Nothing to Ghost About Read Online Free

a matter
for the police. I really don’t know anything.”
    “ Hey now,” Bob said as he
stood. “You should work with us and help us out. It will kill your
business if people think they aren’t safe here.”
    I glared at Bob. “Are you threatening
me?”
    “ Not at all,” he said in a
far from convincing tone. “I’m sorry you wouldn’t agree to the
interview.” He turned away with a scowl, and Anna scurried out the
door after him, closing it behind her a little too
loudly.
    It was with some difficulty that I
resisted the urge to throw something at the door. I sat back down
in the chair. “I handled that badly,” I said to Ernie. “And please,
land. You know that floating makes me nervous.”
    Ernie landed in front of me. “You just
need something to lift your spirits.”
    I groaned. “That’s not
funny.”
    Ernie seemed to think it was, because
he laughed for some time before turning serious. “You know, it
really doesn’t look good for Witch Woods Funeral Home that two
people have been murdered in a short space of time.”
    I shrugged. “Well, there’s nothing I
can do about that.”
    “ Yes, there is,” Ernie said
smugly. “You can solve the murder.”
    I snorted rudely. “Hello! That’s what
the police are for.”
    “ Time is of the essence,”
Ernie said. “Those reporters will give you bad press, then people
will stop coming here. No doubt the police will solve it in their
own sweet time, but by then, you mightn’t have any customers left.
They’ll all be going to that new funeral home franchise in
Tamworth, and they’re stiff competition. Get it? Stiff competition.”
    I rolled my eyes.
     
     

Chapter 4

    Could the day get any worse? I was
forced into having dinner with my mother. That in itself would be
horrible, but tonight, Ian would be joining us.
    I really would have to look into
renovating the apartment above the funeral home, so I could move
in. It was difficult—and that’s an understanding—staying with my
mother in her home adjacent to the funeral home property. I was
living in my old room, and paying Mom board.
    The pungent scent of lasagna floated
up the stairs and into my room. I am a vegetarian, but I could
guarantee that my mother had meat in her lasagna. She always cooked
dishes with meat in it. Now that was her business, but she always
acted hurt when we were eating together because I always prepared a
vegetarian meal for myself. It always caused a drama, and as we ate
together most nights, that was a guaranteed daily drama, and one I
could well do without.
    I reluctantly dragged myself down the
stairs to find Mom and her bestie, Ian, in the kitchen. They were
laughing and drinking sparkling mineral water from wine glasses, as
children would do.
    “ There she is,” Mom said in
her shrill voice when I walked in.
    “ Have you been sleeping all
day again, dear?” Ian asked.
    “ I wasn’t sleeping,” I
said. “And stop calling me ‘dear’! I’m not your ‘dear’ and you’re
not much older than I am! In fact, I never sleep all day. I work
hard.”
    “ That’s not what your
mother said,” Ian said, wagging a finger at me.
    “ You spend so much time in
your room that I get worried about you,” my mother said. “I think
you’re sleeping because you drink too much.”
    “ Mom, I hardly drink,” I
said. I needed to change the conversation quickly. “Do you realize
that you’re drinking out of wine glasses?”
    Mom slammed her glass down hard on the
countertop, causing water to spray out all over the place. “Of
course they’re not wine glasses! How could you say such a thing,
Laurel? Why do you always try to upset me? I bought them today
because they looked nice. Why, I’ve never let the Demon Alcohol get
ahold of me! I signed the Temperance Pledge when I was seven years
old.”
    I shrugged. “Okay. Is dinner
ready?”
    “ Almost.”
    “ Is there meat in
it?”
    “ Of course there’s meat in
it, Laurel. I already told you that it’s lasagna.