“Thanks for the suggestion boss,” Gideon said with a smile.
“She’s right,” Abel said, backing Josie up.
“I know she is,” Gideon replied. “She’s barely ever wrong.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Josie winked before heading towards the dining room so Gideon and Abel could interview the Paranormalists, or what was left of them.
Chapter Seven
“How do you know he didn’t just fall?” Abel asked the Paranormalists after they finished recounting how his death was staged exactly how Nathaniel Charleston’s was. Avery still hadn’t spoken much, the shock seemed to drain her completely. Cody and Sam were able to go over what they knew in at least some detail, but it was scattered at best. Josie knew from experience how loss can scramble the brain and make you lose entire memories.
“We heard him arguing, yelling at someone beforehand,” Cody explained.
“You didn’t mention that before,” Gideon commented. They were being delicate, but none of the four were free from suspicion. Most likely one of them was guilty – it made the most sense.
“I didn’t think of it,” Cody said, sounding confused. “This whole night has gone by so quickly and I can’t believe that any of it has actually happened.”
“None of it feels real,” Sam agreed. “This is a nightmare. Tomorrow we're going to wake up and everything will go back to normal.”
“I’m sorry, but it won’t,” Gideon said kindly. “What were they arguing about?”
“I only heard yelling and then Simon yelled ‘No!’ and then he screamed,” Cody let out a long breath. “Then there was the thud.”
“You couldn’t make out the voices?” Abel asked.
“No, it was a man he was arguing with though,” Sam added. “I heard them too, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.”
“This house must have thick walls,” Josie added. She hadn’t heard the arguing though it would have taken place not far from where she, Cookie and Verny were sleeping. “We didn’t hear a thing.”
“So you were in one of the bedrooms upstairs, heard the argument, and didn’t think to see what was wrong?”
“Simon likes to go solo for a bit on every excursion we do,” Sam explained. “He even did it way back when it was just the two of us. He talks to the ghosts, tries to get them to respond. He tries to help them pass over, for lack of a better term. That’s what all this is about for him. When we heard the other voice respond we thought we might have finally gotten a response. We’ve been at this for years, and nothing. We didn’t want to ruin a real opportunity to get proof and to help someone who might be stuck here.” Josie had assumed that their investigations were nothing more than a hobby, just something fun for them to do. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that they genuinely believed in what they were doing.
“Okay,” Abel replied, sharing a skeptical look with Gideon. Josie hoped it was subtle enough that none of the Paranormalists noticed. “But once you heard Simon yell and then a struggle you ran to him?”
“Once we heard the thud, we ran to the stairs, but it was already too late,” Cody said. “We didn’t realize what was going on until it was over.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Gideon said. “I understand that this has been difficult, and I appreciate your cooperation with us.”
“We’re going to need you to stick around until we sort all this out,” Abel added. He seemed to have fallen into the trope of bad cop and Gideon good cop. Looking at them you’d expect the opposite. Gideon was an older man, well into his sixties with a gruff look about him and a permanently furrowed brow. Abel had a much softer look with a rounder face and was in his mid-thirties.
“We’ll stick around,” Cody assured him. Cookie was still comforting both Avery and Sam. Verny had left as soon as it seemed appropriate, she needed to get back to Cici and make sure that she was okay. The death of Simon seemed to have hit her hard from the few moments they had spent with her. She'd followed their blog since it was only Simon and Sam and clearly felt like she knew them personally – to her they were friends.
“We can give you a ride home,” Abel offered. “If you’re not feeling up for it,” he added, making sure it was clear it was only a suggestion and not an accusation that they might flee or try to leave.
“I think we can manage,” Cody said. He stood and pulled both Sam and Avery from their chairs.
“If a spirit didn’t do this,” Avery spoke for the first time after being silent. “Then find who did.” Her eyes flashed with fury for a moment while she spoke.
“We will,” Gideon assured her. She nodded to him once before heading out with Cody and Sam.
“I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side,” Josie said with a low whistle after she left. “God help whoever killed Simon, they’ll have to face the wrath of Avery.”
“She certainly seemed to be off the ghost as the murderer by the end there,” Gideon said with a nod. “Who else was here tonight? Just want to make sure we got everyone in the first round of interviews.”
“Me, Cookie, Verny, and Cici, of course,” Josie started, thinking through the group at the dining room table for dinner.
“Lightning, there were a few high school students, the family with the boy,” Cookie jumped in adding her own count. “Plus the four Paranormalists.”
“That’s all we had too,” Abel nodded double checking his own list written in his small notebook.
“That wasn’t everyone though,” Josie said her brow furrowed. “There was the tour guide, Griselda, but she before after we ate. Not that that means she couldn’t have come back. There was another person though.”
“We have her name, but since she wasn’t actually here, we're going to wait on questioning her. We’ll also question the owners at some point. There was someone else though?” Abel asked. She shook her head trying to remember the name of the lurch-like man who was the caretaker. Hadn’t Griselda said he lived on the premises?
“The caretaker,” Cookie said, snapping her fingers. “He lives in a guest unit out back!”
