I pulled up the picture on my phone. Derek Powers was a handsome man in his forties. He had salt and pepper hair and a face that could probably belong to a model if it was younger and looked less weathered.
We walked around, trying to spot the contractor. And then we finally did. He was walking by the pier. It seemed he wasn’t here to fish after all.
“I already talked to the cops,” Derek said when he saw us approaching. “And Mr. Crane told me to definitely not talk to a blonde lady who thinks she can talk to ghosts.”
“Guilty as charged,” I said.
Kane stepped forward. “Then you can talk to me,” he said. “Mr. Samuel hired me to look into the death threats he was getting.”
“And how did that work out for him?” Derek said as he continued to walk.
We walked right alongside him. “Don’t you want to know who’s responsible?” I asked him.
Derek lifted his eyebrows. “Probably those Keep Everything Green lunatics. I’m definitely watching my back, that’s for sure.”
“Do you do a lot of projects for Mr. Crane?”
“Yeah, but mainly because I do most of my projects with Bart. Or did…until…”
“You guys were friends, weren’t you,” I asked. It was as clear as day on his face.
“Yeah, we were. What of it?”
“Then you can help us. We’re both working on his case.”
“Yeah, man,” Kane added, “don’t you want to get justice for your friend?”
Derek stopped talking and looked at Kane and me.
“I care a lot, so don’t even think for a second that you care more. But Mr. Crane has made it very clear that we only talk to the cops, and frankly, I think they have a better chance of solving this than either of you. Now please leave me alone. It’s been a hard couple of days as it is, I don’t need two nosey amateur detectives wasting my time.”
With that, Derek walked away.
“He wasn’t of much help, was he?” Kane said.
I nodded. “Maybe, maybe not. But at least we know he cares. Whether that means that makes him capable of murder remains to be seen. Don’t they say that your murderer is usually a family member or someone else close to you?”
“That’s what they say,” Kane agreed. “That’s what they say.”
Fifteen
“And here I thought you were a respectable girl,” Kane said jokingly after he let me into his room at the inn.
“Very funny,” I said as I pushed him out of my way. “Now where is this super-protected computer of yours? It’s about time we finally had a look at those books.”
Kane fished his laptop from a suitcase under the bed.
“Very good hiding spot,” I said. “No one looks under the bed, do they?”
Kane ignored me as he powered up his laptop. He input his password while Rebecca watched from behind him. What can I say? There are perks to having a ghost on your side.
“Here it is,” Kane said after opening the attachment Donna had sent him.
I sat next to him on the bed and looked through the file as he quickly browsed through it.
“Maybe we should start at the beginning,” I offered.
Kane gave me a look that probably meant “Really?”
But he did as he was told. He went to the beginning of the document. It was all spreadsheets and numbers and I was starting to get a headache just trying to make sense of any of it.
“I don’t think this is as useful as I thought it would be,” I finally said when I couldn’t take it anymore. “It doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
“Let me guess, you failed basic math?” Kane joked.
“I barely passed. There’s a difference. So you understand all of this?”
Kane turned the laptop toward me. “You just have to follow the different columns. That one is expenses, that one is profit, and that’s the difference right there.”
“Yeah…I get it now,” I said, though I still wasn’t certain. “Okay, maybe I just don’t want to get it because numbers are the enemy. I think I’ll go turn in for the day. You should call me as soon as you have something.”
“I don’t have your number,” he said, looking up at me with sad puppy dog eyes.
I sighed. I recited the number and waited for him to put it in his phone.
“See you tomorrow, Kane,” I said as I got up to go.
“Yeah, see ya,” he said barely looking up from the laptop. Apparently, those numbers were really interesting for some reason.
Rebecca stayed behind as I made my way out of the inn. She caught up just as I was about to turn on the car.
“Took you long enough,” I said. “Anything to report?”
“He likes you.” Rebecca’s face lit up with a smile.
“He said that? To himself just after I left?”
“Not exactly. But he had a huge grin on his face.”
“Probably because he thinks he’s getting away with murder. Thank you for making him my number one suspect now, Rebecca.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said as I headed home.
I knew I was being silly. There might have even been some slight blushing action going on. Thankfully, the shadows obscured that.
Gran was home with a worried look on her face.
“Sarah called, I presume?” I said.
“Of course she did. How did you manage to get yourself arrested?”
I quickly explained what happened with the billionaire and then at Bart’s office.
“It sounds like you’ve had quite a busy day,” Gran said. “And it seems like you’re getting quite close to this private eye. Are you sure you can trust him?”
“I don’t think I can trust anyone right now, what with the murder investigation and all. Everyone’s a suspect.”
“Even little old me?” Gran joked.
I didn’t laugh.
“You can’t seriously think I’m capable of something like that?”
“Of course not,” I quickly said. “But you know how it is. Everyone’s a suspect until they’re not.”
