“If we don’t get away from the ghost maybe your head really will be on a stick.”
I chuckled. “I hardly think it’s that serious.”
“Ghosts can do lots of things. You should know that by now. I can’t leave you to stay around here alone.”
“I’ll be fine. Go ahead. Honestly,” I said with a wave of my hand.
Tammy shook her head. She came back around the reference desk and put her purse underneath again, locking the door. “If you’re not going, then I’m not going.”
“Oh, don’t do this to me,” I said. “Now I’ll worry about you the whole time.”
“I can be brave. I’ve been through all of this before with you. This is no time for me to chicken out and leave my best friend here alone to deal with a ghost.”
“If you really insist,” I said. “But when Porter gets here there’s no reason for you to stay. You can leave then, okay?”
“You know I can’t leave. What if something happened to you?” Tammy said around a sigh.
Chapter 14
Since I had little time to waste, I hurriedly slipped behind the wheel of my car and pointed it in the direction of the coffee shop. It was right in the middle of downtown Devil’s Moon. My friend Dana owned the shop. We had met when she joined The Bookwormer’s Book Club at the library. They still met once a month, every month.
Dana had the best coffee in town. Well, it was the only coffee shop in town, but it was still the best. Plus, nothing could compare to her baking. The pastry was unbelievable. I lucked out and found a parking spot in front of the coffee shop. I parked the car and hurried out from behind the wheel.
I had no idea what kind of car Phoebe drove. Maybe she’d been dropped off. As I hurried inside the coffee shop, the fresh aroma embraced me. Like receiving a hug from coffee beans and pastry. The thought of Dana’s latest cherry vanilla pastry came to mind. Ever since I tried one last week, I’d become obsessed.
I scanned the room, but I saw no one who matched Phoebe’s description. Since it was later in the afternoon, hardly anyone was here. A man sat in one corner of the room and a woman sat on the other side of the room. While I waited, I’d get a drink, a pastry, and take a seat. No reason not to treat myself since I was already here. As I neared the counter, Dana popped out from the back room.
“Hello, Ripley. What a nice surprise to see you here this afternoon. You came for one of the cherry vanilla pastry, didn’t you?” she asked with a smile.
Dana was about my height with a blonde bob. She’d just celebrated her fiftieth birthday last week. For the occasion she’d given out free pastry. That was how I’d gotten hooked on the cherry vanilla. A nice marketing strategy on her part.
“I’m supposed to meet someone here. Has a young woman with blonde hair been in?” I asked.
Dana reached for the last cherry vanilla pastry. “No one’s been in as far as I know. I didn’t hear the bell on the door ring.”
I picked up the bag. “I guess I’ll just wait up front for her at a table.”
She studied my face. “You seem like something 's wrong. Is everything okay? I heard about what happened to the wedding planner. Has Tammy rescheduled the wedding yet?”
“She’s working on that now.”
“Well, she’s certainly in my prayers. Will you please tell her that for me?”
“I certainly will,” I said as I took the coffee and handed Dana my money.
“Do they have any idea who killed the woman?” Dana asked.
I looked around as if I thought someone actually might be listening. However, I knew no one else was within earshot.
“I’m meeting someone here today who I hope can give me a clue.”
A slight smile spread across Dana’s lips. “So you’re investigating the murder? How does Brannon feel about that?”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?”
“Where have I heard that before?” she asked with a wink.
I smiled and headed back for the front of the coffee shop. I’d just sit down when the door opened, and the blonde walked in. I knew it had to be her. When I waved, she immediately walked over to the table.
“Phoebe?” I asked.
She nodded and pulled out the chair, sitting down in front of me.
“Can I get you some coffee?”
She waved her hand. “No, it’s too late. It would make me jittery for the rest of the day.”
“I can get you decaf.”
“No, it’s all right, thank you.”
I sensed that she was in a hurry to get out of here.
She placed her purse in her lap and clung to it like a life preserver. Like it was a barrier between us. I wasn’t going to attack her or anything. Why was she acting so skittish?
“What did you want to ask me?” she asked.
“I suppose I wanted to ask about the séance that you had the night before the murder,” I said.
She looked away without saying a word. Although I knew she was aware that I was staring at her. She would eventually have to answer.
Finally, she turned her attention back to me. “It was really nothing, just playing around.”
“I’ve never heard of a bachelor and bachelorette party combined that involved a Ouija board. Furthermore, whose wedding was this?”
“My friend got married at the mansion earlier in the day.”
“The same day as Tammy’s wedding?” I pressed.
“That’s right,” Phoebe said as she checked her phone.
Obviously, she wasn’t too interested in the conversation with me.
“I had no idea Judy booked weddings that closely together,” I said.
“I don’t think it was Judy who did that. It was Tabatha. At least that was what Judy told me when she stopped by my house,” Phoebe said.
“Why did she stop by your house?”
Phoebe’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows pinched together. “She came by to give me the itinerary for the wedding. I was the maid of honor.”
On a hunch, I asked, “What’s your address?”
She frowned. “Why do you need my address? Frankly, this is getting a bit strange.”
I pulled up the photo I’d taken of the address. “Is this your address?”
“How did you get that?” she snapped.
“I found it at the mansion. I think Judy must have wrote this down.”
“But why do you have it?” she scowled.
“Because on top of this page was a note to Tabatha, asking her to meet the author of this note up in the bedroom where Tabatha was murdered. For that reason, I suspect that whoever wrote down your address probably also wrote that note. It had to be there notepad.”
She shrugged. “I guess. It could have been a pad for anyone to use. Does any of this really matter?” she asked.
“I suppose the note could be nothing. But I think it’s kind of strange that you were at a party at the mansion the night before my friend’s wedding.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re implying.”
I didn’t know what I was implying either. Solving a murder wasn’t easy.