by Carly Winter
Shutting my eyes, I rubbed my temples with my forefingers. “Ruby, please...”
“Oh, fine,” she said with a huff. “What else do you want to know?”
“Can you leave?”
Ruby snorted. “Believe me, I've tried. I can't go beyond the house, but I can go into this weird space that has that bright light. It's like a tunnel, except there isn't any traffic. Very peaceful though. I spend some time there when things get too boring around here, which, I'm sad to say, is quite often.”
I ignored the jab.
“And you've been haunting my guests?”
“Well, as much as I'm capable,” Ruby replied. “I'm a terrible ghost.”
At least we agreed on that.
“Why did you turn this house into a B&B?” Ruby asked. “I left it for you so you could have a place of your own that you love.”
I did adore Sedona—the people, the scenery, the weather... I loved everything about it and I had been thrilled to learn Ruby had left her house to me. But what I had discovered upon moving here permanently from Louisiana was that I needed a much bigger income than working at the Sedona dollar store and teaching a few yoga classes in order to keep the house and myself afloat. “I couldn't afford it if I didn't. I needed a way to generate income, and the empty bedroom suites seemed to be the best way.”
Ruby nodded. “Touché. It's a big place, and it's getting old. It's an expensive house.”
While alive, Ruby had supported herself as a psychic. For a while, she’d even had her own hotline for people to call in and she’d quickly reached a low level of celebrity status. People would come from all over the world to get a reading from her, and she had set hours for her phone calls. I never knew how much money she’d made, but based on the house I now lived in, which was paid for, she’d done quite well.
As I stared at my grandmother, emotion overtook my anxiety while memories flooded in from our time together. I'd come every summer from the time I was ten until I turned seventeen. After that, I'd had responsibilities like jobs and I'd wanted to spend time with friends. Ruby had been placed on the backburner, and guilt washed through me that I'd gone over a decade without seeing her, and then she died.
“Why in the world are you crying?” she asked.
“I'm... I'm just so glad to see you,” I whispered. “I'm sorry I was such a horrible granddaughter.”
“Oh, knock It off,” Ruby said, sitting up. “You had your own life and your mother chattering in your ear, and that's okay. Can we get back to the critical questions at hand?”
I wasn't really sure what she meant by the jab at my mom, but I let it slide. We had more important things to discuss. “Like who committed the murder, if there really was one?” I asked, blowing my nose.
“Well, there is that, but I was wondering why you can see me. Why now? I spent months trying to get your attention when you first arrived and finally gave up. And now, you return from some wedding and we're sitting here having a chat. What happened?”
I found it both endearing and unsettling that Ruby was more interested in discovering what had happened to me than the dead guy who had been upstairs.
And frankly, I didn't know why I could suddenly see Ruby, but I had an idea. Only one strange and significant thing had taken place.
“My cousin, Tilly, invited me out to her wedding,” I began. “It was a disaster. An alligator showed up during their vows and someone was murdered. I went to a Voodoo ceremony to help release the spirit of the victim who was trapped on this side.”
“Oh! A Voodoo ceremony! How intriguing! I've never been to one!”
Maybe I could do something like that for Ruby? Release her spirit from this plane to the next? It was a far-fetched idea. This was Sedona. We had our fair share of quirky people, but no Voodoo priestesses I was aware of.
“Yes, it was interesting. I also got hit by lightning.”
Ruby clucked her tongue and sat up. “You get zapped and you can see me. Interesting.”
To put it mildly.
“Hate to say this, but I'm glad you got hit,” Ruby said. “It's nice to be seen, especially by my favorite granddaughter. I'm glad you weren't badly hurt.”
I didn't bother to point out I was her only granddaughter, and I appreciated her situation, but my anxiety still shot through the roof over the dead man.
“Can we get back to Mr. Gonzalez?”
“Sure, honey. What about him?”
I tried to recall if the police had taken anything out of the room, besides the body, and in my panic of being caught in a lie, I couldn't. “Can you go into that room and do an inventory of what you see now, compared to what you found when you discovered him?”
“Sure. I guess so,” Ruby replied with a shrug.
“Okay, great. Can you look for a suicide note? Perhaps some indication that he killed himself?”
I hated that the man had died, but if he'd done himself in, it would be a relief. At least I wouldn't be wondering if I'd had a murderer in my house while I slept.
“Why don't you just go in and poke around yourself?”
“Because the police asked me not to. Besides, they taped up the door. If I break the seal, they'll know I've been in there contaminating their crime scene.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “It's your house. You can do what you want.”
“I'm going to do what they asked me to,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“Fine. I'll go take a look. Do you want me to check in on the Thompsons as well?”
I shook my head. “Let's just concentrate on Mr. Gonzalez for now.”
“They were hoping for a run in with a ghost,” Ruby said, waving her hands above her head again. “You shouldn't disappoint your customers.”
“Mr. Gonzalez for right now,” I said, standing and beginning to pace. “We'll worry about haunting the Thompsons later.”
Ruby slipped through the door while I chewed my nails. The police should have let me know if they’d found a suicide note, but I hoped that maybe it had fallen under the bed or something.
