The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds (2 page)

“Don’t tell me you’ve
taken to smoke cigars,” Cheryl snickered.

“Don’t be silly, neither
of us smoke cigars,” Lily said.

“I can definitely smell
cigar smoke,” Cheryl insisted.

“What do you want?”
Danielle asked.

Cheryl considered the
question for a moment. “For starters, I want to see the necklace.”

“The necklace? It’s not
here. It’s in a safe deposit box at the bank. But you aren’t serious about all
this, are you?”

 “We’ll let the courts
straighten all this out. There’s plenty of money for both of us, no reason to
be greedy.” Cheryl smiled. “Now come on, we are
cousins,
Dani. It has
been absolutely ages since we’ve gotten together for a little family reunion.”
Cheryl surprised Dani by giving her an enthusiastic bear hug. Danielle
passively accepted the hug, flashing Lily a weak smile over Cheryl’s shoulder.

“You’re letting her
stay?” Walt asked Danielle when he appeared in the kitchen thirty minutes
later. He watched as she removed the cakes from the oven and set them on a
cooling rack on the counter.

“She is my cousin. I
couldn’t very well throw her out on the street.” Danielle glanced up to the
ceiling, wondering what Cheryl was doing in the room she’d given her on the
second floor.

“I don’t suppose you
kicked Lily out of her room,” Walt teased.

“Of course not. I gave
Cheryl the Red Room.”

“Charming how you’ve
named the rooms according to color.” By his tone, Danielle didn’t think for a
moment that he found it charming.

“She wasn’t thrilled
she had to put her own sheets on the bed. I told her she was welcome to stay
for a couple of days—until we get this straightened out with our aunt’s
attorney—but while she’s here, she shouldn’t expect me to wait on her.”

“Apparently she doesn’t
share your—
gift
.” Walt leaned casually against the counter smoking a
thin cigar. He watched as Danielle grabbed the baking cocoa and powdered sugar,
preparing to make cake frosting.

“No. Yet she did smell
your cigar.” Danielle nodded toward the lit cigar in his hand.

“As can Lily—and
Joanne—and…”

“Yes I know. I’m
starting to think the main reason you smoke those things is so people will
sense your presence.”

“If that is true, it’s
not working. Lily credits the scent of smoke to this old house, hardly
flattering or encouraging for me.” Walt waved his hand and the cigar vanished.

“All I know is that I
have a ton of things to finish before the open house, and the last thing I need
is Cheryl getting in the way!” Danielle angrily slammed a clean mixing bowl on
the counter.

“Is she really your
only living relative?” Walt asked.

“Cheryl’s mother,
Susan, was my father’s sister. Cheryl had a younger brother, Sean.  Uncle Carl,
Cheryl’s father was a private pilot and had his own plane. One weekend, when I
was in college, my parents went flying with Uncle Carl and Aunt Susan. Sean was
with them. The plane went down. They were all killed.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I thought you were
indifferent to death,” Danielle said.

“Not indifferent
exactly. Just not overly sympathetic to hear someone has passed—considering my
situation. Yet that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the severity of losing
touch with so many family members at once.  You were never able to see them
again—like you can see me?”

“Nope.” Danielle shook
her head. “I assumed I’d see them at their funeral. When that didn’t happen, I
held onto my parent’s ashes for over a year, expecting them to make some sort
of contact with me—let me know everything was okay.”

“But they didn’t?”

“Nothing. I finally
spread their ashes at the beach where we used to spend our summer vacations.
I’ve come to believe a lingering spirit is not necessarily attached to a body
or ashes. If that was the case, you would be hanging out at the cemetery with
your wife.”

“Please, spare me that
thought!” Walt cringed.

“Anyway, after that,
Cheryl was the only family I had, except for Aunt Brianna and Uncle Harry. Of
course, they lived in Europe. I suppose I might have some distant cousins out
there, but I never knew my grandparents and Dad’s only sibling was Aunt Susan.
Mom didn’t have any brothers or sisters.”

“Are you Cheryl’s only
relative?”

“No. Her dad had a
brother and sister. What I remember from the funerals, the sister had two sons.
I’m not sure how close she is with them.”

“Do you think she has a
valid claim?”

“You mean on the
estate?” Danielle asked. r

“Yes. I’m wondering,
will she become a permanent member of this household?”

