The Guest is a Goner

by Carly Winter

  She stilled for a moment, then ducked down. Her gaze met mine and panic gripped my chest.

  “What is it?” I hissed.

  Ruby placed her finger to her lips, motioning me to be quiet, then stood and walked toward the side of the house. I didn't know whether to stay where I was or find a place to hide. After listening intently, I thought I heard footsteps, but couldn't see anyone or anything except Ruby's ghostly feet standing about fifteen feet away. She tried to move farther toward the house, but our tether held her in place.

  Slowly, I shimmied under my SUV, my breath coming in short spurts when the dirt crackled beneath me sounding louder than a cannon. As I stared up at the underbelly of my vehicle, it seemed to be sinking down on me, the space growing tighter by the second. Beads of sweat dotted my brow while more panic set in.

  Ruby didn't return for what seemed like hours, but in reality, only a minute or two had passed. She hustled over, then dropped to her knees.

  “Move!” she yelled and crawled under the car next to me as I inched over.

  “What's going on?” I hissed. “Why are you hiding? No one can see you!”

  “Shh! Someone's coming!”

  Chapter 17

  The fight or flight response is a funny experience, and definitely not the ha-ha kind. I debated whether to remain hidden, hoping I wasn't a sitting duck, or to roll out from under the car and run into either the house or out into the desert, which could give away my hiding spot. It was as if my mind were being ripped in two, leaving me paralyzed and unable to make a choice.

  I had to think logically.

  Had anyone seen me come out to the car?

  That was the million-dollar question, for which I had no answer.

  If yes, I needed to move. If no, I would be safe. But really, who would be out walking around at midnight in my back lot where the mysterious car had been parked? No one with good intentions, that's who. Someone who needed to protect the car and also wanted me dead since I'd violated their orders to stay away.

  “Who is it?” I whispered.

  “Not sure,” Ruby said, the aroma of pot and lavender engulfing me because she was almost on top of me. “There's definitely footsteps, though. Whether they come into the lot or not remains to be seen.”

  I shut my eyes and listened to my surroundings. After a few moments, I turned to Ruby. “Are you sure someone's coming? I don't hear anything.”

  “Yeah, maybe I was wrong. I thought they'd have made an appearance by now.”

  I glanced again toward the side of the house where she'd thought she'd heard someone coming. Nothing. Maybe I was safe.

  “Let's go back inside,” Ruby said. “This was a bad idea, Bernie. Way too dangerous. I never should have let you talk me into this.”

  I didn't bother to remind her she'd been on board and actually excited about our clandestine operation an hour ago.

  But was I ready to be out in the open? No. In fact, I was terrified to crawl out from under the car and back to my kitchen. Still, I couldn't stay under the car all night, either.

  Or maybe I could. My limbs seemed to be locked up, frozen by fear.

  “I don't know what to do,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes with my hands while pebbles dug into the back of my skull. The smell of tires and oil had incited a headache.

  “Get out of here,” Ruby said, moving out from under the car. “Let's go. The decision has been made. No one is here.”

  I slid out between my vehicle and Mr. Gonzalez's, remaining on my hands and knees for a few moments, sucking in fresh air. I felt safe hidden between the two cars, so I took a moment to gather my wits about me. Thankfully, my headache began to clear and my heartbeat calmed slightly. I didn't dare touch the offending car, but I did briefly consider breaking a window and taking a look inside myself to attempt to find what Ruby had missed—an idea I dismissed pretty quickly. Ruby was right. My plan had been a horrible one, and I wouldn't make any further bad decisions.

  Eyeing the back door to my house, it looked to be a million miles away, but once inside, I intended to crawl under the covers and not emerge for a good twelve hours. Maybe more. The stress had eaten away all my energy.

  Ruby let out a scream that would have peeled paint and I glanced up to find a figure come into view and stand between me and my house. I couldn't make out any features in the night, but by the bulk, it looked to be a man.

