A Halloween to Die For by M.P. Black

Author:M.P. Black [Black, M.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788794457125
Publisher: MP Black Media
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

At the diner, Mayor MacDonald, in his dapper white suit, slapped a hand on the table.

“Enough, Jimbo,” he told the chief of police. “Not another word about ghosts and ghouls and goblins.”

Alice, who was helping Susan with the morning rush, approached the booth the two men sat in. She offered coffee refills as an excuse to eavesdrop. As she leaned over the table, pouring coffee into their cups, Chief Jimbo crossed his arms and leaned back.

“I saw what I saw,” he said, a mulish expression on his face. “It’s my duty to report the truth.”

“Leave the sensational news to the Blithedale Record. It’s your duty to uphold the law, maintain order, and get to the bottom of who killed Conway. Spreading stories about ghosts isn’t helping.”

“Actually, it is helping. Conway’s ghost provided an important clue. He was clearly talking to his killer. He called her ‘my little dove,’ which is what he called Becca.”

Alice cut in, “He also called Gretchen that. They apparently had an affair.”

Chief Jimbo blinked. Then pouted. “Yeah, but Gretchen wasn’t caught with the murder weapon in her hand. I don’t like it anymore than you, but this only makes matters worse for Becca.”

He drained his cup of coffee and got to his feet, and donned his cap. His paperback lay on the table—The Police Chief Companion: 21 Days to Killing It On the Job—and he picked it up.

Alice said, “But the fact that Gretchen had an affair with Conway—doesn’t that change things?”

Chief Jimbo tapped the front of his paperback. “According to this, evidence speaks volumes, hearsay not so much.”

Words failed her. She watched Chief Jimbo walk out of the diner. Then turned to Mayor MacDonald, who shook his head.

She said, “Just when I think he’s getting better…”

“He’s worse than ever. He came into the diner this morning jabbering about Conway’s ghost at the old house. I was sitting right here, having a pleasant conversation with a couple of potential buyers. When they heard about the murder and the ghost, they got cold feet—they couldn’t get into their car and hit the road fast enough. All thanks to our bumbling chief of police.” He shook his head. “Now I have to go looking for another buyer.”

“Is Peyton in a rush to sell?”

“I think she’d like to put this behind her, yes. But selling the old house wasn’t her idea.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No, that was one of the reasons Conway came to Blithedale. To sell.”

“But Dr. Fantasma⁠—”

“Dr. Fantasma rents Conway’s properties for his shows. And that’s bad news for him. Because Conway wasn’t just selling the property in Blithedale. He’d been visiting every haunted house property he owned and talking to realtors. He planned to sell each and every one of them.”

“If Conway sold them all, what would happen to Dr. Fantasma’s show?”

Mayor MacDonald shrugged. “Either he’d have to find new locations—or he’d go bust.”

Alice headed back to the counter to help Susan with breakfast orders. She considered what the mayor had told her. Could Conway’s plans to sell have put Dr.

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