“You’re telling me you smell dead people?” Mae asked. “Couldn’t that be the skeletons?”
“It seems highly unlikely. Why would an animated skeleton create the stench of a corpse?” I looked at her and shook my head. “I really must go. But the truth is, whatever is going on in here, it’s not long dead corpses. There are fresh corpses around here somewhere that’s causing a sickly stench. Once you find the fresh corpses, you’ll find whatever it is that’s disturbing the graves.”
Chapter 16
Jane was standing on my front doorstep when I got there, looking all neat and prim and east coast in a short skirt with boots and a puffy coat lined in, what I can only assume was fake fur, but knowing Jane, well, it might be real fur. Who knew?
“Sister!” she said, throwing her arms up in the air as she got out of the car and ran forward to give me a hug.
“How are you still rocking a miniskirt at… what are you, two years older than me? You’re forty-seven years old. How are you rocking a miniskirt?” I asked. “And in the freezing weather.” I looked at my black leggings and oversize sweater. I guess we all couldn’t be Jane Lacroix.
She’d been the University star of our sorority, dating all the major sports players in college while getting straight A’s to boot. We’d both been studying liberal arts in Boston, but she had decided that she wanted to transfer into something different, so she’d transferred into urban planning. Her efforts to improve the local town where she lived had never gotten a notice and she was covered in the media. She was one of the local big developers that everybody liked, because she fought for the little people and for the environment and for sustainable living.
It was shocking that she was out here now.
“I feel like you should’ve booked a room in the crown hotel, but I don’t even think that would be up to your standards,” I said, almost embarrassed for my hometown.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she insisted. “I’m just so happy to see you. We could be staying in a cardboard box for all I care.”
“No, you’d be freezing your ass off if you were staying in cardboard box in that outfit.”
“Good point,” she laughed. “Let’s go inside. It is a little chilly.”
“No problem.” I opened the door, allowing her in. “I’ll just get the fire started,” I said, grabbing a couple of sticks and going over to the wood burning fireplace that my grandparents had used before me.
“Oh my gosh, isn’t this just the most delightful little home I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” she said, smiling at the miniature space.
“Delightful is the realtors’ way to say tiny. I think you forgot the other word ‘cute’ in there. That kind of nailed the entire real estate way to sell this house,” I said with a grin.
“Oh, come on, it’s fantastic and you know it. Half the people in the cities across this entire country are dreaming of living in a place exactly like this. In a small town in a small house with a manageable walking distance down to the local café and the bar. Hey, that’s a good idea. Let’s get the fire built and get the house warmed up and then while it’s doing that, why don’t we walk down to the local bar. I think I passed it on the way in. The Waldorf? Let’s have a little hot toddy.”
“I’ve got some Brandy here if you like,” I said. “There’s no way we’re going down to the Waldorf tonight.”
Jane looked over at me, her gaze perceptive. “Oh, do tell,” she said, lowering her chin. “Did something go on at the Waldorf last night or the night before? Were you dancing on the tables or doing some other nefarious deed?” Her eyes got wider. “Like the bartender?”
Heat burnt up my skin as the words came out of her mouth.
“O.M.G.” She emphasized each letter. “It was the bartender. You did the bartender. Oh my God, you are living the dream!”
“I-I-” words stammered from my mouth.
“For real. How old is he? You know, I’ve always had this fantasy of having a younger lover. I mean, Jack was great, and you know we’re not really ending with animosity. Well, OK, maybe there was a little animosity. I might have slashed the tires on his car, but other than that I was good. I only did it because she got the dog and I really wanted the dog. First, she moved into my house and then she ended up with the dog, but never mind. I ended up with a lot more stuff than that. You just can’t buy another dog; you know what I mean? I love that dog.”
I looked at her. She was like a wind-up doll on steroids.
“I’ll take you over there where I work and show you a bunch of dogs,” I offered.
“That’s right. You have a dog kennel, don’t you?” Jane asked.
“I do, but I haven’t been paying enough attention to it lately,” I said.
“Because you’re doing the bartender.”
“I am not doing the bartender,” I said.
“The bus boy?” She asked curiously. “Or do they have bouncers? They probably wouldn’t have a bouncer in a town like this. A bouncer is really something only found in the city.”
Words left her mouth a mile a minute. She was so rushed and fabulous I could hardly stand it. I just wanted to soak up her energy and let it super charge me.
