Ghost of a Gamble (Granny Apples Mystery) (17 page)

“Not even if it means saving Dolly’s life?”

“You don’t know these guys, Emma. They’re probably going to kill her anyway.”

“Listen, you moron,” said Madeline, coming closer to Lenny. She put her hands on her hips. “Isn’t it bad enough you broke Dolly’s heart, now you have to cause her death?”

“I didn’t break Doll’s heart,” Lenny insisted, going nose to nose with Madeline. “I was going to return the money, like I promised her.”

Lenny turned to Emma. “You have to believe me,” he pleaded. “Doll needs to believe me. After we robbed the casino, I thought she’d be happy because we’d finally have the money to take Milo and start over somewhere else.”

“So you know Milo is your son?” asked Emma.

“Of course I know that. But Doll wouldn’t marry me unless I got a real job, a respectable job. She had my name taken off his birth certificate and said he’d never know unless I went straight. When Nemo approached me about the heist, I figured it would be a good way to get the money I needed. One last score before going straight.” Lenny paced the hotel suite. “I robbed the place and stashed the money until things cooled down. That was the plan with Nemo. But when I told Doll, she kicked me out and said I was dead to her unless I gave the money back to the casino. I was going to get it to return it when Nemo’s goons grabbed me and killed me. They beat me to death trying to find out where it was, but I never told them.”

Granny stuck a finger in Lenny’s face and shook it. “So now you need to tell us where the money is so we can use it to save Dolly.”

Quickly, Emma told Quinn and Phil what was going on, then asked, “Any luck with Ironwood?”

“There’s an Ironwood Homeowners’ Association and an Ironwood Estates,” Phil reported, reading over Quinn’s shoulder. “They’re close to Vegas. Someplace called Summerlin.”

Madeline shook her head. “Those are expensive homes northwest of here. Certainly not in the wide-open desert.”

“Keep looking,” Emma told them. “Try anything you can.”

Phil came to stand next to Emma. “Where’s this Lenny?” he asked her.

Emma pointed straight ahead. Phil looked in that direction. “After all these years, maybe the money isn’t still where you put it. There’s been a lot of construction in this area since you were alive.”

“It’s there,” assured Lenny. “I’ve checked. It’s out in the desert in a place where nothing’s been built yet.” Emma relayed the words to Phil.

“Got it!” Quinn banged a fist on the table. “And you won’t believe where.”

Everyone, dead and living, turned to him, waiting.

“It’s in Dolan Springs, Arizona,” Quinn announced.

Lenny floated over to Quinn. “No, it’s not!”

Emma went over to the table to check on Quinn’s findings. “I don’t think he means the money, Lenny.”

“Remembering what that Wyatt guy said about Frankie?” Quinn explained. “I plugged in Dolan Springs, and guess what, there’s a street there called Ironwood.” He kept jabbing information into the search engine. “Hold on,” said Quinn. “Bingo! There’s also a B&B Pizza in Dolan Springs, and from the map, it’s not that far from Ironwood.”

“Good job, Quinn and Granny!” said Emma. “Although I wish we had more of an address.”

“I don’t think it will matter, Em.” Quinn tapped the iPad screen. “Look at this Google map. There are not many structures on Ironwood. And we know what the creep drives.”

Quinn was right—the map showed a small town with clearly marked streets and buildings. Ironwood wasn’t very long and there were few homes or other buildings along it.

Emma left Quinn and started pacing while she thought through the angles. Granny paced alongside her. “What are you thinking, Emma?”

“We know where Frankie is and we know his vehicle,” Emma said, wearing out the carpet. “If we go out there, we should be able to locate Laura and Dolly. Do we go tonight or tomorrow?” She looked at the two living men. “What do you guys think?”

Quinn, still hunched over Emma’s iPad, straightened up and stretched. “That Wyatt guy said there are little to no outside lights out there, so it might be difficult tonight to see anything. But we could leave at first light or even before and surprise him in the morning.”

