Treasured Legacies (A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery) (19 page)

The driveway that led down to Sawyer’s house was gray
asphalt and was bordered with tulips and crocuses.
 
Occasionally some statuary of a troll or frog
was tucked near a bush or under a tree.
 
It was a very welcoming setting, but Mary doubted the owners would be
that welcoming if they understood why she was there.

Parking her car in the circular drive in front of the house,
she walked up the steps and knocked on the front door.
 
A moment later, Sawyer Gartner opened the
door and scowled. “Can I help you?” he growled in the most unhelpful way.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mary replied pleasantly. “You probably
don’t remember me. I’m Mary. We met when I was being shown the house next
door.”

His frown relaxed into a smile. “I’m sorry,” he said
apologetically. “Of course, now that you mention it, you do look familiar. I
apologize, for my rudeness. I’ve been a little on edge lately.”

Mary bit back the smile as she recalled Dale’s stories of
haunting Sawyer’s house. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she lied. “Shall I come back at
another time?”

“No, no, come in,” he insisted. “What can I do for my
potential neighbor?”

Mary came in, but stayed in the front foyer of the house. “I
don’t want to intrude on your day,” she said sheepishly. “But I have an odd
question for you.
 
I’ve tried to speak
with the realtor about it, but she just evades my questions.
 
And that makes me even more nervous.”

“Nervous about what?”
Sawyer asked.

Mary leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice. “Do you
know…” she paused.

“Yes?” Sawyer prompted, leaning towards her.

She took a deep breath. “Do you know how the former owner of
the house died?” she asked.

Sawyer jumped back as if he’d been scalded. “What? Why would
I know that?” he demanded.

Mary shrugged. “Well, because you live next door and you
said you were friends,” she said simply. “So I thought you must have known.”

Sawyer leaned against a door frame and inhaled quickly. “Ah,
oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Of course I know. He died in a farming accident.
 
He must have accidentally locked himself into
a grain silo when his sons were out harvesting the corn crop.
 
They didn’t know he was in there when they
emptied the harvest into the top of the silo.
 
He was crushed and suffocated.”

“Oh, how awful,” Mary said, covering her mouth with her
hand. “That had to have been a horrible way to die.
 
Maybe that’s why…”

She paused, met his eyes for a moment, and then turned
away.
 
“No.
Never
mind.”

“Never mind what?” he asked.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” she said, shaking her
head nervously. “I can’t believe it myself.”

“Believe what?” Sawyer nearly yelled.

She leaned forward again. “I think I’ve seen him,” she
whispered. “I mean, I think I’ve seen his ghost.”

“What is he doing?” Sawyer asked.

“Just walking around the house,” Mary said. “I’ve been to
the house twice and both times, out of the corner of my eye, I’ve seen a man.”

“What does he look like?” Sawyer asked, his voice shaking
slightly.

“He’s tall with brown hair, he’s wearing a plaid flannel
shirt, a pair of overalls and a denim barn coat,” she said. “And he’s wearing
work boots.
 
Does that sound like him?”

Sawyer nodded, his eyes looking past Mary. “Yes,” he
whispered slowly. “That sounds exactly like him.”

“It’s so strange,” Mary said. “I thought ghosts only came
back when they were murdered.”

“Where did you hear that?” he asked.

“Oh, well, I read things and watch documentaries,” she
replied. “And let me tell you, I would hate to be someone a ghost is after.”

“Why?” he stammered. “Why is that?”

“Well, if they don’t drive you mad,” Mary said, lowering her
voice dramatically. “They find some way to get even.”

Sawyer swallowed. “Good thing,” he began, but his voice
squeaked and then he cleared it several times. “Good thing he wasn’t murdered.”

Mary nodded. “Yes, because he doesn’t seem like the kind of
man I’d want to mess with,” she said.

Suddenly a loud crash came from the back of his house.
 
Sawyer looked at her with fear and panic in
his eyes.

“Oh, well, I don’t need to take up any more of your time,”
she said, grasping the door and pulling it open. “Thanks for the information.”

