Better Dead

by Pamela Kopfler

  Lordy, he’ll never shut up. She punched the pillow into a fluffy pad, releasing a bit of tension but not nearly enough.

  “I’m good at haunting. Right?”

  Thanks to Burl, she did have more business, but at what cost? She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Was having him around worth it? How was she going to bust the smugglers if Burl couldn’t pick them out? And how was she ever going to have a chance with Jake, or any man, with her dead husband haunting the place?

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  She sidestepped Burl and picked up the wad of dirty sheets. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

  “Very funny, Blondie.”

  Holly kept walking. “Look, Einstein. You’re a waste of time. If you can’t recognize the contact, you’re no help.” She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Burl. “In fact, you need to just get out of our way.”

  Burl appeared in front of her. “Our way?”

  “Yes.” Holly sucked in an exasperated breath and walked around him. “Jake is going to help me.”

  If he was still willing.

  Burl’s brows pinched together. “You told Jack about the smuggling?”

  “His name is Jake.”

  “So what’d you tell him?” Burl trotted beside her.

  “I told him a friend confided in me about your illegal activities, and why I couldn’t go to the law.”

  “So you and what’s-his-name think you can figure this out all by yourselves.”

  “Like you’ve been any help whatsoever.” Holly sidestepped Burl again and kept walking.

  “Well, he’s not in his room, and neither is his bag. Bet the stash is gone, too. Looks like Jakey wimped out on you.”

  Her stomach dropped like a rock. It couldn’t be true. Jake would never do that. Never. Holly dropped the sheets and ran to Jake’s room. She fished the master key out of her pocket and opened the door. The bed was made. She flung open the armoire. Empty. It was as though no one had been in the room.

  She pounded down the stairs. Jake couldn’t have left. He wouldn’t. She flew through the kitchen and passed Nelda.

  “Lord, have mercy. Is the house on fire?” Nelda asked.

  “Have you seen Jake?”

  “I ain’t seen him since he stomped out the kitchen this mornin’.”

  Holly flung the back door open, then bounded down the steps. Her stride faltered, and she stopped. The gate on the chicken coop stood ajar. Dog was gone. And so was Jake’s rental. Her legs weakened, and she leaned against the coop for support. There had to be an explanation.

  She peeled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the Gazette. “Penny, this is Holly. Is Jake in?”

  “No. Would you like to speak to Sam?”

  “I thought Sam was on vacation.”

  “He’s back now.”

  Holly’s heart sank. If Sam was back, there was no need for Jake to stay in Delta Ridge.

  Jake had left her, again. Only this time he’d taken more than her heart. Jake had cheated her, just like Burl.

  * * *

  “You smell like a brewery.” Sam stretched and sat up on the sofa in his office. He’d been napping since Jake came in the back door at the Gazette.

  “Some drunk spilled a beer on me.” Jake looked up from his DIY fingerprint operation. “I’ve been to every bar within a thirty-mile radius. Jails, hospitals, and morgues, too.”

  “Any sign of Mackie?”

  Jake leveled an eye at Sam. “What do you think?”

  “From your attitude, I think you should have had a drink.”

  “I don’t drink.”

  “Well, I do.” Sam checked his watch. “Five o’clock.” He crossed the room to the file cabinet, then fished out a pint of bourbon and a shot glass.

  Jake leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. His back hurt from hunching over the desk, dusting for fingerprints. “Nobody’s seen him in at least a week or so.”

  “I knew I should have come back sooner.” Sam splashed some bourbon in the glass and downed it.

  “It’s not your fault. For all we know, he may show up tomorrow, hung over.” Jake hoped so, anyway. He lifted Holly’s iced tea glass to the light and used a soft paintbrush to apply more carbon. Among the slate-colored smudges, the distinct pattern of two fingerprints stood out.

  Sam’s bushy brows lifted. “What in Sam Hill are you doing? Arts and crap?”