“But that also means,” added Phil, “that he’ll see us sneaking up, especially if it’s wide-open space.” He turned to Emma. “Shouldn’t we call the police and let them know where we think Dolly is?”

“I just don’t know how much to trust the police, Phil. Both Foster and Garby, the detectives on the case, have personal interests here. And Dolan Springs is in Arizona, not Nevada.”

“Did you say Garby?” The ghost of Madeline Kurtz stepped forward.

“Yes,” answered Emma. “There are two Garbys, Gene and Howard. They may be brothers and related to Nemo. One’s a detective, the other runs the rest home where Nemo died.”

“They are brothers,” Madeline confirmed, “and Nemo’s sons. If one of them is a cop, don’t trust him.”

“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here.”

Everyone but Phil and Quinn whipped around toward the door to the suite, the direction from where the voice came. In a matter of seconds, the ghost of Nemo Morehouse materialized.

“M
ADELINE,
my dear, so nice to see you again.” The ghost of the old criminal approached her. “I understand we died on the same day. How perfect is that?”

“Get away from me, Nemo,” snapped Madeline.

Nemo smiled at Emma. “In our day, Maddy and I were quite the hot item. In fact, the four of us—Lenny, Dolly, Maddy, and I—made a cute foursome.” He turned to Lenny. “At least until Lenny here went and spoiled it all by becoming a traitor.”

“I was trying to do the right thing, Nemo,” Lenny said. “You should try it sometime.”

Emma walked over to the table. “Nemo’s here,” she whispered to Phil and Quinn. She tapped the iPad screen, making the information on it disappear. The two of them quickly understood, but Emma was worried about the ghosts, hoping none of them spilled the beans about knowing where Dolly and Laura were being held.

“I thought it was getting cold in here,” said Phil, keeping his voice low.

“Right now,” Emma told them, “the dead outnumber the living, four to three. So just sit tight.”

Nemo eyed Phil. “And who’s this, Emma? Another suitor? Or a cop? He looks kind of like a cop.”

“That’s Emma boyfriend,” Granny answered. “He’s a lawyer.”

“Ah, a mouthpiece,” Nemo answered in an oily voice. “I used to own several.”

Nemo wandered around the suite, looking at the other three ghosts. He dismissed Granny with a casual glance as he passed her. She lifted her upper lip in distaste.

“Yes, the gang’s all here,” Nemo said again. “Except for Dolly. And who knows, she might be joining us soon. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Don’t you dare hurt Doll!” Lenny charged Nemo but only ran through him. Lenny tried again, and again he only flew through the hazy image of the other ghost.

“You never were very bright, Lenny,” Nemo sneered. “But now’s the time to grow a brain and save Dolly. Where did you stash the money?”

“Your boys are going to kill her whether I give it to you or not.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” said Nemo with hands outstretched. “You always liked the tables, Len. You willing to gamble with Dolly’s life? You’ve got a fifty-fifty chance that she’ll live if you give us the money. Zip chance if you don’t.”

Nemo’s boys
, Emma thought. She glanced at Lenny. He’d been saying that
Nemo’s boys
were coming for her. It fell into place. Lenny had been trying to warn her about Nemo’s sons but hadn’t made himself clear. She looked at Nemo. “Both of your sons are involved, aren’t they, Nemo? Even Howard.”

“And what do you know about my sons?” Nemo set wary eyes on Emma.

“I know Gene is the director of Desert Sun, and Howard is a detective. The very detective assigned to this case.”

“I knew you were smart when I met you, Emma.” Nemo looked at Lenny and laughed. “Then again, motormouth there probably told you about them. Or even Dolly.” Nemo stretched, a luxurious catlike stretch like he had all the time in the world and no place to go. “Who knew one of my boys would become a cop?” Nemo gave her a wide smile. “He’s a good cop, too. Straight as an arrow. Above reproach, until now. Until his brother convinced him this whole cockamamie thing with ghosts and mediums could work.”

