The Ex Who Hid a Deadly Past

by Sally Berneathy

  But Amanda couldn’t force her body to move.

  “Charley,” she whispered.

  “What?” Grant asked.

  Charley drifted up to her, his glow enhanced by the unnaturally bright moon.

  The moon wasn’t unnaturally bright.

  Just...very bright.

  Halloween bright.

  “I told you this wasn’t a good idea,” Charley said.

  “Go in there and see if Dawson’s okay.”

  “I don’t want to,” Charley said.

  “Okay.” Grant started to dismount.

  Amanda reached back an arm to stop him. “Not you.”

  “Not...me?” Grant asked.

  “Charley.” Amanda’s teeth clenched. Her throat muscles tightened. Her lips compressed. With a great deal of effort, she dredged up the next word. “Please.”

  Charley heaved a deep sigh. “You know I’ll do anything you ask, Amanda, but I don’t like this.” He floated across the parking lot and through the side of the shop.

  “Who’s Charley?” Grant asked.

  With all the recent events, Charley was out of the closet. There was no way to stuff him back in. “Charley was my ex husband.”

  “Does he have an invisibility cloak or something?”

  “Sort of. He’s dead.”

  “Like...a zombie?”

  “A ghost.”

  Charley returned. “His bike’s in there but he’s not.”

  “Grant, Charley says Dawson’s bike is in the shop but he isn’t. Does your phone still show him here?”

  Grant did not question Charley’s surveillance report. He checked his phone. “Yeah. He’s still here. At least, his phone is. Maybe he’s...” Grant gripped Amanda’s arm. “Look,” he whispered. “Your apartment door’s moving.”

  Amanda watched in horror as her apartment door slowly opened. Could Lenny be doing that?

  A dark figure slid out, someone clad all in black. Someone too short to be Lenny or Dawson. The figure turned to lock the door...it had a key to her apartment!...then started down the steps.

  Charley cursed and disappeared.

  “There’s my brother!” Grant whispered.

  “Too short,” Amanda said.

  “No, coming around the corner. See?” He pointed to the side of the shop closest to the bottom of the stairs.

  Dawson appeared from the shadows and moved quietly forward.

  The dark figure stopped half a dozen steps from the bottom. “What...?” The startled voice of a woman carried clearly across the still night air.

  “Give me the key to Amanda’s apartment,” Dawson demanded in a harsh voice she’d never heard him use before.

  The woman slid back her hood. Blond hair shone in the moonlight.

  Amanda cursed.

  “Yeah,” Grant said. “I told you that woman was bad.”

  Jerrilee laughed uneasily. “I can explain. Let’s go inside and talk.” She stepped down and tried to push past him.

  Dawson didn’t budge. “The key.”

  Jerrilee wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up as if to kiss him.

  He tilted his head backward, away from her.

  “We need to help.” Grant twisted to get off the bike.

  Amanda put out her arm. “No. He’s got it.” She wanted to see how this played out, what Jerrilee had been doing in her apartment, how she got the key...and why Dawson had turned on her.

  The sound of a car coming fast shattered the stillness. A flash of blue zipped past them and spun into the parking lot.

  Amanda jerked off her helmet and dismounted from the bike. “Stay here,” she said to Grant. “Things are going to get crazy. Teresa’s here.”

  She dashed across the parking lot as fast as her heavy motorcycle boots allowed her to dash.

  Teresa was already out of her car and heading toward Dawson and Jerrilee.

  Amanda caught up and grabbed her arm. “Wait. Something’s going on between—”

  “Help!” Jerrilee screamed. “He’s hurting me!”

  Dawson had both arms wrapped around Jerrilee who was struggling to get away.

  “What do you mean, you can’t tell them apart?” Teresa demanded. “Lenny, you’re not making any sense.”

  Amanda froze, dropped Teresa’s arm and backed away...straight into a body.

  She spun around. “Grant! I told you to wait on the bike.”

  He shrugged. “You don’t do what people tell you to either.”

  Another car pulled into the parking lot, a black, unmarked sedan.

  Amanda recognized that vehicle.

  “Everybody settle down,” Teresa shouted. “You too, Lenny. I brought the cops. We’re going to get this sorted out.”

