Under the Gun

by Kelsey Browning

  “Abby Ruth. The big C. I know. It’s got me shaken up too.” Maggie joined Sera in standing before a stranger’s last resting place. “But what’s with all this dash talk?”

  “I want my dash to mean something.”

  “Why in the world would you think it won’t? Sera, you’re one of the most giving, most loving people I’ve ever known. You’ve probably had an impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of people. People you have no idea you’ve touched in a special and meaningful way.”

  “Sometimes I’ve just been a bracelet.”

  Maggie placed a cool palm on Sera’s forehead. “Hon, are you feeling okay? This isn’t the first time I’ve had a hard time following your logic, but even for you, all this talk of dashes and bracelets is weird.”

  “Did you know the Gypsy Cotton Gallery is up for sale?”

  “Oh.” Maggie’s face fell. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Does this have something to do with your dash?”

  Yes, it definitely did. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make that space something that would benefit the community? I had this picture of it as not only a gallery but a place where people could gather for events. And I could teach yoga there.”

  “Only if you’re here in Summer Shoals.”

  Maggie was right. And that wasn’t something Sera had time to mull over now, when they were here on a mission and had two important cases to solve. She released a pent-up breath. “Okay, if you were going to steal part of a priceless costume, where would you stash it?”

  “That’s a trick question, right?” Maggie waved an arm that encompassed the vaults that rose twenty feet high to the ceiling. “It’s not like this place lacks hiding places.”

  “The culprit could’ve been one of the guests. Maybe those Jessie Wyatt wannabes. Or one of her family members. They’re a greedy bunch,” Sera said. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find out her family is involved.”

  “Maybe so, but this is the only lead we have, so we start with what we’ve got. The cops looked inside the vault. The gauntlets are gone. With all the hubbub, maybe whoever took them hid them here in the mausoleum and hasn’t come back yet. We have to look in case the gauntlets are still here. Let’s start by checking for any crypts that have loose granite or don’t have caulk around the edges.”

  “But if there’s no caulk, wouldn’t they…” Sera trailed off because it was too horrible to contemplate. There were people in those crypts! She gave the air around her a sniff test, but all she got was a snootful of elegant floral arrangements, made of roses and lilies.

  “There are plenty of empties, so let’s not worry about whether or not that outfit is hidden in an occupied one. We’ll cross that…bridge…if we have to.”

  Although Sera wasn’t exactly keen on the idea, it made more sense for her and Maggie to split up for the search. “Why don’t we each take a row and we’ll leapfrog each other until we make it to the opposite side of the building? If we don’t find anything suspicious among the ones we can reach, then we’ll go from there.”

  “Works for me.”

  She and Maggie split up, and as Sera did the push test, one vault at a time, she tried not to picture her own dad behind one of the granite squares. Which was ridiculous, since he would’ve hated being stuffed in a 32-by-26-inch rectangle. He would’ve said, “That’s no way for a man to stay wild and free.” If she had to guess, with the course of the tides, he was probably somewhere near the Aleutian Islands by now. Hopefully, he’d caught up with her mom out there in the ocean.

  She smiled, remembering the man who’d taught her how to grow vegetables and clear her mind while striking a proper balasana pose. What she wouldn’t give to pick up the phone and hear his voice.

  “Any luck?” Maggie stage-whispered from the end of the row.

  Sera wasn’t certain which would be luckier, to find something that moved or not. “Everything’s in place so far.”

  “Darn it. Nothing here either.” Maggie pointed to the next row. “Moving on.”

  A twinge of guilt threaded through Sera. Part of her was hoping Maggie would find the open vault if there was one…not her. But she had to do her part. She turned to face the vaults head-on but caught a glimpse of something from the corner of her eye. What in the world?

  At the end of her row, a glowing yellow orb about the size of a basketball hung three or four feet off the ground. Sera blinked, her eyelids doing a hummingbird impersonation. Surely that round thing was an optical illusion. She glanced up at the huge stained-glass window behind the orb. Maybe the sun was simply shining through the apostle Judas’s robes.

