The Ex Who Saw a Ghost (Charley's Ghost Book 4) (5 page)

“No.” Ross took the flashlight, strode over and squatted in the weeds surrounding the opening.

The wind fell to absolute stillness. No bird called. No leaf stirred. Amanda held her breath, afraid if she dared to breathe, it would sound like a hurricane.

Ross held the flashlight as far down in the opening as he could and moved it slowly back and forth.

Maybe his brother’s body wasn’t in the well.

Maybe Teresa was wrong...horribly, wonderfully wrong.

Amanda arched an eyebrow in Charley’s direction. He’d insisted on being first on the scene to figure out who the shooters were. He could easily go down the well and have a look.

“I’m not going in there,” he said. “I have claustrophobia.” He shivered and wrapped ghostly arms about himself.

Teresa knelt beside Ross and put an arm around his shoulders. “Ross? Are you okay?”

He drew in a long breath and rose slowly. Shadows from the sun sinking low on the horizon slanted across his face, turning it to a mask of pain. He opened his mouth as if to speak, closed it, then cleared his throat. “I don’t know if Parker’s down there, but there’s definitely a body. In fact, there appears to be more than one.”

Jake reached for the flashlight. Ross clutched it, knuckles turning white, face set in hard, resolute lines as though refusing to let anyone else see what was in the well would make it not true. Teresa moved quietly to his side and slid her fingers over his where they gripped the barrel of the flashlight. He scowled at her for a moment then dropped his head and let go.

Jake took the light, knelt on the ground and peered into the opening.

An invisible force seemed to suck all the light and sound from the world around them. Ross leaned close to Teresa as if for support, but he didn’t look at or touch her.

Amanda held her breath again.

Even Charley was silent.

Jake rose, his expression unreadable, dusted off the knees of his jeans and cleared his throat. “We need to get in touch with the authorities. Out this far, it’s probably going to be the Kraken County Sheriff’s Department.” He spoke matter-of-factly as though the tone of his voice could negate whatever he’d seen in the dark depths.

Ross took out his cell phone. “I don’t have any bars.”

Jake pulled his phone from his pocket and shook his head. “Me neither.”

“Mine’s back in the car,” Teresa said.

“Mine’s...” Amanda hesitated, trying to recall the last time she’d seen her cell phone. On the coffee table in her apartment. She’d left in such a hurry, she’d forgotten it. Not that she expected to have reception if nobody else did.

“I’ll go back to the car,” Ross said, “find the sheriff or whoever, while you all stay here and, uh, guard the crime scene.”

“Like somebody’s going to stroll by and contaminate it?” Amanda asked.

Ross’ gaze dropped to Teresa’s scratched legs and battered sandals.

Ah! That was his concern. “Which could certainly happen with crazy men like those hunters we just saw,” Amanda added quickly.

“You stay here,” Jake said. “I’ll go.”

Ross looked as if he was going to argue but shook his head and mumbled, “All right.”

If his brother’s body was in the well, he probably wanted to stay close.

Maybe he wanted to stay there and watch over Teresa.

Jake nodded, turned and set off in the direction they’d come.

“Jake and Ross should both go,” Charley said. “Then the four of us can hang out and talk while they’re gone.”

Teresa narrowed her eyes at Charley and gave a slight shake of her head. “Thank you, Jake.”

“I should go with you.” Amanda followed on his heels. Enforced time alone together might be a good thing for Teresa and Ross.

“No!” Charley, Ross, Jake and Teresa protested. Only Charley sounded like he meant it, and his opinion didn’t count.

Amanda caught up to Jake and matched his strides through the underbrush. “You’ll probably need my guidance to get back to the car.”

“I was a boy scout. I have a very good sense of direction.”

“That’s great because I don’t.”

Jake kept walking. “I know you don’t. I also know you’re trying to help them by leaving them alone. If they’re going to have any chance, she needs to ease up on that ghost stuff.”

“Hey!” Charley protested. “Wait till he’s dead. Then he’ll have a different idea about
that ghost stuff
!”

But in the intervening years...hopefully a lot of intervening years...Amanda needed Jake to accept the presence of spirits. She didn’t think she could keep Charley a secret forever. “If you don’t believe she really talks to spirits, how do you explain finding the well with the dead bodies?” Amanda asked, stretching her strides to keep up as they plunged through the underbrush. She had long legs, but Jake’s were longer.

“We don’t know for sure Ross’ brother’s body is in that well.”

“Yeah, right. It’s just a coincidence that Teresa led us to a dead body. How would she know where to look if she didn’t have some kind of help?”