And frankly, I worried that Mr. Gonzalez had been trapped on this plane, like Ruby. I didn't think I could handle living with two ghosts.
After a few moments, she returned.
“What did you find?”
“Nothing exciting,” she replied with a shrug. “Body is gone, but they also took the cup from the smoothie place from the nightstand. I didn't see his little overnight bag he came in with. Honestly, he didn't arrive with much, now that I think about it.”
“Did you search in the closet? Check the dresser drawers?”
“Can't do that, honey,” Ruby said. “I'm dead, remember? I can't move inanimate objects. If I could, this whole haunting gig would be a lot more fun.”
I nodded, supposing she was right. Frankly, if my stuff had started floating around the house, I would have put it up for sale in a heartbeat.
“You should check his car, though,” Ruby said.
Of course I should. It never occurred to me to question how he'd arrived at my doorstep, and apparently, the police hadn't considered it either.
“Where is it?” I asked.
“Out back. That black beater that should have been taken to scrap years ago.”
I rushed over to my bed and stood on it, then opened the blinds to the window above it. A little black Honda that had definitely seen better days had been parked in the lot behind the house, right next to my SUV. I never would have paid any attention to it. People parked back there all the time—tourists as well as locals who couldn't find any other parking on the roads. It was a busy lot, especially since there weren't any fees to use it.
“We don't have keys,” I mumbled. “I don't know how to break in.”
Ruby joined me on top of the bed, and we both stared out the window. “That's something that should be taught in high school along with changing a tire and how to swap out a lightbulb and balance a checkbook.”
“No one below the age of forty
has a checkbook any longer, Ruby. It's all done online.”
“And that's the problem. People swipe the card and don't realize how much they're spending. The state of people your age is pathetic. So much debt, not enough joy, and too much anxiety medicine.”
I couldn't argue. At thirty-five, I ticked off a lot of those boxes, as did everyone I knew. At least I tried to manage my anxiety through healthy eating and yoga, which seemed to be failing me today in an epic fashion.
“Go take a gander,” Ruby whispered. “There may be something in there that tells us whether he was murdered or committed suicide.”
“Like what?”
“I don't know! Go look!”
After stepping off the bed, I slipped on my sneakers and hurried outside.
The dirt lot that sat behind my house wasn't surrounded by much except a couple other houses to my left and some desert and mountains to my right. As I strode to the vehicle, I couldn't squash the feeling someone was watching me, which was ridiculous.
I glanced in through the car window, then back at the doorway where Ruby stood, looking so forlorn I almost felt sorry for her. As someone who tended to be a homebody, I didn't fully appreciate her need to be out and about. But if I turned it around and thought of myself as never being home, well, then I completely understood.
My phone rang and I about jumped out of my skin. I didn't answer when I didn't recognize the number. It quickly rang again.
“Hello?”
“Stay away from the car,” a mechanical voice said. “Step away from it.”
My heart leapt into my throat as I slowly turned in a circle. Someone was watching me. I looked over at the houses and squinted to see inside the windows facing me. Unfortunately, the sun reflected off them perfectly and I couldn't make out anyone.
“Listen very carefully,” the voice said. “You don't go near the car. You don't tell the police about this phone call. If you don't do as I tell you, you'll end up just like José Gonzalez, except your death won't be as pleasant.”
Chapter 6
Oh. My. Goodness.
I stared at my screen, unable to move. My breath came in short spurts while my hands began to tremble.
“What's wrong?”
Glancing up, I found Ruby standing in front of me. I could see straight through her to the open back door. But wait, she couldn't leave the house. This only added to my confusion and I once again questioned my own sanity. I'd done that too many times for one day.
“What... what are you doing?” I asked, looking around again.
“I saw you were upset, so I came to find out what was wrong,” Ruby replied, her brow pinched in worry.
“But you said you couldn't leave the house.”
“Apparently, I can. It must be something to do with you. You can see me, and maybe with you I can... we’re somehow tied together? It doesn't matter. You're so pale, you look like you've seen another ghost. What was the call about, Bernie?”
I glanced around again and headed for the house. Whoever watched me would notice me talking to myself, and I didn't need them thinking I was crazy on top of scared. Crazy, frightened people did desperate things, and I wanted to assure them that I wasn't one of those. That I didn't need to meet the same fate as José Gonzalez.
Huh. Didn't know his name was José.
I shut the door behind us and leaned up against the panel, closing my eyes for a moment. Ruby stood directly in front of me, staring at me expectantly.
“They told me to stay away from the car and not to tell the police about the call,” I said. “If I didn't, I'd meet the same fate as Mr. Gonzalez, whose first name is José.”
“Interesting,” Ruby replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “So someone was watching you.”
I nodded.
“What's in that car?” Ruby muttered as she began to pace the kitchen.
“We need to go to the police,” I said. “I should call Sheriff Walker right now and tell him—”
“Absolutely not,” Ruby said, shaking her head. “They're spying on you. Whatever this mess is, we can be certain of that.”
