Charlie frowned. I knew she wasn’t happy about the idea, but I also knew we didn’t have a choice.
We got up to the lookout and parked. Mercifully, at this time of day there was nobody else around. You could see the development, and in fact the entire town, from up there. The lookout itself was a gravel cut-out next to the road, which had climbed high in order to get to the top of a rise. In other words, we now had to try to get down the slope if we wanted to get back to the development. I could see from Greer’s eyes that that was what she meant to do, but I asked her out loud anyhow.
“Now what?” I said.
“It shouldn’t be that hard to get down there,” said Greer.
“This reminds me of Mintwood Mountain. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now,” said Charlie. “I’m not wearing the right shoes for this.”
“There just better not be bears,” muttered Paws, who famously didn’t like them.
We started winding our slow way through the undergrowth. At times there seemed to be a path, while at other times there definitely wasn’t. We were consumed by darkness as we went away from the lights of the road. I kept having to push the brambles out of the way to make any progress.
After a few minutes it was clear that this was not going to be an easy walk.
“This is ridiculous,” said Charlie, who was bringing up the rear so that Greer and I could blaze a trail, and lagging behind quite a bit already.
“I wish you three could move faster,” said Paws.
He had scampered past us, his tail high as if it too were judging us. I tried not to roll my eyes, but failed. We passed several ghost animals, most of whom ignored us. I longed for a helpful badger, but none was forthcoming.
“If this takes much longer, I’m going back,” said Charlie. We were moving very slowly. The faintest evidence of light was streaking the low eastern horizon.
“Down on the ground already!” Paws yelled.
We started moving faster, scrambling through the last couple of hundred yards to reach the edge of the former shopping area. The silence was eerie.
“I wish we weren’t doing this,” muttered Charlie yet again.
“You’ll be happier when you can get an exclusive interview with Mr. Earle about this property and the murder,” said Greer.
As we had found out over the last few days, the discovery of Mr. Earle’s body had made national news. The Wolf Corporation was known far and wide. There were several competitors who would like to see them fail, and not all of them were in Maine.
As we made our way across the unruly and overgrown grass, Greer wondered out loud whether the buildings would be locked.
“Definitely,” I said, “so it’s a good thing we have a lock pick with us.” Greer was good at that sort of thing, and if all else failed I was a skilled enough witch that I’d just take care of the locks with a spell.
Paws had disappeared, no doubt investigating . . . where the mice were. I just hoped he’d show up again if we needed him.
“Do you see any cars?” I asked.
The parking lot and the main entrance that we’d come through the other day weren’t visible from the side we’d come in on, and I didn’t like not being able to see what was going on out front. It would be just my luck that Detective Cutter would decide to have a morning meeting on-site as we emerged from sneaking through the woods.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I could just see the Beetle peaking out from the top of the embankment. I wished I had done a better job of hiding it, but it was too late now.
As we made our way around the grounds of the Hayview development, we saw ghosts everywhere. Many skittered away from us.
“What about over there?” Charlie asked, pointing to a sizeable storage facility situated near the actual mall building. The three of us headed that way.
There was a chain across the door, but I immediately used a spell to unlock it, deciding to take the quicker way given the increasing light and the need for haste. Yes, Greer might have managed it, but I was already feeling some urgency, and we hadn’t even really begun our search yet.
The big chain was rusty and moved slowly. While we waited, Greer raised her eyebrows and observed, “At this point that must be your most commonly used spell.”
I grinned. “Yeah, it’s what I use to get into Charlie’s files when she’s being secretive.”
“You do not,” said Charlie, but she sounded unsure.
The warehouse was empty. As with the mall itself, there was some scattered debris, but that was about it.
“Excuse me. Just what do you think you’re doing?” came a voice from behind us.
The shimmer of a ghost told me that we didn’t have to worry. We hadn’t been found by a security guard . . . or a detective.
I turned around to see an old man. He was in fact wearing a security guard’s uniform amidst the shimmer.
“We’re looking for a ghost,” I told him.
“What do you think you’re going to find him in there for?” he asked, scratching his head. “It’s dark in there. Anyhow, most of us are out back right now for a game of wiffle ball. I’ll take you.”
This was the first ghost I had come across who seemed completely unfazed by the fact that I could see him, never mind that I was the Witch of Mintwood, which I didn’t even bother to tell him. I told myself it didn’t matter as long as he helped us get some results.
As it turned out, there was quite the gathering of ghosts behind the warehouse.
“Do you see one who looks like Earle?” I asked.
“Yup. He’s playing third. Let’s watch,” said Charlie.
Several of the ghosts took notice of us as we came to a halt near the field, but the security guard motioned for them to just keep playing. Shaking their heads, they turned their attention back to the game. While we sat, I noticed Paws scampering around the edges of the field and was relieved that he hadn’t abandoned us entirely.
“Earle shouldn’t stay here much longer if his body is gone, should he?” Charlie asked.
“Probably not,” I said.
