Death on the Rocks--A Short Read

by K. J. Emrick

  This was Alice Gill. At least, this was her ghost.

  Butter was suddenly on his feet, his tail wagging furiously as he trundled over to the young woman. Dogs were able to see most ghosts, just like Butter had with Kyle, but this time it was his master. He was thrilled to see her again.

  The ghost girl ruffed her hands through Butter’s fur, never really touching him. “We need to get home, don’t we boy… but it’s just the strangest thing.” Alice Gill shook her head from side to side as if trying to shake some sense into herself. “I just can’t seem to remember where I live. I don’t know how to get there. I guess that sounds a bit nuts.”

  “No,” Miranda said, “actually that sounds about right. Alice, I need to tell you—”

  She was interrupted by Kyle’s ghost appearing ahead of Detective Travis. “Oh!” Kyle said as he floated up to stand next to Miranda. “And here’s our special guest. How are you doing? Can you remember who did this to you? I swear, I still can’t remember the day I died.”

  Miranda could have strangled him, if, of course, he had a corporeal neck to strangle. Alice Gill looked suddenly stricken, and the shock on her face almost tore straight into Miranda’s heart.

  “What is he saying?” Alice said, directing the question to Miranda.

  “I see,” Kyle mumbled. “We still haven’t had that conversation, have we? Well, no fear. Come with me.”

  Kyle gently led Alice away and seemed to be hurriedly trying to explain a few facts about being dead to her. As he talked, Alice lifted her hands and stared at the pale blue shimmer that surrounded them. Their conversation was nothing but mumbling in the distance until Alice, shouting hysterically, slapped Kyle across his face.

  The sound of it was so loud that even Detective Travis stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at the empty space the two ghosts were inhabiting.

  “How can you say such an awful thing?” Alice shouted. “What sort of cruel and awful man are you? I’m not dead!”

  Kyle, for his part, wasn’t ready to give up. He kept murmuring about life, and death, and something about the circle of life.

  Detective Travis was standing in front of her now. “Hey, you don’t look so good. Would you like some of this?” He’d brought her an unopened bottle of spring water and—bless his heart—a little packet of Panadol. Miranda took them both gratefully.

  “Thank you,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I’ve got a massive headache coming on. Um. From the stress of seeing her like that, I’m sure.”

  He nodded at that, and Miranda got the impression that he was seeing her as a weak and pitiful woman, scared by the sight of a little blood. Her hackles rose at that but it wasn’t like she could tell him the real source of her stress was the two ghosts arguing off to his right.

  He set his hand on her shoulder, and his touch was warm and soothing. “We actually don’t need you to stay any longer, Miss Wylder, if you’d like to go home. Do you need lift anywhere?”

  “No… um, thanks,” she said, oddly disappointed that there was nowhere for him to drive her to. “I actually live up there, in the house known as Ragged Rest. But tell me, what happens now with Butter?”

  “Butter?” He blinked in confusion.

  “Sorry, the dog. Alice’s dog. I don’t want to leave him here.”

  The golden retriever had followed Alice over to where she was speaking with Kyle. His nose was in the air, his head bobbing back and forth between them, looking for all the world like he was tracking a bird to anyone who couldn’t see the ghosts hovering right next to him.

  “I guess,” Jack said, scratching at his brow, “the family really ought to have first choice to adopt him, but I don’t see any problem with you taking him for tonight. I guess the poor little fella’s been through enough already.”

  “Thank you,” Miranda told him. He smiled, and she thought again about how he might look out of that plain suit.

  In casual clothes, jeans and a t-shirt or perhaps a pair of shorts! She amended her thought as quickly as she could, but the damage was done. Now she was picturing him in a towel after a shower, while she stalked him like Kyle was going to.

  Thankfully, he left at that point to join his officer’s again, so he didn’t get to see how red her cheeks were getting.

  Wanting something to distract her wandering mind, she went over to where Kyle and Alice were still talking. In case anyone was watching her, she bent down next to Butter and scratched under his chin.

