Ghostly Play

by K E O'Connor

  “No, something is wrong,” said Alex. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “You said you hadn’t looked at it,” said Camilla. “How can you know anything is wrong?”

  “I ran through the coding weeks ago. There’s no way you created that.”

  “As I told you at the time, a friend of a friend sold me the information.”

  “What friend?”

  “That’s not important.”

  “It is. They must have known what they were offering you,” said Alex.

  “They were paid fairly.”

  “How much? If this goes live, it will be worth tens of millions.”

  “We’ve discussed this before. I don’t have time to go over the information again.”

  “Mom, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what happened.”

  “You’re acting as if you don’t believe me.” Camilla sounded hurt. “Why would I lie to you?”

  “How did you get that data?”

  I stepped around the door. “I think your mom got it by killing Greg.”

  Chapter 21

  Alex’s face paled as he stared at me. “What are you talking about?”

  Camilla scowled. “Don’t listen to Lorna. She has no clue what she’s talking about.”

  “I do,” I said. “When I saw you flying that drone, I knew it had to be you.”

  “What do you mean?” said Alex. “Why do you think Mom killed Greg?”

  “That was the thing I couldn’t work out,” I said, “until now. Your mom gave you the idea for a new dating app?”

  Alex glanced at his mom. “She did. She presented me with everything I needed. I was stunned. It was almost ready to go live.”

  “Alex, stop talking.” Camilla caught hold of his arm again, but he pulled away from her.

  “I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t believe all the information you had. The new app blows mine out of the water.”

  “The app isn’t perfect,” said Camilla.

  “It won’t need much work,” said Alex. “When I read the coding, it looked so familiar. That’s when I began to wonder about what really happened to Greg.” He looked at me. “Lorna, do you really think Mom killed Greg?”

  No wonder the poor guy was so depressed. He knew something was wrong but didn’t want to face up to the possibility his mom killed his best friend.

  “That’s not important,” said Camilla. “Less talking and more action. We need to leave.”

  “It is important if you got the coding from Greg,” I said. I felt Zach’s reassuring presence behind me and moved closer. “You killed Greg, didn’t you? You stole his business model and gave it to Alex. You killed him to stop him from telling Alex what you’d done.”

  Camilla looked from Alex to me.

  “Mom, tell the truth.”

  She let out a sigh. “I did it for your own good.”

  Alex moved away from Camilla. “What did you do?”

  “Greg was planning on starting his own business. He was going to cut you out. I couldn’t let that happen, not after how successful your original dating app had been. I couldn’t allow Greg to ruin everything you’d worked so hard on.”

  Alex staggered back as if he’d been punched. “Greg would never do that.”

  “That’s exactly what he was doing,” said Camilla. “I overheard him talking on the phone about a new business model. I heard him say he needed to keep it from you. I knew then that he was going behind your back, selling you out, abandoning you.”

  Alex shook his head and raked his hands through his hair. “You’ve got it all wrong. Greg would never do that. We used to work on separate projects all the time. He’d go away and work out the kinks and come back to me and we’d finalize things. That was how we used to do it.”

  “Don’t be so naïve,” said Camilla. “Once I knew what he was up to, I followed him.”

  “You tailed my best friend?”

  “He wasn’t your best friend,” said Camilla. “He was going to leave you out of an enormous amount of money.”

  “Even if he was, we already have plenty of money,” said Alex. “And I’m working on the sequel to Bog Globs. Lorna’s been playing it with me, and—”

  “When I saw how much money this new dating app had the potential to make, I knew you had to be involved. I couldn’t take the risk that Greg would sell you out.”

  “So you did something about it?” I asked. “You got rid of Greg and took his designs.”

  “I stole nothing from Greg,” said Camilla.

  It suddenly all made sense, the reason Harriet and Piers were hanging around. They were waiting for a handout from Camilla for playing their part in this. “You got Piers and Harriet to steal the information and give it to you.”

  Camilla glowered at me. “You can’t prove any of this.”

  “Mom, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I needed to protect my only son,” said Camilla.

  “By killing my best friend?”

