Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 02 - How to Blackmail a Ghost (17 page)

“So he died of natural causes?” Clark’s officer was saying.

“Looks like it from the report.” Clark scratched his head and sighed. “This is a complicated mess.”

The officer frowned. “Why? You said he died of natural causes.”

“Will,” Clark said with pronounced patience. “He didn’t bury himself.”

“Ah! Yeah, that complicates matters.”

“There’s another issue,” Clark added, and I heard his weariness. I didn’t suppose he had ever had to deal with so many mysteries and so much crime in Summit’s Edge.

“How’s that?” Will asked.

Clark sat on the edge of his desk and leaned across it to open a drawer. When he pulled out a padded envelope, my curiosity peaked. The envelope had been torn open, so Clark must know what was inside. He fished out a baggie and a few sheets of paper and tossed the paperwork on the desk. He held up the baggie for Will to get a look, and I floated closer to join him. The item inside the baggie was the orange and white piece of evidence the investigators had found at the shallow grave. I knew right away what it was and where had come from.

The label on the pill bottle read Sadie Barnett, along with the type of drug contained inside, how many times a day to take it, and the date the medicine was dispensed. I had theories popping into my head, but I waited for Clark’s assessment.

“The person who killed the guy also killed Sadie Barnett,” Will concluded.

Wrong!
I longed to join into the conversation.

“Not likely,” Clark agreed with me although he didn’t know it. “That body’s been there a few weeks. The pills are new. The person who put this bottle in that grave also came across the body.”

Will whistled in disbelief. “This town.”

“Yeah,” Clark agreed. He picked up one of the sheets from the envelope. “The pills in this bottle are the same ones that killed Sadie Barnett.”

“You’re sure?”

“The test is conclusive,” Clark told him. “So our killer took the pills away from the scene of the crime to hide his involvement.”

The fingerprints
, I goaded silently.

“Fingerprints,” Clark said at the same time. He waved the baggie in the air. “Get me Ken Barnett in here.” I gasped. Both Clark and Will looked in my direction, but since I wasn’t visible, both dismissed the sound they’d heard. I needed to be more careful.

Clark and I waited until Will returned, a meaty hand wrapped around Ken’s neck to keep him moving forward. “He tried to run, chief, but I caught him.”

I couldn’t help myself. I
whooshed
from the office, materialized outside the station door, hoping no one saw me, and zipped inside. I just caught Clark’s office door as he tried to shut it and squeezed past. He frowned at me, but I would not be put out this time.

“You’re not arresting Ken, are you?” I demanded. “He would never kill his grandmother.”

As soon as Ken saw me and I finished speaking, he collapsed on the floor, sobbing as if his heart shattered. Emotion clogged my throat. I bent to hug him, but Clark grabbed my arm to keep me back. His expression warned if I didn’t listen, he would toss me out on my butt. I stayed where I was.

“I’m sorry,” Ken wailed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. It was an accident.”

Shock rooted me to the spot, and my heart ached all the more for the poor young man. Clark and Will appeared less affected. In fact, Will seemed to wait for more of a confession, and Clark pushed for details.

“Tell me everything,” Clark said in a quiet but commanding tone.

Ken scrubbed an arm over his face and sniffed. He dragged himself up from the floor and dropped into a chair. While he held his head in his hands, he explained. “I found the body, and I got all excited about it because I thought I might be able to examine it and the scene before anyone else found out. I was going to go back and get my stuff, but I think Mee-Maw followed me.”

“Your stuff?” Clark repeated.

I recalled how Ken wanted to be a crime scene investigator. Finding a real body of someone who might have been murdered must have been like Christmas for him.

“Yes, my gloves, notebook, recorder,” Ken said. He sat up straighter and stared in a daze at the floor. I assumed he recalled how exciting his find made him. “I was going to crack the case before the police.”

“Get to the part about your grandmother,” Clark ordered.

“You don’t have to be so mean, Clark.” I patted Ken’s shoulder, but with the mention of his grandmother, he didn’t appeared to want to be comforted. He broke down again, and we waited for him to regain control.

“I love crime scenes. I wanted time to look for clues, but I didn’t get a chance. I had to go with Mee-Maw to the fair, and then she started wanting me to help her find the mayor. She was too worked up, and then she said something about how she wondered who the dead man was. That’s when I knew she knew, and she was going to blab about it to the mayor.”

