by Tegan Maher
I had to jiggle the key a little in the lock to get it to open and wondered idly where the money had come from to keep the lights on; something I'd have to follow up on because it might be another way to track down the previous owner. I knew maybe I was lookin' a gift horse in the mouth, but I'd liked Mr. Braxton.
"Wow," Rae said when she walked through to the kitchen. "You have everything you need to bake here, too." She walked over and turned the dial on the stove to see if the burner kicked on. Gas hissed out, but it didn't flare to life. She quickly shut it off. "I guess that explains the box of matches on the shelf."
Max swooped over and bent down for a closer look. "That's an easy fix." He glanced at Matt. "Put that on the list. The last thing we need is for her to blow herself up."
Matt, used to taking orders from him by then, just nodded while he wandered around, looking at the outlets and ceiling and pecking on the walls. "It seems everything's sound so far. No signs of water leaks. ’Course I haven't looked at the hot water heater or in the basement. When was it built?"
I pulled out the deed and scanned it. "Says here 1989. Why?"
"Phew." Max said. "You don't have to worry about asbestos, then."
That alone was enough to make me breathe a sigh of relief. Ever since he'd mentioned it, I'd been kicking myself for jumping in headfirst. It'd be just my luck to get a building for practically nothing then have to spend twice what it was worth to keep from getting lung cancer just by walking through the front door.
"Still, we'll check the attic to make sure the insulation's good. Back then, some builders were still shady about stuff people couldn't see," Matt said. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, though."
We wandered through the rest of the upper floor and I realized there was another small room off the office that I'd missed on my way through the first time. Cheri Lynn found it when she floated through the wall. When I pushed open the office door to find the door to it, I realized it was situated behind the office door. It ended up being a little storage room.
"They probably added the office later to make it bigger." Hunter looked around. "It looks like this used to be one big space, so that was probably sectioned off for cleaning supplies or whatever. Does anybody know what the place was in the beginning?"
"It was a shoe store, if memory serves," Max said.
"Oh, memory serves," Addy said. "I spent a fortune in here."
Matt scratched his head, then put his ball cap back on. "There's no tellin' what that little room was for. Maybe a little break room or somethin'. Don't matter much. It's easy enough to move the door."
I shrugged as I pulled it open. "It's not a big deal. That seems like a lot of work when the door it has already works." I swiveled my head because for the third time, I'd caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Scrunching my forehead, I scanned the area where I'd seen it, but there was nothing to be seen.
Cheri Lynn noticed me looking and tilted her head in question. I motioned her over with a slight jerk of my head as the others filed back into the main space.
I explained in a quick, whispered sentence. She pinched her lips together and looked casually in that direction. "Sure, sugar, I'll go ask Addy if she remembers the original owner." Her statement threw me for a loop for a second, until I realized she was summoning the others to help her check things out.
Meanwhile, I noticed a dusty box of light bulbs on a shelf and grabbed one, remembering at the last minute that the one in the basement was blown. Max, Hunter, and Matt were stepping off measurements—don't ask me what for—and the girls were in the kitchen.
I pushed through the doors and found them checking out the appliances and pointing out where this or that would go, and starting a list of what I'd need. "What on earth would she need with that?" Bobbie Sue asked. "That's definitely space she could use for rolling out dough."
"I guess you're right," Raeann said. "I was thinkin' more along the lines of uppin' productivity, but she's not usin' this place as a bakery or shop. Still, a toaster oven's handy to have."
"So is empty table space when you gotta roll out cinnamon rolls," Bobbie said, arching a brow at her. “I think I can speak from experience.”
I smiled. I loved 'em all, but nobody could accuse us of being weak-willed.
"Okay, ladies," I said. "If y'all are done designin' the kitchen, let's move on to the basement. I haven't seen it yet, so it'll be new to me, too."
I poked my head back into the front room. "Guys? Wanna check out the basement?"
Of course they did, because that's where all the manly-man stuff was. Just to make them happy—not because I was a little wigged out because of my last attempt—I handed Hunter the light and motioned them ahead.
