Tansy Taylor (3 page)

Hearing me swear, the man swiveled around. He was young; about twenty three, I’d guess. He was dressed in jeans and a work shirt with an embroidered name on it. ‘Buster’, it said in curlicue font. No fucking way. If I couldn’t see his reflection and Callie wasn’t jumping for joy at seeing Buster peer out from behind the dumpster, than it could only mean one thing. I was looking at a ghost. Unbelievable, only in my dreams did I ever think I’d meet a ghost. Yet, here I was, he was looking at me, and I was looking at him. “Fuck,” I said again. I was absolutely freaked out, but at the same time totally in awe of the situation. I had no idea what to do-run screaming like a mad woman? Callie would surely think I was an absolute fruitcake and I had no idea what this ghost would do. So, I decided to swallow my fear and disbelief and go with a more diplomatic approach. I smiled a goofy grin and gave him a little wave. I was the biggest dork ever.

Chapter Four

“Can you seem me?” he asked. He waved his hands out in front of him in my general direction. All I could do was nod.

“What’s wrong with me? Why can’t Callie see me? What is going on? What…”

He was on a rant and I had to stop him. “Well, Buster, right?” I whispered as loud as I could. He nodded. “I’m Tansy, and well, I don’t know how else to tell you this, but I think you’re a ghost or a spirit or something.” I waited a moment for this to sink in.

“So, that would mean I’m dead?” His face fell, and he looked sadder than a puppy in the pound.

“I’m afraid that’s exactly what it means. You don’t remember?” This was not going to be helpful in finding out who killed Buster and why, if he didn’t even know he was dead. What an odd situation.

“Nope. All I remember is walking out to my truck and setting my lunchbox down. My cell phone buzzed like it does when I have a text. The next thing I remember is being here, wandering around, and nobody would talk to me. I guess that makes sense now, since I’m a ghost and all.” He ran his hands through his hair. I had to admit, Callie had herself quite a hunk, when he was alive. He looked just like he had when he was alive, which sort of threw my theory on ghosts looking like they did when they died. If not, I figured that he would have gunshots, blood or something to indicate the way that he died. He didn’t though, he looked perfect.

I glanced back around the side of the dumpster. Callie was walking toward me, a curious look on her face.

I turned to Buster. “Look, we’re trying to figure out what happened to you and why, me and Callie. She can’t see you, and frankly, I just met her and don’t want her to think I’m completely nuts. So, I’ll be back to talk to you later. Just hang around the dealership and I’ll come find you when I can. I have some questions.”

He shrugged, his hands tucked into his pockets. “Sure thing. I don’t think I can leave anyway. I tried to go find Callie, but it is like there is an imaginary bubble holding me here at Big’s.” He stood there, a dreamy look on his face, as he watched Callie walk toward us.

“Interesting…” I said just under my breath.

“Tansy? You okay? Are you talking to someone?” Crap. Well, I guess I need to decide whether I am going to let my new friend think that I am totally delusional or tell a little white lie. I’m going with the lie.

“Just myself,” I said, trying not to pay any attention to Buster, who was jumping up and down in front of Callie, yelling at the top of his voice. I squeezed out a tense smiled. This was going to be hard, ignoring a ghost. I brushed some dirt from my skirt

“So what were you doing back there?” Callie looked quizzically at the dumpster.

“Oh, I thought I saw something. There was nothing there of course, but I figured I should look around for any evidence. In case whoever did this tossed something or left something behind. Nothing back there but old fast food wrappers though.”

Buster had turned his attention to me now. “Why aren’t you telling her about me?” I tried to communicate with my eyebrows and made the international sign for ‘crazy’ but he didn’t seem to get it. Luckily Callie was still interested in the dumpster and was now climbing up the side to peer in.

“Damn. Looks like it was just emptied.” She hopped down. Buster was hovering around her, still trying to get her attention.

“Give it up, it won’t work.” I threw my arms up at Buster’s antics.

“Huh?” Oh, of course she thinks I was talking to her, who else would I be talking to?

“I said, we can’t give up, let’s get to work.” Phew. Glad to find out that I was pretty good at this lying business, now if I can just keep from looking crazy.