Jake stopped abruptly and turned back to her, his expression grim. “That’s a very good question. The authorities will probably want to know the answer to that, and I don’t think they’re going to buy into her ghost story.” He turned away. “We need to hurry. It’s going to be dark soon.”

Amanda dashed after him. “Wait! What are you saying? That they may think Teresa killed somebody?”

“Teresa wouldn’t kill anybody!” Charley said. For once they were in agreement.

“Jake! You know that’s not true!” She rushed forward, reaching for his shoulder to halt him, hit him...something. Her foot struck a rock hidden in the leaves and she stumbled, falling into the brittle debris of autumn.

Jake spun around. “Amanda!” He reached for her, but she was already struggling back to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” She focused on brushing leaves from her hands. She’d landed painfully on one knee but wasn’t about to admit that to someone who could suspect her friend of murder.

He took her hands in his and looked at her palms then at her face.

“Hey!” Charley protested.

She yanked her hands away. “No blood. Let’s go before it gets dark.”

Jake’s gaze lingered for a moment, intense and probing, then he nodded and turned away.

They’d trekked through the woods and found dead bodies, maybe Ross’ brother. Ross was not happy with Teresa and would probably be even more unhappy if one of the bodies was his brother. Teresa could be a murder suspect. The sun was sinking low on the horizon and it would likely be dark when they made the return journey to the bodies. And, oh, yeah, Charley was always there and her very pregnant sister was waiting back at her apartment.

Was there anything good about this day?

“I don’t like the way he held your hands,” Charley grumbled. “That’s just not right when your husband is standing here watching him.”

Nope. Not one thing good about the whole stinking day. And all the problems except her sister were a direct result of ghosts. Being able to communicate with spirits was not what it was cracked up to be.



The journey back to the well was faster and easier. The sheriff and his deputy arrived in a large truck and unloaded two four-wheelers. Small carts attached to each of them contained an impressive amount of equipment. When they set off into the woods, the sheriff rode one vehicle with Jake behind, and Amanda rode with the deputy on the other one. Neither man had been pleased to have their Sunday evening interrupted, but the promise of a well full of dead bodies got their attention. That situation probably didn’t happen often in Kraken County.

Teresa and Ross were waiting when they roared up to the well. Ross strode forward to meet them, hand extended. “Detective Ross Minatelli, Dallas Police.”

The sheriff, an older man with a graying mustache and a slight paunch, accepted his hand. “Richard Laskey, Kraken County Sheriff. This is my deputy, Clint Freemont.”

The tall, lanky deputy shook Ross’ hand.

Teresa stepped up to join them, stood straight and proud, and held out her hand. “And I’m Teresa Landow, the medium who found this place.”

Amanda flinched. Jake had simply told the sheriff they got their information from a “trusted source.”

The sheriff stroked his mustache. “Is that right? You’re one of those psychics, like on TV?”

“I’m a medium, yes. Detective Minatelli’s brother told me his body is in this well.”

Ross focused his gaze on a tree off to the side and said nothing.

“Well, then,” Laskey said, “let’s see what we’ve got here. We couldn’t bring in a lot of fancy equipment, but I think we can handle this.”

The four men went to work unloading the small carts. Soon the place was flooded with light and the men were working diligently with ropes and pulleys to raise whatever was in the dark depths of the well.

Amanda would have liked to squeeze in and see what was going on, but she stayed back with Teresa, just outside the lighted area.

“Is Parker here?” she asked quietly.

Teresa nodded. “He’s staying close to Ross. He says they’re hauling up his body and he knows Ross is going to be upset.”

“Does it bother him, seeing his body?”

“No. He’s just worried about his brother.”

“Didn’t bother me,” Charley said, “even though my head was blown off. But it’s like it wasn’t my head. I mean, my head is right here.”

“Yeah, Parker says that’s what it’s like. Omigawd. They’re bringing something up.”

“
Something?
” Amanda gulped. “It’s a man. He’s wearing blue jeans.” Somehow that simple item of clothing made the horror worse.

The sheriff and his deputy pulled the body out of the well and rolled it onto the ground.

Teresa clutched Amanda’s hand.

For several long moments nobody said a word or moved a muscle.

Then Ross squatted beside the body. Jake put a hand on his friend’s back.

Ross lifted his head and looked in Teresa’s direction. “It’s Parker.”

Amanda and Teresa were civilians, and Ross was personally involved. They had to leave while the Kraken County Sheriff’s Department came back with more men and more equipment to bring up the other “body or bodies” from the well.

Three people on each four-wheeler was cozy but doable. Amanda didn’t mind having Jake’s arms wrapped tightly around her, but wrapping hers around Sheriff Laskey’s middle was a little weird.

