A Ghostly Suspect

by Tonya Kappes

  “Huh?” I was taken back by her unusual request. “You know I do. You’ve been my advisor these past few years, though I’ve not seen a ghost in over a year.” I watched her intently. “It’s been a much-needed break,” I sighed.

  “I need you to tell me that you see murdered people,” she insisted, her voice more demanding. She turned back to the window.

  “Debbie.” Her serious tone made me search her face for some sort of answer. “Do you know something? Are you trying to tell me I need to know something?” I asked her.

  It wouldn’t be unusual to seek guidance from her and for her to tell me something about me or a Betweener client. But she’s never come to Sleepy Hollow to see me or acted in this way.

  “Debbie?” I put my hand on her arm.

  She continued to stare outside.

  “I need you to tell me you see dead people. Murdered people,” she clarified, standing as still as a statue. “It’s that simple. Why can’t you do this for me?”

  “You’re scaring me.” I gulped. My grip on her arm tighter.

  “Don’t!” She screamed and jerked away, dropping her glass and shattering it on the floor.

  “Emma Lee, is everything all right in here?” Trevor O’Neil, Sleepy Hollow’s new sheriff and thorn in my behind, stood at the door of my office.

  He took off his cowboy hat, showing off his curly blond hair. His dimples deepened, and he moved his bright-green-eyed gaze between me and Debbie. His eyes moved down to the broken glass.

  “It’s fine.” I hurried into my bathroom and grabbed a towel.

  What on earth was he doing here? My thoughts made my stomach gurgle. Ever since Trevor had been named Sheriff, replacing Jack Henry when he left to take a position at the Kentucky State Police, he’d made my life a living hell.

  Literally.

  “Miss?” I heard Trevor refer to Debbie.

  “I’m fine,” I heard her whisper, followed up by fast footsteps.

  I came back with a towel to clean up the mess when I noticed Trevor and I were all alone.

  “Where did she go?” I asked him, narrowing my eyes. “What did you say to her?” I bent down and picked up the larger pieces of glass, piling them up before I used the towel to start sopping up the tea.

  “Maybe I should be asking what you said to her to make her yell at you and why you had a hand on her.” He took slow steps toward me and stopped as he towered over my hunched body.

  “What do you want?” I asked him and stood up. “You sick and need some arrangements? If you do, I hear Burns Funeral has plenty of openings.”

  I might’ve been a little cruel saying such a thing to him, since I didn’t wish harm or death on anyone, but he didn’t make my life any easier around here. Plus, I did take some pleasure in the low client rate Burns Funeral, the other funeral home in Sleepy Hollow, was having at the moment.

  Trust me, Bea Allen Burns swooped up in here when her brother, O’Dell Burns, was elected mayor, leaving Burns Funeral in need of another director. It just so happened to be the time everyone was looking for a new funeral home due to the Funeral Trauma diagnosis. Bea Allen did everything she could to steal my clients, and she did.

  Now it was my turn.

  “I’m not going to give you another warning. This is it.” Trevor took a fistful of papers out of his brown sheriff-pants pockets. “Here are copies of the parking tickets you owe. I just gave you another one today. You can’t park your hearse anywhere you feel like when you’re not picking up a body. I don’t understand why you think you can park in a yellow zone, Emma Lee.”

  He extended the pile of yellow citations at me.

  “What makes you think you are above the law? You’ve given me fits since my first day on the job, and it’s going to stop.” He jabbed his hand toward me again.

  I was reluctant to take them.

  “This is your last warning.” When I didn’t take the tickets, he walked over to my desk and threw them in the air like confetti. “You have until the end of the week to pay all of them, or I’m going to arrest you. I’m not joking.” He shoved the hat back on his head. His brows wiggled, and he smiled, his dimples deepening. “Have a good day.” He stuck the cowboy hat back on top of his head.

  Chapter Two

  Sleepy Hollow was a cave-and-cavern town in Kentucky that was deep in a hollow. Eternal Slumber was downtown along with most of the other businesses. Residents lived around the town, but the town square was where all the action took place.

