Murder on the Ghost Walk

by Constance Barker

  Jaxon threw his head back so that he was staring at the ceiling. “This is going to be a barrel of fun!”

  Jessica chortled. “I want to know more about this ghost.”

  Melvin hollered over to them. “Come on. She’s ready for ya.”

  Lauren led the way through the old police station. Sinking Springs was a small town, but with the nearby state park and river, campers and tourists could swell the population at times, and the police force was increased to cope with the demands. The station grew as needed and was now a series of add-ons cobbled to the old building, forming a bit of a maze.

  Jessica hated all the concrete block which was used to build most of the facility. The walls were painted with a two-tone design, the lower half a pea-soup green and the upper half a generic beige. But it was dated and ugly, feeling stark and uncomfortable to her.

  They came to a steel door with an electric lock. Lauren punched in a code and they entered.

  Jessica worked to hide her shock. Nikki wore an orange jump suit and was handcuffed to a metal table, which was bolted to the floor. The true seriousness of the matter hit her for the first time.

  Jaxon smiled and moderated his tone, clearly wanting to appear calm and helpful. “Nikki. Nice to meet you. We’re friends of Pinball and here to help. We hope you will talk a little with us.”

  Nikki sniffled and it was clear she had been weeping. “My lawyer said I shouldn’t be talking to anyone, no offense.”

  Lauren’s voice was monotone. “Are you asking for your lawyer?”

  Nikki studied her hands bound to the table. “Yes.”

  Lauren took out her phone and made a call. It was a short call and she put her mobile on the table when she was done. Then she locked eyes with Nikki. “He is on the way.” Lauren turned to the Jaxon. “You know the deal. She asked for her attorney, so now we need to wait for him to arrive.”

  Jessica huffed. “Great. Are we ever going to be able to have a conversation?”

  Nikki snorted. “You wouldn’t believe me anyway. So, why even bother talking to me?”

  Jaxon pressed. “You mean about the ghost?”

  “Of course. It was an old man, in tattered clothes floating at the top of the main staircase. Then it flew off into the conservatory. Everyone thinks I’m crazy.”

  Lauren’s voice remained flat and she stared at the prisoner. “You don’t need to talk to us until your lawyer is here.”

  “I’m not saying anything I haven’t said a hundred times now. I didn’t do it. I just found the body.”

  Jaxon looked deep into Nikki’s eyes, then sat back in his chair. “I think you’re telling the truth.”

  Chapter Eight

  Andrew hung up his cell phone and turned to Pinball. “We just have to get the list of museum employees. Raine has another way for us to get the list of people on the tour bus.”

  Pinball nodded. “Okay, that simplifies things. Let’s get this done.”

  The two men stood outside the museum offices, housed inside the old Montague mansion, or now known as the Montague Museum. The administrative offices were in the back of the estate, in a wing that was once used as servant quarters.

  Andrew and Pinball entered the reception area and approached the young woman sitting behind an old wooden desk. She looked up and reflexively asked, “Can I help you?”

  Andrew grinned. “I hope so. We were hoping to find out who was working in the museum last night when the murder happened.”

  The young woman studied the two men. “You don’t look like police. In fact, you look like a painter. And he, well he looks like a stand-in for The Rock.” She scanned Pinball from top to bottom, then smiled.

  Pinball puffed up his chest. “We're friends of Nikki Hawkins. She’s been arrested for last night’s murder, but we know she’s innocent. So we're looking into the matter to find the proof to spring her.”

  She was not impressed. “I’m afraid that information was already given to the police and we cannot divulge it to the public. It would put our employees at risk.”

  A voice drifted from an office off the reception room. “Andrew, is that you?”

  Andrew spun to the familiar voice. “Mrs. Garcia, how are you doing. So nice to see you.”

  A well dressed, middle-aged woman emerged from the office and smiled at the handyman. “Same here. And who is your body guard?”

