by Tonya Kappes
“We did solve the last one together.” I couldn’t stand to wait a moment longer for her to respond. She was a tough nut to crack, but I knew I fractured her.
“My gut tells me something fishy is going on,” she said.
I’d always heard about the keen intuition most reporters said they had and Fluggie definitely had it. I kept my lips pinched. I thought I’d done a pretty good job of covering my Betweener tracks.
“Look here.” She flipped on the TV that hung on the wall. “I DVR everything that has to do with the news. Especially since I seem to be their number one suspect.” The screen was already paused. “Have you ever heard of ghost orbs?”
She held the remote control in her hand and pointed it at the TV. She pushed a button. The newsreel played.
“Right there!” She hit the pause button. The screen showed the front of the police station. “See that white round dot jumping around?”
“I’m famous,” Jade squealed.
I moved closer and squinted.
“Mmmm, no.” Slowly I shook my head.
“Right there.” Fluggie jabbed the TV screen. “You can’t tell me you don’t see that white orb.”
“Yes she does.” Jade danced around. “I swear on my tiara she sees it.”
“I think I need to call in one of those ghost hunter teams to look at these tapes.” Fluggie was serious. Her voice held a tinge of excitement. “Think about it. They can talk to the ghost who I bet is Jade Peel. The ghost can tell them who killed her.”
I gulped. My voice was shaky. “Don’t be ridiculous.” I had to think fast on my feet. “I’ve worked around dead people all my life and if anyone could see a ghost, it would be me. There is no such thing.”
“Yes there is.” Jade’s voice carried unique force. “She’s lying. She sees me.”
“I don’t know.” Fluggie watched the DVR again. “My gut tells me I’m onto something with this.” She shook the remote at the TV.
“My gut tells me that we need to look at the cell phone and see what’s on there. And we need to find your tape recorder and phone. The logical things.” I sighed, trying not to bring too much attention to my churning stomach.
The last thing I needed was one of those ghost hunter people coming to town and seeing my Betweener client. Or worse. My Betweener client telling them that I could see ghosts too.
“I wonder if Jack Henry has your cell phone?” I questioned since she had Jade’s. More importantly, I was trying to get Fluggie off the subject of calling in a ghost hunting team.
“And he’ll just hand that over to you?” she asked, unconvinced.
“Probably not, but I can still ask him about it.” Deep down I knew that I could somehow twist it around that Jade had said something about a tape recorder, or even ask Jade about it if she decided to show up when we were alone.
“I can’t help but ask you if you were the one who killed Jade.” There was a lethal glint in her eyes. “That is why I told you to come here.” She paced back and forth. “First, you don’t like Jade.” She held her finger in the air. Then stuck up another finger like she was creating a list. “Second, you were eager to get me the interview. And third, it was convenient to put me at the scene after you killed her.”
“First off,”—I was pretty offended she’d think that—“I was with Jack Henry on a date when you were interviewing her, and really, what kind of person do you think I am?”
“I have to cover all possibilities.” She stared me down.
“I consider us friends and right now you could use one to help you.” It wasn’t like I exactly lied nor was it like we’d be having a slumber party and paint each other’s nails, but in some sense we were friends. “If you honestly think I framed you for murder, I’ll leave you alone to chase down leads by yourself. Or you can call your ghost hunter friends.”
Fluggie laughed out loud. “Ghost hunters.” She cackled louder. “What was I thinking? I might be losing my mind.”
“No.” My heartbeat started to settle down a little bit. “You are stressed.”
Fluggie seemed to buy it.
“I will let my lawyer handle all the official stuff while I look into this.” She picked up the cell phone and used her finger to scroll through whatever she had on the screen. “Here is a list of her outgoing calls.” Fluggie pushed the piece of paper toward me. “I’m just now pulling her missed calls and she sure does miss a lot.”
“I’m sure she’s too busy or just is selective who she talks to,” I said. It seemed reasonable to assume that.
“And she only talks to Keisha and Patricia.” Fluggie took the sheet from me and scribbled Patricia’s name on it.
“Keisha is her assistant and Patricia is her stylist.” I didn’t see any reason why they should be suspicious. “What about an agent or someone?”
“There was a voice mail from a New York number that I’ve not listened to yet. The time stamp was about the time I left. So I wonder if it had anything to do with what happened.” Fluggie used her fingers to play with the phone.
It was far-fetched that it would have something to do with Jade’s murder, but no stone unturned, I reminded myself.
“Here.” She set it down and the voice mail played.
The woman on the other end identified herself as Mookie. She went on to say that the production crew had told the producer about how much of a pain in the ass Jade had been in her hometown and the producer decided to pull the plug on the reality show. Mookie went on to tell Jade that if she didn’t straighten up, her entire career was going to go up in flames. Plus she’d gotten an anonymous video of how badly she’s acted while she’s been in town.
Fluggie and I both sat stunned for a minute. As I listened, my sleuthing skills keyed in on who would send an anonymous video when there was a camera crew that had probably caught it all.
“Wait.” I wondered. “Is that a landline from New York or a cell? Because if it is a cell then this Mookie doesn’t have to be in New York.”