“Even if she had a
valid claim—which I don’t think for a moment is the case—this is just Cheryl
doing what she does, being a pain. She would never move in here and help me run
a B and B. Not her style.”

“I did notice she
dresses slightly differently than you.” Walt chuckled.

“She’s never gotten
over her beauty pageant days.”

“Beauty pageant?” Walt
frowned.

“Aunt Susan started
putting Cheryl in beauty pageants when she was just a toddler. Mom drug me to
one once, but from what I hear, I threw such a fit she never tried with me
again. Of course I don’t remember it.” Danielle smiled at the thought of her
younger self refusing to walk the runway.

“Beauty pageant for
little girls?”

“Oh yes. Cheryl loved
the makeup, the frilly dresses, the attention. She continued the pageant circuit
as a teenager and young adult. Running an inn isn’t something she’d want to do.
Trying to get money from the estate—that is an entirely different matter. But
you know what really irritates me?” Danielle asked angrily.

“What?”

“After the plane crash I
was approached by an attorney who tried to get me to sue my aunt and uncle’s
estate—which Cheryl had inherited. They were well off, much more so than my
parents. When all was said and done and my parent’s estate settled, I think I
had just enough money to pay for college and buy a car. After Cheryl settled
her family’s estate, I heard she had over five million dollars.”

“I’m not sure I
understand.”

“The plane crash was
due to pilot error, and I probably could have walked away with a healthy chunk
of her estate had I taken her to court—which I refused to do.  And now—now
this!”

 “It will work out
Danielle. Remember…you have me on your side.” Walt gave her a little wink.

 “Maybe you should give
her the same treatment you gave Adam and Bill.” Danielle giggled.

Before Walt could reply
Lily entered the kitchen and announced, “She wants something to eat.”

“Lily, I told her we
aren’t going to wait on her. I thought you were going up to the attic to get
the croquet set?”

“Damn, I left it in the
hall. I got it, but when I was coming back downstairs she called me in her
room.”

“Please, don’t call it
her
room.” Danielle cringed.

“Okay. She called me
into the
Red Room
. She wanted to know where the kitchen was. Wanted to
come down to get something to eat.”

“So why are you here
and not her?” Danielle asked.

“You should see her
room!” When Danielle scowled at her choice of words, Lily rephrased her
sentence. “You should have seen the
Red Room
. She was only in there five
minutes and had already unpacked—throwing her things everywhere. Rearranging
the furniture. The place is a fricking mess!”

“Hmmm…” Danielle
wrinkled her nose. “I forgot what a slob she could be. Her bedroom was always a
disaster. She didn’t know how to use a clothes hanger. Mom never understood how
Aunt Susan put up with it.”

“I just figured if she
destroyed that room in a matter of minutes, what would she do to the kitchen?
Getting her a sandwich seemed less work.”

“I better call Mr.
Renton and get this thing straightened out before she destroys the house or has
us waiting on her hand and foot.”

“Well, if she’s still
here when you have the open house, something will need to be done with her
room. You can’t show off the house with it looking like that!” Lily insisted.
“I can’t imagine what it will look like in a couple of days!”

“No reason for you to
make her lunch, she’s my problem.” Danielle reached for the loaf of bread.

“You don’t need to make
her a sandwich.” Lily snatched the bread from Danielle and tossed it back on
the counter. Turning to the kitchen table, she removed the uneaten halves of
sandwiches from the plates on the table.

“What are you doing?”
Danielle asked, watching Lily set the two halves on a clean plate.

“Our sandwiches are
stale now. Cheryl did interrupt our lunch. No reason for these to go to waste.”

“You are evil,”
Danielle laughed.

“No, evil would be
throwing these out.” Lily giggled. “I’ll make us fresh sandwiches after I take
these to your houseguest.”

“I’ll miss Lily when
she goes home,” Walt said, watching Lily leave the room with the plate of food
and glass of milk.

“Me too. Wish she could
stay here, but she has her job and family back home.” Danielle said after Lily
was out of earshot. She tossed the two partially eaten sandwich halves in the
trashcan and began making fresh sandwiches for Lily and herself.

• • • •

Lily made her way up
the staircase, careful not to spill the milk. She cursed herself for filling
the glass too full, which forced her to gingerly take each step. Once she
reached the top of the staircase and stepped on the second floor landing she
picked up her pace. When she got to the doorway of the Red Room she found
Cheryl on her hands and knees looking under the vintage cherry wood dresser.

