Murder on the Ghost Walk

by Constance Barker

  “No. But this is far from a normal day. I wonder why he didn’t answer?”

  “If he did get in to talk to Nikki, he will be unable to get phone calls. Maybe it’s a good thing.”

  “I thought splitting up would be good. And I guess it is. But I don’t like being in the dark or unable to communicate.”

  “You were always a control freak, Raine. I remember when you were in high school and how much you loved the drama club. You were good and could have played a number of roles in the various productions. But you had to have a hand in selecting the sets and directing the scenes. I knew there was no way you were going to win that war with the battleaxe who ran the club. I tried to hint to you, to just enjoy being part of the experience.”

  “Betty Sue didn’t have to kick me off so fast. And I was right. Our plays were bland and boring. She just redid what had been done dozens of times before.”

  “You were right. However, you didn’t pick your battles.”

  I laughed. “I get your point. But it’s hard when you see things so clearly while others oppose you simply because they lack vision.”

  Grandma pointed to the porch stairs. A man and woman slowly ascended the steps and were clearly looking for someone.

  Chapter Ten

  Gary Nilsen entered the interview room and slammed his briefcase on the metal table. “Did you really have to chain her to the table?”

  Lauren glared at the slick hair and expensive suit. “It’s standard procedure. You know that.”

  “Yeah, but she weighs a hundred pounds and wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  Lauren waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. She has been arrested for murder. She stays cuffed to the table.”

  Gary cracked his briefcase and took out a recorder. He punched a button, checked that the reels were turning, and put it on the table. Then he took a seat next to his client. “Nikki, now tell me everything you told these people before we begin.”

  Nikki sniffled. “I told them nothing other than we saw that horrid ghost and that I didn’t do it.”

  Gary smirked. “See? She didn’t do it. So there isn’t much to discuss.”

  Jaxon cleared his throat. “Nikki, can you tell me what happened when you found the body?”

  Nikki glanced at her lawyer, then back at Jaxon. “We chased after the ghost we saw and ran straight into the man lying face down on the floor. He had two knives in his back.”

  Jaxon moderated his tone. “What did you do when you first saw the body?”

  “We stopped in our tracks and I screamed.”

  Gary huffed. “What are you trying to do? The homicide detectives already asked all this. Who are you anyway?”

  “Jaxon Taylor.”

  Gary rolled his eyes. “You...have...got...to...be...kidding...me! Aren’t you a P.I.?”

  “Yep!”

  Gary moved his gaze from Jaxon over to Jessica. “And don’t you run the souvenir shop in town?”

  Jessica flipped her hands in the air. “Yeah, so what?”

  Gary’s face turned red. “So why is a P.I. and local businesswoman asking my client questions?” The attorney glared at Lauren as he finished.

  Lauren’s tone remained unchanged. “Because we are hoping to find out what happened.”

  Jaxon cut in. “Mr. Nilsen, Jessica and I are here to find the truth. And we believe Nikki didn’t do this. We are hoping to help her. So if she can answer our questions, it would be to her benefit.”

  Gary stood and flicked his hand over the table. “I think we are through her. There is no way this is an official interrogation. It’s a trick Nikki, to get you to talk.”

  Nikki stared deep in Jaxon’s eyes while her lawyer ranted. When he finished, she said, “I believe you. You’re the first one who thinks I am innocent. I can sense it. And you are not fixated on the ghost.”

  Jaxon chuckled. “We can go back to that. It’s not that I’m not curious about it, but I want to know what you did when you found the body and just after.”

  Nikki nodded. “I screamed real loud, George knelt down to the man and tried to find a pulse, and everyone came running in. The whole thing felt like a nightmare to be honest. Things happened so fast around me, but they didn’t seem real.”

  Jessica asked, “Like what?”

  “Like how everyone tried to comfort me. I was trembling and crying. One woman, I think her name was Cindy, was real nice. She put her arm around me and helped calm me down.”

  Jaxon cocked his head. “Did you have your shoulder bag with your when this happened?”

  Nikki nodded yes.