  The town square was exactly that. A square. There was a grassy park in the middle of downtown where everyone gathered. There was a big gazebo that was perfect for all the events we did as a community. Four roads ran alongside the town square with Main Street being the facing road.

  Eternal Slumber was located on the right side of the square along with Pose and Relax, a yoga studio that was owned by Hettie Bell. It was Hettie’s real job, and she only worked for Granny at the Inn part-time when she didn’t have classes scheduled at the studio.

  Girl’s Best Friend Spa, Artie’s Meats and Deli, the courthouse, Higher Ground Café, and Doc Clyde’s office were all located on Main Street, which was directly in front of the square. A little further down on Main was where the Normal Baptist Church was located and where you could find the entire town on Sunday mornings.

  Directly across from the square opposite from Eternal Slumber was the Sleepy Hollow Inn and Antiques. That was Granny’s place. More an inn than an antiques store, since she’d converted the actual shop into another dining room once she’d taken over the Inn fully after Ruthie Sue Payne had died. Long story. Granny did use some of the antiques as decorations and had price tags dangling off them, but since her renovation to bring the Inn up to date, she’d gotten away from adding any more antiques.

  Antiques were not the reason tourists came to town. It was the caves and caverns.

  On the opposite of Main Street and the road behind the square, there was a cemetery and a trailer park. It was nice having the cemetery close to the funeral home. This week I was going to be very thankful for the closeness because for the funeral I had scheduled for tomorrow, the family wanted to walk the casket to the cemetery for a graveside funeral. And a little further away from the square was where Burns Funeral Home was located.

  You wouldn’t believe the strange requests I’d get as an undertaker. Not from the Clarks. During our meeting, they wanted the typical day-before layout and visitation with a next day follow-up funeral. I was so happy Debbie hadn’t scared them off.

  Not that Debbie wasn’t an amazing person, but around these parts, people didn’t like to think of psychics or possible spirits running around. That’s why I was happy I’d been ghost-free for a while.

  “I see dead people,” I harrumphed and opened the door to the Higher Ground Café to get my late afternoon cup of coffee before I walked over to the Inn to check on Granny today.

  After visiting with Granny, I’d give Debbie a call and see if she’d settled down from earlier in the afternoon when she’d stopped by and abruptly ran out.

  “Shhh. There she is.” I heard the murmur of my arrival from the table on the left. When I looked, it was no surprise to see members of the Auxiliary group with their heads together. Beulah Paige Bellefry, Mable Claire, Marla Marie Teater, Mazie Watkins, and Cheryl Lynn Doyle all looked up, as innocent as could be. All eyes were on me, with fake grins planted on all of their faces.

  “Let’s get it out into the open,” I told the group of women who had more gossip between them than all the people employed by one of those national gossip magazines. “Here I am. What’s going on?”

  “It’s nothing.” Cheryl Lynn, owner of Higher Ground Café, jumped up and scooted me through her café to the counter. “It’s just that we heard about that weirdo moving into Sleepy Hollow. Some of the gals,” she started to say, leaning her head to the side, her eyes sweeping past my shoulder. I turned to look and saw the other ladies encouraging her to say something. “Well, the other gals do
n’t think the psychic kind needs to be here in Sleepy Hollow. They’ve done gone to Pastor Brown about it, Emma,” she whined with concern. “I even think the Baptist church is going to hold a meeting about that kind moving in here.”

  “Debbie Dually?” I snorted. “They think Debbie is moving to Sleepy Hollow?” I asked and laughed louder. “Woooooo, wooooooo.” My voice shook with fright along with my hands shaking in the air as I tried to be all spooky. “Don’t worry, y’all,” I turned around to inform them. “Not that it matters, but Debbie Dually isn’t moving here. No way. No how.”

  “Then why was she here, and why did she do that voodoo stuff in the funeral home?” Beulah Paige asked, tossing her long salt-and-pepper hair behind her shoulder. Her blue eyes focused on me.

  Beulah Paige was the leader of the pack and the Auxiliary women’s club president. She had spent a lot of time trying to stay young with her fake lashes and her fake tan, all of which she denied, though she did stay in great shape for forty-five.

