A Prickly Predicament (Mad River Mystery Series Book 1) Read online

  Jessamine and Phineas were right behind him, quickly followed by Josiah, who chose to stay with us even when Gladys showed up. By that I knew that he and the rest of my nonphysical friends were counting on me to help them, and I hoped I could live up to their expectations. I was about to ask them if they had seen Adam when he appeared, too. If my spirit friends had had physical proportions, my bedroom would have been overly crowded. As it was, though, there was plenty of room for everyone. Jessamine and Phineas sat together at the foot of my bed, Mathias took the chair in front of my dressing table, Josiah slumped on the floor by the closet, and Gladys and Adam hovered near the ceiling.

  If I wasn’t mistaken, Gladys seemed to have transferred her crush on Josiah immediately over to Adam, who seemed so far to be oblivious of the honor, poor guy. Josiah, rather than looking relieved, though, appeared to be a little put out and continually referred to Adam during our convocation that night as “that young whippersnapper.”

  Apparently they had already been talking among themselves when they appeared in my bedroom and continued the conversation as if I weren’t there. I sat up in my bed and just listened for a while.

  “I don’t know if an exorcism will even work on me,” declared Gladys. “I went to church every Sunday I was alive. You won’t find a better Christian than me.”

  “If a preacher holds up a Bible or a cross and commands you to leave, you’ll have to leave,” argued Josiah. “Them’s the rules.”

  “What if we’re not around and don’t hear him?” asked Phineas.

  “That might be our best hope,” Mathias said. “If the preacher is just talking into empty air, he won’t have any power over us.”

  “What if that doesn’t work?” asked Josiah. “Couldn’t he make it so’s we couldn’t come back to our homes?”

  “I don’t want to have to leave the only home I’ve ever known,” wailed Jessamine.

  “Don’t worry, hon,” her husband Phineas consoled her. “We’re racking our brains to try to figure a way out of this mess.”

  “That’s right, honey,” said Gladys. “We’ll think of something.”

  Adam said nothing but peered around him in utter fascination.

  “I have an idea,” I said. Suddenly I had their attention, whereas before they had been talking as if I weren’t around, as if they weren’t all in my bedroom at two in the morning.

  “What is it Shelby?”

  “Out with it, girl!”

  “Well,” I said, “the city has scheduled its safety inspectors to go over Mad River Old Town tomorrow with a fine-tooth comb.”

  “Yes?”

  “What of it?”

  “Do you think we can stop them?”

  “No, we don’t need to stop them, but what if we were to have our own safety inspection before they could?”

  “You mean—now?” asked Mathias.

  “Yes, now. Right now. You all have the ability to see things human inspectors will miss. You can go into places they wouldn’t think of going.”

  “I see what you mean,” said Phineas.

  “I don’t know how we’ll be able to use any evidence you might find, but surely you’ll find something.”

  “And we’ll figure out what to do with it once we have it, whatever it is.” Sweet Jessamine finished my thought for me.

  “Let’s go!” Josiah commanded, and since he was the eldest among them at sixty-two, they immediately obeyed. They all swooshed out together through the ceiling.

  Adam was the last to leave. “Thank you for your help today, Shelby,” he said. “I think I’m going to be okay now.”

  “Of course you are,” I answered, “and once we’ve found out what really happened to you, you’ll be able to rest easy and go where you need to go next.”

  “Yes. That’s what I thought, too. Thanks again.”

  “Think nothing of it,” I said.

  He followed his new friends out through the ceiling, and I lay back on my pillow and tried in vain to catch a couple of hours of sleep.

  ~.~

  As it turned out, two hours of rest was about all I was allowed. I dozed, dreamed fitful dreams, dozed again. Then, at a little after four in the morning, Mathias whispered sharply into my ear. “Shelby! Shelby! Wake up!” he cried.

  “What?” Startled, I sat up quickly in bed and pushed the covers down to my knees. “What is it, Mathias?”

  “You won’t believe what I found,” he said.

  “I’m awake now,” I said, rubbing my eyes and yawning. “What did you find?”

  “I tried to bring them to you, but I couldn’t pick them up,” he said sheepishly.

  “It’s okay, Mathias. I understand. Just tell me where they are, whatever it is you’re talking about.”

  “They’re in the middle of a trash bag in the trash bin behind Zaharako’s.”

  “Okay, but what are they? What are you talking about?”

  He was so excited he could hardly get the words out. “Shelby, they’re sawed-off screw heads, six of them.”

  “What of it? What does that prove?”

  “They match, Shelby!”

  “Match what?”

  “They match the screws that were holding up the logging saws in the general store.”

  “You’re kidding me!”

  “I checked. And then I checked again. They match, I tell you!”

  “I’ll meet you down at the general store in just a few minutes,” I told him. He swooped away and I threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt and raced out the door as soon as I could, leaving a scribbled note for Harriet on the kitchen table, telling her not to worry and that I would see her later that day.

  ~.~

  Although it was not quite four-thirty when I got to the general store that morning, the place was still lit up like George Foster on a Saturday night. Apparently, the police had been there all night looking for evidence. I looked for Nick and glimpsed him right away. He looked exhausted. They probably all were.