  She examined the details of the stained glass. The intricate artwork was gorgeous and colorful, but that orb couldn’t be explained away. Judas wasn’t wearing a speck of yellow. So how? What? A ghost?

  She supposed if someplace was going to be haunted, a mausoleum was a pretty good place to haunt.

  “Maggie?” Sera’s voice quavered slightly.

  Maggie’s tennis shoes made a swooshing sound across the low carpet as she ran to help Sera. “You found something?” Maggie’s eyes danced with excitement.

  “I’m. Not. Sure.”

  “Whatever you found, is it gold and sparkly?”

  “Kinda?” Sera wanted to point, but her arms hung heavily at her sides.

  “Goodness gracious, Sera, are you scared? I thought you’d find this place peaceful.” Maggie rubbed Sera’s arm. “You okay? You’ve gone pale.”

  “Look past me,” Sera said with a gulp, “and tell me what you see.”

  “You’re not looking in the right direction. You’re supposed to be—” Maggie drew alongside Sera and followed her gaze, stopping as abruptly as the flow of her words. “Wha…what is that?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  Maggie fumbled around in the pocket of her khaki pants and pulled out her cell phone. “Whatever it is, we need a picture of it.” Snap, snap, snap.

  As Maggie clicked away, Sera watched the orb change shapes and become longer, almost as if it were growing legs.

  Sera’s heart sped up. She never should’ve indulged in a cup of real coffee this morning instead of her normal chicory substitute. Hopefully whatever—or whoever—that orb was, it was friendly.

  As quickly as it lengthened, the orb contracted again, became smaller and smaller until it disappeared with a pop of light.

  Maggie dropped her arm until her phone rested against her thigh, but neither she nor Sera made a move. They stood, watching the spot for several minutes.

  “Do you believe in ghosts?” Maggie finally asked.

  “I don’t not believe in them.” Sera’s voice was regaining its steady tone. “I think there are plenty of forces in this world we’re not always open-minded enough to recognize or see. My dad always said that the world shows you what you need when you need it.”

  “I think I would’ve liked your dad.”

  “He was the absolute best.” Her dad would’ve loved Maggie. Too bad they never got to meet. But then had he not died, Sera never would’ve ended up in Summer Shoals.

  Everything happens for a reason.

  Maggie’s lips contorted into a half-smile, half-frown. “I know this sounds crazy, but do you think it’s possible that was Jessie Wyatt’s ghost?”

  “Gold was her signature color, and I can see it would be hard for a ghost to manifest gold sequins, fringe, and bugle beads.” Sera wrapped her arms around herself. “Maybe yellow light is the best she could do from the other side.”

  “And what if Jessie wanted to take her favorite cowgirl outfit to the other side with her?”

  “Honey, you can’t take it with you,” Lil said as she strolled up. “No one is going to buy that Jessie took her own stuff. But I just saw something interesting. A bluebonnet on the floor near the loading dock.”

  Sera and Maggie shared a look that said they weren’t planning to tell Lil about what they’d seen…yet. “Wouldn’t the flowers have been delivered there?”

&nbs
p; “I don’t know,” Lil said. “Maybe.”

  “Did you look around for the gauntlets downstairs?”

  “I did. Nothing.”

  “That would’ve been too easy. We only have those rows left to check on this floor,” Sera said.

  Lil followed along on the search. “I met a woman while I was downstairs.”

  “Maybe she’s returning to the scene of the crime,” Maggie said. “This could be our first real lead.”

  “No, she was lovely. Definitely not the kind of person who would steal.”

  “You’re making friends here?” Maggie said. “I haven’t seen a living soul except the security guard.”

  “It isn’t as if I went looking for her. She was in the ladies’ room. Rosemary Myrtle, a well-to-do widow, who had on the most marvelous pink outfit,” Lil said. “Anyway, I think we’re going about this search all wrong. And I have a clue.”

  “To where the missing gauntlets are?”

  “Yes. We’re looking in the wrong place.” Lil spun around. “Lordy, this building is like a mirrored funhouse. Let’s go over to where Jessie’s interment was.”