I took Callie by the elbow. Let’s go meet some of these other auto detailers and see if they can shed any light. I looked at Buster, giving him my best evil stink eye. “Calm down,” I mouthed silently. I could see that he got the point. He wasn’t as dumb as I had figured him for, being a car wash boy and all.

“There’s James, he goes by Jimbo, and then a new guy. I can’t remember his name though. He started about a month ago I think. The office is just through this door.” She held open the door and I went into what appeared to be some sort of metal warehouse. The inside was rigged with hoses hanging from the ceiling, like you would find at a DIY car wash. There were also giant vacuum hoses that were attached to the wall. The place was neat and tidy, and extremely loud. I plugged my ears.

“Over there is the office.” Callie pointed toward the far corner, cupped her mouth and shouted. “That’s Jimbo in the office. Must be the new guy that’s out here on the floor working.” Amazingly, I caught most of what she said. Buster was behaving and hung back from Callie just a bit. I think that he realized he was giving her the chills.

I pounded on the door. I got a grimace in return.

“No need to break my door!” Jimbo appeared to be a middle age redneck with a Texas drawl and a nice size beer belly. He looked from me to Callie and surprise registered on his face. I saw a leafy green aura surround him, and knew that his surprise most likely was out of sympathy.

“Callie, what are you doing down here? Are you sure that you should be out? I am so sorry about Buster. We all miss him somthin’ fierce around here. He was a great guy, never did no one no harm. I just can’t wrap my brain around why anyone would want to do him wrong.” His frown reached far, but not all the way to his eyes. Something was not quite right. He definitely felt bad for Callie, but I had a hunch that he was entertaining some firm ideas about what might have happened to Buster.

“Oh, thanks Jimbo, for worrying about me. I’m okay. I just want to find out more about what happened to Buster. I can’t let this just go away, I need to get some closure.” Callie smiled warmly at him and then turned to me. “This is Buster’s sister, Sandra. She’s here just trying to do the same. So we’re talking to people that knew Buster.” Jimbo looked at me suspiciously.

I went for it and gave him a huge hug; no easy feat since I was about half his size, both in height and girth. “Oh Jimbo, I just know Buster loved you.” I gave a little fake hiccup cry and then took out my hankie and wiped my eyes.

“Oh! Well, okay.” He floundered about where to put his hands and then gently tried to pry me off. He finally succeeded and stood there looking at me a bit awkwardly. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was suspicious or just didn’t know what to say in response to my breach of his personal space.

“Buster never mentioned a sister.”

“Oh, well, half-sister, really. And I live out of town, so we didn’t really see much of each other. Not that close, you know. But now, I just feel like I need to wrap myself up with those he was closest too in order to get a good final picture of him. I would want to remember him in happy times, not…”

“Ahem” Callie coughed to get my attention. I was totally rambling and going into places that I needn’t.

“Oh, but anyway,” I continued, “I just wanted to meet you and the other workers.” I smiled and reached out to him again. “If I could just feel your energy.”

“Whoa!” Jimbo was scrambling back away from me. Good. I had convinced him that I was a little on the batty side.

“Why don’t you come over here and meet our other detailer, Johnny.” He quickly walked around me and back out the office door and into the noise. We followed, of course.

“Johnny!” Jimbo yelled but I didn’t think there was anyway someone with normal hearing could possibly hear him, especially since they had to wear earplugs. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of those, the noise was deafening. Jimbo tapped the man, Johnny, on the shoulder, trying not to startle him. I suppose that it must suck getting startled anytime someone wanted to talk to you. Johnny didn’t flinch though.

Oh, my, Johnny was a hottie. I found myself suddenly very self-conscious of what I was wearing and how much of an idiot I looked like. Johnny looked from me to Callie and switched off the giant vacuum thingy. All of a sudden the garage went silent, and we were all left with only a slight ringing in the ears.

“What can I do for you ladies?” Hottie had some nice eyes; they sparkled and reminded me of the blue glass I used to find on the beach growing up. I tried not to sigh, I was smitten. This, unfortunately, is how it works for me and the opposite sex. I am either not at all attracted to them and can function completely like a normal person, or, well, basically the opposite happens. I am instantly sucked into an alternate universe of complete attraction, reduced to a non-verbal clumsy, and highly dysfunctional pile of goo. Fortunately, I have gotten past the slobbering that used to happen when I was in high school, thank god.

