by DS Butler
I pushed open the door to the diner, and the bell jangled. Bernie followed me inside. Both Sarah and Archie were already at work. The smell of sizzling bacon mixed with the delicious scent of coffee. Old Bob was in his usual seat, waiting patiently for his breakfast.
I hung my coat up on the hook and stamped my feet, trying to warm them.
I called through the hatch into the kitchen, saying good morning to Sarah and Archie, and then I picked up my apron from the back room.
Loretta was hovering by a chair. I decided to take the chance that Archie and Sarah wouldn’t overhear and introduced Bernie to Loretta.
Bernie seemed mesmerized as soon as he saw Loretta. His eyes were practically out on stalks.
“What a pleasure to meet you,” he said, gazing at Loretta. “I didn’t know ghosts could be so gorgeous.”
I stared at him in shock, too taken aback to say anything. I imagined Loretta would make a cutting remark, but instead, she batted her eyelashes at him and pressed a hand to her chest.
“Oh, Harper, you didn’t tell me you were bringing a visitor.” She patted her partially-transparent hair. “If I had known, I’d have made more of an effort with my appearance.”
I gaped at her. She knew as well as I did that ghosts always looked the same. The same hairstyle and the same outfit as the day they died.
But before I could say anything, Bernie had hovered over to huddle up close to Loretta.
“I don’t believe it’s possible for you to look any better than you do right now. You’re practically glowing.”
I rolled my eyes at his cheesy chat-up line and tied my apron behind my back. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it. I’ve got work to do.”
I washed my hands and then got straight to work, serving old Bob his usual breakfast and then arranging all the pastries on the display dishes, ready for our morning rush. This was the first time Archie had opened so soon after Christmas, so we weren’t really sure how busy we would be. It turned out to be one of our busiest mornings in a long time. Most of the residents of Abbott Cove were still off work for their Christmas break, and as many people didn’t want to cook their own breakfast when they were on holiday, they came to the diner.
They had already made quite a headway into the fresh muffins when Grandma Grant dashed into the diner.
Her cheeks were flushed, and she was out of breath.
“Have you been running?” I asked incredulously.
Grandma Grant shook her head impatiently. “Don’t be ridiculous. Do I look like a health nut? I was just walking quickly. I need to talk to you. It’s urgent.”
My first thought was that something terrible had happened to Jess, Lily or my parents, and I asked Archie to cover for me and took Grandma Grant through to the back of the diner for some privacy.
To my horror, I realized that Loretta and Bernie were still in the back room, flirting up a storm, but I ignored them and turned to face Grandma Grant.
“What is it? What has happened?”
“I’ve just had a visit from Violet Morton. She came around to the house for coffee.” Grandma Grant waggled her eyebrows meaningfully.
I shook my head. I had no idea why a visit from Violet Morton was so important. “I see, and you had to hurry down to the diner to tell me that?”
Grandma Grant gave an impatient little huff. “Honestly, Harper, do keep up.”
I frowned not having the slightest clue what my grandmother was on about, but at the same time, I felt relieved she hadn’t come to deliver any bad news about our family.
Grandma Grant looked around the back room. “Is Bernie here?”
I nodded. “Yes, and Loretta. She’s been… keeping an eye on him for me.”
“Right,” Grandma Grant said with an expression that told me she wasn’t going to put up with any of Bernie’s mischief. “Listen up, Bernie. We don’t have time for any of your silly flirting. Violet came to see me this morning, and you know why, don’t you?”
I looked at Bernie, but he looked just as confused as I felt. Loretta was staring daggers at him. “Flirting?”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Bernie blustered.
I turned back to Grandma Grant and shook my head. “Bernie doesn’t know why Violet came to see you. Can you just tell us so I can get back to work? Archie will be coming to look for me in a minute, wondering why I’m not doing my job.”
Grandma Grant narrowed her eyes. “Apparently Bernie had telephoned Violet on Christmas Eve. He told her he had some very important news and had uncovered some information she would be interested in. He was going to go and tell her all about it after he had finished playing Santa Claus. But, of course, he never got the chance.”
I felt a rush of excitement. This was an interesting development. “Did Violet have any idea what the information could be?”
Grandma Grant shook her head. “But it must have something to do with why Bernie was murdered. You know I’ve probably just single-handedly cracked the case.”
I ignored Grandma Grant’s self-satisfied smirk.
“Why would you be speaking to Violet Morton?” I asked Bernie. “Were you close?”
Bernie shrugged. “Violet was a friend of my mother’s. I’ve known her for years, but we’re not particularly close. I have no idea what I was going to tell her.”
I sighed. That was typical. This could have been the breakthrough we needed, and Bernie couldn’t remember anything about it.
“All I know is Violet told me Bernie had uncovered some information and needed her advice,” Grandma Grant prompted, looking at me expectantly.
But Bernie still looked blank. He scratched his head and wrinkled up his forehead as he tried to search his memory. Then he shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t remember anything about it.”
“He can’t remember,” I told Grandma Grant, and she rolled her eyes.
“Honestly, the man is useless.”
“Hey! I can hear you, you know?” Bernie protested.