As soon as I opened the door, that dusty, damp smell that all basements share wafted out of the yawning darkness and I shivered. Matt slid a mini flashlight off his belt and flicked it on, lighting the way down the steps, then flashing it over the ceiling. I tossed a small light ball into the main space. The ceiling was low, so Hunter only had to stretch a little to remove the old bulb once he found it.
Before he could screw in the new one, a horrible screeching sound similar to a herd of mating cats echoed through the darkness and I caught movement in the shadows. I flung another light ball that direction but the flickering light just made things weirder.
"You will come out," Addy shouted, huffing slightly. Off topic, but I still hadn't figured that one out yet. She said she didn't get tired, but she still huffed like she was out of breath sometimes. Maybe it was just a habit left over from when she had a body.
"No, I can't!" said a strange voice tinged with a note of panic.
"Yes you can, sweetie," Cheri Lynn's honey-smooth voice was soothing. "It's okay. Nobody's gonna hurt you. I promise."
"I'm gonna hurt him," Belle barked, "If he don't get his see-through caboose out there right now. Lurkin' around like some pervert!"
"Hey! I'm not a pervert! You people show up in my shop uninvited, and I'm the one in the wrong?"
Hunter got the new bulb in and pulled the string. Light flooded the basement and we all turned to see what the commotion was. Belle and Addy each had ahold of one arm of a familiar figure, yanking him through the wall. Cheri Lynn was floating in front of him, uttering reassurances. When they pulled him into the light, I dropped the shot bulb Hunter had handed me.
"Well I'll be damned," Bobbie Sue said. "It's the fried baloney man."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I stepped forward to get a closer look as the four of them came out of the shadows and the glass from the bulb crunched under my foot. Without taking my eyes off the ghostly group, I snapped my fingers and the pieces pulled themselves back together, then popped back up to my hand.
"Hey," Rae said to the man trying to escape from Belle and Addy. Good luck with that—I had a body and they didn't, and I couldn't escape when they didn't want me to. "You're Mr. Braxton!"
"Can't get nothin' past her," Mr. Braxton deadpanned.
He rolled his eyes and Addy shook him like a rug. "You better stop sassin' and start talkin' there, baloney boy."
The guy was about fifty-ish with thinning hair—well, I guess it had thinned all it was going to—and was wearing a button-down and khakis.
He peered over the top of his readers at her. "And who died and made you queen?"
"I did!" she snapped.
Belle hmphed beside her. "And we trade days, so we got the rest of eternity covered."
Cheri Lynn floated away a little to give him some room. "Everybody just take a deep breath. I'm sure we can get this figured out."
Her companions all glared at her, and Max floated forward.
"So where you been for the last six months or so?" he asked. I ain't been on this side of the daisies but a coupla months, but I ain't seen you around. You ain't been to none of the meetin's."
"Wait," I said. "You guys have actual meetings?"
"Course we do," Addy said. "How else you reckon we're g
onna keep things like this"—she motioned to the silvery form of Mr. Braxton—"under control?" She glowered at him. "There's rules most of the newly departed are usually courteous enough to follow."
Matt looked completely lost, so I stepped forward. "Matt, this is Erol Braxton, the former owner of this place."
"That's all fine and dandy," Erol said, "but who are you people? And what do you mean by former?"
Now I was losing patience with him. "If you'd zip it for two seconds, I was getting to it."
I made the introductions. "I bought your shop today and we were just exploring it."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Whadya mean you bought it? It isn't for sale."
There really wasn't any delicate way to put it. "It actually was. The taxes weren't paid and, well, I paid 'em, so now it's mine."
He started to bluster. "That's highway robbery! You stole it right out from underneath me!"
Max zoomed forward when he said that. "You watch your mouth. She's a good kid and she didn't steal nothin'. She bought it fair and square."
Hunter backed him up. "She did. She even went so far as insist we keep trying to find you because she felt bad buyin' it that way."
"She oughta feel bad," he said. "She stole my store!"
