The Ghost and Little Marie Read online

  “Sorry, Chief,” Holly said when MacDonald once again asked her about a woman visitor. “I didn’t see anyone leave. Of course, I did step away for a moment to get something from the supply room. I suppose if someone was here, it’s possible she left without me seeing.”

  “And you didn’t see her arrive? She’s an elderly woman wearing a nightgown.”

  Holly smiled. “I’m sure I would have noticed that. But you can ask Officer Tanner. He was here when I got in this morning. I suppose it’s possible he let her in and forgot to tell me when he went home.”

  MacDonald glanced at his watch. “I think I better give Adam a call.”

  Four

  Adam Nichols pulled up in front of his grandmother’s house and parked behind his parents’ car. He stayed in his vehicle a few moments, looking up to the house. He didn’t see his brother’s rental car and wondered if Jason had parked it in their grandmother’s garage.

  With a heavy sigh, Adam exited his vehicle and slammed the door shut behind him. Seeing his parents the first thing in the morning was not how he wanted to start the day, but he didn’t have a choice. When he reached the front door, he found it unlocked. Entering the house without knocking, he glanced around, listening for voices. The only sound came from the ticking of the nearby grandfather clock. None of the downstairs lights were on. He wondered if everyone was still asleep, yet quickly dismissed that idea because of the unlocked door.

  If I’m lucky, maybe I can get in and out of here without having to deal with them, he told himself.

  Moving stealthily down the hallway, past the living room, Adam found himself holding his breath, not wanting to make any unnecessary noise. Just as he reached sight of the open doorway leading to the kitchen, he noticed light coming from that room. Letting out the breath he had been holding and resigning himself to the fact he probably would not be able to get in and out of his grandmother’s house without dealing with family, he continued on.

  When Adam looked into the kitchen, he was relieved to find his brother, Jason, standing at the kitchen sink, filling the coffee pot with water. He appeared to be alone.

  Jason glanced briefly to the doorway. “You’re here early.” He continued to fill the pot.

  Three years younger than Adam, Jason bore a striking resemblance to his older brother. Yet unlike Adam, who had dark brown, almost black eyes, Jason’s were hazel. Adam tended to wear his hair short and neatly trimmed, whereas Jason’s brown hair was in constant need of a haircut, curling just above his collar. In personality, they were nothing alike.

  “Are Mom and Dad up?” Adam asked in a whisper as he entered the room.

  Jason shook his head. “No, still in bed. I don’t expect them up, not after the night they had.”

  Adam frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Jason shrugged and poured the water into the back of the coffee maker. He set the pot on the coffee maker’s burner and then turned to face his brother. “Same old thing. One hell of a fight. It would have been nice had they toned it down a little. After all, this is the first time they’ve met Sondra.”

  “I guess some things never change.” Adam opened an overhead cupboard and pulled out a coffee cup.

  “So why are you here so early?” Jason asked.

  “I think I left my cellphone here.” Adam glanced around the kitchen, looking for the phone. “You haven’t seen it, have you?”

  “No. Did you try calling it?” Jason asked.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s dead. The battery was low last night. And what am I going to call it with? I don’t have a landline.”

  Jason shrugged. “Well, I haven’t seen it, but I haven’t been looking.”

  “If it’s not here, then I must have left it in Grandma’s room last night.”

  Jason poured himself a cup of coffee and then poured Adam one. The brothers took their steaming mugs to the kitchen table and sat down.

  “Is Sondra still sleeping?”

  “No, she was gone when I got up this morning.” Jason sipped his coffee.

  Adam arched his brows. “Gone?”

  Jason chuckled. “She got up early to go running along the beach. I knew she was going. She told me last night.”

  “And you didn’t go with her?”

  Jason laughed. “Seriously? Running on the beach in this weather, while the sun is barely up? Not my idea of a good time.”

  “Did she take your car? I didn’t see it in the drive,” Adam asked.

  “Yes. She said she was going to stop afterwards and get something to eat down at the pier.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t go with her.”

  “I don’t like to eat this early. Anyway, she’ll be fine on her own. This is Frederickport. Nothing happens here.”

  “You’ve obviously been away for a while,” Adam muttered under his breath.

  Jason looked up from his coffee. “What?”

  Adam flashed his younger brother a smile. “Nothing.” He took a sip of his coffee and then asked in a soft voice, “So what were Mom and Dad fighting about last night?”

  Before answering, Jason glanced over to the open doorway. He looked back to Adam and whispered, “Grandma. She really pulled Mom’s chain last night when she told them she was going to change her will.”

  Adam scoffed. “Grandma is not going to change her will. She’s just pissed that Dad seems determined to keep her at Seaside Village. She wants to come home, and frankly, I don’t blame her.”

  “Come on, Adam, Grandma is ninety-one. Don’t you think she’s a little old to be living alone?”

  “She’s been doing perfectly fine living on her own up until now. She should be able to live where she wants.”

  “Adam, Grandma broke her hip,” Jason reminded him.

  “So? I remember you broke your leg when you were in junior high, and no one talked about keeping you in the hospital for the rest of your life.”

