1 Broken Hearted Ghoul (7 page)

We got back in the van, and I tried calling Martin. He was either not available, or still in an area with no signal. I knew where the county EMS was located. I thought I might be able to bluff my way into the information there.

“Abe is such a wonderful person, isn’t he?” Debbie asked in a dreamy voice.

I hid my smile as I pulled out of the mortuary parking lot. “Oh yeah. He’s a peach.”

Did she really
not
understand what this was all about? Or was she truly that naïve?

“What he’s done for me and Terry and the kids—he should be nominated for sainthood.”

That was a little too much for me.

I chuckled. “He’s getting your twenty years of service in return for twenty years of your husband’s life. I think that’s a fair trade.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that something was wrong with that agreement. I was too worried about my own situation to risk it for her.

“What about you, Skye? He’s helping you stay with your daughter until she’s grown. I’d think you’d be a little grateful for that.”

“I am grateful. Don’t get me wrong, Debbie. But I know there’s more to Abe than we’re seeing. He isn’t a saint. You’re gonna have to toughen up a little.”

She looked angry. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be as tough as you since I don’t have your life experiences. But I know a good deal when I see one. I know Abe probably isn’t as generous with everyone as he has been with me.”

“Don’t you wonder
why
that is?”

“No. I don’t. I’m not going to abuse Abe’s trust that way.” She folded her arms across her ample breasts, and ignored me. Her full lips were set in a mutinous line.

“That’s fine.” I turned toward the EMS parking area. “We all have choices to make.”

I parked the van, and we went inside the busy hub of the EMS station. Two ambulances were headed out as we were going in. I saw the paramedics who’d been at the scene earlier with Mr. Welk. They were re-stocking their supplies, and getting ready for the next run.

“Let’s go talk to them. I’m going to lie—probably a lot. Don’t say anything.” Debbie seemed to feel she had to tell the truth about everything. Except to her husband, of course. I guess she’d learned to keep
that
to herself.

“You explained to me already. I won’t say a thing.”

I could tell she was still angry. Maybe that was a good thing, and she’d think about what might be coming her way. I wasn’t sure why I cared. I probably would have done the same thing in her position if Abe had wanted to keep Jacob alive.

We approached the pair of emergency responders as they were finishing up with their preparations.

I nodded to the one I’d spoken to at the house. “Hey, I was hoping you could help us out of a jam. We were supposed to write down the name of the caller who let you know about Mr. Welk’s death. Could we get that from you now?”

The two men exchanged humorous glances.

“Bad luck, huh?” The lead responder sounded less than sympathetic. “Wish we could help you out, but those records are sealed after we get back.”

I’d been relying on the man wanting to help out a fellow worker. That didn’t look like it was going to happen. “Look, we just forgot with this being our first day and everything. I don’t want to lose my job. Can you give us that info?”

Again, the really funny exchange between the two men.

“Why don’t you and your friend step into the back of the ambulance? We could discuss it there.” There was more teenage-type snickering between the two.

I’d seen this too many times before. Debbie shrugged and stepped up into the ambulance. Was she a moron, or didn’t she have
any
experience at all with men?

“What about you, baby?” The paramedic put his hand on my breast and squeezed. “I know it looks a little small in there, but the four of us could have a big party.”

I knocked his hand away. “Get your hand off of me, or you’ll be partying without it.”

“Okay.” He took a step back. “I thought since you were asking for a favor, you might want to give one in return.”

At that moment, we both heard a resounding slap from inside the ambulance. Debbie huffed as she got out of the vehicle. She threw me a furious glance, and stalked off toward the van.

“I don’t think she’s in the partying mood either,” I told him. “You can give us that information anyway. I don’t want to report you for sexual harassment.”

“Fine.” The lead paramedic called to his partner. “Look up that information, Bill. Let’s get these chicks out of here.”

Bill gave me the name of the person who’d called in Mr. Welk’s death.

“Mary Gable. Thanks.” I put the name into my phone and sent it to Abe. “Is there an address?”

“None listed.”

“Thanks, boys. Better watch those hands. I’d hate to see you lose one of them.” I smiled and waved as I left them.

