Granny Apples 05 - Ghost in the Guacamole (8 page)

E
MMA
snorted and started coughing at the unexpected comment.

“You okay?” asked Phil once again with concern. “Is it the spirits?”

Emma wiped the juice trickling down her chin with a paper napkin. “It's Granny,” she explained. “She just called us a couple of old farts.”

“That's right, Granny,” Phil agreed. He had an arm around Emma's shoulders and tightened it, bringing her closer to him. “We're a couple of happy old farts.” He kissed Emma on the side of her head. “Getting happier with every day.”

“Where have you been, Granny?” Emma asked after snuggling closer to Phil.

The ghost materialized next to their bench. “I've been off trying to find Felix but haven't yet. I tried to come back earlier but there was this awful block in my way. Like you were walled off from me.”

“Was that a couple of hours ago?” Emma asked.

“You know ghosts have no idea of time,” Granny said with a sputter. “I tried to contact you but it was like I got no signal.”

Emma told Phil what Granny said, then added, “I'll bet that was when the other spirits were around me.”

Phil looked in the direction Emma indicated. “Emma went into another one of her trances,” he told the ghost. “The spirits of some murdered Chinese were letting her know they were present.”

“I don't like them trances,” the ghost said with concern. “Do they want you to help them?”

“No, Granny,” Emma told her, “they don't want my help. I think they just wanted me to know they were here. Phil and I visited the plaque to their memory and paid them respect and they left.”

“Good,” said Granny, “because we have work to do on this case.”

“Granny,” Emma began, looking at Phil while she spoke to the ghost, “there is no case. I connected with Rikki's father, as she asked, and I told her what he said, as he asked.”

“Granny,” Phil said, looking at Emma while he spoke, a ploy they used often, “Emma and I discussed this at lunch. There's really little we can do.”

“You discussed it without me?” The temperamental ghost stamped her foot on the pavement but for all her effort no sound was created. “I thought we were a team.”

Emma leaned closer to Phil. “Granny's upset because we didn't include her in the discussion.” Emma then turned to Granny, not caring if anyone noticed. “Granny, you weren't there. But basically it boils down to when someone orders you out, you go. To pursue this now would really be rude and might even cause us trouble.”

“And what if that young woman gets hurt or even dies?” Granny demanded, moving to stand directly in front of them. “How would you feel then?”

“If something happened to Rikki, Granny,” Emma told the worked-up spirit, “I would feel truly terrible, but we've already told her she's in danger.”

“Emma's right, Granny,” Phil said, understanding the conversation without translation. “We can't lock Rikki up or wrap her in bubble wrap like a china cup to keep her safe. And Emma certainly doesn't need a restraining order slapped on her.”

“What's a restraining order?” asked the ghost.

“A restraining order,” Emma explained, “is when someone gets a court order forcing you to stay away from them, and if you don't, you can go to jail.”

She turned to relay Granny's question to Phil, but he waved her off with a casual hand. “I'm following the gist of things just fine from your side.” Phil turned straight ahead, as Emma had done when she last spoke to Granny. “Granny, I didn't meet this T.J. guy or Lucy, but from what Emma's told me, either of them wouldn't hesitate to get Emma into legal trouble to serve their purposes.”

The ghost looked down and softly kicked the pavement with the toe of her boot. “Well, we sure wouldn't want that.” She looked up at Emma and Phil. “But I'd sure feel better if we knew more about how Felix died and who did him in.”

Emma nodded. “I'd feel better knowing more about Felix's death, too, Granny. But we can't go poking around asking questions without raising suspicion from the Ricardos and T.J. It could have been most anyone who contributed to his death.”

“Except his wife and Hector,” noted Phil. Both Granny and Emma turned to him. “Didn't Rikki say,” he continued, turning his attention on Emma, “that Felix had just spoken to his wife on the phone and that Hector was off that day?”

“That's true,” agreed Granny. “But it doesn't mean they didn't know about a plan in the works.”

“Good point, Granny,” Emma said after giving it more thought. “Mrs. Ricardo and Hector still might have known of a plan to kill Felix, but how it happened doesn't feel planned, at least not entirely. If someone wanted to bump off Felix, they could have done it in other places and times without the high risk of being seen.”

“I agree with Emma,” said Phil. “Killing him with a knife or gun while he was going to or from his car or somewhere else would have been much easier for a killer. This has an emotional feel to it. Maybe a confrontation gone bad.”

“If that's the case,” Emma said, thinking more about it, “then it would have been done by someone who could easily come and go in the restaurant without raising suspicion.”