We settled in on the thin, scraggly grass to wait. It wasn’t long before the inning was over. Earle kept looking at us curiously, so when the inning was finished I motioned him over. He frowned but came along.
I stood up to greet him while the game continued without him. There were plenty of ghosts nearby to take his place at third.
“I’m Lemmi. I’m the Witch of Mintwood,” I said, introducing my friends as well.
“I know who you are. I was hoping you’d leave me alone. This is probably my last night of happiness, so I’m trying to enjoy it,” he said.
I figured he meant that his ghost would have to leave this place soon, and he didn’t want to. Now that I saw him up close, he did look happy, but also a little worried.
“You didn’t want your body discovered?” Charlie was surprised. She thought every crime was best solved. The idea that a murder victim would want his body left in an abandoned mall sounded absurd to her. I couldn’t lie, I was surprised as well.
“I didn’t want to be found!” he groused. “Get away from me before you give away my location!”
“Give it away to whom? Are you in trouble with other ghosts? It’s that damn bear again, isn’t it?” Paws yowled, eying Mr. Earle with a mixture of concern and commiseration.
“What? Bear? No, definitely not! I’ve met the bear from Mintwood Mountain. He’s a lovely fellow,” said Mr. Earle.
“You’re dead to me,” said Paws.
“I’m a ghost . . .” said Mr. Earle.
Paws looked at him mulishly.
“Who are you afraid will find you?” I asked.
“My wife! Of course! She’s pure evil. Hate the woman and I’ll never forgive her for everything she’s put me through. People say marriage is hard. I laugh at them. They don’t know hard. Not unless they were married to my darling wife,” he grumbled.
“You heard she was dead?” Charlie asked.
&nb
sp; Greer flinched.
Mr. Earle’s eyes went wide. “She’s what! That’s even worse! I have to get out of here! You have to help me!” He rushed toward me and tried to grab my jacket. Unfortunately for him, that was not something ghosts could do. I stepped toward him and tried to comfort him anyhow, but he would not be consoled. His ghostly face had taken on a terrified look. He was the picture of misery.
“I thought I was safe as long as she was alive. She wouldn’t be able to track me down. There was always a chance she’d hire a witch to do her dirty work, but I figured she was too cheap for that. Now I know differently.” He shook his head.
“You know she isn’t too cheap?” Charlie asked.
“You’re really missing the mark tonight,” said Greer. “Now he knows she can track him down herself,” she explained.
“Why would she do that?” I asked.
“She thought I was cheating on her. She thought I had another woman,” said Mr. Earle miserably.
“Why would she think that?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“Were you cheating on her?” Greer wanted to know. Her tone had suddenly turned threatening. She was willing to believe that Mrs. Earle was crazy. She was not willing to tolerate a cheat.
“Definitely not! I’d rather be alone than take on the female gender again! Alone is saner,” he explained.
When he realized that three women and a cat were looking back at him, he swallowed hard.
“Apologies. It’s been a long time since I talked to anyone living. In the real estate game there’s a lot of fast talking and not a lot of apology. That’s what I’m used to, I’m afraid,” he said.
“You must know why your wife thought you were cheating on her.” I went back to that, on the theory that if his wife had a motive for murdering him, that might be the simplest of explanations for his death. Then again, that theory did nothing to explain hers.
“I came up with this crazy idea. In one of the houses I was trying to sell, I decided to use mannequins in the window to make the place look more realistic. She found the receipts for the women’s clothes I bought for the mannequins.” His shoulders drooped as he told the story.
“Of all the silly things,” Charlie shook her head. “People are ridiculous. Couldn’t you just explain the truth to her?”
“You try explaining the truth to a raging bull with hands that were regularly used to throw hard objects at me. She had good aim, too,” he said, rubbing his upper arm as if it had sustained an injury.
“Other than your dear wife, can you think of anyone else who wanted you dead?” Charlie asked through gritted teeth. She usually had an infinite amount of patience when it came to a story, but in this ghost’s case she was already fed up with his single-minded obsession with his wife.
“No. I’m not even sure I was murdered, to be honest. The real estate market was booming when I died, so I can’t imagine who else had it in for me. We were the only real estate game in town. There were no competitors or anything like that. I always paid my bills . . . yeah, there’s just nothing,” he said after a pause.
“What do you mean you aren’t sure you were murdered?” I said.
“Well, like I just said, who would want to kill me?” he said.
“You were buried in the floor,” I told him. “That doesn’t happen accidentally.”
“When you put it like that,” he frowned.
“This really isn’t getting us anywhere,” grumped Paws. “Now that his body is gone, I don’t think his ghost will linger.”
“Not if my wife is also dead. How did she die?”
“Murdered,” said Charlie. “Probably to cover the tracks of your murder. She definitely wasn’t innocent. And there’s a very good chance that she’s guilty of . . . something, anyhow.”
“Truer words were never spoken,” said Mr. Earle.