It was obviously disappointing that Bernie couldn’t remember what he was about to tell Violet, but I wasn’t about to abandon the lead. Violet may have known more than she was letting on. I mulled things over as Bernie closed his eyes with a sigh and Grandma Grant muttered under her breath.
“You don’t seem very enthusiastic, Harper,” Grandma Grant said. “I thought you’d be excited by this breakthrough.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not much of a breakthrough if Bernie can’t remember anything. We’re not any closer to finding out what happened. All we know is that Bernie was going to tell Violet something. That doesn’t really help us much.”
“Charming!” Grandma Grant turned her back on me and walked over to the door. “That’s the thanks I get for trying to help.”
I sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that. Thank you for trying to help.”
Grandma Grant shrugged, looking a little mollified but still pouting. “Well, you’d better get to work on Bernie because he needs to remember. This could be the reason he was murdered.”
I nodded, followed Grandma Grant out of the back room and watched as she left the diner. She was right. Getting Bernie to remember what he was going to tell Violet could be vital to finding out who murdered him.
I cringed as I heard Loretta raise her voice in the back room and then heard Bernie’s pleading tone, trying to convince her that he would never have eyes for anybody but her from now on. Luckily, no one else could hear them. I put a hand to my forehead. I was getting a headache, and a ghost romance between Loretta and Bernie on top of everything else was the last thing I needed.
CHAPTER 14
Despite my best efforts to jog Bernie’s memory, he couldn’t remember what he had been about to tell Violet on Christmas Eve. I would have preferred him to focus on the urgent matter at hand, but he seemed to be rather preoccupied with Loretta.
Loretta no longer seemed enamored with Bernie. In fact, she seemed to be very put out.
I had put up with the pair of
them for the last half an hour. Loretta with her nose in the air, hovering around the diner and inspecting the customers’ food, and Bernie sitting forlornly in the corner looking thoroughly miserable.
I would have liked to have bashed their heads together and tried to get them to see sense, but I didn’t dare speak to either of them while we had customers around.
Life would be so much easier if only Bernie could remember what had happened. I supposed the trauma of being murdered in such a gruesome way had made him forget. With the ghosts I had helped so far, it seemed to be a common theme. They couldn’t remember how they had died, but I was irritated that Bernie couldn’t remember something that happened on the afternoon of his death. Surely speaking to Violet couldn’t have been that traumatic. Although I didn’t know Violet Morton well, she seemed to be a very sweet old lady, and I couldn’t imagine her scaring Bernie at all.
I sighed as I picked up the empty plates from table five and took them into the kitchen.
Sarah was on her break so Archie was manning the kitchen and we’d had a bit of a lull in orders. Right now, he was making a grilled cheese sandwich for Maurice Greene and his wife. They were an odd couple. Ever so thin but that wasn’t really surprising given the fact they never ordered a full meal individually. Instead, they shared everything.
The grilled cheese sandwich would be carefully split in half and nibbled at. As a woman with a healthy appetite, I didn’t know how they did it.
I picked up the grilled cheese sandwich and headed back through into the diner with it. I smiled and was just about to set it in front of Maurice when Bernie let out a yelp.
Startled, I almost dropped the plate, but I was good at my job and had gotten used to occasional ghostly outbursts. I managed to grab the plate just before it fell.
Bernie had zoomed across the diner and was now cowering behind my back, peeking over my shoulder at a person who had just entered the diner.
Loretta was looking just as puzzled as I felt.
In the doorway, was Terry Woods. He wasn’t exactly a regular, but he had come in a few times before.
He looked at me curiously as he saw me staring at him and then gave me a curt nod before making his way to a free table.
Maurice and his wife thanked me for the grilled cheese sandwich, and I walked across to Terry Woods to take his drink order. All the time Bernie whimpered behind me.
Before I could open my mouth to speak to Terry Woods, Loretta was hovering beside us looking at Bernie in disgust.
“What on earth is the matter with you?”
“I… er, had a bit of a run-in with Terry a while ago.”
I narrowed my eyes. That was news to me. Since we were trying to figure out who may have killed Bernie, I would have thought he could have divulged that information earlier.
“And why are you a quivering wreck behind Harper?” Loretta asked arching an eyebrow.
Bernie straightened up and smoothed down his clothes. “I wasn’t quivering,” he said.
Oh, yes, you were, I thought.
Bernie cleared his throat. “I just forgot that nobody could see me.”
“Hello,” I said to Terry. “I hope you’ve had a nice Christmas. Can I take your drink order?”
Terry looked down at the menu with a bored expression on his face and said, “I’ll have a slice of the apple pie and a glass of chocolate milk.”
I nodded. “Sure thing.”
I tucked my order pad back in my apron and swirled around, giving Bernie a look that I hoped no one else noticed.
I could really do without him yelping and hiding behind me whilst I was at work.
I quickly made my way to the kitchen and gave Archie Terry’s order. As Archie wasn’t busy, he set about cutting a slice of the apple pie while I prepared the chocolate milk.
Loretta and Bernie followed me into the kitchen, and although I was trying to act normally, I kept one ear on the conversation.