  “This is Pinball. He is an old boyfriend of the girl arrested last night. And an old friend of mine from Indy.”

  “Such awful business last night. It has put a strain on all of us here today.”

  “I’m sure it did. Especially on this pretty young lady.” Pinball’s tone was a mix of condescension and overconfidence. Then he grinned at the receptionist and winked at her. She giggled in reply.

  Mrs. Garcia scolded the young lady with a simple look and held her hand out, pointing to the door she had come through. “Why don’t you come on in and we can talk. The police were here all morning. They spent a lot of time with the two employees I had working last night. I let my workers go home after the police left, on leave. They are very distraught by what happened and all the questions the authorities had for them.”

  The three of them settled into her office. Mrs. Garcia sat behind her desk. “This has just been an awful day for me as a director. I found out my two employees were useless at their their job. That half my security cameras are defective. And worst of all, the police are not real happy about any of it, bringing the bright light of scrutiny on us.” She stopped and eyed Pinball. “Can I trust him, Andrew?”

  Andrew smiled. “Oh yes, he's part of our team.”

  She peered into Andrew’s eyes. “Okay. I trust you, Andrew. You did very good work for me on that shed you built. And the investigation you did with Raine after that bizarre incident in The Gilded Nickle was admirable. I have faith in your abilities. But, you need to promise me that you and your friends will keep all this confidential.”

  Andrew nodded. “We promise.”

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “So, tell me why are you really here.”

  Andrew blinked a few times, mumbled a few words, then replied. “I think that’s obvious. Because we wanted to know who was working last night.”

  “That is the first part of what you want to learn. But you really want to know if one of them did it.” Mrs. Garcia raised her eyelids and locked eyes with Andrew.

  Pinball snarled. “Darn right.”

  Mrs. Garcia flicked her eyes to the big man and bored into Pinball’s soul with her stare. “Let me be clear. My employees had nothing to do with it. One was playing video games, and the computer logs more than verify he was oblivious to anything happening in the building because he was to busy using a computer to goof off. The second employee was sleeping, and one of the few cameras functioning last night just happened to be one that recorded him sleeping the entire time, till the scream happened. I will probably have to fire both of them after the dust settles.”

  Pinball quipped, “Never sleep on the job. It’s one of the rules my daddy taught me.”

  Mrs. Garcia and Andrew gawked at the ball of muscle. Andrew shook his head and glared at the big man. “Thanks for sharing.”

  He shrugged off their probing gaze. “What? My daddy taught me a lot.”

  Andrew returned his attention back to the museum director and sat straight. “The scream? Why is that important?”

  “Your friend Nikki screamed when she and another man found the body. It could be heard on the few security cameras that were working. Even the ones quite a distance from the conservatory.”

  Andrew spoke to Mrs. Garcia but his field of vision drifted over to Pinball. “We appreciate you taking time to talk with us, Mrs. Garcia. And your honesty. Thank you.” His eyes left the body builder to refocus on the museum director. “I think I know the answer, but I have to ask. Did any of the security cameras in the conservatory work?”

  “Of course not. That would be too easy. That whole end of the muse
um was dark as far as the cameras were concerned.”

  Pinball cackled. “That sounds a little too convenient.”

  Mrs. Garcia leaned forward on her desk. “That was exactly what the old detective that was in here said.”

  “Who was the detective? Lambert?” Andrew’s voiced trailed off like he was thinking.

  Mrs. Garcia nodded. “That sounds like the right name. He was nice enough. But I could tell he suspected that someone had planned this all out for a long time, maybe even had an inside man. And he told me the dead man was a conman and pretty dangerous himself. Appears we had a shady crowd in here last night.”

  Pinball asked, “Did the detective say anything else about the dead man?”

  Andrew spun with enlarged eyes. “We don’t want to seem like we are being pushy. Do we?” He pinched his lips and raised his eyebrows as he finished talking.

