Haunted Homicide

by Constance Barker

  “Don’t people who are that popular have it as a full-time job?” Cookie asked. “Like Instabook models and things.”

  “Instagram,” Verny corrected her smugly.

  “They started almost a decade ago, I think they were one of the first,” Cici said. “I’m sure they’re popular enough for it to be their full-time job, but they say they want to keep it a hobby. When they started it was just Simon and Sam. They were best friends since they were kids.”

  “Really?” Josie asked bringing the latte to Cici.

  “Thank you,” she said smelling the coffee beverage like it was a life line. “Yeah, known each other forever. When they first started, everyone thought that they were together, like dating. They never were though. That became obvious when Cody joined them, and then a couple years after that Avery was included into the group. It took a while for fans to accept all the new people, but after a while they did. Cody became everyone’s favorite and was constantly comparing the two of them. I can’t imagine they liked each other very much – Simon and Cody, I mean. I think they just put up with one another.”

  “Do you think it was Cody then?” Verny asked, she stopped talking as quickly as she could as the door chimed a third time and what was left of the Paranormalists walked in.

  Chapter Eight

  Cookie unceremoniously ran and pushed the cake pops behind the counter so that, hopefully, they would escape the Paranormalists notice. She had only left them out so they could munch on them, not expecting the Paranormalists themselves to come in.

  “How are you?” She asked, regretting the question as soon as she asked it. “I mean, never mind.” Cici went quiet with their arrival, either out of sadness for their loss or she still felt a little star struck around the Paranormalists.

  “As good as can be expected,” Cody said with a shrug. He, Avery and Sam all had deep circles around their eyes.

  “Coffee’s all around?” Josie asked, already starting another pot.

  “Yes, thanks,” Sam said sitting down.

  “We didn’t think you would be around today,” Verny said, sounding a bit accusatory though she meant to be nice.

  “We only booked our hotel until today, we thought we'd be heading home,” Cody explained. “Obviously, we can’t do that, but the hotel is apparently all booked up and they can’t extend our stay. They made us check out.”

  “People these days,” Josie said with a scowl. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you stay.”

  “We understand,” Sam said. “There wasn’t really anything they could do without letting down other people who already booked their rooms. It seems like we're going to have to stay here for a while longer.”

  “Until they figure it out,” Avery said, the same fire in her voice as they had seen the night before.

  “We didn’t really know where else to go,” Cody shrugged. “Do you have any suggestions for where we can stay?” This was Verny’s area of expertise. She had spent years working as a sort of concierge for the tourist industry in town. If there was a business in town that Verny hadn’t heard of and didn’t know nearly everything about, no one had found it yet.

  “I would say The Patriot Inn is your best bet,” Verny said. “They aren’t too expensive, they’ve got big rooms – you could all stay in one if need be. They are also hardly ever full this time of year.” She spoke with such assurance that the idea you could question her wouldn’t even cross your mind.

  “Thank you,” Sam said. “I’ll make a call to them and see if we can book a room.” She stood and walked to the courtyard looking up the number for the inn.

  “You have all been so nice to us,” Cody said. “Thank you.”

  “They let that caretaker go,” she said. Simultaneously she sounded small and meek, but something in her eyes glowered with anger that betrayed her small voice.

  “They don’t think he was guilty,” Josie said. “His alibi checked out and he has no motive.” She tried to sound gentle, though she doubted it came across like that.

  “Of course he’s innocent,” Avery said. “It was Nathaniel Charleston, I’m sure of it.” Verny and Lightning exchanged a look that said just how much they believed that story. They were polite enough not to harshly voice those opinions though.

  “You really believe that’s what happened?” Verny asked.

  “They’ve got a room for us and I explained the situation to them. They said we can stay as long as we have to and can check out whenever,” Sam said coming back inside with a smile. Her smile faded when she realized what direction the conversation had gone in.

  “I do,” Avery said. “I’m certain that a vengeful spirit killed Simon.”

  “How are you so sure?” Lightning asked. Josie shot him a look to stop, but he ignored it. No good could come from upsetting the poor girl. If this was how she was coping with the death of her boyfriend, then it wasn’t hurting anyone.

  “He was on his solo excursion, he’s made contact with the other side before. We heard him speaking to Nathaniel, asking him why he was still here and trying to help him to the other side. All Simon wanted to do was bring people peace after their death. Some spirits are vengeful, especially the ones who have been murdered violently and before their time. The longer a spirit sticks around, the more detached from humanity it becomes. Nathaniel had no humanity left in him and he killed my Simon because of it,” Avery spoke with so much passion that it was hard not to believe what she was saying.

  “What do you want the detectives to figure out then?” Verny asked.

  “They need to see the truth,” Avery replied as if it was obvious. “We aren’t crazy or wasting our lives. What we are doing matters, it matters so much that my boyfriend died for it!” Her companions looked concerned for her, as if they weren’t sure they believed their own story anymore. “I’m going to bring them proof if I have to. Simon’s spirit must be there, as well as Nathaniel’s. I’ll get proof and show them all.”

