by J. B. Lynn
She squinted at him, trying to tell if there was a way that one could determine if a ghost was teasing or lying. He certainly looked like he was telling the truth.
“You should probably go see for yourself,” Rupert suggested.
Realizing that what he was telling her could very well have happened, she raced down the stairs and almost tripped over the body of Richardson the fire inspector, Letty’s killer.
A blade, specifically, the pirate cutlass that Peabody had brought in for sale, was sticking out of his chest. He’d fallen backward, so his eyes were staring up at the ceiling, unseeing. Blood was soaking the floor underneath his body.
“You!” an angry voice roared.
Turning, Amanda saw a blur of light hurtling toward her. She screamed, throwing her arms up in front of her face defensively.
Rupert swooshed in, knocking the blur off course. He and the blur bounced off of the female version of Angus. She teetered unsteadily and then crashed to the floor.
“Unhand my lady, you hapless cur,” Angus roared.
Amanda fought to catch her breath. There was so much anger, malevolence, hatred in the room, it felt like it was suffocating her.
“Get out,” Rupert yelled. He seemed to be struggling to contain the writhing blur of light. Realizing that it was probably Richardson’s ghost, Amanda swallowed hard and forced her legs to move toward the front door of One Woman’s Junk.
Nutmeg raced to the door and barked, as though trying to lead her to it.
“Maybe you want to pick up the pace a little,” Pim yelled from his spot on the bookshelf, which had suddenly become precarious as Rupert and the blur, Richardson, crashed around the room, knocking things off the shelves.
Amanda sped up, looking back over her shoulder.
“Be careful,” she warned Rupert.
“What’s going to happen to me?” he asked, sounding breathless, even though he no longer needed to be able to breathe. “I’m already dead.”
Seeing she was about to make her escape, the blur, Richardson, broke free from his grasp and hurtled toward Amanda. She didn’t want to find out what he could do to her in this state, so she threw open the door and jumped outside, slamming it tightly behind her.
She held on to the door handle, pulling against it as his energy slammed against the door from the inside.
“Amanda?” Tom called, hurrying toward her.
Trying to look casual, while attempting to contain a very pissed off spirit, she leaned her back against the door and tried to hold her ground. “Oh, hey, Tom.”
“Are you okay?” He watched as her body bounced with the vibration of the energy being hurled against the door.
“Uh huh,” she muttered, almost all of her attention focused on keeping Richardson’s ghost from escaping. She wasn’t sure how what she was doing was preventing him from just going through it, but this wasn’t the time to figure it out.
As though Richardson was angry about being trapped, the door vibrated harder, almost bouncing off its hinges.
“Is there somebody in there?” Tom asked.
“Not a living soul,” she told him.
“Then who’s trying to open it from the other side?”
She shook her head, gritting her teeth against the impact as Richardson slammed into it even harder.
“So why are you holding the door shut? What’s going on in there?”
She shrugged helplessly, unable to provide a reasonable answer.
“Step aside,” Tom said. “I’m going in there.”
“Do you have a warrant?” she asked, her tone shaky because her body was taking a beating.
“Are we back to that?” Tom asked. “Really? After all I’ve—”
A loud boom from inside interrupted him.
The door stilled.
Weakly, Amanda stumbled away from it. “There’s something I’ve got to tell you.”
“What?”
“There’s…there’s a body in there.”
Without waiting for more of an explanation, Tom grabbed the handle and flung it open. “What the…?”
Amanda peered over his shoulder. Not only was the place trashed, but Richardson, with the cutlass sticking out of his chest, was right where she’d left him.
22
The confusion and worry coming off of Tom was making Amanda sick to her stomach.
He took out his phone and dialed quickly.
“It’s Detective Keller,” he said into it in a hushed tone. “I need the coroner and a crime scene unit to One Woman’s Junk.” He turned off his phone and gave her a searching look. “Is there anyone else inside there?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “But then again, I didn’t know Richardson was in there until…”
“Until what?” he asked urgently.
“Until I found his body,” she said. It was a half-truth. She hadn’t known Richardson was there until Rupert had told her so.
“Wait here,” Tom ordered. He stepped into the store and looked around.
Ignoring his instruction, she followed, taking in the fact that most of the racks had been knocked over, vases were shattered, paintings torn down off the walls, not to mention the fact there was a dead body in the middle of the space.
“What the hell happened?” the detective asked.
Nutmeg barked twice and ran inside.
“Come back,” Amanda cried.
“Stay there,” Tom warned, holding up a hand to stop her where she stood. She froze in place.
Nutmeg ran around the shop and began digging around a pile of clothes.
Tom frowned. “What’s he doing?”
Amanda shrugged helplessly. She really had no idea what anyone was doing at this point.
Nutmeg yipped victoriously, grabbed something small in his mouth, and raced back out of the shop.
“Catch him,” Tom ordered.
Amanda tried, but the dog easily dashed around her and bounded down the street. “Nutmeg, come back,” she yelled.
The little dog ignored her.