  Mrs. Garcia laughed. “No that is a good question, in fact. He just said the man had a long record and was a conman. And that he could be dangerous, so it was odd that he was the one that ended up dead.”

  Andrew sighed. “Did the detective make any comments about who might have done this then?”

  Pinball chuckled. “Now who’s being pushy.”

  The museum director ignored the chatter. “No, but he did say it might have been an old heist buddy, or whatever you call them. Someone that felt owed something or had a score to settle.”

  Pinball perked up. “Wait a minute. If the dead guy was a conman, he might have had friends that were pickpockets.” Mrs. Garcia and Andrew nodded in agreement and Pinball continued. “So it’s possible that someone with the ability to take things out of pockets, could also put things into pockets.”

  Andrew squinted at the big man. “That is almost logical.”

  Pinball scrunched up his face. “Well, maybe we should look at the list of people who went on the ghost walk and see if any of them were ever were arrested for picking pockets.”

  Andrew grinned. “That is a good idea.”

  Pinball leaned back, smirking like he just set a personal best on the bench press.

  Mrs. Garcia’s face went blank. “The police were interested in the very same thing. They asked me if they could have copies of our recordings from the cameras that did work. When I asked them why, they said they were looking for anything unusual. One officer even mentioned that if a criminal was in the crowd, they might have caught something of interest, like picking a pocket.”

  Pinball gloated. “I have a good idea every now and then.”

  Andrew smiled and said, “Thank you. We should leave you be. After all you've been through a lot today.”

  Mrs. Garcia did not return the smile and squinted back at him. “Aren’t you going to ask about it? I am guessing you want to.”

  Andrew shrugged. “Ask about what?

  Mrs. Garcia made the sign of the cross, then simply said, “The ghost.”

  Pinball chuckled. “We heard about that. But I don’t believe in ghosts.”

  Mrs. Garcia was white. “You really don’t know. I thought it might have leaked, but I guess not. One of the working cameras last night was at the top of the main staircase. And it recorded the ghost.”

  Chapter Nine

  Grandma and I said our goodbyes to Mr. Twain. As part of the departure rituals, he handed me a fresh copy of a list containing the names of those attending the ghost walk last night, and we left.

  We didn't go far after we left Twain’s office, just out onto the front porch of the old building. This used to be the town’s train station and still has the old, large porch that is perfect for gathering. Grandma claimed one of the many rocking chairs on the deck and I leaned on the handrail, scanning the newly acquired list of names.

  Grandma’s phone rang. It was Aunt Mabel calling to let us know everything was in order at the tea room. She had recruited Leon Baker to help her, who she knew was sweet on her. There was no way he would refuse a chance to spend time with her, and she took full advantage of that knowledge to recruit an extra set of hands.

  I sighed and said, “To be honest, I’m glad she got some help. She’s in her sixties, and it’s hard for one person to work the tea room.”

  Grandma chuckled. “She is tougher than you and me combined. She’ll be fine.”

  I raised my eyebrows in response. Then my phone rang. I fiddled to get the noisy thing out of my pocket and swiped the green symbol. “Hello, Andrew?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Hey, I got something to tell you. We all know that a ghost may have been seen last night. But we just found out there may also be a recording of it on a security camera.”

  My silence said more than any words could ever convey.

  Andrew’s voice came from the speaker again. “Hello? Are you still there?”

  “Yeah. I’m just trying to process what you said. There is an actual video of the ghost George talked about?”

  “We think so. At least that's what Mrs. Garcia said. And she turned pale as a sheet when she told us. I think she saw the video of it.”

  “Andrew, is there anyway you can get a copy of that video?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t have the nerve to ask. I guess I assumed it was in police custody. But we're still at the museum and can go back and try. We just left Mrs. Garcia’s office and I’m still in the reception area.”

  “Great. I’m not sure what this all means, but we’ll talk back at the tea room later, when we regroup.”

