The Ex Who Hid a Deadly Past

by Sally Berneathy

  “I don’t have any potted plants.”

  “No, but you’ve got a rusty serrated knife and a garbage disposal, and you said you were going to—”

  “I get it,” Teresa said. “Amanda makes a lot of threats but doesn’t follow through.”

  While that summation wasn’t flattering, Amanda thought it best not to declare she could follow through on her threats if she chose to do so. “We’re getting off topic. Teresa, you said he accused me of killing him. What were his exact words?”

  Teresa thought for a moment. “When he realized I could see him, he started shouting about how Amanda, that red-headed...uh...woman who owns the motorcycle shop killed him. He said you...she...threatened him a few weeks ago but apologized over drinks Monday night. Then Sunday night you lured him to this parking lot with the promise of sex and shot him.”

  “He said a red-headed woman who called herself Amanda killed him, but he didn’t know I was me, right?”

  “Yeah, because you were wearing that disguise. He didn’t recognize you.”

  “Because I’m not the woman running around here, wearing a red wig, fooling people into thinking she’s me, and killing people.”

  Teresa’s eyes widened. “People? More than one? Who else? How do you know that?”

  “It was just an expression. Lenny’s the only one. That we know of. You still don’t believe me, do you?”

  “Of course I believe you. But you must admit, things look bad with your hairs found on the dead man, and the dead man saying you killed him.”

  “Yeah, when my best friend and my ex-husband believe I’m guilty of murder, things look very bad.” They felt very bad too. Amanda couldn’t decide if she was more hurt or more angry. She elected to go with angry. She rose. “It’s late. I think both of you should leave now.”

  Teresa frowned. “Leave? No, we’re trying to help.”

  “If you keep helping me like this, I’ll wind up in prison.”

  Teresa stood. “I’ll talk to Lenny again. See if I can find out more about this woman who’s pretending to be you.”

  “Thanks. I guess it counts that you’re willing to try to help, even if you think I’m a murderer.”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “I know. Look, it’s too late to go back to the bar to talk to Lenny now. We’re both tired. Let’s get a good night’s sleep and think about this tomorrow.”

  “I can’t sleep,” Charley said.

  “You could pretend,” Amanda said.

  At the door, Teresa turned and hugged Amanda. “I love you even if you’re a murderer.”

  “Thanks. I think.”

  Teresa grinned. “I’m teasing.” She stepped outside but spun around and came immediately back inside, slammed the door and stood against it, blocking it with her body. “Lenny’s out there, walking around under the tree where he died. I think he saw me up here.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I’ll get rid of him.” Charley disappeared through the door.

  Amanda looked at Teresa. “Can he do that? Get rid of someone? Another ghost, I mean?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Can Lenny hurt Charley?” She wanted him gone, had often fantasized about hurting him herself, but didn’t want Lenny to have that privilege.

  “I don’t think so.”

  I don’t know. I don’t think so. Not what Amanda wanted to hear.

  “We have to watch.” Amanda yanked open the door and stepped outside into the frigid darkness.

  In the parking lot below Charley stood beneath the catalpa tree, gesturing wildly. “Get away from here! You’re on Amanda’s property! You don’t have any right to be here!”

  Teresa moved up beside her. “All they’re doing is yelling at each other. Oh, Lenny tried to punch Charley.” She laughed. “I guess he’s not used to being a spirit yet.”

  Charley punched the air in front of him.

  Amanda laughed. “Guess Charley’s not used to it either. When he hits a living person, it feels really cold. I wonder if Charley felt that cold when Lenny hit him.”

  “We can ask him when he comes back.”

  “I guess it’s kind of sweet that he’s trying to make Lenny go away, trying to help me.”

  “Yeah,” Teresa said. “That’s a good sign. Maybe he’s going to advance into the light.”

  “Why is he pointing at me?”

  Teresa dropped her head and sighed. “He’s pointing you out to Lenny. So much for advancing.”