“Why were you so scared of that man?” Loretta asked.
“I wasn’t scared! What gave you that impression?”
Loretta scoffed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, I suppose I was a little startled. I wasn’t expecting to see him.”
“Go on,” Loretta said coolly.
“Well, I’ll tell you as long as you promise not to overreact. This all happened long before I met you. I’m a changed man now.”
“Jeez, give me a break,” I muttered as I switched on the rotary mixer to drown out Bernie’s irritating explanations and excuses.
“I’m sorry,” Archie said. “I didn’t quite catch that. What did you say?”
I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said smiling at him brightly. I really needed to stop responding to ghosts in public no matter how tempting it might be.
Archie handed me the apple pie. I put it on a tray along with the chocolate milk and began to carry it out of the kitchen.
“I had a little dalliance with his wife. It was very short lived and nothing serious, but Terry wasn’t very happy.”
I almost dropped the chocolate milk. No kidding. What planet was Bernie on? Of course, Terry wasn’t going to be happy Bernie had a dalliance with his wife.
I gave Bernie a disapproving look over my shoulder and then took the apple pie and chocolate milk to Terry.
Terry grunted his thanks and tucked in straightaway.
I topped up a couple of drinks on the other tables and then took a chance while it was quiet to go into the back room. I really wanted to speak to Bernie about this.
I gestured for Loretta and Bernie to follow me, and they did so.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Bernie said to me as soon as I shut the door behind us. “I should have told you about Terry.”
“Yes, you should have. I think he’s got a very good motive.”
Bernie nodded miserably. “It was ages ago. I didn’t think it would be important.”
Loretta hovered in front of Bernie. “Ages ago?”
Bernie nodded solemnly.
“Exactly how long ago is ages ago?” Loretta asked.
Bernie looked a little shifty, and he reached up to scratch his head. “Well, about six months, I think.”
“Bernie, that is not ages ago,” I said sternly.
I wanted to be annoyed with him on two counts. One, that he wasn’t properly focused on trying to remember what he had been going to tell Violet, and two, the fact that he hadn’t told me about a perfectly good murder suspect.
But I couldn’t really be angry. In fact, I was quite excited. It seemed as though we were finally getting somewhere. We may not have had all the pieces of the puzzle to put together right now, but things were certainly getting interesting.
I thought for a moment as Bernie tried desperately to persuade Loretta that this philandering version of him was a thing of the past.
The more I thought about it, the more I began to think confronting Terry was a good idea.
“I’m going to speak to him,” I declared, and both Loretta and Bernie turned to stare at me with their eyes wide.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea, Harper?” Loretta asked. “After all, he could be dangerous.”
I shrugged. “He’s hardly going to do anything to me in the middle of the diner. Besides, I can be subtle.”
Both Bernie and Loretta looked doubtful.
I could do subtle.
Determined to prove my point, I left the back room and headed straight for Terry. He’d already polished off his apple pie and was already making good headway through his chocolate milk.
“Do you mind if I join you?” I asked cheerfully. Before he could refuse, I plonked myself down in the chair opposite his.
He looked across the table at me with a frown, and then looked nervously around the diner as if he suspected this was some kind of practical joke.
“So, did you and your wife have a nice Christmas?”
Terry Woods’ eyebrows knitted together. He really did look quite intimidating. F
rom his thick dark hair and his big bushy eyebrows and a mouth that never seemed to smile, I could just imagine him on the nine o’clock news. Could Terry really have murdered Bernie in cold blood?
Terry’s eyes narrowed. “Christmas was fine,” he said.
I bit down on my lower lip. It seemed Terry Woods was not the talkative type. I didn’t turn, but I could sense Loretta and Bernie hovering just a few feet away, watching me anxiously. It didn’t exactly make my life easier.
“We had a little bit of snow,” I said. “Although I was expecting more.”
My cheeks flushed as Terry Woods stared at me. He obviously thought I was acting very strangely.
“You didn’t come over here to talk about the weather,” he said. “So why don’t you just ask me whatever it is you want to ask.”
It seemed I wasn’t quite as good at being subtle as I had thought.
But I wasn’t prepared to back out now, besides, as I had said to Loretta and Bernie, he couldn’t really do anything to me in a diner full of people.
“Have the police been around to see you?” I asked.
Terry Woods’ cheeks paled, and he leaned forward over the table. “Why would the police have been around to see me?”
“Because of the er... disagreement you had with Bernie Crouch.”
Terry Woods’ features tightened, and he looked like he was about to explode with rage. “No, they haven’t,” he practically growled the words. “But I don’t care if they do. That man was a menace. I don’t know where you get your facts from, little lady, but Bernie and I didn’t have a disagreement.”
Terry Woods was leaning so far over the table now I was starting to feel very uncomfortable, but still, I pressed on, pretending he didn’t have any effect on me at all. “Really? That wasn’t what I heard.”
Terry Woods’ hand curled into a fist on the table. “The Abbott Cove gossips have got a lot to answer for,” he said. “Anyway, I don’t care if the police do come to see me. I am innocent. I didn’t kill Bernie, although I can’t say I’m sorry he’s dead.”