All Dressed Up and No Place to Haunt

by Rose Pressey

  “I asked her about someone and she said it wouldn’t work out with that person.”

  That was hardly a reason to steal the woman’s cards.

  “So just because you didn’t like her reading, you stole from her?” I asked.

  “That’s it. That’s the only reason. Are you finished with the questions now?” She glanced over her shoulder.

  “Actually, I’m not finished with the questions.” Dylan looked over her shoulder. “Is there something you are keeping from me? Is there something in your room that you don’t want me to see?”

  She shifted to the left, trying to block his view. “Of course there’s nothing I’m hiding.”

  Her words said one thing, but her body language said another.

  She glared. “I just have a lot of work to do, that’s all. And I’m really behind schedule.”

  “That’s a shame. Now where are the cards?” Dylan asked, once again looking over her shoulder.

  She scowled. “I don’t have them. Sure, I took the cards, but I don’t have them now.” She gestured. “You can come in and look if you’d like.”

  Would she have invited us in if she had something to hide? Or was she calling our bluff? Anticipating that we wouldn’t take her up on that offer?

  “If you don’t have the cards, then where are they now?” Dylan asked.

  She’d probably say that she had dumped them in the trash. She was playing innocent, but it wouldn’t work.

  Shiloh said, “I gave the cards to Jessica. She seemed interested in them so I let her have them.”

  Why would Jessica want the cards? Had Jessica been the one to leave them in my shop?

  “When did you give them to her?” Dylan asked.

  “It was just yesterday. Why is there such a big deal about the cards? Were they special?” she asked.

  “You could say that, yes.” Dylan’s voice was calm and professional.

  I guess that meant that Dylan wasn’t going to tell Shiloh about cards being left at my store. I supposed she didn’t need to know that detail.

  “Okay. Well, like I said, I am sorry that I took the cards. It won’t happen again, I can promise you that. If I see Jessica I can tell her to give them back if that will help.”

  “No, that won’t be necessary. In fact, I’d rather that you not mention this to her,” Dylan said.

  “Yeah, okay.” Shiloh grasped the doorknob as if she couldn’t wait for us to leave.

  “Thank you for talking to us, Shiloh. I’ll be in touch.”

  She scowled. “Sure, you’re welcome.”

  I waved as we walked away. She returned my gesture with a frown.

  As we neared the elevator, I said, “So we need to talk to Jessica, right? She had to be the one who left the cards. She can’t claim that she gave the cards away. Do you think Shiloh was being honest?”

  I was just full of questions. Dylan pressed the DOWN button.

  “Yeah, I think she’s being truthful. And you’re right, the next stop is to ask Jessica about it.”

  Now would have been a good time for me to tell Dylan about the text messages. For some reason, I was silent.

  The elevator door opened, and we stepped on.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be there when I talk with Jessica.”

  I frowned. “Why do you think so?”

  “Well, if she did leave the cards at your shop, she might not confess with you there.”

  That made sense. I really wanted to hear her explanation though. I wanted to see her face when we told her that we knew about the cards. She probably figured I would never find out that it was her. Okay, I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling.

  Dylan peeked at his gold watch. “I have an appointment now anyway. I’ll go by later this afternoon and talk with her, then I’ll come by your shop if you’ll be there.”

  “Sure. I’ll be there.”

  Maybe I’d be there when he arrived. Dylan may not want me to talk with Jessica with him, but I’d go to her trailer without him. Maybe I’d even beat him there. I hated to mess up his case, but he wasn’t moving fast enough for me. I couldn’t wait on him. I needed to act quickly. He didn’t even need to know.

  We got back in Dylan’s police car and headed for my shop. It was a short drive, and we spent the time talking about the case. He didn’t share any specifics with me that I didn’t already know. I kind of felt guilty about going behind his back, but not enough to stop me from doing it. Dylan pulled up to the curb, and I jumped out. When I stepped around the car, he walked with me to the front door of the shop.

  He flashed his dazzling smile at me. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Butterflies did a brief fox-trot in my stomach. “See you later, gator.”

  Chapter 21

  Cookie’s Savvy Vintage Fashion Shopping Tips

  Research the cost of items.

  Know your budget and what you’re willing

  to pay for your favorite piece.

  When I walked through the door, Heather tossed aside her crossword puzzle and jumped up. “What happened? I’ve been dying to find out.”

  “Please don’t use that word,” Alice said.

  “We think Jessica has the cards,” I told her.

  Heather’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding. How did that happen?”

  “Well, the cards were stolen from Faith and Shiloh is the one who took them.”

  “Shut up,” Heather said. “Then how did Jessica get them?”

  I filled Heather in on all that had happened.

  “You’re freaking Heather out with all the details,” Charlotte said.

  “I just can’t believe it.” Heather plopped down on the stool behind her.

  I dropped onto the settee. “It’s crazy.”

  “So what are you going to do now?”

  “Dylan said he would talk with her later today after an appointment.”

  She smiled. “But you don’t want to wait that long, right?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I suppose you could close early today.”

  “And you too?” I asked.

  She got up. “Of course.”

