beyond the grave 03 - a ghostly demise (8 page)

“He said that after he graduated, right after Cephus left, he went to Cincinnati, where they do the majority of minor-league wrestling.” Granny continued to tell the tale and cut the pies. I followed along, putting a slice on each plate along with a scoop of ice cream. “He said this big manager took to him like a daddy.”

“A daddy?” Cephus cried out from behind me. “Teddy has got a daddy. Me!”

I jumped, sending a glob of ice cream soaring through the air.

“What is wrong with you?” Granny growled.

“I’m in a hurry.” I nodded up to her clock. “I have a dinner date with Jack Henry and I need to get something to fix.”

“Don’t you worry. I’ve got something you can take.” Granny began her tale again. “Anyway . . .” She paused to remember where she left off.

“Like a daddy,” I reminded her.

“Daddy my ass.” Cephus wrung his hands again. “I’m gonna need that ice-cold Stroh’s to keep up with this, Emma Lee. Soon.”

I took a deep breath, trying to listen to Granny and tune out Cephus. I was going to need that ice-cold Stroh’s to keep my sanity.

“Right, like a daddy. The guy taught him how to do all the right wrestling moves and took him clear out to Calee-fornia.” Granny’s accent was good at destroying many words.
California
was one of them. “Then he got himself an agent and now he’s wrestling all over. Next month he’s going to make his big debut at that WWE on TV.”

“Is that right?” I asked.

“Pay per view.” Granny finished with the last piece of pie and walked over to the freezer. She took something out, put it in an Artie’s plastic bag, and put it on the table. “Dinner for you and Jack Henry. All you have to do is nuke it.”

“Great.” I kissed Granny on the cheek and grabbed the bag. “Wait,” I stopped at the door. “What did they say about Cephus and Terk?”

“Teddy fidgeted when I asked Leotta about Terk. He didn’t like it at all.” Granny took in a deep breath. “Leotta said that she and Terk were just friends and he let her use his car when she needed to.”

“That’s my boy.” Cephus perked up a little bit.

“Did she say anything about Bea Allen?”

“Emma Lee, I swear. You are getting worse than Beulah Paige. Where are you coming up with all this nonsense?” Granny spat. “Right here at election time too.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” I winked.

Granny laughed.

In the South, a wink speaks louder than words.

Chapter 9

I
had barely gotten home and changed my clothes when Jack Henry came knocking at my door.

If I hadn’t taken the long way around the square, I would have made it home ten minutes earlier and gotten the food in the microwave. I didn’t want to risk seeing Digger Spears. The way I figured it, Digger would see me and Jack Henry at the carnival and drop the subject of grabbing a beer.

The ten-minute walk did give me time to assess and reassess the list of notes I had taken on my phone. The suspects I thought could have killed Cephus and the suspects he thought had killed him. I kept turning the facts and little snippets of information I had collected from not only myself and Cephus, but from Granny, Mary Anna and Bea Allen. The pieces weren’t fitting together like a good little murder mystery. My problem was that it was too early in the investigation game and I was too exhausted to try to figure any more of it out.

“Hey, babe.” Jack Henry’s slow, Southern drawl made my toes curl, tickling my heart. “I’ve been wrestling goats all afternoon. I’m starving.”

“Good. Me too.” I opened the door and took his hat. “How were the goats? Was it baaaaad?”

“Nice impression.” Jack Henry bent down and kissed the tip of my nose. “Sanford Brumfield swears someone is letting them out. I even looked at the fence and the gate. Those are some talented goats to be able to get out of those pens.”

“Was Dottie Kramer beside herself?” I asked.

Dottie had always lived a life of solitude. She would come into town on Farmer’s Market Day, sell her veggies and go back home. She did come to funerals to pay her respect and she was seated in the front row of the Baptist church every Sunday, but other than that, she was pretty much a hermit.

“She was. She said they had ruined her berries and in turn cost her money. Sanford plucked a few hundred from his money clip and handed it to her. He said he’d make good by her. I warned him that if they got out again, he’d face a fine. He assured me they wouldn’t get out.” Jack Henry smiled. His dimples deepened.

Jack Henry Ross was one of those guys who got better-looking over time. Every time I saw him, my heart did flip-flops in my chest. I ran my hands through his brown, high-and-tight cop cut and stared deep into his big brown eyes before I gave him a kiss.

