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She sighed. “Well, thanks for getting Phoebe to agree to let us take part in the séance.”
“Did you really think I was going to let her do her thing in here without us?”
“Poor Phoebe has no idea what’s she up against,” Allie said. “Insurance regulations, demolition deadlines, and a budget.”
She hoped he might smile at that but he didn’t. “So, are we going to pretend our previous conversation never happened?”
Yes, please. “I don’t want to fight with you, Tom.”
“I don’t want to fight with you, either.”
“Then, yeah, can we pretend it never happened? Can we start over as just…friends?”
He stared at her a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, we can be great pals.” Before she could say anything to that, he added, “It’s been a long morning, let’s get out of here.” He made a quick inspection, going room to room, making sure they didn’t leave anything behind. He was securing the padlock to the front door when Allie stopped him by placing her hand on his arm.
“You really didn’t feel anything? Or smell anything unusual? Because if we’re going to be friends then we have to be honest with one another.”
“I’m sorry, Allie, but all I smell is musty old building.”
She wished she could say he was lying. But unlike before, this time Tom was telling the truth.
Mimi was fascinated by this latest development. “So, you were the only one who smelled the lemons? I mean, if this Phoebe Van Cleave expert person didn’t smell it…do you think she smelled it, too, and just didn’t want to say?” She passed the meatloaf in Allie’s direction, which Allie eagerly took. All this ghost hunting could leave a girl hungry.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t put anything past that woman. She definitely has her own agenda.” She should fess up and tell them it wasn’t lemons she’d smelled, but Buela’s cologne. Wouldn’t her brother just love that one?
“All the kids at school are talking about what happened,” Cameron said. “Josh Bellamy said the ghost put some kind of force field around the senior center and if anyone tries to get inside they’ll be vaporized.”
Claire snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“I didn’t say I believed it,” Cameron said defensively, “I just said he said it.”
Allie winked at her nephew. “No one is getting vaporized. But there’s definitely something strange going on in that building.”
Zeke calmly took a bite of his scalloped potatoes. “Personally, I think the whole thing is a bunch of bunk.”
Her brother was out of his cop uniform and dressed in khaki slacks and a red polo shirt. Unlike Mimi, Zeke showed no signs of gray in his dark hair, which he kept military short. Allie had to admit upon occasion to being somewhat envious of her brother. The two of them looked enough alike that everyone who saw them together instantly recognized they were brother and sister, but Zeke had inherited the pretty gene. Not that Allie felt unattractive, but as a guy Zeke was definitely in a different league.
Back in his single days, girls had phoned the house at all hours. It had driven Buela crazy. “That boy is going to end up getting some poor girl in the family way,” she’d predicted. Which of course, was exactly what had happened. Allie was just glad that it had happened with Mimi. She didn’t think Zeke would have straightened out his life for anyone but her.
“Don’t listen to Zeke. He thinks everything’s bunk,” Mimi said.
Her brother kept on eating.
“Zeke,” Allie said trying to sound casual, “do you remember the cologne Buela used to wear?”
He laid down his fork. “Where did that come from?”
“I was talking to one of those Gray Flamingoes this morning at the protest and I could have sworn I smelled Buela’s cologne. It got me thinking, is all,” she lied. “What was it called again?”
“Jean Nate,” he said, reaching for a second helping of potatoes.
Bin-go! She tried to keep her expression neutral. “Wow. You have a good memory.”
He shrugged. “We used to buy it for her every Christmas, don’t you remember? I don’t know if she really liked it as much as she let on, but it was all we could afford. We’d go to the mall in Panama City and get the big gift pack. Cologne, powder, after bath stuff. I think it lasted her all year, then Christmas would roll around and we’d get her another one.”
Of course she remembered.
If the lemon smell was really Jean Nate, could it be Buela’s spirit haunting the old senior center? Allie’s pulse began dancing a jig. This was crazy! Even if she did believe in ghosts, and even if somehow, that ghost was Buela, why show up now? She’d been gone for over twelve years. Plus, there was the fact that Phoebe thought the ghost was male. Of course, Allie was beginning to think Tom was right and Phoebe wasn’t quite the ghost authority she made herself out to be.