  “He’s coming this way. Is Lenny with him?”

  “Yes.” She lifted her hands in a gesture of frustration. “Charley! What the hell?”

  Charley swept up to the landing and stood beside her. “He thinks Amanda killed him. She needs to tell him she didn’t.”

  “What makes you think he’ll believe me if he didn’t believe you?” Amanda had a feeling she knew the answer.

  Charley looked away.

  “You didn’t tell him, did you? Lenny, did he tell you I didn’t kill you?”

  Long seconds of chilly silence dragged by.

  “What did he say, Teresa?” Amanda asked.

  “Charley did not tell him you are innocent.” Teresa turned to Charley. “Why didn’t you tell him Amanda didn’t kill him?” she demanded.

  Charley lifted his hands in an imploring gesture. “I...” He closed his mouth. Or his mouth closed on his words. “Well, I...”

  “It’s the truth,” Amanda said. “But you believe it’s a lie, so you couldn’t say the words.”

  “Amanda, I’m trying to help,” he said.

  “Be quiet a minute. Teresa, that explains it. Charley couldn’t tell Lenny I’m innocent because he doesn’t believe it. Lenny says I killed him because he believes I did. It’s not about absolute truth. It’s what they believe is true.”

  Teresa nodded slowly. “You may be onto something. Truth is in the eye of the beholder. This could be deep. Philosophical.”

  “We don’t have time for that right now. Lenny believes I killed him, but I didn’t. We have to find out the truth. Not Lenny’s truth and not Charley’s truth. The absolute truth.”

  “Right,” Teresa agreed. “We will.”

  The night loomed cold and quiet. No dogs barking. No night birds singing. Only a silent void while neither Amanda nor Teresa verbalized the big question. How?

  If nobody said the word, it wouldn’t loom so large, wouldn’t make the task seem so impossible.

  “How you going to do that?” Charley asked. “We’ve been to the bar twice, talked to people. What else do you think we can do?”

  Leave it to Charley to bring up the question to which Amanda had no answer.

  “Teresa, thank you for coming over and trying to help.”

  “I could spend the night, be sure Lenny doesn’t do anything.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but it isn’t necessary. Lenny can’t hurt me.” I hope. “Go home, get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  “All right.” She scowled over Amanda’s shoulder. “Lenny, you need to leave. If you don’t, I’ll report you to the International Police Department of Spirits. Amanda did not kill you so you have no right to be here.”

  Teresa had no problem telling lies. Amanda was fairly certain she’d lied about the International Police Department of Spirits. Did she believe she was lying when she said Amanda did not kill him?

  Teresa gave her a quick hug. “Call me if you have any problems.”

  Amanda nodded. “Okay.”

  Teresa went down to her car and drove away.

  “Charley, thank you for talking to Lenny. Please go away now. Lenny...is he still here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Lenny, get off my property. You are a trespasser.” She stopped herself before she finished the familiar phrase...Trespassers will be shot. Too late for that warning.

  She was mentally and physically exhausted. She wanted to sleep, to get away from all this turmoil. As tired as she was, a dozen ghosts would not be able to ke
ep her awake.

  ***

  Amanda burst from deep slumber into frigid cold and the sound of Charley cursing.

  She sat up, clutching the covers closer. “Damn it, Charley! Shut up and get off me!”

  “I’m trying to save you from him! He’s beating you! Lenny, get away from her!”

  Amanda shivered. Cold. Twice as much cold as Charley could generate.

  Two sources of cold.

  “It’s Lenny? He’s touching me? I think I’m going to vomit!” She slid out of bed, away from the iciness. From Charley and from the icy presence she could feel but not see.

  “Lenny...” She looked around. “Where is he, Charley?”

  “Right here.” Charley stood to one side, indicating the space directly in front of Amanda. “Shut up! You can’t talk to my wife that way!”

  Charley was defending her. He thought she’d killed Lenny, but he was defending her.