“Emma's right,” said Granny with conviction. “Rikki didn't say anything about someone special being there that day, so it had to be someone who was supposed to be there.”

“That's a pretty wide field,” noted Emma. “All the waitstaff, kitchen staff, the hostess—none of them would have raised suspicion.”

“Neither would that T.J. fellow or Rikki's sister,” Phil pointed out.

Emma's phone vibrated. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at it. “That's interesting,” she said after reading the message. “It's a text from Tanisha's father.”

Both Granny and Phil looked concerned. Tanisha Costello was Kelly Whitecastle's best friend in Boston. She wasn't a student like Kelly, but a young journalist who lived in the area. “Is everything okay with the girls?” asked Phil.

“I dropped in on them yesterday,” Granny reported. “And they were both doing fine. Kelly was getting ready to start that summer intern job with Quinn, and Tanisha had just returned from an assignment. Aren't they living together this summer?”

“Yes, they are living together for the summer, at least during the time Kelly is in the country, but this has nothing to do with the girls,” Emma told them while still looking at her phone. “Gino wants me to call him in the next few days to discuss something to do with a new book he's researching.”

“Gino Costello is a crime fiction writer,” Phil noted. “Maybe he wants to pick your brain about some of your adventures solving murders.”

Emma shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Have you ever met him?” asked Phil.

“Not yet,” Emma answered. “I've only spoken to him on the phone and that was just once. As you know, I invited him and his wife to come out to Julian that week Tanisha was visiting but they couldn't make it.” Emma looked up. “But you've met him, haven't you, Granny?”

“Not officially so that he'd remember me,” said the ghost. “It's more like I've been around and he doesn't know it. Tanisha keeps me under wraps when he visits. But I was around last fall when he bailed the girls out of that trouble. He's a big burly man. Looks more like he spends his time working outdoors instead of at a computer all day.”

Emma gave Phil Granny's description of Gino Costello. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I've seen him on some talk shows, and he is a big tough guy. He doesn't look like Tanisha at all.”

Emma laughed. “Kelly tells me that while Tanisha and her dad don't look alike, they are very much alike in personality—stubborn and determined.”

“That's a good description from what I've seen,” Granny added. “They're both bullheaded, especially around each other.”

Phil laughed himself after Emma gave him Granny's report. “I would love to meet Gino Costello,” he said. “I'm a big admirer of his work.”

“Down, fan-boy,” said Granny, her arms crossed in impatience.

A snort escape Emma's lips. “Granny just called you a fan-boy.”

“That I am,” confessed Phil with a slight grin. “I've read every book he's written and his short stories.”

Emma wrapped her empty Popsicle stick in a napkin. “Guess I'll give him a call later and see what he wants.”

“And what about this case?” Granny persisted. “How are we gonna handle it since we're not exactly supposed to be involved?”

Getting up, Emma took Phil's Popsicle stick from him and deposited them both in a trashcan a couple of steps away. When she returned, she said, “I really am worried about Rikki.” She looked to Granny. “Since Phil and I can't be involved directly, Granny, maybe you'll have to go undercover and report back.”

“Really?” the ghost said, hopping up and down. “You mean like a stakeout? I love doing those.”

“Yes,” Emma confirmed with a smile, noting Granny's excitement. “Maybe you can hang around the restaurant to see if anything odd is going on and who seems suspicious. If Felix returns, question him about what happened. Also stay close to Rikki as much as you can and let me know if she seems in any danger.” Emma turned to Phil. “Can you think of anything else for Granny to do?”

“I wish we had two Grannies,” Phil said, getting up from the bench. “Then we could send her to keep any eye on Lucy, too.”

“I'll try to connect with her if I can,” Granny said. “You know, just try to pop in, but I may not have had enough contact yet to zero in on her.”

“Do what you can, Granny,” Emma told the ghost. “Anything will be a big help.”

The tiny ghost snapped to attention, giving Emma what had become a customary salute. “You got it, Chief.”

As the ghost started to fade, she muttered, “Too bad I'm not still alive. Then I could do a real stakeout and sit in a car eating junk food and pee in a soda can.”

A
S
they headed to the parking lot where they'd left Emma's SUV, Emma told Phil about Granny's last comment. When they finished laughing, Phil said, “Maybe you should try recruiting other spirits to help you snoop. You could build a small army of them like those minions in that cartoon. It would be better than surveillance equipment.”

Emma shook her head in mock horror. “No thanks. I've got my hands full with Granny.”

