Ghostly Endings (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 5)

by Aubrey Harper

  “Two iced teas, a beer, and a sangria coming right up,” Danny said and left us alone to pore over the menu.

  I answered a couple of questions about what was good in my opinion and then when our drinks came, we put in our orders.

  “Now that that’s done, let’s talk about what we know so far,” Callie said. “But before we get into it, I’ve got some not-so-great news. While we were driving, I got a phone call from a potential client. It looks like I might need to cut this trip a bit short, so it would be really helpful if I could get access to those bones as soon as possible.”

  “But I might have just met the love of my life,” Lily complained as she stared at Danny across the room. He had just come back from the kitchen, presumably after giving our orders to the cook.

  “Lily, please,” Callie said. “You think every cute guy you meet is the love of your life.”

  “They might have been if you didn’t hold me back every time,” she complained.

  “You mean if I didn’t rein you in every time you had a little more to drink?” Then she turned to me. “She even tried a long distance thing with my brother. Needless to say, it didn’t work out.”

  “Guys,” Dax said. It was clear by the tone of his voice that he was used to being the voice of reason in this trio. “Could we please come back to the topic at hand? We’re here to help out Meredith and her dead friend, remember.”

  Callie visibly shivered. “She’s not here right now, is she?”

  I shook my head. “No. She’s doing some snooping on her own.”

  “That must be nice. Sure would help me with my investigations if I had an invisible helper like that,” Callie said. “Not that I want one, of course. Since I can’t see them and all. And my psychic visions are more than enough weirdness for me.”

  “It’s been a help more than once,” I said. “Thank you for coming all his way. I know I already said it, but you didn’t have to do this. Especially for free.”

  “I’d never charge a fellow freak,” Callie said with a smile.

  Lily practically cackled at that. “And people tell me that I’m a little off.”

  “I’ll try to talk to Sarah,” I said. “If that doesn’t work, maybe we can go for a not-so-legal midnight excursion.”

  “Ooh, now it’s getting interesting,” Lily said between sips of her sangria. At the rate she was going, this wasn’t going to be her only drink of the day, that was for sure.

  “You’d definitely be staying at the inn. I can just imagine your screams when you see the bones in person, and then we’ll all end up in jail.”

  “You know what, Callie?” Lily said. “It’s like you’re allergic to fun or something.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Excuse me for not wanting to get caught doing something illegal.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I was quick to say. “It’s definitely a last resort.”

  “Good thing I’m not an FBI agent anymore,” Dax said. “Otherwise, I’d have to excuse myself from this discussion.”

  “We don’t have much right now,” I said, bringing the discussion back on track. “But who knows, maybe we get lucky in the archives and find someone that looks like Rebecca in the newspapers.”

  “Didn’t you already do something like that before?” Callie asked.

  “Yeah, I occasionally do it every year or so, trying to see if I can’t find that needle in a haystack. Haven’t had much luck so far, but maybe this historical society has more things to look through, you know?”

  Just then our food arrived and we all dug in. I was hungrier than I realized. I guess that’s what happens when you’re preoccupied looking for clues to your dead friend’s possible murder.

  Once we were finishing up, the discussion picked back up. Lily was about to order her third sangria when Callie put a stop to it.

  “You know how you get when you’ve had too much,” she reminded her friend.

  “More fun?” Lily offered.

  While we waited for our bill to arrive, I got a call from the historical society.

  I told them my name and that they were referred to me by Ms. Webb, our trusted librarian.

  “What is this regarding?” The man on the other end asked.

  “It’s about those bones they found the other day,” I said. I wasn’t revealing a big dark secret. It was already in the local newspapers. Thankfully, it still wasn’t interesting enough to make national headlines. “We might have a lead on who they belong to, but we have to look at old news stories to be sure.”

  “We’ve got missing persons’ posters as well in one of these boxes. When can you come over?”

  “Anytime you want me there,” I said.

  “How does three o’clock sound?”

  I took a quick look at the clock on the wall. It was two-thirty now. “Sounds perfect,” I said. “Just give me the address.”

  “At least something is going our way,” Callie said after I hung up. “I’m only sad that I won’t be able to see this thing to its conclusion. We’ll have to leave tomorrow. Maybe the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

  “I’m just glad you were able to come at all,” I said. “Speaking of which, I’ll send a quick text to my cousin.” Then I did just that. But since Sarah was a nurse, it might take her a while to see it. It didn’t matter, we had things to do.

  Since Lily was feeling more than a little tipsy, we stopped by the inn to drop her off. But not before she got Danny’s number.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Callie said as we watched her friend enter the inn.

  “Yeah, yeah, then I wouldn’t be doing anything fun at all. You guys are such squares.”

  And with that, Lily was out of the picture. She seemed like a fun enough person to me, but her lust for life and any available decent-looking male was definitely not the kind of energy we needed to bring to the historical society of my lovely little hometown. I breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her.

