A Guilty Ghost Surprised (An Indigo Eady Paranormal Cozy Mystery series) (16 page)

I smiled, hoping Cappy would introduce me to his grandmother.

“Yeh, it’s me friend, the one I told you about.” He motioned me to follow him down the hall.

Cappy’s grandmother sat up in a bed piled with quilts and crocheted blankets. “Please, come in. Forgive me if I do not get up. I have been under the weather lately.” A tiny thing tucked among the blankets, she wore a black shawl around her shoulders. A large nose and big brown eyes shone out of her wrinkled face.   

“Grandma, this is Indigo Eady. Indigo, my grandmother, Mrs. Cappellano.”

Mrs. Cappellano smiled sweetly. “It is so nice to meet you, child. Cappy has spoken of you. He does not often invite his friends home.”

I smiled back, worry filling my chest at the weakness I sensed in the old woman’s health. Once again I wondered about Cappy’s parents.

“We’re going to meet friends, grandma. I’ll be ‘ome later. Can I get you anythin’ first?”

“Ah, no. I’m perfectly content, gracie.”

“It was nice meeting you, ma’am,” I said, before following Cappy back down the hall.

We remained silent as we weaved out of the neighborhood. I glanced at Cappy, sensing his worry.

“What’s wrong with her? Your grandmother,” I said.  

He raised his shoulders. “She’s just old, I guess.”

“Has she been to see a doctor?”

“Yeh, they don’t find anything wrong with ‘er.”

“Cappy…”

He looked sideways at me.

“Where are your parents?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I barely remember them.”

“But they’re alive?”

“As far as I know. They left when I was five. Kept in contact for awhile. But we haven’t ‘eard from them in years.”

He pointed to a path to the right and we turned. We walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Why did they leave?” I asked.

“A short vacation, they said. For them to work things out. They called with excuses why they couldn’t come ‘ome. The time between phone calls got longer. They quit calling.”

“But - what about money? How do you live?”

“My grandmum’s pension. My odd jobs. We get by.”

I looked sideways at him. His words didn’t show concern, but his posture did. I sensed his worry, not for the first time. Always hungry, the little dude pocketed food from the pub. I worried about where he’d go if something happened to his grandmother. He’d have to go into care, no doubt, unless other relatives took him in. But if he had other relatives, why didn’t they help them now?

Luckily, Uncle Richard took me in. I never asked about money and was, in fact, very careful about what I spent. Uncle Richard tried to talk to me about my father’s will once, but I didn’t want to listen. Maybe when I unpacked…

We boarded a bus that would take us near the party, then shuffled our way to the back. “Alright, let’s go over the rules,” said Cappy.

“Rules? What rules?” I asked.

“My rules,” he said. “First, don’t go nowhere with nobody.”

I nodded. “Got it.”

“And don’t take nothin’ to drink from nobody either.”

“Check.”

“Just stick by me as much as possible.”

“Agreed.”

“Right then. I think we’re ready.”

 “Don’t worry, Cappy. I can take care of myself. Besides, I’m older than you.”

He looked at me skeptically. “These are not the sort you’re used to and it’s not the best neighborhood. Trust me.”

I nodded solemnly. “I do.”

Music blared through the open front door as we approached the house, some kind of techno music I didn’t really care for.

“So, this is the place then?”

Cappy nodded.

By coincidence, it was the same house where the party took place three years ago. Apparently, the parents traveled out of town a lot and it turned into a big party house.

I wore black form-fitting pants, a tank top with the word star in purple sequins, topped with my pea-coat. My hair hung loose and wavy around my shoulders and down to my waist. With my high-heeled black boots, I stood about six inches taller than Cappy.

We didn’t get far inside when a tall, long-haired, dark-skinned Italian kid approached us.

“Cappy, my man. Where you been?” They clasped hands and bumped shoulders.

“I been ‘round, just busy with things, you know.”

The kid turned and looked me up and down. “Who’s this?”

“This is Indigo. Indigo, this is my friend Gino.”

“Is she…?” Gino began.

Cappy put his arm around my waist. My arm went around his shoulder. I smiled wide, just in case he didn’t see how happy we were -
together.

“Well that didn’t take long,” said Cappy. “I ‘ope I don’t have to fight nobody tonight.”

