Empty Promises and Crowded Caskets

by Ana Bisset

  I turned on everything so we could walk room by room looking for any clues as to why Diego may have been there. Considering he was working for Mr. Romano and the big guy wanted to buy the newspaper with the carriage house lock, stock, and barrel, there had to be something here that would point me to what they were looking for and maybe even why he was killed. The thought gave me a chill proving yet again that I was more afraid of people than ghosts. So, before leaving the room, I put on the alarm system.

  Walking over to the central office, I clicked on the lights as I went. I looked up the stairs to the apartment above, but I didn’t feel the need to go up. I had seen that Grammie had put a lot of stuff up there to store, but I thought what I was looking for had more to do with the business of The Cove Post which was located on this lower level. I thought it best to begin where I had seen Diego.

  The dusty file cabinet that Diego’s ghost had tried to get into was empty. It was kind of a letdown since he had seemed so focused on getting something out of it the day I came home from Boston. But, there was nothing in any of the drawers. I took a rag out of the cleaning closet in the hall and wiped each drawer out on the inside, starting from the top down looking for any key or something. When I got to the bottom drawer, it wouldn’t pull all the way out. It was as if something was stuck under the drawer!

  I lifted the drawer up to see if I could see anything under it, but it was too dark. So I pulled it as far out as it would go, I put my arm in and down the back to see if I could feel something there. I pulled out a thin square box about the size of a sandwich. I opened it and found an audio tape. It was marked in my grandfather’s handwriting with a date. I closed the box and thought I could use the player that was in his old office.

  I began to move the cabinet back against the wall where it had been initially before Diego had pounded on it. It went back most of the way, except it stuck out about an inch or so further than cabinets to its left and right. So, I pulled it all the way out to get a look behind it and BINGO! There was a book standing behind the cabinet, leaning against the wall. I had to pull the cabinet out to the point where I could walk behind it to get the book. After I got out and pushed the file cabinet back, I took a look at myself. I had turned into a dust bunny and was sure my grandmother was not going to let me back in the house in this state. I am going to have to sneak past her. The next time I search over here, I should bring a change of clothing.

  The book, however, was not dusty. Or at least not as dirty as it should have been if it had been there for any length of time. It was a Disney’s Pinocchio book. It had some sketching and film cells on some pages. It looked to be professional bound, but more personal than something you would find in a bookstore. If this was what Diego was after, why was it here in the first place. How could it have gotten behind the cabinets?

  I was beginning to think that the carriage house was being used more often than Grammie realized and by people we did not know. It is out of the way, you can’t hear anything from the house, so it was possible. I think I might hook up a webcam, just to be on the safe side now that I am home. It might be interesting to see just who shows up.

  I went into my grandfather’s office and searched his desk for the audio player. Then I heard the door which was odd because I had engaged the alarm. I ran to the hallway, past the door and staircase, to see if someone had somehow shut off the alarm - or if I was dealing with another ghost - when someone grabbed me from behind, covered my face with a cloth. I got dizzy, then everything went black.

  It was like hearing someone call you from the other side of a tunnel. “Libby!” Kyle said. My face felt wet as I opened my eyes and sucked in clean air. I put my arms up in defense, but then Kyle said again, “Libby! It’s me. Are you okay?” I began to realized what must have happened and why I was lying on the ground in the carriage house.

  “Someone was here, it was a man. He was tall. I must have fainted,” I could still remember that he towered over me when he knocked me out.

  “Are you dizzy? Do you have a headache?” Kyle asked. I nodded. “He probably used chloroform,” he said.

  Kyle helped me stand and suggested we go over to the house when I remembered the tape and the book.

  “Oh no!” I went to my grandfather’s office and noted that both the tape and recorder were gone. The book was still there. Kyle, who had followed me, said, “I’m not sure you should be walking around just after getting up off the ground when someone has knocked you out. Tell me what is wrong.”

  “I had found an audio tape under a drawer in the file cabinet that Diego was pounding on the day I came home. I put it here and then heard someone. They must have taken it when I was unconscious, but why?”

  “Let me get this straight.” He stepped out of the office and pointed to the file cabinet in question. “Diego’s ghost was pounding on that file cabinet, so you decided to check it out before I was here to help,” Kyle said.

  I grabbed the book and followed him out of the office, rubbing my forehead right above my eyes. “Yes, sort of. I came over to turn on the electricity and maybe a little heat so we could look around the entire place without freezing. Then, I saw the cabinet, so started looking. I found this book, too.”

  He put on one of his gloves and took the book. “I dropped my evidence kit back where you were on the floor. Can you get that for me?”

  “Since you asked nicely,” I said.

