by Amy Boyles
Ruth grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “Shouldn’t we be heading over to Truck’s house?”
I shook my head. “We’re not going there first.”
Ruth and Alice exchanged a confused look. “Then where are we going?” Ruth said.
I grinned widely. “The funeral home.”
At exactly seven twenty, the three of us loaded into Alice’s Caprice Classic.
“This is the vehicle you catch ghosts from?” I said.
“Well, since we’ve never actually been called out to catch one, it’s been pretty good,” Alice said. “But if we do end up getting work, we’ll need to put in a command center. Probably the trunk will be the best place.”
I nodded. “Sure. The trunk. Where your ghost-catching boxes are located.”
“I’ve got one cardboard box filled with water balloons,” Alice said. “Think we’ll need it tonight?”
I bit back the sarcasm threatening to come out. “Yep. I’m sure we will.”
We arrived at Tom’s Rideout Funeral Home five minutes later. “Is that place actually called Rideout? Like it’s your ride out of this life and into the next?”
Ruth unbuckled her seat belt. “It’s a bit macabre, don’t you think?”
“Slightly.”
Alice started to open her door. “Wait,” I said.
“For what?”
Screams split through the quiet night. “For that. Come on. It’s ghost-catching time.”
The two women strapped on backpacks. I have no idea what they contained. Perhaps pixie dust that captured ghosts? Right. Sure thing.
I, on the other hand, grabbed the lasso. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail. “Are y’all ready?”
Alice and Ruth threw their handbags on their shoulders. “We’re ready.”
“Why are you bringing purses?”
“So they don’t get stolen from the car,” Ruth said. “Haunted Hollow is safe, but it’s not crimeless.”
I pursed my lips. “Would you like to bring your knitting needles, too?”
“Oh, I don’t knit,” Ruth said. “Alice crochets.”
I just…I had to bite down on my lips not to say anything. I was about to walk into a spectral phenomenon the likes of which this town had never seen, with two old ladies and their handbags.
At least if I needed a tissue, I wouldn’t have to look far to get it.
Another scream split the night sky.
“Come on, before everyone leaves.”
I charged to the funeral home. Alice and Ruth, for what it was worth, kept up. I threw open the door and headed toward the screaming.
A line snaked from the viewing room all the way into the hall. I ran past it and into the main chamber.
The first thing I noticed was Xavier’s casket front and center. The second thing I saw were people hugging the walls. Fear shone in their eyes. People chewed their fingers, gritting their teeth as terror quaked their bodies.
The last thing I noticed was Susan. She hovered in the center of the room and glared at the people. The spirit zipped toward a vase of flowers. She picked it up and shattered it to the floor.
Women screamed. Men yelled.
I had to stop myself from laughing.
Yes, I know it’s a horrible, evil thing to do to sic a spirit on unsuspecting people in the middle of a viewing, but I had to say, of all the folks I knew who loved theatrics, Xavier was one of them.
If he’d been alive to see it, I’m sure he would’ve drunk in every moment.
But an older woman who looked like his mother glanced at the scene in horror. Okay, that tugged on my heartstrings.
Time to wrap this thing up.
“Hey, you,” I yelled.
Susan stopped zipping around the room and howling like a banshee. She whirled toward me.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own type? Like, dead?”
She threw her head back and cackled. I glanced back at Ruth and Alice. Alice gawked. She yanked her glasses from her face and rubbed them clean. Her eyes widened to saucers when she saw the spirit clear as day.
She turned and skirted behind Ruth.
Ruth—I had to hand it to her. The older woman’s knees were quaking, but she was holding it together.
I should’ve known this would happen. A lot of folks had that reaction when they first encountered a spirit. The idea of witnessing a ghost seems cool until you actually see one in the flesh. Then it’s all about not peeing on yourself, or at least changing into a fresh pair of panties as quickly as you can after.
“Alice! Ruth!” I yelled. “Come on, Ghost Catchers!”
