A Ghostly Secret (Ghostly Southern Mysteries Book 7) Read online

  Not surprised.

  Her fake lashes drew a shadow down her fake tanned face when her eyes dipped to get a look at my hand.

  “Nope.” I raised it so she didn’t have to work so hard to see if there was a ring. Though I’d have been thoroughly entertained if a lash fell off.

  “Don’t tell me this is one of them marrying myself things because I saw that on the TV and it was weird.” She fiddled with the strand of pearls around her neck. “Girl married herself.” She tsked. “Ridiculous if you ask me. They just want a present.” She lifted her finger off her pearls and pointed to the gifts. “Which reminds me that if this isn’t a real shower, then I’m taking my gift back.”

  “By all means.” I laughed. Though my birthday was this week. Even though I wasn’t engaged, it was kind of fun to feel like it for a minute.

  “Okay! Time to open presents.” Granny clapped her hands.

  Beulah and I walked over to the group. When she reached over to take her gift off the table, Granny smacked her hand away.

  “You Indian giver.” Granny glared.

  “If I wasn’t part Native American, Zula, I’d be offended.” Beulah rubbed her hand.

  “Get over it. Besides, what part is Naaa-tive American? You’re a regular at Tan Your Hide.” Granny’s words had bite.

  “If it weren’t for Emma Lee, I’d leave.” Beulah stood there and lied right in front of all of our faces.

  “Does that mean you’re switching your preneed funeral arrangements?” I asked knowing she was a Burns person, meaning she had all her arrangements with Bea Allen Burns.

  “Did y’all hear about them bones found over at the rundown mall?” Cheryl Lynne Doyle changed the subject before my fake shower became a brawl.

  It wasn’t long ago that Granny and Beulah had a knockdown, drag-out throw down in Higher Grounds. According to Cheryl Lynne, it wasn’t good for business.

  “Mm-hmm.” Granny nodded with confidence. “It’s that girl missing from twenty years ago. ’Member that?” she asked as if she knew all about it.

  “How do you know?” Mable Claire asked as she waddled and jingled over to the group. Mable was short and had fuller hips. Her pockets were always filled with coins. Mable had never had children of her own and she loved to give a penny here and there to the children she’d pass on the street.

  Granny handed me a present.

  “Ask Emma Lee. She knows all about it from Jack Henry.” Granny knew just enough to start the gossip mill to get it to circulate around Sleepy Hollow.

  Everyone looked at me. I held the small box in my lap.

  “Some sort of tip.” I shrugged and popped the bow off the present.

  “One child!” Granny trilled with delight and grabbed the broken bow out of my hand.

  “What?” My jaw dropped at how excited she’d gotten over a bow.

  “It’s an old wives’ tale.” Leave it up to Hettie Bell to know the rules of fake engagement showers. “Every bow you breaks represents how many babies you and Jack Henry will have.”

  “I’m not getting married.” Exhaustion laced my words. “I’m not having babies.”

  “You’re gonna be thirty years old.” Granny patted her pockets. “Where’s my glue?”

  “Glue? What are we doing with glue?” I asked.

  It was as if Hettie had been in on this whole engagement thing from the beginning. She handed Granny a paper plate and a bottle of glue. Granny glued the bow on the plate.

  “Now, what’s in the box?” Granny brought the attention back to me.

  Everyone ooh’d and aww’d over the cat pajamas that were the least sexy thing to get a soon-to-be-bride, not that I was going to be one, but in a real shower I’m not sure I’d want these particular pj’s.

  “Thank you, Fluggie.” I held them up for everyone to see.

  “I heard you got you a cat.” She shoved a piece of the cake in her mouth.

  “You got a cat?” As if the words made Granny itch, she reached down to her ankles and scratched them. “No wonder I’ve got the itches. I’m allergic to cats.”

  “I didn’t get a cat,” I said to clear the air.

  “Someone said that they saw you down at the Buy and Fly buying up different cans of cat food.” Fluggie had her sleuthing hat on. “Just like there were cat bones at the barn.”