“And to think I spent the best years of my life raising you.” Gran took the plate of cookies I was munching from out of my grasp. “No cookies for you, missy!”
“Gran! You can’t be serious.” I complained.
“Sarah is coming over for dinner. I don’t want you to ruin your appetite,” she said and then checked on something in the oven. “It’s coming along nicely. Though I’m not sure if you deserve to be fed anymore.”
“You know I didn’t really mean it, right?”
“It hurts all the same that you would even think it.”
Rebecca gave me a look that said she agreed with Gran.
“Even Rebecca is against me now,” I complained.
Then there was a knock on the kitchen door. Both Gran and I jumped up but quickly saw it was just Sarah. She even brought a bottle of wine.
“What happened?” Sarah asked as soon as she saw me. “Jonathan refused to talk about it,” she added when she sat down at the table.
I told her the whole sordid affair.
“So you were trespassing…” she said thoughtfully.
“And don’t you dare tell Jonathan that. Blood beats boys, remember?”
“Meredith, we’re not kids anymore. You could have been thrown into jail!”
“Thanks, mom,” I said.
“I’m being serious,” Sarah continued. “Jonathan let you go with a warning this time. What if it was some other cop? What then?”
“He gave me a warning because he had nothing to keep me for. It was that billionaire’s word against mine.”
“Girls, girls, leave this kind of talk for after dinner, okay?”
Dinner was served. Gran, like always, never disappointed. Even Rebecca looked interested in our meal.
And after all of that, we still had room for pie. This time, it was a raspberry blackberry pie that was more delicious than heaven, if one could imagine what heaven must taste like.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. But sometimes you have to do certain things to get the answers you want. I can’t choose where ghosts decide to go. I just have to follow them.”
We spent some time watching TV in the living room. It was some sappy movie on the Hallmark channel that almost sent me to sleep. I was woken up by a text message sound.
I thought it might be Kane so I quickly reached for my phone, but then I saw Sarah looking at hers.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s Jonathan. He just canceled on me. We were supposed to hang out later tonight.”
That didn’t sting nearly as much as it would have just a day ago.
“Did he say why?”
“I just asked him. I’m waiting for his reply.”
“Oh,” Sarah said when she received another message.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Sarah said, quickly putting her phone away. “Let’s just finish this movie. I want to know who she’s going to end up with.”
“Puhleese, it’s plain as day she’s going to choose the super hot and super nice guy. It doesn’t hurt that he’s secretly a millionaire, either.”
“Well, it’s not the ending, it’s the journey, right?”
“Give me your phone,” I demanded.
“Not a chance,” Sarah said, getting up and heading for the door.
I looked in Rebecca’s direction. She knew exactly what I wanted to know.
“Sorry,” Rebecca said. “I was really into this movie.”
“Ugh! Stop acting like a child!” I practically screamed as I caught up to Sarah. We were on the ground now, wrestling each other. Pretty soon there was going to be some hair pulling.
“Girls,” Gran said as she stood above us with her hands on her hips. “Stop this madness now. You’re not teens anymore.”
“I’ll stop as soon as she shows me her phone!” I complained.
“Never!” Sarah screamed as she tried to get out of my grasp.
She slipped through my grasp and was closer to the front door than ever.
“Oh no you don’t!” I yelled as I ran after her.
“It’s my phone, it’s my property! You have no right, Meredith! You have no right!” Sarah said as she held her phone close. It was in her hands now. If she thought that was a good idea she had another thing coming.
“Wait! Wait!” She finally said after I started to tickle her. “I’ll tell you, just stop! You know I’m ticklish!”
Gran shook her head. “What’s the world coming to when two grown women are acting like toddlers?”
“Gran, welcome to the future. Twenty-eight is the new eight!” I said proudly as I blocked Sarah’s way to the door.
“I’m waiting,” I said to Sarah. “You said you were going to tell me what it said.”
Sarah composed herself. “I’ll only tell you if you answer a couple of questions for me first.”
I rolled my eyes. This was going to be rich. “Fine, I guess I can do that,” I relented.
We all sat at the kitchen table with cups of tea in hand. The cookies were back on the table now and I was more than happy to take the opportunity to stuff some in my mouth.
“Why did you leave town?” Sarah asked. “I thought the plan was to stick together for the rest of our lives?”
Sarah looked hurt and I couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t fair to her what happened all those years ago.
“I needed a change,” I said. “I was suffocating in this town and you were so happy to be here I didn’t want to bring you down, or away, with me.”
“Did you leave because of Jonathan?” She asked.
I shook my head. “No. Maybe a little bit. It was mainly about me. I needed a change. I guess I’m not so different from my parents after all…”
“Don’t say that,” Sarah said. “At least you didn’t abandon your kids.”
“They were too young to have children,” Gran chimed in. “Or at least that’s what I tell myself.”
