Ghostly Fright

by K E O'Connor

  Chapter 20

  I stood with Helen, and we surveyed the mess left behind in the marquee after last night’s party.

  “I’m glad we’re not involved in the clean-up,” Helen said. “But we have an awful lot of Halloween treats to finish. At least, I won’t have to cook for a few days. It will be cookies for breakfast for a while.”

  “I might pass if they’re covered in spider webs,” I said. “I’ve had enough of Halloween and this spooky place.”

  Zach strode into the marquee. Jessie, his faithful black dog was by his side, alongside Gunner. They’d both arrived early this morning, after Zara and Barnaby had been taken in for questioning by the police and Julius and Horatio had given their statements.

  Zach wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed me. “I missed the scary fun.”

  “It wasn’t much fun for me,” Helen said. “I got lumbered with the boring admin. And I was stuck outside the office in the freezing cold dressed as a unicorn fairy while Lorna got the confession out of Barnaby and Zara.”

  “You had a critical role to play,” I said. “If you hadn’t seen Barnaby’s hand in the frame, giving Felicity that food, none of this would have held together.”

  “He wears those daft hipster guy bangles,” Helen said. “They’re hard to miss. As soon as I saw those on film, I knew it was him.”

  “And you stopped the suspects from getting out of the office. They’d have made a run for it, and Felicity’s murder would never have been solved.”

  “I guess I am fabulous, after all.” Helen grinned at me.

  “No one doubts that, beautiful.” Gunner kissed her cheek. “But not every police officer is incompetent. It was only a matter of time before we’d have figured this out. We were piecing things together.”

  “Not as quickly as we did,” Helen said.

  “A little help from Helen and me never hurts,” I said.

  Gunner smiled and shook his head. “You did a great job at wheedling out a confession.”

  “It was a risky one,” Zach said, “locking yourself in a room with two killers. You didn’t even have Flipper looking out for you.”

  I looked down and petted Flipper’s head. He was his old self and had suffered no ill effects from the poisoning. “Helen was right outside, and I had my cell phone on me. Plus, I knew Horatio and Julius were innocent and hoped they’d stick up for me if there were any problems. They both came good. Julius even stepped in when Barnaby got desperate.”

  “I hope he didn’t hurt you.” Zach’s concerned gaze ran over me.

  I smiled up at him. “It was fine. Everything is fine.”

  “It will be,” Gunner said. “Horatio and Julius have complied fully. The police are checking Barnaby’s phone for the recordings and double-checking what you discovered on the CCTV. They’ll be charged by the end of the day.”

  “Barnaby must be furious that Zara used him,” Helen said. “She played him like a fool.”

  “He wasn’t so dumb as to not cover his back,” I said.

  “And in doing so, got them both arrested.”

  “They were both stupid to try to get away with this,” Gunner said. “I can’t believe they’re making out they did it to help Felicity.”

  “It is possible they didn’t mean to kill her,” I said. “Nobody knew about the low levels of other toxins in her system from the plants she’d handled. Then the bees got in and stung her. It was too toxic a combination and triggered an extreme reaction.”

  “Well, even if that’s the case, they’re not getting away with it,” Gunner said. “They’ll serve a serious amount of time in prison.”

  “Where I doubt Barnaby will be sending love letters to Zara,” Helen said.

  We left the marquee and walked back to the house. I’d be glad to see the back of this place. With so many ghosts inside, I’d had more than enough of spooks, the real or dressed up variety.

  As I looked up at the windows, the place didn’t seem so daunting. Maybe the stress and excitement of the party had provoked the ghosts into action. Plus, it had been Halloween. That always stirred unquiet spirits into a frenzy. But the house no longer felt so ominous as a weak sun lit its lead-lined windows.

  We walked into the kitchen, and Helen hurried around making tea for everyone and laid out a selection of Halloween treats. “Get to eating. They’re only a day old and still delicious.”