  “We can’t go back, you know that,” Sam said to Avery. She spoke softly as though she was talking to someone on the verge of a complete breakdown. “It’s completely blocked off and a crime scene. If they have Simon’s camera, then they have all the proof they need.”

  “He was filming?” Josie asked. Gideon hadn’t mentioned that they found a camera, and he had basically been emailing her non-stop about the case. After they helped to solve the last murder, he trusted her, Verny and Cookie with assisting on cases as kind of civilian consultants. She was sure that he would have mentioned it.

  “Simon doesn’t stop filming when we are on an excursion. He’s got a go-pro, a camera that you can strap to your chest and he leaves it recording almost the whole time. We’ve always got hours of footage to sift through,” Sam explained.

  “He’s pretty intense about getting footage,” Cody said. Josie wondered if she imagined the contention in his voice, or if she only noticed it because Cici mentioned that they didn’t get along very well.

  “Footage won’t be enough,” Avery argued. “We’ve had footage that proves the existence of ghosts before and no one believed it.”

  “Whatever is on that footage will bring the detectives to a conclusion,” Cody said delicately. It was clear that they weren’t going to disagree with her theory, but they didn’t believe it themselves. They would never admit it in front of her though.

  “I’m going to head back home,” Cici said suddenly. “Thanks for the coffee,” she added before grabbing her coat and racing out the door.

  “What’s she in a hurry about?” Verny asked no one. The mysteries of her daughter seemed to get more and more vast every day.

  “We should probably get going too,” Sam said. “The inn said check-in was before three and it’s nearly two thirty.”

  “Let’s go then,” Cody agreed looking at his watch. Avery stood and walked out without a goodbye or even a look at her companions. She was no fool, and she could tell that they no longer believed what she was saying was true. They followed her out
quickly, waving and nodding their goodbyes.

  “Cici might be right in saying that Simon wasn’t the favorite or particularly agreeable, but I’d bet that he kept that group together. They’re falling apart without him,” Josie observed.

  “Can’t be easy when they’ve split into couples and one of the couples is no more,” Verny agreed. “That Avery seems to be pulling apart at the seams.”

  “She’s just devastated that her boyfriend has been killed,” Cookie said with a sigh. “I doubt I would take it any better than she has.”

  “She’s a nutter is what she is,” Lightning said. “Crazy as crazy can be. Lost her marbles she has.” He shook his head.

  “I’m sure she is just grieving, like Cookie said,” Josie jumped in. Lightning was too quick to condemn her. “In a couple days or a few week's time she will come to her senses. At least once they figure out who really did it, she won’t be able to blame a ghost .”

  “She might not accept who the killer is even if there is proof,” Verny said.

  “Probably go even nuttier when they find out it was that Cody who did it,” Lightning said with confidence.

  “Why do you think that?” Josie asked. “I hope it wasn’t any of them,” she added, even though it was more than likely.

  “Cici seemed to be on that train too,” Verny said nodding. “Did you notice when he talked about Simon and the footage? Sounded annoyed with him even though he’s dead.”

  “I hate to admit it, but it did seem like he was annoyed with him,” Cookie agreed. “He seemed annoyed with him the entire time we were at the house and even when we were at the diner together beforehand.”

  “Just because Simon annoyed him doesn’t mean he killed him,” Josie said. “If that was enough motive, we’d have all killed each other more than once.”

  “True,” Verny said with a nod.

  “Very,” Cookie agreed giving Verny a look.

  “Did Gideon tell you anything about the camera?” Verny asked.

  “If the boy filmed the entire murder, then he must have filmed who killed him,” Lightning said. “Then all this craziness could end.” He sounded tired, but it was more than just a lack of sleep. This was the second murder their small town had seen in less than a year. Before their town had seen nothing worse than a couple drunks and car accidents...a murder or two years ago. The senseless violence was taking a toll on everyone in the town.

  “He hasn’t mentioned it to me at all,” Josie said. “I think he would have, but who knows?”

  “He definitely would have told you about something that big,” Cookie said.

  “So either Simon wasn’t filming for some reason,” Verny mused. “Or, someone knew he was filming and took the camera.”

  “A ghost couldn’t have done that,” Lightning said.

  “Definitely not,” Josie agreed.

  THE DAY WENT BY RELATIVELY uneventfully. The news had gotten a hold of the story, but no names had been released to the press, so it was still quiet at The Lucky Dill. Josie didn’t mind the boom in business that would take place if their names had been released, but she was grateful that they hadn’t. It would've been nosy parkers and people looking to be a part of the gossip, which she hated.

  They were closed and finishing cleaning up when Cici and Mike, her boyfriend, knocked on the door.

  “What are you doing here?” Verny asked. “Where did you go when you ran out of here like that?”

  “Sorry, mom,” Cici said sitting down at the table. She didn’t sound sorry at all. She set up her laptop on the table and Mike sat down next to her. “I’ve been doing research.”

  “Research about what?” Josie asked her.

  “The Paranormalists,” Cici replied.

  “We went through their blog and video archive,” Mike added. “Tried to figure out who killed Simon and why.”

  “This is real life,” Verny warned both of them. “Not a movie...a man is dead which means there is someone dangerous out there who killed him. I want you to be careful.”