Ruth grabbed Alice and shook her. Alice’s glasses bobbed down to her chin. She shook her head and seemed to get herself together. She righted her spectacles and tossed the cardboard box full of water balloons into the middle of the room.
I gritted my teeth to stop from saying something about how water balloons couldn’t hold a spirit. I pulled the lasso from a backpack the women had given me and threw it toward Susan.
I roped her on the first try. She twisted in anger. The spirit screamed. Just for the sake of theatrics, I let the lasso fall from her body.
She zipped around the room again, this time heading straight for Truck and Slick, who cowered in a corner.
“You!” She pointed at Truck.
Trucks sputtered. “M-m-me?”
“You!” She screeched again. “I’m coming for you!”
He turned white as marble—not the kind that had veins of another color in it, the kind that was mostly white.
I threw the lasso around Susan again. “Your days of scaring innocent folks are over, ghost!”
She struggled and spat. I yanked and pulled. I turned to Ruth and Alice. “Now, ladies!”
They tossed two water balloons at her. Granted, they sailed straight through the ghost and splattered against the wall, but I don’t think anyone noticed. By that time I had dropped Susan close to the box.
She zipped down into the balloons. Ruth rushed over and slammed the cardboard top shut. Alice sealed it with good old duct tape.
Everyone in the room stared. I wiped a line of sweat from my brow. “You can thank the Ghost Catchers for stopping this spirit. Tonight, we humans won. Xavier would be proud.”
There was a short pause, and then the entire crowd exploded in cheers and applause. I saluted them for good measure. Ruth and Alice bowed.
I waved to get the line moving again. “Keep doing what you were doing. There’s nothing to see here.” I turned to Ruth and Alice. “Y’all got the box?”
Ruth nodded.
“Great. I’ll grab Truck.”
“Where’re we going now?” Alice said.
I dropped the lasso in my backpack. “To his house. He’s driving.”
I threaded my way through the throng of people to the corner. Truck looked like he was in shock. Slick had a hand on him and was talking.
“Excuse me,” Truck said when I approached. He moved away, but I caught him.
“Listen, Truck, what that spirit said, we need to make sure it isn’t true.”
He shrugged out of my hand. “What do you mean?”
“She threatened you. We’ve got her contained. But I need to make sure that you’re clean. That she won’t hurt you.”
He stopped, smoothed his palm over his dark hair. “Who are you? I know who you are, but I don’t understand.”
“Listen, I’m an investigator. I stop bad ghosts. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but that’s what I do. This was a bad ghost. Back home, when a ghost threatens a person, I go to the house, do a cleansing.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
I grabbed his arm and towed him toward the front door. “We need to get to your house. Now. Time is of the essence. Like I said, I’ve trapped her, but at any moment she could break out.”
Truck stopped. He grabbed his mouth. “Do you think she’ll hurt me? Kill my cat?”
I yanked him ba
ck toward the car. “I wouldn’t give yourself that much credit. Come on, let’s get to your home and see what we can do.”
Ruth and Alice were already standing beside the Ghost Wranglers van when we arrived.
“You drive this?” I said, pointing to the vehicle.
“Yeah, I drove it.”
“You got the keys?”
Truck screeched when he saw the box. “Is that…? Is that thing inside there?”
“Yep.”
He grabbed me by the shoulders. “I can’t die. I just can’t. I’ve been talking to Hollywood. Hollywood wants me. I can’t give all that up just to die. I can’t!”
One minute Truck was grabbing me and nearly sobbing, the next he was on the ground, his thumb stuck in his mouth. He was sucking away like a baby.
“What happened?” Ruth said.
Alice nudged his foot. “I think he fainted.”
“He did.” I fished in his pockets until I found the keys. “Let’s haul him inside, ladies. We’ve got to get this guy home.”
SIXTEEN
By the time we reached Truck’s house, he was almost awake. I nudged him.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty; we’re at your house.”
