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“Dead here, in case you haven’t noticed,” Scott snapped. He looked skyward and let out a sigh before pivoting toward Brogan. “Sorry. I’ve been in a mood lately. Heading into fall, I always get more nostalgic. I like spring and summer best. Fall turns into the holidays, and before you know it, another year is done.”
Brogan exchanged worried looks with Lucien. She decided to voice her concerns. “Any special reason you sound so down now? Has something happened?”
“We’re not here to talk about me,” Scott insisted.
Lucien ignored Scott’s attitude and asked, “Did anyone else ever come to visit Gidget’s grave? There were dried flowers in that urn before Brogan added the lilies.”
“Those had been there since last spring. Vera probably brought them along with another angel. Look, you want to know about Zephyr? Talk to a guy named Richie Plunkett. He lives on Timberland Circle in the older section of town near the train depot.”
“Plunkett is Zephyr?” Lucien asked.
“Ask him. See how Richie reacts to the name.” With that statement, Scott faded into thin air.
“Each time that happens, I feel like Dorothy must’ve felt in theWizard of Oz,” Brogan declared. “Confused.”
“At least you didn’t mentionThe Twilight Zone,” he cracked, studying Gidget’s grave marker more intently. “Every time Vera came out here, she must’ve brought flowers and left one of those angels. Why? A woman living on a fixed income takes the time and money to buy flowers and drive out here. Why would she do that?”
“She had no family. Maybe she attached herself to Gidget because she didn’t have anyone else. It’s a fact there are people out there who attach themselves to any number of lost causes or mysteries and can’t let go.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why she waited forty-two years to get this obsessed. It doesn’t explain how she spent the last eighteen months of her life.”
“Maybe Vera saw something in the girl that reminded her of her past. She could’ve had problems in her youth. Maybe Vera was a runaway, too. We may never know.”
He didn’t push back because his phone dinged with a message from Birk. “They’re up for an evening at our house. Let’s drop off the DNA samples and get home. Stella and Poppy probably think they’ve been abandoned.”
Brogan stood glued to the spot for another few minutes. She didn’t seem to be able to get her feet to move.
“What’s wrong?” Lucien called out.
She bobbed her head toward another section of the cemetery. “Remember when I mentioned Logan’s sister Megan?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I think Scott’s over there, staring at her headstone.”
“How do you know that’s the right spot?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. A map of Eternal Gardens with the grave markers indicated was already on the screen. “I texted Jordan earlier while waiting for Kinsey to get off the phone. I asked if Jordan had a layout of the cemetery. She sent me this JPEG.”
Lucien took the phone and studied the image, using his fingers to enlarge the screen. He glanced down the road in the direction of Scott. “I’d say you’re right. Maybe he had a connection to Megan. And this case brings up a ton of emotions for him. Do ghosts have emotions?”
“That might explain Scott’s mood, so I’d say affirmative on the emotions. This is a weird little town, isn’t it?”
“It is. But I wouldn’t want to live anyplace else. Would you?”
“Nope. It’s not weird like Hollywood or Malibu, though. We fit in here, more than there.”
He slung his arm over her shoulder to walk her back to the truck. “We just finished talking to a man who hasn’t been alive for twelve years. If that doesn’t set us apart from anywhere else in the world, I don’t know what does.”
4
Kelly Ecklund, former professor of biology, and Beckett Callahan, ex-Navy SEAL, arrived first, carrying an aluminum foil tray and a covered casserole.
“Side dishes,” Kelly announced while Stella and Poppy pranced around her legs, trying to get a whiff of the food.
The much smaller dog, Poppy, was the worst of the two, trying to jump Kelly’s legs.
“Down. Now,” Brogan ordered, snapping her fingers toward the Bichon. Dutiful as always, Stella plopped her butt on the floor while Poppy kept up the dance.