  The last person Amanda wanted to see in the middle of this chaos slid out of the driver’s side of the black sedan.

  Jake.

  Damn.

  The passenger door opened and Ross appeared.

  Great. The gang’s all here. The cops, Dawson, his burglar girlfriend who might be Jake’s girlfriend too, Teresa the psychic, a twelve-year-old kid and assorted ghosts.

  Jerrilee broke free from Dawson and ran to Jake. “I’m so glad you’re here! I want to press charges against that man for assaulting me!”

  Dawson ran after her. “She broke into Amanda’s apartment to get the microphone she hid in there. Search her. You’ll find it.”

  Jerrilee wrapped her arms around Jake and buried her face in his chest. “Don’t let him search me! He’s a horrible man!”

  Dawson’s first love affair had officially ended.

  Badly.

  Amanda rushed over to him. She was, after all, his surrogate mother...sort of...his friend, for sure...and he would need comfort.

  She touched his shoulder and he spun to face her. Tormented was the word that came to mind when she saw his face.

  “I’m so sorry, Amanda,” he said. “It’s all my fault. I trusted her. I was so stupid!” He slapped his own head.

  She grabbed his hand. “Stop that! What are you talking about? What’s your fault?”

  His lips compressed to a thin line, and he pointed to the woman clutching Jake. “Her.”

  Jake wasn’t returning the embrace, but he wasn’t pushing her away either.

  “Jake, can we leave now?” Jerrilee’s voice sounded small and scared.

  Amanda wasn’t buying it. “How about you explain what you were doing in my apartment first?”

  “Were you in Amanda’s apartment?” Jake asked. His voice held no emotion. Amanda couldn’t tell if he was shocked by the accusation, if he believed Jerrilee innocent, if he thought Dawson was lying...his tone gave away nothing. He was being a cop. There was a time and place for that. This was not it. She desperately needed to know what he thought.

  From opposite sides of the parking lot, Ross and Teresa moved closer to each other. She wasn’t hanging onto him the way Jerriliee was hanging onto Jake, but it was clear they were together, united. Tonight might test Ross’ acceptance of her gift.

  “This is all a misunderstanding,” Jerrilee said. “Dawson gave me a key and asked me to get something out of Amanda’s apartment.”

  “That’s not true,” Dawson said. “She’s lying.”

  Jerrilee opened her mouth, but Amanda moved closer, invaded her space, and pointed a finger at her. “Shut up, Blondie. I saw you coming out of my apartment. I saw Dawson confront you and ask for my key back. You keep your mouth shut and let Dawson tell his story or I will tear that blond hair out of your scalp by its brown roots and shove it down your throat then staple your collagen-enhanced lips together and pour super glue over them.”

  Jerrilee’s mouth dropped open and she clung more tightly to Jake...who still wasn’t pushing her away.

  Amanda extended a hand behind her. “Dawson.”

  He clasped her hand briefly as he came forward and stood as if at attention. His gaze was straight ahead and seemed to be focused on the catalpa tree where Lenny had died. “J
errilee Armstrong came to Amanda’s motorcycle repair shop on Monday of last week, the day after Amanda left town to go on vacation. She brought in her Honda Shadow for a new paint job. At her instigation, we began a romantic relationship.”

  “Liar!” Jerrilee shrieked.

  “Staples and super glue,” Amanda reminded her. “Continue, Dawson.”

  “Jerrilee visited me at the shop when I was working. I allowed her unrestricted access because I trusted her. Last night someone posted a video to YouTube that used Amanda’s voice and was posted from the URL at the shop. Jerrilee had the opportunity to enter the office in the back and find the password to our WiFi. She could also have easily found the key to Amanda’s apartment, then entered that apartment when I was not on the premises and planted a microphone in the folds of a lamp at Amanda’s bedside in order to record Amanda for that video.”

  “That’s not true!” Jerrilee pushed away from Jake, but he pulled her to him and restrained her. That’s what he was doing...restraining her. Not embracing her. Amanda was certain of that. Ninety percent certain.

  “Staples, super glue, and a welding torch. I have all of those,” Amanda warned.

