by Tonya Kappes
Just like that, she ghosted away.
Chapter Eighteen
Even with seven or eight Betweener clients under my belt, none of them were a bit similar. I’d learned more and more as I’d gotten them. At first I thought I could only see murdered clients that I knew. Then it turned into murdered victims from the community that I didn’t know. Now it had expanded even to people who’d been dead a long time that had nothing to do with my community or me.
“Rachael kidnapped Betsy. Herman had no idea Betsy was in there.” Mazie was using Charlotte’s old office in Eternal Slumber as a fact gathering space for our new collaboration. She’d taken an old white board that Charlotte had kept in her office from when we’d done the remodel and wrote suspect and motives on top of it with one of the dry-erase markers.
She listed Kevin and Rachael as the number one and number two. Under their names, she wrote why she felt like they had motive. Between them she drew a big heart and wrote affair in the middle.
“This gives Rachael motive.” She tapped the heart with the felt tip of the marker.
“But who killed Rachael?” I asked.
“Kevin.” Mazie sounded confident. “When the cops gave him a lie detector, he didn’t kill Betsy. He killed Rachael.”
“Where is her body?” I asked.
“Ask her.” Mazie made a continuous circle around Kevin’s name. “How does this work? Betsy and Rachael both hang around you until the killer is found?”
“That’s the way it’s been with my Betweener clients, but Betsy and Rachael are the first from out of our town that came to me.” None of it was making sense.
“Can you hand me my phone?” Mazie stood looking at the board. “We’ve got to get the vigil together.”
“Who are you calling?” I asked and picked up her phone off of Charlotte’s desk and handed it to her.
“I’m going to call Rachael’s daughter. I want to see what she knows. Maybe her grandmother killed Rachael or even one of her kids because they were angry.” Mazie scribbled daughter and mother in an offshoot of Rachael’s name.
She put the marker down and tapped on her phone.
“Hi, this is Emma Lee Raines from Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky.” My name flowed off Mazie’s tongue as if she’d been claiming my name as much as she claimed her own.
My jaw dropped. Sheepishly she looked at me and smiled. I lowered my eyes trying to figure out what she was doing and who she was talking to.
“I’m with the Sleepy Hollow PD,” she spoke so fast I wasn’t sure the person on the other line heard her correctly, “and I’m calling to inquire about your mother, Rachael Bemis.”
I had to give a hand to Mazie. If she wanted something done, she did it.
“Mmm-hmmm. Yes. Oh, I see.” Mazie nodded as if the person on the other end could see her. “It’s my understanding that she’s still not been found. Is that correct?”
“Ask her about her job and Kevin,” I whispered as I snapped my fingers to get Mazie’s attention.
“Did she ever mention the man’s name?” Mazie probed. “I see that here. How about her job at Rent A Room? Did she ever talk about anyone there?”
Mazie yammered on about Rachael and I watched Granny from the window as she stood in the middle of the square looking around. She was framing different angles with her hands in the air and her eyes squinted to get a good view of whatever she was doing. There was something stuck in the back end of the waistband of her pants. But I couldn’t make it out.
“She’s not contacted anyone since she disappeared?” Mazie continued to hammer the poor girl with questions.
“Yes. Mmmhhh. Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Don’t tell her again.”
Something inside my gut told me that Mazie needed a lesson in how to investigate in person by keeping things so vague the other person couldn’t remember. On second thought, Mazie could be the computer investigator and I’d do the live things.
“Yes. Thank you. You’ve been so helpful.” Mazie flipped her phone shut. “What?”
“Did she ask you where you were?”
“She asked.” Mazie looked at me like I was crazy.
“You can’t do that. If you’re going to help me in this crazy job.” I circled my hand in the air. “When you talk to people, you have to be so vague that they only remember you were from some police department and the reason you were there.”
“She asked.” Mazie must’ve thought it was enough of a reason.
“Then you hang up or excuse yourself. There are ways for you to get out of it. That way, they can’t trace you back to the police station. I’m sure she’s checking out everything you were saying and if the police find out that we used their name, they’ll file charges against us.”