  When I got back from the other room, it was to a curious sight. Kyle was standing there with the book in one hand, looking over to the massive carriage house doors that slide away and lead to the archives, or what once was the large stables where all the horses were kept. I heard a knock, different from the one on the file cabinet, but similar enough to know it was from the same person. Diego stood at the doorway, trying to get it open.

  “What kind of pounding did your ghost make?” Kyle asked.

  “He’s not my ghost, but yeah, that is the pounding. He is here and doing that,” I said.

  Kyle looked at me and saw that I was staring right where he had been watching. “What does he want?” he said coolly as he got out an evidence bag and bagged the book. He took a sharpie and wrote ‘fingerprint’ on it.

  Diego Esposito stood there in front of the carriage house stable doors staring directly at me as if his eyes could bore holes into my face. His arms crossed, and I got the distinct impression that people did not make this man wait in life. He smirked and then sidestepped, bowing and offering me the door as if he were a butler showing me the way into the parlor. I walked past him, grabbed the door handle, turned it, and walked in.

  Looking over my shoulder at Kyle, “He wants us to go in here,” I said.

  There are times in my life when I need to verbally remind myself that I am okay. That spirits are no longer of this world, they are not capable of hurting me or the people in my life. These are the assurances, I am whispering to myself as I walk into what once was the stables. Things had changed since the last time I saw this ghost, one of them was the circumstances around his death. While I still don’t know how it happened, I do know that someone is responsible for it and that someone could be close.

  There had not been much done to this part of the structure over the years, except the floor was cemented, and the barn type doors that lead outside were turned into insulated walls. Currently, the first printing press my grandfather used was housed in here along with all the stacks of newspapers he had printed, filed by year.

  I hurried to follow Diego, with Kyle close behind me, wondering where this goose chase was going to end. Turning on the light gave me that answer along with a few more questions. There, two steps down and five feet ahead from where I stood was evidence of a recent shooting and Diego’s ghost staring at me with his arms crossed as if to say, “So, what are you going to do about this?”

  “Looks like we know where the murder happened and why your ghost is hanging out here,” Kyle said.

  I looked away holding my forehead as if it was going to fal
l off. I had hit my limit for the day. For that matter, I had hit my limit for the year. When I looked, Diego was nowhere to be found.

  “He’s not my ghost,” I said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I sat in what had been my grandfather’s old office with the door open waiting for someone to tell me what I needed to do next. The entire Black Ridge Cove police department was there along with the state forensics team. It seemed to me that the state was getting quicker to respond to instances in our small town. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

  I hadn’t seen Diego since he led Kyle and me to the crime scene. I wasn’t surprised at this, he had conveyed all I think he wanted me to know. Whoever had shot him had chosen to do it here, the building that holds my favorite childhood memories. I knew I was going to have to work hard at not allowing these events to form a callous over the safe and good feelings I have when I am here as bad things can do. I do not have many places where I can feel safe, certainly not enough to spare for whatever is going on here.

  “How are you holding up?” Kyle walked into the office asking.

  “Better since I took medicine for my headache,” I said, “Do you know how much longer they are going to be?”

  “Not much longer, they’ve begun packing things up,” he said.

  “So, it happened here. Do you have any idea when the time of death was? I hate to think Grammie was at the house when this was happening,” I said.

  “They are leaning towards the night before or early morning hours of the day of the service, but there are a few more tests that need to come back to pinpoint a time. I’m going to need to talk to your grandmother.”

  “I think she may have left to visit Mae when you came back earlier. She’ll be back soon. I’m surprised she didn’t invite the ladies over here to watch us investigate through the kitchen window.” I let out a quiet chuckle. Then, I thought back to the day of the service, which was the same day I had come home. Grammie had been here that day and the night before. She had some workmen she hired bring things over from my brother’s old room and store it upstairs. Someone else could have gotten hurt.

  “You are going to want to talk to the guys at Dubois Carpentry. I’m not sure if they saw anything or not, but Grammie had them move some stuff from the house into storage upstairs the day I came home,” I said.

  “So you are staying in the house with your grandmother, not out here?” he asked.

  “That’s right, I’m using the second floor. Grammie has moved down to the main floor of the house. She is starting to have issues with going up and down stairs so she is avoiding them if she can,” I said.

  I heard Grammie coming in, “You’ll need to move aside quickly young man if you plan on still wearing that badge tomorrow,” they heard her say.

  I looked at Kyle, “You might want to help your deputy.”

  He laughed, “Still a tough old girl.” But as she came around the corner, he stood up a little straighter.

  “I wouldn’t have to be tough if you would teach those in your employ basic manners,” she said to him as she walked into the office. “Wait here while I check to see if it is okay for you to go in, Ms. Foster. Pfft,” she sat in front of the desk in a chair my grandfather had placed there especially for her, "As if! My own home…”

  I noted that the chair wasn’t dusty like most of the office. There was a stack of newspapers to the side of it that had looked recently rifled through. I wondered how often she came out here to just sit with her memories of my Grandfather. Did she imagine him here? Would she ever ask me if I’ve seen him? I haven’t. I don’t know what that means any more than I understand any part of my gift.