  Fluggie stared at me a little too long. She had a way of trying to figure out how I knew things. Her eyes narrowed. Her chin slightly tilted to the side like she had a thought that was dying to come out.

  “Nope. No cat. And I don’t know anything about a barn cat.” I grabbed another present.

  “I didn’t say barn cat. I said cat found with the bones of Betsy Lynn Brady,” she said. “Wasn’t it you that had Jack Henry go out there? I mean, why would he want to go out there?”

  “I told you. A lead.” I popped another bow and just threw it Granny’s way as she bounced with excitement. Her fingers did the “gimmie” gesture.

  “I went down to the station to go through the calls and there doesn’t seem to be any sort of record of a lead.” She took another bite of her cake. “I find it interesting that this would be the seventh case Jack Henry has taken you on.”

  “Taken me on?” I asked and opened the box to take out a see through cream nighty with feather trim.

  Immediately I knew whom it was from. Marla Marie Teater. She was, after all, the former beauty queen and owned a sort of grooming school for girls who wanted to enter and win pageants. There was also a tube of hemorrhoid cream in the box. She claimed that if you applied it to the wrinkles and lines on your face, it’d tighten it right on up like it did a hemorrhoid.

  “Va-va-voom!” Jack Henry smiled from the french doors of the dining room. He obviously liked what he saw. “Is this a surprise birthday party?”

  “No, silly!” Granny jumped up quicker than a jackrabbit. “It’s your engagement party.”

  “My what?” Jack Henry’s eyes practically popped out of his head and his jaw dropped.

  I hung my head.

  Chapter Ten

  “I called you a few times last night.” Jack Henry had picked me up to go see Betsy’s mom and ask her a few questions. He figured Betsy might show up and be able to offer some unanswered questions.

  After the made up shower Granny had given me, Jack Henry was somewhat floored and shocked with the idea of an engagement party and being engaged to someone who he’d not asked to marry. Of course there wasn’t any explanation other than Granny had flat out lost all her marbles and playing along had been the best thing to do since she’d already had it catered.

  “I was tired,” I lied and yawned from the other side of his police cruiser. “But hopefully this will pep me up.”

  Seeing Jack Henry first thing in the morning was a delight. Seeing Jack Henry first thing in the morning with a big cup of coffee was a treat. A much needed treat.

  “Cheryl Lynne was somewhat amused this morning when I picked up the coffees.” He was being kind because we both knew that we were the topic of gossip around here. Us and the bones of Betsy Lynn and Mr. Whiskers. “What on earth gave Zula Fae the idea we were engaged?”

  The idea of coming clean to Jack Henry about me knowing about the ring wasn’t a pleasant thought. It’s not how a woman thinks the big proposal was going to happen and it certainly wasn’t how I’d imagined it.

  Jack Henry gripped the wheel of the cruiser as we drove under the canopy of fall colors on the road to Lexington.

  “Me.” I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the headrest of the passenger seat. “When I was in the hospital six months ago after Charlotte died, I’d moved your jacket. A velvet ring box fell out and of course Charlotte and I thought it was for me. The thought of getting married without her isn’t something I can do just yet. I sort of told Granny that I thought you were going to propose. It wasn’t enough for her to listen to me, she had to go one step further.”

  “Velvet ring box?” Jack Henry acted as if he didn’t know wh
at I was talking about.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you that I knew. And I’ve been waiting for you to get down on one knee for the last six months.” It did feel good getting it off my shoulders.

  He veered off the road and pulled over onto the shoulder. He shifted the gear into park and turned his body toward me.

  “Emma Lee.” He put his hand out and set it on mine. I gulped knowing this was the big moment. Now that he knew I knew, there was no reason for him not to ask.

  “It’s just too soon,” I blurted out. “I do love you. I do. But. . .”

  “Shhhh.” He put his finger up to my lips. “That ring box wasn’t for you.”

  “Huh?” My nose curled.