  “Run, Rambo!” Ruby yelled. “We've failed our mission. Abort! Abort!”

  I struggled to my feet and took off into the desert with Ruby literally floating behind me at the end of our connection. My chest had constricted from fear, but the adrenaline coursing through my body pushed me on as I jumped over brush and dodged cacti. I'd never been so happy for my dedication to physical fitness.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I didn't see anyone chasing me, but I didn't stop to verify. I sprinted until my legs hurt not only from the exertion, but from the cacti and brush tearing at my leggings.

  “You can stop,” Ruby said from behind me. “He's not coming.”

  I dropped to my knees as my breath sawed in and out.

  “Watch out for scorpions,” Ruby muttered. “That's the last thing you need right now.”

  Tears streamed down my face as I hyperventilated. I kept checking over my shoulder, but I didn't see or hear anything strange.

  “I think you lost him,” Ruby said. “If I were him, I wouldn't have chased you all the way out here, no matter how bad I wanted to kill you.”

  After a few minutes, I rose to my feet. “Did you see who that was?”

  She shook her head. “No. It's like he materialized out of nowhere.”

  “That was strange,” I whispered. “I didn't even hear his footsteps.”

  “Me neither.” She began pacing back and forth as far as our tether would allow. “You want to know who learns to walk silently?”

  “The military?” I replied, shrugging.

  “Also hunters.”

  “Who do we know that is involved in this who is a hunter or in the military?”

  “Well, Jack had that deer head on his wall.”

  Placing my hands on my hips, I stared at the way I'd come. “And Stan had the military medals in that case at the bowling alley.”

  “Dancers also walk quietly,” Ruby mused. “And so do ghosts. You're pretty light on your feet yourself.”

  My legs felt like lead after pounding my way through the desert. “Do you think Thompson is a dancer? He's tall and bulky.”

  “Maybe he's retired,” Ruby said with a shrug. “He fattened himself up a bit.”

  It was a possibility. “How far do you think I ran?”

  “I don't know. At least a mile. We've got a long trek home.”

  “I'm so tired, Ruby.” I rubbed my hands over my jacket. Between my run and fumbling under the car, it had been ripped, along with my leggings.

  “Let's get you home and to bed,” Ruby said.

  “I'm afraid to go back to the house, especially in the dark.”

  “What do you want to do? Sit out here the rest of the night?”

  “I... I'm not sure what to do.”

  Ruby sighed. “Look, Bernie. We can't stay out in the middle of the desert all night. That may be even more dangerous than that guy. What if a psycho javelina finds you? They can be mean and give you a run for your money. Trust me. I've had a psycho javelina chase me, and a colonoscopy is slightly more enjoyable. Then there's the coyotes...”

  Admittingly, I was curious about the story that included the javelina, but more pressing things needed to be dealt with.

  “You're right. I need to head back.” No matter how frightening the thought was, Ruby was right about this being worse.

  We walked home, my ghost humming at my side. I needed to get my mind off my potential attacker, so I decided to focus on the past. “Tell me what happened after you had my mom.”

  I knew my mom, named Janis after Janis Joplin, had gone to live with my great-grandparents, but I didn't know the
details and had never heard Ruby's side. Why not drudge up some family drama to keep my mind occupied?

  “Well, my parents decided that I wasn't a fit mother, and maybe they were right, maybe they weren't. I didn't feel I was given a chance to prove I could be. They just took her. They could do stuff like that back then, especially with me being an unmarried sinner.”

  “And they went to Louisiana?”

  “Yup. I think they just wanted to take her away from me. That was when she was a teen, so we had a bit of a relationship even though they convinced her I was a terrible mother.”

  I tried to imagine being in Ruby's shoes, and my heart ached for her. To have a child ripped away from me would devastate me.

  “I worked hard to keep my relationship with Janis, and we did okay. When you came along, I was so excited to build a bond with you,” she continued. “Thankfully, Janis allowed that by sending you out to live with me for the summers. I think she realized it would do you good. She's so darn uptight, just like my parents, but at least she has the sense to be aware of it.”