  Jessica glanced at Jaxon, then asked, “Who else helped to calm you down?”

  “Mr. Twain, but he really couldn’t help me much. He was too busy trying to get control of the situation and get people out of the conservatory.”

  Jessica pressed, “Why did he want everyone out of the conservatory?”

  Nikki shrugged. “It was a crime scene. George didn’t find a pulse and we could tell he was dead.”

  Jaxon inquired, “Who was George? How did you know him?”

  “He was just a nice man I met at the tourist center when we assembled for the ghost walk. He was with that loudmouth, Karen. And she was drunk. So he didn’t want to be around her and I was alone. We seemed to hit it off and just kept each other company for the walk.”

  Jaxon rolled his index finger in the air. “Let’s rewind things, just a bit. So you were with George when you spotted the ghost, then you chased it. It led you to the body, you screamed, and everyone came running into the conservatory.”

  Nikki’s voice was low, but clearly said, “Yes.”

  Jaxon paused, rubbed his eyes. “Was anyone missing from your group? Or in other words, was everyone from the ghost walk there after you screamed?”

  Nikki looked at her lawyer for a second, than answered. “That’s a good question. I think so, but I’m not sure. I was pretty shaken up.”

  Jessica noticed that Lauren took some notes for the first time, then she asked, “Nikki, we appreciate you answering our questions. Thank you. But I am curious. You didn’t know George till you met him at the tourist center, right?”

  Nikki nodded yes.

  Lauren barked. “You need to say yes for the record. Remember, we record the interviews and you need to say yes or no, not nod.”

  Jessica continued. “So did you know anyone else on the ghost walk?”

  “No. I went by myself.”

  Jessica smiled. “That is so brave. I would never go on a ghost walk without my husband. Why did you go alone?”

  She chuckled through her sniffles. “I had no choice. I wanted to go with Andrew, but he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  Jaxon asked, “Is that why you were in town? To see Andrew?”

  “Yes. We dated for a while, and I missed him. I was hoping we could get back together, but he didn’t feel the same way.”

  Jessica reached out and patted her hand. “I understand. You didn’t want to be alone in your hotel room, and a ghost walk might throw a scare into you. Make you feel alive.”

  Nikki smiled at her. “Only another romantic would know that?”

  Jessica chuckled. “I used to be a romantic. Then I got married and had kids.”

  Jaxon did not share the light moment. His face became long and he sat straight. “I have to ask you this Nikki. The police found incriminating evidence in your bag. How did it get there?”

  Gary threw his arms in the air. “Objection! How could she know what the murderer did to get the gloves in her bag!”

  Lauren didn’t even look up from her notes. “This is not a court room counselor. But you can advise your client to not answer.”

  Gary snapped at his client. “You don’t have to answer.”

  Nikki’s sniffling became more frequent but she spoke between them. “It’s alright, I want to answer. I don’t know how they got there. But someone had to put those gloves into my bag. And they could have probably done it pretty easily. Peo
ple were running around everywhere and I was pretty numb after finding the body. My attention to detail wasn’t its best and it would have been easy to dump those small gloves in my bag without me noticing.”

  Jaxon leaned forward, just a couple of inches. “Did you notice anyone hovering around you?”

  “No, like I said. My condition was pretty shaky. I just kept seeing the body in my mind, those knives sticking out of his back. And I moved with the crowd, like I was on autopilot.”

  Jaxon asked, “Can I see your hands? You know spread them out on the table.”

  The shackled prisoner looked to her lawyer, and Gary nodded no. Nikki asked, “Why?”

  Jaxon shrugged. “I just want to see.”

  Nikki mumbled, “Okay.” and placed her hands palms down, and slightly spread her fingers.

  Jaxon asked, “Can you turn them over? Show us your palms.”

  Nikki complied. Gary huffed and asked, “Are we done?”

  Lauren finally looked up from her notebook. “I don’t know? Are we done Jaxon, Jessica?

  Jaxon answered, “Yeah. We’re done for now. Thank you Nikki. We may want to talk again. After we follow-up on what we’ve learned. Is that alright?”

