Heather Donovan thought her living room looked bare without the Christmas tree. Three days prior, on New Year’s Day, Brian had helped her take it down. She would have left it up longer, but the dry pine needles piling up under the tree, along with the drooping noble fir branches weighed down with ornaments, had reminded her of an exhausted and disgruntled worker—one that might set fire to her house.
With a sigh, she turned from where the tree once stood and admitted she felt some satisfaction knowing she had put away all her Christmas ornaments and cleaned her house, so when she got home after work, she had the entire weekend to relax and do something fun.
In less than two hours she would discover any plans for fun weren’t happening this weekend.
Heather glanced around and looked for her calico cat, Bella. She normally took Bella to work with her, but today Bella would stay home. Yesterday Heather had taken her car to the shop, so instead of her morning jog, she planned to walk to Pier Café, pick up breakfast for her and Chris, and walk down to Chris’s house. After the two ate breakfast, she would ride to work with him.
After Heather spied Bella napping in the corner, she walked to the coat rack and grabbed her raincoat and slipped it on. She removed her purse from the coat rack. Before draping its strap over one shoulder, she picked up her cellphone from a hall table and dropped it into her purse.
Once outside, Heather closed and locked the door behind her. Turning to the street, she looked up. Judging by the clouds in the sky, she didn’t foresee morning rain. A few moments later, she reached her front gate and was about to step out onto the sidewalk when she heard the gate over at Pearl’s house open and slam shut. Pausing, she glanced next door and watched as two women walked out from Pearl’s front gate onto the sidewalk.
It was no longer Pearl’s house, Heather reminded herself. Someone had murdered her cranky neighbor several months earlier. But Heather imagined she would always think of it as Pearl’s house despite the fact someone had bought the property. Had Adam or Pearl’s trustee sent someone over to check out the house?
Heather was about to call out to the women, whose backs were to her, when the tallest of the two turned and looked Heather’s way. Their eyes met, and the woman quickly looked away. Heather’s cellphone rang.
Instead of calling out to the women, Heather shoved her hand into her purse and pulled out her cellphone. She glanced at the caller’s identification. As she answered the cellphone, she watched the two women hurry up the street, in the opposite direction of the pier.
“Morning, Chris,” Heather said into the phone.
“Have you left yet?” Chris Johnson, aka Chris Glandon, asked.
“I’m just leaving my house now.” Heather stepped onto the sidewalk. “What’s up?”
“I’d like to change my order…” Chris began.
After Heather reached Pier Café, she took a seat at the counter, gave Carla a to-go order, and then watched as the server filled her cup with hot coffee. While Heather preferred tea, she didn’t care for the brand of tea Pier Café served. Heather glanced around the diner, noting all the empty booths.
“I heard about Danielle,” Carla whispered after she finished pouring the coffee. She set the pot on the counter and then leaned forward, resting her hands on the edge of the countertop. Since before Christmas, Carla’s spiky hair had grown out, and was now blond, with streaks of pink framing her face.
“Who told you?” Heather picked up her cup and took a sip.
“No one actually told me,” Carla said. “But I overheard Melony and Adam talking about it last night when they came in. Is it true?”
Heather set the mug back on the counter and gave a shrug. “I guess it depends on what you heard.”
In response, Carla made a hand gesture.
Heather gave another shrug. “It’s not really my place to say.”
“If true, it’s going to be a big change for those two. I can’t even imagine.” Carla shivered and then changed the subject. “Adam told me your new neighbor is moving in this weekend.”
“Yeah. I wish it were Adam and Mel.” Heather set her mug on the counter.
“Frankly, I never understood why Melony wanted to live there. Sure, Beach Drive is a great location. But seriously, who would want to live in that creepy place? If ever there was a candidate for a haunted house, that would be it. Its backyard was practically a graveyard, not to mention Pearl was murdered there.”
Heather chuckled.
“I know you didn’t like Pearl.”
“While Pearl wasn’t my favorite person when she was alive, she kind of grew on me after she died.”
Carla, who knew nothing of Heather’s paranormal abilities, nor the fact Heather had gotten to know Pearl’s spirit before she moved on, stared dumbly at Heather. Noticing Carla’s peculiar expression, Heather flashed the server a sheepish grin and asked if Carla would check on her order.
Heather headed up the street to Chris’s house, to-go sacks in hand. Instead of walking on the beach, she stayed on the sidewalk. Dressed for work, she wore a long black skirt and sweater under her rain jacket. Instead of wearing her black hair down, she had braided it that morning and fastened the braids around her head, making her look like a Goth milkmaid with straight bangs barely covering her eyebrows.