“Don’t you want to stay,” he offered urgently. “I can make
refreshments.”

“No, sorry,
gotta
go,” Mary said,
stepping back out of the house. “Have a nice day.”

She pulled the door closed on Sawyer’s face and swallowed to
keep down the laughter that wanted to bubble to the surface. Sawyer Gartner was
going to get his just deserts and she was happy to be part of the group that
was giving it to him.

“So, how did it go?” Bradley asked as Mary walked into the
house.

“Well, if I had any doubts that Sawyer is our murderer,” she
said, “his behavior this morning swept them all away.
 
He was very nervous and when Dale knocked
over something in his living room, I thought he was going to have a heart
attack right there on the spot.”

Dale appeared in the room and Mary walked over and put her
hand on Bradley’s shoulder.

“I dropped his good citizenship award off the mantel,” Dale
said. “It was given to him the same year he killed me.
 
Just my little way of saying I disagree with
the judges.”

“Are we all set for tonight?” Mary asked.

“Yes, we’re trading the Brennans, they get Clarissa all day
today and overnight and we get the whole crew next Friday for pizza and a movie,
so they can actually go on a date.”

“That sounds like a fair deal,” she said. “But the girls get
to pick the movie this time.”

Bradley nodded. “Okay, but nothing too violent or scary,” he
said. “The last one you picked even gave me nightmares.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Wimp,” she teased.

“I also picked up all of the recording equipment at the
station,” Bradley said. “Once Josh is wired, all we have to do is get Sawyer to
confess.”

“What do you want me to do?” Dale asked.

“I want you to watch Mary,” Bradley said.

“What?” they both asked in unison.

“Wait, this is my case,” she said.

“Yep, and you are carrying my baby,” he replied. “Besides,
having extra people near the house will only
be
a
disadvantage.
 
Sawyer could see you.”

“But, I’m a ghost,” Dale said. “I should be in on kill. Um,
excuse the pun.”

“We need you next to Mary,” Bradley explained. “She’ll be
wired in too and she’ll be able to hear everything Sawyer is saying.
 
She can feed Josh information from you. If he
asks a question that only you could answer, you have to be there.”

Mary and Dale both frowned. “Fine,” they grumbled.

Bradley grinned. “Nice to see that both of you are being
such grown-ups about this,” he teased.

“Okay, so what do we do until then?” Dale asked.

“Well, you could go back and drive Sawyer a little more
crazy,” Mary suggested. “But don’t do too much; we don’t want him leaving his
house. And I’m going cruising for a ghost.”

“Cruising?” Bradley asked.

Mary nodded. “Yeah,
wanna
come?”

“Sure,” he replied. “I haven’t gone cruising…come to think
of it, I’ve never gone cruising.”

“Me either,” she said.
“Should be fun.”

“Well, while you two go waste gasoline, I’m going to get
some real work done,” Dale muttered and faded away.

“I like him,” Mary said.

“Kind of reminds me of Stanley,” Bradley added with a nod.
“A lot like Stanley.”

Because the weather was so nice, they used the Roadster and
Mary let Bradley drive. With the top down and the warm breeze blowing through
her hair, Mary relaxed as they headed towards Highway 75 on the north side of
town.

“This is really nice,” she said. “It’s almost like a date.”

He looked over at her. “Yeah, but the last time we had a
date your mom ended up barricading herself and Clarissa in the basement,” he
said.

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” she
chuckled. “Well, there was our honeymoon. That was sort of like a date.”

Bradley grinned. “If that’s what you consider a date, we
need to go on a lot more of those,” he said and then he paused. “Hey, how many
boys did you date before you married me?”

She giggled. “No one, remember, I’m the girl with the big
brothers.”

“Yeah,” he said with a contented sigh. “I really like your
brothers.”

“So, do you want to go on a date tonight?” she asked. “You
know, after we solve a murder and all.”

“Sure, where do you want to go?” he asked.

“I know this cute little ice cream parlor,” she said. “It’s
got a jukebox.”

“Sold,” he said. “And I’m figuring that we are going after
hours.”

