Town Haunts (9 page)

“May’s right,”
Erna added. “There wasn’t a hint of gossip at the time. It would
have been all over town if her death had seemed suspicious.”

“What about
security cameras?” Tiernay asked. “At least we would know who was
in the office with her when she died.”

May snorted.
“Are you kidding? In a town this size? We don’t have the money to
buy security cameras. Besides, why would the town office need
them?”

“What does
Sherman think, May?” Anna asked, trying to change the subject
again.

“He didn’t want
to talk about it last night or this morning, but you saw how shook
up he was.” May glared at Tiernay. “Why’d you have to go and say
all that crapola? I thought you were going to tell Sherman that
Evelyn was at peace and everything was hunky-dory.”

“I didn’t say
anything. Everything you heard came directly from Evelyn. I was
only her mouthpiece,” Tiernay snapped.

“Don’t be
ridiculous!” May looked like she was about to launch into a tirade
when Erna laid a firm hand upon her arm.

“Let’s not go
into that again, dear. It’s so unproductive.” May clamped her mouth
shut and folded her arms over her chest, looking like steam was
going to pour out of her ears. Erna looked at Tiernay.

“Let’s assume
that you’re right. Let’s say that Evelyn was murdered, and that her
spirit can’t rest until it’s avenged. How would you suggest that we
proceed?”

“We have to
hold another séance,” the young woman said with a determined
expression. “But not inside her house – she’s too strong for us
there. We might want to try the cemetery this time.”

“You’ve got to
be joking,” May said, her voice rising.

“We should talk
to Sherman first,” Anna said quickly. “If we hold another séance,
he’ll want to be there. But before we talk to him about that, let’s
ask him if he knows anything useful about the circumstances
surrounding Evelyn’s death.”

“Like what?”
May asked.

“Like, was she
upset before she died? Was something bothering her? I don’t know –
maybe she was taking some kind of medication that made her feel
dizzy and lose her balance on the stairs.”

“What does that
matter, if she was murdered?” Tiernay asked.

“I just want to
look at all the possibilities,” Anna said, holding up her hands in
a “let’s all cool down” gesture as May took a step closer to
Tiernay.

“Look, we can’t
make him go through all that again,” May said. “He must have
covered that with the police back when it happened.” She jerked her
head at Tiernay. “Why doesn’t she just admit that she made a
mistake and tell Sherman that Evelyn wasn’t murdered after
all?”

“I’ll do no
such thing,” Tiernay said with a sniff. “That was a legitimate
possession, and I’m not going to sully my reputation by saying that
I made the whole thing up. It’s so hard to get people to believe as
it is.”

“All you care
about is your business, but nobody gives a rat’s ass about it. You
scared Sherman, and now you have to fix him.” May’s chin jutted out
as she glared at Tiernay.

“Ladies, please
calm down,” Erna said. “It does no good to inflame the situation. I
must say that I agree with Anna, though. Sherman has had several
months to think about Evelyn’s death. Maybe he can shine some light
on the events leading up to it. I think it’s worth a try, don’t
you?” Erna looked at May with a pleading expression on her
face.

“Is he
upstairs?” Anna asked.

“Maybe,” May
replied, relenting a little. “It’s supper time. Let’s go find
out.”

May avoided
Tiernay as she marched over to the door to flip the store’s sign to
“Closed.” The four women flocked upstairs to find Sherman watching
the news and drinking a can of beer in May’s recliner. He sat up
with a thump, his eyes darting from one face to another.

“What is it?”
he asked.

“Nothing,
Sherman,” May said in a soothing voice. “We just want to talk to
you about Evelyn.”

“Oh,” he said,
slumping back into the chair and looking wary. “Why?”

Erna sat down
on the couch next to his chair. “We’re looking for a little more
information about how Evelyn was feeling before the accident.”

“Accident?” he
said with a bitter smile. “Are we back to calling her death an
accident again?” No one said anything, and Sherman sighed. “She
wasn’t very happy, if you want to know the truth.” He clicked the
remote to turn off the television.

“Why wasn’t she
happy?” Erna asked.

“She was angry
with me. She wanted to move away from Crane and start fresh
somewhere else, but I was against it.”