  “Nope.” Jake lifted the glass as if he were toasting Sam. “Checking fingerprints.” And totally rogue on his part, which might cost him. He had to know if Holly’s prints were on those bags. Tech could dust the half dozen other bags he’d locked in Sam’s safe soon enough.

  “Whose?”

  “Holly’s and some prints I found on a bag of cocaine.”

  “Don’t you need a lab or something for that?”

  “Google. DIY fingerprinting.” He carefully placed a piece of clear tape over the fingerprints that stood out on the glass, then pulled it off. “I’m no pro, but I can eliminate a match if it’s obvious. I’m sending the prints to the techs, but that’ll take a while.” He lifted a few good prints from one of the bags of cocaine he’d stored in Sam’s safe until he could get it to ICE. He swung Sam’s lighted magnifying glass over the lifted fingerprints.

  “Where’d you find the dope?”

  “Holly Grove.”

  “Son of a gun. Mackie was right.” Sam peered over Jake’s shoulder. “Well?” Sam said with an edge of impatience. “Do they match her print?”

  “Too close to call on some of them.” Jake rolled his chair back from the desk. He’d wanted to put his mind at ease, anything to crush the pebble of doubt that rubbed away at his willingness to believe Holly’s story.

  Sam adjusted his reading glasses and nearly pressed his nose to the magnifying glass. He pointed to the prints on the plastic bag. “That one has a scar clear across the thumbprint.”

  “I’m guessing that’s Burl’s print or another smuggler’s. The lab will run them for a match. Let’s hope Burl’s prints are in the database.”

  Sam stepped back from the desk and rubbed a leathery hand across his jaw. “You going to arrest her?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why not? You found dope at her place. What else do you need? Live footage?”

  “I’m here to bring down the organization, not a small-time player. It’s a game, Sam, and I know how to play.”

  “This isn’t any game, son. For all you know, she’s the reason no one can find Mackie.”

  “Why are you so against Holly?”

  “Because you don’t think straight when it comes to that girl.” Sam poured another shot of bourbon. “Remember, I was the one that had to call you and tell you she’d married Burl.”

  “History, Sam. Get over it. I did.” Or had he?

  CHAPTER 17

  “You think Burl scared Jake off?” Nelda asked as she entered the barn. She handed Holly a thermos of hot chocolate.

  Holly took the thermos and sat on a hay bale. “Jake doesn’t believe I have a ghost. I can run off a man without Burl’s help.”

  Nelda lifted a shoulder. “It don’t seem like he’d just up and leave town without sayin’ good-bye, unless he was runnin’ from the law or somethin’.”

  Yeah, or something. The Jake she’d known would never jump town with a load of dope, no matter how much it was worth. But it sure looked like he had.

  He had been broke all through high school and had never done a dishonest thing. Why now? But where were the bags of dope? Hidden away? Destroyed? If he’d turned them over to the police, they’d have been here by now. There had to be an explanation.

  Nothing was going as Holly had expected, but what did she expect?

  Hello? Nothing was normal at Holly Grove anymore.

  “I got to check on my roast. See ya at supper.” Nelda turned and walked back toward the house.

  Holly loaded another bale of hay on the trailer attached to her four-wheeler, then eyed the
cloudy sky. Another unexpected problem. The cane maze would be a mud trap without a bedding of hay, and by the time the student council gathered a crew to help, it would be too late. If she worked hard, she’d have the hay spread before dark and some of her frustrations worked out.

  For the past three years, the student council had collected the gate money for the maze. She’d donated the money to the restoration fund for their one-hundred-year-old school. She couldn’t bear to see another local landmark decay. Though this year she couldn’t really afford the donation, but she’d keep her commitment.

  She swiped her brow, then pulled off her gloves. The hay bales teetered in a stack three high and eight long. Holly stuffed her gloves in the back pocket of her jeans, then dusted off her hands. Nelda had told her she needed a man, but she’d managed just fine. Nelda was wrong.

  She heaved a sigh and swung a leg over the four-wheeler. Problem was she fell for trouble in a male package. Burl had lost all their money, had screwed a redhead, and had the nerve to come back asking for favors. Big ones!

