Ghost Hunter (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer Book 2): (Ghost Cozy Mystery series) (11 page)

Chapter 22

After I recovered from my shock, I swung around to look at the officer in the room. He was watching the monitor, a smile on his face as if he were watching his favorite show on TV.

“You
were
using him as bait!” I said accusingly.

The officer just looked at me sideways and then continued to watch the screen. He did not respond.

I turned my attention to the screen. Kelly was still struggling. This
was
a set up!

Detective Brown from earlier entered the room. “What was in that poison concealed in that ring on your finger?”

“Get it tested and find out for yourself,” Kelly said rudely.

“So,” Brown said, “you thought you could sneak in here, with your back to the camera, sneak a syringe from the countertop and inject whatever it was in your ring into Mullein’s drip.”

“You’re the one telling the story,” Kelly said rudely.

“No,
you’ll
be the one telling the story—to a judge,” Brown said. He turned to address the others. “Get him out of here! I don’t want to look at him any longer.” He walked over to the bed. “How are you doing?” he asked Alum.

Alum gestured to the tumbler of water beside his bed, and the cop handed it to him. Alum took a sip before answering. “I’ve been better, but then I’ve been a lot worse. I’m just glad he’s finally caught.” His voice sounded weak and strained.

“Don’t try to talk too much yet,” the cop said.

I continued to stare at the monitor with disbelief and with more than a little relief. In fact, the relief was so overwhelming that I could feel myself trembling. After all this time, it had finally come to this. Alum was alive, and not only alive, but he was sitting up in bed, looking weak but looking good. He appeared just as he had when he had appeared to me as a spirit.

The door to the monitor room opened, and Detective Brown walked in. “Now, you have some explaining to do.”

“I’ve already explained it all to you,” I said. “I came here to warn you that Alum’s partner, Detective Stanfield Kelly, was going to try to kill him, and that’s exactly what happened. If I was working for Kelly, why would I warn you? Besides, there’s a good chance that Alum will remember me.”

Of course, I fervently hoped that this was the case, for personal reasons more than anything else. Alum and I had been developing a relationship, a close relationship, and I had been certain that he felt about me the same way that I felt about him. If he didn’t remember me, then that would all have been as if it never happened. My stomach clenched at the thought.

I looked up to see Brown watching me intently. He turned on his heel and left the room. I watched all the monitors to see where he was going, and he went back into Alum’s room. Alum was leaning back against the pillows, his bed raised, enabling him to sit up more easily.

The cop appeared on the monitor. He walked over to Alum and whispered something to him. Alum’s jaw dropped, and he sat bolt upright. He nodded to the man, and then swung to the screen. The cop signaled to the camera, and the officer in the room with me immediately turned the monitor off.

“What was all that about?” I asked him, but he did not respond.

Detective Brown walked back into the room. He pulled out a red plastic chair from under a bench, and sat on it facing me. He nodded to the other cop, who promptly left the room.

“Well, Prudence, I’m going to fill you in. It all sounds a bit far-fetched to me, but I’ve learned the hard way that there are more things in heaven and earth, so I’ve always tried to keep an open mind.”

I nodded, my mouth dry.

He continued. “Alum was able to speak with us for the first time yesterday, and he’s improved considerably since then. He told us how his partner was the one who shot him. It was all to do with a cocaine crime ring.”

I nodded. “Alum told me all about that—Jason Taylor’s gang.”

The cop raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question me. “That’s correct. Alum uncovered some information linking his partner, Detective Kelly, to the gang, which was when his partner shot him and left him for dead.”

“So Alum remembers what the connection was?” I asked with surprise.

The officer shifted in his seat. “Yes, but I can’t tell you anything about that. Now to get back to what I was saying. Alum was able to tell us all the details about how his partner shot him. Another officer found Alum after he’d been shot, and Alum had managed to tell others that he was onto something concerning the corrupt members of the police force, so we brought him to this medical unit in the safe house. Which reminds me, you’re going to have to sign some documents to guarantee that you won’t ever divulge this location.”

“Of course, of course,” I said hurriedly, hoping he would continue filling me in. “Please go on.”

“Well, that’s about it,” he said with a shrug. “Alum was brought to the medical unit here in the safe house, and he wasn’t able to talk when he came out of the coma—he wasn’t able to tell us who had shot him. When he did tell us, we knew his partner would come to him, so we set up a trap for him, and by the way, Alum was fully in agreement with that.”

I sat there silently processing all the information. Finally, I nodded. “I see.” The officer didn’t say anything, so I spoke again. “Can I see Alum?” I bit my lip, nervously waiting for his answer.

He simply nodded. “Come with me.”

I thought I had been nervous before, but now my nerves consumed me entirely. What made me even think Alum would remember me? After all, he had appeared to me when he was in a coma. If he remembered me at all, he would probably think it was a dream. How could I move forward, with Alum, from here? It all seemed so silly, so hopeless.

What if Alum didn’t recognize me at all? Then I would never see him again. A single tear found its way down my cheek and I roughly wiped it away. Within seconds, I would know the answer, and I wasn’t prepared for it to go the wrong way. At least the police no longer thought I was a threat to Alum, but that was no consolation if Alum didn’t recognize me.

Detective Brown opened the door, and I walked into the room. It looked like any other room in a hospital. Alum was sitting in the bed, and his eyes opened wide when he saw me.

I didn’t know what to say. I just stared at him, frozen to the spot.

Then Alum spoke. “Prudence!” He threw his arms open wide for a hug.

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About Morgana Best
.

#1 Best-selling Cozy Mystery author, Morgana Best, lives in a small, historic, former gold mining town in the middle of nowhere in Australia. She is owned by one highly demanding, rescued cat who is half Chinchilla, and two less demanding dogs, a chocolate Labrador and a rescued Dingo, as well as two rescued Dorper sheep, the ram, Herbert, and his wether friend, Bertie.

Morgana is a former college professor who now writes full time.

In her spare time, Morgana loves to read cozy mysteries, repurpose furniture, and renovate her old house.