Pushing past her, Tom stepped out of the shop and watched the little canine run away.
“Let him go,” he said. “We’ve got more important things to deal with.”
A police car, siren wailing, screeched to a halt in front of the shop.
The detective stood up a little straighter and addressed the officer as she emerged from her car.
“I want you to keep Miss Concordia in the back of your car,” he told her.
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t allow her to speak to anyone. She’s not to talk to anyone,” he reiterated.
Amanda knew that he was repeating the message for her benefit.
“Yes, sir,” the uniformed officer repeated. She opened the back of her squad car and motioned with her hand for Amanda to climb in.
“This is mortifying,” Amanda muttered under her breath as she climbed into the back of the squad car.
“Don’t you talk to her, either,” the detective ordered the officer. “I don’t want to get this case thrown out on a technicality.”
Nodding, the police officer closed the door, effectively locking Amanda inside.
“He’s gone,” a voice said from beside her.
Amanda let out a yelp of surprise and turned to find Rupert sitting next to her.
“Who’s gone?” she asked through gritted teeth, not wanting Keller to see her talking to herself.
“Richardson. His ghost.”
“Did you follow him, too?” Amanda asked.
Rupert shook his head. “Not a good idea to follow him to where he went,” Rupert said.
“And where was that?”
Rupert pointed down.
Amanda watched through the car window as Bea, weaving unsteadily on her crutches as she raced toward One Woman’s Junk, was stopped by the police officer standing by the door, arms crossed over her chest.
“My store…” Amanda could hear Bea saying, “…my sister…”
Both Ash an
d Tom showed up outside at the same time, and Amanda could see Tom talking to them, then nodding his head in the direction of the car where Bea sat.
Frowning, Bea, with Ash’s assistance, hobbled toward her. She tried to open the police car, but the officer yelled, “Step away.”
Startled, Bea did as told. “Are you okay?” she yelled to Amanda through the glass.
Amanda nodded.
“What do you need?”
Amanda shrugged. Tom had told her not to talk to anybody.
“Keller told us to wait in my shop,” Ash shouted.
Amanda nodded her understanding and watched as he put his arm around Bea’s waist and led her away. She let out a heavy sigh.
“It’ll be okay,” Rupert told her. “You’re not alone. I’m right here with you.”
“If only you could provide me with an alibi,” she muttered dryly.
She watched as Hank and Harmony hustled up to the store’s entrance.
They were blocked by the uniformed officer. Tom emerged from the store again to talk to them for a few moments. Again, he directed them to where Amanda was waiting in the car. The older couple moved quickly toward the car.
“I’m sorry,” Hank said. “Harmony asked for my help for just a minute…”
Amanda bit her tongue, not wanting to point out the obvious. He’d been gone for a lot longer than a minute.
“What happened?” Harmony asked.
Amanda shook her head, thinking Tom’s advice not to talk to anyone would probably make sense at this point in time.
“You should use your power,” Harmony said.
“To do what?” Amanda wondered with annoyance. All her power was doing for her now was making her feel Hank’s guilt, which was genuine. And Harmony’s concern. None of that was helping her.
She felt a wave of hostility coming from the other side of the car and turned in its direction. Suzanne and Matt stood at the front of a crowd of onlookers who were staring at the crime scene. Behind them were Rena, Jacob Gold, Sandy, Peabody, Greta, and Piper.
Other uniformed officers had arrived and were stretching yellow “do not cross” tape across the doorway of One Woman’s Junk.
The feelings of confusion, and shock, and hatred were overwhelming her. She blinked, trying to get a clear idea of who was oozing such malevolence, but there were so many emotions coming at her that she couldn’t pinpoint it.
Jim, with long purposeful strides, walked up to the storefront, past the uniformed officer, and yelled inside to Tom Keller.
Amanda, tilting her head so that she could see around Hank and Harmony, saw that Tom came to the door and spoke to him for a long moment.
When he was done, the accountant joined Hank and Harmony outside the car. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Can I get anything for you?”
She shook her head.
“And Winnie’s okay?” he asked.
Amanda frowned, realizing Winnie had not yet shown up.
“She went to draw,” she told Jim.
He nodded and strode away.
“I really screwed up,” Hank said.
Not happy about being locked in the back of a police cruiser when all this could’ve been avoided if Hank had been guarding the store, Amanda snapped, “You certainly did.”
Hank hung his head and shuffled away.
Harmony hesitated, obviously wanting to chase after him, but having a message to impart to Amanda.
“You’re the strongest of the three,” she said. “You’ve got to get past your fears, you’ve got to use your power.”
Amanda glared at the woman; she was tired of hearing about powers. She was tired of talking to a ghost. And she was really tired of having Letty’s death destroy her life.
23
Sitting in PerC Up, Bea nervously twisted the paper napkin she held in her hand as Detective Tom Keller questioned her.
Her gaze skittered over to Ash, who was sitting a few tables away, offering moral support, but not interfering with the detective’s interview.