  Amanda stretched to her full height in her red flannel nightshirt. She was no longer tired. She was angry...angry that her best friend, her ex-husband, and maybe her lover believed her capable of murder. Angry that she couldn’t get rid of her ex-husband even in death. Angry that she now had another ghost in her home, another entity who believed she was a murderer. “Lenny, do you remember the time I threatened to smash your head in with a hammer?”

  “He’s laughing,” Charley said. “He says you can’t do that to him now.”

  “Maybe I can’t hit you with a hammer anymore, Lenny, but if you don’t get out of my bedroom...out of my home...immediately, I will suck you into my industrial strength vacuum cleaner bag then soak that bag in gasoline and set it on fire. Want to find out if a ghost can burn? Want to know how it feels to be trapped in a bag of fire?”

  Charley stepped back. “He’s getting really mad, Amanda.”

  “So am I!” She jabbed a finger into the air in the hope she was aiming somewhere near Lenny’s chest. “You think I don’t know what to do to get rid of a ghost? I’ve been living with this one for six months! He talks to me about everything.” She leaned closer. “I know your weak spots. I know how to hurt you. Do you know what happens to a spirit when a fan blows you into an electrical outlet?” She fisted her hands on her hips. “I did not kill you the first time, but if you don’t leave and stay gone, I will do it this time.”

  She strode across the room to her closet, opened the door, and pulled out her large, antiquated vacuum cleaner.

  “He says it’s just a vacuum cleaner,” Charley said, “but he sounds like he’s not sure.”

  Amanda plugged the cord into the wall socket. “It started out in life as a vacuum cleaner, but Dawson...you remember Dawson, don’t you, Lenny? My assistant? The computer geek? He modified this for me in case I ever wanted to get rid of Charley.” She turned on the vacuum. The elderly motor roared loudly. “Goodbye, Lenny!” She lifted the hose and pointed it past Charley.

  Charley ran toward the window, waving his arms.

  Was Charley trying to escape or was he chasing Lenny?

  She turned off the vacuum.

  “And don’t come back!” Charley shouted through the closed window.

  “Is he gone?”

  Charley turned around. “That was great, Amanda. I can’t believe you scared him off with a dumb old vacuum cleaner.”

  Amanda lifted the hose and put her thumb on the switch. “Are you sure it’s just a dumb old vacuum cleaner? You want to test it?”

  “Um, no. It’s one o’clock in the morning. You should probably get some sleep.”

  “Yeah, I should.” Amanda returned the vacuum cleaner to the closet and went back to bed.

  The sheets were icy. That happened when two ghosts merged on the scene.

  She lay in bed, eyes firmly closed, adrenaline still surging, and ordered herself to relax.

  She was rid of Lenny...at least for the moment...but there was something she needed to do, something that wouldn’t let her sleep until she did it.

  She opened her eyes.

  Charley stood looking out the window the way he’d been doing that morning.

  She tried to speak but the words caught in her throat. She closed her mouth. Was this the way Charley felt when he tried to lie?

  But she wasn’t trying to lie. She was trying to say something she needed to say but didn’t want to say, something that was true.

  “Charley.”

  He turned to face her. “He’s not coming back. I’ve been watching.”

  “Thank you.” She forced the words up from her diaphragm, out through her mouth. “Thank you for standing up for me and for watching out for me.”

  Damn! That might be the hardest thing she’d ever said.

  Charley beamed. Literally. His faint glow became luminescent.

  She would like to add, But I still want you to go away, and I’m still mad at you because you don’t believe I’m innocent of killing Lenny.

  She didn’t. She closed her eyes and was able to sleep.

  ***

  The next morning Amanda’s problems seemed less insurmountable. If she’d been able to scare a ghost with empty threats and an old vacuum cleaner, she could find some way to prove her innocence.

  “Happy Halloween,” Dawson greeted when she entered the shop.