  Nikki nodded yes. “Sure. You’re the only ones that asked me questions about what happened without making me feel like you were trying to get me to confess.”

  Lauren cut in. “Do you want to confess?”

  Gary smacked the table top. “Don’t answer that. We’re done!”

  Lauren held her hands in the air. “I’m just doing my job.”

  Gary shot back. “That’s the problem. No more questions. Now get my client uncuffed from this table.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Six o’clock p.m. came fast, but everyone was on time. I noticed the tired faces.

  Pinball bragged. “I had the idea. If there was a pickpocket in the crowd, they might be an old acquaintance of the dead conman.”

  Grandma did what she does best. She assembled leftovers from the day’s earlier brunch and created a family style buffet on the table for everyone. As she arranged the various platters and drinks, Rose said, “I know everyone worked hard today, so we could all use some food and tea. And yes, I did put on coffee for those reprobates that don’t drink tea.”

  Pinball growled, “Who you calling a scoundrel for not drinking tea. And I love the way Captain Picard said Earl Grey.”

  Jaxon chuckled and thanked Grandma Rose. Jessica talked to Mike on her phone, oblivious. Pinball examined the finger food and frowned. And Andrew played with Daisy who searched for a hidden snack. It was a diverse crew, but they were good friends to help me and Andrew investigate. Especially after the appearance of Pinball.

  Andrew spoke. “Okay, we’re all here. What did we find?”

  Jaxon shot back. “You called the meeting to order. You go first, I’m eating.” He grabbed a tuna roll and some sweet potato chips.

  Andrew shrugged. “Alright. I’ll go. I’m sure the museum employees didn’t do it. They have air tight alibis, that will probably get them fired, but they did not murder anyone.”

  I asked, “How can you be so sure.”

  Pinball bellowed. “Got one on tape sleeping the whole time. And one playing video games online. The computer records confirmed it.”

  Jaxon groaned. “I don’t like to rule out someone based on a few computer logs. They can be fudged. The police have been thrown off the trail of many criminals smart enough to change computer records. I want to follow-up on this employee. The one sleeping on tape, yeah he does have an alibi, but it sounds like he won’t have a job for long.”

  Rose asked, “And did you get a copy of the ghost video from the museum?”

  Andrew hung his head a tad, “Nope. But Mrs. Garcia told us that police have a copy, like you suspected.”

  My eyebrows rose a bit. “Well, I didn’t expect that. So one employee ruled out, one still a maybe. Are you sure there was no one else there last night?”

  Andrew nodded. “Yeah, the museum is a pay-to-enter facility. So they have control over who comes in and out, and last night the two employees and the ghost walk were the only people inside.”

  Grandma Rose poured some tea. “So Jessica, Jaxon, you got in to see Nikki. Great job, what did you find?”

  Jessica snorted. “She didn’t do it my opinion.”

  Everybody stared at Jaxon. He scanned the questioning faces around the table. “I agree. She had no bruises or cuts on her hands. She never wavered about her innocence. Her story stayed consistent. And I found her believable. The biggest problem she has now, besides being held as a suspect for murder, is a lawyer who thinks he’s Saul Goodman.”

  Pinball crumpled his face. “What?”

  Jaxon stared at the brute. “You know, the TV character from Breaking Bad who has his own show now?” Pinball just stared back at him. “Guess that it isn’t a show for body builders, but he’s a lawyer full of himself, prone to theatrics. Nikki’s attorney is not helping her. I think it’s why Nikki didn’t tell the police much earlier. Her lawyer doesn’t want her talking at all, and is prone to talking over her.”

  I ended the side discussion. “So what? Her hands were injury free. That doesn’t exonerate her.”

  Jaxon curled his lips a touch then replied. “No it doesn’t. But she had no opportunity. She was in the museum, yes, but she was with someone at all times. And afterwards, it would have been easy to drop the gloves into her bag. She was upset and not very observant in all the excitement.”