  “Am I really dead?” she heard Alice ask. Reality was starting to set in.

  “If it helps,” Kyle suggested, “you can go and look for yourself. I don’t recommend it, but hey, sometimes seeing is believing.”

  Alice put her hands up over her mouth. Her eyes were wide. She wasn’t ready for this.

  In a blink, she disappeared from view. It was obviously going to take her a while to accept what had happened.

  “Poor girl.” Miranda said, sighing.

  Kyle grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I didn’t handle that too well.”

  “Never mind,” Miranda told him. She gave Butter another good rubdown as he whined for his missing owner. “Anyway, what did you hear about the investigation before you came back here and upset Alice?”

  “Well, for starters, they don’t think that she was killed down on the rocks. It looks as if she was thrown down into the sea from the cliffs above, but we were on a good high tide earlier tonight, and it just brought her body right back in.”

  “So, somebody out there thinks they got away with murder.”

  “Oh definitely,” Kyle said, nodding. “And that’s not all they got away with.”

  “Meaning?”

  He leaned in closer, relishing his role as gossip-gatherer. “There’s an open wound in her back, and she’s missing a kidney!”

  “Oh my God! That’s what killed her?” Miranda gasped.

  He spread his hands apart. “Dunno. They said they can’t tell before the autopsy, but her lips and tongue were discolored. One of the medics said that might indicate she was drugged. Maybe she was drugged unconscious, and then had her kidney removed before she was thrown from the cliff?”

  “One can only hope it happened in that order. My God, that is awful.”

  Alice popped back into view beside them. “I really am dead.”

  Miranda jumped. All her life living as a psychic, all her experiences with ghosts and the paranormal, and she still got jumpy sometimes.

  Regaining her composure, she reached a hand out to the hazy image of Alice’s spirit. Her fingers slipped through the other woman’s wrist. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “Why don’t you come back home with me and Kyle. We can help you understand.”

  Alice looked dubiously at Kyle. “You’re a ghost, too?”

  He nodded. “Takes some getting used to, but it’s not that bad once you get used to it.”

  “Why are you still here?” Alice asked. “Why am I still here? Shouldn’t we both be floating off to Heaven right about now?”

  Kyle’s expression slipped, and the blue light around his eyes grew darker. “I wish I knew,” he said.

  Chapter 3

  Miranda sipped the hot tea as she watched Butter settle down on the old sweatshirt she had laid in front of the fire for him. Kyle and Alice had been talking quietly for some time, and Miranda found herself finally eavesdropping on the ghost-chat.

  “But why are you still here, Kyle? If your murder was solved four months ago, shouldn’t you have already moved on to wherever it is we are supposed to go?”

  “To be honest, Alice, I just don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m just worried that Miranda would get bored and lonely without me as a drinking partner.”

  “As if!” Miranda called to them. “You can’t even drink anymore!”

  “It doesn’t stop you from pouring me out a glass whenever you have a little yourself,” he shot back. Alice chuckled at that, and Miranda was glad to hear it. If nothing else, perhaps a little bit of banter
would make her feel better.

  “I still don’t understand,” Alice said, turning to look at Miranda. “Why are you trying to help me, Miranda?”

  “I’ve had psychic abilities for most of my life. It lets me, among other things, see people’s ghosts. Like you, and Kyle. It’s no fun seeing people restlessly wandering, trying to make their way to the next stop on their journey. I have a gift. I think I should be using it to help when I can.”

  “Well. Thank you,” Alice said in a soft voice.

  Miranda smiled back. “You’re welcome.”

  “Alice,” Kyle said all too brightly, “can you try to think back and see if you can remember why anyone would kill you to take a kidney?”

  Miranda found herself once again wincing at his insensitivity. Kyle had a way of questioning that made Miranda’s toes almost curl back on themselves.

  “I don’t know.” Alice was shaking her head. “It’s really weird… everything seems kind of foggy. Um, there is one thing I remember. It doesn’t have anything to do with a kidney though.”