“How come?
Wouldn’t that have made life easier for you?” May asked, pulling
over one of the dinette chairs to sit down beside him. Anna and
Tiernay took their places on the couch beside Erna, listening
eagerly.

“No. We both
had jobs in Crane, and Father Winfield was renting the house to us
cheap. Evie wanted to go back to Calgary, but who would have hired
me there?” He averted his eyes, the colour in his face
deepening.

“Was she on any
kind of medication before her death?” Anna asked.

“Medication?”
Sherman looked up in surprise. “Well, she had to take a
tranquillizer to help her sleep. They made her feel groggy in the
morning at first, until the doctor cut back on the dosage. But that
was all worked out weeks before she died.”

“Why couldn’t
she sleep?” Anna asked. “Was she stressed about work?”

“Sometimes, but
there were things she liked about it, too. She was proud of how
quickly she picked up the computer system, for instance, and she
was praised for re-organizing the filing system. But she didn’t
like having to talk to people about their taxes or the town
by-laws. They would get upset with her, and she found that hard.
She used to talk to me about it at night. She said that it wasn’t
her fault – that she didn’t make up the rules.”

“Was anyone in
particular upset with her?” Erna asked.

“The contractor
putting up the new houses in the subdivision last winter was a
problem. He’d be in two or three times a week about something or
other, and he always wanted answers right away. And there was Henry
Fellows. He had that idea about a drive-through, but there was some
problem with the zoning laws not allowing it. He got angry with
Evie one day. Said that since he was a member of the town council,
he deserved special consideration, and he wasn’t going to stop
until he got it. Evie came home really upset that night. She said
that Henry had shouted at her and treated her like dirt, like she
was a nobody. She was crying.”

Sherman
stopped, his emotions overcoming him. May leaned over to pat his
arm, and Erna said, “Poor Evelyn. We’re sorry to drag up such
unhappy memories.”

He nodded. “I
wish I could have saved her from that kind of unpleasantness. Evie
wasn’t used to dealing with unhappy people. But we couldn’t get by
without her pay cheque.” He stared at the floor again. “It wasn’t
the life I promised her when we got married. I’m sure that she was
disappointed with me.” He clambered to his feet. “Excuse me ladies.
I need some fresh air.” Sidestepping the couch, he rushed from the
room.

“Sherman, your
jacket,” May called after him, snatching up his coat from the back
of a kitchen chair and hurrying to the door with it. They heard his
feet pounding down the stairs, however, and May returned still
holding the jacket.

“He’ll miss it.
It’s cold outside,” she said, slipping it back over the chair. She
sighed. “I wish we hadn’t done that. He’s upset enough as it is.
It’s not fair, kicking a man when he’s down.”

“I’m sorry,
May,” Erna said. “We don’t seem to have learned anything useful,
have we? Evelyn was an unhappy woman, but she didn’t seem
frightened or worried before she died.”

Tiernay said,
“All the more reason to hold another séance.”

“Not that
again,” May groaned.

“Look, Evelyn
is very unhappy. If we don’t do something about it soon, things
could get pretty ugly around here.”

“How so?” Anna
asked.

“I can’t say
for sure,” the young woman said, “but it stands to reason. A spirit
strong enough to get past my defences wants revenge on her
murderer. If we don’t find some way of appeasing her, Evelyn may
decide to take matters into her own hands. Believe me, we don’t
want that kind of trouble. And she’ll remember us. We were the ones
at the séance. She’ll focus all her unhappiness on us.”

May said, “You
are seriously loony tunes, Tiernay. You’ve got to stop all this
garbage about séances and leave Sherman alone. I, for one, won’t
have anything more to do with it.” She turned to Erna and Anna, her
eyes searching their faces. “What about you two?”

Anna looked at
Tiernay. “I think we have to do what’s best for Sherman. We’ve
dredged up a lot of unhappy memories and upset him with all this
talk of Evelyn being murdered. Why don’t we just let things settle
down for a while?”

“I didn’t think
you were a true believer,” Tiernay huffed, turning her back on Anna
to regard Erna. “What do you say, Miss Dombrosky?”

“I’m afraid
that I agree with Anna. I’m more concerned about the needs of the
living than of the dead.” May smiled triumphantly, sure of her
friends’ support. Tiernay shook her head and got up.