“I heard that,” came Granny's voice from thin air. “The cowboy's right—it might be a good idea to get me a little help, as long as you remember who was here first.”

Emma swung her head toward the direction of the voice. “Granny, I thought you'd left to check on Rikki and the restaurant.”

“And I did,” the ghost snapped as she came back into view. “Or don't you want to know what I just saw?”

“Granny already has something to report,” Emma said to Phil. He moved in closer and Granny joined them, the two live people huddling with the ghost.

“That T.J.'s back,” Granny began.

“Are you sure?” asked Emma. “You weren't there when I met him.”

“Well, this guy showed up and that Carlos kid called him T.J.,” answered Granny, her hands on her hips. “Or should I go back and ask him for ID?”

“Don't get snippy, Granny,” Emma told her. “Tell us what happened.”

“Right after I popped back into the restaurant, I saw Carlos slip out a back door.”

After telling Phil, Emma checked her watch. “It's after the bulk of lunchtime business. Maybe Carlos went out to take a break.”

“Emma's right,” added Phil. “He could have been taking a break after the rush.”

Granny stamped her foot. “Do you two want to hear this or not?” Emma motioned for her to continue.

“Anyway,” continued Granny, “I thought he was acting a bit sneaky, so I followed him. He walked to the end of the street, crossed it, and met some guy who was standing out of the way by some trees. The guy was nicely dressed in a suit and Carlos called him T.J.”

After Emma relayed the information to Phil, he asked, “What trees, Granny?”

“Those trees,” Granny said, pointing to the far end of the parking lot where they stood. The public parking lot was on Main Street, sandwiched between the historical La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. Across Main were a few businesses that butted up against the backside of Olvera Street. On the other side of the fence bordering Chavez was a thick stand of trees.

“Those trees right there?” asked Emma, pointing toward the area Granny indicated.

“You deaf?” snapped Granny. “Carlos just got there, but who knows how long their little powwow will take.”

Ignoring the remark, Emma said to Phil, “Granny said that Carlos met T.J. by those trees at the end of the parking lot. Just now.”

Phil surveyed the trees. They were too far away to see anything, and with all the traffic in the area, they probably wouldn't even hear a shouting match. “Stay here,” he said to Emma. “I'm going to mosey on over there and take a look.” Before she could say anything, Phil took off at a trot across the lot in that direction.

“Glad he didn't actually mean
mosey
,” Granny said. “Secret meetings like that don't usually take very long.”

Emma nodded, but didn't take her eyes off Phil. “Granny, please go on over there and keep an eye out.”

“You read my mind,” Granny said and disappeared.

Once Granny was gone, Emma slipped behind the wheel of her vehicle and started it up. After backing out of the parking space, she eased the SUV in the direction Phil had headed, being careful not to move too fast and attract attention. She was also glad she drove a hybrid with its quieter engine. It was midafternoon. There weren't many cars down at the far end of the lot since it was a weekday, even if it was summer. On the weekend the lot would be full. The inside of the vehicle was hot and stuffy, so she snapped the AC on low.

Keeping her eyes on Phil, Emma watched him slip in and out of the few cars at the far end, using them for cover, and was glad he'd worn quiet tennis shoes instead of his usual heavy cowboy boots. She urged her SUV closer but edged to the left, away from Phil, just in case anyone on the other side noticed her through the trees. Phil turned and saw her and held up his left hand for her to halt. She did and saw that in his right hand he held his cell phone in the direction of the fence.

“They're still there,” said Granny, popping inside the SUV.

Emma squelched a tiny yelp and put a hand over her heart. “Granny, why do you always scare me like that?”

“I'm a ghost, Emma. It's what we do. It's not like I can wave a hankie to announce I'm on my way. I'm either here or I'm not.” She watched as Emma dug her wallet out of her purse and pulled out several bills. “What are you doing?”

“Getting money ready to pay for our parking in case we need to make a quick getaway.” Emma pulled the parking ticket from behind the visor and put it with the money.

Granny looked at her and shook her head in disbelief. “If bullets start flying, you're going to wait in line to pay for your parking? Just crash through the gate,” Granny told her. “That's what they do on TV.”

“This isn't TV, Granny.” Still, Emma thought, Granny was right. Changing the subject, Emma asked, “Did you see anything significant?”

“The T.J. guy handed Carlos an envelope, which he tucked into his waistband,” Granny reported.

“Did you notice if it was thick or thin?”