  “I don’t know if I have a great feeling about this,” Alice said.

  Now she was worried? She was the one who wanted me to solve this crime. Now that I was making progress, I couldn’t back out.

  Heather and I wrapped up our work for the day and got into my Buick. Charlotte was pretty excited about the trip, but Alice was fidgeting in the backseat.

  “Everything will be fine, Alice, don’t worry. We’ll track down Jessica and ask her about the cards.” I steered onto the road.

  After all, I had Heather with me, and it would be two against one. She couldn’t do something to both of us, right? At least I hoped not. I pulled away from the curb and pointed the car toward the plantation.

  The energy in the Buick was pretty charged. We were all anxious about what might happen. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that Jessica could have locked me in the back room. After all, what had I done to her?

  “This is by far one of the most exciting things I’ve done,” Alice said. “And I don’t mean exciting in a good way. I mean, exciting as in if I were alive I would lose my cookies in the backseat.”

  “Good to know, Alice,” I said.

  We once again reached the plantation, and I pulled into the parking lot and found a space at the front. How many more times would we be able to sneak onto the set before I got caught? I hoped today wasn’t the day that they tossed us out on our bottoms.

  I shifted the car into park and cut the engine. “Are we ready, ladies?”

  Heather opened her door. “I’m ready.”

  “Let’s do this,” Charlotte said.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Alice grimaced.

  I scanned the parking lot. Jessica’s red Jaguar was a few vehicles down. I hoped that meant that she was there this time. Jessica’s car wasn’t the only one I recognized. Dylan’s police cruiser w
as in the lot too.

  I nudged Heather. “Look who it is.”

  She followed my gaze. “I thought he wasn’t talking to her until later?”

  “That’s what he said. Now what do we do?” I asked.

  “You have to go talk to her anyway. Or at the least eavesdrop on the conversation between Jessica and Dylan,” Charlotte said.

  I could definitely do that. I would have a lot of explaining to do if Dylan caught me. He’d probably tell me to stay out of the investigation. But I’d helped him, so could he really tell me to mind my own business?

  We walked across the lawn toward the trailers. I kept an eye out for Dylan or Jessica. And I was watching out for the security guard too. I was pretty sure he was somewhere taking a nap. Why was he never guarding the place? Don’t get me wrong, though—I was happy about that.

  When we reached the trailer, it occurred to me that I could have the ghosts peek in and see if Jessica was there. No, that would have been bad. It wasn’t very nice to invade someone’s privacy like that . . . never mind that I’d done it. I knew all too well how that felt. I didn’t want to encourage the ghosts to do it to someone else. I climbed the little metal stairs to the trailer and knocked. I just hoped Dylan wasn’t in there talking with Jessica.

  I held my breath as I waited for someone to answer, but no one did. I knocked again. Heather stood with the ghosts at the bottom of the stairs.

  “She’s not there again?” Heather asked.

  “That’s the way it looks,” I said with frustration in my voice.

  Maybe we’d have to hang out at her car or the trailer and wait for her to show up. She couldn’t stay away forever. I stepped down to the bottom.

  “What do we do now?” Heather asked.

  “I guess we should just leave,” Alice said.

  “No way are we leaving now,” Charlotte said.

  I released a deep breath and looked around. Still no security guard in sight. I could just walk into Jessica’s trailer. What if I had been a stalker? What if it was Vera Lemon coming around to the actors’ trailers?

  “I should check again and see if anyone is in there.” I motioned over my shoulder.

  “Sure,” Heather said. “I can watch out for you this time.”

  Okay, that meant I’d be going in alone. I moved up the steps to the door and knocked.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  When I twisted the doorknob, it opened.

  I looked back at Heather and the ghosts. They were all standing guard, looking around. Heather and Charlotte gestured for me to go ahead. Alice just grimaced.

  I stepped into Jessica’s dressing room trailer. The door leading to the bedroom area was open. Maneuvering around a chair and a pair of red high heel shoes left on the floor, I tiptoed over and peeked inside. The bed was made, and the clothing had disappeared. I wondered where she’d put it. I stepped over to the closet and looked in. Nothing was hanging in there. Had she cleared out all of her belongings? Was she leaving?

  I had to find her before she got out of town. We would have to go back to the lot and see if her car was still there. Maybe I needed to check around the set. Ask others if she had left. But then they might ask me why I was hanging around. I could just use the excuse that I was looking for the clothing. After all, I kind of was looking for it. I was beginning to wonder if Shiloh was really going to return the clothing to me or if she was telling yet another lie. I had a lot of money tied up in those pieces, and several of them could not be replaced.

  I hurried back outside. I caught movement up ahead and thought I saw Dylan. Whoever it was disappeared behind the trees and bushes.

  “Did you see that?” I asked.

  Heather and the ghosts snapped to attention.

  “I think I just saw Dylan.”

  “Where?” Heather whipped around.

  “Over there.” I pointed. “But I can’t be sure.”

  “We need to get out of here,” Alice said.

  While I didn’t want Dylan to find me, I hadn’t come this far to back off now. I was maybe actually onto something this time.