  Maggie shot Sera a look that said it was better to follow along than argue.

  “Do you know how to get back there?” Lil asked.

  “You returning to the scene of the crime? I don’t like it one bit,” Maggie said. “If someone sees you there, it could further implicate you. Maybe Sera and I should go look and you wait here.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Lil put her hands on her hips. “No one knows I have a prison record.”

  “Except the cops,” Sera blurted and regretted it immediately when Lil turned to her with a regal look on her face.

  “The police have no reason to set me up. Now let’s go.”

  “Fine. This way,” Maggie said. Near Jessie Wyatt’s resting place, flowers still stood at varying heights, the arrangements in random states of wilt.

  “Maggie, you check the trash bin over there and around all of those flowers. Sera, you come help me push on the crypt fronts.”

  “Why do I have to check the trash?” Maggie asked.

  “Because Sera is stronger than you and me put together.”

  Maggie shoved at her bangs and walked away mumbling.

  As she and Lil made their way down the aisle where Jessie had been interred, pushing on each facing they could reach, Sera kept an eye out for the glowing orb. But everything was quiet and in place.

  “Darn it,” Lil huffed. “I thought this area was our best bet.”

  Maggie rounded the corner, hands empty of gauntlets.

  “Did you find anything?” Lil asked.

  “Several pages ripped from a magazine, three well-used tissues, and half a melted chocolate bar, which is a complete waste of good candy.”

  “We haven’t found anything either,” Sera said. None of the vaults were loose in the slightest. And even if it had seemed appropriate, they didn’t have enough time to start prying off slabs of granite. “I think it’s time to head out.”

  Lil’s mouth turned down into a half pout. “I thought for sure we’d find something here. Can’t we stay and—”

  “We need to get to the pawn shop,” Maggie glanced at her watch, “but I’ve got to go to the ladies’ room before we drive all the way into Atlanta.”

  “It’s downstairs.” Lil waved toward the door to the stairwell. “Go on. I’ll keep looking.”

  Sera joined Maggie and whispered, “Should we tell her about the orb?”

  “Lord, no. We can only track down so many disappearing things today.”

  Chapter 12

  While Maggie was using the facilities, Sera entertained herself in the anteroom with a little dance, a cross between ballet and bullfighting. Maybe a solo paso doble, like she’d seen when she’d had tickets to Dancing With The Stars. She flung her arms as if waving her mighty cape, then spun around just as Maggie stepped out of the restroom.

  “You keep that up and Valentin Chmer-what’s-his-name will be knocking on your door,” Maggie said.

  “Chmerkovskiy. Actually, I was supposed to be paired with Derek Hough the season I left California,” she said, ending her solo with a curtsey.

  Maggie’s eyes went wide. “Sometimes I’m not sure I really know you, Sera.”

  Sera looped her arm through Maggie’s and pulled her close. “You may not know everything about my life, but you definitely know the real me. I promise.”

  Maggie cut her a sideways look that insinuated she wasn’t completely convinced. “Think we have a few minutes before Lil comes looking for us?”

  “She should be busy upstairs for a while. Seemed like she wasn’t going to give up until she found something. We’ll probably have to drag her out of this place.”

  Maggie dug her phone from her pants pocket. “I want to take a few pictures down here. In case Lightning Bug Jessie likes to roam the range.”

  “We’ve named the orb now?”

  “Why not?”

  They tiptoed around a corner to see if they could spot the ghostly orb again. To their right, a door was open, and Sera peeked inside.

  “What is it?” Maggie asked.

  “I think it must be the shipping dock Lil mentioned.” The room was poorly lit, but Sera made out half a dozen caskets. Five were constructed from what appeared to be bronze or copper, but one wasn’t anything like the others. It looked as if it was fashioned from rough pine, which surprised her.

  But maybe a lower-grade casket wasn’t completely unusual. It probably cost a mint to be interred here, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find some people skimped on the condo itself so they could have a more upscale zip code.