“Oh, look who has a little crush!” Buster the ghost, who had thankfully remained silent up to this point, just had to make a comment.

“No!” I screeched. All eyes turned to me. Oh, perfect, already I am looking like a complete mental patient.

Buster was laughing, actually, rolling on the ground. I am guessing that he was finding the little bits of humor he could in his situation. Well, I had to give him credit for being able to rise above. I tuned out Buster as best I could and refocused on the group in front of me.

“No, what?” Johnny was looking at me with those twinkly eyes. I tried to form words but, no luck. I looked pleadingly at Callie.

“She’s just really upset is all; she’s trying as best she can, but every now and then she just kinda breaks down.” Callie had the look of someone who was trying to convince everyone, even herself, that what she spoke was the truth. I caught Johnny giving her a compassionate look. One that said, “I’m so sorry that you got saddled with this woman.” Both Johnny and Jimbo turned and looked at me like I was a loon. Oh, well, at least I was living up to my persona of Sandra, the crazy half sister.

“Sandra is Buster’s sister.” She added, trying to make her lie a bit more believable.

“You’re Callie, right? Buster’s girlfriend?” Johnny asked Callie as he peeled his eyes off of me.

“Yes, that’s right. I don’t think that I ever had the chance to meet you. Buster said nice things about you though. He was really glad that someone else had been hired and he could work less overtime.” Although Callie had relaxed when she got to truthfully answer, her eyes were now about ready to spill over. I had forgotten how hard this must be for her.

I interrupted. “So, we came down today to visit with people that Buster liked and was close to. We want to be able to leave him at peace with a good memory.” What a load of BS, I thought. Buster must have too, because he was booing and blowing raspberries at me. “You are such a load of shit! I don’t even have a half-sister.” I gave him the evil eye, but he persisted. I had better suck it up and move past my inopportune attraction to Johnny the hottie.

“So you knew Buster, Johnny?” I asked sounding mostly normal.

Johnny nodded. “I just started a little over a month ago, but I worked with him every day. I don’t think that I have ever met a more honest and friendly person.” He shrugged. “He just disappeared, huh?”

Callie nodded. “But I have this really awful feeling that he is dead. The police don’t seem to know what to make of it. They have it listed as a missing person, but say that there were signs of a struggle near his truck. When I talked to the detective yesterday, he said that they will most likely rule it a kidnapping.” Her shoulders drooped and she grabbed my hand. “But they haven’t asked for a ransom or contacted us. So…” her voice trailed off into a sniff and her shoulders shuddered. I handed her a small pack of tissues that I kept in my purse.

“So you think that something bad has happened then? Like he was killed?”

Callie nodded and I could see that Johnny seemed really interested in what she had to say. Interesting, I thought, for someone who barely knew the guy and just met Callie. I concentrated on his aura and saw that his was a mix of yellow and greens and what appeared to be a hint of brown. I got the feeling that he was pretty solid, intellectual, and sensitive. It was an interesting combination for a wash bay boy for sure. I saw him look up at me, probably sensing that I was concentrating on him. It was hard to read auras without causing people to wonder why I was staring. It was also why I usually didn’t do it without someone specifically asking for their aura to be read. I quickly cleared my throat and then gave Callie a hug.

“I think that we should be going, Callie. I think you have had enough for today.” I smiled at Jimbo and Johnny. “Thanks for taking the time today guys, we really appreciate it.”

“Stop by anytime,” Jimbo said. It didn’t really feel like he meant it though.

“It was nice meeting you Callie, and you too, Sandra.” Johnny wiped his hands on a rag. I quickly shuttled Callie back toward the wash bay exit. I couldn’t risk shaking that man’s hand, lest I be morphed back into my dysfunctional alter ego.

On their way outside Buster was jumping up and down again right in front of them.

“You can’t leave! I have to find out what happened to me! I know that I am here, left behind or whatever, for a reason!” He kept going on and on. Frankly, I was finding it really hard to walk in a straight line toward the car. I have never had to contend with a ghost before, and he was certainly distracting me from even the simplest of tasks.

“Are we just going to leave? I know that someone here must know something. We should be asking more questions!” I could see that Callie was ready to keep going for as long as it took; the look of exhausted determination made me think of a boxer in the ring for round 9. I had to make her see that we should stop for now, regroup, and come back with a better plan of attack.