her, no way. Basically, Kevin is sort of a wimp. I don’t see him getting up the courage to hit anyone, even that old bat that stiffed him.”

  Police Chief MacDonald had just returned to his car when his cellphone began to ring. He looked at it to see who was calling. It was Danielle Boatman. Getting into his car, he shut the door and then answered the phone.

  “Hey, Chief, I was wondering what happened. You didn’t call back. Should I stay on the lookout for Sam? Walt has a doctor’s appointment in about an hour, and I’m wondering if I should cancel.”

  “I’m sorry, Danielle. I should have called you. There’s no reason you can’t take Walt to his appointment. They all know you’ve already gone through those boxes and that I know what was in them. Ironically, they wanted those boxes gone so they wouldn’t be embarrassed, and now they’re beyond embarrassed. I think they’re all holding their breath about what you intend to do. By the way, I also talked to Ruby. She wouldn’t discuss what was in the boxes, but she did mention she has an attorney.”

  “Attorney?”

  “I assume she thinks you intend to take her to court and try to get that land back.”

  “Like I really need to worry about that now?” Danielle scoffed. “We have other things to worry about. Considering how you sound, I assume none of them are responsible for what happened to Beverly?”

  “I don’t think so. But I did find out she had an altercation with a high school boy—one of the boys who picked up the portraits with Chad. I need to talk to him. I was just heading over to his house now.”

  “Which boy, Kevin or Steve?” Danielle asked.

  “Why?”

  “Because if it’s Kevin, you won’t find him at his house. Chris hired him to put up some shelves over at the foundation office. He was supposed to go over there right after school today.”

  Thirty-Six

  Heather Donovan had missed her morning jog, which was one reason why she had volunteered to take Chris’s pit bull, Hunny, for a walk along the beach. The other reason, she had been cooped up all morning doing boring filing and needed to get out of the office. But she had to admit, her job was a pretty cool gig.

  Chris never seemed to get mad, and he was pretty easygoing. He teased her a lot, but she gave it back, and he didn’t seem to hold it against her. Of course, she
couldn’t imagine what he would have to ever get mad about, considering he wasn’t just stupidly good looking, but ridiculously rich. So rich, his job was basically figuring out new ways to give away more of his money.

  Chris had even accepted this new deal with Walt with incredible grace. Heather wasn’t sure if Chris had simply come to terms with the fact it would be impossible to compete with Walt in his new reality, considering the relationship Danielle and Walt had developed when he had been a spirit living under her roof, or perhaps Chris had mistaken a deep friendship for something more and now realized his mistake. He certainly didn’t act like a man with a broken heart.

  Hunny stopped walking. Heather looked down and groaned. This was the only thing she hated about walking dogs. Digging her hand in the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a plastic baggie. Since she wasn’t about to keep walking on the beach while carrying a bag of poo, she decided to head back to the office. She wondered if that teenager Chris had hired to help him put in the shelves had ever shown up.

  Kevin had just arrived at the foundation headquarters. Before Chris got Kevin started on the bookshelves, he wanted him to help him in the living room. Normally Chris would have Heather hold the flashlight for him, but she was out walking Hunny.

  Chris was on his knees on the far side of the foundation headquarters waiting area. It had originally been the Gusarov living room. At the moment Chris regretted replacing the carpet with wood-look tile. Carpet would have been easier on his knees. But the new flooring not only looked better, it was easier to keep clean.

  He glanced up to Kevin, who stood there holding a flashlight, aiming its beam at the electrical outlet Chris was attempting to swap out. While Chris knew how to make the repair, electricity always freaked him out a bit, which was why he’d double-checked to make sure he had turned the breaker off. Unfortunately, with the breaker off he couldn’t turn any lights on, which made it harder to see what he was doing, even with the natural light pouring in from the windows in the room.

  Kevin had always wanted to see inside the Gusarov estate, which was why when Pastor Chad mentioned they needed someone to help put together bookshelves, he immediately volunteered. He could put bookshelves together. At least he was pretty sure he could. Holding the flashlight, aiming its beam on the electric outlet by the floor, he glanced around the enormous room. He was going to ask the guy if he could check out the house before starting on the bookshelves. But he was going to wait until he finished with the outlet before he asked. As it was, the guy seemed a little annoyed that he had been late.

  Standing there, he heard the front door open and then heard what sounded like frantic scratching on the tile floor. Glancing in the direction of the entry hall, he was horrified to find a muscular brindle pit bull running full force in his direction.

  Kevin let out a scream, dropped the flashlight, and started to run in the opposite direction. The flashlight shattered on the floor, while the dog took a detour and landed on the man who had hired him. There were no screams or cries for help, just laughter coming from the man, who was now wrestling on the floor with the dog.

  Now breathing heavily, his heart racing, Kevin looked back to the doorway leading to the entry and saw a woman staring at him, a bored expression on her face. She was in the process of removing her long jacket as she stared at him. His first impression of her was that she looked like a vampire, considering her straight black hair falling past her shoulders, blood red lips and pale skin.

  “Scared you, huh?” She laughed as she went to hang up her jacket.

  Kevin glanced to the man, who had been wrestling with the dog. He was just standing up, while the pit bull remained close at his side, her backside wiggling along with her short tail.

