A Guilty Ghost Surprised (An Indigo Eady Paranormal Cozy Mystery series) (8 page)

Pulling away and trying to make sense of it, I looked up at the window. For a brief moment I thought I spotted Badger. But after blinking and clearing my head, he had gone. My imagination and schoolgirl crush conjured him.
You’re seeing things again, Indigo Eady.

I looked back at Robbie. He studied his hands. “Robbie, is there something you left out the other day when we came to see you?”

After a brief silence, he nodded. “I knew you saw it. I just didn’t know if you read minds, as well.”

“No. Of course not. Nobody can read minds. And even though I can read energy, it doesn’t take a psychic to see that something’s bothering you about the accident.”

He looked up with a lopsided grin, something unfathomable hiding behind his eyes. “Are you sure you’re only sixteen?”

“Almost seventeen. But enough of the delay tactics. Tell me,” I said.

He sighed deeply. “We came upon the car crash, like I said. Me still green behind the ears and my D.S. Cold, dark, wet. The road riddled with potholes.”

I nodded. He already told us that part.

“We just left a call to break up an underage party. We followed another police vehicle driven by D.S. Michael Potter. He left ahead of us.”

I frowned.”What are you saying? The first police car may have…?”  

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Car lights receded down the road. I couldn’t see the vehicle, only the lights.”

I sat back, slightly stunned. Cappy suspected the police, but somehow I hadn’t believed it.

“I notified my superiors of my concern. They thanked me and said they’d look into it. They made sure I understood that I shouldn’t speak of it to anyone. I never heard anything else about it.”  He leaned across the table and whispered. “I have to assume they investigated and found nothing.”

Chapter Eight

Never on a Monday

I headed to the Blind Badger, lost in thought. I could tell Robbie suspected Michael Potter hit Aunt Amanda’s car and then left the scene of the accident. As disturbing as it had been when Cappy brought it up, it was even more disturbing now that Robbie also suspected it.

“Oy, Indigo. Where you going with yer ‘ead in the clouds?”

I walked right by Cappy and the Blind Badger without noticing. Not only that, but I hadn’t checked the ginnel to see if the Soul Collector lurked. It could have been disastrous.

I shook my head. “Sorry, Cappy. I had some disturbing news.”

“Care to share it, luv?”

I grinned. Cappy could always bring me out of a funk with his flirty way. Maybe I’d fall in like with him next week instead of Robbie. Heck, maybe I’d fall in like with both of them, then I wouldn’t like Badger so much.

Speak of the devil, he and Simon came out of the pub.

“Indigo was just going to share some info with us,” said Cappy.

I couldn’t look at Badger so I focused on Simon and Cappy. “I had lunch with Robbie…”

“Uh huh,” said Badger, interrupting rudely. Confused, I glanced briefly at him and looked away again. He said it like my meeting with Robbie had been something sinister.
What the hell was that about?

“…and I found out some more information.” I explained about the second police car and Robbie’s suspicions.

“I knew it!” said Cappy. “You can’t trust the police. All that power goes to their ‘eads.”

Cappy certainly had no love for the police force, having had a few run-ins with them himself. In fact, that’s how we met. Shaking his hand, a vision of potential trouble scrolled through my mind. I warned him to stay away from the park that night. Evidently I saved him from inevitable grief had he gone. We’d been friends ever since.

“So basically, a private investigation occurred and it’s not on record anywhere,” said Simon.

I nodded.

We hopped a bus to take us the ten blocks to Village Towing, Badger strangely quiet. What had gotten into him? Maybe he daydreamed about
her
, I thought in a non-jealous sort of way… Okay, I lied. Jealousy consumed me. Jealousy, the eighth sin was invented just for me. Yep,
sooo
going to hell.

De-boarding on Castle Street, Village Towing was just up the block. It occupied the entire cul-de-sac called King’s Court. The offices located on the right, the vans to the left, and surrounded by an eight foot fence with razor wire at the top. The gate stood open.  

Simon and I entered the office, while Badger and Cappy did reconnaissance in the van-yard.

“Simon!” said the girl behind the counter. A pretty brunette, she had brown poofy hair and big dark eyes.

“Hiya, Katrina.” He flashed a smile he reserved for girls only. “I didn’t know you worked here.” Of course. Simon knew a girl in every port, just like a sailor.

“Yes. After school and weekends. My dad owns the company.”

“That’s cool,” said Simon. “This is my cousin, Indigo, by the way.”

We said hello. She had a sweet smile, not the jealous kind which a lot of girls wore before they found out I was only a cousin.

Simon turned serious. “We’d like some information on an employee. Skip Shepard.”

“Oh?” said Katrina. She looked wary. Giving out personal information could earn her a pink slip from most employers.

“It’s about the night my mum and brother died. We’re putting a time-line together, and your driver towed a car in the area on the night of the accident. We’d like to question him as well, to see if he remembers seeing any other vehicles in the area.”

“You want to know what time he went out on the call then.” Katrina walked over to a computer. “I suppose it’s all right if I give you that information. What was the date?”

“January 7th, 2009.”

She sat down before the computer and typed the date. A screen popped up and she began to scroll through it. “Here it is. The call came in at 8:11. A Detective Sergeant called Michael Potter.” She clicked some more. “Skip went out to tow a 2005 white Ford van - owned by Eloise Krepp.”