  Dawson adjusted his glasses. “After Amanda found the microphone this morning, I became suspicious. I searched the office and bathroom but could not find a recorder. Jerrilee and I came to the shop together early yesterday morning, and she spent a long time in the bathroom. She could have retrieved the recorder then.”

  “Dawson, why are you saying these things?” Jerrilee asked. “Why are you doing this to us?”

  Dawson continued to gaze steadfastly at the tree. “I called Jerrilee this afternoon and told her Amanda had hired a professional to search her apartment tomorrow for a recording device or microphone and that Amanda would be gone tonight. I coerced Amanda into coming to my apartment to stay with my brother to get her away. I then returned the microphone to its hiding place, hid around the corner and waited to see if Jerrilee would come to Amanda’s apartment to retrieve the microphone before the mythical professional could find it.” He turned slightly and faced Jerrilee. “She did.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Jerrilee said. “Why would I do something like that?”

  Crickets chirped. A dog barked in the distance.

  “Dawson?” Jerrilee said softly. “You’ve accused me of some terrible things. I’ve never met Amanda. I saw her a couple of times when she came into the station, but that’s it. I don’t know her. I don’t have a reason to do any of that.”

  “I don’t know why you did it,” Dawson said, “but I know I caught you coming out of Amanda’s apartment tonight.”

  Charley appeared beside Amanda. His glow was dim and he seemed shorter, stooped. “I know why.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Amanda frowned at Charley. “You know something about this?”

  “Who are you talking to?” Dawson asked.

  Amanda drew in a deep breath and prepared to continue with the unpopular and so far unsuccessful outing of Charley.

  “It’s Charley,” Teresa said. “Her ex. His spirit. He’s here, and he said he knows why Jerrilee did those things. Go ahead, Charley. Tell us.”

  Jerrilee laughed. It was not a pretty sound. “You’re nuts, lady. Charley’s dead, thanks to you.”

  Charley had admitted he’d once partied in the apartments where Jerrilee lived. He’d discouraged Amanda’s plan to ride by the apartments to check them out. After that, he’d avoided discussing her and disappeared when the subject came up.

  “Yes, Charley,” Amanda said. “Go ahead and tell us what you know about that woman.”

  He lowered his head and mumbled.

  “Speak up,” she demanded. “You always enjoy being the center of attention. Now’s your chance.” She did not look at Jake, did not want to see the expression on his face as he witnessed her interaction with a ghost. “Tell us what you know about Jerrilee.”

  “What’s going on?” Jerrilee asked. “It was weird enough to hear you talk to a dead man on that recording, but this is creepy. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? Jake? Are you going to listen to this?”

  “Did you just admit you made the recording of Amanda talking to Charley in her apartment?” Ross asked.

  “No. That’s not what I said,” Jerrilee protested. “It was on the Internet. Anybody could have listened to it.”

  “If they knew where to find it,” Amanda said. “Go on, Charley. Speak up. We’re waiting.”

  Charley stared down at the surface of the parking lot as if he could find answers there. “Me and Jerrilee, we were together for a while.”

  “You and Jerrilee were together?” Amanda repeated. “As in, dating? Before you met me?”

  “No.” He exhaled the word on the end of a sigh.

  “You and Jerrilee were dating after you met me?”

  “Yes.”

  “After we were married.”

  “Yes.”

  Amanda knew he had not been faithful. That was one of the reasons she’d kicked him out and filed for divorce. One of the reasons she stopped loving him. But it still pinched to hear him admit it in the presence of a woman he had been with. “So you and Jerrilee had an affair while you and I were married. That makes you both despicable people, but it doesn’t explain...” She spread her hands. “It doesn’t explain all this.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jerrilee demanded. “You are seriously nuts.”

  “She got really mad when I wouldn’t leave you. That woman has a bad temper, let me tell you. She tried to call you and she wrote letters to you. I had a terrible time keeping it from you. She said she’d get even.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s what she’s doing.”

  “You’re trying to tell me this woman loved you so much she went to all that trouble to get back at me, the ex-wife of her dead lover?” Amanda asked.