Luckily Ruth and Alice both knew where Truck lived. It was an area on the south side of Haunted Hollow, far from Xavier’s place.
Truck’s house was an old plantation style with a big iron gate around it. It was in an older section of town, where all the historic homes were located.
Truck glanced around groggily. “Um. Home?”
“Yes, home. Now let’s go. I have to clean your place so the spirit doesn’t come for you.”
We parked and got out.
Ruth crossed her arms and gave Truck the old stink eye. “Why do you think the spirit said that, Truck Morrow?”
Truck gulped. “I really don’t know.”
“You don’t?” She sidled up close to him. “You really don’t know? No clue? No idea? Not even an inkling?”
Truck glanced at the three of us nervously. He cleared his throat. “No, I don’t. Let’s just get this over with.”
He punched the key in the lock, opened the door and turned off the alarm. He glanced at the box. “Do you have to bring that inside?”
“Yes,” I said sharply. “We need the spirit to do the cleanse properly.” I pulled a stick of sage from the backpack. I need you to stay in here.”
“The kitchen?” Truck looked bewildered. I guess that’s what sucking your thumb when you’re a grown man will do to you. Make you not understand a woman when she speaks. “I can’t come with you?”
I shook my head. “No. I need you to stay away. Make yourself a sandwich. You look pale.”
“But what if the…” His gaze shifted uneasily to the box. “What if the spirit comes for me, attacks me?”
I patted the cardboard. “We’ll have it with us. Now. Are any doors locked? Because we’ve got to work the entire home.”
He shook his head. “No. Nothing.” He raked his fingers down his face. “Please. Just hurry. I’m starting to feel sick.”
I nodded to Alice and Ruth.
“I’ll stay with him,” Alice said. “In case he needs help to the bathroom.”
“Or faints,” I said.
Truck shot me a dirty look.
I hitched a shoulder. “What? You look like a fainter.”
I lit the sage and left the room with Ruth trailing behind. “You going to mumble some words?”
“Nah. Just going through the motions,” I said. “This stuff doesn’t really work anyway.”
“It doesn’t?” Ruth said, perplexed. “I always thought it did. It’s what my mom taught me.”
“Against something small it might, but you get a big baddie and you’d better have a priest in here instead of this stuff.” I pinched my brow. “And sometimes that doesn’t help either.”
We moved through the house at a fairly quick pace. After all, I was looking for a computer. There wasn’t anything that was actually going to haunt Truck, at least as far as I was aware, that was.
We did a brisk sweep of the living room. Ruth kept her eyes peeled on the furnishings while I pretended to run the sage over the walls. Well, I wasn’t actually pretending, I was doing it, but I was mostly looking for Xavier’s computer.
Living room, den, hallway, powder room, all were clear. We reached what looked like Truck’s bedroom—a much more normal room than Xavier’s, if I might add, with light blue walls and cherry furniture.
A laptop lay directly on the cream-colored duvet, but it didn’t have the skull and crossbones sticker.
“Anyone can peel a decal,” Ruth said, nosing toward the computer.
“Agreed.”
I glanced down the hall. No sign of Truck. I nodded to Ruth.
“I’ll keep watch,” she said.
I flipped open the top and waited while the username popped up. Truckalicious was the user.
“These guys do think highly of themselves, don’t they?”
I closed it and started opening drawers. “You looking, Ruth?”
“Still clear.”
I brushed through underwear, shirts, shocks, shorts—nothing. I crossed to his closet and pulled the door. It was neat, well organized and empty of a stolen computer.
“Any luck?”
I shook my head. “None.”
“His office is through the adjoining door.”
I followed Ruth to the next room and took the sage from her. While I smudged the walls, she snooped through the desk. “It’s locked.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I plopped the box on top and peeled back the lid. “Susan? Susan?” I whispered.
