by Bobbi Holmes
“If you called to see how I am, Kelly, I’m fine.”
“I called Lily,” she blurted.
“You what?” he stood abruptly, holding the cellphone by his ear. He began to pace the kitchen.
“Now, don’t be mad at me, Ian. But Lily is my friend too.”
“I asked you to stay out of this.”
“Just because you broke up with Lily doesn’t mean I have to drop her as a friend.”
“It might be best if you do,” he told her.
“I can’t believe you’re saying that! It’s so unlike you!”
“What did Lily say?”
“She just said you broke up with her. But she didn’t say why, and I didn’t ask her.”
“So why did you call her?”
“I told you. Because I care about Lily; she is my friend. I just wanted to see if she’s okay. I’d think you’d understand because you used to care about her too.”
“Who says I don’t care about her anymore?” he grumbled.
“I think you do still care, or you wouldn’t be acting this way. She obviously did something that made you mad. That’s why I told her she needed to talk to you.”
“You what?”
Startled by Ian’s outburst, Sadie, who had been napping nearby, lifted her head and looked at Ian.
“Lily told me that while she still loved you, if you wanted to talk to her, you would have to go to her. She said something about you no longer trusting her and that it wasn’t her fault, it was your problem. She said if you didn’t trust her, then there was no reason for her to talk to you. What happened, Ian, do you think she cheated on you? Is that why you no longer trust her?”
“Kelly, what part of I don’t want to discuss this don’t you understand?”
“It’s just that you’re my brother, and I love you. And I think you and Lily are terrific together. I’d never seen you so happy. But if you walk away from her over some stupid misunderstanding—”
“I have to go now.” Ian disconnected the call.
ACROSS THE STREET at Marlow House, Lily carried Max through the rooms on the second floor. After inspecting each room, she gingerly made her way down the staircase, clutching the handrail with one hand while trying to keep hold of the furry bundle with the other hand.
Enjoying the ride, Max rested his front paws on Lily’s left shoulder while looking back up the staircase. He let out a meow.
“That cat weighs a ton,” Danielle said when she stepped out into the hallway and noticed Lily coming downstairs with Max.
“You’re telling me,” Lily said, slightly out of breath.
“Why are you carrying him?” Danielle asked when Lily reached the first-floor landing, still clutching the cat.
“Now that you’re here, I guess I don’t have to.” Lily leaned down and released Max, who strolled away, heading to the parlor.
“I don’t get it?”
“I’ve realized Max is an excellent ghost detector. Maybe I can’t see spirits, but he does. And he does a great job of letting me know if we aren’t alone,” Lily explained. “Max and I checked the attic, along with every room on the second floor. Agatha is not up there.” Lily glanced down the hall, first to the right and then the left. She looked back to Danielle. “Have you seen her down here?”
Danielle shook her head. “No. This morning, after I mentioned her funeral was today at two, she got all excited and left. I suspect I won’t be seeing her again until the funeral.”
Lily let out a sigh. “I wish you would have told me that before I carried that cat up one staircase and down two.”
Danielle grinned. “Sorry.”
“Where’s Walt? I’m pretty sure he isn’t in the attic.”
“I believe he’s in the parlor, watching television.” Danielle glanced to the kitchen. “I was going to make myself a sandwich before I get ready for the funeral. Want one?”
“Sure.” Lily followed Danielle to the kitchen. “If we’re lucky, Agatha will decide to move on after her funeral.”
“We can hope. Death really hasn’t improved her disposition.”
Once in the kitchen, Lily walked to the sink and washed her hands while Danielle removed a loaf of bread from the breadbox.
“Kelly called me this morning,” Lily said while she dried her hands.
“Does she have any idea why her brother broke it off with you?”
“No. She said she called to see how I was, but I think she was trying to find out what happened.” Lily tossed the dishtowel on the counter. “I got the impression she thinks I did something to make Ian break up, and was trying to get me to call him.”
“Seriously?” Danielle reached into the refrigerator and retrieved a bowl of chicken salad.
“Yep. But that ain’t happening.”
Danielle shut the refrigerator door. “I understand how you feel. But maybe you should try talking to him again.”
Lily shook her head stubbornly. “Absolutely not. He’s hurt me, Dani. I would never have imagined Ian would be so unreasonable.”
Leaning back against the counter for a moment, Danielle looked at Lily. “I didn’t tell you earlier, but the chief called. He ran into Ian last night.”
Opening the loaf of bread Danielle had set on the counter, Lily pulled out four slices and then asked, “And?”
“Ian wanted MacDonald to know Evan believes he can see ghosts.”
Lily paused and looked at Danielle. “What did the chief say?”
“He told him Evan can see ghosts.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Then what did Ian say to that?”
“Something about body snatchers.”
IAN SLID OPEN the bedroom window, letting in the crisp ocean breeze. In other parts of the country, July’s temperatures would be much warmer. He stood there a moment, drinking in the salty air while looking out at the ocean.
“Sadie, I’m going to miss this view,” he muttered before turning toward his closet.
Hearing her name, Sadie lifted her head and looked over to Ian from where she had been napping on the bed. Her tail began to wag.
