13 Phantoms Can Be Murder by Connie Shelton

Author:Connie Shelton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Secret Staircase Books
Published: 2012-05-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

I froze in place for a full minute. The whole scene felt surreal. From the front door of the knit shop, technicians wheeled a stretcher covered in a white drape. The uneven shape of a body meant this wasn’t good news. My feet took off running.

The ambulance’s strobes went still and the vehicle pulled away from the curb. A man in a dark suit picked up a black valise from the sidewalk and headed toward a car that I hadn’t noticed before. On the side of it, a sign said Coroner.

Archie Jones stood in the shop’s doorway, his face white and slack with disbelief. His eyes were dead orbs.

“What happened?” I said, rushing up to him.

His mouth opened, closed, opened again but no sound came out. I stood right in front of him, trying to get his attention.

“Archie! Look at me!”

Gradually, his gaze homed in on my face.

I made my voice slow and gentle. “Archie, what happened?”

“Dolly. They’ve taken her.” His dead-looking eyes began to leak slow trails of tears.

“Let’s go inside,” I said, stepping forward to steer him into the shop.

Inside, things seemed to be in order. The bins of expensive yarns sat in organized rainbow arrays. The oils and herbs in their tiny bottles rested on the glass shelves, none out of place. The scent of candle wax hung heavy in the air. I led Archie to Dolly’s chair behind the sales counter and asked if I could bring him some water. He shook his head.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked, kneeling to be at eye level with him.

“That man,” he said. “He said there would be an inquest.”

“Was there an accident? Did she become ill during the night?”

He shook his head again. “I woke up this morning. She was lying beside me. Cold.”

How awful. No wonder the man was in shock. I paced to the front of the shop, unable to stay still. At this point it wasn’t really my business, but I couldn’t simply walk out and leave the poor man there alone. The couple had no children, I remembered Louisa telling me.

“Is there someone I can call for you?” Surely he had friends, former colleagues.

He continued to stare at a spot in the middle of space.

Okay, now what? I automatically touched the side pocket of my purse where I normally kept my cell phone but of course it wasn’t there. My reflex in times of trouble is usually to call either Drake or Ron, but that option wouldn’t accomplish anything here and now. What was the official name of Louisa’s workplace? I should phone her.

“She was so upset last night,” Archie said in a flat voice. “The candles.”

What on earth was he talking about? I glanced around and my gaze fell on the shelves of candles on display. Something didn’t look right. I stepped closer and saw that they’d been lit. Every one of them.

“Archie? These candles?” I pointed. “Who lit all these candles?” I pictured Dolly trying some sort of massive exorcism to rid the shop of her ghostly fears.

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