4 Ghost of a Gamble

by Sue Ann Jaffarian

  “Did you see his spirit?”

  Granny shook her head. “No. It might have left his body already. But I saw several others.”

  “What others?”

  “Just spirits hanging around their loved ones. Looked to me to be mostly husbands and wives.”

  “Any ghosts hanging around the man that died??”

  “None that I could see.”

  Slowly, Emma inhaled and exhaled several times to steady herself. “But you said before he was pretty old. Maybe he just died of old age or illness. Maybe Dolly was there to say good-bye to an old friend, knowing his end was near.”

  Granny considered that option. “Could be. But I will say, no one at the place seemed too upset or saddened by his death, not even the guy taking care of him. You know, his nurse. That was kind of sad to me. I mean, to die and no one cares.” Granny shook her head at the thought.

  Emma brought Quinn up-to-date.

  “Maybe,” he suggested, “that wasn’t the person the fortune-teller was referencing.”

  “He’s got a point,” Granny agreed.

  Emma stepped out of the shadow of the doorway, Quinn and Granny in tow. “Let’s go back to Dolly’s shop and see if she’s turned up yet.”

  • CHAPTER ELEVEN •

  THIS time when they entered the bead store, Megan was alone, her back to the door. Emma immediately picked up the sound of crying.

  “Megan,” Emma said softly, approaching the girl.

  Megan held up a hand without turning around. “Sorry, we’re closed.” Her words were thick and wet.

  Emma repeated her name, “Megan. It’s me, Emma Whitecastle. What’s wrong?”

  Megan turned around. Her face was swollen from crying, and her eye makeup tracked down her face like dripping ink. Crumpled in her hand was a sodden wad of tissue.

  Granny moved forward. “The poor child is beside herself.”

  “I need to close the store and go home,” Megan said, her puffy eyes darting from Emma to Quinn and back to Emma. “Madeline’s …” She choked and couldn’t continue. After blowing her nose, she blurted out, “Madeline’s dead. My mother found her when she went over to check on her.”

  A couple of people walked into the store, but quick-thinking Quinn stopped them before they got too far across the threshold. “I’m sorry, but there’s been a family emergency and the store is closed for the night.”

  “Even the old fortune-teller?” a woman with a bad dye job and thick glasses asked.

  “Yes,” Quinn answered. “The whole shop is closed for the night. Please come back another day.” He ushered them out and closed the door behind them, turning the closed sign outward as he did.

  “Madeline was Megan’s great-aunt,” Emma explained. “And Dolly’s best friend.”

  “Maybe Dolly knows and that’s why she’s not here?” suggested Granny.

  That sounded plausible to Emma. “Megan, is Dolly over there now? Is that why she’s not here?”

  Megan shrugged. “My mother thinks Madeline died in her sleep. She didn’t say anything about Dolly.” She wiped her face and hopped off the short stool she was sitting on. “I need to go home.”

  “We’ll stay until you lock up,” Emma said.

  “And we’ll walk you to your car,” Quinn added.

  Emma reached out and stroked the girl’s arm with tenderness. “Maybe I should drive you home since you’re so upset. Quinn here can follow and drive me back.”

  Megan shook her head. “No. I’ll be okay, but thanks.” She got out a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down a note, then stuck it to Dolly’s office door. “Just in case Dolly comes in,” she explained. “She’ll want to know as soon as possible.”

  Emma, Quinn, and Granny saw Megan to her car in a back parking lot. Before she left, Emma gave Megan a quick hug and promised to tell Milo about Madeline and to find Dolly and tell her.

  Granny said, “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the girl, but something’s fishy.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered, Granny,” Emma replied. “She couldn’t hear you.”

  “I realize that,” the ghost answered, her face sad as she watched Megan’s car exit the parking lot, “but it still didn’t seem fitting to talk about it in front of her.”

  “Why do you think something’s fishy, Granny?” Emma asked. Next to her, Quinn went on alert.

  The ghost shrugged. “Two people connected to Dolly dying in the same night.”

