Gem of a Ghost: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery

by Sue Ann Jaffarian

  “Hey,” called Phil in an authoritative tone. “Buddy, get up.” He took a step forward. “Come on, rise and shine.”

  The man in the bed moaned and turned slightly, revealing he was not alone. Next to him was an equally naked young woman with messy long blond hair.

  Emma went to the large bank of windows. As in the great room, they were floor to ceiling and opened out to a balcony. She opened the blinds quickly, flooding the room with warm sunshine. The bodies on the bed starting moving like snakes disturbed in their nest. Not too fast, but there was life, evidenced by moans and the shifting of limbs.

  “What the hell,” the man said.

  Shielding his eyes with an arm, he turned away from the window as he flipped onto his back. The woman remained on her stomach and moaned.

  Phil approached the bed and poked the guy in the shoulder. “Come on, pal, get up. We have some questions for you.”

  The man raised up on his forearms and shook the sleep out of his brain like a dog shaking off water. His head of short black curls danced with the movement. As soon as he focused on Phil, he went on alert.

  “Hey, man!”

  With youthful speed and reflexes, he got to his feet and stood ready to defend himself, fists clenched and ready. Though much lighter than Phil, he was about a half foot taller and thirty years younger. Using caution, Phil stepped back but didn’t step down. The kid hadn’t noticed Emma yet.

  Off to the side, Granny danced around from foot to foot like a prize fighter. “You can take him, Phil.” Once again, Emma was glad Phil couldn’t hear Granny. He didn’t need any distractions at the moment.

  “Who are you, and what do you want?” The young man’s voice vibrated with a lick of fear, but he kept his fists up and ready.

  “We’re friends of Lainey’s,” Emma told him from her spot by the window. “You Keith Goldstein?” He looked like the young man in the photos in the hallway, but Emma wanted to make sure.

  He snapped his head around at the sound of Emma’s voice, then whipped it back to keep an eye on Phil. He didn’t seem to notice or care that he was naked. Emma moved from the window so that the kid could keep both of them in his sights, hoping it would make him less wary. The girl on the bed stirred, slowly wakening, oblivious to the drama unfolding a foot away.

  Granny shimmied up to Emma. “Will someone please tell the lad to put his knickers on.”

  “The lady,” Phil prodded, “asked if you’re Keith Goldstein. Answer her.”

  He glanced between the two of them. “Yeah, that’s me.” He lowered his fists but didn’t unclench them. “Is Lainey okay? Did something happen to her?” He sounded genuinely concerned.

  “Keith,” Emma began, taking a step toward the door. “We need to talk to you about Lainey. Why don’t you put some clothes on and meet us in the living room.”

  “Maybe I should call the police instead.”

  “Still playing the tough guy, huh?” Phil pointed to the phone next to the bed. “Why don’t you call down to the front desk. They’ll tell you Ms. Naiman gave them permission to let us in today.”

  “The concierge called first,” Emma added, “but I guess you were too passed out to hear the phone.”

  “Will someone please get some clothes on the boy?” Granny paced, trying to keep her eyes averted. “It’s indecent.”

  “We’ll see you out in the other room.” Emma started to leave, then stopped. “And while you’re putting on your pants, you might want to wake up Sleeping Beauty. It’s after three in the afternoon.”

  When Keith Goldstein joined them in the living room ten minutes later, he was alone. Phil and Emma were seated on the large sofa talking quietly between themselves. Keith was wearing jeans and a souvenir tee shirt from a rock concert. His feet were bare and his dark hair combed back away from his face, his curls semi-contained. He wore glasses with thick, black rectangle rims. He was an average-looking man in his early twenties, with nerdy overtones and a narrow face speckled lightly with acne scars. In one hand he carried a freshly opened can of Coke.

  Emma crossed her arms and gave him a disgusted once-over. “This is how you treat Lainey after everything she’s been through?”

  He plopped down on the sofa across from them and took a drink of his soda. “Who are you again?”

  Smoothing the skirt of her dress, Emma used the gesture to gather her patience like an errant chick. “I’m a longtime friend of Lainey’s family, and Kelly’s mother.”

