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

by Tonya Kappes

  “Granny!” I screamed, waving my hands in the dark night. “Granny!” Running faster than I ever had. It was like time stood still when I reached the porch.

  My eyes clung to hers, trying to measure her reaction. A rare and primitive grief crossed Granny’s face.

  “Sir.” I grabbed Granny. She buried her head in my neck. “I’m Emma Lee Raines. Charlotte’s sister.”

  “We are so sorry to inform you about your sister’s death.” The tallest of the two officers held his hat to his chest. His eyes caught mine. His eyes lowered. “You are the intruder . . .”

  Crap. He was the same officer who had come to Hardgrove’s and warned me not to come back.

  “Ahem.” Jack cleared his throat. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he’d caught on to the tail end of the officer’s admission of seeing me earlier. Something I had yet to tell him about, though I might never have told him.

  “Do you know who murdered her?” I asked, hoping to get this solved as quickly as possible. I wasn’t sure how Granny would hold up if I had to investigate her murder myself.

  “Who said she was murdered?” the smaller and beefier officer asked. He had questioning eyes. “We aren’t sure she didn’t commit suicide.”

  “Murdered? Suicide?” Granny sobbed in the crook of my neck. “There is no way she would have committed suicide.”

  “Suicide!” Charlotte was just as stunned as me. “No way. I was murdered, Emma Lee. Tell them!” The shrill Charlotte voice I was used to was back. “Tell them now!” The bossy Charlotte I was used to was back. “If you don’t tell them, I will haunt you forever and it won’t be pleasant.”

  “Suicide?” The word dripped out of my mouth like a curse word. “There is no way Charlotte would ever commit suicide. She is way too conceited.”

  “Emma Lee!” Granny gasped, switching from my neck to Jack Henry’s. Whoever was going to comfort her the way she wanted, she was going to.

  “I’m Sheriff Ross, the sheriff here in Sleepy Hollow.” Jack shook hands with both officers. “Please, come in. As you can see, we are in a bit of shock.”

  The officers seemed to be more interested in me than the fact my sister had been murdered.

  Jack Henry opened the door and the officers walked in the foyer of the inn.

  “Emma, what’s going on?” Cheryl Lynne Doyle, still wearing the Higher Grounds apron, stood on the sidewalk in front of the inn with the rest of Sleepy Hollow. “We saw the flashing lights.” She gestured behind her.

  “Charlotte Rae has been ki—” The word killed almost escaped my lips. “Has died.” My head lowered along with my voice.

  An audible gasp blanketed the crowd as I headed inside. Right behind me came Hettie Bell.

  “Don’t worry about the inn.” She grabbed me by my shoulders. “I’m here as long as Zula needs me. I’m not busy at Pose and Relax anyways.”

  Immediately, Hettie took over and spoke to the guests staying at the inn who had gathered in the foyer to see what was going on. I turned right into the gathering room where Granny kept snack foods and held high-noon tea for her guests. Sadly, there was nothing but a display of empty dishes. By the looks of Granny and the flour in her hair and on her face, she had been preparing for the next day’s menu when the officers arrived.

  “Ma’am.” The officer turned his attention to me. Jack had seated Granny on the couch, but didn’t let go of her. He was a great pillar of strength and Granny needed it right now. “Why do you think your sister was murdered?”

  “I . . .” Out of the corner of my eye, Jack Henry’s head drifted toward the ground. He knew. “This would be out of character for Charlotte. There is no way she would do this to herself or us.”

  “Her boyfriend found her in his apartment on the south side of Lexington with an empty bottle of pills in her grip.” The officer read off a small notepad.

  Granny’s little body couldn’t take any more. Jack Henry laid her completely down on the couch and knelt down next to her. Granny lifted her hand over her eyes; her body shook with pain before she darted up.

  “Her boyfriend?” Granny growled. Her bloodshot eyes narrowed as she spoke. “Charlotte didn’t have a boyfriend. Are you sure you are talking about my granddaughter, Charlotte Rae Raines?”

