Danielle was about to head home when her cellphone rang. Sitting in her car, preparing to insert the key in the ignition, she instead answered the phone. “Hey, Walt.”
“Where are you?” came Walt’s voice.
She looked over at the store she had just left. “At the moment, I’m sitting in the parking lot at the grocery store, getting ready to come home. Do you need me to pick up something?”
“How do you feel about Chinese food?”
“Why, you want me to pick some up for dinner?”
“No. Chris called, and we started talking, and if you’re up to visitors, he’s offered to bring dinner.”
“Is Joanne finished?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. She left about fifteen minutes ago. We have a sparkling clean house.”
“And now our friends can come over and mess it up?” she teased.
Walt laughed and then asked, “So what do you think?”
“Sounds good. Who’s all coming?”
“Just the Beach Drive group. Along with Brian, but he’s working, so he’ll be a little later.”
One thing Danielle hated about late November and early December in Oregon were the shorter days. She didn’t mind the rain as much as she did a four-thirty sunset. But it was now the second week of January, and sunset was being pushed back to almost five. But not quite. She wouldn’t see a five o’clock sunset until next week.
Home from running errands, she had already put away the groceries and now sat in the kitchen with Walt, chatting about her afternoon outing and drinking a fruit smoothy she had picked up on her way home. If she couldn’t enjoy a glass of wine on a Friday night, she would have a smoothy.
While Danielle recounted her visit to the police station, the sound of the pet door swinging back and forth caught her attention. She and Walt glanced at the door and watched as Max strolled into the room. Once inside, the cat looked at Walt and let out a meow.
“Heather’s on her way over. She came in the back gate,” Walt announced.
“See, we don’t need that doorbell camera Adam told us to get. We have a watch cat.”
Walt focused his attention on the back door. It unlocked, and the next moment the door swung open just as Heather stepped onto the back porch.
“Wow, that’s service,” Heather said as she walked into the house.
“Hi, Heather. Is Chris with you?” Danielle asked.
“No, he wanted to go home and change before picking up the food.” Heather kept walking through the kitchen, heading toward the door leading to the hallway. “I have to use your bathroom.”
When Heather returned to the kitchen five minutes later, she said, “I can tell Joanne was here today. Everything looks so clean.” She took a seat at the table with Walt and Danielle. “I wish I had a Joanne.”
“She is great,” Danielle agreed. Danielle glanced upwards and said, “Thanks, Aunt Brianna, for originally hiring Joanne.”
“Wasn’t that Renton who actually hired her?” Walt reminded her.
“Yeah, I suppose.” Danielle glanced upwards again and said, “But I am not thanking you, Renton. You were a jerk.”
“You may be looking in the wrong direction if you’re trying to talk to Renton.” Heather pointed downward.
Danielle giggled. “You have a point.”
“Before you arrived, Danielle told me about her visit to the police station this afternoon. Brian said the Hammonds were coming in for another interview today. Did you talk to Brian after he spoke to them?” Walt asked.
“Yeah, I did. He told me what Millie had told Danielle, about something going on between Dave and Betty, and that Josephine claimed that story didn’t come from her,” Heather began.
“What did they say?” Danielle asked.
“Becca claimed it wasn’t true. And Dave admitted he found Betty attractive, but that if he was going to screw around on his wife, it certainly would not be with one of his wife’s best friends. Not unless he wanted to be caught.”
“They’re both denying it,” Walt said. “I assume Brian is going to interview Millie and find out who told her there was something going on between Betty and Dave?”
Danielle groaned. “I hate that. Millie is going to know I left her and marched right over to the police station.”
“Hey, Millie was the gossip here. What does she expect?” Heather asked. “But you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Why?” Danielle asked.
“They both have alibis. Not just were they together, they have a gas receipt showing where they were at a specific time that morning. And the chief already obtained video footage proving they were at the gas station at the time they claim they were. So they couldn’t have been the ones who killed Betty.”
“What about the phone call?” Danielle asked.
“The time of that call corresponds to when they were at a gas station. And Becca claims she was getting in her purse then, to get her credit card. So it is entirely possible she made a butt call to Betty. It happens,” Heather explained.
The next moment, Marie appeared in the middle of the kitchen.
“Hi, Marie,” the three chorused.
“Olivia is right behind me. She’s on her way over here,” Marie explained.
“Is she with anyone?” Walt asked.
Marie frowned. “No, why?”
Walt looked to the door and focused his energy. The next moment, the door unlocked and then opened. A few moments later Olivia stood at the back porch, looking into the kitchen while the three people sitting at the kitchen table stared back at her. She could not see Marie.
“Hi, Olivia,” Danielle greeted her. “Come on in.”
Olivia marched into the kitchen, glanced around, and then asked, “Is anyone else here?”