“You and me both. Come on, let’s dance.” The lights dimmed. A spinning ball sat in a corner and splashed stars across the walls and ceiling. We moved to the edge of the crowd and swayed to the upbeat techno music. Several people waved or called to Cappy. I recognized a few faces from school and smiled.

When the song ended, Cappy ushered me into the kitchen—empty at that moment. He snagged an empty beer bottle from the garbage bin, rinsed it under the tap and filled it half way with water.

He grinned. “Gotta fit in,” he said, swigging from the bottle. He offered it to me, but I shook my head.

“No. You know what happens to me - I don’t know who that belonged to or what condition they’re in.”

“Oh. Right. That psycho thing. Let’s not do that tonight. I got on me good shoes.” He nodded toward the open back door where the party spilled out into the backyard. “Let’s try out there, first.”

I followed.

Wandering through the crowd, Cappy spotted an older kid he knew and headed over to him. He introduced us. The guy’s name was Daniel, a regular at local parties, about nineteen years old, and slightly wobbly on his feet.

Cappy struck up a conversation and wove a few lies about having been at a party last weekend that got busted by the cops.

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “The cops are making it harder to have a party these days because of underage drinkers.”

Cappy grinned and tilted the beer bottle to his lips.

“I remember what it was like,” said Daniel. “O’ course I’m legal now. Actually, this house got busted a few years back for underage drinking. I hoofed it over the fence—” he pointed behind us “—and got away. At least one person got arrested, though.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Cappy. “That’d be Jason.”

Daniel nodded.

“A lot of drunk drivers that night, I suppose,” I said.

“Not really,” said Daniel. “A fight broke out and the cops came, so it ended early. But Jason was already drunk when he got here, I remember that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I ‘eard. But what about that other kid? The one in the blue Sedan? What was his name? I ‘eard ‘e got arrested.”

So Daniel wasn’t the highest card in the deck. Through his inebriation, he didn’t realize that Cappy wouldn’t have been at the party three years ago. He would only have been eleven.  

“Tyrone Wahlberg? It’s a blue Chevy. Nah, he didn’t get arrested.”

Another guy called over to Daniel, wanting him to settle an argument.

“Catcha later,” said Daniel.

Cappy and I shared a look. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and wrote
Tyrone Wahlberg, blue Chevy
on my palm.

We used the same ploy on several other people, and got one more hit on the name Tyrone, but nothing additional. We wandered back inside, targeting some of the older kids, to no avail. I spied Jason Krepp across the room and whispered in Cappy’s ear that we should go speak to him. I led the way.

“Hello,” I said. “Remember me? Simon’s cousin.” I kept my hands in my pockets. The way his fingers kept picking at his face creeped me out, and I didn’t want to shake his hand. And I certainly didn’t want to experience his drug use through psychometry.   

“Yeah, I remember you. At least we know where the looks in the family come from.” He tried to wink, but with his mouth hanging open, I wasn’t flattered. He was already drunk.

“So yeah,” I said. “I guess this is the house that got busted a few years ago, huh?”

He looked around. “Now that you mention it, yesh.” He pulled a fat joint from his top pocket and lit it, sucking the smoke in deeply, holding it, then blowing it out. “Want a hit?” He held it out to me.

I smiled a little sickly and shook my head. “Uh, no. Thank you, I’ve had enough.” And by enough, I meant enough of being near Jason. I’m very sensitive to hallucinogenics, alcohol, or any other type of drugs due to Psychometry. Even being near him smoking marijuana made me wobbly.

“Hey, why don’t you and me go have a little drink together.” He linked his arm through mine and began to lead me into another room. “Your little friend here won’t mind, I’m sure.”

“I’m sure I do mind,” said Cappy, taking my other arm.

Jason insistently tugged back. “Get lost, you little runt.” His face turned mean, and I remembered that he’d been the one to get in a fight that night three years ago.

“I think we should be going,” I said to Jason, trying to tug my arm out of his grasp. Stronger than he looked, his fingers dug into my arm.

“How’s about a snog first.” His puckered lips came dangerously close to mine. His hot breath against my face nearly made me gag.

I cringed. “No!” I yelled, pushing against him, to no avail.