  She’d given her heart to Jake once years ago, and he’d given it right back to her, tattooed with THANKS, BUT NO THANKS across it. That faded pink heart on the water tower had nothing on the mark Jake had left on her heart. What he’d done this time was criminal, and she couldn’t even report it. How could she be so gullible?

  Holly groaned at her stupidity and started the four-wheeler. As it thundered to life, she hoped it’d drown out her thoughts. She pointed the four-wheeler toward the cane maze. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

  She pulled her cell out of her pocket and dialed Holly Grove as she drove deep into the maze.

  “Holly Grove Plantation. Nelda speakin’.”

  “I’m out back, in the cane field. You may have to start supper without me,” Holly shouted over the motor. “Any more guests check in?”

  “If you’re talkin’ about that good-lookin’ one that left this mornin’—”

  The four-wheeler lurched as a trailer wheel hit a hole she hadn’t noticed. Holly bounced and dropped her phone. She turned to check the load as bales tumbled from the trailer.

  “Crapola.” She put the four-wheeler in park and killed the motor. Pursing her lips, she blew air out, as though that would keep her from exploding. “What else can go wrong?” She looked up at the cloudy skies. “Lordy mercy. When all the big things are going wrong, you’re supposed to let the little things slide.” She climbed off the four-wheeler.

  Nelda’s voice came from the phone, which was under the trailer. “Holly. You there?”

  At least she hadn’t rolled over the phone. She stretched out on the grass and looked under the trailer. The screen of her phone glowed at just about center. She crawled under the trailer and felt around. When she touched the slick surface of the phone, she wrapped her fingers around it. Inching out backward, she rocked to her knees but kept her head down to keep from bumping it on the underbelly of the trailer.

  “Beautiful view tonight.”

  Holly nearly whacked her head on the trailer. Jake?

  From under the hay trailer, Holly looked between her legs at Jake. Perfectly beautiful crinkles framed Jake’s eyes. She’d never been so glad to see a man in her life.

  He tilted his head and stroked his chin. “Not that I mind the, um, view, but what are you doing under there?”

  Holly shimmied out from under the trailer and jumped to her feet. “You’re back!” She launched herself at him and landed with her arms around his neck.

  “Yeah,” Jake croaked in a husky voice as his body tensed against hers. “I didn’t expect this kind of greeting.”

  “I thought you were gone for good, just like last time.” Only worse. She’d thought he was a criminal.

  Jake gave her a quizzical look. “Why?”

  She realized she still had her arms around his neck. Heat rushed her cheeks as she took an awkward step back.

  “When I saw your bag was gone, I called the Gazette. They said you weren’t there but Sam was.” She folded her arms and then tried to make them look natural by swinging them to her sides. “You know, two plus two.”

  And never mind that she’d let Burl convince her Jake had taken off with the dope.

  “I don’t have control over Sam.” He leaned against the hay trailer and grinned. “My bag was at Wash ’n’ Dry.”

  “And Dog was gone.” She grabbed a hay bale and started spreading hay to have something to do besides sound like a babbling fool. It had all made sense at the time.

  “At the vet.” He stuck a piece of hay between his teeth and shook his head. “Getting her stitches out.”

  “Well . . .” She stood a little straighter. “I thought . . . maybe—”

  “I jumped town with your stash?”

  “Of course not.”

  A smile slid across his lips. “That just leaves one other reason you’d be so glad to see me.”

  CHAPTER 18

  “I promised you an upgrade to a bigger bathroom,” Holly said as she pushed the screen door open.

  Jake followed her outside and looked up at the stars. “I know I’m back in the South and all, but I wasn’t talking about a bathroom as big as all outdoors. Just one big enough to stand up in.”

  A weak smile lifted her cheeks. She seemed down, maybe distant. “All the rooms have indoor plumbing except one, and it has an outhouse.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “You’re not serious.”

