Free All Dressed Up and No Place to Haunt by Rose Pressey

dream and came back to Sugar Creek to open my shop.”
    â€œI’m glad you did,” he said.
    â€œOh, he is so sweet,” Alice said from over Dylan’s shoulder.
    She was standing behind him now. Charlotte was hovering over my shoulder. Dylan and I chatted about Sugar Creek and living in Atlanta while we finished the meal. But apparently, by the frowns on Alice and Charlotte’s faces, I hadn’t asked enough about the case. I didn’t want to push him for details when I knew he couldn’t share them with me.
    Finally, I looked at my watch. “I guess I’d better get back and open the shop. I don’t want to disappoint any customers looking for a Marilyn Monroe–style halter dress or a Humphrey Bogart–type trench coat.”
    He placed his napkin on the table. “Yes, I need to get to the office. Thanks for sharing the table with me, Cookie. I had a great time.” He grabbed my ticket that Dixie had placed on the table. “It’s on me.”
    I reached for the bill. “No, you don’t have to do that.”
    â€œLet him pay, Cookie, you don’t want to be rude,” Charlotte said.
    He looked at me with insistent eyes.
    â€œThank you,” I said.
    After he paid and we said good-bye, I waved to Dylan and headed toward my shop while he turned in the opposite direction. That was an unexpected twist to my morning plans. I’d never hear the end of it from Charlotte and Alice, though, because I hadn’t asked the right questions. At least they seemed tickled that I’d spent some time with Dylan.
    I wasn’t sure what I would call it, but I wouldn’t call it a date. A date was when he came to my house and picked me up and we went to the movies, right? That hadn’t happened . . . yet.

Chapter 10
    Charlotte’s Handy-Dandy Tips for Navigating the Afterlife

    Careful when scaring the living.
They may try to cleanse the space,
and then you’ll have to leave.

    The next day, after a restless night of listening to Alice complain that I wasn’t doing enough to find the killer, I came up with a plan to go back to the scene of the crime. That was something I knew Dylan would probably frown upon, but the police didn’t need to know. I wasn’t sure if it would do any good or if I would learn anything new, but I felt it would be good to go back and see the area.
    Maybe it would spark a thought that I’d forgotten. Plus, it would get the ghosts to stop complaining for a little while. I was missing a lot of sleep because of the nonstop chattering. Charlotte had even started to chime in now. So with both women in the car, I headed toward Fairtree Plantation.
    The top was down on the Buick, and the sky was an endless blue. Of course it was already hot, but that was a given in Georgia at this time of year. The movie was still on hold, but the plantation was open for people to view the grounds until they started filming again. I parked the car in the lot.
    â€œDon’t make the mistake of walking on Vera Lemon’s property,” Alice said.
    â€œWhat is that all about?” Charlotte asked.
    I explained how Vera had gotten her bloomers in a bunch about people stepping on her grass.
    â€œOh, for heaven’s sakes. That is just nonsense,” Charlotte said.
    All the same, I would try my best to stay away from Vera. As I made my way across the beautiful landscape, I was pretty sure I shouldn’t be there, but I couldn’t let a little detail like that stop me. After all, it wasn’t like they’d banned anyone from the property. Not yet.
    When I reached the pond, I paused. The crime scene tape had been removed. The scene appeared as tranquil as if no one had died there just days ago. The lake’s surface remained still, with sunshine sparkling like a chandelier across the top. It was a stark contrast to the ripples in the water caused when they’d brought Nicole out of the pond.
    â€œThat is