  He digested the information as he took a long pull from the soda. “Kelly? That’s Lainey’s girlfriend at Harvard, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah, Kelly White. I met her last December. Pretty cool chick.”

  Emma almost corrected him on the name but didn’t. “I saw Lainey yesterday, Keith. She wanted me to stop by and pick up a few things for her.”

  Keith shot to attention. “How is she? Is she getting better?” His voice overflowed with hope.

  “Yes, her doctor is pleased with her progress.”

  “Awesome.”

  Before Emma’s motherly instincts could rise up and scold Keith, the girl from the bed emerged from the hallway wearing an oversized tee shirt. From the drape of her garment, it appeared it was all she was wearing. Unlike Keith, she hadn’t even made an attempt to brush her hair or wash her face. Her honey-highlighted hair was wavy and well past her shoulders. Emma thought she recognized her.

  “Just need to get my clothes.” The young woman didn’t seem at all embarrassed by the situation.

  “It’s about Lainey,” Keith told her as she gathered her underwear, shoes, and other clothing as casually as picking flowers in a field. “They said she’s doing better.”

  “That’s great.” Her words were upbeat; her tone—not so much. Clothing bundled in her arms, she sat on the arm of the sofa next to Keith and crossed her legs, leaving nothing to the imagination.

  “You’re Summer Perkins, aren’t you?” asked Emma as she studied the girl’s makeup-smudged face.

  “Yeah,” the girl answered as she studied Emma back. “And you’re Kelly’s mom—Mrs. Whitecastle, right? The ghost lady from TV.” She sneered when she threw out the ghost part.

  “That’s right. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Summer—not since you girls were in high school. It’s nice that you all still keep in touch.”

  Summer shrugged. “Lainey and I used to hang out a lot.”

  “Used to?”

  “I mean, we’re still good friends and all, but with her in the nut house, it’s kind of hard.”

  Emma leaned forward, her face pinched in anger. Phil put a hand gently on her arm as a warning to take it slow. Emma ignored his gesture and fixed her eyes on Summer. “You’re such good friends, you’re keeping her fiancé company? In Lainey’s own bed, no less?”

  “411, Mrs. Whitecastle, they’re not engaged anymore.”

  “It’s true,” Keith confirmed, though he had the good grace to look guilty. “Lainey and I broke up just before she left for Serenity. She gave me the ring back and everything.”

  “Hey, gramps,” Summer suddenly called out. She uncrossed her legs and spread them, aiming her crotch at Phil. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

  Phil was flustered. “I can assure you, young lady, I was not looking at you.”

  “Yeah, right. All you old pervs do it. You know you do.” She flashed Phil a sly grin. “Just so long as you don’t touch.”

  “Summer, chill,” Keith ordered as if he were giving a sharp command to a bad dog.

  Granny moved in close to Emma. “Phil was not looking at that tramp’s hoochie. He was looking at something else.”

  “I know,” Emma said under her breath.

  “What?” Summer snapped at Emma. “What did you call me?”

  “I didn’t call you anything, Summer. I was just saying I think you should go.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.”

  The girl was stretching Emma’s patience to the limit.
Kelly wasn’t perfect, but she was polite and sensible and seldom insolent. “We have things to discuss with Keith that don’t concern you.”

  “Do as she says, Summer,” Keith told her, not sounding too pleased with her behavior either.

  Phil held up a hand halfway as if waiting to be called upon. “I was looking, Summer, not at you but at that gorgeous ring on your left hand. Does your fiancé know you spent the night here?”

  The girl looked down at her left hand, which sported a very large square-cut solitaire. “This isn’t mine, it was Lainey’s. I was trying it on last night and forgot it was there. So relax, you don’t have to tattle on me to anyone.” She gave Phil another catlike smile. “Or were you thinking more along the lines of blackmail?”

  “Just go, Summer,” ordered Keith.

  With her clothes in her arms, Summer stalked down the hall to the master bedroom, treating everyone to the loud slam of the door behind her.

  “Don’t mind Summer,” Keith told them. “She’s messed up, but she’s cool.”