Sadie watched as Ian changed his clothes. When he picked his cellphone up from where he had tossed it on the bed earlier and slipped it in his pocket and headed for the door, Sadie knew he was ready to go out. Jumping down off the bed, her tail wagging, she followed Ian from the room, into the hallway.
Finally, they were going somewhere. Sadie was getting bored cooped up in the house the last few days. Ian had taken her for several walks on the beach, yet she wasn’t used to staying home alone when he had to go somewhere without her. Then, he normally left her across the street with Walt.
Tail still wagging, she enthusiastically followed him to the front door. Before opening the door, he turned and faced her.
“Sorry, girl, you have to stay home. I’m going to a funeral and can’t take you.”
Not understanding what Ian was saying exactly, Sadie cocked her head, her tail still wagging. But when Ian said sit when she stood up, Sadie knew. He was leaving her.
Reluctantly sitting back down, Sadie let out a whimper.
Ian turned briefly to her as he opened the door. “Sorry, girl. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
When Ian opened the front door, a flash of black fur raced by his feet into the house.
“Max!” Ian said with a curse. Leaving the door open, he walked back into his house, where Sadie was now enthusiastically sniffing the cat and nudging him with her nose as the feline rubbed back and forth against her body, purring loudly.
“I don’t know what’s with you two,” Ian said as he leaned down to pick up Max. “But I’m not leaving a cat in the house.” Max let out a pitiful meow as Ian picked him up and tossed him back outside. “Go home, Max,” Ian grumbled as he shoved Sadie—who was now halfway out the doorway, trying to follow Max—back into the house with his leg before closing the door behind him.
When Ian was backing out of the driveway a few minutes later, he didn’t see Max anywh
ere in sight, and he assumed the cat had gone home. However, he did see Sadie, who was standing at the side window, her paws obviously resting on the windowsill as her nose pushed through the opening in the curtains to look outside. With the window down in his car, he could hear her barking.
Inside the house, Sadie watched as Ian backed into the street and then drove away, out of sight. Jumping down from the window, she cocked her head slightly when she heard something. Turning toward the sound, she raced through the house to Ian’s bedroom.
When Sadie dashed into the room, she heard meowing coming from the open window. She recognized that meow. It was Max. Jumping up on the windowsill, resting her front paws on it, she looked outside. Max sat on the ground just outside the house, looking up at her, his black tail swishing back and forth.
Sadie let out a bark. Max moved away from the window. Sadie let out another bark and then lunged at the open window, knocking against the screen. She barked again, making a second lunge, this time pushing a corner of the screen from the window. Outside, Max stood several feet away, watching, while occasionally encouraging Sadie with a loud meow.
It took several lunges against the window screen before it finally fell outside onto the ground. Sadie didn’t waste any time. With one graceful leap she flew through the window and joined Max outside. Together the pair made their way to the front of the property and then across the street to Marlow House.
Already on their way to the funeral, Danielle and Lily had left the driveway gate wide open. They saw no reason to close it, since they would be returning in a couple of hours. Plus, it wasn’t as if Ian had left Sadie with them. Had that been the case, they would have shut the gate so the dog couldn’t get out of the yard. But with the gate open, it was as easy for Sadie to get into the yard as it would have been for her to escape from it. And once in the yard, entering the house was simply a matter of slipping through the large pet door.
TWENTY-THREE
Agatha never understood why anyone would choose to be cremated. To her, it seemed somehow ironic that a person who denied him or herself certain pleasures in life, to avoid burning in a fiery hereafter, would willingly make plans to put one’s body in a blazing furnace. After all, no one really knew the pain a dead body might experience. Agatha had not been willing to take that chance.
She had never been particularly claustrophobic, which was why the thought of being placed in a casket and then buried never bothered her in the same way as cremation had. Plus, as she got older, Agatha enjoyed sleeping.
What Agatha didn’t enjoy was an uncomfortable bed, or the thought of being trapped for eternity in a tacky, cheap, uncomfortable casket. Now standing next to her open casket, her attention was not on the body that was once her, seemingly sleeping peacefully, it was instead on the luxurious interior of the casket, its plump satin cushioned padding inviting. If her body was not already occupying the space, she would have been tempted to crawl in and take a nap.
Running her hands over the glistening exterior of the highly polished casket, she imagined what it must feel like—had her hands not been only an illusion. It was a lovely shade of pale powder blue, her favorite color, and along its side was a custom painting of her family’s crest. While she wasn’t certain her family actually had a crest, she’d had Shane find her one online, which she later used when ordering her casket.
“AGATHA’S HERE,” Danielle whispered to Lily when they entered the chapel.
“Where is she?” Lily asked as she and Danielle stepped away from the other mourners now entering.
“She’s by her casket,” Danielle said as they walked down the aisle, looking for somewhere to sit. She spied Joyce in the front row with her children and son-in-law. They were already seated.
“Oh gawd, it’s an open casket.” Lily groaned. “I hate those.”
Halfway down the aisle, they paused and glanced around.
“I suppose we should first go up and pay our respects,” Danielle said in a whisper.
“Shouldn’t we do that after the service?” Lily asked.
