The Ghost and the Bride

by Anna J. McIntyre

  “Well, I don’t!” Lily said emphatically.

  Tammy reached over and patted Lily’s hand. “Don’t get so snippy. We’re just trying to make sure you have a wonderful wedding.”

  Laura kicked off her shoes and slumped back on Lily’s pillows, bringing her bare feet up on the mattress. “Lily always has to have her own way.”

  “It is my wedding,” Lily reminded them.

  “Just think about it,” Laura said.

  “No. Ian and I have already decided.”

  “Well, I talked to Ian’s sister, and she thinks it’s a great idea,” Laura told her.

  “Then if Kelly marries Joe, they can get married on the beach. I am walking down the staircase at Marlow House!”

  “Lily, dear, don’t be so stubborn. At least consider your sister’s suggestion,” Tammy urged.

  “Mom, don’t you think Ian and I already considered a beach wedding? It’s not like a beach wedding is a particularly novel idea. But it’s not what I want to do. It’s not what Ian wants.”

  “Dear, I’m sure Ian will be glad to get married wherever you decide,” Tammy said.

  “And I decided to get married at Marlow House!” Lily’s shout stunned her sister and mother, who just stared.

  After a moment, Lily took a deep breath and said, “I really would like to rest. Would you all please leave so I can take a nap.”

  Just as her mother and sister stood, Lily hastily added, “Except Walt. Walt, please stay.”

  Laura frowned at Lily. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Umm…I like to think Walt Marlow’s spirit still inhabits this house. And would rather like him to stay.”

  “Oh brother…” Laura rolled her eyes and headed toward the door, snatching her shoes off the floor. “Just consider what we suggested, Lily. You really shouldn’t be so stubborn. Not good for a marriage.”

  “You do seem a little stressed. Perhaps a nap will put you in better spirits.” Tammy followed Laura.

  Flopping back on her bed, Lily groaned.

  The door shut—seemingly on its own.

  “Thanks, Walt,” Lily said, staring up at the ceiling. She knew he had shut the door. The room was quiet, but she could smell his cigar.

  “Walt, I seriously am not interested in getting married on the beach. I don’t want you to think the only reason I plan to get married in this house is so you can be here. Not that that’s not a large part of it. But I know you. If you thought I secretly longed for a beach wedding, you would try to make it happen.”

  Scooting back in the bed, Lily sat up and repositioned her pillows, pulling them out from under the bedspread. After arranging them against the headboard, she leaned back against the soft pile and let out a deep sigh.

  “This house—and you—have been such a big part of my life since I moved to Oregon—since I met Ian. I just can’t imagine getting married to Ian and not having you there, or not walking down Marlow House’s staircase. I know this house belongs to Dani, but I always feel like it kinda belongs to me too. I’m really glad Ian bought Marie’s house so we’ll be just across the street. Not to mention the fact it is right on the beach. Living in beachfront property is even better than getting married on the beach.” Lily smiled.

  “Where’s Lily?” Danielle asked as she made her way up the staircase, holding onto the handrail. Tammy and Laura were coming down the stairs.

  “She’s resting in her room. I think she overdid it today,” Tammy said.

  “She’s just being stubborn, like always,” Laura grumbled.

  Danielle paused on the staircase as Lily’s sister walked around her. “Stubborn?”

  “We’re trying to talk Lily into getting married on the beach instead of in the house,” Laura said.

  Tammy quickly reached out and grabbed Danielle’s free hand. “It’s not that you don’t have a lovely house. But the girls just thought a beach wedding would be so romantic.”

  Danielle smiled at Tammy. “Yes, beach weddings are lovely. But I know Lily has her heart set on walking down the staircase at Marlow House—and it is her wedding.”

  A few minutes later, Danielle was alone in the upstairs hallway, knocking on Lily’s door. Instead of waiting for an answer, she walked in and found Lily stretched out on the bed, Walt sitting in the chair next to her.

  “Hiding from the family?” Danielle asked as she closed the door behind her.