“So you killed her,” Clark filled in.

“No!”

Ken jumped to his feet and rounded on Clark, hands clenched into fists. Clark reached across and brought a heavy hand down on Ken’s shoulder. The sheer weight drove Ken down again. He slumped, defeated.

“I asked her to wait, but she was too excited. Then she sent me to get her pills because she wasn’t feeling well with the heat and running around. The whole time, I was thinking about how to convince her. I wasn’t paying attention.”

I looked at Clark, and he glanced at me before focusing again on Ken. “Then?”

“I gave her the wrong bottle,” Ken whispered. “I really didn’t mean to. I was so busy thinking of a way to make her wait. All I needed was an hour or two.”

Will grunted. “An hour he says. You’re a rookie. You’d longer than that to process a scene.”

“You didn’t give her the pills yourself, did you?” I asked, and the others quieted.

“No.”

I gave Clark a pointed look. He ignored me.

“Like I said, I gave her the bottle. I tried to talk to her again, but she brushed me off and said go enjoy the festival or try to get a vendor to hire me.”

Clark folded his arms over his chest. “So Sadie took the overdose herself. Sure, you played a part in giving her the wrong medicine, but no one forced her to take the pills.”

Ken nodded.

“Then what happened?” Clark pressed.

“I found her before Libby did.”

Everyone gasped, including me.

“She was already dead.”

Fresh tears rolled down Ken’s face, and I recalled how it had looked the day Sadie died. Ken had already been crying, I realized now.

“I panicked and saw the pills in her hand. I knew I would be accused of murder, so I took the them and hid them in the grave until I could figure out what to do.”

I turned to Clark. “Are you going to charge him?”

Clark studied the young man for a few moments. “I think your time in Summit’s Edge has come to an end.”

Ken jumped to his feet. “But—”

“Calm down. I’m not charging you.”

Ken almost sagged to the floor in relief. As Clark started to round his desk, Ken followed. “I want to go to school for criminal investigation. Would you give me a recommendation?”

“Son, I’m not so sure law enforcement needs someone like you in it.”

Will whistled. “Chief, that’s kind of harsh, isn’t it? I mean technically he didn’t break the law.”

“Everybody out,” Clark ordered.

Will grasped Ken’s shoulder and shuffled him toward the door. The teenager hung his head as he walked, and I watched him leave. I hoped it was youth and not a flawed character that was Ken’s problem. Nothing else could be done or said on his behalf, and at least we knew Sadie hadn’t been murdered and the case could be closed. That left the mystery of the dead man in the woods.

Chapter Eighteen

“Peter Jenkins,” I read, leaning over Clark’s desk. After he had ordered me and everyone else out of his office with the Ken situation, he would not hear a word regarding my need to know who the dead man was. So, I had had to break into his office after he’d gone to locate the information for myself. When I say “break in” of course I mean I planned to walk through the wall. The problem was I had to solidify at least my hands in order to open file drawers, but I didn’t have a key. At the last minute, Ian had offered to come along with me, and I had accepted the help.

“Do you recognize the name?” Ian asked, and I shook my head.

“No, never heard of him before. Nor do I think I know anyone in Idaho, which is where he’s from. Why would he come to Summit’s Edge, North Carolina?”

“I say we go find out.”

I started in surprise at the voice and turned to see Isabelle in the doorway. She smiled and walked in, then shut the door behind her.

“Oh, no, Isabelle,” I cried, moving toward her. “Now they will know we’re here.”

She winked at me. “They won’t. I mastered a new spell. No one knows I’m here except you two. I can’t believe I pulled it off. I’m so proud of myself. Sleepless nights pay off.”

“You’re saying you…” I let my words trail off and looked at Ian. He didn’t appear to be surprised at Isabelle’s presence, but he did seem annoyed by it. Unless I missed my guess, her speaking of spells didn’t rattle him. “You know, don’t you?”

He shrugged and tucked his hands into his pockets.

“You two knew about each other all along,” I said.

“Does it matter, Liberty?”

I admit I felt a bit put out and maybe jealous. “Are you friends?”

Isabelle chuckled. “Don’t be silly. A vampire and a witch. No, we aren’t friends.”