  “You have to make sacrifices when you’re in combat,” said Camilla. “Greg was a threat to you. He needed to be neutralized.”

  “He wasn’t a threat. We’re not at war,” said Alex. “He was my best friend. I trusted him. You’ve got this wrong.”

  The sound of running footsteps had me turning. Helen and Gunner appeared in the aerodrome.

  “Is everything okay?” asked Helen. “We lost you in the crowd.”

  “Everything will be fine.” I looked back at Camilla. “Camilla has some explaining to do to the police.”

  Gunner stepped forward. “Has she confessed?”

  Camilla’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

  “The police,” said Gunner.

  The sound of a high-pitched scream ricocheted out of the tannoy system.

  I spun around and saw the crowd part. Two pigs raced away from the stage. It was Lucy and Priscilla. I stood on my tiptoes and looked at the stage. Harriet was sprawled on her back, her cream dress rumpled around her thighs and her high heels off her feet. It looked like Lucy and Priscilla had been having revenge of their own.

  I noticed Piers skulking away from the side of the stage. So much for standing by your woman when she needed you.

  “Mom! Wait!”

  I turned back and saw Camilla sprinting across the aerodrome.

  Before I could move, Gunner was chasing her. He reached her in three large bounds and wrapped an arm around her. “You’re not going anywhere. I’ve got some questions to ask you.”

  Camilla kicked out at Gunner, her foot connecting with his shinbone. She turned toward him and shoved him hard in the chest, knocking him off balance. She must have learned more than how to fly a jet when in the RAF.

  “Don’t fight!” yelled Alex.

  Camilla looked at Alex, a sorrowful expression on her face. “I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing.” Then she was off again, heading toward the back door of the aerodrome.

  “We can’t let her get away.” I chased after Camilla, but she had a good head start. I’d never be able to catch her.

  The sound of excited snorts reached me. Lucy and Priscilla shot out from under a plane and slammed straight into Camilla’s legs. She let out a startled yelp and tumbled to the ground. Both pigs rolled over, back onto their trotters, and were off again on their games, oblivious that they had just stopped a killer.

  I reached Camilla’s side, gasping for breath. “Camilla Hudson, you’re under arrest.”

  ***

  I sank onto the couch in the lounge. It felt like the end of a very long day. Gunner had arrested Camilla. She’d been taken in for questioning at the local police station. Alex had gone with her to give his side of the story.

  Harriet had fled the air show, humiliated after being knocked over by the now famous pigs, Lucy and Priscilla, who were asleep in their beds after a congratulatory meal.

  Piers had vanished. He was probably wondering which tropical island to escape to before the police caught up
with him and asked him about stealing from Greg. Eva was in her usual place, hidden in her bedroom, playing on her computer.

  I looked at the computer screen in the lounge. Now, Alex had resolution as to what happened to Greg, I hoped he wouldn’t need to spend so much time hidden from the real world. He could get out and start living.

  Greg hovered by the couch, looking as lost as always.

  “I thought you might be happy, now you know what happened,” I said to him.

  When we’d gotten back to the house, Greg had been waiting. I’d installed Zach and Gunner in the kitchen with Helen and the dogs, while she made them a late lunch, and then went to talk to him.

  Greg nodded and forced a smile.

  “Alex is innocent,” I said. “He had nothing to do with your death. It was all a horrible misunderstanding.” Sadly, a misunderstanding that cost Greg his life.

  Greg looked at the computer screen.

  “Can you play computer games where you are?”

  He nodded and then looked at the empty seat where Alex usually sat.

  “It’s not the same without Alex?”

  Another nod.

  “You both need to find new friends,” I said. “At least, you can rest easy now, knowing your killer has been caught and Alex is innocent. He’ll be okay. You both will.”

  Greg gave me a final nod, mouthed the words thank you, and then blinked out of sight.

  The gloomy atmosphere lifted. Greg had gone. He wasn’t happy, but he now knew what had happened to him. I hoped he got comfort from that.

  “You solved the murder?” The robotic voice spoke from the speakers. It was Mickey Kill.

  “It was Camilla,” I said. “She killed Greg after stealing a new dating app from him with the help of Piers and Harriet. She thought Greg had gone behind Alex’s back and was going to sell him out.”