  Emma looked at Keith as if he’d lost his young mind. “She’s definitely messed up, Keith, but she’s far from cool. She’s in more need of Serenity Place than Lainey is.”

  ten

  After an awkward moment during which Keith took time to absorb Emma’s blatant warning about Summer, he explained, “There’s nothing going on with me and Summer. I’ve been really down lately—the thing with Lainey, studying for exams—it all kind of piled up on me. Some of our friends came by last night to cheer me up. Summer was with them. They brought food and beer. We played video games. That’s it.”

  The parent in Emma wasn’t mollified. “You played video games from bed?”

  Keith nosed the pedestal of the coffee table with a foot. “I guess I got drunk, and Summer and I hooked up after. That’s all.”

  Looking for some manly backup, he turned his eyes to Phil. “Man, you know how it is.”

  Under different circumstances, Phil would have given him a small smile of support, but he had sons, and while boys would be boys, he wouldn’t want either of them to hook up with the likes of Summer Perkins, not even for an evening. Instead, he asked Keith, “Do you still have feelings for Lainey Naiman?”

  Keith put his Coke down on the glass table. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knobby knees. “Yeah, I still do. I’m crazy about her.”

  “Lainey believes you think she tried to kill herself because she didn’t want to marry you,” Emma told him. “How’d she get that idea?”

  Looking anywhere but at Emma, Keith took a deep breath. He placed the palm of his right hand on his chest and rubbed slowly, as if soothing a suspected heart attack. “I guess I sort of told her that.”

  Emma pushed. “You likened her to an animal who’d rather chew off her foot than marry you, didn’t you?”

  Phil hung his head like a broken hinge. “Oh, son, you didn’t!”

  Keith looked up, his brown eyes drooping behind his glasses. “I know, I was a complete dumbass. I just didn’t know what else to think. We were having a fight. After I said that to her, she took the ring off and threw it at me. I’m only in the condo until she returns from Serenity. My stuff’s all packed and ready to go.”

  “Lainey believes something was driving her to do what she did,” Emma said. “She must have told you that.”

  “Yeah.” Keith ran a bony hand over the stubble on his chin. “She told me she felt like she had no control over her actions—like she’d space out and then snap out of it just as she was about to die.” He eyed Emma, his face still as stone. “Do you believe that?”

  “Yes, Keith, I do. I don’t think Lainey was responsible for her actions, and I want to get to the bottom of it.”

  Keith sat perfectly still as he mashed what Emma said together with his feelings. Picking up his soda, he took a long drink, tipping back the can until it was empty. He put it back on the table, the sound tinny and hollow as it connected with the glass table.

  “If it’s not me causing Lainey’s problems, do you think I have a chance to win her back?”

  Emma was quiet, but Phil gave it to him straight. “Hard to say with Summer in the mix. If she’s the one who’s told everyone where Lainey is, I’m sure she’s going to happily tell Lainey or Lainey’s true friends, like Kelly, about this little indiscretion.”

  “Oh, god!” Keith hung his head, cradling it in his hands.

  “You might want to be the one to tell her,” Phil suggested. “Man up, and let her know how you feel and how sorry you are.”

  Emma got up to stretch her legs. She walked to the patio door and looked out at the gorgeous view, studying the cluster of Century City high-rise office buildings that popped up in the distance like dandelions. She turned back to Keith. “Was everything else okay between you and Lainey? No other issues that might have upset her, or dreams or feelings she was having right before these incidents?”

  When he shrugged, she asked, “What about your parents? Did both sides approve of your upcoming marriage? After all, you are both quite young and still in school.” She took a step back toward the men and leaned her hands on the back of the sofa where Phil sat. “I know I’d be concerned if Kelly wanted to get married at this time in her life.”

  Keith gave the question some thought before answering. “At first my folks were concerned about Lainey. They knew she was the daughter of someone famous and cautioned me about life in the fast lane. But when I took her to Seattle to meet them, she melted their hearts, especially after she told them she doesn’t want to stay in LA after we’ve finished with school. They saw for themselves she isn’t at all like those rich bimbos they hear about in the news. She’s smart and down-to-earth.” A small smile crept across his face. “As far as my folks are concerned, there are only two things I’ve done 100 percent right in my life—set my sights on becoming a doctor and fall in love with a nice Jewish girl.”

