A Ghostly Mortality: A Ghostly Southern Mystery (Ghostly Southern Mysteries)

by Tonya Kappes

  “Are you sure?” Granny asked, following me over to Jade’s casket and watching me place the flower spray.

  “Yes. Dottie Kramer has opened a flower shop in her barn,” I said and adjusted the ribbon to hang a little bit down the front of the casket.

  Like always, Granny and I stopped talking, clasped our hands in front of us, bowed our heads and gave a silent prayer for Jade Lee Peel.

  “Amen,” Granny whispered, lifting her finger, touching each shoulder, her forehead and then her heart.

  “Really?” My brows furrowed. “We aren’t Catholic,” I reminded her.

  “I also went back to Hardgrove’s to get my papers from Charlotte.” I wasn’t sure how Granny was going to take it.

  I ran my hands over a couple of chair covers on our way out of the viewing room and tugged on the seams to get a few wrinkles out. That was one problem with the blue linens; they showed all the imperfections the dry cleaners couldn’t fix and the lint was a problem too.

  “Did you get them?” Granny asked.

  “I sure did.” I pulled the ripped-in-half envelope out of my back pocket and handed it to Granny.

  “Oh no.” Granny shook her head. “Charlotte Rae is worse off than I thought.”

  Granny went to the kitchen while I went to my office to change. Artie would be here in no time and I had to be out of my jeans and T-shirt and into my usual undertaking outfit of black pants, black top and a black jacket. There was a note on my desk written by Vernon that my parents had called and to call them ASAP along with the rest of the messages he’d taken earlier.

  “Charlotte.” I jumped after I turned around and saw her sitting on the couch. “You scared the bejesus out of me. And I’ve got to go. I don’t have time to argue. I’ll see you at the service.” I stopped shy of the door when I didn’t hear her protest. I looked at her. “I told Granny about your behavior,” I tattled like a six-year-old little girl. She brought out the worst in me. “The torn-up papers are on my desk. You sign them and I’ll tape them back together.”

  I wasn’t about to wait around for her answer or to even respond to me. I scurried down the hall where the vestibule was already buzzing with people coming in to pay their respects.

  “Emma, dear,” Pastor Brown wrapped his arm in mine when I tried to slip by without being seen. “Artie Peel told me you had a special blue stole for the service. Can I get that?”

  “Yes.” I snapped my fingers. I had reminded myself earlier not to forget and I wouldn’t have if Charlotte hadn’t shown up. “Let me grab it out of my office. You stay right here.”

  Quickly I hurried back down the hall and ducked into the office where I knew Charlotte would be hiding out. She hadn’t made an appearance in Sleepy Hollow since she left (except when she’d practically begged Artie to hire her for Jade Lee’s funeral). She was afraid everyone was mad at her and image was all she cared about.

  “Emma,” Charlotte spoke with a low tone. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

  “What do you mean?” I shut the door behind me. Charlotte stood next to the window, staring out at the mourning crowd walking up the sidewalk toward the front of Eternal Slumber. “Why are you here? You knew I had a busy day and I don’t need you coming in here telling me how wonderful working for Gina Marie is and how much you adore Sammy Hardgrove.” There was a slight sarcastic tone in my voice.

  Charlotte didn’t move. Blankly she stared at me.

  “Are you okay?” I questioned when I got a good look at Charlotte Rae. She looked worse now than she did earlier when Granny and I went to see her.

  There were a couple of dirt smudges on her light green linen suit around the shoulder area and the neatly tied chocolate scarf was no longer in a loose noose around her neck. It was tighter. I swallowed hard and put my own hands around my neck. It made me cringe.

  The knock on the door made me jump.

  “Don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Charlotte said in a tear-smothered voice. A look of half-startled wariness crossed her eyes before she rushed to the office bathroom. “But I do want you to know that I called a carriage company and they will be delivering a Cinderella carriage for Jade to be taken to the cemetery.” She walked into the bathroom so as not to be seen.

  The office door opened. Granny stood with her hand planted on her hip.