When she passed Ian and Lily’s house, she glanced their way, noting all the window coverings drawn. She then looked across the street to Marlow House. Their window blinds were also closed.
“Looks like everyone is sleeping in,” Heather muttered aloud. “If they had real jobs, I bet they wouldn’t still be sleeping.”
When she reached Chris’s house, she entered by the front door without knocking. Chris’s enthusiastic pit bull, Hunny, greeted her. Hunny wanted to jump on Heather, but resisted the temptation, while her wiggling butt and tail moved behind her.
“Hey, Hunny Bunny,” Heather cooed at the dog, offering her a pat with her free hand after closing the door behind her. Hunny continued to prance around Heather, her nose sniffing at the sacks of food. Chris walked into the entry hall from his bedroom and relieved her of the food so she could properly greet Hunny.
“Carla knows about Danielle,” Heather told Chris as the two sat at his kitchen table eating the food from Pier Café.
“Can’t keep anything from Carla. Did Danielle tell her?” While drinking his coffee, Chris looked over at Heather, waiting for her reply.
“No. She overheard Mel and Adam talking about it. I didn’t confirm it.”
Chris chuckled. “Wait until Carla hears about Lily.”
About to take a bite of food, Heather paused and looked over at Chris. “Someone was over at Pearl’s this morning. They left out the front gate. But I didn’t see a car.”
“They were inside the house?”
Heather shrugged. “I just saw them coming out the front gate. Two women. And then they headed down this way.”
“If you didn’t see a car, probably someone taking a walk, saw the for-sale sign, and got nosey. I’m surprised Adam didn’t take the sign down right after escrow closed.”
“You know Adam, doesn’t miss a chance for free advertising.”
Chris chuckled. “True.”
“At first, I wondered if Brandon sent someone to check on the house one last time before the new owners move in. But when they took off up the street, and I didn’t see any car…” Heather shrugged.
Fifteen minutes later, after Heather and Chris finished eating and cleaning up, they headed out the front door, with Hunny by their side. Chris hadn’t bothered putting Hunny on a leash. The well-behaved dog normally stayed by Chris’s side, following any command he might give her. Yet the moment Chris shut the front door, Hunny raced off, heading toward the street.
“Hunny!” The dog ignored Chris and ran down the sidewalk. Chris called out again. When Hunny continued to ignore him, Chris let out a curse and sprinted after the dog, with Heather trailing behind them.
Hunny stopped a few doors up from Chris’s house, her nose shoved between two large evergreen bushes. Chris and Heather, now on the sidewalk and a short distance from Hunny, slowed to a walk.
“What does she have now?” Chris grumbled. Annoyed, he marched toward his dog. “Hunny, get out of there! What are you getting into?”
So focused on his dog, Chris failed to notice what Heather had. It wasn’t until Heather grabbed Chris by the back of his shirt, pulled him to a stop, and then pointed—not at Hunny—but at something protruding from the side of the bush closest to them. It hadn’t been visible from where they stood moments earlier.
“Feet?” Chris squeaked. They weren’t bare feet, but feet wearing a pair of sneakers. By the exposed ankles, neither Chris nor Heather assumed they were simply seeing a pair of abandoned shoes.
“Damn, don’t tell me there’s a body attached to those,” Heather groaned.
Chris let out a sigh and muttered, “To be honest, I would rather find an entire body than severed feet.”
“True,” Heather agreed.
Chris gave the dog another command to come, and this time, she listened. Hunny rushed to Chris’s side and sat down, yet continually looked back at what she had been sniffing. Hesitantly, Chris and Heather approached the bushes while Heather pulled her cellphone from her purse, preparing to call the police station. Normally, she would have called Brian directly, but at the moment, he was at the dentist getting a root canal.
Once in front of the bushes, Chris hesitantly pulled the branches to one side while he and Heather looked down to the body attached to the feet.
Sprawled under the bushes lay a lifeless woman with her head turned to one side, her face not visible because of the foliage covering it. A bloody wound stained the back of the woman’s clothing.
Heather gasped. “That’s one of the women I saw leaving Pearl’s house!”
Now kneeling by the body, Chris felt for a pulse. There was none. “How can you tell? You can’t see her face.” Not wanting to disturb the evidence, Chris did not move the body. He stood up, letting the branches fall back into place.
“I didn’t see her face when she left Pearl’s, either. But she’s wearing the same thing one woman was wearing. Same hair coloring. It’s her.” Heather looked around. “I wonder where the other woman went.”
“Call the police, and I’ll look around,” Chris told Heather. “Maybe her spirit is still lingering, and she can tell us what happened.”