  On the way to our destination, I felt lonely being all alone in my car. I took for granted that I usually had Rebecca by my side. But right now she was busy doing her own thing, gathering her own clues. I wondered how she was coming along. I hoped that whatever she was finding out wasn’t anything too traumatic. Then I started to think about how my life would look after we finally did find out what happened to her. Would it bring her closure finding out who she really was and who or what cut her young life short? Would she see the door of light and would she go through it, to that heavenly realm I’ve sent so many ghosts to? I couldn’t blame her if she did. But I would miss her, I knew that much.

  I looked over at the empty passenger seat and shook my head. This wasn’t the time or place to be thinking such thoughts. I had to focus on the task at hand. I had to find out what happened to my best friend. I had to find out how she ended up being my friend in the first place.

  The historical society was actually a house like the library, but this one was far grander. It looked like an old Victorian. I guess you couldn’t expect a small town like Silver Bells to have a fancy building built just for one purpose, but it sure would have been nice.

  “Are you sure this is it?” Dax asked me.

  I checked the address I jotted down on a Sammy’s Bar & Grill napkin. “Yup. The numbers definitely match,” I said. When I looked closer I actually saw a sign mostly hidden by some overgrown vines. “Plus, there’s a sign and everything.”

  I walked up the steps and rang the bell. It took a minute or two for someone to actually open the door.

  “Meredith Good, I presume?” And older man, probably in his early seventies, said.

  I nodded. “The one and only, sir. These are my friends, Callie and Dax. They’re helping me out today.”

  “Your ID please,” the man said.

  I handed him my driver’s license. After a thorough examination, he gave it back to me.

  “I’m Mr. Potter,” he said. “Before I let you inside, I’ll have to go over some ground rul
es. No food or drinks on the premises. You, Ms. Good, are the only one who can check things out. None of the things you check out can leave the property. If you must make a copy, you’ll have to go through me. The copy machine is in my office and I will handle it. Some of the things we have here are fragile and need to be handled with care. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. “I have some experience in the matter. Ms. Webb can attest to that.”

  “She has,” Mr. Potter said. “I just wanted to make sure. I don’t want any surprises.” He opened the door wide then and gave us enough room to enter. “Please do come in.”

  As I entered the old house, I felt like I was entering a whole new world. Hopefully, one that would give Rebecca some answers.

  Six

  To no one’s surprise, the Historical Society of Silver Bells Cove was in a larger space than the library, but it also looked like it had a lot less variety. No DVDs and Blu-rays section here, that was for sure, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some VHS tapes stashed somewhere in this place. No new releases in the book selection. In fact, all the books, which were behind the glass, of course, looked like they were first editions or at least very old copies.

  I followed Mr. Potter into a separate room. There I saw the trusty newspaper scanner thingy. There were three of them in fact, just enough for our little group.

  I told Mr. Potter the general time period I wanted to look at and he told me to wait right there.

  “Exciting,” Dax said. He kept looking at his phone as if he was waiting for a phone call or a text message.

  “Don’t mind him,” Callie said. “He’s used to being out in the field, catching the bad guys. It’s been quite an adjustment for him when he left all that behind and became a PI, who works for a psychic of all things.”

  “I’m not going to lie,” Dax said. “I do miss the excitement sometimes. But this sure beats getting shot at, that’s for sure. I just wish we were out there doing something instead of here looking at old newspaper clippings.”

  “It can be fun,” I said. “It gives you a glimpse of what life must have been like back in the old days. And sometimes you even find out something about someone you know. Though of course, that wouldn’t be true for you guys, but I’m sure if you tried it back in your hometowns, it would.”

  Just then, before I could babble on any further, Mr. Potter came back with a box with a fairly good selection.

  “Let’s dig in,” I said once he was gone. He offered to show us how the machines worked, but I already knew. They were identical to the ones at the library.

  We each took one roll of film and went to work. Let’s just say that it took us literally hours to look through all the news stories starting from 1995 and going backward. 1993 was actually the first time I saw Rebecca, though according to her she’d been alone before that for a long time.

  Between the three of us, we actually made pretty good work of getting through the newspaper slides. It was actually in 1985 that I saw a story about a missing girl that matched Rebecca’s description, but it wasn’t Rebecca. Just someone eerily similar to her. Long brown hair. In her early twenties. I told the others about my discovery and Dax started making notes and taking pictures with his phone. Then I did the same. It sure beat asking Mr. Potter’s permission to print everything of interest.

  After that, we got a little life back into our veins and continued to find story after story of missing local women. But none of the grainy pictures matched Rebecca exactly, though a few of them came pretty close. Either way, from the early seventies to the mid-eighties, there were stories about at least eight local women that went missing. Most of the stories seemed to imply that they went to California for a better life, for a career in Hollywood, or some such nonsense like that. The more of these stories that I read, the more and more uneasy I became.

  I was glad that Rebecca wasn’t here right now. She didn’t need to spend hours waiting for an answer, for a clue, that never came.

  We called it quits close to seven in the evening. But not before we took a look at the missing persons’ posters Mr. Potter had told us about. It was nice putting less grainy pictures to the names in the newspaper, but sadly none of them matched Rebecca.