  Jason frowned. “Hardly the same thing.”

  “Anyway, why does anyone care?” Adam snapped. “It’s not like it inconveniences any of you. Hell, I’m the one keeping an eye on Grandma.”

  “She is Dad’s mother. I think as her only child, he should have the ultimate say in what is best for Grandma. It’s not your responsibility or mine.”

  “Is that why he’s visited her so frequently since they moved to California?” Adam snarked.

  “Well, to be fair, some of that is your fault.”

  Adam glared at his brother and took another sip of coffee. He then set the mug on the table and asked, “So they were fighting about Grandma?”

  “Not at first.”

  “What else were they fighting about?” Adam asked.

  “They were in the bedroom; they didn’t actually have the fight in front of us. Of course, with the thin walls in this house, you can hear about everything. When they first started raising their voices, they were talking about the shop.”

  Adam frowned. “The shop?”

  “I don’t think it has been going well with the business. Has either one of them said anything to you about it?” Jason asked.

  “Me?” Adam said with a snort. “Are you serious? I’m the last one Dad would discuss business problems with.”

  “Well, from what Sondra and I overheard, I think Dad’s having some serious cash-flow problems. And then they started talking about Grandma. Mom thinks she’s senile and not capable of making decisions. She told Dad he waited too long to step in and do something about her estate.”

  “Her estate is fine.”

  Jason shrugged. “I just think Mom’s afraid Grandma might do something stupid, you know, like leave her money to that cult your old girlfriend was hooked up with.”

  “Grandma is not leaving her money to any cult,” Adam scoffed. He took another sip of coffee and then said, “So that’s why they really came? Figured they could leave Grandma in the home and then start selling off her assets to save Dad’s business?”

  “Come on, Adam. Grandma is ninety-one. It’s not l
ike she’s going to live forever. They naturally assume that when she goes, they’ll get half of her estate. You can’t blame Mom for freaking out at the idea Grandma might change her will at the last minute and leave the money to someone else.”

  “Grandma wouldn’t have made that threat if Dad hadn’t tried pushing her to move permanently into that place.”

  Jason shrugged. “Like I said, she’s ninety-one. And you know, we’re both pretty lucky Grandma set up her will like she did. I sure as hell don’t want her to change it.”

  “Lucky how?”

  “Grandma could just as easily have left everything to Dad. That’s pretty common. Everything goes to the children, and the grandchildren have to wait until their parents check out to get a share. And considering how Mom spends money, and how Dad’s business is sinking, there wouldn’t be anything left for us when they eventually kick off.”

  “Ahh…so you’re looking forward to a quarter of Grandma’s estate?”

  Jason grinned. “Hey, Grandma has lived a long life. And yeah, I have to admit it is a nice feeling knowing there is a substantial nest egg waiting for me. I don’t make a lot of money as an associate professor. Face it, if it was all going to Mom and Dad, we’d never see it. I suppose we should be happy Mom and Grandma never really got along.”

  “I can see you’re going to miss Grandma when she goes,” Adam grumbled.

  Jason shrugged. “Hey, I’m not saying I want Grandma to die or anything. But come on, Adam, it’s not like her and I are that close. You were always her favorite.”

  “I was always the one willing to help her when she needed something,” Adam reminded him.

  Jason stood up with his now empty coffee mug. “And I imagine you got paid well for it. You’ve been making money all these years on her properties. Look at that fat commission you made on her Beach Drive house. I can’t believe that went for over a million!”

  Adam frowned. “How do you know what it went for? Grandma said she wasn’t saying anything.”

  Jason walked to the coffee maker and refilled his cup. “Then I guess Grandma should have locked her file drawers before she broke her hip.”

  “Damn, Jason, have you been going through Grandma’s files?”

  “Not me. Dad went through them the first night. But you can’t blame him. Mom says it’s common for someone to pass away not long after they break a hip. Dad was just trying to figure out where Grandma’s estate stood, and what he’ll need to do when she’s gone.” Jason returned to the table with his cup of coffee and sat down.

  “I’ve been handling Grandma’s estate for a long time now. He could ask me.”

  “Come on, he did ask you questions when they first got here. You gave him that bull about not being able to discuss your client’s personal business. He’s her son, for heaven’s sake, and your father!”

  Adam shrugged. “Like you said, he asked me questions when they first got here—about her money situation. He should have been asking how she was doing health wise.”

  “Adam, you know Dad.”

  “So how did the fight end?”

  “One of them slammed out of the house. Took off. When I went to bed, the car was still gone. It was in front of the house this morning when I woke up, so whoever left obviously came back.”

  “Who left? Mom or Dad?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Adam stood up. “I’m going to look for my phone and then get out of here before I have to deal with Mom and Dad.”

  “Well, good morning to you too,” Chloe Nichols said from the doorway.

