Town Haunts (12 page)

Anna waved
back, and waited until Erna had let herself into the house before
heading for home. Erna’s suspicions of Tiernay seemed far-fetched.
Sure, she didn’t like the young woman, but that was because she
thought Tiernay was vain and wanted to draw attention to herself.
You didn’t have to look any further than the way she dressed and
her flaming-red hair to see that. And she talked about having
special powers and belonging to covens, too. But maybe Steve was
right, and it was all just an act to bring business into the
store.

Anna parked her
car in the driveway and got out. On the way to her front door, she
thought about Greg. She liked him, even though he was a playboy.
Greg could probably charm a girl straight into bed, if he wanted
to. But there was a mischievous quality about him that seemed as
good as a wink, as if to say, “We both know what we’re doing here,
and no one is pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.” She’d hate to
think that Erna was right, and that he and Tiernay were scheming to
cheat grieving widows and widowers of their life savings.

Her train of
thought was disturbed by Wendy’s whine on the other side of the
door. “Hi, girl,” she said, getting down on one knee and hugging
the dog after letting herself inside. “You must be wondering what I
was doing, charging around in the middle of the night and leaving
you here all alone.

Wendy licked
her cheek, and Anna laughed and scratched behind the dog’s ear.
Climbing wearily to her feet, she looked at her watch and groaned;
it was 12:42 a.m. The alarm would be ringing in less than six
hours. She hung her jacket in the closet and trudged down the
hallway to bed with Wendy padding after her. The dog settled on the
floor of the bedroom with a sigh as Anna slid back under the
covers.

“I’m too tired
to worry about it tonight. It’s a big, confusing mess, but it’s
just going to have to wait until tomorrow. Night Wendy.” The dog’s
tail beat a steady response on the floor, and that was the last
thing Anna heard until the alarm went off in the morning.

Chapter Twelve

Anna rushed
home from work on Friday to have supper with her son before going
to see May in the hospital. Erna had called late that morning to
report that May had just come out of surgery. An orthopaedic
surgeon had repaired a break in her tibia with a rod and screws,
and put her leg in a plaster cast. May had also suffered a blow to
the head, but the extent of the injury was unknown. For now, the
staff was running more tests and would keep her in the hospital a
couple more days for observation. Erna and Anna planned to meet at
the hospital during visiting hours that evening. Gerry was bringing
Erna out that afternoon as soon as he could get away from the
store, and Erna was going to stay with May until Anna could give
her a lift home that night.

After Ben had
left, Anna made a pit stop at May’s store to buy her friend some
flowers. She had wrapped one of her own vases in a towel and slid
it into a plastic bag before leaving home so that she wouldn’t have
to hunt for a vase at the hospital. Once inside, she saw Sherman
working behind the till with four customers waiting in line to pay
for their groceries. He was too busy to notice her as she headed to
the produce section where bouquets were displayed in two large
buckets. Finding a nice bouquet of red and yellow daisies and
chrysanthemums, she helped herself to a floral liner and headed for
the checkout. Greg stood just in front of her in line, and she
hesitated before greeting him, remembering Erna’s suspicions. But
she couldn’t just ignore him, so she said hello.

Greg cradled a
bunch of bananas, a bag of coffee, and a small carton of premium
ice cream against his chest as he leaned back to say, “It’s sad,
isn’t it?”

“What is?”

He nodded at
Sherman, who was frowning as he pulled a woman’s debit card from
the payment machine and re-inserted it. The woman glanced over her
shoulder at the line-up; Anna recognized Cindy from the liquor
store.

“He used to be
a bank manager, but now he can’t seem to get the hang of a debit
machine,” Greg said.

As everyone
watched, Sherman handed the machine to Cindy, who studied the
display for a few seconds. “Okay, try voiding the transaction,” she
suggested. Sherman nodded and pressed a couple of buttons.

“Now put in the
amount again.” Sherman did as she instructed. Cindy pushed a
button, waited for the response, and entered more information until
the transaction was completed.

“Thank you for
your help,” Sherman said, red-faced. “I think I know what I did
wrong this time.” He handed Cindy her bag of groceries, but she
leaned against the counter for a little conversation rather than
leaving right away.