  Her description of my mother wasn't wrong. That was where I’d gotten my own idiosyncrasies from—my need for a neat and tidy house, my OCD, and my intense focus on my health. My mom had always worried I'd become heavy and instilled her fears in me. That had resulted in my singlemindedness regarding exercise and making healthy eating choices. I could probably call myself obsessed, and if I was honest with myself, it wasn't healthy in the least bit.

  But Ruby seemed to be changing that for me because I was craving one of those peanut butter and chocolate smoothies, even though I'd just finished one that afternoon. I'd lived in Sedona for three years and I'd never even thought about consuming one.

  “I wish I would have come to visit after I turned eighteen.”

  “Me, too, but don't get too worked up over it. I know you were just trying to live on the straight and narrow path you'd been brought up on.”

  Right again. I did a stint in college, became a yoga instructor and looking back, I wondered where my life would have gone if Ruby hadn't left me her house. Leaving Louisiana had been the best thing for me because I was out on my own and I had to make things work. I had no one to rely on like I did back home.

  When I located the house in the distance, I hunched over and slowly walked the rest of the way, listening for any sound that seemed out of place. Unfortunately, I had never hunted nor had I been in the military, so each step seemed louder than a rocket launcher. I fumbled with my housekey and jammed it in the lock. I then hurried inside, shut the door and flipped the lock. Ruby ghosted through a moment later.

  “That was rude,” she said. “I'm certain your mom raised you not to slam the door in people's faces.”

  “Sorry,” I said with a long exhale. “I wasn't thinking.”

  “That's okay, honey. You've got a lot on your plate right now.”

  Wasn't that the truth. I never imagined I'd find myself embroiled in a murder or seeing the dead.

  “Can you please go check the rest of the house?” I asked. “Just to make sure no one is here?”

  Ruby furrowed her brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought you locked the doors.”

  “I did. But I'd appreciate you doing a quick check. What if that guy broke in? Maybe through a window up front? Or maybe picked the lock?”

  “Ah, gotcha. Yes, ma'am. Be back in a flash.”

  I sat down with my back against the door and waited, closing my eyes and once again listening as hard as I could. The house sounded empty to me—no creaking floorboards, the low hum of televisions, or muffled voices I'd usually hear when I had guests. However, if someone had broken in and was waiting for the opportunity to do me harm, they wouldn't be walking around or watching TV. No, they'd be hidden, waiting for the right time to strike.

  Thankfully, I had my ghost who could look in every nook and cranny for my potential attacker.

  Ruby appeared about ten minutes later, just as I began to wonder if she'd forgotten about me. “No one else is in the house,” she said.

  “Did you check the closets?”

  “Yes.”

  “Under the beds?”

  “Yes.”

  “In every room?”

  “For the love of the Grateful Dead, Bernie, yes! Do you think I'm going to risk someone being in this house and hurting you?”

  “No,” I said, my voice weak. “I just know that sometimes you cut corners with things.”

  “Sometimes, but not with my granddaughter's life. Geez.” We stared at each other a moment and she shook her head. “No one is here.”

  “Okay, good,” I said, standing. “Thanks for doing that and I'm sorry I questioned you.”

  “Of course. But there is one thing you aren't going to like.”

  “What's that?”

  “Elvira left a hairball on your pillow.”

  Chapter 18

  I slept a few hours, but had horrible nightmares, so it was like I didn't rest at all, feeling like I’d run another ten miles. With a groan, I rolled out of bed, more aware than ever that I needed help.

  “Oh, good, you're up,” Ruby said from the rocking chair where my barfy cat lay in the middle of her ghostly form. “Call Adam.”

  With a nod, I reached for my phone, then went to the kitchen to brew some coffee. Thank goodness I'd hung out my closed sign because I simply couldn't deal with new guests. The thought of having to greet others with a smile was simply asking too much. I needed the money, but I had to put my life back in order before opening again. Emotionally, I was a terrified wreck.