  Halloween. A time for ghosts, goblins, masks, costumes, and eerie occurrences. Perhaps this was the official day, but it had been Halloween in Amanda’s world all week.

  She was immersed in the simple task of winterizing a Suzuki when Jake called.

  “Good morning.”

  “Your video on YouTube is very interesting,” he said.

  “What video? I haven’t put anything on YouTube.”

  From behind her came the screech of Dawson drilling something metallic.

  From the phone came silence.

  “Jake?”

  “I’m on my way over. Don’t say anything to anybody until I get there.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Amanda held her cell phone at arm’s length and stared at it. It looked the same as always...a plastic rectangle with a slight crack across the top right corner of the screen. The cracked screen was fading to dark since her call with Jake had ended. No indication at all that it had conveyed an impossible message.

  She had never posted anything on YouTube. She had no idea how to post anything on YouTube.

  Her evil twin was at work again.

  Was it possible she really did have a twin? Somebody who looked like her but had a murderous nature, big boobs, and the ability to post things on the Internet? That would explain how the hairs with her DNA got on Lenny’s body. Her twin would have nearly-identical DNA. Maybe her twin had been stolen at birth by a psychotic woman who’d lost her own baby and wanted a replacement. The woman raised the child in a cave in the middle of the desert so nobody would know she’d stolen her. After getting a boob job, the twin had tracked down Amanda and wanted to get revenge on her for having a better life.

  Might make a good book, but highly unlikely in real life.

  No more unlikely than an imposter using Amanda’s name and wearing a red wig.

  And posting stuff on YouTube in her name.

  What kind of stuff?

  She’d find out when Jake got there, but it would be nice to know beforehand.

  Dawson could find anything on the Internet.

  But did she want Dawson to know? He was already worried about her relationship with Jake. Did she want to get him further involved in her crazy life?

  She’d have to tell him some time. If she went to prison for murder, he’d notice when nobody signed his paycheck.

  “What’s wrong, Amanda?”

  Amanda brought her focus from inside her head to Charley who stood in front of her. Across the room Dawson was still drilling, the noise loud enough he wouldn’t be able to hear her. Nevertheless, she whispered her reply. “Nothing. Why do you think something’s wrong?”

  “You’ve been staring at that phone for five minutes. If you t
hink you’re watching a movie or reading a book, you’re not. That’s your home screen.”

  Amanda stood, took one step in Dawson’s direction, then changed her mind and left the building. She was not ready to involve him in this insanity.

  Charley followed. “I don’t mind coming out here, but aren’t you cold?”

  The sun shone, giving a false impression of warmth.

  “I’m not going to stand out here long. Jake’s on his way.”

  “Is he bringing handcuffs? Going to take you in?”

  Amanda walked a few steps from the building in a vain attempt to get away from Charley. “Something else has happened.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. Something posted on YouTube.”

  “Something? Pictures?”

  “I don’t know! Something. That’s all I know.”

  “Pictures. What else would you post? Nude pictures.” Charley moved directly in front of her and scowled. “I never see you nude anymore. Did you take pictures with that damned detective and post them on the Internet?”

  “No!” They had taken pictures...pictures of the beach and the ocean, of each other running in the surf, selfies of the two of them laughing in the sunshine. Could that be what this was about? A video of pictures from their vacation?

  But there had been no nude pictures, nothing that would be offensive.

  Two people having fun.

  Their relationship was not a secret. Jake had told his co-workers they were going on vacation together.

  Would there be a problem if pictures of the two of them appeared on the Internet?

  If Dawson was right about Jake having relationships with other women, could one of those women have seen the pictures and become upset?

  “Don’t lie to me, Amanda,” Charley said. “I may be able to find whatever is out there on YouTube. You know I can do things with computers.”

  “Yeah, like blow them up. There’s Jake’s car. Go away, please.”

  Legs stiff with dread, she walked out to meet the dark sedan as it pulled into her parking lot. She didn’t want to hear what Jake had to say, but she needed to.