“What did you do for ten years?” Sarah asked. “I mean, that’s a long time.”
“It is and it isn’t. As soon as I stepped back into town it felt like I hadn’t left at all. It was a strange feeling. As far as what I did? Nothing special. I had a semi-successful ghost hunting business. I helped people with their haunting problems by helping the spirits move on. I helped out on a couple of missing person cases. That’s about it. I was doing okay but in the last few years the business has really dried up.”
“And that’s the only reason you came back here? Because you had nowhere else to go?”
“Pretty much,” I said. It sounded harsh but it was the truth. I loved my grandma and cousin and I’d be there for them if they asked me, but I preferred my solitude. Well, at least when it came to the living. I usually didn’t mind having Rebecca around.
Sarah looked hurt and she looked away.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I missed you and Gran but I was quite busy with the ghosts most of the time.”
“What about men? Any special relationships during all that time?”
“A few, but let’s not get into that, okay? I’ve been off men for a few years now. What about you, any special men in your life before Jonathan came along?”
“Just one. Seth. We dated for five years and he still had a fear of commitment. I had to end it. And then right after I did he knocked up some girl and they’re married now. I think they’re on their third child…”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Men,” was all I needed to say. Then I thought I remembered a Seth from my high school years. “Don’t tell me it’s Seth the mascot?”
“One and the same.”
“What were you thinking?” I still couldn’t stop the laughter. I nearly choked on my cookie.
“He made me laugh. What can I say? It’s my weakness.”
Going to a more serious topic, I asked Sarah why she decided to be a nurse.
“Helping people, of course,” she immediately said.
“But why Dr. Bottomley?” I still couldn’t believe she worked for that man.
“He’s not as bad as you would think. Plus, the hospital wanted some experience so now I’m getting it.”
“So, are you ready to tell me what Jonathan said in his text?” I finally asked. It seemed like the time. If she refused to tell me now, there was definitely going to be some hair pulling.
“He said there was another murder,” Sarah said.
“What?!” I immediately got up. “And you’re telling me this now?”
“Sorry, but I don’t think you should get involved. Jonathan told you not to interfere in police business, didn’t he?”
“I’m definitely going to check this out. There could be a confused ghost there waiting for someone to talk to. Do you think they’ll be able to talk to Jonathan or any other cop? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
“I’m going with you then. To stop you from doing something stupid.” Sarah got up to go.
I shook my head. “You’re a nurse. I’m a ghost hunter slash PI and Kane is a PI. I think you should probably stay here with Gran.”
“I can take care of myself,” Gran said but no one believed her.
“I’m calling Kane,” I said. “I won’t go out there alone if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Kane answered on the second ring. “What’s up?” he asked, sounding kind of groggy.
“Did I just wake you up?”
“I just dozed off watching TV. What’s happening?”
I told him about the murder and that immediately woke him up.
“Do you know where it is?”
“Sadly no,” I said. “I was hoping your reporter friend might be able to find something out.”
Kane said he’d call me as soon as he had an address.
It was an unnerving couple of minutes as I
waited for him to call me back. When the phone finally rang I immediately answered it.
“And?” I asked.
“And I have an address,” Kane said. I could hear the cocky grin in his voice.
Sixteen
I met Kane by the shining police lights. Rebecca was with me of course. Some recently dead always felt a lot more comfortable if they weren’t the only see-through person there.
“What happened? Did your friend say anything?” I asked Kane as soon as I got out of the car.
“She doesn’t know much. She had just gotten a tip when I called her so the location was all she knew and she was kind enough to share it with me.”
“I sure was,” Lucy said when she came up behind us.
“Speak of the devil and she appears,” Kane said jokingly.
“Very funny, Kane, very funny. It looks like the victim is a male in his forties. There are whispers that he might be the contractor that worked on the Crane projects around town. He also worked with the previous victim, Bart Samuel.”
“We just talked to him earlier today,” Kane said. “This is awful. Do they know anything?”
“It looks similar to the previous killing. Blunt force trauma. The killer probably came up behind him. Either way, there’s a story to report, so I gotta go!”
“This is crazy,” I said. “I can’t believe there are now two murders in Silver Bells. What’s going on with this world?”
“Hopefully they slipped up. Getting away with one murder is hard enough. Getting away with two is practically impossible.”
“Did you find out anything from the books?” I asked, holding myself closer even though it wasn’t that chilly. A storm was on the way, though. I could feel it in the air.
“That might have been the reason I dozed off earlier,” Kane said with a sheepish smile. “I’m afraid we’ll have to ask Donna to make sense of it. Maybe even Bart.”
“Speaking of ghosts, I’m keen to talk to Derek. I sent Rebecca to find him if she can.”
“Smart idea. I don’t think the cops want to see our faces right now.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Because you were coming,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said reluctantly. “Oh, it looks like Rebecca is back.”
Ghostly Apparitions (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 1) Page 10