  “And Lainey’s parents?”

  After a deep sigh, Keith shook his head in disgust. “My parents are definitely not going to like them.”

  It was Phil’s turn to make a guess. “I take it they didn’t take to you as your parents did to Lainey?”

  “They’re psycho. Her old man called me a gold digger right to my face.”

  The ghost of Max Naiman popped into view just behind Keith. “Don’t look at me. I like the boy.”

  Emma caught Phil’s eye as she asked Keith, “You mean Linwood Reid, her stepfather?”

  “Yeah. He actually had the balls to offer me fifty thousand dollars to drop Lainey like a lead weight.”

  “Is that the Max character?” asked Granny.

  Emma nodded but kept up her conversation with Keith. “What did Lainey say about that?”

  “I didn’t tell her.” Keith got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

  “Max is here,” Emma whispered to Phil. “He likes Keith.”

  “So do I,” returned Phil, “in spite of Summer.”

  Granny eyed Max up and down. He winked at her, causing Granny to giggle like a schoolgirl. “I gotta watch me some of his movies.”

  Keith returned clutching another Coke. “That booze made me dry as a sand dune.” He looked down at the can as he popped the top. “I’m sorry. Would you guys like something? We’ve got tons of Coke, even some beer still left.”

  “No, thanks,” Phil answered for both of them.

  Emma wasn’t through with the Lin Reid topic. “Why didn’t you tell Lainey about Lin’s offer?”

  Keith took a drink before answering and squelched a burp. “Excuse me.” Sitting back down, he said, “Lainey doesn’t get along with her stepfather at all. Not sure why, but she can’t stand him. She once told me he had her husband all picked out for her—some clown nephew of his or someone like that. Maybe that’s why.”

  “So Lainey being engaged to you gummed up his plans.” Phil leaned forward and moved the orchid out of the way to see Keith better.

  “I guess.”

  M
ax moved in front of Emma. “This boy isn’t the gold digger. Reid is.”

  Emma’s attention clicked onto the ghost. Without thinking, she asked Max, “Why do you say that?”

  Not realizing Emma was speaking to a spirit, Keith answered, “Well, as long as she’s with me, she can’t date his nephew. Although she’s met him and doesn’t like him, so I’m not sure how Lin thought he was going to change her mind.”

  Max looked at the boy, letting him finish before he answered Emma’s question. “Lainey doesn’t have all her inheritance. She gets the bulk of it when she turns twenty-one in five months. I think Reid wants to get his hands on it. He’s already wormed his way into Joanna’s money by convincing her they didn’t need prenups.”

  Emma clutched the back of the sofa. “Keith, did you know about Lainey’s inheritance?”

  “Sure, that’s how she could afford this place.”

  “No, not the money she received at eighteen. Did you know she was to inherit a larger sum upon her twenty-first birthday?”

  From the surprise on his face, both Emma and Phil knew he didn’t.

  Emma wasn’t sure how or if Lainey’s suicide attempts tied in to her inheritance or Lin Reid. While Lin did seem to exercise some control over Joanna, she couldn’t imagine how he could manage to push Lainey to the brink of killing herself, if he did have a hand in it at all. It just seemed improbable.

  “You know what the weirdest part of all this is?” asked Keith. “When we were with Lainey’s parents, her mother seemed to be totally in agreement with Lin. But her mother offered me money to make sure I married her.”

  “What?” everyone, even the two ghosts, asked almost in unison.

  “Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair, loosening it into a riot of short tendrils. “Joanna came here one day shortly after Lainey went to Serenity and handed me twenty grand in cash. In cash! She said there was another eighty waiting for me the day I married Lainey.”

  Phil stared at Emma. “What in the hell is wrong with those people?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Keith. “Whatever made Lainey do what she did, I don’t think it had anything to do with you. Not a damn thing.”