  “Just having a nice chat with Walt,” Lily explained.

  “A rather one-way conversation?” Danielle asked with a chuckle.

  “I’m just here for support,” Walt told her.

  “Can you believe it? They’re trying to get me to move the wedding to the beach in front of Ian’s house.”

  Danielle took a seat on the side of the bed. “Yeah, they mentioned that a minute ago.”

  Lily sat up and glanced to her closed door. “Where are they?”

  “They were on their way out. Said something about going to the beach.”

  “Probably laying out the site for the ceremony,” Lily said with a grunt as she flopped back on her pillows.

  “Just be grateful you have a mother and sister to annoy you,” Danielle said.

  “Oh please, don’t go all Pollyanna on me! I need you on my side.”

  “I am on your side. In fact, I reminded them this was your wedding.”

  Lily let out a sigh. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Danielle flashed Walt a grin. He returned a wink.

  “So where did you go after the shower?” Lily asked.

  “I took the chief a piece of cake from Melony.”

  “Hmm…you think there’s something going on with the chief and Mel?”

  “Why? Because she sent him over cake? She was his wife’s best friend. Anyway, if there was something going on, I would expect her to take the cake, not ask me to drop it by.”

  “That’s good. It would probably break poor Marie’s heart if some other guy came along and snagged Mel. I think she’s convinced herself Mel and Adam are a serious couple.”

  “True.”

  “So why did you drop it by? It’s not like the police station is between here and her house.” Lily sat up and looked at Danielle. “Is something going on?”

  “No,” Danielle lied. “She just mentioned something about wanting to take the chief some of the cake because it’s his favorite, and I offered to drop it by. I figured she had already done so much today.”

  “You told him about Eva, didn’t you?” Walt asked. “What did he say?”

  “Did you tell him about that ghost?” Lily asked.

  “I might have mentioned it. But it’s not like he can do anything about ghosts appearing from time to time. Anyway, I think he left,” Danielle lied.

  “Good. Because this is one week where only one gh—I mean spirit—is invited.” Lily grinned at where she imagined Walt was sitting. Unbeknownst to her, he had moved toward the door a moment earlier.

  “Meet me in your room,” Walt told Danielle just before he vanished.

  “Don’t let your mom and sister bug you. They just don’t understand.” Danielle stood up.

  “Thanks, Dani.”

  “No problem.” Danielle smiled at Lily and then started for the door.

  “You know, Walt—” Lily began.

  Danielle paused and turned to Lily. “Umm, Lily…I need to mention, Walt just left.”

  “He did?” Lily frowned.

  Danielle nodded and then left the room, closing the door behind her.

  Twenty

  “I would have suggested you meet me in the attic, but I suspect Lily’s brother might wonder why you’re hanging around in the room he assumes is solely his for the week,” Walt said when Danielle walked into her bedroom a few minutes later, closing the door behind her. He stood by the fireplace.

  “Not to mention Cory has always been a little overly flirty with me. I’d like to think he’s just kidding, but…” Danielle cringed as she walked to the small loveseat and took
a seat. It faced Walt and the fireplace.

  Walt chuckled. “I did notice that. But you can’t blame the boy, you being the desirable older woman.”

  Danielle couldn’t help grinning over the desirable older woman remark, yet felt compelled to remind Walt, “That boy is not much younger than you were when you died.”

  “Why do I feel decades older?” Walt asked with a sigh.

  “Perhaps age really isn’t about our physical self.”

  “Perhaps. Now tell me about your visit with MacDonald and the bridal shower.”

  When Danielle finished updating Walt, he asked, “What now?”

  “I’d like to know who our mystery ghost is. He’s obviously not Felicia’s boyfriend. If it is the other man who died in the accident, I need to learn more about him. Maybe I can get him to move on.”

  “How do you expect to learn more about him?” Walt asked.

  “I was thinking about driving out to that diner, see Sam. Find out what he knows about his ex-employee.”

  “How do you know he’ll be there?” Walt asked.