“Did you lose
something?” Lily asked, walking into the room. She set the plate and glass of
milk on the nightstand.

Cheryl looked at Lily
and then stood up. Glancing at the glass of milk she asked, “Don’t you have any
Diet Pepsi?”

“No. There’s no soda in
the house.”

“Well, take it away.”
Cheryl waved her hand dismissively at the glass of milk. “Bring me some ice
coffee. With extra cream. You
do
have coffee, don’t you?”

”I tell you what, if
you want something else to drink, you probably should come down and make it
yourself.”
I hope I don’t regret saying that. But how much of a mess could
she actually make getting a drink?

“Oh fine…leave the
milk. I guess I have to drink something.” Cheryl flounced to the bed, sat down
and picked up the plate. Wrinkling her nose, she looked at the sandwich halves
and gave them each a little poke with one of her fingers.

“Did you lose
something?” Lily asked again.

“What do you mean?”
Cheryl looked up from the sandwiches.

“You were looking under
the dresser.”

“Oh that,” Cheryl
laughed. “I figured if Dani found a million dollar necklace in this house, there’s
bound to be other treasures.”

“I don’t think so,”
Lily mumbled and then turned to leave the room.

“Lily…your name is Lily
isn’t it?” Cheryl asked. 

Lily paused at the
doorway and faced Cheryl. “Yes?”

“Is my dear cousin
still seeing ghosts?”

“Seeing ghosts?” Lily
asked, stepping back into the bedroom.

“Oh, she hasn’t told
you?” Cheryl sniffed the sandwich and took a bite. “This bread is stale.”

“Sorry, it’s all we
have,” Lily lied. “What do you mean, seeing ghosts?”

“How do you think she
got her nickname, Boo?” Cheryl asked before taking another bite and washing it
down with a swig of milk.

“I had no idea anyone
called her Boo.”

“Boo, or Dani Boo. I
gave her the name. Cute isn’t it?” Cheryl smiled at Lily, showing off a milk
mustache. “Although she never liked it much.”

“Sounds like Dani Pooh.
Can’t say I’d like that either if I was her.”

“No, Boo, as in spooky
ghosts—not pooh.” Cheryl shook her head at the idea.

“So why do you say she
sees ghosts?”

“She’s really never
said anything to you? I guess you’re not that close of friends.” Cheryl took
another bite of the sandwich.

“We’re good enough
friends. Are you going to tell me what you’re talking about or not?” Lily
asked.

“Okay,” Cheryl sighed,
still unaware of her milk mustache. “When our grandmother died Dani insisted
that Grandma’s ghost talked to her at the funeral. Of course, she was just
saying that to be mean to me.”

“I don’t understand,
why do you think she was being mean to you?” Lily had never heard the story
before.

“She was always jealous
of me. Although, I can’t say I blame her. I did get all the attention, what
with the pageants and all.” Cheryl shrugged.

“Pageants?” Lily
frowned.

“It’s not like it was
my fault I was such a beautiful child. Poor Dani just couldn’t cut it at the
pageants, so she had to stand at the sidelines and watch me get all the
attention. I did feel sorry for her, you know. But it was mean of her to make
up that story.”

“I’m afraid I’m not
following you.” Lily was totally lost.

“Dani tried to make me
think Grandma’s ghost talked to just her and not me. As if Grandma loved her
more.”

“Did Dani say your
grandmother loved her more?” Lily asked.

“No. But making up that
story about Grandma’s ghost, like Dani was special or something, like she was
better than me because Grandma picked her and not me. Of course, I knew she was
lying.”

“Kids can be
imaginative.” Lily wondered if Dani had made up the story to spite her annoying
cousin. If so, she was going to have to tell Dani she appreciated her
originality.

“She didn’t get in
trouble
that
time. Of course, I called her on the lie. What got her in
trouble was when that classmate of hers got killed and she told his parents his
ghost talked to her. That’s when I started calling her Boo.”

“I can’t believe Dani
would do something that cruel, even when she was a child. Dani is a very kind
person.”

“I’m sure all her time
in therapy helped. Her parents sent her to a shrink to straighten her out. They
couldn’t very well let her go around telling people she talked to ghosts.” Cheryl
tossed the crust from her sandwich onto the plate and wiped her mouth with the
back of her hand, removing the milk from above her lip.