“We also discovered Mr. Gonzalez was murdered.”
“You're right. We've found ourselves right in the middle of a big, rotten, smelly pickle.”
Footsteps sounded upstairs, and I decided I needed to return to my bedroom to continue my conversation with Ruby there. If my guests overheard me, they'd think I was nuts, which very well could be true, but they didn't need to know that. “Come on,” I whispered, motioning for my ghost to follow me. We slipped into my bedroom and I gently shut the door. Hopefully, the Thompsons would be on their way soon and I'd be free to move about the house and talk to her without worry.
She lounged on my bed once again, this time staring up at the ceiling. Elvira came out from under the mattress and settled on the pillows next to Ruby. I was beginning to think my cat liked my ghost better than me.
“So, what do we do?” I asked. “Pretend nothing ever happened?”
“Of course not,” she said, shaking her head.
“I should go to the police.”
“Oh, heck no. You heard the threat. They're watching you, Bernie. They'll know the second you do.”
“Then what's my plan?” I asked as tears welled in my eyes. Plopping down in my rocking chair, I realized that my life was in danger and I had turned to a ghost that may or may not exist to help me figure out what to do about it.
“First off, go get yourself a glass of wine,” Ruby said. “Your anxiety is like a palpable force in this room. You’re making me anxious.”
“It's three o'clock in the afternoon.”
“Just go grab a bottle. It's five o'clock somewhere.”
I listened with my ear against the door before exiting my room. After slipping into the kitchen, I could hear the Thompsons still upstairs. I poured myself a glass, took a sip, then grabbed the bottle and headed back to Ruby.
She eyed me as I sat down in my rocking chair and drank my wine. “I wish I wasn't dead,” she said with a sigh. “I sure miss tequila shots.”
A giggle escaped me as the wine seeped through my brain. She had been right—I actually did feel a little bit better.
“Now that you're acting like a human again, let's figure this out,” Ruby said, sitting up. “There's obviously something in that car that no one wants you to see.”
“Agreed.”
“In fact, they'd be happy to kill you if you do find it.”
My stomach flipped, so I drank more wine. “Yes.”
“I'm thinking it's drugs.”
Taking another sip from my glass, I furrowed my brow. “Why in the world would you think that?”
“Well, there are a few reasons. First, people die all the time over drugs. Happens in every city, every day.”
“Okay, but this is Sedona. We aren't in New York or Los Angeles.”
“For all you know, you've stumbled on the biggest drug ring Arizona has ever seen.”
Sedona was located off the highway that cut through the state to the north, which broke off to the east and the west.
“Besides, it's a pretty drive. I bet even drug dealers like nice scenery,” Ruby continued. “Once they get to Flagstaff, they have the option of heading toward California or driving over to New Mexico. My guess is old José came in through Tucson and stopped here for the night.”
“And someone killed him. But why?”
“Who knows?” Ruby said. “Like I mentioned before, maybe you've got yourself tied up with a big drug organization. They kill for any reason. I used to watch documentaries on the Mexican cartels. Those are some really bad people.”
“What do I do now, then?” I asked, once again near tears. The talk of cartels scared the heck out of me. I'd seen the same documentaries showcasing the horrors they were capable of.
“You need to find out who murdered José,” Ruby said with a shrug. “You need to pop the lid off this case and solve it.”
I had to be going crazy. Th
ere was no other option for my mental state and the things this possible figment of my imagination was saying to me. And the fact I was answering her. “How exactly do I go about doing that?”
“You got me there.” Ruby stretched out on the bed again. “I've never had to investigate a killing before, but let me tell you, I'm here for this one. It's about time something exciting happened around here.”
I turned and stared out the window, trying to come up with a plan. If I could find the murderer, I would be safe. If I phoned the police, the caller had made it very clear I'd meet my demise.
“Was it a man or woman who phoned?” Ruby asked.
“Beats me,” I replied. “It was a mechanical voice. Like a robot or something.”
“Okay, well, we know it could be either a man or a woman. We're off to a good start on solving the murder.”
I knew she was trying to be funny, but it did nothing to lighten the heaviness in my chest.
With a sigh, I had no idea what to do next but drink more wine. We sat in silence for a long while, then a thought hit me like a... well, like a proverbial lightning strike. I'd already been through the real thing, and this was a bit different.
“I'm calling my cousin, Tilly,” I said as I grabbed my phone off the dresser and scrolled through my address book. “She's actually solved a couple of murders in her hometown in California. I bet she'll know what to do.”
Ruby stared at me as the phone rang, and I was going to set it to speaker, but I heard the Thompsons downstairs. Dang it. Leave!
“Bernie!” Tilly answered. “How are you? Where are you?”
“I'm back at home,” I said, trying to keep my voice quiet.
“What's wrong?” she asked. “Are you feeling okay?”
It was now or never. I had to confide in someone and tell them what was happening to me. Tilly and I had been close growing up, and I trusted her. I'd had a great time at her wedding until I'd been hit by lightning. In my gut, I knew I'd made the right phone call.
After taking a deep breath, I blurted, “I feel fine but something weird is happening.”