“Us?” Mazie drew back. “I used your name.”
“Thanks, Mazie.” A big sigh escaped me. “What did she say? Anything new?”
“She said that they think Rachael ran off with her boyfriend. Rachael actually left town about a week before Betsy went missing.” She wrote on the white board as she rambled on.
Mazie was still writing away on the dry erase board all the things Rachael’s daughter had told her when Rachael and Betsy appeared.
“Hey you two. Do you think y’all can hang around and answer a few questions?” I asked them.
Mazie stared at me in a way that the other citizens of Sleepy Hollow looked at me when they thought I had the Funeral Trauma.
“You can’t look at me like that if you’re going to help me.” I cocked a brow.
“Oh.” She looked startled. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m fascinated.”
“Betsy, Rachael took you from your home and put you in the barn. Mr. Strauss had no idea you and Mr. Whiskers were in the barn when he set it on fire. He went to jail for a long time for the arson.” I wanted Betsy to understand me.
“I’m so sorry.” Rachael bent down to Betsy. “I didn’t mean for anything to happen to you. I was being an ugly grown up. I never wanted you to die.”
“What’s going on?” Mazie looked between me and the space I was staring at.
“Rachael is apologizing for taking Betsy out of her home. But what doesn’t make sense to me is that in the past, my other Betweener clients crossed over when they figured out how they died or who killed them. In Betsy’s case, she was a victim of an arson that was never meant to kill her.” I wasn’t sure how this was playing out or what I needed to do to get Betsy to the other side.
“We are pretty sure Rachael was murdered. I’m thinking,” Mazie made big circles around Rachael’s name, “that someone killed Rachael and since Rachael was the reason Betsy was in the barn, they are tied until we figure out who killed Rachael.”
“Plus Mr. Whiskers.” Betsy nodded. “Why did you take me from my bed?”
“I was being a stupid grown up.” She looked at Betsy. “Kevin did love you.” Rachael was confessing her secrets to the little girl. “One time when we were working, he drank a little too much and had confessed that he really wanted to know what it was like to be with your mommy without children.” Rachael’s voice cracked, “I was a bad person and fell in love with him while we worked together. I wanted him for myself. When he picked you and your mommy, I wanted to take you to get them to break up over a fight or something silly like that.”
Rachael had left out the part about them having the affair, which was probably best because I wasn’t sure just how much Betsy would’ve understood that.
“You told me that they were going to send me off and I went with you. You lied to me. I want my mommy!” Betsy started to throw a hissy fit before she disappeared.
Mr. Whiskers hissed and disappeared shortly after.
“She took responsibility for Betsy’s disappearance. She left off the fact that she and Kevin had slept together,” I told Mazie.
Mazie drew a triangle. On each point she wrote Kevin, Rachael and Kay. Neither Kay nor Kevin had gotten married after all these years.
Kevin wasn’t in town the day of the disappearance so I’m thinking he didn’t know Rachael had done it and that’s how he passed the lie detector. But who knew Rachael was there and who knew she had an affair with Kevin?
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Mazie asked me.
I held up a finger.
“What on earth did you do for a week before the disappearance?” I asked Rachael.
“It’s so fuzzy. I don’t remember.” She rubbed the pad of her finger on that same spot on her chest.
“Why do you keep rubbing your chest?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Frustration hung in her words. “I don’t know!”
In an instant, she was gone.
“Ask her if she remembers where she was last? Maybe that’ll get us to some bones like Betsy did.” Mazie shrugged, her dry erase marker at the ready.
“That’s a good idea, but she’s gone.” I rolled my eyes. “They want to cross over, but I’ve learned they get so mad when questions are asked.”
“Maybe she’s avoiding the question like people do in life. Or she’s embarrassed by the answer.” Mazie made good excuses.
“That sort of behavior isn’t going to help me get them over.” I stood a step back and looked at the board. I pointed to Kay’s name. “Kay said that there was a petting zoo and all sorts of people there for Betsy’s party. I wonder if any of them saw Rachael lingering around?”