  Jessica added, “I am pretty sure she didn’t it, too. It was obvious she felt wrongly accused. And she could not plunge two knives into the back of a fit man. She is too dainty. Plus, she is a romantic and would never use such low brow tactics. She would have done something more classic, and ladylike, like poison.”

  Grandma chuckled. “I’m not sure where all that comes from, Jessica. Perhaps you've been reading too many romance novels.”

  “No, she is right. I had the same impression. We are both certain they have the wrong person.” Jaxon smiled at Jessica when he finished. “I was wondering about why you asked about her motives for going on the ghost walk.”

  Jessica blinked a few times as she twisted the corners of her mouth. “I have my ways.”

  It was my turn and I threw the list of ghost walk attendees on the table. “This is the list of people that were on the ghost walk. None of the names mean much to me or Grandma, but we can run them through Jaxon’s fancy databases.”

  Grandma Rose added, “And we have the press chasing the police for a copy of the ghost video.”

  Jaxon laughed. “Good luck. Lauren gladly gave me the list of people on that Pittsburgh bus after we got Nikki to talk a little. But there was no way she would part with a copy of the video.”

  “So let’s work with what we do have. We obtained both lists, the tour bus riders and ghost walkers. I want to know who from the bus didn’t go on the ghost walk, and what they did instead during that time.” My voice betrayed me and revealed the frustration I felt.

  Jessica came to my rescue. “I get it. Nikki and the museum employee are eliminated from the suspect list. So who else should be on the person-of-interest list?”

  My silence was unexpected, especially by me.

  Andrew repeated, “So who do we add to the list?”

  It kicked around in my head from the time I heard it. This was the right time to share. “Do you all remember that this morning I heard something weird. The woman at the table with George said she was glad that Jack was dead. I think her name was Karen Broadhurst. She was on our list of people to go talk to.”

  Jaxon picked up the two lists of people we had obtained and spoke up. “I need to run all of these names through some of the standard databases. But I can give her a little extra scrutiny. I agree, that is an odd thing for someone to say.”

  Daisy had been preoccupied with Andrew and Jaxon, but chose this time to explore a little, and made a few laps around the table. When
she came to Pinball, she grunted, and turned her back to him.

  Pinball whined, “What, I didn’t do a thing?”

  Grandma chuckled, “She doesn’t forget easily. She remembers your confrontation earlier with Jaxon.”

  Mr. Twain burst through the front door. “Ah, I thought I would find the Apple Dumpling gang here. And you are going to want to hear this!”

  Daisy giggled and grabbed a menu before approaching Mr. Twain. He always played along with the formality of being seated properly by Daisy and she loved the routine. She stood in front of him for a second, then turned and walked to a table.

  Mr Twain did not move. “Sorry Daisy, this is not a formal visit.”

  We all fell quiet and watched the impersonator, waiting for the news that seemed imminent.

  Mr. Twain rubbed his forehead. “My apologies, I hate to interrupt. But I just saw George Wicks get arrested. And there are now protesters in front of the police station. I think they are demanding the ghost video!”

  Pinball thundered, “Well, should we add George to the list?”

  Jaxon came close to a gasp, “Yeah, I think so. And...I have to be honest, Pinball. This is not good for Nikki. George is her alibi. But if he lied, it makes more sense now why the police are holding Nikki.”

  Everyone turned to Pinball, fearing he might be upset with the new information. He gritted his teeth, grunted, then said, “So, we have our work cut out for us. Why are we sitting around talking when we could be out and about, turning over stones, finding the truth.”

  Jaxon rubbed his nose and chuckled. “Pinball is right. I looked into Nikki’s eyes and I know she didn’t do his. Something is off. We need to pick the pace up, get to the bottom of this.”

  Chapter Twelve

  After setting up Andrew, Jessica, and Grandma with his laptop, Jaxon showed them how to run the lists of names through a few databases. We hoped to find someone with a tie to the dead man, Jack Richardson, or an odd background of interest, like a former pickpocket.

  Grandma shooed Jaxon, Pinball and me to the door. “Go, git. We got it covered and will run all the names through the computer. It’s getting late. You need to go talk to this Karen lady.”