Nevertheless, they made it back and climbed into Ross’ car. They sat in darkness and silence watching as Deputy Freemont rode back to the scene and the sheriff’s truck drove away to bring more officers.

“You knew.” Ross stared out the windshield. “How?”

“I told you.” Teresa’s words were barely above a whisper.

“Who did this? Who killed my brother?”

“I don’t know that. He won’t tell me.”

“I see.” Ross leaned forward and started the car. They began the journey home through the darkness.

Amanda sat rigidly beside Jake in the back seat. No one spoke, not even Charley.

When they reached the highway, Ross let out a long sigh then cleared his throat. “I can’t believe you talked to my brother’s spirit.”

Teresa turned toward him and opened her mouth to speak.

He held up a hand. “But I don’t disbelieve you.”

“What the freak does that mean?” Charley demanded.

“What the freak does that mean?” Teresa repeated.

Ross stared straight ahead as the car followed its headlight beams into the night. “I don’t know.”

“He doesn’t know?” Charley asked. “If he doesn’t know, then who does?”

No one spoke.

“Go ahead, ask him,” Charley said.

Teresa compressed her lips as if holding the words inside. Surely she wasn’t going to let Charley lead her into a fight with Ross.

She lifted her chin and looked directly at Ross. “Whether you want to believe or not, your brother has another message for you. Now that you’ve found his body and know for sure he’s dead, he wants you to transfer all his accounts into your name, especially the bank account that his trust fund pays into.”

In the rearview mirror Amanda saw the scowl on Ross’ face. “At a time like this, you want me to believe my brother’s concerned about money?”

Teresa lifted her hands in a defensive gesture. “I’m just repeating the message.”

A dark, heavy silence filled the car.

“I could really go for a burger when we get back to civilization,” Amanda said. Food was always a good diversion.

“Sounds great to me,” Jake said. “I think I saw a Whataburger on the drive down here.”

“Whataburger,” Amanda repeated. “Great. Yeah. Let’s do that. Burger with everything, fries on the side.”

“Sounds good to me,” Charley said.

No one else commented.

Teresa’s cell phone beeped several times. “Guess we’re back to civilization. I’ve got a signal.” She took her phone from her purse and studied the display. “That’s odd. Nine messages, all from the same number, and it’s not a number I recognize.”

Jake’s cell phone pinged. He took his from his pocket. “I’ve got eight messages, all from the same number. Teresa, what number called you?”

Teresa read out the digits.

“That’s the same person who’s been calling me,” Jake said.

Amanda studied Jake’s phone and repeated the number. “I think that’s my sister’s number.”

Teresa called voice mail and put it on speaker.

“Hi, this is Jenny Carter,” said the little-girl voice. “I’m trying to find my sister, Amanda, and she phoned you recently so I thought you might know something. Please return my call as soon as you can.”

Amanda groaned. “She found my cell phone. I’m sorry.”

“No problem,” Teresa assured her. “She’s just worried about you.”

Another message from Jenny played from her phone, this one a little more frantic.

Jake handed Amanda his cell. “Call her and let her know you’re okay.”

“Thanks.” She took the phone and tapped one of Jenny’s calls to return it.

Her sister answered immediately. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s me. I’ve been with Jake and Teresa all day, and we’re heading home now. Sorry you were worried.”

“I didn’t hear from you and I tried to call you and your phone rang here and I knew you’d left it at home and I couldn’t call you and you couldn’t call me! Where have you been?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I get home.”

“I was just frantic! I called the police—” Amanda cringed— “but they said you had to be missing some really long period of time before they’d investigate and they said I should call your friends, so I did.”

“I know. We were out of cell phone range. Sorry.”

“I called your assistant and he said you were going out with Jake and Teresa and somebody else on Saturday night, and he hadn’t seen you since Saturday noon when the shop closed. He’s worried too.”

Amanda would have to call Dawson to reassure him she was all right. “Who else did you call?”
Please say no one!

“I called Charley’s mother.”

“She called my mother?” Charley exclaimed.

“She seems like a really nice lady,” Jenny continued. “She’s very worried about you. She said you got into some trouble last spring when you were down there. I didn’t know about that. Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

“You’d just found out you were pregnant and I didn’t want to stress you.” Damn! She’d have to call Irene too. She and Herbert would still be up, worrying about her.

“And Sunny Donovan. You never told me about her, either.”

Amanda’s heart sank to her toes. Sunny was her birth mother, a fact she’d only discovered last spring and had deliberately chosen not to share with her sister. Sunny would be worried too.

“All right, I’m on my way home. Should be there in half an hour. I need to go so I can call Dawson and Irene and Sunny and tell them I’m okay.”

“You don’t need to call Sunny. I’ll tell her. She’s right here.”