“I do not like witches,” Ian said, staring at Isabelle. She preened as if he admired her. I think she might have been high on her success with the spell. Ian seemed intent on popping her happy bubble. “This is one of the ones I warned you about, Liberty.”

I knew what he meant—the banishing—but I wasn’t afraid of Isabelle. I believed she was on my side, and if neither of them liked each other, well I would figure out a way to deal with it. Ignoring Ian’s statement, I said to Isabelle, “What did you mean when you said we should go find out who Peter Jenkins is?”

“Just what I said,” she insisted. “You and I should go to Idaho to look into who this man is and what connection he has to you. We can’t expect Clark to do it because then we would have to tell him why we’re so interested.”

I agreed. “Then if he finds any connection to me…. I need to figure this out before the police do.”

“Exactly!” Isabelle clapped her hands. “I have some time off, and I was thinking of giving my notice soon anyway. Remember the shop?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve entered into negotiations, and I think Ken’s parents want to finish our business quickly. They want to get away from Summit’s Edge as soon as possible. I’m thinking they won’t be back, and neither will Ken.”

“I have to agree with you there. I feel so sorry for the family.” I thought over her suggestion, and it made sense to me. “Did you know?”

Isabelle eyed Ian with caution and then focused on me again. “Know what?”

I couldn’t help the groan that escaped me. “I’m out of a job again.”

“No!”

“Yes. Mayor Walsh has decided she’s not going to take the position back when her name is cleared. She said she’s going to sell the hardware store and leave Summit’s Edge.”

“Goodness, you’re kidding.” Isabelle touched a hand to her lips. “Well, this works out for us, doesn’t it? There’s no boss to hold you back?”

“There’s no money either. I do have a son I have to look after.”

Isabelle grasped me by my upper arms and looked into my eyes. A warm emotion came over me that she no longer avoided making contact. I assumed she would the next time she needed to conserve energy, but it felt like we had formed a friendship.

“Libby, you have to think about the future. Will you be able to stay with Jake as you are now? Probably not. You won’t age, and as good as you’ve been at hiding your secret, you can’t guarantee forever. Think of it as a short separation to gain forever.”

No one could promise I could live forever, but I understood what she meant. To think of leaving Jake while I traveled to Idaho hurt, and I felt like I’d continue to be selfish to ask Monica to watch him. I wasn’t sure I could do it or even if she would agree.

“Let me think about it, okay?”

Isabelle smiled. “Not too long. Remember, we have to stay ahead of Clark and the police in Idaho.”

“Of course.”

After examining all the notes and reports Clark had on Peter Jenkins, which wasn’t much, the three of us left his office. I departed from Isabelle with a promise to contact her and traveled at a blink of time to Ian’s house. He joined me moments after I arrived, and I poured him a glass of blood from the decanter he had on the server. I should not get used to this sort of thing.

Ian’s fingers brushed mine as I handed him his glass. I longed to feel him, but the emotional response of the action was enough. We sat in silence, him in his chair and I in mine. After some time, he spoke.

“I am not sure about your plan, Liberty,” he began.

“Don’t.”

He fell silent.

“I know you don’t like her, and maybe you don’t agree with how I want to go about this, but just let me, Ian. I can’t sit back and do nothing. Trust me, it kills me to even imagine leaving Jake, but I had planned to—” I bit my lip.

“What had you planned?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I couldn’t tell him now I had planned to leave on a permanent basis. Now, hope existed where there had been none. I had a clue I could explore.

He inclined his head, and I sighed in relief. “Do you have family in Idaho?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Mama always told me my daddy died in an accident before he knew she was pregnant with me. She had no other family, and we moved here when I was a baby.”

“From where?”

I realized I had no idea where we were from originally. Mama never talked much about her family or her past. She was such a sweet soul and an attentive parent, I had never felt a need to know more or want more. “I don’t know.”

We speculated on the possibilities, and then I forgot everything when he held his hand out. I took it, and he encouraged me to sit on his lap. What was I, a ghost, doing sitting on a man’s lap? A vampire at that. I didn’t know. Nor did I care. I might not feel Ian, but there was a certain amount of satisfaction just being close to him. Beads of electricity sparked between us, not visible, but they were the only thing I could feel when he touched me. I kind of liked it.