“So, you were with Ash?” the detective said, reminding her of where in their conversation they were.
Bea nodded absently, wondering if Amanda was still in the back of the police car.
“And then we heard the sirens, and we ran out to see what was happening,”
He nodded and made a note in his little notebook. “And then what happened?” he asked.
“Well, then we saw you.” Tired of not knowing what was happening, Bea focused on Keller. “Look,” she said impatiently, “all I saw was that you had covered someone with a quilt. It’s a handmade quilt,” she said, her tone sharp with accusation. “It’s valuable.”
Tom nodded slowly.
“And you won’t tell me who it is.”
“Technically, I can’t until the family of the deceased has been notified.”
Leaning forward, she asked, “So, I’m not the family of the deceased?”
Tom frowned and asked, “What do you mean?”
“It’s not Winnie that’s under there?” Her voice cracked, revealing the panic that she’d been trying so hard to contain.
Understanding dawned on his eyes and he reached across the table and patted her hand soothingly. “No, I’m so sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t realize that it was a possibility you were considering. I promise you, it wasn’t your sister.”
Bea let out a shaky sigh and sunk back in her seat. She figured Amanda would have told her if it was Winnie, but her oldest sister had appeared to be in shock. Her eyes appeared hollow, her hair messed up. She hadn’t understood what had happened to Amanda, or why she was stuck in the back of a police car still.
“Can I get you something?” Tom asked.
Bea shook her head and sat up a little straighter. “Was it Greta?” she asked.
“We’d called her and told her she didn’t have to come in today because we were keeping the shop closed, but she thought everything that had been going on lately was ‘exciting’,” she said with an exasperated huff.
“Not her, either,” Tom said. He leaned closer over the table and whispered, “It wasn’t anybody you liked.”
Bea nodded. That was a good thing.
“What happened?” she asked. The store had looked like it had been shaken like a snow globe.
Tom shrugged. “Something violent, obviously. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a dead man.”
“So why can’t I see Amanda?” she asked.
“It’s a little complicated,” Tom said carefully. “Trust me when I tell you, I’m trying to protect your sister with the way I’m conducting this investigation.”
Bea examined his expression, trying to get a read on him. She put out her hand, palm up, and said, “Give me your hand.”
Tom looked at her strangely. “Why?”
“Just do it,” she said. “It’ll only take a second.”
Sighing, Tom did as she asked.
She felt nothing. Not that she’d ever felt anything from a person before, but she’d been hoping to get a read on him because she’d been unable to decipher anything in his expression.
She released his hand almost as quickly as she’d taken it.
“I’m protecting her,” Tom said. “I don’t believe that she killed him.”
“She’s a suspect?” Bea shrieked.
Ash looked over, concerned, as did Piper, who was busy straightening something behind the shop counter.
Tom frowned. “She was the person that was found with the body,” he said carefully.
“Well, duh,” Bea said. “If the body was found in our shop, it makes sense that she would be the one to find it.”
Tom nodded. “I agree. But until we have an idea of what happened, the best thing to do is do this by the book.”
Bea frowned. “My sister couldn’t kill anybody.”
Tom shook his head sadly. “It’s been my experience that when pushed far enough, even good people can become killers.”
“Not my sister,” Bea said.
Tom cocked his head to the side, stared at her for a long moment, and then asked quietly, “Even if it was Richardson threatening you or Winnie?”
Bea sucked in a sharp breath. “He’s dead?”
“Slip of the tongue,” Tom said in a tone that had let her know it had not been. “Speaking of your sister,” he said calmly, as though he hadn’t just revealed who the murder victim was to her, “where is Winnie?”
Bea shrugged. “I know she was going to draw. I thought she was coming here, but when I asked Piper, she said she hadn’t seen her.”
“Does she always go for long periods of time to draw?”
Bea nodded. “Lately, yes.”
“What does that mean?”
Bea looked around the room, before explaining, “Letty’s death had quite the effect on her.”
Tom nodded, as though that explained everything. “Well, when she gets in touch with you or she shows up, I have to talk to her.”
Bea nodded, though she doubted Winnie had anything useful to add to Tom’s investigation.
Tom crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head back, giving her a long, hard look. “I’ve got to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“When you got to town, I did a little research on all of you sisters.”
Bea frowned. “Why?”
He shrugged. “I was convinced from fairly early on that you were right about your godmother being the victim of foul play.”
“You never said,” Bea murmured.
“I wanted to get a clearer picture,” Tom explained. “So, I did a little research on all of you. Sometimes people will do strange things for an inheritance.”
“One Woman’s Junk isn’t exactly a life changing amount of money,” Bea told him with a chuckle.
He nodded. “Your accident,” he said, pointing to her leg.
She stiffened. “I got hurt performing a dare,” she told him.
Tom nodded slowly. “A dare that was, in part, conceived to be a distraction for a robbery.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
He opened his notebook, flipped toward the beginning of it, and said, “Are you saying that you didn’t know that you were participating in a robbery of the Choo mansion?”