A ghostly head drifted up from the pile of water balloons. “Like, it’s totally cramped in here. And the water? It’s way stale. Like, gag me with a spoon.”
“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll get you out soon, but I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything. All I’ve got is time.”
“Can you unlock the doors on this desk?”
“Let me see.” Her head disappeared below until all I could see was the very crown of her teased and Aqua Net rock-hard hair. She popped back up. “It’s unlocked.”
“Great. Thanks.” I closed the lid.
“That’s a neat trick,” Ruth said. “I need to get myself a helpful ghost. What I wouldn’t be able to accomplish. I could bake three pies all at the same time.”
I laughed. “Not sure it works that way.”
“You never know.”
I pulled the first drawer to the right. It was mostly office supplies. I opened the one beneath it and revealed a long file cabinet. Named folders filled the rectangular space.
“What do we have here?” I yanked one out that was labeled XAVIER BIBB. “Looks like our friend Truck was keeping tabs on his fellow show mates.”
Ruth left her station by the door. “You don’t say.”
“Nope. Truck had all his besties’ Hollywood contact information. Names, phone numbers, apparently he even knew what Xavier’s deal was for his new project.”
I slipped it back into the slot and noticed one labeled STARLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT. I flipped it open and found a multi-page contract between Truck and the company.
“Looks like Truckie boy is getting his own show. Signed the papers today.”
Ruth’s brows rose to peaks.
His voice drifted from the hall. “Are y’all done, yet? I need to use the bathroom.”
Ruth and I exchanged a worried look. “Not yet. We need a few more minutes. Can you hold it?”
Ruth stifled a laugh. I shrugged. What? He could hold it.
“Yes, but only for a couple of minutes. I gotta go real bad.”
Ruth covered her mouth. I rubbed tears from my eyes and returned to the folder. “He’s even got one on Slick.”
“What’s it say?” Ruth whispered. She stalked over as I spread it on the desk. “It looks like our good friends Truck and Slick both sold the
rights of their image to Xavier. Looks like they were trying to get those rights back, but Xavier wasn’t letting it happen.”
“What are you doing?”
Truck’s voice threw me. I dropped the paper I was holding and scrambled to get them all back in the file folder. “Um. The spirit got out and decided to throw folders out of your desk drawers.”
His dark gaze drilled a hole right through my spine. “Get out. Both of you.” His voice rose to nearly a yell. “All of you. Right now. Get out of my house.”
He stalked toward the desk. Truck lifted his arm as if he was going to backhand me. But he stopped himself and took a deep breath. He grabbed the box of water balloons and shoved it toward me.
“Take your ghost with you.”
I grabbed the box and followed Ruth, who was hightailing it out the door. Alice stood in the hallway. I shot her a what-happened look. She didn’t speak until we were out the door.
“He said he had to go. Before I knew it, Truck was storming down the hall. I opened my mouth to warn y’all, but he was already in the office.”
I gritted my teeth. “There isn’t a bathroom in the office.”
“Oh,” Alice said, rubbing her cheek. “I didn’t think about that.”
The three of us stood on the sidewalk. “How’re we supposed to get home?” Alice whined.
A black sedan slid up alongside us. The passenger window hummed down.
“Well, ladies, I hear y’all have had an eventful evening.”
Why was it I’d only encountered Sheriff Kency Blount a couple of times but already she rubbed me the wrong way? Sort of like she had something to prove being a female sheriff in a small Southern town.
Nope, nothing to prove there.
“We had a wild evening, Sheriff,” Alice said with an enthusiasm that bordered on insanity. “We caught a ghost.”
Kency eyed us like she suspected us of being guilty of bank robbery but couldn’t prove it. “I heard. Heard it was quite a spectacle. Then the three of you came over here.”
“Yeah, we had some cleansing to do. Did you hear the spirit threatened Truck?”
“Heard that, too.” She pushed open the door. “Why don’t the three of you come with me? I’ll drop you off at your homes.”