Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (13 page)

Why had it taken a ghost to point that
out to me? Beth would be perfect, actually. I didn’t know her, but
she knew Karyn and she had seemed like a very nice lady. People in
town knew her. At least I figured they did since she’d lived here
all her life as far as I knew.

Take that, Cooper. I’d show him. He
probably hoped I wouldn’t find someone so I wouldn’t be able to do
the show. He’d love that. Well, too bad, because Larue Donavan was
there to stay.

“
Candy Cherry just reminded
me about Beth. She would be perfect,” I said.

Mindy glanced around. “I’m shocked,
but she does have a point.”

“
I’ll call her right now.” I
grabbed the phone and found her number.

Candy Cherry smirked and sashayed back
to some corner in the room. Why was she being nice? There had to be
a motive behind her pleasantries.

After several rings, the woman
answered. “Beth, this is Larue from Book Nook.”

“
Oh, hi, Larue. Is
everything okay?”

“
Oh yeah, everything is
fine. Listen, the reason I’m calling is, and this may seem so
random, how would you like to work for me at Book Nook?”

She didn’t speak. Had I scared the
poor woman away already? “I know you haven’t applied for a job, but
I really need some help while I work on a project. I know you
mentioned that you’re looking for something to do now that your son
is in school. So what better way to occupy your time? I’d pay you a
good wage and you can have a discount on all the books you
want.”

“
Remember this was my idea,”
Candy said from across the room.

I ignored Candy Cherry.

Beth’s response pulled my attention
back. “I think that is a fantastic idea, Larue. When do I
start?”

I let out a sigh of relief. Finally,
something had gone right. “You can start right away.”

After a few minutes on the phone, it
was all set. But why did a nervous lump sit like a rock in the pit
of my stomach? I felt as if I was leaving my baby with a stranger,
that was why. I hated the idea of not being in the bookstore. I’d
never liked leaving anyone else in charge. My motto was if you
wanted something done right, then you had to do it yourself. “Trust
other people,” Mindy would say.

Easier said than done.

***

Callahan had cancelled our dinner
plans because he said he needed to help Mike with the carwash
business. I couldn’t lie; I was disappointed because I’d wanted to
celebrate the beginning of the show with him. But I knew he was
trying to help out a friend, so I forgave him. Later that night,
I’d taken Matt Kelly’s advice and gone to bed early. But my anxiety
over what would happen the next day, plus the strange feeling
growing within me, made sleeping next to impossible. The three
ghosts sitting in my bedroom didn’t help either.

“
Maybe we should leave her
alone to get some sleep,” Elvis whispered.

“
Sleep won’t help her at
this point. She’s hopeless,” Candy Cherry said
sarcastically.

I sat up in bed. “Candy. Mr. Fine. Get
out!”

Without waiting for a response, I
plopped back on the bed, grabbed the pillow and covered my head,
trying to drown out their nonsense.

After a minute, I felt a
slight weight on the side of my bed. I was almost afraid to open my
eyes to see who was there.
Please let it
not be another ghost.
Easing back the
pillow, I opened one eye and realized I might have died and gone to
heaven. Elvis was sitting on the edge of my bed. The sweet sound of
his voice hit my ears as he started singing Love Me Tender. Like a
baby, I began to doze off. But someone had to ruin all the
fun.

Another noise sounded from outside the
house. It was beginning to be a regular occurrence. Did I go see
what it was, or just ignore it? Closing my eyes to the situation
would only make matters worse. Not knowing would eat away at me, so
I knew I’d have to see what had made the sound. Not that I’d see
anything since it was pitch black outside.

Tiptoeing over to the window, I peeked
out into the darkness and looked for the same shadow that had been
making regular appearances. Nothing was in sight. The leaves on the
trees didn’t sway and the clouds didn’t move in the sky. The moon
lit up the whole yard. I’d remembered to leave the outside light
off so that I could get a good view of the whole area in cause this
thing returned. If there was something out there it wouldn’t be
able to hide for long.

Elvis had jumped up with me. I had so
been enjoying the serenade. Whoever spoiled my fun needed a swift
kick in the rear.

“
Do you think something is
out there?” Elvis asked from over my shoulder.

It was nice having Elvis around the
house. His presence made me feel safe.

“
Yes, I’m sure something is
out there,” I said softly.

“
I’ll go check it
out.”

I looked at him. “You’d do that for
me?”

“
Of course I would. What are
friends for?” He winked.

I followed Elvis to the front of the
house and watched as he disappeared through the front door. From
the side window, I watched as he moved from tree to tree. After a
minute, he looked back at me and shook his head. I stepped out on
the porch as he walked up.

“
There’s nothing out there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a stray cat or a
raccoon.”

It was an awfully loud cat or raccoon
if it had been, but I didn’t mention this to Elvis. I was just
thankful that he’d looked for me.

“
Thank you,” I said. “Maybe
it’s gone for good now.”

He nodded. “Why don’t you get back
inside and get some rest? You have a long day ahead of you
tomorrow.”

As I turned to head back into the
house, a rustling noise caught my attention and we both whirled
around. From behind one of the trees someone moved, then slipped
away into the night.

Elvis floated off in pursuit, but I
wasn’t sure he’d catch up with her. The person looked just like
Karyn, but I knew it couldn’t be her. Well, I supposed it could
have been, but why would she be outside my home when she was
supposed to be in Texas? The person had moved normally at first,
but then it was as if she glided away. Karyn couldn’t glide
anywhere as far as I knew. No one could except for the ghosts. But
this was no ghost, I sensed it. If anyone knew the difference, I
did.