The middle-aged
woman in front of Greg rolled her eyes and said in a not-so-quiet
voice, “They shouldn’t have left him alone to run the store even if
May’s in the hospital. Obviously, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
She stepped up to the counter and plunked her groceries down,
squeezing in beside Cindy, who picked up her shopping and left.

“I heard about
the accident. How’s May doing?” Greg asked. Anna studied his face,
wondering if he really cared, but his concern seemed genuine
enough.

“She’s doing
okay. I’m just on my way to see her in the hospital,” Anna said,
indicating the flowers in her arms.

“Tell her that
Tiernay and I hope she’s feeling better soon.” Greg was about to
say more when a can clattered onto the floor and rolled toward
them.

“Excuse me,”
Sherman said, hobbling around the counter to chase after the can
while the impatient customer sighed and put her hands on her
well-padded hips.

Greg bent
quickly and caught the can with his free hand, passing it back to
Sherman with a short bow.

“Thanks,”
Sherman muttered.

“My
pleasure.”

The woman
looked grim as she handed her debit card to Sherman. He accepted it
with a polite, “thank you,” and inserted it into the machine. The
transaction proceeded smoothly, and the woman took her grocery bag
and stalked out of the store, cheated of the opportunity for
further complaint.

Greg stepped
forward with a pleasant smile as a harried mother and small child
joined the line behind Anna. “Just a few things tonight,” he said,
placing his items beside the scanner.

Sherman weighed
the fruit and scanned the items. “That’ll be $17.59, please.”

Greg leaned
forward with two bills protruding from his fingers. “I even have
cash,” he said with a smile. Sherman reached for the money and
somehow managed to knock the cardboard lottery sign off its
stand.

“Whoops,” Greg
said. “I’ll get it.” He picked the sign up off the floor and
replaced it while Sherman fumbled for his change in the till.
Avoiding Greg’s eyes, Sherman handed the money back to him.

“A pleasure
doing business with you, sir,” Greg said with a pleasant smile. He
waved at Anna and left.

“How’re you
doing?” she asked Sherman as she placed the flowers beside the
scanner.

“Do you want
those wrapped?” he asked, pointing toward a roll of florist’s paper
on the counter behind him.

“No thanks.
Just put them in a bag so they won’t drip. They’re for May. I’m on
my way to see her now.”

Sherman nodded
without looking up and scanned the flowers. “That will be $18.98,
please.”

“I’ve got cash,
too,” Anna said, handing him a fifty.

“Thanks,” he
said, taking the money. “Listen, tell May not to worry about the
store, and tell her that I’m sorry about last night.” His face was
blank as he gave Anna her change.

“I will,” Anna
said, picking up her purchase. She hesitated, and the woman behind
her sighed. “Look, about last night. I want to apologize for the
remarks I made about May’s accident. Her fall had nothing to do
with you, and I was upset when I said them. I didn’t mean to imply
that you were to blame in any way.”

Sherman glanced
up at Anna’s face. He looked both bone-weary and tense at the same
time, but there was a softening of the reserve in his eyes.

“I understand,
Anna. Thanks.”

She nodded.
“See you later, Sherman,” she added before hurrying out of the
store for the parking lot.

When she
arrived at the door to May’s hospital room, Anna found her friend
propped up on pillows having a quiet conversation with Erna. It was
a semi-private room, and the curtain surrounding the other bed was
closed. Erna looked around and smiled as Anna slipped into the
room.

“Look who’s
here to see you,” she said as Anna circled to the other side of the
bed. May’s face looked drawn and colourless as Anna bent to kiss
her cheek.

“Hi, doll,” May
croaked, her glazed eyes drifting up to Anna’s face.

“I brought you
some flowers,” Anna replied. She spent the next few minutes filling
the vase with water from the bathroom and arranging the flowers.
“Here they are,” she said, placing them on the shelf next to May’s
window.

May smiled.
“Hey, they’re from my store.”

“Where else
would I shop?” Anna asked, sitting in the other visitor’s chair
beside Erna.

“The nurse just
gave May some pain medication, so she’s feeling a little groggy,”
Erna explained.

“Good stuff.
I’m pretty high,” May mumbled.