  Adam turned to his mother. He found her staring at him through eyes very much like his own—yet hers showed traces of the makeup she had applied the day before. Clad in a satin, floor-length robe, its design a rich assortment of golds, oranges and reds in swirling paisley, she looked like a woman preparing to meet her lover. Chloe rested her right hand on one slender hip, while her left hand casually gripped the edge of the door jamb. Adam thought she looked regal. She had always reminded him of one of those beautiful—albeit evil—queens in a Disney movie.

  Adam couldn’t quite recall what her natural hair color was. Growing up, he had seen his mother as a blonde, brunette, and redhead. Her current hair color was inky black, the same shade as Heather Donovan’s. This morning Chloe wore her hair down. It fell several inches below her shoulders. Her choice of hair length and color was not flattering to many women her age. Yet her slender form along with a better-than-average plastic surgeon allowed Chloe to embrace styles often reserved for much younger women.

  “Good morning, Mother. You haven’t seen my cellphone, have you?” Adam asked with a smile.

  Five

  Adam pulled into the rear parking lot of Seaside Village at the same time as Danielle. They parked their cars next to each other, turned off their ignitions, and got out of their vehicles.

  “Are you stalking me?” Adam teased Danielle as he slammed his car door shut.

  Standing next to her red Ford Flex, Danielle held up her paper sack from Old Salts Bakery. “I come bearing gifts for your grandmother.”

  “Cinnamon rolls?” Adam perked up. “I hope you brought enough for me.”

  “When are there ever enough cinnamon rolls?” Danielle teased. Together she walked with Adam toward the back entrance of the care facility.

  “I know Grandma will appreciate them.”

  “What are you doing here so early? Did Marie tell you I was bringing cinnamon rolls this morning?” She paused with Adam by the back door while he keyed in the password.

  “You know she wouldn’t do that; then she’d have to share.” Adam chuckled. “I think I left my cellphone here last night. It was either here or Grandma’s house. If it isn’t here, I’m screwed. I already checked Grandma’s house.”

  Finished entering the password, Adam quickly opened the door and held it open for Danielle to enter first.

  “Did you try calling it?”

  “Why does everyone ask that?” Adam grumbled as he followed Danielle into the rear lounge of the care home.

  “Because that’s what people normally do when they lose their cellphones.”

  “That’s hard to do if there isn’t another phone around. And it only works if the cellphone is charged and on. I’m pretty sure my battery is dead.”

  “I can relate. My phone’s not holding a charge these days. I have it plugged in so much it’s starting to feel like another landline.”

  Together they walked towards Marie’s room. The lounge and hallway on Marie’s end of the building seemed deserted. Down the main hall, in the far distance, was the front nurses’ station. Danielle spied staff and patients milling in that area.

  When they arrived at Marie’s room, it was empty, and her sheets were stripped from the bed.

  “Kind of early for Grandma to be at breakfast,” Adam said as he walked into the room and glanced around. He spied his cellphone sitting on the dresser. “There it is!”

  “I’m surprised she went to breakfast,” Danielle said with a frown. “She knew I was bringing cinnamon rolls.”

  “That’s one of Grandma’s bitches about this place. She says they insist she go down to the dining room during the meals even if she isn’t hungry.” Adam picked up his phone and looked at it, turning it from side to side. As he suspected, the battery was dead. He tucked the phone in his back pocket.

  “I know. But the exception is if she has guests—like when I brought sandwiches for lunch, and we ate them in the back lounge. I’m surprised she didn’t tell them I was coming with breakfast.”

  “I don’t imagine they consider cinnamon rolls a healthy breakfast.” Adam glanced up at the wall clock and frowned. “But it is kind of early to be at breakfast.”

  “Maybe she’s off visiting,” Danielle suggested.

  “Grandma, visiting, here?” Adam said with a snort. “She complains there’s no one here she can have a decent conversation with. But let’s go find her. I want one of those cinnamon rolls.”

/>   Together Danielle and Adam headed out the doorway to the hall. Just as they did, they came face-to-face with SeAnne Eason, one of the younger nurses working at Seaside Village.

  “Mr. Nichols!” SeAnne gasped. “I thought that was you who came in. They finally got ahold of you. I’m so sorry.”

  Coming to an abrupt stop, Adam frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your grandmother…umm…they did call you, didn’t they?” SeAnne stammered.

  Adam pulled his cellphone out of his back pocket and showed it to the nurse. “I haven’t had my phone since last night. I forgot it here. What about my grandmother? Has something happened?”

  Color drained from the nurse’s face. “Then you don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  “I’m so very sorry. Your grandmother passed away in her sleep last night. It was very peaceful. I know they’ve been trying to contact you all morning. The only number they have is yours.”

  At the news, Danielle let out a gasp before looking around, wondering if Marie’s spirit was lingering nearby.

  Visibly stunned, Adam stared at SeAnne. “What do you mean she passed away? I saw my grandmother last night. She was perfectly fine!”

  “Mr. Nichols, I am so sorry for your loss. But your grandmother was ninety-one. It’s a blessing, really, that she went so peacefully.”

  “Blessing, my ass!’ Adam shouted. “Where is my grandmother?”

  Tears now filling Danielle’s eyes, she reached out and took hold of Adam’s right hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Feeling him tremble, she held on tightly.