“Good.” Mazie pointed the felt tip toward me before she started to underline Rachael’s name. “And I’m sure she took photos of the event. We need her to bring those tonight.”
“Great idea!” I was actually enjoying going back and forth with Mazie on possible ideas. Not that Jack Henry wasn’t a great co-Betweener but he was so logical where Mazie had a great imagination. She put a spin on all the ideas.
The knock on the office door made Mazie and me nearly jump out of our skins. Dealing with ghosts always kept me on edge.
“Jack.” It was so refreshing to see his face.
“Hi, Jack Henry.” Mazie grabbed her purse. “I’m going to go make that phone call.” Her purse flung behind her shoulder. “I’ll talk to you tonight.”
Jack Henry gave Mazie a slight nod when she walked past him and out of the office. He stared at me under hooded brows before they slid over to the big white board with all the evidence me and Mazie had written down.
“Yep.” He rocked back on his heels. “I got a call from Serena Bemis.”
“Oh.” I looked back at the board.
“She said that you called claiming you were with the Sleepy Hollow PD and were reopening her mother’s case. She never knew her mother had ties to Sleepy Hollow other than to the owner of Rent A Room. Now she’s on her way here.”
There wasn’t an speck on his face that appeared to be happy.
“Jack.” I rushed over to him and tucked my hand in the crook of his arm. “I didn’t call her. Mazie did and trust me, I wasn’t happy that she used my name.”
“Why does Mazie have any involvement in this?” He looked at me.
“She knows I’m a Betweener.” I gulped.
“Emma Lee, this is exactly what we feared.” He reminded me of how much we’ve tried to keep my little secret under wraps and the idea of what would happen if anyone found out.
“You’re the one who’s leaving me here to do this alone.” I gulped and immediately wished I could take back my words. “I mean…”
He jerked his arm away from me.
“I understand that me taking a job is putting a strain on our relationship, but you pretending to be a cop is an offense punishable by law. What would’ve happened if someone else at the office took the call? They’d investigate by taking phone records and put you and Mazie in jail.” He was always so by the book. “As far as your Betweener clients, I know that me leaving puts you alone. They aren’t here to see me. You were doing just fine before you told me about your gift.”
My eyes welled with tears. As much as I tried to put on my big girl pants and sniff them back, there were just too many and like a dam breaking, they flooded right on out and down my face.
“Mazie knew just like you that I had a gift. She said she’d been watching my actions closely and saw how tied you and I were to the cases. She’s also got great internet skills that I lack, so I figured I’d tell her the truth.” I sucked back more tears. “I don’t think I can do it on my own and Mazie has some great ideas.”
I pointed to the board.
Jack didn’t bother looking at it. He pulled me to his chest. He used the pad of his finger to tip my chin up to look at him. His soft lips covered mine. He held me tighter.
“I’m not upset that you and Mazie are playing Nancy Drew.” He smiled. “But you can’t go around pretending to be the police. I told Serena that we hadn’t reopened any case but we are looking into a case related to her mother’s boss. She’s still coming here. Now I have to get the Chicago police involved. But I’d like to be able to give them something. Like bones. Can you ask Rachael where she was when she was murdered?”
“Don’t you think I’ve done that?” I pointed to the board where Mazie had stuck Rachael’s photo next to her name. “Her chest,” I gasped and hurried over to the photo. “What is around her neck?”
“Now you’ve lost me.” Jack Henry came over and looked at the picture Mazie had found on the internet.
“Rachael continues to rub her chest when we are talking. I thought it was some sort of nervous habit, but now I think she’s looking for something.” I put my finger on her photo. “And I think that something is right there.”
Both of us leaned in. She was wearing a necklace, but the object was out of focus.
“I’ll check into it. But I’m not sure how that can help us,” he said.
This was where I was saying Mazie and I made a better team. She’d be throwing ideas out while Jack Henry had to see the physical and practical evidence.