“So”—he stepped in and followed me down my little hall into the small family room—“let’s get this over with.”

“What?” I shrugged and held up a finger. “I’ll be right back. I want to check on dinner.”

Charlotte Rae and I had turned the family residence into another viewing room when we took over Eternal Slumber, leaving a little one-bedroom apartment in the rear. It was plenty enough space for me and my needs. There was a bedroom, kitchenette, bathroom, and small television room. I left Jack Henry in front of the TV.

I flipped the light on in the kitchenette and pulled the dinners out of the plastic grocery bag.

“
LEAN MEAL
?” I read the label of the frozen TV dinner Granny had stuck in the plastic grocery bag.

I knocked on the hard cardboard box with a picture of a flat piece of chicken smothered in some sort of white sauce and pieces of chopped-up asparagus. “Lean Meals?” I asked again, and took out the other Lean Meal Granny thought was good enough for my romantic dinner with Jack Henry.

“How’s dinner coming?” Jack Henry walked in and put his arms around my waist. He took a deep inhale before he snuggled in my neck. “Your hair smells like cigarette smoke.”

He pulled back. His eyes slid around me and focused on the microwave meals.

“Emma Lee? What is going on?” Jack Henry’s eyes hooded like they did when he was on a case. I zipped the cardboard zipper off the side of one of the boxes. “Have you been working on this whole Cephus Hardy notion all day long?”

I ripped the plastic cover off the Lean Meal.

“I’m telling you, Cephus Hardy is dead.” I bent down and took a good long whiff of the contents, which were supposed to be chicken. “You and I both know what it means when a ghost comes to visit me. The visits aren’t friendly ‘hey missing you from Great Beyond’ chitchats. Or the big guy from the sky sends his love.”

“What is that?” He reached over and flicked the layer of ice that had formed over the top the Lean Meal.

“That’s . . .” I bit my lip, “protective covering for the meal. It keeps it good.”

“Protective covering? Is that what people are calling freezer burn nowadays?” He chuckled. “I’m not eating that.”

“Oh, Jack Henry,” I whined. “I really did want to make you a nice meal. I had all the intentions in the world. I had gone to Artie’s and that’s when Cephus showed up. Nosy Doc Clyde happened to be walking down the magazine aisle and saw me talking to myself, when I was really talking to Cephus.”

Jack Henry’s jaw and facial features softened. He didn’t seem impressed. He knew I was pretty good at disguising my conversations with ghosts. Not this time.

“I thought Cephus had come home.” I shrugged. “Of course, I had to get out of there once I realized Cephus was not there in the flesh. And that’s when I ran smack-dab into Beulah Paige, who went around telling everyone I had a relapse of the Funeral Trauma, sending Granny into a fit.”

“All I said was that I wasn’t eating that.” He smiled, pointed to the Lean Meal, then gathered me in his arms. “How about we go grab a bite somewhere?”

“Really?” Relief settled in my gut.

“And maybe we can talk about what you found out today.” Jack Henry ran his hand down my arm and took me by the hand, leading me out of the kitchen. “Maybe a beer would do us good.”

“Great.” I tried to keep a steady face when Cephus appeared right next to Jack Henry.

It was hard not to laugh at Cephus’s outfit compared to Jack Henry’s.

“Beer?” Cephus danced. He tapped his forehead. “Tonight is wing night at the Watering Hole. You could go there.”

I bit my lip and grabbed my purse. I felt my back pocket to make sure I had my cell.

“You can ask questions there. All the guys know me pretty well.” Cephus made a compelling argument. “Ask them about Terk, Vernon and Leotta. Dom, dom, dom.” He made some good sound effects. “The murder plot thickens even though I know it was Vernon.”

“Tonight is wing night at the Watering Hole.” Vernon Baxter was far from a killer and I was going to prove that to Cephus once and for all.

“The Watering Hole?” Jack Henry held the door open for me, but not without trying to get his eyes on my face, assessing me like he did a criminal.

I swallowed. “Uh-huh.” I didn’t make eye contact when I walked past him.

“Oh-kay. The Watering Hole it is.” There was no argument from him. I was sure he knew he probably wouldn’t win anyway. “Since we are going that way, why don’t we just keep going and head to Bella Vino Ristorante?”