She turned in her seat and smiled at him. “Did you notice
that I’m developing a habit of going to places after they’re closed?”

“I just figured you were really shy,” he replied.

She nodded and sighed. “Yeah, that must be it.”

Bradley took the curve on Highway 75 slowly, while Mary
scanned the area for any signs of Adam. “Oh, wait,” she said, pointing back
towards a steep ditch that rolled into a steeper gully. “I think I see him in
there.”

“Okay, let me turn around and I’ll park on the shoulder.”

Bradley drove a little further until he found a driveway,
turned the Roadster around and then pulled back to the place Mary had spotted
the ghost.

“Come on,” Mary said, sliding out of the car. “I think I saw
him down here.”

Bradley hurried around to Mary’s side of the car and grabbed
her hand. “It’s pretty steep here,” he said, “Let me help you so you don’t
fall.”

“Bradley, I’ve been scampering down hills all of my life,”
she replied, rolling her eyes.

He stepped in front of her, one foot on level ground, the
other secured on the grassy incline a few inches below. “Mary, I’m here to take
care of …”

Before he could finish, the foot he thought he’d secured
slipped out from under him.
 
Arms
windmilling, he started to fall backward. “Oh, no!” he yelled.

Mary jumped forward and grabbed his jacket, pulling on it
with all of her might.
 
For a moment she
thought he might end of pulling them both down, but finally, she was able to
pull him up onto the level surface.

Without another word, Mary walked around him, placed herself
on the incline and held out her hand. “You were saying?”

Exhaling loudly, he placed his hand in hers. “I was saying,
Mary you’ve been scampering down hills all of your life,” he said.

She grinned.
“Exactly.”

They were able to climb down the gully without further
incident and soon they were walking along the forested banks of a small creek.
“He couldn’t have gone that far,” Mary said. “The trees would have stopped
them.”

“Well, if you go back more than fifty years ago, a lot of
these trees wouldn’t have been here,” Bradley said.

“Oh, yeah, good point,” she agreed.

Mary looked around.
 
It was really a beautiful spot.
 
The creek was shallow and gurgled over and around brown, grey and black
river stones that had long since been made smooth by the constant movement of
water.
 
The edges of the creek were just
beginning to burst with green, as jack-in-the-pulpits, plantain and cattails
were pushing out of the brown soil and up towards the sunlight.
 
The air smelled wonderful, a combination of
moist clay soil, spring breezes and fresh water. She wished she could bottle it
up and bring it home. “We should have brought a picnic lunch,” she said.

Bradley dug into his jacket pocket. “I have some
lifesavers,” he offered.

Mary reached over and chose the green one on top and popped
it into her mouth. “Perfect,” she said.

Suddenly she heard a noise behind her and turned. Her
audible gasp had Bradley reaching for her hand and his exclamation echoed
hers.
 
The young man, wearing a
letter-sweater from
Aquin
High School with the year
58 on it, was pushing his way through the vegetation towards them.
 
His head was crushed on one side and mottled
blood covered most of his face. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said politely.
“But I can’t seem to find my girlfriend. My car flipped off the road and I’ve
been searching for her, but I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Is your girlfriend Erika?” Mary asked. “Erika Arnold?”

A smile wreathed his face. “Yeah, that’s her,” he said.
“Have you seen her?”

Mary nodded. “Yes, I have, she’s been looking for you too,”
she said. “Can you meet her tonight at about ten-thirty at Union Dairy?”

“I sure can,” he said, trying to run his hand through his
hair, the dirt and dried blood making it impossible to smooth. “I guess I
gotta
clean up a little if I’m going to see her.”

“She will be happy to see you no matter what you look like,”
Mary said. “She’s been waiting for you for a long time.”

“Yeah, me too,” he replied eagerly. “Gosh, it seems like
I’ve been searching for her for forever.”

“We’ll see you at ten-thirty, right,” Mary said. “If for
some reason you can’t find it, just think of me and you’ll find it right away.”

“Are you some kind of genie?” he asked.

Mary smiled. “Yeah, something like that,” she said. “See you
then.”