Bobbie Sue stepped forward, scowling. "Lemme ask ya this, then, Mr. Smarty Pants. How you reckon you're gonna flip sandwiches or whisk that fancy mustard sauce of yours since you ain't got no body anymore?"
Erol fired daggers at her with his eyes for a few seconds, then wilted and started to tear up.
Belle looked heavenward. "Lord help us, we got a leaker. Pull yourself together, for the love of Betsy. How long you been dead? And why did you come back here?"
He wiped a knuckle under his eye, clearing the shimmering tears. "What do you mean, why did I come back? I never left."
You could have heard a pin drop for the span of a couple of heartbeats.
"Come again?" Belle said. "Course ya did. Lorrie Critchfield saw ya packin' suitcases into your car, then we never heard from ya again. The house you was rentin' was cleaned out."
He heaved a sigh. "Yeah, that's what they made it look like, I'm sure."
Hunter stepped forward. "I'm the sheriff, and I would love to know exactly what—and who—you're talkin' about."
Erol snapped his attention to Hunter, then started to struggle in earnest even though Belle and Addy had pretty much turned him loose. Panic flashed in his eyes and Cheri Lynn stepped forward.
"It's okay," she said, snapping her fingers in front of her face and pointing to her own eyes. "Look at me. You're fine. You're safe. I know what you're thinkin' but he can't hurt you anymore and Hunter ain't got nothin' to do with him. He's one of the good guys."
Erol looked at her, chest heaving. "He can't hurt me?"
She shook her head. "Nope. He ain't never gonna hurt nobody ever again."
Matt pulled off his cap, rubbed the back of his neck, then shoved his hat back on. "Who ain't never gonna hurt him again?"
Anna Mae stepped forward, tears tracking down her cheeks. "Hank," she whispered. "He's talkin' about Hank, aren't you, Mr. Braxton?"
I felt so bad for her at that moment that I'da paid money to watch Hank get sucked to his black, miserable just desserts again.
Erol'd stopped struggling and looked through Cheri Lynn to Anna Mae. "You're his wife," he said, accusing.
"Yeah, she was," Bobbie Sue said, wrapping an arm around Anna Mae, "But he was just as evil to her as he was to everybody else."
Mr. Braxton held her gaze for a moment, then flicked it back toward Hunter. "You're that new guy. You came in for a sandwich a few times. Always wondered how you stomached what they did, because you have such a good aura and were always nice to me."
Hunter shook his head. "I had no idea what he was doin' ‘til after he was dead."
Erol snapped his gaze up. "He's dead?"
Cheri Lynn gave a definitive nod. "He is."
"Is he ... did he—" His eyes darted around the room, looking behind him as if the hounds of hell were gonna pop out of the walls at him.
I stepped toward him. "He's not here. He didn't come back. In fact, I saw what happened to him after he died. He ain't never coming back. Trust me; if you don't believe another word I say, believe that."
At first I hadn't told anybody what I'd seen happen; Hank had sure enough come back when he died, but he wasn't separated from his body for a full minute when inky black smoke curled up around him and pulled him straight under, kicking and screaming. Eventually though, when I realized everybody was afraid, waitin' for him to come back, I told the people who mattered.
Erol regained his composure, then nodded and said, "At least let's go back upstairs. It's dark down here, and I know the ladies gotta be chilly. Besides, it's a bit of a story."
There was that kind man I remembered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
We gathered in the kitchen and he went to pull open a cupboard before he realized what he was doing, then motioned toward the fridge. "There should be coffee in the freezer if anybody wants some, but obviously no milk. The cups are in the cabinet I just shoved my hand through." He shook his head, frustrated.
I waved him off. "We just had dinner, so we're good. Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us what happened?"
I noticed Anna Mae had tucked herself in the corner away from the rest of us. I caught Bobbie Sue's eye, then looked pointedly at Anna Mae. Bobbie turned around and took her by the hand, shaking her head when she started to resist.
