Free Ghouls Night Out by Terri Garey

scanning stopped.
    Clear as a bell, loud in the stillness, came a familiar voice, singing a familiar tune that raised the hair on my arms.
    “Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you.”
    Sting, singing “Every Breath You Take.”
    Randy looked like a deer in the headlights, staring at the radio as if he expected it to bite him.
    “Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay, I’ll be watching you.”
    Michelle was still here. I knew it, and Randy knew it, and the knowledge proved too much for him.
    “All right, all right!” he shrieked. “I did it! I killed her!”
    The older paramedic drew back, looking first at Randy, then at Deputy Dwayne.
    “You got somethin’ you need to get off your chest, boy?” Dwayne asked Randy, shooting Joe a glance before he moved toward the truck.
    “Michelle,” Randy babbled, still staring at the radio. “Her name’s Michelle. I don’t even know her last name—she’s a friend of Debbie Hathaway’s. She’s in the pond back at the body shop.”
    I breathed a silent sigh of relief, and looked at Joe. He flicked his eyes toward where he’d left his car, and I got the message; time for all good ghouls to hit the road.
    I wanted to celebrate, to throw my arms around him and kiss him to thank him for helping me, but now was not the time. Instead, I ducked down and scrambled away as quietly as I could. Once I was far enough away, I stood up and took off at a run toward the One-Stop Body Shop.
    Joe could handle it from here, I had no doubt.
    But the evening wasn’t over yet. I was at the hose, quickly wiping the mud from my face and arms with Joe’s newly rinsed t-shirt when Michelle showed herself one final time.
    Or tried to show herself, anyway. Her form was hazy, indistinct, and I couldn’t help but be a little relieved; she’d been looking pretty bad since she knew she’d been murdered, and I didn’t want to see any more. I’d had enough of a creep show for one evening.
    “Something’s happening to me,” Michelle said. Even her voice sounded fuzzy. “I feel like I have to be somewhere, but I’m not sure where it is.”
    I smiled, knowing the place Michelle was being drawn to was a good place. “It’s okay, Michelle.” I kept my voice gentle. “It’s time for you to go now. Just close your eyes and let go, and all of this will seem like a baddream. Only this time, when you wake up, it will be to a better place.”
    It would be in the Light, which was a very good place, indeed. I wasn’t sure I had the words to describe it, but I didn’t really need to. Michelle would find out soon enough. I couldn’t believe that the innocent victim of such a horrible crime would go anywhere else.
    “Nice trick with the radio, by the way,” I added.
    “Thanks.”
    I could hear the smile in her voice, and it made me happy.
    “Could you do me one final favor?”
    Repressing a tired sigh, I answered, “Sure.”
    “I don’t want Debbie thinking that I died mad at her,” Michelle said. “I know her…if we leave things on a sour note, she’ll blame herself for what happened to me. If I told you what to say, would you say it?”
    Great—how was I supposed to do that? Walk up to Debbie at her wedding and tell her I had a message from the “other side”? Par for the course, I suppose. How ironic that in a family of rednecks, I’d managed to become the one everybody considered strange.
    Hell, I’d figure something out.
    With a shrug, I said, “What do you want me to tell her?”

Chapter 7
    “Calm down, Debbie,” Darlene said. “Just because that idiot Randy had to get himself busted up and in the hospital right before the wedding doesn’t mean the wedding’s ruined.” She shot me a look over Debbie’s head as she was adjusting her sister’s veil.
    Darlene was the only one who knew the truth about why Randy wasn’t here. I’d called her yesterday and asked