  I walked over to Zaharako’s and tried to purchase a couple of dozen doughnuts but the clerk refused to accept my money when I told her who they were for. I poked my head into the front door of the general store and held the box of doughnuts out to the first officer I saw. “Here,” I said. “You guys look like you could use a little nourishment.”

  He took the box of doughnuts, gave me a grateful nod, and said, “Thanks. Now get out of here, young lady.”

  “Sure, but would you send Nick out my way when he can break free for a minute or two?”

  “Sure thing,” he said, and ducked back into the store.

  I sat on the front steps and waited. Nick joined me there a few minutes later. “Thanks for the doughnuts,” he said.

  “No problem,” I answered. “How’s it going in there?”

  “Nothing makes much sense yet,” he said.

  “Really? You guys have been here all night.”

  “We’ve gone over the store from top to bottom, back to front, numerous times.”

  “Have you searched through the trash?” I asked carefully.

  “Of course we have.” He sounded a little testy, but then, he’d been up all night.

  “Have you searched the trash behind the other stores in Old Town, too?”

  “No, why should we?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Just a hunch.”

  “You wouldn’t be telling me how to do my job, would you?”

  He was grinning, so I pressed my point. “Just a word to the wise,” I said and smiled back at him. I caught sight of Mathias just then out of the corner of my eye. He gave me a thumbs-up and whisked away.

  ~.~

  Around seven, a small crowd of townspeople had begun to gather in the street in front of the general store. Wendy Carpenter and Reverend O’Dell were among them. They had their heads together, as if they were planning their strategy for the day. They probably were. I even saw a couple of people holding up placards with the word “Exorcism” written on them in big bold letters. Eliana was right
in the middle of the crowd, dressed to the nines, talking and joking with the people around her, white teeth flashing, flashy gold bangles swinging from her earlobes. Adam Gaunt’s death seemed not to have fazed her in the slightest.

  I suppressed a shudder and tried to ignore the growing crowd. I went into the business office and tidied up Matt’s emails from the previous twenty-four hours and cleared his calendar for the day. Matt had given me a key to the office during my first year of working for him so that I could take care of business when he was not around, and I put it to good use that morning, finishing up what little administrative work there was within a very short time.

  I hadn’t seen Matt yet that morning, but I hoped he was resting up for the day ahead and getting a good breakfast. He would need it. He would be busy that morning, I knew, with viewing the video in the mayor’s office and with accompanying the safety inspectors on their rounds, if they would allow it. I wondered if what Nathan had captured on camera during the previous day’s mayhem really did show signs of preternatural high jinks. I would soon have a better idea.

  I hurried home to shower and change and grab a bite to eat before it was time to meet Matt and Nathan at Annabelle’s office for the screening. Harriet was still there when I arrived. “Are you feeling better today, sis?” I asked when I saw her.

  “Yeah,” she answered, but her voice sounded listless and detached.

  “Come have some breakfast with me,” I encouraged her. “You’ll feel better with a little food in your tummy.” Being a witness to something so gruesome as what she had seen the previous day had left her in a mild state of shock, I surmised.

  She smiled wanly. “I’m sure you’re right,” she said.

  “Are you going to try to go to work today?” I asked. I placed a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her on the kitchen table, then hungrily ate the same as I sat across from her.

  “No, I’m supposed to go down to the police station and give my statement this morning.” I was encouraged to see that she was eating, if not so enthusiastically as I was.

  “I guess that’s just as well,” I said. “The store won’t be able to open for business for a while yet. The cops are still trying to make some sense of what happened.”

  “Yes, and then it will need a good cleaning-up before we can let customers back in,” she said dispiritedly.

  “Oh yeah,” I said. “That’s right. There’s that.”

  “They wanted me to give my statement last night but I was in no state to be able to do it.”

  “No, you weren’t.”

  “Thank you for taking care of me last night.” She gave me a grateful look. Were things on the mend between my sister and me? If that was the case, maybe something good had already come out of this dreadful situation.

  “I don’t look forward to giving my statement this morning. I just hope I remember the all details.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

  “What are you going to be up to today?”

  I told her, and together we came up with a plan to keep each other informed. She would keep her ear to the ground with what was going on among the living, and I would keep tabs on the ghosts. Together, we would be able to get a full picture. She seemed to have laid to rest any doubts she might have had about my psychic abilities, and I shared with her my opinion that it couldn’t possibly have been ghosts who caused Adam Gaunt’s death. She listened and agreed.

  “You know,” she said, “there are plenty of people in this town who don’t believe in ghosts at all.”

  “Yes, I know,” I answered.

  “Those are the ones who think the police should be looking for a live killer.”

  “Yes.”

  “Or who believe the whole thing was a freaky accident.”

  “Yes, but you know what I think about that.”

  “Me, too. Besides, if it was an accident, Mad River Old Town could be in big trouble.”

  “There’s that,” I said. We were both quiet for a moment, then I broke the silence. “Harriet,” I asked, “If Adam was murdered, who did it? Any ideas?”

  My sister was usually pretty perceptive, but she shook her head in answer. “Nope. No ideas at all,” she said.