“I don’t know about any
of that. But the Dani I know—and we have been close friends for years—has never
talked about ghosts.”

“I just figured since
she’s living in this big old spooky house, she might fall back into old
habits.” Cheryl pulled her bare feet onto the bed and stretched out. “I think I
want to take a nap. It was a long drive. You can take this away.” Cheryl waved
her hand at the plate and glass on the nightstand. “And close the door on your
way out.”

Annoyed, Lily walked
toward the bed and picked up the plate and glass. Without saying another word,
she left the room and closed the door behind her.

• • • •

“What took you so
long?” Danielle asked from the kitchen table. “I made you another sandwich.”
Walt stood nearby, casually leaning back against the counter.

“Thanks.” Unaware of
Walt’s presence, Lily walked through him and set Cheryl’s plate and glass in the
sink and then sat at the table with Danielle. “I was talking to your cousin.
She told me why she gave you that nickname.” Lily picked up her sandwich and
took a bite.

“She did?” Danielle
stopped eating and looked across the table at Lily. “What did she say?”

“Just that when you
were a kid you made up some stories about seeing ghosts. No biggie. When I was
a kid I had an imaginary friend, Rupert. He went everywhere with me. Drove my
parents nuts.”

Danielle set her
sandwich on its plate and took a sip of iced tea.

“Sounds like your dear
cousin just spilled the beans. Will you deny the stories?” Walt asked.

“So it’s true?” Lily
asked after a few moments of silently eating her lunch.

“I suppose it depends
on what she actually said,” Danielle said quietly, not wanting to lie to her
friend.

“She told me you
claimed to see your grandmother at the funeral. Said you did it to spite her.”

“She’s crazy. To
Cheryl, everything was always about her.”

“Well, I wouldn’t blame
you if you had. She seems to have a high opinion of herself. Was she in beauty
pageants or something?”

“She told you about
that?” Danielle chuckled.

“Mentioned being in
pageants and how you were jealous of her because of it. Which definitely does
not sound like you.” Lily laughed at the idea.

“My aunt started her in
them when she was a toddler.”

“Oh my god, you mean
like
Toddlers and Tiaras
?” Lily cringed.

“Pretty much.”

“I hate those things.
Something about little girls putting on makeup and dressing up like that makes
me think of pedophiles. Little girls should dress like little girls, in my
opinion. Last year I had a couple of my students show up in class wearing
heels. I mean what the hell, who lets their second grader wear heels?”

“Not sure she wore
heels back then. I don’t remember that.” Danielle shrugged. “Of course, back
then, people seemed to think pageants were cute. At least my family did. If I
would have been more cooperative, Mom would have loved for me to do it. You’ll
have to remember, we were just entering our teens when Jon Benet Ramsey was
murdered and kid’s pageants came under such scrutiny. Before that, I don’t
remember hearing anything negative about them.”

“Oh, I don’t know about
that; in my family beauty pageants were scorned. Heck, when my mother was in
college she picketed the Miss America Pageant. Something about objectifying
women.”

“Yeah, I love your
mom,” Danielle chuckled. “I guess we really were raised differently.”

“So tell me about the
ghost stories,” Lily said.

“Ghost stories?”

“What are you going to
tell her?” Walt asked.

“She told me about you
claiming to see your grandmother. Which, by the way, is a great prank. And if
she was as annoying as a child as she is as an adult, I hope you scared the
pants off her. But the other thing—well it just didn’t sound like you.”

“Other thing?” Danielle
pushed the partially eaten sandwich around on her plate.

“She said you told the
parents of some kid who was killed that you spoke to their dead son. That
doesn’t sound like you. I can’t believe you’d do something that thoughtless.
Even as a child. What really happened?”

Danielle closed her
eyes for a moment. She opened them and looked across the table at Lily, who was
staring at her.

“What would you say to
me if I told you I really did see my grandmother’s ghost….that my classmate
came to me, asked me to reach out to his parents. Tell them he was okay. Would
you think I was a liar—or crazy?”

Speechless, Lily stared
at Danielle, noting her friend’s serious expression.

“Oh…this is going to
get interesting…” Walt murmured.

“Dani,” Lily said at
last, “I’ve never known you to be a liar and I know you aren’t crazy.”