“Good call.” Fluggie picked up her old rotary phone on her desk and looked between Jade’s cell and the numbers of her phone, carefully dialing the number. “Yes. Can you tell me if this is a landline? Um . . . kay.” Fluggie wedged the phone between her ear and shoulder as she scribbled more next to Mookie’s name. “Thank you.”
“Well?” I asked.
“It’s a landline for Hester and Hester Talent Agency. So this Mookie must be her agent.” Fluggie held the phone out to me. “And you are the undertaker who is taking care of the funeral arrangements and would like to get a few words for the Sleepy Hollow News to go into her obituary.”
“Oh no.” I shook my head and waved my hand.
“What good is it to be an undertaker if you can’t throw your weight around?” she asked. “Since we are good buddies and all.” She winked, knowing she had pinned me up against the wall. “Or you could say you are with the Sleepy Hollow Police following up on the phone conversation from yesterday.”
“Fine.” I grabbed the phone. I’d much rather pretend to be someone and give a false name than have Jack get a call from Artie or this Mookie and have my name. Once Fluggie redialed the number, she hit the speaker button.
“Hi, I’m . . .” My mind did circles when I tried to formulate a made-up name. “Charlotte Zula.” I said it really fast and winced when I put Charlotte’s and Granny’s names together. Probably not the best idea, but I went with it. “And I’m calling on behalf of the Sleepy Hollow Police.”
Fluggie smacked her hand to her forehead. She continued to scribble down the conversation. “If I had my tape recorder, I could’ve recorded this,” she whispered.
“And I’m doing a follow-up call about the voice message you left on Jade Lee Peel’s cell phone about the cancellation of the television show.” I stopped for a moment to collect my thoughts.
“What do you mean police?” The woman threw me for a loop; I didn’t figure on any questions she might have.
“Ma’am, I regret to let you
know that Ms. Peel was found dead in her guest room at the Sleepy Hollow Inn shortly after you called her.” There was no other way to put it.
“Dead?” The woman gasped. “How did she die?”
“Ma’am, we are treating this case as a homicide until we can gather any more evidence, and your phone call to Ms. Peel could be a piece of the puzzle we are looking for.” I looked up at Fluggie. She gave me a thumbs-up. “You are her agent, correct?”
“Yes I am.” The woman fell silent. “Was.”
“And you did confirm on the voice mail to Jade that the reality show deal was off the table.” I wanted to make it clear, not only for me, but for Jack in case I had just stumbled upon something.
“Yes. She was supposed to make the town look like a hick town, not her look like a hick.” Mookie didn’t sound so happy with Jade’s performance. “She’s gone and done it.” Mookie’s voice was flat and almost cold. “I told her doctor that she’d make good on her promise.”
“What promise was that?” I asked.
“Jade has spent the better part of the last two years in and out of mental facilities because she threatens to kill herself on a regular basis. And I wouldn’t doubt it if she did kill herself over losing the reality deal. It was all she ever wanted. She couldn’t wait to come back there for her little reunion and show your town how she made it big-time, when in reality her career has been floundering.” Mookie’s tone sounded more frustrated than sad.
“My scarf,” Fluggie whispered as she made a pretend noose out of her hands and tugged on it as if she were hanging herself.
“I told her that she didn’t need to leave the facility any sooner, but she insisted she had to go to this reunion and that was why she didn’t have a team with her. Just that stupid assistant Keisha.” Mookie was like the lock nine dam on the Kentucky River. I opened it and she flooded me with information. “Keisha follows her around like a little puppy. Followed her around,” she corrected herself. “God, Keisha. How is she doing?”
“So let me get this straight.” I had to make sure I heard everything correctly because if she did kill herself, why was she still here?
It wasn’t like I was a pro at this Betweener gig. I’d only had five clients, and maybe she wasn’t letting herself cross over until I gave Artie some peace and figured out why she’d do such a thing. And the mental institutions. Did he know about his daughter’s state of mind?
“Yes, Officer.” Mookie had fallen for my line of crap. “All of it’s true.”
After we said our good-byes and I had hung up, I looked at Fluggie.
“I think I need to go see Artie and see what he knew about his daughter. Plus give my sympathies to him.” This was the part of the undertaker job I didn’t like.
Talking to the family was always tough, but talking to a parent about their deceased child was altogether a different ball game.
“Why, do you think seeing him is going to help?” Fluggie asked.
“I think he might give us more details as to why she might have committed suicide or at least have knowledge like her agent did about her true unhappiness.” Jade’s face popped into my head.
She seemed like she had everything. It was like she had life by the you-know-whats. I really just wanted to go see Artie to see if her ghost would come back to me or if she did happen to cross over on her own if she had committed suicide.
Chapter 16
Leaving the old mill didn’t leave me one bit satisfied. I left with more questions than answers.
I stuck my earbuds in my ears and dialed up Jack Henry.
“Hey there.” His deep voice dripped through the phone making me miss him even more.
“Good morning.” I happily sighed and couldn’t help but smile. “I’m guessing you were up all night?”
“You bet I was.” He laughed. “You know me so well.”
“Say.” There was time for love later, but right now I was going to see what had happened to my Betweener client. “Do you think Jade Lee committed suicide?”