  “It was my mom’s. She’d sent it into the jewelers to have a diamond reset and I just picked it up for her while I was in town.” He stared at my expression. He took his hand off of mine and ran it through his hair. “I love you. I do and I know you’ll make a wonderful wife. But I also know you well enough to know that you aren’t ready to get married or be married to a cop.”

  “How can you say that?” I asked. My heart was aching. How had I misread the clues. I was such an idiot and I felt so stupid.

  “Look at you,” he noted. “You’ve been torn up over a ring box for six months. You weren’t even going to say yes if I did ask.”

  “I might’ve.” There was a big lump in my throat that I was trying to choke down.

  “You weren’t. You just said it was too soon. Besides.” He looked down in his lap. There was a long silence that was uncomfortable. “Remember that job a year ago that’d come up with the state police?”

  “Yeah.” I rolled my eyes.

  His mother had really pushed for him to take the job and when he didn’t, she blamed it all on me, making my relationship with her a little strained.

  “I’ve been recommended again. I’ve felt your distance for the past six months and I’ve seriously thought about taking it.” He could’ve pulled out his gun and shot me and I wouldn’t have been as shocked as I was in this moment.

  “Emma,” he said my name in the way that made my toes curl and heart flutter. “Emma. Please. Emma, look at me.”

  “Did Granny’s antics have anything to do with making this decision?” I swallowed and put the coffee cup in the holder.

  Suddenly coffee didn’t seem to sit well in my stomach. There was a fine line between Granny and Jack Henry.

  “Absolutely not. I’d ask you to marry me right now if I knew your head was into it.” His words were as soft as his kiss and I wanted neither of them. “When I do ask you to marry me, and I will, I want all of you. Not just part of you.”

  I nodded to get this conversation over with. Of course I didn’t understand my feelings. He was right on the one hand that I wasn’t in any mental place to plan a wedding, but my heart was all in when it came to knowing I wanted to be his wife. It’s all I’ve ever dreamed of since the first day I saw him at school so many years ago.

  “And I’ve not made any decision on the job.” He turned back in his seat and pulled the gearshift into drive. “No one knows but you.”

  I settled back into the seat for a long day ahead.

  “You okay?” Jack Henry rubbed my back as we waited at the front door of Betsy’s mom’s home.

  I twisted away and looked back at the cruiser parked along the curb of the modest neighborhood. His hand dropped.

  “I’m good, thank you kindly.” I used my good southern manners Granny said would serve me well. I wasn’t good. I was about a minute from a total breakdown.

  At least in the back of my broken heart, there had been a brief spark of a silver lining that Jack Henry was just waiting for the perfect moment to propose. Now there wasn’t any hope at a ring or even the continuation of a relationship. If he thought I was going to just wait around while he played cop all over the bluegrass state, he had another thing coming to him. Yep. The more I thought about it the angrier I got.

  “Can I help you?” Betsy’s mom stood behind the screened storm door. The wrinkles around her eyes softened when she realized it was Jack Henry. “I’m sorry.” She apologized and opened the door.

  The soothing sound of the creaking hinges played in my ears. Many times, Charlotte and I would bolt through the funeral home back door when it was time for supper and the screen door would creak before it smacked after we ran in.

  “Emma Lee?” Jack called after me. He’d already stepped inside and I hadn’t even noticed. “Betsy?” he whispered.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Another ghost.”

  His eyes popped and I simply smiled. Before a few minutes ago, I’d have told Jack Henry my exact thoughts and what I was thinking, but now something had changed in me.

  “Let’s do the job.” I planted a sweet smile on my face but my insides were burning up. I was here to do my Betweener job and that meant getting Betsy to the other side. I was going to do my job and do it well. Another thing Granny told me, Emma Lee, you’ve got to look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, and work like a dog.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I’m sorry, where are my manners.” Kay Brady had invited us in to sit on her couch in the family room. “Would you like a coffee or a tea?”

  “No, ma’am.” Jack Henry shook his head.

  “I’d love a coffee. The one on the way here wasn’t very good.” I smiled and wiggled my shoulders.

  “I’ve got a fresh pot.” She stood up from the chair across from the couch. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Little cream to color,” I called after her, crossed my legs, and wrapped my hand around my knee.