  “We can’t leave yet, I haven’t talked to Jessica.”

  “I doubt you’re going to find her,” Charlotte said.

  “Well, I have to try just a little more.”

  Maybe Wind Song knew something, after all. If Jessica had packed her bags, maybe she planned to get out of the state before she was caught. She could suspect that I was close to discovering that she’d killed Nicole.

  “We should walk around and see if we can spot her. We can also check the parking lot and make sure her car is still there. I suspect she might be ready to skip town. All of her clothing is missing from the trailer,” I said.

  “Maybe she is moving in with Preston,” Heather said. She did have a point. Preston and Jessica had met at the hotel. Maybe they were taking the relationship to a new level.

  “Let’s walk over to the garden.” I gestured for everyone to follow me.

  “That’s where I first saw Cookie.” I heard Alice whisper to Charlotte.

  It seemed like ages ago since our first encounter. My attention was on high alert as we crossed the lawn. This was where I’d seen the person I thought was Dylan.

  We reached the garden area, but he wasn’t there. Not that I could see anyway. Birds chirped in the trees, and a slight wind rustled the branches. It was one of the most peaceful places I’d ever been, a shady bower caressed by a cool breeze.

  “Where do we go now?” Heather asked.

  “I guess we can go up that path,” I said. “We can head in the direction of the pond. I don’t know where they are filming today. They could be in the main house. I doubt we’d make it past security for that.”

  “You’re probably right. We have a lot of ground to cover,” Heather said, releasing a deep breath.

  We walked up the path toward the pond. Only a few white clouds dotted the sky, and the scent of jasmine carried across the air. The humidity made it like a sauna though. That wasn’t anything new. It was always that way in Sugar Creek in summer.

  I stopped and looked back.

  “What’s wrong?” Heather asked.

  “I thought I heard something,” I said.

  “It was probably a squirrel,” Charlotte answered.

  I nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”

  We had just turned to the left toward the pond when I spotted Vera. I grabbed Heather’s arm and motioned with a tilt of my head. Heather spotted her too.

  “What is she doing?” Heather whispered.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but we should find out.”

  Vera’s back was to us, and she was walking at a snail’s pace. Charlotte and Alice were still behind us.

  “I just don’t understand this woman. Why does she spend so much time sneaking over here?” Charlotte asked.

  I supposed Vera could have asked the same thing about me. Vera reached a tall magnolia tree and stopped. Heather and I slipped behind a giant oak.

  “Do you think she saw us?” Heather asked.

  “I don’t think so. What is she doing?” I asked Charlotte and Alice.

  “She appears to be spying on someone,” Charlotte answered.

  “That is weird. I wonder who she’s watching.” I peeked out from behind the oak and saw Vera move to a tulip poplar. I motioned for Heather to walk with me. “We have to keep track of her. I don’t want her to get away.”

  First we had been looking for Jessica, but now I couldn’t let Vera out of my sight.

  “We need to find out who she’s spying on,” Heather said.

  “That could be tricky,” I said. “If we get close enough to see who it is, she’ll probably notice us. A confrontation with Vera is the last thing we need. I experienced that once and it wasn’t pleasant.”

  Alice marched forward. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, I will go and see who she’s watching. You all stay put.”

  Heather and I exchanged a look.

  “I can’t figure tha
t woman out either,” Charlotte said.

  Alice glided off. We watched as she stood next to Vera. I had a feeling she wouldn’t leave without having a little fun. Alice turned around, but before leaving, she yanked the hat from Vera’s head and threw it on the ground. Vera looked at the trees and all around to find the reason for her hat flying off. I hid behind the oak again so she wouldn’t see me. Alice popped up beside us again.

  “So who was it?” I asked.

  “She was watching Preston.”

  “Alice, that wasn’t very nice what you did to Vera.”

  “Sorry,” she said without looking the least bit remorseful. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

  I peeked out at Vera again. “I wonder why she is watching him. Is she stalking him too, like she did Nicole?”

  “It could be something she just started,” Heather said.

  Preston walked away from the area, and Vera stepped back to hide behind the tulip poplar. Of course Heather and I did the same thing. Preston walked down the path without noticing us.

  Once he had disappeared from sight, Vera walked in the opposite direction. She glanced back again, and I hid.

  “This is making me a nervous wreck,” Charlotte said. “I can’t handle this kind of stress. If I wasn’t already dead it would kill me.”

  I peeked out again. Vera was walking again, but I never knew when she would stop and look back. I didn’t want her to spot us.

  “If we stay over here by these bushes, we should be able to follow Vera without her noticing us.” I pointed toward a clump of forsythia.

  Heather agreed. “Okay. Let’s give it a go.”

  We inched forward, making sure to stay quiet.

  We were near the tree where Vera had been hiding when I noticed something on the ground.

  “Look at that.” I pointed.

  Heather picked it up. “It’s a tarot card.”

  Chapter 22

  Charlotte’s Handy-Dandy Tips for Navigating the Afterlife

  Don’t forget my all-time favorite way

  to capture a living person’s attention:

  turning lights on and off.

  That just never gets old.