  Adam answered on the second ring.

  “Bernie?”

  “I need to meet with you today,” I blurted. “What time works for you?”

  “What about?”

  “The murder. Please, Adam. I need to talk to you about the murder.”

  “Okay, well, why don't you come down to the station and—”

  “No. I'll meet you at the coffee shop.”

  He hesitated so long, I wondered if he'd hung up. “Um, okay.”

  “Half hour,” I said, then ended the call.

  “How are you going to pull yourself together and get over there in a half hour?” Ruby asked as I slugged down some coffee.

  “I'm not pulling myself together,” I grumbled.

  Returning to my bedroom, I pulled on some track pants, sneakers and a sweatshirt. I didn't bother looking in the mirror because I knew what I'd find: matted hair, a scratched-up face, and half-crazed, exhausted eyes.

  “I need you to stay here,” I said, making my way back to the kitchen where Ruby had planted herself on the counter by the sink.

  “Why is that?”

  “I need to concentrate when I talk to him, and you make that very difficult.” I poured more coffee, expecting her to argue. When she didn't, I turned to her.

  “Fine,” she replied, raising her chin and glaring at me just enough for me to know it wasn't. “I'll be here with Elvira.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered. “I appreciate your understanding.”

  “I'll head back to my tunnel for now... where I'm wanted,” she said with a huff, slowly fading away.

  I sighed in relief, thankful she wasn't in the mood to quarrel because I certainly wasn't. I was beyond exhausted and running on nothing but fumes and a little caffeine.

  After sucking down another cup of coffee, I headed out the front door and hurried to Canyon Coffee. I had really wanted to drive, but I wouldn't even walk out my back door until the murder had been solved and that stupid car was off my property.

  I arrived a few minutes before Adam and ordered him one of the strawberry custard treats I'd had last time. My stomach was too upset from the night's happenings to eat, so I took our coffee and his food to a couch and sat down, hoping I didn't fall asleep. The tension in my shoulders began to fade, and I realized I felt much safer out in public than I did at home, which was troublesome.

  “It shouldn't be this way,” I muttered, my
anger flaring. I glanced down at my mood ring and found it red. At least it still worked correctly and hadn't been damaged in my frantic run the previous night.

  I smiled when Adam entered and he took a seat next to me, his blue eyes glittering as he grinned, but then his smile faded. “What's up, Bernie? What happened to you?”

  “I need help,” I said, not bothering with formalities.

  “With what?”

  “I've lied,” I blurted. “I've lied to you from the beginning and I can't do this anymore. Someone is trying to kill me and—”

  “Whoa, hold up. Someone is trying to kill you?”

  “Yes. Last night I—”

  “Bernie, let's start at the beginning, okay?”

  He placed his palm over my fingers. For some reason, the gesture brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't take my gaze from his strong hand. I trusted him. He cared. I felt it in the warmth of his touch, and finally, I was going to unburden myself to someone who could help. He gently squeezed and after a moment, I met his stare. All I needed to do was convince him I wasn't crazy and that Ruby did exist.

  But what if she didn't? What if she was some figment of my imagination brought on by the lightning strike?

  “Tell me what happened,” Adam urged. “It's okay. You're obviously scared, but you don't need to be. I'm here to help.”

  The beginning. Where did that start?

  Probably Louisiana.

  “When I went back to Louisiana for my cousin's wedding, I was hit by lightning.” I left out the part about the Voodoo ceremony. “After I got home, I realized something had changed.”

  “What was that?”

  Here we go. “I have a ghost in my house. It's my dead grandmother, Ruby.”

  Adam stilled and raised an eyebrow. He stared at me a long moment, and his eyes flickered in confusion and indecision. Was I an Ace short of a full deck? I needed to press on.

  “When Mr. Gonzalez was murdered, she told me to lie about it because she was the one who found him. I couldn't say that my dead grandmother's ghost discovered the body and came to tell me about it.”