  “This is Hunny,” Chris told him. “She’s pretty sweet.”

  “I thought she was going to kill me,” Kevin admitted.

  “It’s not the pit bull you have to worry about. But if you see a calico cat around here, I would run.” Chris laughed.

  Kevin went to pick up the flashlight. He groaned when he saw it was broken. “I’m really sorry.” Kevin showed the flashlight to Chris.

  “Oh crap. Not really your fault. Hunny can be pretty intimidating. Knowing Heather, she probably thought your reaction was hilarious. Unfortunately, I don’t have another flashlight here.”

  Looking at the broken flashlight in his hand for a moment, Kevin then looked to Chris and said, “I think I have one in my glove compartment. You want me to get it?”

  “That would be great.”

  As soon as Kevin ran from the house, Chris’s cellphone began to ring. He picked it up off the fireplace mantel where he had set it earlier and looked to see who was calling. It was Police Chief MacDonald’s cellphone. Chris was talking to the chief when Kevin returned a moment later with the flashlight.

  Pointing to the table, Chris said, “Can you set it there and then go on outside for a minute so I can take this call?”

  Kevin shrugged but did as he was told.

  Just as Kevin stepped out on the front porch of the foundation headquarters, he spied his girlfriend, Olivia, coming up the walk. She waved.

  He sprinted down to her and gave her a hug and kiss, and then asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “You said you were going to be working here this afternoon, and I was hoping I could get a tour of the house. Does it look as cool as it does from the outside?”

  Kevin glanced back to the foundation office and then to Olivia. “I’ve only been in the front room. But it looks pretty awesome.”

  “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

  “The guy wanted me to leave for a minute so he could talk on the phone in private.” Kevin glanced over her shoulder to the street. “How did you get here?”

  “I walked. How do you think? So are we going inside now so you can show me around?”

  “I have to wait until he’s off the phone.”

  Together Kevin and Olivia walked to the front porch and sat down on the steps, waiting for Chris to tell him to come inside.

  “Where did the chicken go?” Heather asked when she returned to the living room.

  “That was kind of mean of you,” Chris said. “You know how some people react to pit bulls. Especially one who comes charging in their direction.”

  Heather let out a sigh. “Are you saying he took off because of what I did? Are you going to make me put together those bookshelves? I don’t know why you didn’t buy premade and have them delivered and installed. It’s not like you can’t afford them.”

  “He’s outside. I told him to wait there until I got off the phone,” Chris said.

  “Oh, good. Should I go get him?”

  Chris shook his head. “I don’t think he’s going to be putting together any bookshelves today.”

  Heather groaned. “Why not? Do you want me to tell him I’m sorry for letting the ferocious hound after him?”

  “Because the chief is on his way here to pick him up for questioning down at the station.”

  Heather glanced toward the entry hall. “Questioning? What for?”

  “The chief thinks he may be the one who attacked Beverly.”

  Olivia and Kevin didn’t think there was anything strange when the police chief pulled up in front of the foundation headquarters and parked. Nor did they find it unusual when the chief headed up the walk toward them. Both assumed he was there to talk to Chris.

  Just as the chief reached the front steps, both Olivia and Kevin stood up.

  “Kevin Gormely?” the chief asked.

  Kevin frowned. “Umm…yeah.”

  “I need to speak to you down at the station about Beverly Klein.”

  The words had barely left the chief’s mouth when Kevin took off running. Where exactly he thought he was going would be something Olivia would later ask him. He didn’t get far, not because the chief was necessarily faster than him, but the fact he tripped and fell before he even reached the sidewalk.

  “Kevin!” Olivi
a sobbed a few minutes later as she watched Police Chief MacDonald handcuff her boyfriend and put him in the back of his police car.

  Kevin looked to Olivia and shouted, “I left my cellphone. Please get it for me!”

  Inside, Chris and Heather stood quietly by the window looking out. They had witnessed the entire scene. The police car had not yet pulled away, and the girl that had been with Kevin when the chief had arrived was now standing by the gate watching the police car, her back to them.

  “Looks like he might be guilty,” Heather said, still looking outside.

  “I don’t think he’s going to help me put together the bookshelves now,” Chris grumbled.

  “Are you going to make me do it?”

  “No. But you can help me finish what I was doing by holding the flashlight,” Chris said, turning away from the window.

  “Okay. Deal. I can hold a flashlight.” Heather grinned.

  “Good. Let’s get this finished and then call it a day.”

  Heather picked up the flashlight. “Where did this come from?”

  “Kevin got it from his car after he broke mine. Or should I say, after you made him break mine.”

  Heather shrugged and then turned the flashlight on. Nothing happened.

  “Oh, great, is that broken too?” Chris asked.

  “It might just need batteries,” Heather suggested as she started to unscrew the flashlight’s handle.

  “Good. Those we have.”

  Chris had just turned from Heather when he heard her let out a curse. He stopped and looked in her direction. By the way she was holding the flashlight and its end that she had just removed, it looked as if she were holding a bag of dog poop that she couldn’t wait to put down.

  Chris frowned. “What is it?”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “What’s wrong?” He took a step toward Heather.