  “The chief told me the last time he ran into Sam, Sam mentioned he was working ten-hour shifts, four days a week—Friday through Monday. So if I don’t go out there now, I’ll have to track him down at his home—which I don’t want to do—or wait until Friday.”

  “Just be careful, Danielle. I’m more concerned with the dangers from the living than the dead—especially considering what Eva observed from this Felicia woman. And Samuel Hayman was responsible for Cheryl being in that shed in the first place,” Walt reminded her.

  Danielle stood up. “I’ll be careful, I promise. But I better get going if I want to catch Sam before he’s swamped in a dinner rush.”

  When Danielle made it downstairs a few minutes later, she ran into Pamela, who was on her way to the downstairs bedroom she shared with her husband.

  “You didn’t go to the beach with them?” Danielle asked Pamela when she stepped onto the first-floor landing.

  Distracted, Pamela paused a moment, looked at Danielle and then glanced down the hallway to the bedroom door. “Umm, no. I wanted to stay here. I need to talk to Kent.” Flashing a dull smile at Danielle, Pamela gave a parting nod and then rushed off to the bedroom.

  “Hmm…wonder what that’s all about,” Danielle muttered under her breath.

  When Pamela walked into the downstairs bedroom a few minutes later, she found Kent sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, thumbing through a newspaper. He glanced up briefly and then looked back down at the paper.

  “I didn’t know you were here. Laura mentioned seeing you come in a few minutes ago.” Pamela took a seat on the side of the bed, facing Kent.

  He shrugged and turned a page.

  “I tried calling you several times, but you didn’t answer. Is something wrong with your phone?” she asked.

  “I didn’t feel like talking. Figured I would see you back here. You really need to stop hovering; I’m not an invalid or a child.” He continued to stare down at the newspaper as if reading.

  “Where did you go while we were at the shower?”

  Without looking up from the paper, Kent said, “Out.”

  “I kept getting notifications from our bank on my cellphone. Why were you going all over town, taking out two-hundred-dollar withdrawals from ATMs?”

  “If you knew where I was when you were at the shower, why did you ask?” he snapped.

  “Why did you withdraw a thousand dollars from our checking account?”

  Laying the newspaper on his lap, Kent looked over to Pamela and met her gaze. “Because that’s all they would let me withdraw.”

  “But why?”

  Kent glared at Pamela. “It’s my money too. In fact, I think it is more my money than yours, considering I was the one in the accident, not you. Most of that money is from the insurance settlement from the car manufacturer.”

  Bewildered, Pamela stared at Kent, uncertain what to say. Finally, she muttered, “I don’t understand. What is going on?”

  With a sigh, Kent sat up straighter in the chair, folded the newspaper that was on his lap, and then tossed it to the floor. He met Pamela’s gaze. “I want a divorce.”

  “You what?” Pamela gasped. “You want a divorce? And you tell me this—what—when we are at my cousin’s wedding?”

  Kent let out another sigh. “I’m sorry. But you did ask what was going on. I didn’t intend to say anything until after the wedding. I’m considering staying in Oregon and not going back to California with you. But I don’t want to embarrass you. And I understand you have tried your best. There is no reason to say anything to anyone about this, not yet. Let’s just get through this week, and then after the wedding, when you go back to Portland, we’ll work out our next step.”

  Pamela shook her head numbly. “Kent, I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t know you, Pamela. You are a stranger to me. You seem like a nice woman, but it’s been over a year now, and I still don’t remember anything. And…I don’t feel anything. Nothing. I want my life back.”

  The diner was only half full when Danielle arrived. There was no wait-to-be-seated sign, so she took a booth in the back, next to the door leading to the kitchen. Glancing around, she didn’t see Sam, yet she hadn’t expected to see him in the dining room. According to the chief, he was working as the dishwasher, so she assumed he was in the kitchen. Her plan was to order something to drink and then ask the server to let Sam know there was someone to see him. About five minutes later, after being served her iced tea, she had her opportunity.

  “I was wondering, is Sam Hayman working today?” Danielle asked the server.