A fist shot through the air, whizzing by my face and into Jason’s nose. He stumbled back into a group of people. A scream rent the air, joined by screaming and confusion. Blood spurted in every direction, including on me.

At the same time, someone yelled, “Cops!”

 Kids scattered in every direction like an ant colony that just got stomped on.

Dizziness overcame me. I’m sure I’ve mentioned once or twice that I don’t do blood. And now the chaos and the warmth of the room added to my faintness.

Cappy threw another fist into Jason’s stomach and Jason bent double.

Cappy grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the front door. One glimpse of blue uniform and he yanked me the other way. We joined the swarm pushing out the back door. A quick glance over my shoulder and I thought I spied D.S. Robbie O’Boyle. Our gazes locked before I turned around and pushed through the crowd of people. Grabbing my hand so we didn’t get separated, we ran to the back fence. By now, policemen covered the back door, grabbing kids by their shirts and lining them against a wall.

Cappy flung himself at the fence and easily pulled himself over. But with my heels and tight pants, I didn’t fare so well. I got stuck halfway up. My feet scrambled for purchase. Cappy clutched the back of my coat, nearly pulling it over my head. A shout and a tug on my boot from the opposite side made me grasp the fence tightly. I kicked out blindly. An oof from behind told me I connected.

“Pull!”
I yelled to Cappy.

Hands grabbed me from behind. I renewed my struggle and kicked wildly, loosening the grip on my waist.

“I’m trying! Yer’ not as light as you look,” Cappy grunted.  

One last tug from Cappy on both of my arms with his full weight behind it, combined with my back-kicks, and I slumped to the ground on the other side. A head poked over the fence to look down at us. Cappy tugged me up and we took off running through the vacant lot.

Glancing back briefly before climbing another fence, I saw that the police hadn’t pursued us. But a tingling at the back of my skull told me trouble still lingered. The danger now came from ahead of us instead of behind.

I looked to the left where a stand of trees stood. “This way!” I ran and Cappy followed. I lunged for the lowest branch on the nearest tree and swung my leg up and over. Cappy did the same, and this time, I pulled him up. We climbed higher before choosing a limb to sit on and catch our breath.

Voices came from the area near the second fence. It had been a trap. The cops went around the block to catch the runners as they came over the fence.

But not us.

I grinned at Cappy.

He grinned back.

Chapter Sixteen

Party Discussed

Slinking quietly through the back door of the Blind Badger, Cappy and I slipped into the snug unnoticed.  

“Finally,”
said Simon. “We were getting worried.”

Badger’s face mirrored Simon’s. “What took so long? We were about to come looking for you.” His eyes widened once he got a good look at us.
“And why are the two of you covered in blood and looking like you crossed no-man’s land and barely survived?”

Blood?
I looked down at my shirt and quickly back up. I knew some blood splattered me, of course. It spurted from Jason’s nose, right in front of me. Like a ketchup bottle after it’s been knocked against a table a few times and then exploded from pressure. I hadn’t known so much landed on me. My own blood was bad enough, but someone else’s? My stomach churned.

No wonder we got odd looks on the bus. Dirt and blood covered me. After trying to get over the fence and then running across a dirt field, not to mention climbing a tree. Cappy looked worse than I did, having been closer to the situation than me.

We looked like we’d been in a brawl—with each other.

By unspoken agreement, we didn’t discuss anything about the party on the bus.  Not convinced we had actually gotten away, I worried the cops might meet us at the next bus stop and drag us down to the station with the other kids. We didn’t want anyone to overhear us.

I knew Robbie saw me. Our eyes had met and locked.

I wobbled on my feet, a result of the whole practically-bathing-in-blood thing.

“Sit down, Indigo.” Badger took my arm and helped me to a chair. “Get your head down before you faint.”

Badger turned on Cappy accusingly. “What happened? You were supposed to take care of her and instead you bring her back all beat up?”

Cappy’s eyes widened briefly before he replied. “That’s right. She got a bit lippy, didn’t she? So I punched her, right in the schnozzle.
Pow!”

“Cappy,” I warned, lifting my head from between my knees, “maybe this isn’t the time to joke around.”

“Are you going to be sick?” Simon asked.