“Looked kind of bulky to me, like it was stuffed with cash.” The ghost buzzed with excitement. “It's probably a payoff. You know, for Carlos killing Felix.”

Even though her mind had made the same initial leap, Emma dismissed it. “Let's not jump to conclusions, Granny. Besides, Felix died a year ago. A payoff wouldn't be going down now for a job that old.”

“Maybe T.J.'s on some sort of installment plan,” Granny suggested. “It can't be cheap to hire a hit.”

Emma glanced over at the ghost, thinking she was being sarcastic, but one look at Granny's set jaw as she eagerly watched Phil let Emma know that Granny was serious about her remark. “Maybe,” Emma said hopefully, “it's not cash.”

Granny flashed her a look of disbelief. “Get real, Emma! What else could it be that they would need to meet in secret? Surprise birthday plans for Rikki?”

As usual, Emma was surprised by the dichotomy of a ghost dressed in pioneer clothing talking slang. It was something she didn't think she'd ever get used to. Granny's speech was peppered with it, picked up from watching television and hanging around Kelly and her friends. And it wasn't always modern slang. It could be from any era from the TV shows and movies that the ghost enjoyed. For a whole week not too long ago, Granny went around mimicking Marlon Brando in
The Godfather
until Emma and her mother about went nuts. Phil and Emma's father laughed together about it, thankful they couldn't hear the ghost.

“In the movies,” Granny continued, “secret meetings with envelopes usually mean drugs or payoffs.” Emma had to admit, she couldn't argue with that logic any more than she could argue with paying for parking while under fire. “Maybe T.J.'s paying Carlos to bump off Rikki or someone else,” Granny continued.

“Let's see what Phil says,” Emma said. “He's coming back now.” Emma nudged the SUV closer, meeting Phil partway. As he opened the door and hopped into the passenger's seat, Granny popped into the back.

“Was it a bribe?” the ghost asked Phil, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't hear her. She turned to Emma. “Ask Phil if it was a bribe.” The front half of the ghost spilled over into the front seat between Emma and Phil.

Emma headed for the parking attendant, glad she didn't have to crash her Lexus SUV through the gate. “Granny told me she saw T.J. hand Carlos an envelope.”

“That he did,” Phil answered as he checked his phone. “I hope I got it.” He fiddled with the screen on the phone. “The trees hid them from the street well enough and I could see them through the chain link fence, but not clearly. I was afraid to get too close. I hope the zoom worked.” He glanced at Emma. “But one of them was definitely the kid from the restaurant who didn't like Lucy.”

He found the photo and held the phone out to Emma while they waited their turn at the parking lot exit. When Phil leaned toward Emma, his body merged with Granny's, imposing his face onto her hazy head. The image spooked Emma and she shivered and turned away.

“What's wrong?” Phil asked.

Emma turned slowly around and was relieved to see that Granny had moved back and Phil's face was again his own. “Just caught a chill,” she told him. “Probably too much air-conditioning after spending the day outside.”

She glanced at the photo and could see two men on the screen. Phil enlarged the picture for her. “Could you hear anything?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Just bits and pieces. It was all in Spanish but the traffic muffled a lot of it.”

Granny looked at the photos over Phil's shoulder. “That's them. And see, T.J. is handing something to Carlos.” The ghost pointed at the screen. One of the photos had captured an envelope being handed off.

“I think,” Phil added, “that Carlos's last name is Fuentes. T.J. called him that a couple of times in what little I did hear.”

“So now we know that Carlos is Carlos Fuentes,” Emma said. “At least we won't have to ask anyone for that information.”

When it was their turn at the pay station, Emma lowered her window and paid their parking fee. Just before exiting the lot, she said to Granny, “Granny, why don't you go back to the restaurant and keep an eye on Carlos. Maybe you'll be able to see the envelope and what's in it better if you follow him.”

“You got it,” said the ghost. “But don't you two go making any important decisions about the case without me.”

“We won't,” agreed Emma, trying to keep impatience out of her voice.

“You promise?” Granny pushed.

“I promise,” Emma agreed, “but you'll have to check in regularly so we can run things by you.”

When Granny left, Phil asked, “What was that all about?”

“Granny made me promise that we wouldn't make any important decisions about this matter without her.”

Phil laughed. “She's a pistol, that's for sure. Makes you wonder what she was like when alive, doesn't it?”

“I'll bet she kept Jacob on his toes,” Emma said, smiling at Phil.

“Just like you do me?” He reached over and stroked her arm with affection.

“What can I say?” Emma replied with a slight laugh. “It runs in the family.”