  “Go on,” Miranda said.

  “I’ve got a really strong feeling,” Alice said, “I have just inherited some money that I didn’t deserve.”

  “Didn’t deserve?” Miranda asked in disbelief. “How can you get an inheritance you don’t deserve?”

  “I think I fooled somebody into it somehow. I can’t exactly remember it, but I think it’s coming back slowly.”

  “Well, just keep thinking,” Miranda said, gently.

  “Okay, right. Well. There’s a family in Moonlight Bay. Crenshaw is the name.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of them.” Miranda knew the name from visiting her uncle here in Moonlight Bay in the past. The Crenshaw’s were one of the most influential and wealthy families in the area. They had a fading sort of wealth, but it was still far more than Miranda was likely to see in her lifetime.

  “Oh! And I was in a relationship with Terence.” It was as if the thought had literally just popped into her head.

  “Terence Crenshaw?” Miranda asked, with a heavy helping of disbelief. “But he’s in his sixties, isn’t he? You’re, what, in your mid-twenties?”

  “Twenty-six. Ha. There, I remembered that one.”

  Once again, Kyle flung himself into the investigation. “So, was Terence your sugar daddy?”

  “No! I would never do that!” Alice said, sounding perhaps just a little too offended. “I’m sure I loved him. We were going to spend forever together only… only Terence died recently.”

  A look of such complete grief passed over her translucent features that Miranda knew she was telling the truth. There had been real love there, no matter what the age difference.

  “I remember his death was in the news just recently,” Miranda said, not knowing how the young ghost was going to deal with the news. “Some medical condition or other. I don’t think it mentioned exactly what it was in any of the articles I read but I remember it was a big deal for weeks before his passing.”

  “Poor Terence. Oh! Maybe someone in the Crenshaw family killed me?” Alice asked. “I can’t imagine them liking me very much, what with the age difference and everything.”

  “Know what I wonder?” Kyle asked, tactful as ever. “I’ve got to wonder if this medical condition had anything to do with needing a kidney. If the funeral has only just taken place, maybe the family are still in town.”

  “And I’d daresay,” Miranda added, “that there’s a slim chance they might actually be staying at the family home? Especially since it would be empty after Terence’s death.”

  Now they were getting somewhere. A visit to the Crenshaw estate the next day might put them on the right track to solving Alice’s murder.

  “Well, that’s our plan then,” Miranda said, stifling a yawn behind her hand. “In the meantime, I’m going to get some sleep.”

  She got up off the couch, ready to make her way to her bedroom. It had been a very long day.

  “And do we sleep?” Alice asked a little helplessly.

  “Not as such, Alice,” Kyle chuckled, “but come with me and I’ll show you how to get through the night without going nuts.”

  Miranda left Alice in Kyle’s capable hands. At least he’d had months now to become used to being what he was. He could explain that part of things far better than she knew she could. In the bedroom, she yawned again, and was just about to change into her pajamas when the phone on the nightstand began to ring. With a sigh, she answered it.

  “Hello,” she said, a little shortly.

  “Hi Miranda, it’s just me, Sapphire.”

  As always, Miranda’s friend spoke in a slow and dreamy way, as if she had all the time in the world to speak a single thought. “I just wanted to check if you were all right. I just woke up from a dream where you were standing over a dead person. Did that happen to you, or should I lay off the late-night burritos?”

  Miranda laughed. “Sapphire, you’re always having weird dreams. But this time, I’ve got to tell you that you were right.”

  Miranda gave Sapphire every detail of what had happened that evening and was vaguely amused at Sapphire’s extremely uncharacteristic silence. Their close friendship was something of a godsend as she didn’t have very many people she could be totally open with about her life.

  “Oh, that’s so sad,” Sapphire finally said when Miranda had finished the tale. “And the poor dog. But he needs a different name. Something more mystical if he can see ghosts. I know, Gypsy!”

