Free She Smells the Dead by E.J. Stevens

we found growing in her herb garden, it does sound suspicious,” I said. The words barely left my mouth before I was smothered in vinegar. The smell was so intense I felt like I was suffocating. I reached for my throat trying to breathe and little flashes of light started to spot my vision. I guess we were onto something. Please, oh please, make it stop .

Chapter 24
     
     
    With a wash of wet dog smell, the vinegar smell faded and I could breathe freely again.
    “Yuki, are you o.k.?” Calvin asked placing his arm around my shoulders. “Do you need to lie down?” he asked. He sounded worried. Had his wolf spirit somehow protected me?
    “I’m better now, thanks,” I said taking another deep breath. “I think Jackson was trying to let us know that our suspicions were correct,” I said looking at Cal and Emma, “I just wasn’t ready for the vinegar assault.”
    Calvin was the first to ask what we were probably all thinking, “So what do we do now?”
    Good question .
    “I think Jackson would want his contributions to go to the charities that he had set aside money for,” I said hoping our discussion wouldn’t trigger another violent smell impression. The smell became stronger but not too strong. Maybe Cal’s wolf spirit was providing a barrier. Thank you . “I think that was a smell signal for yes,” I added.
    “What about Grace Green’s inheritance?” Emma asked, “Would he want his money going to a murderer?” It was a good question.
    “We could send everything to the police with a copy of the articles you found and copies of the pictures from the garden,” Cal suggested. “If we include an anonymous letter with our suspicions they would have to investigate.”
    They both looked expectantly at me.
    “This is going to sound crazy, but I think I have an idea,” I said feeling a little silly that I hadn’t tried this before.
    I grabbed a notebook and flipped it open to a clean page. I then grabbed a black sharpie marker and wrote in large letters the words “YES,” “MAYBE,” and “NO.” Emma and Calvin both looked at the page confused.
    “It’s like a Ouija board,” I explained, “except Jackson won’t be pushing a pointer to the answer. We’ll ask a question that he should feel strongly about and see if his smell impression gets stronger on one of the answers.”
    Calvin reached for my hand and squeezed it once. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?” he asked, “It sounds like it could get intense. Jackson’s ghost almost overwhelmed you earlier.”
    I wished there was some way to communicate my suspicion about his wolf spirit helping me. Emma was sitting there watching us both and listening intently though, so there was no way to talk to him about it.
    “I think I can do it with you here,” I said a little breathlessly.
    He was leaning in close now and my heart was starting to beat faster. “O.k.,” he said and squeezed my hand.
    Emma rolled her eyes. “Can we get this show on the road?” she asked, “No offense Yuki, but I have a date with a mud mask tonight. Some of us still need to find a date for the homecoming dance.”
    I closed my eyes concentrating on the question. “Jackson, do you want us to go to the police?” I asked. With a shaking hand I pointed at YES, then MAYBE. On maybe the smell impression was strong. “I think that’s a maybe,” I said.
    “Can we ask if he wants his wife arrested?” Emma asked hopefully.
    “O.k. Do you want your wife Grace arrested for your murder?” I asked. I pointed to YES, there was no smell, then MAYBE and NO. On no I felt dizzy and the room flooded with the smell of vinegar. I could still breathe, but the smell was incredibly strong. “That’s a no,” I gasped. Panting a little I looked up to see Calvin shake his head.
    “That’s it for tonight Yuki,” he said firmly, “we can finish this tomorrow.”
    I wanted to argue, but he was right. I was completely worn out and a headache was creeping up from my