Free Ghosts Beneath Us: A Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery (Spookie Town Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Kathryn Meyer Griffith Page B

the floor.
    “Sure I do. She’s my neighbor over there.” His thumb cocked in the direction of Beatrice’s house. “I holler at her sometimes when I see her somewhere, but she don’t holler back. We don’t socialize much. She’s a little hoity-toity, if you know what I mean? She has money and I don’t. Also, she’s not my type. And, oh lordy, I heard about those crazy dolls of hers. I don’t do crazy. I have enough issues of my own.”
    By the looks of him, the way he lived and what was happening to him, Abigail agreed. Alfred had his own problems.
    She and Frank stayed another half hour but learned nothing else that could have helped them. Alfred was as in the dark about what was going on as Beatrice had been.
    And after leaving him, Frank and Abby drove over to Beatrice’s to see how she was doing. She was fine. She’d had the basement straightened up again and the police patrol had kept anything else from occurring. So Far. Frank had telephoned her son the night before after he’d left Abigail’s house and had explained to him what was going on. The son seemed like he cared about what was happening to his mother on the phone, but so far hadn’t shown up or called her. It made Abigail feel bad for her.
    “Well, that’s done,” Frank had exhaled when they were heading towards Abigail’s house so she could pick up her car and get to town. She wanted to get to the bakery. Her new job waited.
    “I pray everything is okay with those old folks now and nothing else happens to either one of them. I still can’t believe someone would torment them like that.”
    “Me either. I’m not giving up yet on finding who did it and making them pay for it.”
    “You’re not going to stake out their houses every night, are you?” He’d done that for her when the Mud People Killer had been after her the year before.
    “I might. I have the strong suspicion it isn’t over yet.”
    “So do I.”
    “And I have a hunch or two,” he said, “I’m following up on. I can’t help but think what’s happening to Beatrice and now Alfred isn’t somehow linked. As I said, there’s no such thing as coincidences.”
    “Let me know how that goes, will you?”
    “You know I will, Abby.”
    “Now on to something less mysterious and cheerier. I’m driving the children to Shelia’s on Friday, they’re going for a weekend reunion with their brothers and sisters, and wanted to know if you’d like to tag along? We wouldn’t be staying long and then we’d have the rest of the night to ourselves.”
    “The weekend?”
    “You can have some of that, too. But remember I have that new commission and I’m supposed to be at the bakery Saturday morning to see how the construction is coming along. But you can have Friday and Saturday night.”
    “Fair enough. We’ll have to go out to the movies or something Saturday after you’re through at the bakery.”
    “Hey, that’s an excellent idea. There’s a film or two I’ve wanted to see and one of them is being shown in Imax.”
    “I know you’ve been dying to try Imax, so pick the movie and a time Saturday and we’ll go. My treat.”
    “Of course your treat. You’re the wealthy author here, not me.”
    “I’m not wealthy,” Frank bantered. “My books are doing fairly well, but I’m no Arthur Conan Doyle. I’m not rich.”
    “Yet. You get a couple more novels out there and your fame will spread. I expect you to be a millionaire one day.”
    “Ah, so that’s why you’re going out with me? Because you think I’ll be rich someday?”
    She gently squeezed his arm as he was driving. “Yep, that’s it. It’s all about the money.” And they both laughed.
    He dropped her off at the house and drove away. She knew she’d see him later because she’d invited him for dinner.
    *****
     Abigail was hurrying down the sidewalk towards the bakery, her portfolio clasped in her arms, when she almost bumped into Samantha.
    “Whoa, Abigail, where are you going in such a