  “Not that I need to explain anything to you,” I directed my comment at her when I walked back over to the counter to wait for my iced coffee. “Debbie is a friend of mine, and I didn’t realize it was against the law for a friend to come visit.”

  “Something was against the law because Fluggie said Sheriff O’Neil also stopped by on some business he had directly with you.” Beulah Paige was also the CEO of gossip in Sleepy Hollow.

  “Did she?” I asked and remembered I needed to get the obits over to her. Fluggie must’ve passed Sheriff O’Neil on her way out of the funeral home. “And it’s your business why?”

  “How’s Zula?” Mable Claire spoke up. She dug into her pocket and took out a couple of coins, handing them to the two little kids who passed by us. It was something she’d done ever since I knew her. She loved giving money to kids. “I’ve been meaning to stop by and see her. I know she’s still having a hard time with Charlotte Rae and the wedding. Every time I ring her to do something, she’s always got an excuse.”

  Mable Claire and Granny were best friends, and I didn’t want to see Granny become a recluse, so I wanted to make sure I stopped by the Inn to check on her.

  Granny was having a hard time? We’d never get over Charlotte Rae’s death, but we dealt with it. The wedding, well, it was a whole different story.

  Granny and Doc Clyde had been engaged, and she’d even tried on several dresses. White ones. After they’d gotten engaged, they’d started spending a lot of time together. More than their casual get-togethers. Doc Clyde loved Granny and everything about her, almost becoming too needy of her. Granny, on the other hand, came to the realization that she didn’t want a traditional husband. She only wanted a companion when she wanted one, not when he wanted one, which was all the time, all day long. So much so, he wanted to retire and wanted her to retire.

  Granny wasn’t about to give up her Inn or her freedom, leaving Doc Clyde’s ring on the patient table in his office. It wasn’t without a note from her. She wrote a Dear John letter on the white paper that Ina Nell, Doc’s receptionist, put on the patient tables for protection.

  Needless to say, Doc Clyde and Granny haven’t spoken in a year.

  “She’s doing fine. In fact, I’ve got to get going because I’m heading over there right now to get more of her delicious sweet tea for the clients at Eternal Slumber.” I gave each one of the women eye contact before letting my stare linger on Beulah. “I’ll make sure to tell her that you asked about her.”

  She shifted in her seat and looked away from me.

  “Whoever heard the likes,” I overheard Beulah whisper to the ladies since she always wanted to get in the last word in edgewise. “Offering iced tea when people are grieving. The last place they want to sit and chat is a funeral home. The repast, yes, but not while making arrangements.”

  I stopped, swiveled around on the soles of my shoes.

  “What was that?” I looked into the air like I could hear someone they couldn’t see. You know… stir the Funeral Trauma pot a little, just to keep Beulah on her toes. “Beulah? Really?” I laughed and slide my gaze to her.

  All the Auxiliary women drew back, lightly gasping.

  “Do you think she’s got the trauma again?” Beulah planted the seed in their heads on my way out the door.

  “Noooo.” I didn’t have to look back when I heard Mazie respond.

  I’d be getting a visit from her soon now that Beulah had planted that little seed of doubt in her mind.

  Chapter Three

  It was a beautiful sunny day, and sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the covered front porch of the Inn while visiting Granny was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves from Beulah Paige and the gossip she’d already started to spread about me.

  “Don’t you pay her any attention.” Granny tsked. “That woman talks enough for four sets of teeth.”

  Granny used the toe of her shoe to push the rocking chair back and forth.

  “You doing okay?” I glanced over at her.

  For nearly eighty years old, Granny was still very spry. She kept her hair short and dyed to a bright red. She dressed to the nines and always was a southern lady. Even when she blessed your heart through gritted teeth. Granny knew exactly how to make someone feel at home but stab them in the back if she needed to, and they’d never see it coming.