“Do you remember what his name is?” Gideon asked. His relaxed demeanor was suddenly gone and replaced with hyper-vigilance. He was all business again. This unaccounted-for man could very well be the murderer.
“It was something really old-timey and strange,” Cookie said pressing her palm to her forehead as though the pressure would make her remember.
“His name was Nigel,” Josie said with certainty. “That was it.” Gideon flew from the room at a speed that didn’t seem possible for someone as old as him.
Cookie looked impressed. “I didn't know the old boy could move that fast.”
“Did you lot interview anyone by the name of Nigel?” Gideon barked at the officers in the grand entrance. Josie, had began to feel a little relaxed since Gideon arrived was once again tense. She wished Cookie had let her stay home and watch Buttercup.
“No,” one officer answered. Another shook his head and shrugged.
“Nope,” said a third.
“Well, you better go find him,” Gideon boomed. “He’s the caretaker, got a place out back apparently,” he added a little calmer, but the authority in his voice made the officers move quickly.
The grand entrance seemed to have transformed in the time they were in the interview. Simon was gone, only a red pool on the floor gave away where he had been. The family with the boy, the high school students, and the Paranormalists were all gone. Cici, Verny and Lightning sat in the living room off the entryway. A couple crime scene investigators were taking photos and swabbing door handles with q-tips. It was nothing compared to the chaos of earlier. Like the opposite of the calm before the storm – an even eerier calm after the storm.
“Can we get out of here?” Verny asked. Cici was leaning against her fast asleep, her face red with irritation from the crying she had done. Exhaustion had settled over all of them now. You’d think you could never sleep again after something like that, but it seems that all the
body wants to do is curl up and sleep for days on end.
“You need rides home?” Abel offered. Gideon was off with the other cops looking for Nigel. Chances are the man had simply slept through the entire ordeal being a good distance from the main house. The lot size was enormous – he might not have heard a thing. Abel felt that the four officers and Gideon were more than capable of handling it. He didn’t want to leave the shocked group of people to fend for themselves either.
“No, we can manage,” Verny said. At the same time Cookie and Josie said, “Yes.”
“I don’t want to pile into your little car again,” Cookie admitted.
“Plus, you should get Cici home,” Josie added. Verny pursed her lips but nodded in agreement. She was a little sensitive about the fact that no one seemed to like her car. She couldn’t argue with the fact that she needed to get Cici home though. The girl was devastated and would need to rest for a while.
“Josie, I can take you home, you’re on my way,” Lightning offered. Josie smiled and nodded, grateful for the offer. She was exhausted and wanted to get home as soon as possible.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll take Cookie home,” Abel said with a nod. Cookie nodded and blushed subtly – though it could be blamed on the warm temperature in the room. Josie and Verny shared a look and a knowing smile, they had a theory about Cookie and Abel that was proving to be correct.
“THOSE SEEM IN POOR taste,” Verny said with a scowl at Cookie’s tray of ghost cake pops.
“I know, but I made them before we went on the tour. They were supposed to be in celebration of getting through the night,” Cookie sighed frustrated. She wished she could redecorate them, so they were a little less insensitive, but the icing had already hardened by the time she got home that morning.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t close today,” Josie said unlocking the door for them. “We just can’t afford it.” They had all gotten maybe three hours of sleep if they were lucky. Josie had pushed opening back to closer to lunch to give them a little more time to sleep. It was close to morning by the time they got home after last night’s terrible events.
“Did they catch him?” Verny asked. “Nigel, I mean,” she added as they hung their coats on the coat rack by the door. Buttercup strode in after them like she owned the place and stood by the back-office door waiting to be let in.
“Do you think he did it?” Cookie asked.
“Why would he?” Josie retorted. “They found him asleep in his apartment. He hadn’t known anything happened.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Verny snorted. “What motive does he need? You both saw him. Gave me the creeps.”
“I can’t say I didn’t find him unsettling too,” Cookie agreed.
“He looked like Lurch from The Addams Family,” Josie said nodding. “That doesn’t mean he did it though. Gideon doesn’t seem to think so.”
“Are they questioning him?” Cookie asked. Josie seemed to have a tap in the police department that came from growing up there with her father and then after her father died. After that Gideon took care of her as if she was his own. He kept her informed of just about everything that was going on, even if he shouldn't.
“They already did,” Josie responded.
“And they just let him go?” Verny asked, horrified.
“Being creepy looking is not a crime, nor does it make you a murderer,” Josie shrugged. She let Buttercup into the back office. It had basically become the dog’s room, since she rarely needed it anyway. She tended to run back there, grab her paperwork and do it in the dining room. She preferred to do her work around other people and since Verny and Cookie were just about always there it was more fun to do it with them around than by herself. Though it might have gone faster if she did it by herself.
“I hear they added a new law that says being creepy makes you a murderer automatically,” Cookie said with a twitch of her lip.
“It’s not just that he looks creepy,” Verny argued. “He’s so clearly guilty!” She said defiantly.