  “Look.” Maggie clicked off another quick picture. “There’s the bluebonnet flower Lil was talking about.”

  “We should search. She’s new at this.” Sera was about to dart inside the room when she heard someone whistling. She and Maggie froze.

  Then a man wearing coveralls and carrying a broom turned the corner at the end of the hall. When he spotted them, the whistling stopped and his eyes narrowed.

  The best defense was a good offense, at least that’s what a 49ers quarterback had once told her. “Excuse me, sir? Thank goodness someone else is here.”

  His shock of white hair was mussed like he’d been out in a windstorm. “You’re not supposed to be near the shipping docks.”

  “We didn’t mean to be. We were trying to find our way back upstairs. I think we’ve gotten ourselves all turned around.”

  “No problem.” His face relaxed and he pointed down the corridor. “Head down the hall and the elevator is across the way.”

  “Thank you. You’ve been helpful.”

  “Sure thing,” he said, stepping inside that dark room and closing the door behind him with a finality that said Sera and Maggie wouldn’t get inside.

  “Let’s keep looking for LBJ,” Maggie said.

  “Don’t tell me his ghost is here too,” Sera whispered.

  “Not Lyndon Baines Johnson. Lightning Bug Jessie.”

  “Whew.”

  They made their way down the hallway with Maggie continuing to snap pictures with her phone.

  “Margaret Rawls, are you taking snapshots inside this sacred resting place?” Lil’s voice came from near the elevator, causing Sera and Maggie to stop and look in her direction.

  “Oh, I…uh…of course not.” Maggie pointed to an eight-foot tall robed and winged figure lording over an alcove. “I was getting a shot of that angel.”

  Lil eyed her suspiciously.

  “I think we’ve done all we’ve come to do.” Sera took Maggie by the elbow and pointed her toward the elevator. “And if we’re going to run down Abby Ruth’s guns before she finds out they’re missing, we better get to that pawn shop before it closes.”

  “Maybe there’s nothing here to find.” Lil pressed her lips into a fine line. “Those gloves are probably long gone, which means I have no way to clear myself.”

  “There’s alway
s a chance the pawn shop might know something about Jessie’s stuff too,” Sera said.

  “I can only hope,” Lil said.

  As they strolled into the elevator, a flash of yellow blinked in the hallway, and Sera leaned back out to see if she could catch another sight of the orb. But the corridor was empty.

  Jessie, if that was you, are you trying to tell me something?

  * * *

  “Mausoleum was a bust. I guess my hunch wasn’t so good,” Lil shouted over the clanking and creaking of Sera’s van. Sera and Maggie had been right about this investigation being tough, and Lil was disheartened by their lack of success. “What if the pawn shop is a bust too?”

  Pulling out of the parking lot, Sera glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t let any negativity leak out to the universe. We’ll find something. I just know it.”

  “What if we don’t?”

  “Then we keep trying,” Sera insisted, steering the van onto the interstate ramp. “Only positive thoughts.”

  “Maybe we need a list of suspects,” Maggie said, turning to Lil. “When we’ve done these cases in the past, we’ve worked up a list of suspects and motives.”

  “Okay,” Lil said. “I guess my name is at the top of the cops’ list, but who’s on our list?”

  “Good question,” Sera said.

  “Should we brainstorm?” Maggie pulled out a tiny spiral notebook from her pocket. “I can take notes.”

  Sera shook her head. “No. That’s double work. We should make our list when we get back to Summer Haven. It’ll be easier to focus.”

  “With the paper on the wall!” Maggie’s excitement couldn’t be mistaken. “Oh, Lil, that part is so much fun. You’re going to love it.”

  “All I know is I need to clear my name.” Lil folded her hands into her lap and leaned back in the seat.

  Nearly an hour later, Sera pulled the van into the front parking spot at J&R’s Pawn Shop.

  Lil led the way from the van with Sera and Maggie on her heels. She opened the heavy barred door, trying to avoid looking at the bright yellow measuring stick that had mocked her all those months ago when she’d come here the last time, right before her stay at Walter Stiles Prison Camp.