“Gerry just
left to get some supper. We’ve been chatting about last night,”
Erna said. “May’s having trouble remembering, but that’s to be
expected, poor dear.” She gently squeezed her friend’s hand where
it rested on the blanket.

“I remember the
ghost,” May said, her bottom lip jutting out.

“Ye-es,” Erna
said. She turned so that May couldn’t see her and raised her
eyebrows at Anna.

“You said
something about a ghost when I found you,” Anna said.

“Uh huh. A big,
black ghost.” May nodded her head up and down and giggled. “In a
big, black dress.”

“Where did you
see the ghost?” Anna asked.

“On my stairs.
Couldn’t see him, but he was there. Made me fall.” May swivelled to
look at her two friends, and frowned. “Call Father Winfield. Tell
him to make the ghost go away.”

“I will, dear,”
Erna soothed. “Anna and I will take care of the ghost for you.”

“Good. Scared
me. Don’t want to see it again.” She sighed and closed her eyes.
“Tired. Going to sleep now.” Seconds later, she was snoring.

“What do you
think?” Anna whispered to Erna. “For not remembering much about
last night, she seems pretty sure that she saw a ghost.”

“I think that
someone was trying to frighten her, or Sherman.”

Anna shrugged.
“So, what are we going to do about it? We can’t go to the police
with a ghost story.”

“No, but I will
drop by the RCMP station to talk to John Fox Child. Perhaps I can
convince him that something criminal is going on in town, and the
police will be more vigilant. I haven’t seen Steven lately, but I
believe that he’s had a few days off.”

“What about
May? What’s she going to do when she gets out of the hospital? She
can’t manage the stairs to her apartment like this.” Anna gestured
toward May’s cast.

“I should think
not. I’ve been talking to Gerry about it. He’d like to take his
mother home, but the bedrooms in his house are on the second floor,
and May can’t sleep on the couch until the cast comes off. I’ve
told him that she can stay with me. She won’t have to worry about
stairs at my bungalow. It will be nice to have some company for a
change, and I can look after her until she’s mobile again.”

“That’s a great
solution, Erna. I could have put her up in Ben’s old room, but
she’d have been alone while I was at work.”

“Exactly. My
house is best.”

They turned to
look at their friend, who was sleeping peacefully.

“There doesn’t
seem to be anything we can do but wait to see what happens next,”
Anna said. “Maybe whoever is responsible for this didn’t intend to
hurt anyone, and things will calm down on their own.”

“Maybe,” Erna
said in a doubtful tone.

The following morning
was cool and overcast as Anna walked downtown for her Saturday
breakfast at The Diner. She had had a troubled night’s sleep full
of dreams of ghosts and falling down stairs, and had slept in later
than usual. It was almost eleven, and her stomach was grumbling
with hunger. She had a utility bill to pay, however, and the bank
was only open until noon on Saturdays, so she would have to
postpone breakfast until after a stop at the bank. That wouldn’t be
too much of a hardship, however, since the bank was right next door
to The Diner.

There were
three customers ahead of her when she joined the line-up to wait
for one of the two tellers. When it was her turn, Shirley, the
friendly middle-aged teller who had been at the bank since Anna had
first moved to Crane, waved her forward.

“Hi Anna.
How’re you today?” Shirley asked, her smile extending to her
crinkly blue eyes.

“Just fine,
thanks. I’ve got a bill to pay,” Anna said, plunking her purse down
in front of the teller’s wicket and taking out the paperwork. She
handed over her debit card and waited for Shirley to process the
transaction.

“Anything else
I can do for you?” Shirley asked after stamping the invoice and
returning it to Anna.

“Yes. I need
change for the vending machines at work this week. Can you break a
ten for me?” she asked, handing over the bill.

“Sure,” Shirley
said. “Toonies okay?”

Anna nodded.
“Please.”

Shirley paused,
studying the bill, and frowned.

“Something
wrong?” Anna asked.

Shirley looked
up and smiled. “Just hang on a second, Anna. I’ll be right back.”
She locked her drawer and headed for an office next to the customer
service desk. Anna looked at the man in line behind her and
shrugged apologetically. He rolled his eyes and looked away. It was
a few minutes before Shirley returned, stepping back behind the
wicket and leaning toward Anna.