The person I’d seen had long blonde
hair and was the same size as Karyn. I’d even gotten a good look at
the side of her face, which made me even more confused. It really
looked like her. But Karyn wouldn’t have dashed off like that
without saying something to me. We’d grown to be friends in the
very short time that I’d known her.

Elvis floated back. He furrowed his
brow. “I don’t know where she went to. I was sure I could catch up
to whoever it was, but she was gone like a rabbit. And I float
fast. She was supercharged.”

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind
my ear. “It looked like my friend, but she’s in Texas.”

“
Well, like I said, this
person just seemed to disappear. You say it looked like your
friend. What was her name?”

“
Karyn,” I filled in for
him.

“
Would she come here? What
would she be doing here at this time of night?”

“
I have no idea, but I’m
going to find out.” I ran inside and grabbed my phone from the
table.

As I listened to the phone ring, Candy
Cherry sidled up next to me. Oh goodie, my favorite ghost. Just the
person I wanted to see. I tilted my head in the opposite direction,
trying to give her the hint that it was a private conversation and
to get lost.

“
Would you please stop
tapping your fingers on that table? You’re giving me a headache,”
she said.

“
What is your problem?
You’re dead. How can you have a headache?” I snapped while waiting
for Karyn to pick up.

Three rings. Four rings. No answer
yet.

She huffed. “Now you’re just being
mean. Do you think I don’t know I’m dead? I have emotions, you
know. I do have feelings.” She gave a fake sniffle.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh no, you don’t.
Don’t give me that line of bull.”

Five rings. Six rings. Just when I
thought the voice mail would pick up, Karyn answered. Her groggy
hello reminded me of the time. I’d temporarily forgotten how rude
it was to call at one a.m., but it was kind of an emergency.
Besides, if she really had been the one running away, then I knew
she would pretend she’d been asleep. But why would she lie to
me?

“
Karyn, it’s Larue,” I said
hurriedly.

“
Is something wrong?” she
asked in a concerned voice.

“
I’m sorry to call you at
this time of night.” I paused, trying to think of the right way to
ask. “This may sound like a strange question, but I have to ask
anyway.”

“
Please, go ahead,” she
nudged.

Steadying myself, I finally asked,
“Were you just at my house?”

“
No.” She paused, then
asked, “What makes you ask that?”

If it hadn’t been her, then I had an
even bigger question: who was it?

“
This may sound strange, but
I thought I saw you in my front yard out by the trees. When I
noticed the person, they ran away.” I left out the part about Elvis
because I already sounded wacky enough.

“
I wasn’t there and if I had
been you know I would have come to your door.”

Her voice sounded terse and a little
taken aback that I’d even asked something like this, which was
completely unlike her. Well, I guess I hadn’t known her that long,
so maybe it was like her and I’d never witnessed it. She’d never
lied to me that I knew of, so why would she start now?

I let out another deep breath. “Maybe
I was just seeing things.”

“
Perhaps it was a bird,” she
said.

She sounded like she thought I’d lost
my mind. Heck, maybe I had. Had I dreamed the whole thing? Maybe
I’d been sleepwalking. Stranger things had happened. I pinched
myself. Yeah, I was awake.

“
Listen, Karyn I’m really
sorry for bothering you.”

Candy Cherry snorted and Mr. Fine blew
smoke in my face. I was going to take those cigarettes and shove
them… oh, he wasn’t worth the energy.

“
Would you like to chat for
a little while longer?” She sounded more like her usual
self.

“
No, no. I’m just going to
bed.”

“
You’ve been through a lot.
You just need to get some rest.”

It felt as if all the air had escaped
my lungs. “I guess.”

Everyone kept saying that, but my
tiredness could only be blamed so many times before I didn’t
believe it anymore.

“
If you’re sure you don’t
need me?” she asked.

“
I’m positive.”

“
You’ll call me if you need
anything? Don’t worry about the time either.”

Didn’t she know by now that obviously
I didn’t watch the clock? Like an idiot I’d called her in the
middle of the night to ask her if she’d been hiding behind a tree
at my house. Yeah, I’d officially lost it. No wonder she’d acted
strange when I’d called.

I hung up and trudged back to bed,
ignoring the sneers from Candy Cherry and Mr. Fine. As soon as the
show was over and I had time, they were so out of here. Don’t let
the light hit you where the good Lord split you, nasty
ghosts.

Mindy, Cooper, and the television crew
were set to pick me up within the hour. I’d already dressed in the
nicest pair of black pants I owned and a silk turquoise blouse. I’d
taken an hour on my makeup compared to my usual two minutes only to
realize the show would have a hair and makeup person to do it for
me.

It was a strange feeling to be hanging
out with Elvis at my kitchen table. He sat across from me while I
drank my morning coffee and enjoyed blueberry waffles. Mr. Fine
leaned against the counter as if he was thoroughly bored with the
whole scene. I wasn’t sure where evil Candy was, but I knew she was
in the house somewhere—I sensed her. I thought she was in my
bedroom looking around. She was the nosiest ghost I’d ever
encountered. Maybe she’d been a kleptomaniac when she had been
alive.

“
So, tell me,” I said
stuffing a forkful of food into my mouth. I chewed, swallowed, then
continued the sentence. “What do you think of today’s music? I bet
you visit your daughter a lot and your grandchildren.”

Hmm. I wondered if he popped in on
Priscilla occasionally. That would be a bit awkward, seeing the ex.
He probably couldn’t resist a visit every now and then. I wouldn’t
ask; that was just too personal. I didn’t want to seem like a
crazed fan. Oh, who was I kidding? I already looked like a crazed
fan.

“
Well, you know, I’m not
really here to talk about me. I came here to help Callahan and
you.”