We said our goodbyes to the hapless Mr. Earle, who was only too happy to see us go. According to him, we were drawing attention to ourselves, and if his wife’s ghost was within a five-mile radius, our presence might draw her evil attention. He couldn’t have that.
Charlie was as eager to leave as Mr. Earle was to see us go. She thought we still had a double murder to solve, and interviewing one of the murder victims who couldn’t remember anything wasn’t going to help. But there should be the ghost of another murder victim somewhere in the vicinity, and as we made for the hill I turned my thoughts to that one.
As we headed toward the foot of the steep incline I could just see the nose of the Beetle peeking over the embankment. Charlie was grumbling about the brambles we were about to face, but I was more worried about the fact that it was almost morning for real.
We were just about to start upward when a light beam flashed behind us and a voice brought us to a halt.
Paws scampered off into the woods. “My fur is too shiny for prison!”
Slowly, I turned around.
Garnett was standing behind us, holding a flashlight.
Chapter Fifteen
“What are you three doing out here?” she asked, her eyes flicking back and forth from one of us to another. She looked as surprised to see us as we were to see her.
“We were going for a walk,” said Charlie lamely.
“This is private property. You know there’s been a murder. Is this part of your investigation?” she asked. Garnett was looking directly at us with a clear expression. She didn’t waste any time.
“Yes, we were looking into a couple of things,” I said.
Garnett was silent. She knew I was being purposefully vague, and she didn’t like it. But in the end she just sighed. “Very well. Just be careful. I thought all the looking around you had to do could be done with Detective Cutter nearby.”
“He certainly does make me feel safer,” said Greer.
“Nice one,” chuckled Paws.
“Do you need help getting back to your car?” Garnett asked.
“We’ll manage,” I assured her.
We wished her a good morning, then turned around and headed for the hill. As we walked I could see the shine of her flashlight spreading over the ground. She didn’t move for a long time.
I did come to wonder one thing as we left her behind: we had explained what we were doing at the crime scene, but she hadn’t.
Charlie and Greer both had to work long hours the next day. A bridge had flooded, and Charlie had been called away from the Hayview case to report on it. Hansen Gregory wasn’t going to be there but Temper was, and Charlie was looking forward to seeing the man in the flesh. She said she might meet up with Hansen afterwards, for purposes of journalistic fact sharing. Several bartenders had called out of work, so Greer had been called in to take a day shift.
Left at loose ends, I spent a lot of the day keeping Cesar company. He appreciated my presence so much that he had even gotten used to the smell of Charger on my clothes.
Back home, I found a lot of information that Charlie had left on the Earles and the real estate agency. I looked through it but didn’t find anything of significance. Then I took a drive over to Applewood, thinking it was important to find Mrs. Earle if I could. Her house was still cordoned off, but I looked around the outside anyway. There was no sign of the new ghost. The neighbor came out to chat with the little yappy dog in tow, but I didn’t learn anything from them, either.
There was no information in Applewood, and the fact that Garnett had caught us at Hayview was also a problem. By now she had undoubtedly told her brother about it, but we had heard no repercussions as yet.
Dinner that night would be cold sandwiches. Greer had called to say she was on her way home, but I hadn’t heard from Charlie. Then again, there was probably no cell service where she was, so the radio silence didn’t mean she had nothing to report.
“You have company!” Paws yowled from the porch.
I headed back into the living room to see what was going on. Sure enough, there were truck lights in the driveway. My breath caught. I knew who it was. Only
two guys we knew had trucks, and one of them was out of town right now.
Jasper must indeed have heard about our late night foray into the development.
A thrill ran through me, but then, all of a sudden, I was annoyed at the idea of waiting by the door for a man who was treating me in such a confusing way, and equally annoyed that he knew what I’d been up to (never mind that I was part of the investigation at his request). He had now shown up several times since he had said we couldn’t date openly.
I took a deep breath and told myself: No more!
I went back into the kitchen and stared around the room. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite know what to do. I had already eaten my sandwich. Since there was nothing I could pretend to be cooking, I went to the sink, where a small stack of dishes waited to be washed. I took to the washing with as must gusto as possible, scrubbing at each item while I waited to hear the knock.
But I didn’t hear any knock, or Jasper’s voice yelling. I told myself it was because the running water was loud, but after some time went by I started to wonder if he had turned around and drive away. I stopped what I was doing to listen, and when I heard nothing, I forced myself to return to washing. Maybe he had left. I hadn’t answered the door, so he had gone away.
That was good! He couldn’t just show up on my doorstep to chide me about dangerous situations, which was what I expected him to want to talk about. He had told me to let him know when we were going to Hayview, but giving him prior notice could have compromised the investigation. He could either date me and be mostly aware of my whereabouts, or not. He couldn’t have it both ways.
Besides, since I was, after all, a witch, it didn’t exactly make sense for me to keep him informed about what I was doing all the time!
“Lemmi?”
I screamed!
The voice was coming from the back door. He had come all the way around!
Miraculous Mintwood Magic Page 11