“So what would you
think?”

“If you told me you
really saw their ghosts, I would have to believe you. I mean, it’s not as if I
don’t believe those kinds of things are possible. After all, Mom saw my grandma
after she died.”

“What?” Danielle wasn’t
expecting Lily’s casual acceptance.

“Well, it’s not
something I go around telling people. They’ll think I’m making it up or accuse
my mother of being wacko. Mom is perfectly sane—okay, maybe she is a
little
wacko,”
Lily laughed. “But I believe she saw Grandma, and I believe you.”

“Lily, I can see
ghosts.”

“You told her, you
actually told her,” Walt mumbled. “Will you tell her about me?”

“Why haven’t you ever
told me about it before?” Lily asked.

“Because when I told my
family, they thought I was nuts.”

“Cheryl said they sent
you to a shrink.”

“Yep. That taught me to
keep those kinds of things to myself.”

“When Mom told me about
seeing Grandma, she asked me to keep it to myself. She said people wouldn’t
understand,” Lily said. “Did you ever tell anyone else?”

“Just Lucas.”

“Did he believe you?”

“Honestly? No. I don’t
think so. He acted like he did, but I got the feeling he was humoring me. He
once said something about my over active imagination. Said that’s why I was so
good in marketing.”

“I imagine that hurt
your feelings.”

“It wasn’t that
exactly. But we were married, and I felt I needed to share everything with
him—even my secrets. I thought that’s what married people did.”

“So did you…well…did
you ever see anyone else…like Lucas?”

“I never saw Lucas.”
Danielle fidgeted with her glass.

“So tell me about
seeing your grandma. I love those kinds of stories. Mom said her mother came to
her the night of the funeral, because she was having such a hard time accepting
her death. Grandma told her everything was okay, that she was with Grandpa now,
and told Mom to be happy. That everything was going to be alright.”

“I guess it was sort of
the same thing with my Grandma. I had never known anyone who had died before. I
don’t think I understood the finality of the situation. She just showed up at
the table.”

“The table?” Lily
asked.

“The service was at
Grandma’s church. Afterwards, they served food in the fellowship hall. Cheryl
and I were at this table with our parents—but they had gotten up to talk to
some friends of Grandma’s. Cheryl left me alone for a minute to grab a cupcake
off the refreshment table. And Grandma just showed up. She was sitting there in
the chair next to me. We talked, she told me she was happy, that she would be
watching over me and to remember how much she loved me. She told me to be happy
for her. That was pretty much it.”

“And you told Cheryl?”

“Yeah. I guess I wasn’t
the sharpest kid.” Danielle laughed ruefully. “I thought she would think it was
cool, but she just got mad at me. Called me a liar. When our parents came back
to the table she told them what I said. I don’t know…I don’t think my folks or
Cheryl’s were overly concerned at the time. I remember being upset that they didn’t
seem to believe me.”

“So what happened with
the classmate?”

“Unlike Grandma, who
only visited once, he kept popping in my room. Telling me I needed to get his
parents a message. He just wanted them to know he was sorry. He’d taken his
bike out when he wasn’t supposed to and ended up getting hit by a car. He was
frantic to apologize to them. I’m afraid that didn’t work out so well.”

“I can imagine.” Lily
shuddered. “Have you ever seen any other spirits…since then?”

Danielle didn’t answer
immediately. Finally, she nodded her head.

“When? Who?” Lily asked
anxiously.

Walt leaned back
against the counter, looking from Lily to Danielle. With a wave of his hand a
lit cigar appeared. He took a puff, and listened with curiosity to what
Danielle might reveal.

“Maybe it would be best
if we dropped this subject,” Danielle suggested, glancing over at Walt.

“No, come on Dani! I
want to know. I love this kind of stuff! I still can’t believe you never told
me about this.”

Danielle glanced from
Walt to Lily.

“Do you smell that?”
Danielle asked.

Lily took a deep
breath. “Smells like cigar smoke. Funny, how that smell comes and goes. I
didn’t notice it a minute ago.”

“That’s because he
wasn’t smoking a minute ago,” Danielle explained.

“Who wasn’t smoking?”
Lily glanced around the kitchen.

“Walt Marlow.”

“Walt Marlow?” Lily
frowned.

“Yes. He smokes
cigars.”