“Aside from being creepy, what makes him guilty?” Josie asked with a hand on her hip. Verny was far too quick to judge people based on nothing aside from her own prejudices.
“He’s the only person who was there who wasn’t around after the murder. His alibi is that he slept through the whole thing? I don’t buy it,” Verny shook her head. She was furiously wiping down the tables as though they were the ones arguing with her.
“That’s literally everyone’s alibi,” Cookie reminded her. “Everyone was asleep, you included missy, except for Avery, Sam and Cody.”
“So, by your reasoning, everyone is a suspect,” Josie said. “Even us!”
“Don’t be silly,” Verny sighed. “If one of the Paranormalists wasn’t responsible, mark my words it’ll be Nigel.”
“You think it was one of them?” Cookie asked. She was too nice for the thought to have even crossed her mind. Josie was a little more suspicious of people and had entertained the thought already. Most of the time people were killed by someone they knew.
“Duh!” Verny said rolling her eyes. Cookie’s innocence could bother her sometimes, but it balanced out her own cynicism well.
“They did blame their friend’s death on a ghost,” Josie said with a grimace. “Not to mention they were awake and heard the argument but did nothing about it.”
“They really believe in ghosts,” Cookie said earnestly. “I know it’s hard for us to imagine or believe, but they seemed sincere.”
“If they do sincerely believe that their friend was arguing with and then killed by a ghost then they are all verifiably insane,” Verny said unforgivingly.
“They might be a bit odd, but I wouldn’t call them insane.” Cookie flipped the sign to open while Josie prepped ingredients for the day. Verny helped her with the chopping. It was important to Josie that everything be made to order and prepped with the freshest ingredients possible.
“Those poor kids were in shock, that’s all,” Josie defended them. “I bet they didn’t even know what they were saying last night, their friend had just died.” The door chimed as Lightning walked in. He looked worse than they did, like he hadn’t even gotten the luxury of a couple hours of sleep.
“Coffee,” he ordered without his normal pleasantries. Being retired, Lightning spent most of his time at the diner. The rest was spent at the library and the historical society.
“Good morning to you too,” Josie said with a smile. The old man grunted in response, clearly not ready to converse. She put the coffee pot on, thinking a cup might be nice herself. Looking at how tired Lightning seemed made her feel even more tired. It wasn’t until there were coffee mugs in everyone’s hands that conversation became an option.
“Those are a little morbid,” Lightning said gesturing with his mug to the ghost cake pops. Cookie went red with embarrassment.
“I know,” she said. “I should just put them in the back. It’s totally inappropriate to have them out, given the circumstances.”
“No, don’t do that,” Lightning disagreed. “They look delicious.” He stood slowly, leaning on his cane to take a few of the cake pops. The lack of sleep clearly made him exhausted in every way. He leaned on the cane as though it was the only thing keeping him from falling down. “Taste good too,” he said through a full mouth.
“They were supposed to be fun too,” Cookie said shaking her head. “Delicious yes, but funny, no.”
“If you have a sick sense of humor, they might be funny,” Verny replied. She chuckled a little bit but stopped as soon as Josie and Cookie both gave her judgmental looks. The door chimed again, this time Cici was the exhausted person sliding through the entrance. “What are you doing here, sweetheart?” Verny asked.
“Thanks for not making me go to school,” she said hugging her mom.
“Of course,” Verny said. “You were meant to stay home and rest though.”
“I figured everyone would be here,” Cici shrugged. “Didn’t want to be left alone.”<
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“Understandable,” Cookie said rubbing her shoulder to comfort her. “Did you get any sleep?” She asked.
“Not much,” Cici admitted. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
“None of us got much, either,” Josie agreed.
“I watched some of their old videos,” Cici said. “I can’t say that I’m surprised that Simon is the one who was killed.”
“What do you mean?” Verny asked.
“He’s always been a jerk to the rest of them,” Cici said with a shrug. “He was definitely the least favorite of the fans. You should read some of the comments, they’re awful. He might be a jerk, but no one deserves those kinds of things said to them.”
“The internet is an unforgiving place, that’s for sure,” Josie said as she fixed Cici a mocha latte.
“How did the blog even start?” Lightning asked curiously. “Such a ridiculous concept can’t be that popular.”
“There are hundreds of paranormal investigator blogs – there are even television series about it!” Cici exclaimed, surprised that it seemed like such a foreign concept to him.
“Really?” Lightning asked.
“They’re a popular genre,” Verny agreed. “Like horror, but almost documentary style.”
“And completely fake,” Lightning scoffed.
“Maybe,” Cici agreed. “Entertaining none the less,” she said shaking her head.
“So you don’t believe in all that stuff then?” Lightning asked. Verny looked interested in the answer. She hoped that her daughter was more realistic than that but hadn’t asked her for fear of her response.
“Not really,” Cici shrugged. “It’s interesting to think about, but I don’t think they're going to stumble upon ghosts that will respond to them or anything like that. It’s mostly just entertaining to watch. The Paranormalists are some of the most entertaining, they write really in-depth blog posts to go with every video they put out. They’ve got millions of hits.”
Haunted Homicide Page 6