  “Lady,” Jerrilee said, “you sound crazier and crazier with every word out of your mouth. Jake, please take me home. I can’t stand any more of this woman’s lies.”

  Jake cleared his throat. “Amanda, are you having a conversation with your dead husband?”

  “Ex-husband,” Amanda corrected.

  “She is,” Teresa verified. “Charley confessed to having an affair with Jerrilee while he was married to Amanda, and now Jerrilee is torturing Amanda because Charley refused to leave his wife.” She frowned. “Charley, that sounds a little egotistical and far-fetched.”

  “Ross, can you see this...um...this person?” Jake asked.

  Ross shook his head. “No, but I’ve seen enough to believe there’s something going on with this ghost stuff. We need to listen to her.”

  Jerrilee gasped, clutched her chest with both hands, shivered and looked around frantically. “What was that? Who did that?”

  “Good grief, Lenny!” Teresa scolded. “That was rude!”

  Charley laughed. “Go, Lenny!” He spun to face Amanda. “I meant to say, Lenny! Leave her alone!”

  Intense cold suffused Amanda. Her teeth chattered. She recognized that chilliness. It was not from the weather.

  As abruptly as the coldness came, it left.

  “I took care of him.” Charley dusted his hands and looked pleased with himself.

  “Be quiet a minute, Charley, everybody,” Teresa said. “Go on, Lenny. Explain. I’m listening.”

  Amanda strained to hear what Teresa heard though she knew she couldn’t.

  Charley listened then burst into laughter.

  Teresa laughed then brought her expression back to serious. “Lenny just exonerated Amanda of his murder.”

  Jake’s eyebrows rose at least an inch. “Oh? Lenny did? The murdered man? Another dead man? You want to share your visions with the rest of us?”

  Jerrilee gasped again. “That wind is really cold. We need to leave, Jake. Please take me home.”

  “Stop doing that to her,” Teresa said to the air. “She’s not going to get away. I’m going to tell them what happened. Let me do this
my way, okay?” Lenny must have agreed because she clasped Ross’ hand and continued. “Lenny came by my place this evening to get me to come over here when Jerrilee broke into Amanda’s apartment.”

  “I didn’t break in! I have a key!” Jerrilee protested. “Come on, guys. You know me. We’ve worked together for almost a year. These women are crazy, talking to dead men.”

  “When Jerrilee went into Amanda’s apartment using a key,” Teresa said, “Lenny was there. He didn’t know who she was. He’d been waiting for Amanda to come home because he thought she killed him. A woman with long red hair who called herself Amanda hustled him in the bar. You can see why he might come to the conclusion it was our Amanda. It was not. The red hair was a wig.”

  “We found Amanda’s hairs on the victim’s body,” Ross said. “Hairs with her DNA. Not hairs from a wig.”

  Amanda glared at him. “Blabbermouth.”

  Dawson groaned. “That’s my fault too. When she broke into Amanda’s apartment to plant the microphone and find the picture of Amanda and Charley for that video, she had plenty of time to steal hairs from a brush. She could have even found some in the shop.” He looked at Amanda. “You shed a lot.”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  “People normally shed fifty to a hundred hairs a day,” Dawson said. “Because your hair is so thick, you likely shed more.”

  “Fascinating as Amanda’s hair is,” Jake said, “could we get back to your story about the murder, Teresa?”

  “Yes,” Teresa said. “When Jerrilee came into Amanda’s apartment tonight, Lenny was confused. There was something about Jerrilee that was familiar, but she didn’t have red hair and she didn’t look like Amanda. Dawson was hiding downstairs, but neither of them could hear Lenny so he wanted me to come over and ask the woman questions for him. He was confused because Amanda has the hair and the name, but Jerrilee...” Teresa laid her head in her hands and laughed.

  “Jerrilee has the...what?” Jake demanded.

  Teresa lifted her head. “Okay, it’s not funny, but what he did to figure it out...it is kind of funny.” She held up a hand toward Amanda. “Not what he did to you, of course, checking you out and making you cold and all that. But when he dove into Jerrilee’s...” She spread her hands in front of her chest. “He dove into Jerrilee’s bosom and said he’d recognize those implants anywhere. Lenny identified Jerrilee as his murderer.”