  I refused the offer of more spider cookies or meringue mummies. Gunner and Zach were happy to taste the treats, though.

  A small yip came from the pantry.

  Helen coughed loudly and thrust the plate at me. “Go on. Just one.”

  I glanced at the pantry and grinned. Helen had her own confession to make to Gunner. “I’ve had enough of anything even vaguely ghostly.”

  “Until the next job,” Helen said.

  “Until then.” This Halloween had been a little too spooky for my liking. I was ready to move on. But there was still somebody I needed to see before I could.

  Ever since the revelations in the office last night, Felicity had done another disappearing act. I grabbed my tea and stood.

  Another yip came from the pantry as I did so.

  “What was that?” Gunner stared at the closed door.

  “It must be mice. All these old places have them.” Helen flapped her hands in the air.

  “Mice that bark?” His narrowed gaze went to Helen. “What’s going on?”

  Flipper ran to the pantry door, closely followed by Jessie, and nudged it open with his nose. Milly bounded out and raced to Helen, placing her little paws on Helen’s knee and looking up at her adoringly.

  Gunner’s mouth dropped open. “What is that thing?”

  Helen scooped up Milly. “She’s not a thing! Her name is Milly.”

  I laughed as I saw the horror on Gunner’s face. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Helen nodded knowingly as she cuddled Milly to her chest. “Take your time. We both know Felicity can take a little warming up.”

  I left Helen to convince Gunner that Milly should be a new addition to the family and wandered to the greenhouse. Since this was Felicity’s favorite place, it made sense she would want to spend her last few moments here, saying goodbye to everything she loved.

  I peered through the glass and saw Felicity hovering around the plants. She was saying something, touching each plant as she moved past them.

  I gave her time to say her farewells and drank my tea as I walked around so as not to get too cold. After ten minutes, Felicity floated through the glass and hovered in front of me.

  “Now you know what happened,” I said to her. “We might never know for sure if Zara and Barnaby’s intentions were to kill you. I’d like to think the best of them, and Zara really wanted you to take a break from work.”

  Felicity shook her head and pointed at the plants.

  “Yes, I know you love them. They were your whole life. Try not to miss them. At least you know what happened. You can move on.”

  She pointed at the plants again.

  “I wish I could tell you the plants will be fine. The business will be in the hands of Julius and Horatio now. How do you feel about that?”

  She wrapped her hands around her throat and choked herself.

  I smiled. “It might not be that bad. This is the kick in the butt they need. They should have paid you more attention and seen something was wrong. They needed to stage an intervention between you and your plants. It’s too late for that, but they might make amends by keeping Fleur de Bloom going.”

  Felicity’s gaze drifted over my shoulder. I turned to see Julius and Horatio walking toward me.

  I raised a hand. “I hope you aren’t mad at me after last night.”

  Julius clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s all forgotten. You did a brave thing confronting Zara and Barnaby. And a clever thing, as well. Even though I got barely any sleep thanks to your special brownie ingredient, it was worth the discomfort.”

  “I agree,” Horatio
said. “My poor sister, I can’t believe they did that to her.”

  I glanced at Felicity. “If she was here, she might not forgive Zara or Barnaby for their betrayal, but she knew how obsessed she was with her plants.”

  Felicity wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

  “She’s left behind a lot of amazing work.” Julius scrubbed a hand across his beard. “It seems a shame for it all to go to pot.”

  “It doesn’t have to,” I said. “You might like to learn about running a successful business. You might even like to learn about horticulture.”

  Julius chuckled. “Take over Fleur de Bloom? I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge. What about you, Horatio? Would we look good in wellington boots?”

  Horatio tugged on his bottom lip. “Actually, I have been doing a few online business courses. I didn’t want to say anything in case I never got around to finishing them. Felicity always nagged me about making a go of things in my professional life. I finally listened. I’m about a year away from getting a degree.”