  “You shouldn’t have coffee since I’m not sure she isn’t a suspect. We are here for an interview.” Instructions from Jack Henry weren’t sitting well with me.

  “You are here for an interview. I’m here to help Betsy cross over.” I reminded him of our two very distinct jobs. “Isn’t that right, Betsy?”

  The little girl had been sitting on the arm of her mother’s chair. Betsy smiled and nodded. Mr. Whiskers was curled up on the small rug in front of the front door. I eased back on the couch and ran my hand across the old fabric that looked like it’d been a fabric that matched curtains in the sixties.

  “What’s with the attitude?” Jack Henry pulled back and looked at me. His brows furrowed.

  “No attitude. Just doing my job.” I laughed. “What do you want me to do? Hug and kiss on you? We.” I gestured between us. “Might not be a we.”

  Before he could say anything, Kay had walked back into the room with two cups of coffee.

  “Are you sure you don’t want one?” She asked Jack.

  “No thank you. But thank you for taking the time to see me and Emma this morning.” There he went with the southern charm and smile that reeled me in so long ago and was breaking my heart now.

  Concentrate. Concentrate. I had to remind myself.

  “Can you tell me exactly what happened the day of Betsy’s disappearance?” I asked.

  “Yes.” It was like a cloud crossed over her face as she stared off into space. “That morning everything was great. Sharon was cleaning the house and getting it ready for the wedding that weekend. Kevin had been working so much so that he’d be able to take off for the two week honeymoon.” She smiled as if she remembered something happy. “We were going to get married, take Betsy with us on the honeymoon for the first week. Betsy was going to fly home the second week so Kevin and I could have our own honeymoon. My mother was going to keep her.”

  “Did you live here?” I looked around at the family room.

  There didn’t seem to be anything new here. All of the furniture looked like it’d seen better days. Much better days. But who was I to judge? I lived in a freakin’ funeral home.

  “No. We lived in Kevin’s mansion.” She smiled. “He owned Rent a Room and made millions.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” I nodded. “I remember those stores. The commercials.”

  I even re
membered Kevin Allen. He was on the commercials spouting off how it was easy to rent his furniture with no down payment. He would wear silly hats and glasses to get your attention. It worked. Kevin Allen was a household name.

  “You couldn’t be any older than Betsy would be now.” Kay’s eyes circled around my face.

  “No. Betsy and I were the same age.” I knew she and I were thinking the same thing. That she could be my mother.

  “It’s hard to imagine my little pumpkin being a grown-up woman like yourself.” Her head tilted. Her face softened. She pushed back a piece of hair off of her neck. The same piece of hair Betsy was playing with by putting it back on her mother’s neck to tickle her. “I swear. This piece of hair has given me fits since Betsy died. She used to play with my hair and tickle me. I swear she’s here sometimes.”

  Jack Henry scooted up on the seat uneasily and looked at me.

  “Died? Since she died?” he asked. “It wasn’t until yesterday that we truly knew it was her bones. How did you know she was not still alive somewhere?”

  “I’m sorry officer.” She glared at Jack. “I looked for my daughter for years. At some point it’s just easier to think that she’s dead and not coming back. It’s easier to think that she’s in heaven with my mother than living under a stranger’s roof. Someone who took her.” Her words had a harsh tone. “If you are insinuating that I killed my daughter like they did twenty years ago, then you can leave. I will take another polygraph test and will cooperate in any way to find who did this to my daughter. But as for your snide remarks, they aren’t welcome in this house.”

  “I’m sure Sheriff Ross didn’t mean anything, did you?” I looked at him.

  “No, ma’am. I’m sorry for your loss. We just want to bring this cold case to a closure for you and your family. Is your husband around?” he asked.

  “I never got married.” She looked down at her hands and picked at the bed of her nails. “Truthfully, Kevin never wanted children. I worked for him in the office and we had a whirlwind romance. Betsy was ten and she was a good girl. Kevin didn’t take on the father role, but that was okay. They got along well and he treated her good.”