  Emma conveyed Granny’s comments to Quinn, then returned her attention back to the ghost. “But they were both ill and elderly.”

  “Maybe,” Quinn said, rubbing a hand over his chin, “this Madeline was the death Lady Laura was foretelling and not the old guy at the rest home.”

  “But Laura specifically said he when speaking to Emma,” Granny said.

  “True, Granny,” Emma answered, “but just because Laura used a male pronoun, it doesn’t mean specifically a man.” Emma looked to Quinn.

  “Don’t worry,” he told her, “I followed that from your comment.” He glanced to both sides of Emma to cover his bases, then said, “Granny, Emma’s right, people use he and him and his all the time when they’re not being gender specific. And from what I’ve seen of psychics and fortune-tellers in my travels, they can’t always pinpoint gender or age, just generalizations.”

  Granny wasn’t mollified. “But you don’t think it’s peculiar that two people close to Dolly died tonight within hours of each other. Maybe even at the same time?”

  Emma translated to Quinn.

  “I do think,” he answered the ghost, “that it definitely bears looking into.”

  “Maybe,” said Granny as she paced a small area of the parking lot, “Dolly killed the old guy, then went to Madeline’s and knocked her off.”

  Emma conveyed the comment to Quinn, then said to both of them, “I don’t know about the man Dolly went to visit tonight, but she and Madeline were like sisters. And even though I just met her once, I can’t see Dolly murdering anyone, let alone her best and longest friend.”

  “I think Emma’s right, Granny,” added Quinn. “Did you by any chance catch the name of the guy who died tonight?”

  “No, I didn’t,” the ghost answered. Emma turned to Quinn and shook her head.

  Before anyone could come up with any other theories, Emma’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the display. “It’s Milo,” she told them with a downturned mouth.

  “Milo,” she said into the phone. “I’m glad you called.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner,” Milo told her, “but we were at dinner and I just now got your messages.” He spoke quickly with a slightly higher pitch to his voice. “I’m starting to get worried about my mother. I can’t reach her. Please say she’s there with you now.”

  “I’m sorry, Milo, but she’s not.” Emma paused, not sure how to pose her next question. “Um, did you ever get in touch with Madeline Kurtz?”

  “Why yes. I called her right after I last spoke to you. She sounded awful, but said it was just a cold and that she would soon be on the mend. I offered to drop by but she said she didn’t want to infect me and Tracy.”

  “Milo,” Emma began, then stopped to clear her throat. “I have something awful to tell you. Megan just told us that Madeline died tonight.”

  “What? That can’t be. I spoke to her just two hours ago!” Milo’s anguish came through the phone so loud, Emma pulled the phone from her ear. Quinn and Granny could both hear his questions of when and how pouring from the phone in a flood.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Emma told him after putting the phone back to her ear. “Megan’s on her way home now. She said her mother found Madeline and thinks she died in her sleep. It must have been right after she spoke to you.”

  “This is going to break my mother’s heart,” Milo said, his voice cracking. He paused and Emma could hear Tracy’s voice in the background. “We’re going back to the house this minute,”
Milo said, speaking to Emma again. “If you find Dolly, please tell her to come home immediately. In the meantime, I’ll try to find out more about Madeline.”

  “Will do, Milo,” Emma told him. “And I’m so very sorry for your loss. I know you said you were close to Madeline.”

  Emma wondered if she should tell Milo about the man at the rest home when he segued into the topic on his own. “I wonder,” he said to Emma, “if my mother is still visiting that friend of hers you told me about earlier. I wish I knew where that place was and who she was seeing.”

  Emma took a deep breath before answering. “Well, here’s another bit of bad news. According to Granny, the man Dolly was visiting passed away tonight, too.”

  “What?” Milo said again in a high pitch. “Are you sure?”

  “I haven’t confirmed it myself,” said Emma, “but Granny’s pretty sure it was the same person. And Lady Laura told me when I saw her that someone was passing, specifically being murdered, while I was with her.” Emma started to tell him what Laura had told her when he stopped her.