  “That would be too confusing for him!” Miranda chuckled. “But, dog names aside, I really do need to help Alice Gill by solving this case. She needs to move on.”

  Sapphire Moon-Flower—real name Jenny Smith—and Miranda had become friends the very minute Miranda moved to Moonlight Bay. Sapphire owned an occult shop on the edge of town, and Miranda had gone in to get herself a new piece of clear quartz crystal. Her old one had soaked up enough ghostly energies that it was murky and hard to work with. Sapphire had told Miranda that she could tell she had psychic abilities, and Miranda had laughed. However, as the two women had talked, Miranda found herself telling Sapphire everything. It was a great relief to have found a friend who was an actual believer.

  “Well, thanks for checking up on me,” Miranda said. “But I’m exhausted. Try dreaming of really buff men instead of me for the rest of the night, okay?”

  “Oh, honey, you know that’s a deal! Sweet dreams, Miranda.”

  Chapter 4

  As they made their way over to the home of the deceased Terence Crenshaw in Miranda’s car the next morning, she could not help but think that there was a little bit more to Moonlight Bay than she had ever realized. Miranda had never come this far north and hadn’t imagined that the Crenshaw family estate would be anywhere near as big as it turned out to be.

  The wrought iron gates at the front of the estate were enormous and beautifully intricate even if the shiny black paintwork seemed to be chipping in places, lending the place an air of crumbling splendor.

  “Humph,” Kyle remarked. “Looks like the place needs a touchup.”

  “It’s still a lovely place,” Miranda said, wistfully.

  She drove slowly, looking at everything all around them. The grounds were sprawling, neatly trimmed and bordered by perfectly spaced shrubs set along the northern cliffs of Moonlight Bay. The vista was a wide-open one, and the sea seemed to stretch out before them for miles, flat and gloriously blue. The crushed stone of the meandering drive made a monotonous sound under her tires.

  There was a silence all around them broken only by the occasional birdcall. That was something that had taken a little getting used to when she moved here from the city; quiet, quiet everywhere. Now, Miranda enjoyed the fact that she lived in a place that was so peaceful and remote that birdsong was a part of everyday life. She could hardly remember ever listening to birdsong when she had lived in the city.

  In fact, everything about Moonlight Bay was so different from the life she had known be
fore. It was such a remote little community, with no obvious industry and no reason for anyone to rush anywhere. Idly, Miranda wondered if there were any other authors living in Moonlight Bay.

  “Okay, if there are any family members here and we do get to speak to anybody, I’m going to need you both to concentrate hard and pay attention for clues,” Miranda said to her ghostly passengers. “I won’t mind if you wander around to listen in on things… as long as you don’t follow anyone into the bathroom.”

  She glared at Kyle in the rearview mirror as she added that last part.

  “Spoilsport,” Kyle grumbled. “So, do we have a hunch of any kind as to who the killer is?”

  “Kyle, making guesses is a real good way to let a killer get away with their crime. We really need to wait until we have a firm motive of some kind before we start playing that game.”

  “I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the inheritance,” Alice insisted. “I think someone might been taking vengeance out on me. It’s the only possible answer.”

  “Ah, but what about the missing kidney?” Once again, Kyle was as subtle as a brick.

  None of them had a good answer for that. Miranda had asked Alice what her blood type was but she either couldn’t remember, or she’d never known it. Miranda supposed she could just ask everyone to show her their back to check for a recent surgery scar…

  “This is kind of a sad-looking place,” Kyle said, changing the subject altogether. “It just looks like it needs a little bit of work done on just about everything. Look at the statues. Even they could do with a good clean.”

  Miranda looked over to a rather beautiful looking angel statue, which seemed to be suffering from a moss problem. Kyle was right, it did look kind of sad. The whole place needed a large dose of TLC.

  “Somebody is coming,” Miranda warned them. She parked the car up close to the main house and stepped out like she belonged here. She’d dressed in a pantsuit and heels, hoping to at least look the part of a woman here on business.