  “I’m thirsty,” Callie said.

  “Me too,” Dax agreed.

  “Me three. I really hope Mr. Potter reconsiders his no drinks rule. At least let us have a bottle of water.”

  Once we were outside, it was already starting to get dark.

  “Gosh, I hate this time of year,” I said once we were in the parking lot.

  “We’re going back to the inn. Do text or call whenever you figure out the bones situation,” Callie said.

  “I will. Thank you guys for all your help. Thankfully, Kane is coming home tonight.”

  While we were poring over the newspaper scans earlier, I got a message from Sarah that she would try. I hadn’t heard from her since, which wasn’t a good thing.

  I thought about going back to my office but thought better of it. I doubted Rebecca was there, and besides, my grandmother had already closed up her bakery. I headed home. After all the stories about missing women, my hometown took on a sinister edge. Sure, it all happened decades ago, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something, or rather someone, evil living right under our noses. If the perpetrator was still alive that is. Sure, the stories weren’t all about Silver Bells Cove. But they were all fairly close, either here or in the surrounding towns. I wondered how many of the missing didn’t get a story written about them in the local paper simply because they didn’t go missing in the general vicinity of our beloved town.

  Gran was already home, watching TV, the cats fast asleep right next to her on the couch.

  “There are some pastries in the kitchen,” she said when she heard me come in.

  “Thank you,” I said. Then I took a good look around but I didn’t see Rebecca anywhere. I quickly went upstairs to check but she wasn’t there either. That was weird. Rebecca wasn’t one to be gone for so long. Either she lost track of time or she needed some time alone after finding out whatever it was Jonathan and the rest of the cops were privy to.

  I wolfed down a couple of pastries and drank a bottle of water. Once I was finished, I joined Gran on the couch. One of the cats, Marmalade, immediately laid down on my lap.

  I petted the cat while I filled in my grandmother on what I’d found out today. Once I was done, I asked her if she remembered any of the girls that went missing. I even showed her the pictures on my phone.

  “Vaguely,” she said. “I never was one to read the papers, I’m afraid to say. I was too busy living my life. But do you honestly think that there was something more sinister going on? Maybe they did just run away.”

  “Maybe. But Rebecca didn’t.”

  Gran cringed at that. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help. I’ll ask around. But let me see that story you showed me earlier.”

  I flipped through the pictures on my phone until she spotted the right one.

  “That name right there. That name’s familiar.”

  “Oh. You knew this woman somehow?”

  “I’m not talking about the missing girl,” Gran said. “I’m talking about the byline. I knew his wife.”

  I flipped through the pictures and saw the same name in the byline for more than a couple of the stories. Gregory Slater.

  “What about his wife? Please don’t tell me she went missing as well. Or maybe do.”

  “No, nothing like that. She died of cancer back in the late eighties.”

  “Oh, that’s sad. Were you guys close?”

  “Not as such. We went to church together. Gregory was always by her side. But after she died, he cut everyone off and kept to himself. He still lives in their old house, even though most of that neighborhood has moved on.”

  “I’ll try to talk to him. Maybe he remembers something from back then that the police don’t.”

  “Good luck with that, Millie,” Gran
said, using the nickname I hated so much. “He hasn’t even been in church since his wife was buried.”

  Just then, I heard a noise outside. It was a car. Which only meant one thing: Kane was home.

  I shooed Marmalade off me, which made her very happy indeed. I got out of there before I was left with a scratch across my hand.

  But once I opened the door, it wasn’t Kane’s van that greeted me. It was Sarah’s Toyota. She got out of the car, already looking apologetic.

  “No luck?” I said once she was on the porch.

  “I’m sorry, Meredith. I really did try. I pulled out all the stops.”

  “I believe you,” I said. “Want to come in?”

  “Yeah,” she said. She didn’t look like herself. She looked more tired than usual.

  I offered her something to eat and drink and she took me up on both. She took a couple of pastries and a bottle of water to the living room where she greeted Gran and the cats, from a distance, of course.

  Marmalade resumed her spot on my lap as soon as I sat back down.

  Once Sarah was finished with her pastries, she apologized once again for not being able to convince Jonathan to let Callie get close to the bones.

  “But she might get a vision of what actually happened to Rebecca. Of who might have been responsible…”

  “I told him all that,” Sarah said. “Believe me, I did. But he was pretty tight-lipped. He even said he’s going to post a few officers outside the funeral home in case you tried anything.”

  “That’s…that’s maddening!” I said. “As if I would ever do such a thing. Who does he take me for? A grave robber?” Still, it was good to know where Rebecca’s bones were. It saved me a trip to the morgue.

  “You’re laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think, sweetie?” Gran said to me.

  I glared at her. “You’re only getting away with calling me that because you’re my grandmother and you know it.”

  “She has a point, Meredith,” Sarah said. “We all know you’d be the first breaking into that funeral home if it got you close to those bones.”