  “Mom, I’m not a kid, I know that this is real. That’s why I’m trying to figure it out,” Cici responded. She pulled up the blog, which made spooky music and screams blast from her speaker.

  “What is that?” Josie shouted, covering her ears. It wasn’t that loud, but it was loud enough to startle her.

  “They have music that auto plays,” Cici said turning the sound off on her laptop. “It’s a little annoying.”

  “A little?” Josie said, taking her hands off her ears. “That’s awful.”

  “It’s a little terrible,” Mike agreed.

  “We found a few things that might be interesting,” Cici said.

  “Are we still thinking it was Cody?” Verny asked pointedly. Josie sighed, still hoping that it wasn’t. “What? We’re all thinking it.”

  “I’m not,” Josie said defiantly.

  “Yes, you are,” Cookie said. “You just don’t want to admit it.” Josie was about to protest but Cici started talking before she could.

  “You know how I said that Sam and Simon started the blog together? Everyone thought that they were dating, right?”

  “Yeah, we remember,” Verny nodded.

  “Well, Mike and I watched some of their old videos,” Cici continued. “There were a few moments where it looked like Simon definitely wanted more, but Sam wasn’t interested in him that way.”

  “What makes you say that?” Josie asked.

  “He made a few jokes about them being together, as if he wanted to be, but every time Sam looked really uncomfortable about it,” Cici said.

  “Plus, there were a couple moments when he puts his arm around her, and she immediately shakes it off. Little things like that. They were subtle, but since we were looking for anything out of the ordinary, we found it,” Mike added.

  “See,” Cici said playing a short clip of a video where Sam shrugged out of Simon’s arms. “He’s into her, she’s not into him.”

  “So you think it was Sam?” Josie asked.

  “Simon wouldn’t stop hitting on her, so she killed him?” Cookie asked. Cici shook her head no.

  “No, he was with Avery,” Verny said.

  “She wouldn’t have done anything to him. She still cared about Simon, he was her best friend. There was a bit of tension when she first started seeing Cody, it took a while for things to adjust. They didn’t find their stride again until he met Avery,” Cici continued.

  “So, who do you think did it, then?’ Cookie asked impatiently.

  “Patience,” Cici said. “The tension eased, but it was always still there, mostly between Cody and Simon. I don’t know if Cody knew that Simon was interested in Sam and that was the reason for it,”

  “Or if maybe Cody wanted more of a say in the blog,” Mike continued for her.

  “But there was tension,” Cici finished.

  “So it was Cody,” Verny said. “We already knew that.”

  “It was clearly hard for them to work together. They barely have any shots together, not much interaction at all. When they do interact, it’s awkward and stilted,” Mike said. “It might be nothing, but it certainly seems like there’s motive there.”

  “Cody seems like such a nice kid, I don’t think he’s capable of murder,” Josie said with a sigh. “The only one of those four that I would think capable was Simon. He was unfriendly and awkward.”

  “As nice as Cody is and as unfriendly as Simon seemed, we don't really know any of them,” Cici reminded them.

  “You’re not wrong,” Verny agreed, proud her daughter's wisdom. She was also glad her daughter was pragmatic of the Paranormalists even though she seemed like such a fan not long ago.

  “Millions of followers,” Josie said thinking back to what Cici had told them earlier.

  “Yeah, it’s crazy that they weren’t putting all their time into their blog,” Mike said. “They could be making hundreds of thousands a year, even millions if they focused on it full time. Maybe add a podcast to their vi
deo series and blog. I don’t know why they didn’t.”

  “I never really understood that either,” Cici agreed. “They all loved it so much, who wouldn’t want their passion to be their full-time job?”

  “Some people are cautious about it,” Verny said. “They don’t want to lose their passion for something by making it into work.” She looked at Cookie unintentionally. Cookie had a passion and a skill for baking that was unrivaled in their entire town – Verny would argue their entire district, but she was overly proud of her friend. Despite this skill, she'd never ventured out on her own to start a business. Whether it was out of fear of failure or the desire to keep baking as just a passion, only Cookie knew that.

  “You should both tell Gideon what you found,” Josie suggested.

  “It’s not like we found much,” Mike said with a grimace.

  “You found enough,” Cookie insisted.

  “They’re right,” Cici agreed. “We could have found motive.”

  “I think we should keep digging,” Mike disagreed. “We can tell them what we have, but there’s still more to find. There has to be.”

  “It is a little hard to believe jealousy as a motive when both of them were in healthy relationships,” Cookie admitted. “As you said though, we don’t really know them. Relationships aren’t always what they look like on the outside.”

  “We’ll keep looking, but we will tell Gideon and Abel what we found,” Cici decided.

  “You can keep looking, but stay safe, please,” Verny said.

  Chapter Nine

  Gideon had hit another dead end. They thought they had a suspect when the caretaker hadn’t been on their initial list of people present for the murder. It seemed like an open and shut case at first. The caretaker had been on the premises, had made himself scarce when the police arrived and seemed like the right type. It turned out that he had sleep apnea and the machine had been loud enough that he hadn’t heard a thing. His wife had been with him the entire time as well.