  “I’m sorry, Emma,” Milo said, cutting her off, “but this is just too much to take in all at once. Do you mind meeting us at my mother’s? I know you’re tired from your long drive this morning, but I’d rather hear this in person than over the phone.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Emma told him. “I’m on my way.”

  When she ended the call, she said to Granny and Quinn, “Milo wants me to meet him at his mother’s.”

  “Can I tag along?” asked Quinn, who’d just finished a call of his own.

  “If you want, but it might be a long night. And aren’t you supposed to leave tomorrow?”

  “I just called my hotel,” he told her. “They said it was okay if I extended my stay.”

  “What about your flight?”

  “My ticket is transferrable. I’ll just have to pay a change fee.” He gave her a determined look. “Small price to pay to make sure you’re okay.”

  After studying Quinn nearly a full minute, Emma started walking back to Fremont Street. “My SUV is parked on the other side of Fremont.”

  Granny floated next to Emma. “I’ll meet you at Dolly’s. I gotta charge up good if we’re going to discuss this properly. And I can’t wait to see if Lenny shows. I have questions for him, and if he doesn’t answer, I may have to punch his light out!”

  • CHAPTER TWELVE •

  WHEN Emma and Quinn arrived at Dolly’s, Tracy opened the door before they even knocked. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she told Emma after giving her a quick hug. She was about to say more when her eyes caught the tall, red-haired man standing behind Emma, prompting Emma to make a quick introduction.

  “So you’re Dr. Quinn Keenan,” Tracy said with interest as she shook his hand. “Come on in. Milo’s in the living room. He found Dolly’s address book and is calling everyone he can about her.”

  As they started for the living room, Tracy held Emma back. “Where in the world did you find him?” she asked in a whisper.

  “On Fremont Street at the tail end of a bachelor party,” Emma answered in a hushed voice. “I’ll tell you more later.”

  When Milo ended his current call, he greeted Emma with a hug and exchanged handshakes with Quinn.

  “I’m sorry to intrude,” Quinn said to Milo, “but maybe I can help should you need another pair of eyes and hands.”

  “Thank you,” answered Milo. “Emma has told us a lot about you. I’m just sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

  “Any luck finding Dolly?” Emma asked after setting down her purse.

  Milo ran a hand over his weary face. “None. I called the police but they won’t look for her until she’s been missing at least twenty-four hours.”

  “I believe that’s pretty standard procedure,” Quinn remarked.

  “That’s what they told me,” said Milo. “But the officer was very understanding and said considering her age they would keep an eye out for her. He took down the description of her car. The couple of friends I’ve called haven’t seen her, and I don’t think she had many others left in the area besides Madeline.” He looked down at his hands. “And now she’s gone.”

  “Did you find out anything more about Madeline?” Emma asked.

  Milo nodded slowly. “I managed to reach her nephew, Megan’s father. It was his wife who found Madeline. It looks like she died in her sleep.”

  “That’s what Megan told us,” said Emma.

  Tracy slipped an arm through Milo’s. “Maybe, when things settle down, we should try to get Dolly to move closer to us. She doesn’t have to live with us, just nearer.”

  Milo patted her hand. “That’s very generous, my love, but I don’t think Dolly will ever leave Vegas. She loves it here.” He turned his attention to Emma. “So what’s all this about someone else dying and Lady Laura?”

  “Are you sure you want to discuss this now?” Emma asked.

  “Why not?” Milo said, indicating for them to take a seat. “And who knows, it might help us locate Dolly.”

  Emma sat down on the sofa and filled everyone in, starting with Granny following Dolly and ending with finding Megan in tears.

  “I still have no idea who that might have been in the rest home,” Milo said when Emma was finished. “But it could just be a coincidence that he and Madeline died on the same night. Both were ill and old.”

  “Granny doesn’t think it’s a coincidence,” Emma told him. “And the more I think about Dolly’s disappearance at the same time, the less I do, too.”

  “Old people dying does not, but old people who know each other and are dying or disappearing on the same night does sound very odd,” Quinn agreed. “But didn’t Granny say the people at the rest home weren’t surprised by the old guy’s death?”