  “I’m good.” She nodded, her stare straight across the town square. “I’ve got a meat loaf in for the repast tomorrow. I even made an extra one for you and Jack Henry.” There was a glimmer of hope in her eye that told me she’d wished I was married, because to her, I was considered an old maid. “It’s date night, ain’t it?”

  “It is. And he’s going to love the meat loaf.” My mouth watered at the thought of her recipe.

  I wasn’t about to turn away Granny’s specialty. Heck, everything she made was special.

  Her meat loaf was made with two different types of meat, and it was always moist as well as tasty.

  “You tell him you made it. That’ll get him back here.” She winked, still trying to get me to the altar.

  “When you get married, I’ll get married.” It was all I had to say to shut her up. “By the way, the clients love your tea.”

  “Hettie Bell told me.” Granny gave me the side-eye. “Emma Lee, you feeling all right? Hettie told me some woman was at the funeral home waving a feather around like it was some sort of voodoo spirit stuff. And we aren’t going to Doc Clyde this time. I’m getting you a real doctor.”

  Until Granny and Doc Clyde had split up, Doc Clyde, in Granny’s eyes, was as close to a Godly man on earth as you could get, outside of Pastor Brown. She’d obviously changed her mind when she decided not to marry him.

  “Everything is good. I’m not ill.” I assured her and looked at my new fancy watch when a text chirped from it.

  “I dee-clare.” Granny pushed herself up to stand. “It was cell phones that took all our attention. Now you have that watch. Can’t you just sit a spell and not be disturbed?”

  “It’s Jack Henry.” I read his text, telling me what time he was coming tonight.

  “As long as it’s him.” Granny had a twinkle of hope in her eye. “In my day if you were near thirty…” she reminded me as she got up.

  “It’s not your day.” I raised my brows and in a nonchalant way told her it was none of her business. “We are fine. Happy and good.”

  “When’s he coming back to Sleepy Hollow to take over as sheriff again? I’m tired of Trevor.” She walked down the porch and picked the dead leaves out of the potted ferns, tossing them over the railing of the porch.

  “You’re tired of Trevor? I’m sick to death of him.” I’d forgotten about his little visit this morning and knew I needed to take care of my little citations. “He had the nerve to bring me all the parking tickets he’s given my hearse over the past couple of years and told me that he was going to arrest me if I didn’t pay them.”

  The sounds of sirens bounced off the mountains behind the Inn an
d echoed through the town square.

  Granny and I met at the top step of the porch and looked around to see what was going on. There were a few people gathered near the gazebo. The sirens got louder and louder.

  “Maybe Trevor is coming to get you now,” Granny joked when the sheriff’s car skidded into the parking lot across from the Inn.

  The Auxiliary women rushed out of Higher Ground Café and darted across the street, Frogger style, with Beulah Paige leading the pack.

  “Something must be wrong at the gazebo,” I said to Granny and kept an eye out while everyone rushed over there.

  “Come on!” Granny trotted down the steps and waved for me to follow.

  No one was going to get the gossip faster than Zula Fae Raines Payne.

  I shook my head, rolled my eyes, and followed behind her. I watched as the spectators reacted to whatever it was Trevor had bent over. Some of them held their hands over their mouths while others looked and then quickly looked away.

  “What’s going on?” Granny had sidled up to Cissie Clark and her husband.

  “Dead body.” Cissie gulped. Her eyes swept past Granny’s shoulder and focused on me. “Emma Lee, Roger and I’ll be taking our deposit back and moving our preneed arrangements to Burns.”

  “Why on God’s green earth would you do something so silly?” Granny was quick to come to my defense.

  “By the looks of it…” Cissie slid her gaze back to Trevor. “Emma Lee is gonna be gone for a long time with no one to run Eternal Slumber.”

  “What?” My brows furrowed. A nervous laugh escaped me.

  “Oh no, Emma.” I turned away from Cissie and looked at Debbie Dually, who was standing right next to me.

  “Where did you go earlier?” I asked Debbie and noticed she looked a little pale after some of the smoke cleared from around her. I fanned my hand in front of my face, “You’ve got to put that incense out,” I whispered.

  “Here.” Debbie pointed to the gazebo. “I came here.”