  “Oh, yeah.” She pointed to a cabin in the distance. “Abe’s cabin, as I call it, has an outhouse and no air-conditioning or heating. No electricity, period.”

  “People pay money to stay there?” He looked from the cabin to her. There was something about her affect that felt off.

  “I offer it as a cabin in the woods on my Web site. Every once in a while, I get a tree hugger or a history junkie who wants to see what it was like back then, instead of the fantasy.”

  “I wouldn’t call that an upgrade.”

  Holly laughed, but it seemed tense. “Come on. I’ll show you your upgrade. I’m moving you to the garçonnière.”

  He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and fell in step beside her. “Sounds fancy. What’s the garçonnière?”

  “It’s French for ‘bachelor’s apartment.’” She climbed a narrow staircase on the exterior of the house. “It’s a small attachment to the upstairs balcony. The garçonnière was used as a dormitory for adolescent boys or for travelers. That’s why it has a separate entrance.”

  Jake pointed to the hollow patches on the steps as he followed her up the staircase. “Do you want me to replace these steps while I’m here?”

  “God, no. That’s history. These steps were worn down by people who’ve been dead over a hundred years.”

  “Can you get into the house from the garçonnière without going outside?”

  “No,” she said as they reached the top of the stairs, which ended at the front balcony shared by his previous suite and Holly’s bedroom. “Back then, there weren’t any hotels. Sometimes the traveler would have a letter from an acquaintance but would otherwise be unknown to the plantation owner. These near strangers weren’t given the keys to the house.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “What about guests like me?”

  “Sorry. None of my guests get keys to the outside doors. After ten at night, there’ll be no access to the main house without ringing the bell.”

  “So this is where they kept the strangers and teenagers.” And others not to be trusted, like him. Two iron brackets framed the door to the guest room, and a wooden bar rested across the door. “What’s this?”

  She lifted the bar. “The travelers were locked in at night since the family didn’t know them very well.”

  “They locked the teenagers in, too?”

  “Boys.” She smiled. “They didn’t trust them around the girls.”

  “Do you think I’m dangerous?”

  Holly fidgeted with the room key and avoided eye contact. �
��I know you’re dangerous, but I’m not locking you in.” She opened the door and handed him his key. “It’s just historical, so I left the bar in place.”

  As Jake followed her into the guest room, he made a mental note to remove the bar so he wouldn’t be locked in for the night. Something just wasn’t right about this move.

  Bleached hardwood striped the floors of the large room. Moonlight from the four twelve-pane windows cast the room in shadow.

  Jake fumbled for the light switch and flipped it on. One bare bulb dangled from the beaded ceiling.

  “Sorry,” she said. “This room is still in the renovation stage, but as you can see, it has the biggest bathroom.” She gave a Price Is Right wave to the copper tub in front of the bare window. Candles of every size lined a matching copper tray on the floor in front of the tub. A four-poster bed covered with a white quilt sat between two tall windows.

  He walked across the room and dropped his duffel bag on the bed. “You didn’t mention the bathroom was the bedroom. Where’s the, um, rest of the bathroom?”

  She pointed to a door in the corner of the room where a wall had been built at an angle. “Since there are so many windows in here, adding a bathroom was a challenge. The rest of it is behind that door and under a twelve-foot ceiling. The upgrade.”

  “As much as I appreciate this upgrade, I don’t want you in the house by yourself. The guy who came after the dope in the dummy may come back.”

  “It’s not there, anyway. Besides, your old room is rented. I have a house full of guests to look out for. Everything is locked up tight, and I probably won’t sleep much, anyway. I’ll be fine.”

  Holly ambled to the door. She paused with her hand on the doorknob as though she had something to say. She didn’t look back as she said, “Goodnight,” then left, closing the door behind her.

  He couldn’t even access the rest of the house without walking down the stairs and outside to the front door or going through one of the upstairs balcony doors, which were all locked. Was she trying to put some distance between them, literally? Or was she hiding something?

  Holly had been acting strange ever since he saw her in the cane maze.