Page 39 of Merry Murder Season
Chris quickly put it out on the concrete with her foot, then picked up the butt and put it in her jeans pocket. “Thanks for coming with me. I wanted to get this done, but I’ve been a little freaked out about going into the bar alone. Ghosts, I guess.”
“Memory ghosts or the real thing?” I didn’t expect an answer, so I went on. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought Emma. She’s a sweetie, but no one knows that and she looksintimidating.”
“I get it. I carry mace with me in my jacket pocket. Just in case.” She took her keys out and unlocked the door. “And to answer your question, there are so many memories here. But I’ve never seen a real live ghost. If there are such things at all. I know your neighbor believes she talks to spirits, but no one in my life has ever come back to tell me anything. Even when Grandma’s silver disappeared.”
“You don’t expect a visit from Chip when we go inside?” I followed her into the foyer area where an old pay phone still hung, as well as menus and pictures from the building’s past. I took several photos as soon as Chris turned on the lights. Something might be a clue.You never knew.
“Chip wouldn’t dare come back. He knows I’m not only grieving losing him but also mad as hell. We were doing good. Why would he get himself involved in something that got him killed?” Chris straightened a picture of her and Chip in front of the bar many years ago. “We’d just come back from our first wedding reception in this picture. I guess it wasn’t romantic, but we both knew that keeping the bar open and making money was more important than going off to Hawaii or Mexico. If we even could have afforded it.”
“Do you mind if I measure these rooms?” I pulled out my tape measure, notebook, and pen. “I’m going to take pictures of each room too. Just in case someone missed something.”
Tears sprang to Chris’s eyes as she smiled at me. “If it will help find Chip’s killer, go ahead. You have a history of finding killers since you moved here.”
“I’ve just been lucky.” I tried to deflect the comment. Greg would hate hearing that I was getting credit for his police work. Even if sometimes it was true. “Let’s get this done and get out of here. It’s alittle creepy.”
Chris laughed as she turned on more lights. “I guess if you’re not used to being in here, it can be a little spooky. I’ve always thought of it as charming and historical. Chip lived upstairs. Didyou know that?”
I shook my head as I drew a picture of the front room, measuring the area. Then I wrote the feet and inches on the picture. Later, I’d put it all together into a blueprint that hopefully would match the one at the records room in city hall. Unless there wasn’t one there. I planned on seeing Amy right after I left work and before driving into Bakerstown. “I didn’t know that. Did you live there when youwere married?”
“Until we bought a place out by the Castle. It’s little, but Chip gave it to me in the first divorce. He moved back in here. It was just easier with him running the bar.” She was taking pictures of the liquor stock and making notes onmissing items.
I moved into the larger bar area. It didn’t have much room. Mostly a few tables and the large wooden bar where Chris now stood. I drew the shape and then quickly took the measurements. “There’s only one more roomon this level?”
Chris nodded and pointed to the door to my left. “I’m not going in there. At least not tonight. I’ll finish up this listing and wait for you out here if ittakes a while.”
“I’ll be out as soon as I can.” I smiled at her, but she’d already turned her back, working onthe inventory.
Chip’s office was one part storage room, one part office, and one part workout room. He had a weight machine and dumbbells. The wall was covered with mirrors. If there was a trap door, it probably wasn’t there. I took pictures of it all, then started on the measurements. Seeing my mirror self watching me freaked me out a little, but I was determined toget this done.
A cold nose poked me in the back as I was bending over and I let out a muffled scream. Emma poked me again to see what was wrong. I sat downon the weight bench and rubbed her head. “We’re almost done here, then we’ll go to the bookstore and see if Aunt Beth needs to beescorted home.”
Emma sat and wagged her tail on the dusty floor. I finished my measurements and then took pictures of the room. Nothing stood out. I went to the back door, unlocked it, and opened it to the alley behind the buildings. Just like on my side of the street. A dumpster was on the left side of the door and a small table and chairs with an ash tray on the other. A place for Chip and Chris to sit and smoke. Maybe talk about the future. It was just all so sad.
I shut and relocked the door after taking pictures of the outside area. Then I was done. Until I could see the building blueprints and compare them to my own measurements.
I turned off the lights and closed the door. Chris wasn’t in the bar area, so I headed outside. I turned off what lights I could find, but Chris would need to come back in and finish the job. When I found her, she wassmoking again.
She looked up and I saw she’d been crying.
“Sorry, I can’t find all the light switches.” I sat onanother bench.
She brushed the tears off her face. “I was completely and foolishly in love with him. From the first day I met him until that Saturday night when he died. He alwayshad my heart.”
I didn’t know what to say, soI just nodded.
“I’ll get the lights and we’ll be out of here.” Chris smiled as she paused by the door. “Thank you for doing this with me tonight. I know you had your own reasons for coming, but I’m not sure I could have done this without you being here.”
As Emma and I waited for Chris to come back, I heard voices across the street. Beth was leaving the bookstore with someone. I glanced at my watch, not expecting it to be that late, but it was five after nine. Beth laughed as they headed down the street. And as they stepped into a light pool from the streetlight, I saw who was making her laugh. Dominic Reedy was carrying her tote bag in one hand and had a Coffee, Books, and More coffee cup in the other.
This wasn’t good at all.
Chapter 16
Since Beth didn’t see me standing outside the bar, I waited for Chris to finish closing the bar and locking the door before I walked with her to her car in the town parking lot.
“At least Chip’s gone and we don’t have to worry about his spirit,” I said as we paused at the entrance to the parking lot. Inwardly, I groaned. That was probably what every grieving woman wanted to hear. Or at least in the top ten, along with “Thank goodness he went quick and didn’t suffer.” Why did we say these things?
“You’ve been hanging out with Esmeralda too long. Chip would never hang around, even if there was a way to become a ghost. He didn’t believe in looking back, only forward. One of the things I loved about him.”