Emma wondered about John Foster. “Is Howard’s partner involved in this, too?”

“Foster?” Nemo laughed. “No. But he is an unwitting catalyst. I don’t think Howard would have gone for the scheme, but the force brought that young upstart in from outside and promoted him over my boy. He’s put his life on the line and this is how they repaid him. I’ve always told him only crime paid.”

Emma stared at Nemo, wondering if he was telling the truth about John Foster and if she should have kept her mouth shut about knowing the identity of Nemo’s sons. She turned to Madeline when another idea struck her. “Please don’t tell me you’re Howard and Gene’s mother. Although I wouldn’t be surprised at this point.”

Madeline started to say something, but Nemo spoke up first. “She could have been, but she’s not.”

“No,” Madeline confirmed, shooting daggers at Nemo. “After what this louse did to Lenny, I wanted nothing more to do with him. He’d already started running around with some tramp from Boulder City—a cocktail waitress named Lola—before then. She’s the boys’ mother. She popped them out one right after the other.”

“So the boys didn’t take your name?” Emma asked Nemo.

“I never married Lola,” Nemo explained. “But I supported the boys and spent time with them. Lola married a guy name Garby, who adopted them. Considering the heat I was always under, we thought it best that their relationship to me was kept under wraps. When they were all grown up, Lola and her husband moved to Florida, but the boys and I got close again.” He turned a stern eye on Lenny. “That money is my legacy to them.”

“So close Gene murdered you?” Emma stepped forward. “And tried to stick that on Dolly?”

Nemo laughed. “Dolly wasn’t under any real suspicion. In the end it would have been deemed natural causes. I was very old and going to die anyway, within two months according to the doc. It was all about timing. And by the way, Gene did not kill me.”

“Not directly, but he hired Frankie Varga to do it. In the eyes of the law, it’s still murder.”

“You’ve been snooping around, my dear.” Nemo tightened his lips, them relaxed them into a smile. “Frankie reminds me a lot of Lenny in his early days—none too bright but willing.”

Before Lenny could process the dig, Emma said, “And by timing, you mean Laura Crawford or someone like her.” Emma got even closer to the dead hood. “You couldn’t die until you had a medium you could trust to be the communicator between you and your sons.”

Nemo laughed. “You and your kind are amazingly ethical, Emma. At least the real ones are. We met up with a lot of crackpots who couldn’t contact a ghost if they were one themselves. Others were wary of Gene’s queries. It took us a while to find Laura. She’s young and impressionable, and almost unaware of her gifts, which makes her both perfect and maddening. There’s no quality control to her communication.” He gave Emma a short jerk of his head. “What we need is someone like you.”

“And you never knew about Milo?” Emma asked.

“Ah, yes, Milo.” Nemo turned to Lenny. “Who knew you and Dolly would produce such a talent, but alas, Dolly insisted he was a scam and I never saw him enough to judge for myself. And when he was older, he moved away.”

Lenny stepped forward, ready to charge Nemo again. “You keep Milo out of this.”

“For years,” continued Nemo, ignoring Lenny, “I believed her and even forgot about little Milo, then I read in the paper about his upcoming event at the university. Gene contacted Dolly and
strongly encouraged
her to set up a little meeting with us when he was in town to try and contact Lenny, but she insisted Milo wasn’t capable of doing that, even though he was famous for it. That’s why Dolly came to see me the night I died. She wanted to tell me she’d found someone better suited to help than Milo.”

“Me,” Emma said, pointing as herself.

Nemo winked his confirmation. “You.”

Emma closed her eyes as more of the puzzle came together. It wasn’t that Dolly hadn’t believed in Milo’s gifts all these years; she was trying to protect him. That was why she wanted someone else to look into Lenny’s presence. She knew Nemo was about to make his move, and she wanted to be sure that Lenny was around and Emma could communicate with him. Not that Emma appreciated being thrown into the mix as a substitute, but she could see Dolly’s motive from a mother’s viewpoint.