“Just Marie,” Danielle said.
Her back to the open door, Olivia stood up a little straighter, licked her lips nervously, and was about to say something when the door behind her closed abruptly and locked, making her jump. She looked to the now closed door.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Walt said.
Turning back to Walt, Olivia said, “I know you’re all trying to help me, but please, tell your Marie ghost I really don’t need her. Thank her. But tell her she does not need to babysit me. In fact, I implore her don’t go back to my house with me!”
They all looked at Marie. “What did you do?” Danielle asked.
Marie scowled. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You made her fly across the yard this morning,” Heather reminded her.
“It wasn’t just that,” Olivia argued while Marie grumbled, “I was just trying to help.”
Walt and Danielle looked at each other while they both mouthed, Flying?
“I’m sorry. But this is just nerve-racking. Can’t you all understand how creepy it is to know a ghost is following you everywhere?”
Marie frowned. “Is she calling me creepy?”
“I can’t even go to the bathroom!”
“I didn’t follow you into the bathroom,” Marie said with a pout.
“You haven’t gone to the bathroom all day?” Heather asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Olivia mumbled.
Heather shrugged. “You brought it up.”
“Tell her I didn’t follow her into the bathroom. And it wasn’t just because she asked me not to the first time. Frankly, it was insulting that she found it necessary to ask me every single time she used the bathroom. I heard her the first time—which wasn’t even necessary for her to say. I may be dead, but I’m not a voyeur.”
Danielle leaned over and pulled out a chair. She looked up to Olivia. “Come. Sit down.”
Hesitantly, Olivia glanced around the room. She took a step toward the table, then paused. “Where is she now?”
“If the she you are talking about is Marie, she is right there.” Danielle pointed to the corner where Marie stood.
“Oh goodness. This is silly. I’m going to go say hi to Connor.” Marie vanished.
“Marie just left,” Heather told her.
Olivia took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked to the table and sat down. “I’m sorry, but this has been all too much.”
“I guess having a ghost hanging around that you can’t see might be a little… umm…” Danielle didn’t finish the sentence, but instead thought about how quickly Lily had adapted when first learning an invisible Walt shared Marlow House with them. But then she remembered Lily had already met Walt in a dream hop. Perhaps she should try arranging a dream hop with Marie and Olivia.
Heather broke Danielle’s train of thought when she asked Olivia, “Aside from your haunting, how was your first day at work?”
Olivia shrugged. “It was okay. I didn’t do much. One of the volunteers gave me a tour of the library. Josephine gave me my own set of keys, so I guess I’m official. Next week I’m supposed to help her complete the inventory she started with Betty. But aside from that, she was gone most of the afternoon. We’re closing the library tomorrow, in respect of Betty, and to let the library employees and volunteers attend her memorial service if they want.”
“You have the weekend off?” Walt asked.
“Yes. It will give me time to finish unpacking.”
“If you don’t feel it’s necessary for Marie to hang out with you, that’s okay. She was only trying to help,” Danielle said.
Olivia smiled at Danielle. “And I appreciate it. But I hope you understand.”
They had invited her to join them for dinner, but she respectfully declined, telling them she really wasn’t hungry and wanted to get back to her house to go through some boxes. But when she returned home, she was too tired to unpack. Instead, she removed a carton of Ben and Jerry’s from her freezer, peeled off its lid, grabbed a spoon from a drawer, and headed out to the living room to eat a dinner of ice cream in front of the television.
But instead of turning on the television, she sat alone in her living room, eating ice cream out of the carton and thinking about Betty and her funeral tomorrow in Astoria. She remembered what her medium neighbors had told her, that she would be able to see ghosts when on an astral projection journey. Later that night, she fell asleep with that thought in her head.
Olivia slept in the next morning. When she woke up, it was almost ten thirty. She sat up in bed, wearing just her white linen night shift, and combed her fingers through her hair. Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she remembered Betty’s memorial service was starting in about an hour.
“I wish I could talk to Betty. She could tell me who killed her,” Olivia said aloud. It was in that moment a thought came to her. What if Betty’s spirit had not moved on, like the mediums claimed? What if she showed up at her funeral to watch? That’s what I’d do, Olivia thought.
“If it’s actually possible for me to see a spirit while in an out-of-body state—possible for me to communicate with the spirit—then if I go to Betty’s funeral, and she is there, I could find out who killed her. Whoever it is would no longer be a threat to me or anyone else.”
Olivia did not consider discussing her idea with her medium neighbors. Instead, she grabbed the smartphone from the nightstand and began surfing for maps of Oregon, along with an obituary on Betty Kelty. After she had what she needed, she positioned herself on the center of her bed, closed her eyes, and prepared to astral project.