  “That’s what she reported,” Emma confirmed as she walked to the kitchen. From the living room the other three watched her as she passed the kitchen table and approached the counter.

  Looking up at the light, Emma said, “We really could use your help, Lenny. Dolly’s missing.”

  “Anything?” asked Milo, coming to her side.

  Emma shook her head. “Not that I can see.”

  She studied Milo. “With Dolly not here, maybe you’ll be able to discern something.”

  “It’s worth a try,” he agreed.

  “Wait for me!” Granny popped into the kitchen, briefly startling both Emma and Milo. “I don’t want to miss this.”

  Milo shut off the kitchen light. Emma stepped into the living room and turned off a small lamp on one of the tables. “Should we turn them all off?” she asked Milo.

  He studied the effect of the lighting. “How about leaving that small one on and turning off the larger pole lamp. That will make the kitchen darker but not completely.” He closed the blinds on the sliding door leading to the patio.

  Emma turned the small lamp on again as Quinn stepped over to the tall pole lamp and snapped it off. The kitchen, while not dark, was cast into shadows. Milo took a seat at the kitchen table facing the counter.

  “You’re not going to sit under Lenny’s light?” asked Granny.

  “No, Granny,” Milo answered. “I’ll have a better viewpoint from here. No sense crowding him.”

  Emma closed the drapes to the front window and stepped back into the kitchen. “Do you want me here or with the others?”

  Milo looked into the living room. Both Quinn and Tracy were sitting on the sofa, the best vantage point to see into the kitchen. “Here, please, Emma,” he said, patting the chair to his right. “Strength in numbers.”

  Emma took her seat. Together she and Milo watched the kitchen in silence. Granny hovered nearby. After a couple of minutes, Milo said, “Lenny, I’m Milo, Dolly’s son. We’d really like to speak with you.”

  Nothing.

  “Please, Lenny,” he tried again. “My mother is missing and I’m quite concerned about her.”

  Another minute passed in silence. Milo w
as about to speak again when Emma’s eye caught a faint shimmer. She put a hand on Milo’s arm as a signal and kept her face pointed in the direction of the hazy sparkle. It wasn’t coming from the light fixture but from an area near the stove.

  “It’s show time,” said Granny in a whisper.

  “Welcome,” said Milo to the unknown ghost.

  “Is Lenny here?” Tracy called to them in a stage whisper.

  “We’re not sure yet who it is,” Emma answered, keeping her voice low. “It’s not in the light but by the stove.”

  The ghost said nothing but faded, then brightened, pulsating with a slow heartbeat of light.

  “Is that you, Lenny?” asked Milo again, addressing the hazy light directly and not taking his eyes off it. “Are you the spirit of Leonard Speidel?”

  The apparition grew slowly brighter, coming more into focus. It was a man, an elderly man. The spirit faded again, then brightened, as if struggling to stay. This time they could make out more of his image. He was a shrunken elderly man with very thin hair. He was dressed in pajamas.

  “I know him,” whispered Granny, barely able to contain her excitement. “That’s the man Dolly was visiting tonight.”

  “Are you sure, Granny?” asked Emma.

  “Yes, it’s definitely him,” Granny assured her. “He was wearing those same PJs when he died.”

  “He could be coming to see my mother if he was a friend of hers,” said Milo. “The dead often visit those close to them right after they die.”

  “If he’s the one in the rest home, then he’s not Lenny,” noted Emma.

  Milo addressed the ghost, “Who are you? Can you tell us your name?”

  The ghost came more into focus and moved away from the stove. He began floating slowly out of the kitchen, pausing at the kitchen table to look Emma and Milo over, especially Emma. The spirit floated into the living room and hovered near Quinn and Tracy, looking each one full in the face.

  Tracy wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “It suddenly got very cold over here. Is the ghost nearby?”

  “He’s right in front of you and Quinn,” Milo told her, “but don’t be afraid. He seems to be studying you. He did the same to Emma and me.”

  Granny went to the spirit, who had ignored her so far. “I saw you tonight in the place where you lived.”