“Okay.” It was easier to agree with him at this point. “Tomorrow night we are having a vigil for the anniversary of Betsy’s disappearance and now death. Mazie was going to get the media here to cover it as well as those big balloons to let go. She had a good idea that she’s seen on TV where the killer usually shows up at events like these, but now that I know the killer—”
“You know the killer?” Jack Henry’s jaw tensed. “You know who killed Betsy?”
“Rachael Bemis.” I just realized I’d yet to tell him of the discovery.
“Emma. What are you talking about.” He braced himself up against Charlotte’s desk.
I proceeded to tell him how Rachael was in love with Kevin and how she took Betsy.
“So technically, she didn’t kill Betsy. But someone did kill her and that’s why I think they are my Betweener clients. I think Betsy and Rachael are so connected in the afterlife, they’ve both got to have the killer brought to justice,” I said.
“And here I thought you had two separate Betweener cases going.” He eased himself up off the desk. “I’m not going to call Chicago until you find me evidence that she’s involved. Don’t go around telling anyone that you are with the force either. I’ve got to cover your tracks.”
“I’m sorry. I did tell Mazie after the fact that she couldn’t do that.” There was a tug on my heart.
The thought that he was going to be leaving me for a few months had started to settle in the deep parts of my heart.
“Can we forget about all of this the rest of the night and just enjoy each other?” he asked and walked back over to me, taking me into his arms once again.
Chapter Nineteen
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday day to you!” Granny yelped at five a.m.
“Happy birfday to you!” Betsy chimed in.
“Happy birthday, dear Emma Lee! Happy birthday to you!” Granny continued to belt out the tune until I rolled over.
The thirty lit candles on top of the cake weren’t nearly as bright as Granny’s smile.
“Get
up! You know, I’ll never forget your daddy waking me up that morning.” She told the same story about my birth the same time, every single year. Five a.m. “Yep. It was about midnight. We’d just buried three people that day and we were so tired. I swear you came because your mama had spent so much time on her feet that day. Three funerals was a lot.”
I threw back the covers. I refrained from reciting the story by heart. Even though I was there and didn’t remember, I really could tell it like I did remember it.
“I swear that doctor had to pluck you out because you weren’t coming.” She cackled and set the burning cake on the bedside table.
“Go on, get up. It’s about five o’clock and you’ve got to blow out them candles and make a wish.” Granny had the superstition that if you made a wish at the exact time of your birth, they’d come true.
I even subscribed to her crazy notion that this was true after Jack Henry and I started dating. Then the wishes turned into marriage. Here we were today. No ring. No marriage. And soon no Jack Henry.
“Thanks, Granny.” I knew she had such good intentions.
“Well, if I were you, and clearly I’m not because I have no problems getting married.” She threw her head back and laughed again. “I’d not waste a wish on Jack Henry.”
“How did you know I wish for Jack Henry?” I asked.
“You’re old granny ain’t so stupid or crazy.” She winked. “Go on. Blow them candles out before you catch the funeral home on fire.”
Granny and I spent a couple of hours before the sun came up to reminisce about old times and even had a good time visiting about Charlotte.
The next few hours I returned some phone calls for Eternal Slumber and took a few birthday calls. Jack Henry sent me a bouquet of daisies with a request to join him for supper. And to dress nice.
By the time I finished up some business, it was almost time to meet Mazie before the big vigil. She’d texted to let me know that she’d called Kay. I’d texted back to have her meet me at Higher Grounds.
The late day sun was setting over the courthouse. The tall steeple on the oldest building in Sleepy Hollow looked so majestic in the golden sunset. In a much different life than the one I had now, I used to lie in the grass in the square and watch the sunset dreaming of seeing this same sunset with Jack Henry for the rest of my life. Our relationship, though not as I had pictured it six months ago, will be able to withstand anything that was going to be thrown at us and that included the state police stint. Tonight, after the vigil, I was ready to kick off my shoes, relax and enjoy a nice quiet evening with the only man I’ve ever loved.