“You know, that was my initial thought when I got to the scene and saw her body and the photos of how the scarf was tied around her neck.” There was doubt in his voice. “When I dug a little deeper and talked to Vernon a little more, it is clearly a strangling from the marks on the neck. Wait, why? Did she tell you something?”
“No.” I knew I was going to have to tell him sooner rather than later. “She disappears for stretches and she’s different than the other clients. She said she refused to go to the other side.”
My other clients weren’t able to go to the other side, and though I knew what the agent had told me, it seemed irrelevant if Vernon confirmed it was strangulation. Besides, Jack Henry will never find out I pretended to be Officer Charlotte Zula. I had said it so fast that Mookie had no time to catch the name.
“But we do know that if she was still here”—I meant ghost form and he knew it—“then Fluggie didn’t kill her. When I met with Fluggie a few minutes ago, she was adamant about seeing an orb on the news and calling in a ghost hunting team.”
“What?” Jack Henry wasn’t following me. He sounded confused on the other end of the phone.
“Fluggie has pretty good intuition and she DVR’d all the news coverage on Jade and rightfully so since she’s the obvious police suspect.” Though Jack and I knew she didn’t do it. “She insisted on calling in a ghost hunter.”
“Oh,” Jack said with caution. “You talked her out of it I hope.”
“Don’t worry.” I put to rest any ideas he had in his head. “I think I did. But I did something you aren’t going to be happy with.”
“What?” His voice was thick and unsteady.
“Fluggie said that her interview with Jade was interrupted when someone knocked on the door. Jade made her leave immediately. Fluggie only had time to grab her phone and left behind her tape recorder.” I kept both hands on the wheel and made sure to be careful on the country roads on my way back into town. “I called Jade’s agent with Hester and Hester Talent Agency.”
“I told you not to get involved unless it came up in conversation.” Jack sighed with exasperation.
“How can I not?” I questioned. “Now I have to figure out where my ghost nemesis is too.” I continued, “Anyways, not only did she tell me that the reality show Jade was filming while she was here was canceled because someone sent an anonymous video of her behavior while she was here and the camera crew told the producer about her behavior, but Jade just got out of a facility.”
“What kind of facility?” he asked.
“Some sort of rehab because she’s tried to kill herself several times.” It sounded so awful coming out of my mouth. I began to feel sorry for Jade. She must’ve really had some issues in spite of looking like she had it all. “That’s why I wondered if you ruled out suicide.”
“We know she didn’t, but if someone did commit suicide, would they still come to you?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” The Betweener gig was so new, I didn’t have a clue. Initially I had thought it was just Eternal Slumber clients that had been murdered. Then I quickly found out it was anyone I knew that had been murdered. “The only thing I remember that psychic telling us was the more clients I got, the better my skills would become.”
Jack had taken me to a psychic in Lexington after I had helped my first Betweener client. She confirmed my gift. The only problem was that she didn’t know all the details or potential of my ability. I thought it would be possible for someone to commit suicide and be a client if their family needed closure. At this rate, anything was possible with this gift.
“What was the name of the agency again?” Jack asked. I knew it was a lead for him to follow up on. This was how we worked as a team for my Betweener clients. They gave me small details and he would put them together.
“Maybe I should go see Artie and see what he knew about Jade,” I said after I had given him Mookie’s information.
“I don’t know.” Jack contemplated, “He�
�s pretty upset and I’m not sure he knew much about his daughter since she left town. I asked him all sorts of questions that he didn’t know.”
“I think I will go see him. Just to feel him out.” My mind was made up.
“I’m not sure I like you sticking your nose into things with a murderer out there. I mean”—he let out a long sigh—“if the killer finds out that you are sticking your nose somewhere, then I’m worried they will come after you.”
“I guess you are just going to have to keep an eye on me and protect me.” I giggled.
“Emma Lee.” Jack didn’t find my comment so funny. “I’m not joking. Be careful.”
“I’m kidding.” I turned down the street that ran between Eternal Slumber and the town square. The network vans were still there. “When are these media people leaving?”
I had always loved looking at the pictures of the stars in the smutty, celebrity magazines while I stood in line at Artie’s Meat and Deli. But all of this hoopla surrounding Jade’s death was a little too much.
“Who knows.” I could hear the irritation in his voice. “They are here too. That’s why I’ve got to go. I’m going to go back to the Inn and look for Fluggie’s phone later this afternoon.”
“Why don’t we meet for lunch and discuss what you find out from Artie,” he suggested, which was a good idea. Not only would I get a full belly, but I’d also get to look at Jack Henry while doing it. “I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours.”
“Sounds good.” We said our good-byes and I stuck the phone back in my pocket.
When business was slow at the funeral home, John Howard always did odd jobs around town; right now I saw him across the street at the gazebo taking down the decorations for the parade and reunion. It was a shame too. The town was so looking forward to a fun time.
I ran inside the funeral home and straight to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator door to see what I could whip up to take to Artie’s. It was pretty bare. And what was in there looked to be a little old. I eyed the Arm & Hammer baking soda wondering what on earth I could make with that.