“Tempting. But I’m not feeling like the forty-minute drive,” I lied. Driving to Lexington, the closest large town near Sleepy Hollow, was really an enjoyable ride of scenic country roads and beautiful foliage. “And the wait would be long since we don’t have a reservation.”

Bella Vino was my favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Watering Hole, where I needed to get answers so I could help Cephus and get my life back.

“Fine.” Jack Henry tapped the wheel of the cop car. It was funny how each of us had a company car as our only car. “How did you get the smoke-filled hair?”

“I went to see Terk Rhinehammer.” I wasn’t sure how much detail I wanted to give him. Like I said, the puzzle pieces of the information I had gathered, or lack thereof, weren’t fitting together. I needed more time. “When I went to Higher Grounds this morning, Leotta Hardy was in there and she was driving Terk’s car. Since Cephus showed, out of the blue . . .” I glanced to the backseat. Cephus wasn’t there. “ . . . and Leotta still believes Cephus is living somewhere else, I just thought I would pop by and see what I could find out.”

“And he was forthcoming to an undertaker’s questions?”

“So I’m not a cop, but I have solved or helped solve a couple crimes. And no.” I shook my head. “I used Granny’s campaign and buttons to go over there. You know, like asking for his vote.”

“Well?” Jack Henry asked.

He turned the car off Main Street and headed down the old country road on the way to the Watering Hole. It was the first stop as soon as you crossed the county line. Sleepy Hollow was in a dry county and that meant no type of liquor or beer sales in any part of the county. The Sleepy Hollow town drunks kept the Watering Hole in business. Smart of the owners to stick it right on the county line.

“Terk opened the door, huffing and puffing, with a beer in his hand and a cig hanging out of his mouth.” I turned in my seat to face Jack Henry. “When I asked him questions about his relationship with Leotta Hardy, he got all choked up and fell out into the yard. I had to get him a glass of water and tried to look around.” I pulled out the piece of paper I had taken. “I took this.”

I held out the paper.

“I am not seeing that.” Jack Henry glanced at my hand and looked away. “That’s illegal. You stole from his home.”

“It’s a piece of paper,” I quipped. “Maybe I needed to write something down about his medical history when I went out there with my water.”

“Is there anything about his medical history on there?”

“No. But I did end up taking him to Doc Clyde’s.”

“Did he have a heart attack or something?”

“Umm . . . no.”

“Why was he choking?”

“Cephus had has hands around his neck.” It sounded horrible and I knew it. “I tried to stop him by yelling stop, but I couldn’t just flat-out talk to him without someone’s seeing me.”

“How the hell did a ghost get his hands around a living person’s neck?” Jack Henry knew about my gift and believed it because he had taken me to a psychic in Lexington who dealt with unexplained paranormal things. She confirmed that I was a Betweener and they wouldn’t leave me alone until I figured out what they wanted.

Unfortunately, my ghost clients wanted me to figure out who murdered them.

“Do you really want me to try to explain?” I asked.

“No, but still. You can’t help ghosts who want to go around murdering people who are living. Do you hear that, Cephus Hardy?” Jack Henry yelled to the back of the car.

“He’s not here.” I grinned at how cute he was being.

“Then you tell him when you do see him,” he warned. “Or I won’t be helping you put together all these little”—he flailed his hand in the direction of the piece of paper I had taken from Terk’s—“clues you seem to find.”

“Okay. I’ll tell him.” I turned back around, putting the piece of paper back in my pants pocket. I could see the half-lit sign of the Watering Hole down the road. It was a large cowboy boot with blinking lights all the way around it. I don’t think I had ever seen all the lights lit at once. There was always a burned-out one, few, or several. “Anyway, Cephus seems to think that Terk and Leotta are having an affair, but I’m not so sure.”

“If anyone can figure out their relationship, you can. Or Zula Fae.” His brows rose and he pulled the car into the gravel lot. He looked out the windshield to find a spot to park. “It’s busy tonight.”

“Wing night is always busy.” Cephus appeared in the back.

“Cephus said wing night is popular.” I pointed out the window to an aisle over where there was spot near the motorcycles.

“I thought you said Cephus wasn’t here.”

“He is now.” I unclicked my seat belt and started to get out before Jack Henry put his hand on me.

“Emma Lee, please don’t make me give you my speech about how you need to stay out of official police business.” He lovingly rubbed my hand. “The little clues are good, but if you find out that Cephus really was murdered, you need to leave it up to the professionals.”