  “He’d never do that.”

  “Alex knew that. So did Greg,” I said. “Sadly, Camilla didn’t. She said she was trying to protect Alex.”

  “You did a good job, Lorna Shadow.”

  I nodded but wondered if I would have an actual job after all of this had quietened down. Alex hadn’t wanted me here. Now Camilla was gone, he might get rid of me.

  “Who are you talking to?” Zach stood in the lounge doorway.

  I looked at the screen. “Just a friend.” I stood and walked over to him.

  “Is your ghost happy?”

  “Not really, but he’s gone. He knows what happened. That’s the best I can offer him.”

  “What about our ghost?” Zach took hold of my hand. “She’s a problem, isn’t she?”

  I took a deep breath. “She is. Amelia needs to go.”

  “I’ll do anything I can to make that happen.”

  I twisted my mouth. I’d been thinking about our options. Zach would hate what I was about to say. “I have an idea. It might be a way to make Amelia disappear.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too.”

  “What’s your idea?”

  “We should get married.”

  My jaw dropped. “How is that going to help us get rid of Amelia?”

  “She’ll see how serious we are about each other and leave us alone,” said Zach. “Maybe that’s why she’s hanging around. Amelia has gotten confused and thinks we’re still together.”

  “A ring on my finger will change her mind?”

  “It might.” Zach’s brow furrowed. “What was your idea?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip. “I was thinking I should move out.”

  “Move out of our home?” Zach shook his head. “No way! You can’t let a ghost chase you out.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “Until we figure out why she’s there, I’m not comfortable living in the house.”

  “Then we’ll sell,” said Zach. “We’ll move anywhere else. I don’t care where we live, so long as we’re together.”

  That was sweet of him. “No, that’s not what I want either. I want our house back as it was before your ghostly wife visited.”

  “I want that too,” said Zach. “I don’t want you to leave. It won’t solve anything.”

  “It will for me,” I said. “I won’t move far. I’ll get a local job, and we can see each other every day. But until Amelia is out of the house, I’m not living in it.”

  “Then I’ll move out with you,” said Zach. “We can let Gunner and Helen have the house.”

  “What’s this?” asked Helen as she strolled along the hallway with Gunner by her side.

  “Lorna wants to leave,” said Zach.

  “No! I don’t want to leave, but I think it’s a good idea. I need distance from the Amelia problem. I need to figure out how to get rid of her. Living alongside a ghost who won’t show me her problems and how I can help is frustrating.”

  “You’re going to leave me and Gunner in a haunted house,” said Helen. “Thanks for nothing.”

  I shook my head at her. “This isn’t about you. Amelia doesn’t bother you.”

  “She used to steal my stuff.”

  “At least she’s not trying to steal your boyfriend,” I said.

  Helen huffed. “I’d like to see her try.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Gunner.

  “Take a break from the house,” I said.

  “And take a break from me?” asked Zach.

  “Not for a second.” I loved Zach, and I loved our home. But I needed a time out. Time to clear my head and figure out what I would do about Amelia.

  “So, that’s a no to marriage, as well?” asked Zach.

  Helen squeaked. “Has Zach asked you to marry him?”

  I looked up at Zach. “Not really.”

  “I will,” said Zach. “The next time I do it, I will ask properly. I’m going to make you the happiest woman on this planet.”

  I smiled at him. “I will be, once we get rid of Amelia and figure out what she wants. Any plans for marriage need to be put on hold until then.”

  Helen bounced on her toes. “I’m confused. Did Zach ask you to marry him or not?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Yes,” said Zach. “But I was being an idiot. I thought it would help.”

  “When we do get married, it needs to be for the right reasons, not to solve a ghostly problem.”

  He nodded. “You’re right. One day, I will marry you.”

  Helen sighed. “And, one day, I’ll get to design your wedding dress.”

  “It’s a day I look forward to.”

  Zach looked down at me. “We’re okay though, aren’t we?”

  I hugged him. We weren’t, not really. But I would make it right. I just needed to figure out how. “We’ll be fine.”