“Well, I must
say that I’m disappointed in you ladies. I thought that you wanted
to help Sherman and Evelyn, but you’re afraid to deal with the
truth. I’ve got an appointment in five minutes, so I’m leaving. You
know where to find me when things start to go wrong. And they will
go wrong, I promise you that.” She strode out of the room with her
head held high, and they heard her clatter down the outside
stairs.

“Witch,” May
muttered.

“Now what?”
Anna asked.

“I think that
we should wait and see what happens next,” Erna said. “We don’t
know if Tiernay truly believes in what she says, or if she and her
brother are up to some kind of chicanery. Meanwhile, I will apprise
Steve of what’s happened so that he can keep an eye on Sherman and
the Raes’ store. We must be prepared for trouble.”

“I agree,” May
said, “but if Tiernay and her brother are up to something, I’ll be
the first to know it. Their store is right across the street, after
all, and I’ve got binoculars.”

“Just be
careful,” Erna said. “If you see something that worries you, don’t
try to handle it alone.”

“You bet. I’ll
be on the phone to you and Anna right away, first trouble I see.”
But looking at the stubborn expression on her face, Anna wasn’t
sure she believed May.

It was Thursday night, two days
after the discussion with Tiernay and just past the supper hour.
Anyone happening to look in the window of May’s Groceries and More
would have seen May and Gerry shouting at each other beside the
produce section. Gerry, tall and sturdy with a balding, egg-shaped
head and a full beard, was waving an apple at his mother. May was
standing next to a trolley heaped with grapes, clutching a scissors
in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other.

“Look, Ma, I’m
not making it up,” Gerry was saying. “They were gossiping about you
at the liquor store when I went in this afternoon. They stopped as
soon as they saw me standing behind them, but I’d heard enough by
then to realize what they were saying.”

“Come on,
Gerry. Cindy is an idiot. She should know better than to gossip
with the customers. The liquor store should fire her, no matter how
short-staffed they are.”

Gerry tossed
the apple onto the pile in exasperation, and had to catch a couple
before they rolled off. “But Mike and Heather aren’t. They’re on
the Parent-Teacher Association with me, for Pete’s sake. And they
were all laughing about you and Sherman being shacked up
together.”

“Well, we’re
not. The poor man is devastated, that’s all. I’m just trying to
help him,” May said, cutting the bunch of grapes in half with an
emphatic “snip” and dropping them onto the heap.

“I know. I get
that. But, enough already. When’s he going home?”

May slapped the
scissors onto the trolley and wiped her hands along her apron. “I
can’t just kick him out. The séance was only three nights ago.
Where’s he going to go?

“Home. He’s a
grown man!” Gerry said, waving his hands in the air.

May shook her
finger in his face. “I don’t care what the fools in this town say.
I’m not going to toss Sherman out. Case closed.” She swung on her
heels and stomped to the front of the store while Gerry stared
after her, fuming.

“Of all the
stupid nonsense,” May muttered as she rounded the display counter
and picked up a box of chocolate bars from the shelf beneath. “A
man his age, bothered by some stupid gossip.” She stepped back
around the counter and began stacking the bars onto the
display.

A minute later,
Gerry stalked down the aisle with his coat flapping open over his
apron. “I’m going home on time tonight. Susan’s holding supper for
me.”

“Good. Get
going. No one told you to hang around,” May shouted, watching him
over her shoulder as he stamped past her. The bell pealed as Gerry
flung the door open, letting it bounce against the wall before
storming through it and out into the night.

“And don’t
break the door just because you’re having a temper tantrum, you
fat-head,” May yelled after him.

Across the
street, the sign on the Healing Hands’ door was flipped to
“Closed,” and the lights were turned off. Steve Walker was in the
curtained cubicle at the back of the store stripping down to his
briefs. A shaded lamp was turned on low in the corner, and half a
dozen glowing candles were spread along the top of a bookcase
containing magazines. Steve grinned as he heard classical music
playing with the sound of running water and bird song embellishing
the sweet violins. Typical relaxation music. At least it wasn’t pan
pipes; he couldn’t abide that. Mounting the padded, sheet-draped
table, he flopped onto his stomach.