  Oh no. Just another layer of Charlotte that Granny was going to be upset about. I warned Charlotte that when Granny found out about Sammy, she’d go bat-shit crazy.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The shorter officer kept his eyes on me while answering Granny’s question. “We have a statement from Mr. Samuel Hardgrove who identified her.”

  “Sammy Hardgrove found her?” Immediately he became a suspect right along with his wife.

  “Samuel Hardgrove is married. You are mistaken.” Granny shook her head. Her red hair was no longer styled neatly.

  “No, ma’am, we are not mistaken.” The officer was being a complete jerk. “Maybe there was a side of your granddaughter she didn’t want you to see.”

  “That is enough!” I bolted into his face. “You can leave now.”

  When the officer stuck his hand on the butt of his gun that was snapped into his hip holster, Jack Henry popped up to his feet and got between me and the officer.

  “Thank you for coming by. As you can tell, this has been a blow to the family.” Jack Henry and the cop had their cop thing going on with the looks. They weren’t fooling me any. “Can you give us the rest of the day to digest what has happened? Zula can come by to work out the details for the body after the autopsy is done.”

  “I don’t see a problem with that, do you?” the officer asked the other. “Let’s leave these good people to grieve.”

  “We are sorry for your loss,” the officers said in unison before they let themselves out.

  There was a brief silence. Each of us seemed to wait to see if the other was going to break the stillness between us.

  “Granny,” I whispered. “I’m sure there is an explanation for this. I really don’t think Charlotte committed suicide.”

  Granny’s chin lifted. There was a scowl full of piss and vinegar on her face.

  “There is one thing I do know.” Granny lifted herself to stand. “Charlotte would never be caught dead in public without makeup on. So, there is no way she would let her legacy be left to a suicide.” She shook her finger at Jack Henry. “Someone murdered my granddaughter and you are going to figure out who did it.”

  “That’s right, Granny!” Charlotte clapped her hands in delight. “You keep that attitude.” Charlotte beamed like Granny could hear her.

  “Heaven help the fool that wronged her.” Granny shook her head before she hung it back toward the ground and shuffled out of the room and up the stairs.

  Chapter 9

  Hettie Bell talked Granny into drinking one of her lime-green concoctions after I had slipped in a couple of sleeping pills to knock Granny out cold.

  The inn was going to be filled with people coming and going, dropping off food and giving their condolences, and Granny just wasn’t up to it.

  When someone died, the Auxiliary women went to work and ordered all the residents to bake something or buy something to take to the deceased’s family’s home. Generally, Granny was in charge of this task, but not this time.

  There wasn’t a dry eye at the inn when I left. Everyone loved Charlotte Rae. She was always the pretty one, the sane one, the best-dressed one, the one who had it together. The scandal between her and Sammy was a legacy I wish she hadn’t left. But with Sammy as the number one suspect on my radar, I knew I was going to have to go see him.

  “Spill it.” Jack Henry didn’t waste any time getting to the heart of the matter after we made it back to Eternal Slumber. “How did that officer know you?”

  “I went to Hardgrove’s before Sissy’s funeral to see if I could find any clues in Charlotte’s office. The receptionist called the police to report me trespassing, but Gina Marie covered for me.”

  “When I asked you to turn around and let my bud
dy on the force handle it, you actually lied?” he asked with a slightly tilted head.

  “Not lied, just kept out every detail of what I was doing.” Of course it was a lie. I knew he wasn’t going to go along with me wanting to go back up to Hardgrove’s when we both assumed Charlotte’s death had something to do with that place.

  “No matter how big or small, a lie is a lie.” Jack took the moral high ground, the one that made him such a great cop.

  “I did find out a bit of information that you can look into.” Changing the subject off me was exactly where this conversation needed to go.

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “Charlotte was going on vacation with Sammy. She and Sammy were having an affair.” I put my fisted palm in the other palm and grinded it. “I have never been so mad in my life.”