This wasn't going to be easy on her. Even though we lived in a fishbowl and Hank had everybody from state cops to judges in his pocket, she still blamed herself for not coming forward and stopping him. Her brain knew that the only thing telling on him would have gotten her is dead, but her heart wouldn't let her forgive herself for not trying anyway.
And that much guilt came because she knew he robbed good people blind. If it ended up he flat-out killed somebody, I wasn't sure what it would do to her.
Erol moved over in front of the stove and adopted a pose that made him look as though he were leaning against it.
"If you try to use this burner, you have to light it with a match," he told me, stalling.
"I'm already aware, but thank you. Now, why were you leaving?"
Belle piped up. "We already told you why he left. Hank and his goons tortured him because he batted for the wrong team, according to them."
Addy rolled her eyes. "I swear to God, Belle, sometimes you've got the tact of an iron skillet to the forehead."
Erol waved for silence. "Though it wasn't exactly eloquent, she's right. They charged me an exorbitant amount of money every month and I know they made up the reasons. One month it would be a fire tax and the next month it would be a donation for the park, but it was never optional. They made that abundantly clear."
We already knew all that. Anna Mae had found a fortune—literally—stashed away in cash and savings accounts.
"Yeah," Bobbie Sue said. "He was doin' that to pretty much everybody. Well, not to us 'cause he knew Earl'd crack his gourd like a melon if he tried, but we paid twice in taxes, same as everybody else."
"Well," Erol continued, "things went along fine as long as I paid up for the first few months, then they saw Allen—my friend from Atlanta—leave my house. After that, they all but bled me dry."
He stopped and closed his eyes, and his eyeballs were twitching back and forth behind the lids as if he were watching a movie only he could see. "The same two men started coming in a couple times a week, tormenting me and tellin' me to leave town, and finally I just told 'em I wasn't paying them another dime, and that I wasn't leaving. Sometimes all it takes is standin' up to bullies."
He huffed a self-deprecating snort through his nose and looked down at his transparent body. "Obviously, it was the wrong move. I was packing to go to Atlanta for the weekend to visit my mother and some friends, and they followed me away from the house. Right outside of town, th
ey pulled me over, then ..."
He paused for a moment and took a shuddering breath. "They pulled me out of my car. One of 'em had a bat and the other, the biggest one, he just used his fists. Next thing I knew, I was lying over the hill in an inch of muck and hearing my car drive off." He tilted his head, looking at something only he could see.
"The strangest thing is that I don't remember it hurting. The last thing I remember is watching a little lady bug climb up a blade of grass right in front of my eye. I couldn't move and the way it managed to stay attached while in climbed just fascinated me. I wondered if it was going to climb on my nose next."
His gaze cleared and he looked at Hunter. "And that's the last thing I remember. That little bug. Oh, and the birds whistling."
Hunter's face was scarlet with rage. "I need to know who these men were. Hank may have sent them to do it, or at least covered it up, but there isn't a statute of limitations on murder, and this is my town now. I won't let it stand, do you hear? I need names. Now!"
Erol held his hands out. "Calm down, Sheriff. This was months ago. They're not right here. Besides, there aren't any witnesses and I'm sure my body is gone, so aside from what I just said—which I'm pretty sure isn't admissible in court—you don't have a leg to stand on."
Anna Mae spoke from the back of the room. "Hunter, I can tell you right now who it was. Butch Davies and Ronnie Dean. Hank's main goons." She leveled her gaze on Erol. "I'm right, aren't I?"
He stuttered. "Well, yes, but like I said—"
"Yeah, yeah," Addy said. "We heard ya. But has it occurred to you yet that this ain't exactly an average town? How do you reckon they'd feel if the man they murdered and several of his new phantasmic friends showed up and haunted them day and night?"
He started shaking in terror. "I really don't think I can."
The little bell over the front door chimed and I looked around to see who it was. Anna Mae was gone.
WE RAN OUT THE FRONT door so fast it was almost a three-stooges moment when we hit the opening at the same time. By the time we spilled out onto the sidewalk, Anna Mae was already up the street and out of sight.