“Over the years I kept in touch with Dolly,” Nemo continued, “sure she knew where Lenny stashed the money, but if she did, she wasn’t touching it.”

“I never told her,” Lenny insisted. “And I saw you hovering around her, watching her every move over the years. I just couldn’t tell her anything.” Lenny looked down at the floor. “If I could have, I would have told her so you would have left her alone.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” sneered Nemo. “She was a good-looking woman. Who knows, maybe I could have picked up where you left off.” Nemo was pushing Lenny’s buttons and it was working. Once again he tried to charge Nemo and missed.

“He’s provoking you on purpose, Lenny,” Madeline said with disgust. “Didn’t you learn anything working with him all those years?”

“For,” Nemo corrected her. “Lenny worked for me, not with me.”

“Stop the bickering,” Granny said with impatience. “It’s not getting us anywhere.”

“Granny’s right,” added Emma. “Nemo, I want to talk to Lenny alone. Maybe I can learn more about the money.” She stepped even closer to the ghost and pointed her right index finger in his face. “But if we do turn over that money, you have to promise to return both Dolly and Laura unharmed.”

“You really think that creep is going to keep a promise?” Granny moved closer, but Emma signaled her to stay where she was.

“And if I don’t,” goaded the ghostly criminal.

“Then you’ll just have to wait and see what I have up my sleeve, won’t you?”

Nemo locked eyes with Emma. “In return for the money and their safety, you have to promise not to turn in my boys. The money is exchanged. The women turned over. And my boys walk away without a hitch.” He looked over at Quinn and Phil. “And that goes for them, too.”

Emma stared at Nemo a long time, weighing the proposition. She nodded, agreeing to his terms.

“Say it,” Nemo demanded as he started to fade.

“I agree,” said Emma, her voice strong, her eyes latched on to the ghost. “Just return them without so much as a scratch or the deal is off.”

“Tomorrow, Emma. You have until tomorrow to deliver the money. My boys will be in touch about the time and place.”

When Nemo was gone, Emma updated Quinn and Phil.

“Talk about a deal with the devil.” Quinn shook his head.

“What are we going to do about Dolly and Laura?” asked Phil. “Knowing you’ve learned about his sons might make Nemo concerned about you finding out about Dolan Springs and attempting a rescue.”

“But there’s no overt connection between the Garbys and Dolan Springs,” Emma said.

“True,” Phil said, “but he might be worried that somehow you’ll stumble upon something to link them. If so, he may try to move them.”

“Good point,” Emma agreed, “but in order to do that, he’d have to communicate with his sons or with Frankie and that other guy. It sounds as if they had all this set up in advance of Nemo’s death, but now communication is sketchy at best.” She turned to Granny. “Granny, you and Madeline go back and keep watch on Dolly and Laura, and report back immediately if anything changes. Eavesdrop on everything as much as you can, but be careful and stay out of sight if Nemo is there. I don’t want him knowing we know where they are. And Granny, try to communicate with Laura. If they do try to move them, I don’t want her making it easier by being the go-between.”

“Gotcha!” Granny said. “Come on, Madeline, let me show you how to be a ghost detective.”

“If you don’t mind, Granny, I’d like to move on to the other side.” Madeline turned to Emma. “I can see that Dolly is in good hands. Keep her safe. It’s not her time yet.”

Emma nodded and assured the ghost they would do everything possible to save her friend.

Next, Madeline went to Lenny, who was looking confused and dejected. “Len, I know you love Dolly and Milo very much. And I know Dolly loved you. Now is your chance to make it all up to them. Listen to Emma and do exactly what she asks. It’s Dolly’s only chance to get out of this.”

Lenny looked down at the floor and nodded. “You’re right, Mad. As much as I hate the idea of Nemo and his sons getting that money, I know you’re right.”

As soon as Madeline and Granny left, Emma sat down on the sofa with a pen and notepad. “Okay, Lenny, where’s the money?”