  “Who you talking to?” Her eyes darted around the room. “Emma Lee, I asked you a question.”

  “I . . . um . . .” I gulped and looked toward the bathroom. Charlotte didn’t want anyone to know she was there and if I wanted her to sign those papers, I needed to go along with what she wanted. “I was going over my funeral welcome for Jade.”

  Granny’s lips pursed suspiciously. She gave a slight squint of one eye, a sideways movement of the jaw.

  “I know I’ve done these a million times, but I always like to practice. It’s not like Princess Jade will get another funeral and I get a do-over.” I smiled, took a deep breath, and rubbed my hands together.

  “You are as pretty as a speckled pup.” Granny walked over and lifted her hand. She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I know you are upset with Charlotte Rae not signing the papers. You might be a little envious of the big place she’s got up there in Lexington. You and I both know she ain’t happy up there. So you tuck in whatever is in that pretty little head of yours and go out there and send Jade off in grand style like Artie paid for.” She squeezed. “Nice touch with that Cinderella carriage.”

  Granny jerked me toward her and gave me a big bear hug. Over her shoulder, the bathroom door quietly opened. Charlotte Rae stuck her head out. Her eyes seared into me. Slowly she shook her head and lifted her finger to her lips. A slight “shh” escaped her mouth and she shut the door.

  “Now.” Granny pushed me out to arm’s length. “I’m going out to greet some folks. Put a little lipstick on and get out there.” Granny didn’t wait for me to say anything. She wasn’t going to hear of it. She and I both knew I had a job to do.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Granny thought lipstick solved everything.

  “We did go see Charlotte.” Granny stood in the middle of Beulah, Mable, Hettie, Marla and Mary Anna. “You wouldn’t believe all the responsibility she has on her shoulders.”

  I watched as all the Auxiliary women leaned as Granny wove a tale of Charlotte to put to rest any gossip the women might’ve started. As much as I wanted to march over there and tell them the truth, I restrained myself.

  “She is so good at making everyone happy. She hosts weddings and funerals.” I overheard Granny bragging on when I walked past and straightened the memorial cards that were placed on a stand stationed before you walked into the viewing room.

  The people paying respect for Jade had died down and people were beginning to take their seats. Pastor Brown stood up in front by the casket and placed his Bible on the podium. His razor-sharp blue eyes looked at me and he gave a little nod, letting me know he was ready. He ran his hand over his slick black hair. The sleeve on his brown pin-striped suit coat was a little too small, hitting above his wrist bone, exposing a tarnished metal watch. He cleared his throat.

  I turned and walked around, whispering to the small gathered groups that we were ready to start. Everyone walked into the viewing room and took an empty seat. John Howard stood in the hallway and flipped on the sound system. “Blessed Assurance” crackled through the old speakers.

  A cackle from the vestibule caught my attention as Granny walked over to me to stand in the back.

  “What is Charlotte doing?” I groaned and gave my sister the stink eye when I realized it was her laughing. She took a seat next to the sideboard table. “She told me she didn’t want anyone to know she was here. And now she’s making fun of the sound system.”

  “Hi-do.” Granny nodded at a couple of late folks as they walked by and took a seat in the back of the viewing room. “Where is she?”

  “By the sideboard,” I bent over and whispered. Charlotte smiled her pretty smile, crossed her long
, lean legs and twiddled her fingers in the air at me, giving me a little wink. A wink in Sleepy Hollow said more than a thousand words. “Uh.” I glared at her. “Of course she didn’t mean it. She wants everyone to see her,” I whispered.

  “Where?” Granny asked again. Her eyes darted around the vestibule.

  “In the chair.” I pointed to Charlotte in the chair. “Oh.” My mind reeled. “If she thinks she’s going to sit there by that sideboard after I told her that she couldn’t have it, she’s got another thing coming to her.” I wagged my finger at Charlotte.

  Granny smacked my hand.

  “Emma Lee Raines, that chair is empty.” Granny put her hand up on my forehead. “Are you getting sick? Have you taken your meds?”

  “So you really can see dead people?” Charlotte Rae was suddenly next to me. “And you really don’t have the ‘Funeral Trauma’?”