An ambulance was coming in as another was going out. I walked into the parking lot. I hoped Abe was happy with the information. I looked at my watch. There was still plenty of time to get Kate at school.

Debbie was crying in the van as I got in. She wasn’t going to handle Abe well at all. If Brandon and I were right, she was getting in way over her head.

“I can’t believe that man thought I was the kind of woman who would do that kind of thing. I told him I was married, and that I had children. He had no respect at all.”

“It happens.” I started the engine. “We got the info anyway. Let’s get out of here.”

She sniffed. “Can we go home now?”

“I don’t see why not—unless we hear from Abe.”

My phone rang. Wouldn’t you know it was him?

“I need you back at the mortuary at once.”

“Do you have another pickup already?” There was no reply. The phone call was over. “I guess we can’t go home yet.”

Chapter Nine

“Where did you get that name?”

I’d thought Abe was upset before when we’d taken Mr. Welk’s body to the mortuary. Now he was beyond upset. His face was drawn up tight and hard. It was probably good that I couldn’t see his blank eyes behind the dark glasses.

“I told you—we got it from the paramedics who took the call.” I didn’t know what he was looking for. It seemed that the name alone, Mary Gable, was enough to make him crazy.

He grabbed the front of my T-shirt in his big hand, and brought me close to his face. He smelled of cloves, and some other spice I didn’t recognize. His mouth was a thin line, and his chin quivered with rage.

Debbie made a small sound—as though she was afraid even though I was the one in his grasp. She took a step back, and stopped when she hit the wall.

Abe seemed to realize that he was frightening her. His face relaxed at the same time as his grip on my shirt. “I apologize, Skye. I haven’t heard that name in a very long time.”

I could see Brandon’s face over Abe’s shoulder. He looked as scared as Debbie sounded. He shook his head, and turned away. He knew better than to step up and defend anyone against Abe.

Back to his usual calm demeanor, Abe smiled at Debbie. “I’ll have someone run you home. There’s no reason for you to linger.”

She swallowed hard, screwing up her courage. “What about Skye?” Her voice came out a little squeaky, but understandable.

I had to give her points for even daring to voice the thought. I knew it was because she didn’t know better, as Brandon did. Still, I could see by the look on her pretty face that she was terrified. She was braver than I’d given her credit for.

As quickly as that, there was a knock at the back door to the mortuary. Rocky peeked inside. “You want me to take Debbie home?”

“That’s right.” Abe took Debbie’s hand in his and gently kissed it. “As soon as I finish my discussion with Skye, she’ll be going home too. Don’t worry. Neither one of you did anything wrong today.”

Debbie took a deep breath and smiled. “Thank you.” She turned to me. “I’ll talk to you later, Skye.”

She left meekly enough to satisfy even the zombie master. I noticed she didn’t look back. She’d probably used up her store of courage for the day.

When she was gone, I expected Abe to get all crazy again, but it seemed that had passed.

“Come with us.” He waited for me to follow. He and Brandon went back into the cold room where the bodies were stored.

I didn’t say anything. I waited for him to explain. This was so far beyond any crazy thing I’d seen on the street as a cop that it was like being a Pluto.

“This man shouldn’t be dead,” Abe finally began.

Duh.

“Was there any blood at all at the scene?” He turned his darkly shaded eyes to me.

“No. Not a drop.” I wondered why he hadn’t brought Martin in too. He was at the scene first. He might know more than I did.

I was glad he hadn’t—I wanted to know what was up.

“Who else was at the scene?”

“The two paramedics who pronounced him, and Martin Cummings. You know him, right?” So much for keeping myself on a short leash with Abe.

“Yes. I know him well.” Abe ignored my impudence, and looked back at the body of Mr. Welk. “Brandon, what is your opinion?”

Brandon shrugged. “His heart was ripped out of his chest. I don’t see any tool marks. It’s sloppy. I’d say someone used their bare hands, maybe some claws, to do it.”

“I concur.”

“I’m not sure about the blood,” Brandon continued. “If it was a vampire, I guess that would make sense. But they don’t usually clean up after themselves, and there are no fang marks.”