  “Grammie, they have to do their jobs,” I said, knowing it wouldn’t make the least bit of a difference.

  “Speaking of their jobs, do you mind telling me what is going on here?” Grammie asked. “I come home from an outing with the ladies thinking the two of you are safe and sound looking for whatever clues and I come back to the entire state police department in my driveway. If I had known they were coming, I would have had Coriveau plow it open on both sides of the house so they could have more room to park.”

  “I have to say it was a surprise all around, Mrs. Foster. Seems Mr. Esposito was murdered back in the old stables. I’m wondering if you might have noticed anything out of the ordinary the day of or the night before John Smith’s memorial service?” Kyle asked.

  “I’m not sure. I don’t think so,” she said, looking almost flustered. “I know I went to bed early that night as I was fighting a head cold. I took some of that medicine that helps you sleep.”

  “There may have been nothing much for her to hear. If they had coming in a back way, right into the old stables area, then used a silencer, there would have been no noise,” I said to Kyle.

  “What about the alarm? I’ve been making sure it is on,” Grammie asked.

  “Someone cut the wires. You should think about putting a new system in since that one was so easily bypassed,” Kyle said, making notes in his book.

  “I had thought about web-cams, but I’ll check with a security company too,” I said. “If that is all you need, Grammie and I are going to go back in the house and call it a day.”

  He nodded. “We should be finished here soon. I’ll lock it up for you on my way out.”

  “Stop in before you go home Sheriff and I’ll give you a bowl of my chowder to take with you,” Grammie said.

  “I sure will, Mrs. Foster. Thank you,” he said and winked at me. I laughed, took my grandmother’s arm and walked back to our house. Even though I knew every cop in the area was here, I still could not get over the feeling we were being watched. I said as much to Grammie.

  “Those are just nerves, and I don’t blame you after the day you have had. I don’t think you have to worry anymore, my dear. Things have a way of working themselves out. Now that this mess is getting cleared up, you can get on with the next step in your future,” she said.

  She made sense. Except I hadn’t gotten a chance to tell her about the day I had, so how did she know? Grammie intuition or something else? Whatever it was, I was too tired to worry about it now.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  I woke the next morning feeling a million times better than I had when I went to sleep. I was glad I had not taken Grammie up on her offer of taking a mild sleeping pill. I felt refreshed and ready for a new day, instead of the groggy feeling one can get from those little tablets.

  I checked my phone and saw I had two messages waiting for me. One from my source and the other from Nikki. I opened Nikki’s first.

  Hey girlfriend, I got us mani-pedi appointments at Sassy’s this morning at 9:30. Mel and I will pick you up at 9:15?

  I checked the time and realized I only had half of an hour before they would be here. I texted back that I would be ready and jumped out of bed. I looked around my current bedroom and realized I needed to get organized soon. There were clothes still in bags and suitcases, hanging over the backs of chairs, and the hamper was full. No matter what happens this morning, I am going to spend my afternoon setting up my space.

  I grabbed a pair of clean jeans and a sweater out of a suitcase, brushed my hair and put it up in a scarf, then put on warm socks - I don’t own any other kind. I brush my teeth and do other necessary bathroom chores. I pick up my phone on the way out of my room to get coffee and remember the second message from my source.

  Good to hear from you, Chickie. Bianca is Romano’s little princess, she can do no wrong. Her husband is smart, calculating, and in charge of the family’s finances. There have been rumors that they are living beyond their means. But, it would be bold to be taking money off the top while you're living with the boss. People are watching them. I have no idea why they would want the paper. I’ll ask around.

  Thanks for the heads up. Found out Diego was murdered on my family’s property. This is getting a little too close.

  Yeah, that’s too close. Be careful and stay safe.

&nbs
p; Okay, I had just enough time to make toast and have a cup of coffee before the girls got here. I ran down the steps and into the kitchen where Grammie already made me breakfast.

  “You have to have a full stomach if you are heading out for a morning of beauty treatments. Let Sassy do a facial for you when your nails are drying,” Grammie said.

  “How did you know? I just found out myself,” I asked, picking up a forkful of melt-in-your-mouth scrambled eggs and eating it.

  “Sassy call this morning wondering why I didn’t tell her you were back for good. I told her I hadn’t gotten the chance since my next appointment is on Saturday and I haven’t seen her. Always one that needed to know all the gossips, right away. Wait until she figures out I didn’t tell her about that man getting himself killed in the carriage house.” She shook her head. “What is this world coming to?”