  The ghost cat darted into the room and jumped up next to Jack Henry. Immediately he started to sneeze and scratch his nose. The cat dragged its tail under Jack Henry’s chin as it walked across Jack Henry’s lap. He reached up and scratched.

  “Are you okay?” I asked and put my hand on his shoulder as he sneezed.

  His eyes squinted, his nose curled, and his mouth slightly opened before he sneezed again.

  “I haven’t sneezed like this since I was a kid and found out I was allergic to cats.” He put his face in his hands and sneezed a few more times.

  “Oh no.” I couldn’t help myself. I brought my hands up to stifle my giggles. “I hate to tell you but there is a ghost cat following me around.”

  “What?” Jack Henry jumped up and rubbed his hands through his hair. “Your sister and a cat?” I gave him a sympathetic look and made a kissy face. “Are they related?”

  “No, but . . .” I stopped to remember Sissy’s missing pin. I had heard cats loved to play with shiny things. Had the cat taken the pin?

  “Huh?” Jack shook his head.

  “The cat was all curled up on Sissy. Do you think it could’ve eaten the pin?” I questioned.

  “Anything is possible around here,” he said. “I guess you are going to have to look around. Don’t ghosts move stuff all the time?”

  “I guess.” I shrugged. “Charlotte said the cat isn’t attached to her. So I wonder if he was attached to someone else here and is just now finding me.” I shook my head. “It’s obviously not my top priority. Let me get you some allergy medicine.”

  I went into my kitchenette and rummaged through the drawers. There wasn’t any there.

  “Look in my office bathroom. I have some in the cabinet.” Charlotte appeared out of nowhere, causing me to jump. “You two really are cute, Emma.”

  “Thanks.” I headed out the door. “Charlotte said she had some in her office bathroom.”

  “She did, did she?” Jack Henry paced back and forth, scratching his nose. It was beet-red. “Ask her who killed her.”

  I hurried out into the funeral home and went directly to the bathroom, finding the medicine exactly where she said it was. I hadn’t even thought about cleaning out the bathroom when I took over.

  “She doesn’t know,” I called over my shoulder when I walked back into the kitchenette and grabbed a beer out of the small refrigerator and took it to Jack. “Or I would’ve already told you.”

  “Thank you,” Jack said through a stuffy nose and took the meds, swigging them down with the beer. “Is she here now?” He sat down on the couch.

  I looked around. “No.” I sat down next to him, pulling my feet up under my legs and resting my head on Jack Henry’s shoulder. I laid my hand on his chest. It felt so safe. “She is dirty. There is dirt on her suit, and you and I both know Charlotte Rae never got dirty. And if she did, she immediately cleaned herself up.”

  “I’m worried about you. You seem awfully calm for someone who has just lost her sister.” His warm breath hit my skull along with a pair of very soft lips.

  “It doesn’t seem real because I can see and talk to her.” My heart felt a little tug from the knowledge that when I did help her cross over, I would have to deal with the fact I wouldn’t see her again. “She’s actually much nicer in death.”

  “Probably because she needs you to help her.” Jack made a good point. “Not that she didn’t need you before. I didn’t like the way she treated you when she was here. Did she say anything about the papers?”

  “Not really. She said there is a file with my name on it in her top drawer.” I bit my lip thinking about Charlotte’s face after Granny’s reaction when the cops told her that Sammy Hardgrove had identified Charlotte’s body. I’d never seen such pain in her eyes. Eyes were so haunting. “She begged me not to say anything to you about the affair because she didn’t want people to know.”

  “Unfortunately, that will be the last thing they remember about her.” Jack ran his hand up and down my back. “You’re thinking the wife found out?”

  “That was what Charlotte was worried about. I can’t help but wonder if Mary Katherine Hardgrove found out about her husband’s affair and killed Charlotte in a fit of rage.”

  “I’m hoping the Lexington police changed Charlotte’s death to a homicide and turned the case over. I should hear any minute from my buddy and then you can get her body home where it belongs.” Jack was trying to soothe me, but the only thing on my mind was getting Charlotte’s killer.