Vampire?
I moved in closer.
Were there vampires too?

“What does that suggest to you?” Abe asked again.

Brandon flicked a glance at me. “I’m not really sure. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Abe nodded. “I have, unfortunately. Skye, walk with me. Brandon, see to Mr. Welk.”

“There was actually one other thing that I thought was a little strange,” I mentioned. “He was lying on top of a gold wedding band. We put it on him, but I’m not sure it was his. It may have belonged to his killer.”

“Show me,” Abe said.

I put on a pair of gloves, and lifted Mr. Welk’s hand. The light caught on the wedding band.

“Take it off.” Abe cocked his head as he observed the ring.

I tried to do as he asked, but the ring wouldn’t budge. “Sorry. I don’t think it will come off that easy.”

“I can get it.” Brandon picked up a scalpel, and sliced the finger from Mr. Welk’s hand, before he cut off the ring and handed it to Abe.

I couldn’t believe he did it without a second thought. No hesitation at all.

“What? He’s dead already,” he defended.

“Don’t squabble, children.” Abe turned the ring around in his fingers. “Thank you, Brandon. We’ll talk later.”

Abe and I walked out together. I watched him pocket the ring. I wondered if the ring had made him understand the situation better. It looked like every other plain, gold wedding band to me. I had one in my drawer back home that Jacob had put on my finger.

“I’m afraid we find ourselves in an unusual situation, Skye. You’ll have to be more careful. Report to me immediately if anything seems odd or unusual.”

“With all respect, Abe, calling someone’s heart being removed from their body odd or unusual, is an understatement—even for a zombie. Can you give me more information on what I should be looking for?”

“You have what you need.” He stared up at the sky. “Go home. Pick up your daughter. I’ll call when I have another assignment.”

I wondered for a brief moment if I should tell him about Lucas and my unexpected brush with the bus that morning. On the scale of getting your heart snatched from your chest, it didn’t seem worth it. I couldn’t see any connection between the incidents, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Sure. I’ll do that.” I turned to go back to the van, feeling dismissed. Why wouldn’t Abe tell me more? Were Debbie and I in danger?

“And Skye—” Abe turned back to face me. “Keep that gun you carry close by. You may need it. Convince Debbie to find a weapon of her own.”

That was it. His words answered the question of whether or not Debbie and I could suffer the same fate as Mr. Welk. I watched him walk toward Deadly Ink. Two hulking, zombie bodyguards fell in line behind him.

I got in the van, consumed with questions. Abe certainly didn’t plan to answer them. Debbie and I were going to have to be on our guard, but we didn’t know what we were up against.

It was that kind of day, I decided on the way home. Nothing made much sense. I wasn’t sure what was going on. All I could do was wait for bits and pieces to add themselves to the information I had. I considered talking to Martin about it, but that would have to wait until later. It was time to get Kate from school.

“You came!” Kate was happy to see me in the long car line stretching out from her school. She jumped in the front seat.

“I told you I would if I got off early. How was your day?”

All of the details of second grade life came tumbling out. I saw Debbie picking up Raina too. There was no time to stop and chat. Parents with deadlines were pushing through the car line trying to get to ballet and piano lessons.

“They said it might snow tonight.” Kate grinned. “That would mean no school tomorrow. How sweet would that be?”

“I thought you liked school?” I smiled. Her close resemblance to Jacob sometimes astounded me. Seeing her meant he would always be close to me.

“It’s okay. But I like when it snows, and I get to hang around the house all day. I’m always finding something new.”

“Something new like what?” I pulled the van back out on the street. The sky was deeply overcast, and the temperature was dropping. Whoever had called for snow might be right.

She shrugged. “I found some an old necklace in one of the closets upstairs last week. Grandma said it has garnets in it, and that it had belonged to some guest who left it behind before the inn closed. Why didn’t you keep the inn open, Mommy? I know Grandma would’ve liked it. You could’ve made money, and you wouldn’t have to go out and work.”

“Maybe. But sometimes you have to do what you can.” I smiled at her. “I’m good at my job. You know I’m not much on baking muffins and cookies, like Grandma was. I think making all that food is part of running the inn.”