  Suddenly things had become very clear.

  Charlotte Rae Raines wasn’t there to visit her family home, make amends with me, sign the papers or help me with Jade Lee Peel’s funeral. She was there as a Betweener client.

  Chapter 4

  “This is not happening.” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and hurried back to the bathroom in my office. It was the only place for privacy, especially during a funeral.

  I’d left Granny to tend to latecomers. All she had to do was stand in the back as Pastor Brown said his eulogy.

  I locked the bathroom door behind me and opened the medicine cabinet door above the sink.

  “Where are you?” I fingered the pill bottles on the shelves until I came across the medication Doc Clyde had prescribed for me for the “Funeral Trauma.” I unscrewed the lid and popped one in my mouth. I looked at the bottle and noticed the expiration date had passed so I took another one for good measure.

  “I don’t think those are going to help.” Charlotte Rae stood behind me and looked over my right shoulder at my reflection in the mirror. “Hell, not even a couple shots of whiskey is going to make me go away.”

  “If you are here in”—I turned around to face my sister and drew my hands up and down—“in . . . in ghost form.” My voice cracked. “That means that you were . . .” I swallowed. Hard. “Murdered.”

  “I think I put up a fight.” She ran her hands down her green skirt, trying to brush the dirt off. She fussed with her messy hair. “Honestly, do you think that I’d look like this if I didn’t?”

  A tear trickled down my face. My heart was breaking in half. Charlotte Rae and I might’ve had our differences, but I never wished her dead. Or worse. Murdered.

  “Emma Lee Raines, you get yourself together right this minute.” Charlotte Rae fussed. “You are tougher than a pine knot. And I don’t want to see you grieving over me while I’m here. I want you to get of your keister, and find out who killed me and why.”

  I opened my mouth. No words came out. My chest felt like it had a twenty-pound weight on it as I tried to take a breath. My body shivered. My hands felt cold as though all the blood had drained from my extremities.

  “Okay.” Charlotte smiled. “Why don’t you tell me about this gift you have?”

  “Well.” I looked at my sister. Every bit of resentment I had for her had silently drifted away as if it’d never happened. “Do you remember when that snowman from Artie’s fell on me when I went down there to get us lunch?”

  She nodded.

  “When I woke up, you and Granny were on one side of my hospital bed.” I bit back more tears. “On the other was Chicken Teater and Ruthie Sue Payne. They were so excited that I could see them. I swear I thought I was—” I stopped myself.

  “Dead? Like me?” Charlotte took the words out of my mouth.

  I nodded. “Jack Henry and I went to see a psychic and she told me that I was given the gift of a Betweener. I help people who have been murdered figure out who killed them so they can cross over.”

  “Oh.” Charlotte Rae’s mouth formed an O. “Well.” She shook her head, flinging her red curls behind her shoulders. She straightened her shoulders and looked at me. “Ahem,” she cleared her throat as though she too were holding back the tears. “I reckon you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to figuring out who killed me.”

  “And just how do you think I can do that?” I stomped. “You are my sister. The others were just people in the community. But this.” I lifted my hands in the air and tilted my chin to the sky as if the Big Guy was listening. “How do you expect me to get through this one?”

  “Just like you did the others,” Charlotte Rae answered.

  “Where is your body?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “The last thing I remember was working at the funeral home. Someone had come up behind me and I clawed at them.”

  “In the funeral home?” I asked and pointed to her dirty skirt. “Where did the dirt come from?”

  Her normally pretty face contorted. She looked down.

  “So we know that you weren’t killed in your office.” It only made sense since she was dirty and Charlotte never liked to get dirty, so by reasoning, I knew she hadn’t willingly gotten dirty.

  “Good question.” Her voice was flat. Her green eyes narrowed speculatively.

  “What?” I asked, curious to what was going on in her ghost mind.

  “I was just thinking this whole sleuthing thing just might be fun.” She rubbed her hands together.

  “It’s not as great as it sounds.” I eyed her. “Do you even know the scope of you being my client?”