“And what time did he pick it up?” I asked.

She looked back at the screen. “8:35.”

I nodded. The right timeframe and therein laid the problem. All our suspects were in the area around the time of the accident. After the initial report with no information, it looked like the street had actually been a three-ring circus.

“Is Skip in?” asked Simon.

Katrina checked a schedule on the wall. “He should be out in the yard now. Just go through that gate across the way and make a right. He should be near the area with the overhanging corrugated roof. That’s where the drivers hang out.” She pointed to the gate Cappy and Badger disappeared through.

Simon and I exchanged a look. I had confidence Cappy could make up something plausible on the spot if he had to, but hoped they’d taken every precaution not to get caught in the first place. And I prayed they’d locate the truck, I meant van, in question fast and beat feet out of there.

We crossed the road, entered through the gate, and headed toward the metal overhang. I kept an eye out for Cappy and Badger but didn’t see them.

We approached the first man we saw and asked for Skip.

“I’m Skip. What can I do for you?” Fortyish, dark blond hair and permanently tanned, he had deep age-lines around dark blue eyes.

Simon introduced us and explained our mission; to find out more about what happened on the day his mom and brother died.

Skip answered quickly, with no hesitation. “Yeah, I remember that night. The bloke who got arrested was completely blitzed and irate. Kept yelling and cussing at the cops.”

“Did you notice any other cars in the area?” asked Simon. “A blue car or van in particular?”

“No,” said Skip. He shrugged. “Just the police.”

Out of the corner of my eye, a shadowy blur darted between two vans, followed by a larger one. Cappy and Badger better had completed their job, because I couldn’t think of anything else to ask Skip.

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“Yes, thank you,” Simon added.

“No problem. I’m not much help, really. I drove slowly because the weather was bloody awful. But I didn’t see anything. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

Simon and I headed back to the gate. Badger and Cappy stood on the corner waiting for us. I breathed a sigh of relief. Skip seemed like a nice man, but if he thought he was being investigated for hit-and-run, he might just turn nasty.

“Did you get it?” I asked, as we approached them.

“Of course,” said Cappy. “Easy Peasy.”

Badger shook his head. “The kid is good. Knows his way around.”

I eyed Cappy. “Hopefully he doesn’t know his way around as well as he used to.”

Cappy grinned and winked in response.

“Come on, you juvenile delinquent.” I linked arms with Cappy. “Next stop, the fire department.”

“Sorry, lad,” said Craig Meyer, when Simon asked if he might remember anything else about that night. “When the call went out for information about anything unusual in the neighborhood, I hesitated to call. Then I figured,
why not?
So I called. I’m sorry I can’t be more help. There really wasn’t much to tell.” He shrugged.

“Well, thank you, sir.” Simon held his head low, turning to walk away.

“The van left right away, so it hardly seemed to matter,” the hunky firefighter called after us.

“What? Are you sure?” asked Badger, who lagged behind us.

“Oh, quite certain. That’s why it hardly seemed to matter.”

“O’ course it matters, man!” said Cappy, exasperated. “It makes all the difference, doncha see? It means the person drivin’ could ‘ave been the hit and run driver!”

Yeah, Craig Meyer was hunky, but missing that necessary staircase between floors.  

We thanked him again and hurried away. By silent agreement, we chose not to speak of it until we reached the Blind Badger. 

Even so, Badger sat quietly and stared out the window on the ride back. Something else definitely bothered him.

I sighed, feeling a bit melancholy myself.

We piled into the snug.  Riley brought up the rear with sandwiches and chips. I mean
crisps
, britspeak for chips.

Simon insisted on being first at the sandwiches. “I want a good one for a change. I
deserve
a good one. I’m even willing to pay, if I have to.” He began at the top of the pile, opening each one to peek inside. He came to roast beef and took two wedges. “The rest are yours.” He smiled hugely. “Finally, a decent sandwich.”

“What’d you find out?” asked Riley. Her pen was poised and ready to record.

“Katrina said the call came in at 8:11,” said Simon. “And the pick-up was at 8:35.”

“Katrina? Who’s Katrina?” Riley frowned.

“She’s a friend from school. Turns out, she works at Village Towing,” said Simon.

Riley wrote
Katrina
on the map and underlined it twice with a heavy hand. “We need the names of everyone we speak to—just for the record.”

“Oh, you mean everyone except your secret source, don’t you?” said Simon.

“That’s different…” said Riley.

“How’s that different?” Simon argued.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Can we just move on?
Please?”

They glared at each other for a long minute. Simon glanced away first.

Riley looked back down at the map. “What color was the tow van? Did it have blue paint on it?”  

Badger nodded. “White, red, blue, green. You name it. All the colors of the rainbow.”

“Oh.” Riley couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“We did the best we could. Scraped all the blue paint samples from all ‘round,” said Cappy. 

Badger agreed. “The tow van itself is blue. I think.”

“‘ard to tell,” added Cappy. “But yeah, I’m bettin’ blue.”

“I’ll drop the samples off to my friend tomorrow,” said Simon.

Riley wrote the word
blue
with a question mark next to
tow van
. And next to that, the date and Simon’s name next to the most recent sample drop off. “Does your friend have a name?” she asked, pen poised above the map.

“It’s a secret,” said Simon, pressing his lips into a flat line.