  “That’s incredible,” I said. “You can use your new skill to keep Fleur de Bloom going.”

  He nodded. “I can give it a try. We all agree I’m not the best when it comes to creating a successful business. Perhaps I can take on a successful business and keep it going. I would need help, though. The plants don’t really do it for me. Uncle Julius, what do you think? You can spend less time at the casino and more time here. We could give this flower thing a go.”

  Julius roared with laughter. “Good lord, what a suggestion. I have a reputation to keep.”

  “You can change that reputation,” I said. “It might be nice to make money a legitimate way and not on the throw of the dice.”

  Julius looked around the grounds slowly, his gaze running over the greenhouse. “What the heck. Felicity wouldn’t want to see this place disappear. Between the two of us, we might make a right mess, but I’m happy to try. Which one is going to do the gardening?”

  Horatio grinned. “We’ll employ experts to do that.”

  Julius slung an arm around Horatio’s shoulders. “Top idea, my lad. I always said you had brains hidden inside that perfect head of yours.”

  Horatio ducked his head and smiled. “What about you, Lorna? Would you like to stick around? There’s a place for you and Helen if you want it.”

  I studied the house behind me. Several ghostly faces peeked out the windows. “It’s time to move on. You don’t need me or Helen. I think, with lots of hard work and a little luck, you can make a go of this place.”

  I looked over to see Felicity shaking her head, but there was a smile on her face. She was right to be cautious. Julius and Horatio could make a mess of Fleur de Bloom. Then again, this could be what they needed. A purpose and an opportunity to prove they could do something good with their lives and create a living legacy for Felicity.

  “It looks like we’re going to be businessmen,” Julius said. “We should start with a celebratory drink.”

  “Of coffee,” I said.

  Julius chuckled. “Of course. The finest ground coffee there is.”

  “We need to think about cutting costs,” Horatio said as he turned and walked away with his uncle. “Let’s start with instant coffee. We must make sure we keep this place profitable. And I was thinking of some sort of memorial for my sister.”

  I smiled as I watched them go. “They might not be as hopeless as you think,” I said to Felicity. “They could pull this off. Get the right horticulturists, and Fleur de Bloom will still be an incredible place.”

  Fondness filled Felicity’s eyes as she watched her brother and uncle walk to the house. She smiled, touched my arm, and disappeared.

  Flipper raced over. He ran around me a couple of times before his ears pricked at the sound of yapping. He bounded away as Helen, Gunner, Zach, and Jessie emerged from the house and walked over.

  I was surprised to see Gunner holding Milly. Helen had worked her magic on him. Milly was coming home with us.

  Flipper bounded around Gunner until he placed Milly down, and the three dogs raced off together.

  I was relieved there was no jealousy between Jessie and Milly. She had accepted her into the pack. Everyone was happy and healthy once again.

  Zach reached my side. He kissed my forehead, and I snuggled into his chest.

  “Did you get everything done?” he asked.

  “Yes, everyone is good here.”

  “Is it time to go?”

  I looked at the house and nodded a farewell to the ghosts watching us. “It is. That’s enough Halloween spookiness for us. Let’s go home.”

  If you enjoyed this book, you might enjoy other books written by K.E. O’Connor:

  Crypt Witch series (cozy witch mystery)

  Luck of the Witch

  Hell of a Witch

  Zee Town series (cozy paranormal mystery)

  Zombie Tails

  Zombie Daze

  Hearts & Zombies

  Zombie Fling

  Candyfloss & Zombies

  Old Sarum (cozy witch mystery)

  Witch Kissed

  Witch Rose

  Witch Guy

  Lorna Shadow series (cozy ghost mystery)

  Ghostly Manners

  Ghostly Secrets

  Ghostly Games

  Ghostly Affairs

  Ghostly Business

  Ghostly Rules

  Ghostly Waves

  Ghostly Play

  Ghostly Proposal

  Ghostly Vows