  Her face set, her jaw clenched, and her eyes fixed on me.

  “I have to tell Mom and Dad and Granny that you’re dead,” I said in a shaky voice. “I have to put my grief aside and help find your killer.”

  “Now you decide to get selfish?” Charlotte laughed. “You’re not the selfish one. I am.” She pointed to herself.

  “Selfish?” I drew back. “You are dead. My only sister. My only sibling.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Geez.” Charlotte twirled on her heels. “Don’t they know you are in the bathroom?”

  “Emma.” Jack Henry Ross called my name. “Honey, I need to talk to you. Zula Fae said that you were upset and said something about seeing Charlotte. I’m worried about you.”

  There was no sense in keeping it from Jack. He’d know soon enough when the Lexington authorities came to tell us that Charlotte Rae Raines was a victim of homicide.

  “Come on in.” I took a quick look out the door before I closed it behind him. Everything looked fine at Jade’s funeral and I was sure Granny was being a great hostess.

  I planted myself up against the back of the door and looked at Jack.

  “I guess you should know that I am seeing Charlotte. She’s sitting right over there.” I pointed to the couch. Jack Henry looked in the empty space and then slid his eyes to me.

  “You mean?” Jack made a slight gesture with his hand referring to a Betweener client like he’d always done.

  I stared blankly at him with my mouth open. I could feel my nostrils flare as I tried to hold back tears. I nodded.

  A stab of guilt lay buried in my breast. I had been so mean to Charlotte; it didn’t matter how she had treated me. It was the last real interaction I had had with her human self.

  “Oh, Emma.” Jack Henry drew me in his arms. He used the heel of his shoe to shut the door behind him, drowning out the crowd of mourners there for Jade Lee. He ran his strong hand down my head, petting me like a puppy. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered and snugged me tighter.

  We stayed there for a few minutes.

  “Ahem,” Charlotte cleared her throat. “I’m y’all’s number one fan and all, but can we get on with this?”

  “Yes.” I stepped back and wiped the tears from my face.

  “Yes what?” Jack Henry looked at me with the sympathetic eyes I knew all too well. They were the same eyes that I gave to the families of my Eternal Slumber clients.

  “Charlotte.” I couldn’t cry f
or laughing. “She’s telling us to get on with it.”

  “I understand that this”—he gestured between me and him—“is separate than this.” He pointed to the door at the funeral home. “I still have to tell your granny. Your parents.”

  “My granny.” A glazed look of despair crossed my face. “My parents.”

  There was nothing worse than telling a deceased family member of the demise of the loved one. Especially the passing of a child. Not that Charlotte was a little child, but she was still my parents’ child. There was nothing good that was going to come from this.

  “Can we wait until after Jade’s funeral service?” I asked. Not that any time was going to be better. “Or at least until the Lexington authorities confirm it. I just don’t think it would be good to dump on them that Charlotte is dead before she’s reported dead.”

  Jack looked at me. His eyes searched my face as though he was trying to read my feelings. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

  I was numb. I was sick to my stomach. This was going way beyond my Betweener duties and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep it together. Before it was all said and done, the fine citizens of Sleepy Hollow just might see me with a real case of the “Funeral Trauma.”

  Chapter 5

  It was not easy, but somehow I did pull it together for Jade Lee Peel’s repass, which was the supper after the funeral. The Auxiliary women hosted it in the basement of the Sleepy Hollow Baptist Church and it meant that as soon as the carriage dropped Jade’s casket off at the cemetery, my job was done.

  Generally my mouth watered thinking about the food served at the repass, but not today. Today I was probably going to skip out early and make an excuse that I had to get Sissy ready for her big day in the morning.

  But still, I was going to miss the food that was exquisitely prepared by the Auxiliary. The local high school football rivalries were kitten fights compared to the competition between the women in the Auxiliary, including Granny. They always brought their A game in the food department. One trying to outdo the other. Everyone kept score on who complimented their food, and at the end of the night, the Auxiliary women compared notes and someone always came out on top, upping the game for the next repass, which in this case would be Sissy Phillips’s.