  Chapter Seven: Insubstantial Evidence

  I arrived at the mayor’s office at a little before nine. Annabelle was already there, and she greeted me with a warm hug. “How are you and Harriet doing these days?” she asked. “I haven’t seen you for some time.”

  “I’m sure you’ve been busy, Madam Mayor,” I teased her.

  “That’s ‘Annabelle’ to you, silly girl,” she teased back.

  “We’re doing okay,” I told her. “I’m hoping Harriet will start to perk up and get interested in her life again soon.”

  “Losing your mother was a real shock to the two of you,” she said. “Give it some time.”

  Annabelle had led the charge of neighbors and friends who showed up to offer food and comfort in the days right after our mother died. The parade of casseroles, pot roasts, and fried chicken, not to mention all the cookies, pies, and cakes, filled our freezer and saved us from having to cook in those dark days when we didn’t care enough to cook for ourselves. That’s what people in small towns do when people they care about die. Feeling helpless in the face of death, they try to comfort whomever is left behind with food. So they cook, and they bring it to you until you have to ask them to stop. I will forever love them all for it, and Annabelle foremost among them.

  Nick showed up next, with Matt close behind. “Hey,” Nick said when he saw me.

  “Hey,” I said, and smiled at him.

  To Annabelle he said, “The chief asked me to cover for him this morning. He’s still a little tied up.”

  “Understood,” she replied.

  “Where’s Nathan?” Matt asked as he took a chair.

  “He called a few minutes ago and said he was running a little late this morning,” said Annabelle. She looked at her watch. “He should be here soon.” Annabelle O’Dell had been our town’s mayor for going on two years, and she was becoming known for running a tight, no-nonsense ship. The city budget was balanced for the first time in years, and Old Town business was better than ever, thanks to a smart local marketing campaign she and Matt had cooked up together. I hoped this little incident would not undo all their good efforts.

  “Poor guy,” said Matt. “Lost his business partner and his best friend.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Nick.

  “That’s gotta be tough,” Matt added.

  “Oh, here he is,” said Annabelle just as Nathan burst through the door.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said breathlessly. He seemed as antsy and jittery as he had been right after Adam’s grisly death. I guess he was taking it all pretty hard, or maybe he was just a naturally nervous person. He pulled a laptop out of the case he had carried in and set it up on the mayor’s desk so we could all see. “Kind of a small screen,” he apologized, “but I think you’ll be amazed at what the video shows.”

  “Okay,” said Nick. He leaned forward in his chair to get a better view.

  “Can everyone see okay?” Nathan asked. He adjusted the screen minutely and peered into our faces.

  “Let ’er rip,” said Matt.

  The video opened with Adam talking with someone off camera, most likely a female and very likely Eliana. “Soon as we’ve finished shooting this, sweetheart,” he said, smiling flirtatiously, “You and me will rock this Podunk town.” An unseen woman tittered. Then Adam cleared his throat and looked at the camera, all business. “Tonight,” he intoned, “we await the appearance of the ghosts of Mad River, here in the Old Town general store.” He gestured around him, inviting the camera to pan the room with its rough-hewn shelving and stocks of old-timey country goods for sale. I caught a glimpse of Harriet and George standing behind the wood-plank counter, both of them watching the show’s star intently, as if he were going to tell them something they didn’t already know.

  He
droned on for a few more sentences while the camera panned the room and occasionally focused in on his handsome features. There were no signs of ghosts that I could see.

  Without warning, an almost musical metallic “Whang!” interrupted Adam’s carefully prepared script. He looked up in terror as if sensing the peril that was aimed his way, just in time for the first jagged saw to drop squarely on his exposed neck. Blood splattered everywhere, including on the camera’s lens. The video bounced and jumped and the picture went askew, as if the cameraman didn’t know whether to run and help or keep the camera running. Two more musical “Whangs!” occurred in quick succession, then the picture righted and the camera swung with purpose to the ceiling, where the miscreant saws had so recently hung. Just as the scene faded to black, a wisp of white tinged with bright red could be seen rushing up through the ceiling.

  “Anyone want to see it again?” Nathan asked. He looked as pale as, well, as pale as a ghost. It must be hard for him, I thought, to have to witness his friend’s gruesome death again, even on video.

  “No thanks,” said Nick. He looked as if he might throw up. Matt didn’t look much better. Both of them reflexively scooted their chairs away from the laptop and Nick closed his eyes. Matt pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his upper lip, where beads of sweat had gathered despite the chilly morning.

  “Just one more time,” said Annabelle. “Let me see that last part again.” Man, Mad River’s Madam Mayor was one tough cookie. Attractive and in her mid-forties, she played hard ball with Mad River’s old boys’ club, and while they didn’t totally accept her into their inner circle, they respected her. Some even feared her, I suspected. I hoped I could be just like her someday.

  I joined her up close to the screen to get another look. “Stop it there, Nathan,” she said. She pointed to the screen. “See that, Shelby?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “What do you think?”

  “I guess it could be a ghost, huh?” She peered into my features as if asking for confirmation. My, how the rumors fly in this little town. Had she heard that I can see spirits? I do try to keep that under wraps.