  “Maybe I can dig around until then. I know the Hardgroves pretty well.” I should’ve told Jack Henry about the files I had taken from Charlotte’s office, but I didn’t have the energy to explain it. Any energy I had left, I wanted to focus on him.

  “I really don’t want you to do that.” Jack pulled back and I looked up at him. “I’m thinking you are just going to have to put up with her ghost until the Lexington police figure it out.”

  His mouth moved over mine, devouring every bit of softness before he crushed me to him, picking me up. Slowly he walked with me nestled in his arms, his lips seared down my neck. I squinted with one eye open. With that one eye, I scanned the room, making sure there was no sign of Charlotte or that cat.

  When I saw the coast was clear, I threw both arms around Jack Henry’s neck and let him help me forget the day’s pain.

  Chapter 10

  “Wake up, sleepyhead.” The voice curled around me, bringing me out of my slumber.

  The sunlight pierced my eyelids, waking my mind to the events of the day that lay ahead. Things I never wanted to ever be part of. It meant I was going to have to get up and look Jack Henry in the eyes—after a night I wouldn’t forget in a long time—and lie straight to his face, even smile while doing it.

  There was a heaviness on my chest. It wasn’t the loss of Charlotte, it was the darn cat all curled up and sleeping on me.

  I put my arms above my head and stretched to high heavens before opening my eyes. The cat jumped up and darted off the bed.

  “Charlotte.” I looked to the left of me at the empty space and the neatly pulled up covers where I knew Jack was lying a few short hours ago.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead.” She giggled and twiddled her fingers my way. “I reckon you thought I was Jack about to send you sweet nothings?” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “You don’t have time to lollygag around here. We’ve got a murder to solve, starting with Mary Katherine Hardgrove.”

  I glanced over at my clock.

  “It’s seven”—I rolled back over and pulled the covers over my head—“in the morning. I’m sure Mary Katherine is not even out of bed yet.”

  “Oh yes she is. I know for a fact that she goes every morning at seven to Stevon’s on Rose to get a seaweed facial.”

  I sat up and looked at her.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked in a shaky voice wondering what she was up to.

  “Sammy and I were supposed to be on vacation in the Virgin Islands. He told Mary Katherine he had a funeral conference in Des Moines.” She stood up and walked into the small entryway where I had a mirror hanging on the wall. She ran her hands down her long red hair and brushed at the di
rt spots a couple of times. “My last morning with Sammy, we made love a couple of times and enjoyed breakfast in bed before I headed to the office to work until it was time for us to meet up.”

  “Oh.” My ick factor went off and made my nose curl. “I just can’t believe you were having an affair with a married man, especially him.”

  Sammy and Dale Hardgrove. Both gross. Sammy the worst one. There was no doubt in my mind that he seduced Charlotte. He was always sniffing around her like a dog. Dale did too, but Sammy was much more aggressive. One time when my parents had taken us to a funeral conference in Las Vegas, I caught Sammy and Charlotte wrestling tongues in the kid’s video game room. I’ve never been able to play “Ms. Pac-Man” since.

  “Mary Katherine takes advantage of him and he told me so.” Charlotte lifted her chin in the air and slightly turned it away from me.

  “Fine.” I threw the covers off of me and grabbed my robe out of my closet on my way to the bathroom. “I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to figure out who killed you. So it looks like I’m going to get a seaweed facial.”

  The long hot shower didn’t make the ache of losing Charlotte go away, but it did wake me up. While Charlotte waited, I got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. I figured I’d be spending the day at the inn after I got back from Stevon’s. Granny was going to need me and so would my parents.

  Jack had left a note on the table by the door in the entry of my small apartment. He wanted me to call him when I got up. What he didn’t know didn’t hurt him. I could always blame it on grief. Seriously, what did he expect? It was my sister.

  For a split second I thought I might grab a coffee from Higher Grounds, but I didn’t want anyone asking questions about Charlotte.