“Kylie Dickson.”
“I was the realtor who sold Brenda Brim House,” Mandy said. “The media picked up on the police chatter, and I was going to call you. Oh, Brenda, I’m so sorry. We had inspectors in there and everything. No one saw that false wall. I can only imagine what you’ve gone through…I am so sorry! Of course, I’ll do everything I can to take the house off your hands. I feel so terrible. I can even see if I can get some financing to buy it myself.”
“Oh, my God, it was horrible,” Brenda said. “There was a body behind the skeleton, and they think it was the missing tourist. She was murdered, too.”
“It’s what we suspect, anyway,” Kylie murmured.
“Again, I’m so sorry. There were cop cars all over the area. Naturally, the media got involved, and a spokesman or a cop or someone gave a statement. I am appalled. You just took possession of the house yesterday. I will take it off your hands—”
“Mandy, that’s not necessary,” Brenda said.
“Are you in law enforcement?” Mandy asked of Kylie.
“No, no. I’m a docent at a museum, actually,” Kylie said. “I just love Salem. Brenda and I, being old friends…well, you know how Brenda loves history.”
She wasn’t sure why she didn’t mention that Jon was a federal agent. They wouldn’t be lying to anyone, but it just didn’t feel right.
“Well, thank you for being such a friend,” Mandy said.
“Did you want to join us?” Brenda asked.
“Oh, no. But thank you. I just came to pick up a to-go order. It may be Haunted Happenings, and close to Halloween, but a fellow on Charter Street insisted that we have an open house today. He thinks tourists will fall in love with Salem and want to buy his place.” She sighed softly. “Not if tourists keep disappearing, though. Especially,” she added, wincing, “being discovered in Salem houses. Anyway, I’m on the clock. I just saw you here and…Brenda, I really am so, so sorry.”
“Mandy, you arranged for a great price and did some amazing negotiations on a property I loved,” Brenda said. “Please. You mustn’t be sorry in any way.”
“Well, I guess we’ll talk at another time,” Mandy said. “Kylie, so great to meet you. Thank you for being here for Brenda.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Kylie said. “And nice to meet you, too.”
Mandy waved to them and then headed to the counter, taking possession of a large bag and paying the clerk.
“She’s amazing.”
“I’ve heard she’s been a realtor for a long time,” Kylie said. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw her picture on billboard ads before.”
Brenda nodded. “She was a teenager when she started. Well, not the legal parts and whatever, but her parents were realtors. She took over their firm when they retired and moved to Nevada.”
“I guess she knows her stuff,” Kylie murmured.
Her phone vibrated, and Kylie saw that Jon was calling her.
“Excuse me,” she murmured to Brenda.
“Jon?” Brenda asked.
Kylie nodded.
“Hey,” she said softly into the phone. “Anything?”
“Preliminary,” Jon told her. “The bones have been there forever. The remains and the body of who we believe is the missing tourist are on their way to the morgue. A forensic anthropologist is coming in from the college to study the bones, and they’ll do carbon dating.”
“Um,” Kylie said, glancing at Brenda, “anything more?”
“Oh, yeah. A clown brought a giant bundle—presumably the woman’s body—into the house.”
“What?”
“Yep. You heard me. Brenda’s neighbors—a woman named Ginger and her live-in boyfriend, Kenny—have a camera alarm. It’s for the front of their house, but it catches a corner of Brenda’s yard. You can just see a clown—big, frizzy wig. Giant red nose. White outfit with red circles. And huge, red clown shoes—carrying something toward the house.”
“Great,” Kylie murmured.
“The forensic team is just finishing up now. They’re hoping to find something. The only people who should have been in the house in the last months are the realtor—Mandy Nichols—and the few people she showed it to. The previous owner, a fellow named Kenneth O’Hara, hasn’t been inside since he bought it five years ago. He intended to create a bed and breakfast, but his wife got sick, and he spent the next few years at her side. And then the pandemic hit. He lost the desire for what he intended to do and just wanted to sell the place. So, he handed it over to the realtor. When Brenda bought it, he ordered that the kitchen be updated, and a new bed be put in the largest bedroom upstairs. Brenda wanted what remained of the old—antique—furniture, and O’Hara simply wanted out. The crew that put in the kitchen was only three men, and two local workers delivered the bed. So we can trace the fingerprints in the house to those people for elimination, though it may take some time. Anyway, I’d like to see if we can find our old friend. But I’m not sure about leaving Brenda alone.”
“Right. I just met Mandy Nichols, by the way. She popped into the café to pick up a to-go order. She’s working an open house today. She told us the police gave a statement to the press?”
“They did. What was she like? Never mind, we’ll talk when you’re not with Brenda.”
“Right.”
“Okay, so…we need to make sure Brenda’s safe, and then I’d like you with me.”
“Of course,” she agreed. They couldn’t bring Brenda with them to find Obadiah Jones.
“So?”
“Hmm?” Kylie murmured.
She was surprised when Brenda—who had been watching her as she listened—laughed and spoke to exactly what Jon had been saying.
“He wants you to be with him when he’s doing whatever he’s going to do, but he’s worried about me,” Brenda said. “Seriously, I’m calm now. In fact, I’m angrier than I am scared. So, here’s my plan. I have a key to Abigail’s apartment, and the guard at the desk knows I’m allowed to be there. You can see me all the way there if you’d like. Make sure I’m locked in, and then you can head on out. Abigail plans to take off work early, so I really won’t be alone for that long.”
Kylie laughed softly. “Brenda, it’s still morning. You will be alone for a few hours, at least.”
“And I may sleep.”
“Okay. But you have my number. And Jon’s. And—”
“I know how to dial 911.” She smiled. “Which, of course, I could have done last night, but I really didn’t know what I had seen. And…”
“It’s okay,” Kylie assured her. “You did the right thing. You got out.”
Brenda nodded, and Kylie remembered that Jon was still on the line.
“Pick us up,” she told him. “We’re taking Brenda to a friend’s to get some sleep.”
“On my way.”
Kylie paid the tab, and they headed out to the street to wait for Jon to come by. Brenda thanked him effusively once he arrived, and Jon assured her that it was fine. At Abigail’s apartment building, he left the car near the curb and insisted on seeing the guard at the front, then walking up to the apartment with Kylie and Brenda. Before they entered, he went through the apartment room by room.