“I hadn’t held out for much longer when I said, “Is everything okay this morning? I mean, how are you feeling about yesterday?”
It had been a dramatic experience and I thought maybe we needed to talk about it after all.
“I’m absolutely fine. I hope you’re not worried about me because I’m just fine.” She forced a smile.
I studied her face for a moment. “It’s okay not to be okay.”
“The wedding will go on. The person who won’t be okay is Tabatha.” Tammy’s voice cracked. “I just feel terrible about what happened. I wish there was something I could do.”
“Well, the one thing we can do is find out who murdered her,” I said.
“That seems almost impossible,” Tammy said.
“Don’t say that. I have my ways of finding out things. I already have a list with one person as a suspect now. I just have to figure out if she's guilty.”
“Of course, you have to figure that out. It’s not like she’ll confess. And you only one person on the list?” Tammy asked.
“It’s a start. Do you think there's someone else who should be on the list?
“Tabatha said she was having an issue with her boyfriend, but she never elaborated. Perhaps he should be on your list.”
“Hmm. I think I need more to go on than that, but it’s definitely interesting. I wonder why she didn’t tell you more.”
“It was something personal.”
“Yes, but she went as far as to tell you that much.”
“I guess you’ll just have to track him down and find that on your own. Wait. I take that back. Don’t track him down.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“If he’s the killer, then you don’t want to be around him,” Tammy said.
“Since when did I let something like that stop me? Did Tabatha happen to give you his name?”
Tammy tapped her bottom lip. “Hmm. Oh, I remember. She said his first name’s Brent. That’s all the information I have, Rip. Sorry.”
“Well, that’s a start. You know I can sometimes locate somebody based on their description alone,” I said with a click of my tongue.
“You are good,” Tammy said with a shake her head.
“I should get to work, but if you need me anything at all just let me know, okay?” I touched her arm.
“I’m fine with everything. It’s not like the wedding was called off.”
“Don’t even utter those words,” I said.
Tammy laughed. “I promise I’ll never say the words.”
As I headed down the long hallway toward my office, I felt as if eyes were on me. I hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary except for that shadow out of the corner of my eye. As always, I suspected there might be a ghost somewhere around. Ghosts always popped up around the library. Where had Annie disappeared to? Sometimes I knew another ghost was around simply by the lack of Annie’s presence. She hated being around when other ghosts popped up in the library.
All of a sudden, my funny feeling turned into reality when the ghost popped up right in front of me. I screamed. I couldn’t help myself. I mean, anyone would after being startled like that. The ghost stood right in front of me. The worst part was the ghost happened to be the same one from the mansion last night. Apparently, the ghost had followed me all the way to the library What would I do now? This was terrible.
I stumbled backward almost tumbling onto the library floor. Somehow, I managed to stay upright. The ghost didn’t budge as she fixed her stare on me just as she had at the mansion last night. This sent a shiver down my spine. That same white glow ringed her as it had last night. Though it was slightly less apparent in the daylight.
I didn’t know whether to run or to stand there and wait until she said something. She would speak, right? The ghost kind of scared me a little bit with the way she stared. Her gaze was fixed on me. It was a little spooky. I mean, anyone would fear a ghost. Even me. And even if I was used to seeing spirits.
I guess this explained why I’d seen that shadow out of the corner of my eye. I moved back a couple steps, worried that the ghost would lunge after me. When I did this, she didn’t move. Thank goodness she didn’t come after me. Yet.
Now I had to decide what to do next. Should I run or just stand here? I’d already made a couple of steps back and she hadn’t budged.
I finally decided to speak to her. “What do you want?”
She didn’t answer of course.
I continued. “Is this about the murder last night? Can you give me a clue? Is that what you’re trying to warn me about?”
Her stare grew more menacing. That sent a shiver down my spine. At that moment I decided I wanted to get away from her. I took a couple of steps backward, hoping that I wouldn’t bump into anyone. Could anyone else see this ghost other than me?
Apparently, she wasn’t going to answer me, so I’d just have to figure this out without her input.
“You have to tell me more,” I said.
“Tell you what?” the voice said from behind me.
I spun around and clutched my chest. I hadn’t realized that the head of the library board was standing right behind me. Ms. McMillian had a scowl on her face, which was a typical expression for her. I’d dealt with worse library board members though, so I suppose that was a plus. Her outfit choice matched her bland personality. Brown pants and a white shirt button-down blouse. Her color choice was always either black or brown. Tammy and I always marveled at her hair though. Her shiny brunette locks were cut into a stylish bob, looking like she’d just stepped out of Sue’s Savvy Salon.
I glanced back to see if the ghost was still there. She was gone. The library board member obviously hadn’t seen her.
It had looked as if I was talking to myself. As if maybe I had voices in my head. I had to think of something quickly. Not thinking clearly, I pulled out the phone from my pocket.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” I said into the phone, acting as if I’d had it on speakerphone and in my pocket while talking.
Ms. McMillian probably didn’t believe me. Her raised eyebrow was a good indication of that. Nonetheless, it was the only explanation I could provide other than for her to think that I was bonkers. Which she already did anyway. I kind of wanted to keep this job, so I had to come up with an excuse. Something that wouldn’t provide outright prove that I was nuts.
“It didn’t look as if you were on your phone,” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, well, I had just slipped it into my pocket because I got tired of carrying it,” I said with a casual wave of my hand.
She frowned again. “Whatever. I need to speak to you about the library’s budget. There’s an awful lot spent on the children’s section and I want an explanation for that.”
How could she deny children books?
“If you’d like to step into my office,” I said, motioning down the hallway.
As we moved down the hallway where the ghost had been, I felt the cold air circle around me. The darkness of the hallway certainly didn’t help matters either. Why had they made this hallway so narrow?
“My goodness. There certainly is a draft,” Ms. McMillian said.
“Yes, I guess you could say that,” I said.