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“Hi, I was wondering if I could talk to the owner? Sirus Barker? It’s rather important.”
“Hold, please.” The girl put me on hold and I waited. After a moment, a sultry-sounding voice came on the line.
“Sirus Barker speaking. How may I help you?”
I paused, wondering how to approach the issue. I didn’t want to blurt out that his long-dead fiancée was sitting in my upstairs bedroom. Then again, he was one of the Otherkin and could probably handle the news.
“Do you remember Janet Kendrick?” I asked.
He was silent for a moment, then cautiously said, “Yes…I do remember her. All too well. Why do you ask? Is this a joke?”
I paused, wondering how to phrase the inevitable. “No, not a joke—not at all. My name is January Jaxson, and I was wondering if you would mind talking to me about her death. I’m looking into the case—I gather no one was ever found guilty?”
“You gather rightly.” He paused, then said, “Are you with the police? Did something new come up so that they decided to open her case again?”
Now came the hard part. “No, I’m not actually with the police. But I work with a paranormal investigations agency—Conjure Ink. And I’m a writer. But more than that, I bought a wedding dress that apparently belonged to Janet. And I know this may sound odd to you, but she seems to be attached to it. She…herspirit…is sitting in my guest room. She can’t leave the proximity of her wedding dress. I bought it for my own wedding—I love vintage. I had no clue she came with it.” I decided to stop and wait for him to respond. How he responded would tell me a great deal about the man.
Again, he paused. “She’s sitting in your guest room? You bought her wedding gown?”
“Yes, I did. Apparently whoever recently bought her parents’ house went through the attic and found it. They put it up for consignment.” I leaned back in my chair, wondering where this was going to end up. I hoped he wasn’t ready to hang up on me.
Sirus hesitated, then said, “Come to the tea room at around seven, if you will. I can talk to you then.” He paused again, then said, “Are you going to bring her with you?”
“Not unless I bring the dress, and I don’t fancy carrying it around town.” I thought about asking him over because I got the distinct impression he wanted to see Janet, but then stopped myself before I blurted out an invite. I had no idea who killed Janet. It could have been her fiancé, or it could have been someone else. But until I found out more, I didn’t want to open myself up to potential danger.
“Okay. I’ll see you around seven?” He sounded eager, and I detected a note of sadness behind his words.
“Yes, see you then.” As I set my phone down, I thought about what it must be like for him, to suddenly get a call out of the blue about his long-dead fiancée, fifty-seven years after her murder. I decided to call Millie Tuptin next. The chief of police, she was a German shepherd shifter and we had known each other for years. She might have files on the case that I could look over.
“Hey, January,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you might have some old files I could look at. An unsolved murder from 1966.” I waited.
“That’s definitely a cold case. Yes, by law you can have a look through them, but you’ll have to view them here. What’s the name of the victim?”
“Got a pen?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Janet Irene Kendrick. She was killed on June 7, 1966, right before her wedding. As far as I can tell, the murder was never solved.”
“I’ll call you back in a few.” She hung up and I sat my phone down, staring at it. I waited five minutes before she returned my call.
“So, did you find the case?”
“Yeah, I did. That was a messy business. A lot to unpack there.” She paused, then asked, “Why are you so interested? Haunted house or something?”
I cleared my throat. “Haunted wedding dress. The ghost is attached to my wedding dress and has taken up residence in my guest room. I’m meeting with her former fiancé tonight at seven, but I’d like to know more about the case before I talk to him. And before you ask, she doesn’t know who killed her. Whoever it was, they approached her from behind.”
“Shoot, there goes my next question. All right. I’ll set up the files in one of the conference rooms. What time will you be down here?”
“Twenty minutes? After I stop at an espresso stand.”
“I’ll be waiting.” She laughed. “You know, it would make it so much easier if she could tell you who did it.”
“I know! Hey, I’m not thrilled she’s hanging out here, and I don’t want to walk down the aisle dragging her behind me. Yet, I do want to wear this dress. It’s—”
“It’s freaking gorgeous,” Millie said. “If it’s the one in the morgue pictures, it’s lovely. And no stains ever got on it?”