  “Sam? Sure.” The waitress glanced to the door leading to the kitchen.

  Danielle guessed the server was a few years younger than herself—late twenties. She wore her blond hair in a high ponytail and a stained black server’s apron over black jeans and a collared T-shirt. The shirt had once been white. Now it was a dull gray.

  “Could you please tell Sam there is someone who would like to see him? Whenever he has his break,” Danielle asked with a friendly smile.

  “Who should I say wants to see him?”

  “Danielle. Danielle Boatman.”

  The server’s sudden change of expression told Danielle the woman recognized the name.

  “Yeah, sure.” The woman rushed off, disappearing through the doorway leading to the kitchen, without asking Danielle if she wanted to order something to eat.

  A few minutes later, Samuel Hayman walked out from the kitchen, wiping his hands along the sides of his white apron. Danielle recognized him immediately. He was thinner than the last time she had seen him. Still clean shaven, with curly brown hair and a pleasant face.

  “Ms. Boatman,” Samuel muttered nervously when he walked up to her table, “Becky said you wanted to see me. I really need this job. I served my time. I’m sorry what happened to your cousin. But if I get fired…”

  “Can you sit down a moment and talk? I have no desire to get you fired. I just need to talk to you for a few minutes.”

  He glanced to the door leading to the kitchen and then looked back to Danielle. Giving her a nod, he took a seat across the table from her.

  “I never took my lunch break today. I have about thirty minutes,” he said.

  “What I have to ask you shouldn’t take that long.”

  Samuel nodded. “I really am sorry about what I did.”

  “I’m not here to talk about that,” Danielle told him. “I wanted to ask you about an employee you once had. A Rowland Scuttle.”

  Sam frowned. “Rowland? Why do you want to know about him?”

  “I really can’t say. In fact, I was hoping we could keep this conversation between the two of us.”

  Sam stared at Danielle for a moment. Finally, he nodded and said, “I suppose that’s the least I can do for you. Considering everything. What do you want to know about him?”

  “I understand he worked for you?�
�

  Sam nodded again. “Yeah, it was about a year before I closed the store. He worked for me for less than a year. Maybe six—seven months.”

  “What do you know about him?”

  Samuel leaned back in the booth seat and considered the question a moment before answering. “I didn’t know him that well. As I remember, he was from Salem. Came with a fairly good recommendation from a guy I knew in Portland. I know Rowland didn’t have a record, I checked him out before I hired him, but that friend of his who would drop by every couple of weeks, he made me nervous.”

  “Friend?”

  “Tall, lanky guy with a Mohawk and so many piercings, I don’t know how he drank water without it leaking out of all the damn holes in his face.” Samuel shook his head at the memory. “I didn’t want someone like that hanging out in my store. I considered talking to Rowland about the guy, but I had this gut feeling. Figured it would be better if I just let Rowland go.”

  “Was there any problem when you fired him?” Danielle asked.

  “Business was slow. I don’t think Rowland was surprised when I told him I had to let him go. I ran into him about a month later. He told me he was moving to California. Never really heard from him after that.”

  “Can you tell me what type of person he was—other than his poor choice of friends? Did he have family, a wife, girlfriend maybe?”

  “Like I said, I didn’t know him that well. But I do know he wasn’t married. And he rarely talked about family. He wasn’t originally from Oregon, and I’m pretty sure his parents lived somewhere like Arizona—or maybe Florida. Can’t recall exactly, but I remember once he mentioned something about his folks living in a retirement community in another state. But he never really talked about himself, and we didn’t socialize.”

  “Can you tell me what he looked like?”

  “I suppose I could do better than that. I’ll show you.” Samuel stood briefly and removed his wallet from his pocket. Danielle watched as he pulled a snapshot from his wallet.

  “You have his picture?” she asked.

  Samuel smiled. “Carrying Rowland’s picture around in my wallet sounds a little weird. Actually, it’s a picture of the store, he just happens to be in it.” He reached across the table and handed Danielle the snapshot.