  I hung up and Grandma gawked at me. “Well, sweetie, don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “You aren’t going to believe this, but there may be a video of the ghost George mentioned.”

  I was pleased to be out and about, following our plan and collecting information. Best of all, Pinball was out of the tea room. But I could not stop thinking about this new development. “You know, if there is a video of this ghost, it may also reveal a lot more of what happened in the museum last night.”

  Grandma squinted back at me. “Sweetie, what are you thinking? I can see you are off on a different path now.”

  “Well, if there was a video, the police must have it in custody. So how do we get a copy? Andrew is going to ask the museum. But there is a slim to zero chance they will give him a copy.”

  Grandma rolled back a bit and the chair responded, gently rocking her. “If the police do have a video of the ghost, the press will want to get their hands on that story. Maybe there is a way to use the power of the media to get a copy.”

  My eyes scanned the list of names again, hoping something would jump out. It didn’t. “So how do we use the press or news outlets to obtain a copy of that video?”

  “Well, your old grandmother once had a boyfriend who is now in charge of Mammoth Media. They own a dozen or so newspapers and a few cable news outlets.”

  “Grandma! You never told me about that.”

  “I was quite young when we dated. But we're still friends. And I think he would love to have the scoop on something like this. We should call him.”

  “It might turn this town into a media circus.”

  “That’s happening already. Look over there.” She pointed to the public parking area.

  My back was to the spot, and I turned around to look. There, taking up multiple parking spots, was a huge truck with a satellite dish mounted on top. On the side, in big bold letters, it read “White Hot News! Your Way, Every Day!”

  I sighed. “Any chance that the guys in that truck are part of your friends media empire?”

  She chuckled. “Only one way to tell. Let’s call him.”

  Grandma did not have his number in her phone, so I looked it up on the internet with my phone. Then she dialed. “Hello? Is that you Tanner?”

  Grandma talked for a few minutes. She giggled at times and it seemed like she was on the verge of flirting. This was definitely a side to Grandma Rose I hadn't seen. The two clearly were happy to talk and catch up on things. But finally, I heard the words “ghost” and “video” and I knew Grandma wa
s getting to the business at hand.

  Grandma Rose giggled again, and said, “Well Tanner Gill, you’re so sweet. And don’t be a stranger in the tea room. We have that blend you love and I would lke to introduce you to Daisy, our special hostess...I enjoyed our chat, too, and hope to talk to you again soon, bye.” She took her time clicking off her old phone, flipped it closed, and put it back in her oversized purse.

  Now it was my turn to wag a jaw and glare. “Well, you didn’t like when you had to wait after my call. So don’t keep me waiting now.”

  “Patience comes to all those who wait. Or something or other.” She grinned at me and pointed at the large news truck. “Those are his people and he said he was going to call them, send them over to talk to us.”

  “Great! So how much do we tell them? They’re the press and I don’t think we want to tell them everything.”

  “I agree, just tell them about the ghost video in police custody and that you want a copy, too. They will do the rest if they know there is a video documenting a paranormal encounter, during a murder no less. A clip like that is sure fire ratings for them.”

  I nodded in agreement, then handed Grandma the list of names from the ghost walk. “Do you see a name on the list that means anything to you?” Grandma scanned it and nodded no, so I looked at the list again. “These people are mostly tourists from out of town, so we need Jaxon to run the names through his special databases.”

  Grandma exhaled and tilted her head. “You think Jaxon is good enough to get a copy of the video from the police?”

  I snorted and pulled out my phone, opened my contacts, and tapped Jaxon’s name. The phone rang until it went to voicemail. “He’s not answering.”

  “Leave a message then.” Grandma wagged a finger at my phone while she spoke.

  “Jaxon it’s Raine. We just heard there’s a video of the ghost George told us about. And the police have it. Can you see if you can get a copy while you are at the station? Thanks.”

  Grandma shook her head and raised her eyebrows. “That’s not a voice mail you get everyday!”