“Actually, I meant to Agatha.”
“Why? You just saw her this morning.” Lily looked toward the front of the chapel. From her angle, she could barely see the profile of the woman inside the casket. “Wow, that’s some coffin.”
“No kidding. It must have cost a fortune,” Danielle said.
“Such an incredible waste of money for something that’s just going in the ground,” Lily whispered. “I’ve never seen one quite like that before.”
“I guess Agatha could afford it. She was worth millions,” Danielle said with a shrug.
“I know, but still, why be a miser all your life and then spend a freaking fortune on your funeral? She’s been living with Joyce for years, and have you seen the car Joyce drives? It’s a piece of junk.”
“Joyce’s house isn’t much better. But I guess now she can fix it up or sell it,” Danielle said.
“But still, foolish woman. If she comes back to Marlow House, I just might tell her how I feel! Stupid woman,” Lily snapped.
Danielle suppressed a giggle. “It’s Agatha’s funeral. You have to be nice to someone when it’s their funeral.”
Lily looked at Danielle with a frown. “What? Are funerals like birthdays?”
“Never really thought about it before, but yeah. I guess they are.” Danielle started toward the front of the chapel to pay her respects to Agatha, when Lily reached out and stopped her. Danielle turned back to Lily.
“You go on up. Dead bodies make me squeamish. Anyway, I think I better go to the bathroom before this thing starts. I shouldn’t have had that Pepsi before we left home.”
“Okay. I’ll only be a minute. I’ll find us a seat,” Danielle told her.
With a nod, Lily released Danielle’s arm and headed back toward the exit. The public restrooms were off the hallway leading from the chapel.
LILY DIDN’T NOTICE Ian when she stepped into the hallway. But he noticed her. He continued to watch her as she headed to the small alcove leading to the public restrooms. He followed her.
When Lily stepped out from the bathroom several minutes later, she found Ian waiting for her.
“Ian,” she said in surprise.
“Lily, we need to talk,” he told her.
Hands now on her hips, Lily looked Ian up and down. She reminded him of an angry pixy. “Here? At the funeral? I thought you didn’t want to talk to me. As I recall, you ordered me out of your house.”
“Lily, this all happened so fast. I’m trying to sort things out. I know we can’t talk here. But I was hoping, after the funeral, maybe you could come over to my house, and we could talk.”
“Does this mean you believe me now?” Removing her hands from her hips, she folded her arms over her chest and looked up into Ian’s eyes.
Ian frowned. “Of course I don’t believe it. But I still love you. And there has to be some rational reason why you’re sticking to this story.”
“You still think I’m a liar?”
Ian reached for Lily, but she took a step back, out of his reach.
“None of this makes any sense. Come on, Lily, we both know there is no such thing as ghosts. Is this some kind of practical joke that got out of hand. Or maybe it’s some kind of test?”
“Test? What do you mean test?”
“I remember Danielle wouldn’t date Joe again because he believed she could have killed her cousin. He didn’t have enough faith in her to simply take her at her word. Is this what this is about? Are you testing my faith in you?”
Lily gasped and abruptly stepped forward. She felt compelled to smack his arm but resisted the temptation. “How could you even ask that? Do you honestly think I’m so childish I would play such an idiotic game? I don’t like games, Ian Bartley. I thought you knew me better than that.”
Not waiting for his response, Lily turned from him and marched back into the chapel.
POLICE CHIEF MACDONALD sat at the far end of the back pew. Several minute
s earlier, just before entering the chapel, he had received a text message from Brian Henderson. Brian was on his way there; he needed to tell the chief something.
As the chief waited for the services to begin—or for Brian to arrive—whichever was first, he spied Lily rushing into the chapel. He waved at her, but she didn’t see him. She appeared to be preoccupied and in a hurry to get to her seat. When the door opened again, he saw what he believed was probably the reason for Lily’s harried demeanor. It was Ian Bartley. He stood at the back of the room, looking forlorn, his eyes on Lily.
MacDonald didn’t have long to ponder Lily and Ian’s situation. The next moment, Brian entered. The chief waved to get his attention.
Brian immediately spied the chief and made his way over to him, sitting next to him on the pew.
“So what’s up?” MacDonald asked in a whisper.
“We found our blogger,” Brian said with a smile.
“It must be someone interesting or you wouldn’t be here.”
Brian removed a card from his shirt pocket. “Our blogger is here.” He handed the chief the card.
MacDonald read it and then looked to Brian. “Are you sure?”
“If not the blogger, the one who owns the domain. Also the one who signed up for the affiliate ads that pop up on the page,” Brian explained.
The chief studied the card for a few moments and then slipped it in his shirt pocket. “This really doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know. I was thinking about that. Is this person really stupid or what?”
“So you think this is the killer?” the chief asked.
“It looks that way, in spite of the fact it really doesn’t make sense. Stupid thing to do, blog about who you intend to kill.”
“Maybe. But look at all the stupid kids who brag about their crimes on social media. And then there are those who actually video record their crimes and post them,” the chief reminded.
“I guess you’re right. But this isn’t a kid, yet definitely stupid. I guess I should stop trying to make sense out of these things. So what now?”