Free Blackvine Manor Mystery by Wendy Meadows Page A

heads into the undulating rows of headstones. “Don’t you think that would be a good thing? Maybe once you have real leads on your mother, your imagination won’t have to fill in the blanks.”
    “My imagination? That’s how you explain me finding the connection between Fenton and Delia?”
    He leans on a moss-covered pedestal holding a weeping angel. “It’s much more likely that you brainstormed possible connections and got lucky instead of seeing a ‘vision’ of a man you don’t know wearing a school insignia pin you don’t recognize.”
    Alexis scowls at him. “And that’s what you believe even though I told you how it happened.”
    “What’s that saying, ‘seeing is believing’? Well, I’m not seeing much around here that will help us find your mother.”
    Alexis turns her head away and contemplates the other side of the headstone he is leaning on.
    “What, are you giving me the silent treatment?”
    “No—” Alexis hushes him “—I’m listening.”
    Maxwell rolls his eyes. “Is the angel telling you something? I hope it’s about your mother.”
    “No, it’s about the woman who’s buried under that angel. She says the drunk driver who killed her visits every week. She’s glad he is sober now.”
    “Seriously? You looked up this woman’s name on your phone just to fake a point?”
    “His name is Peter.” A voice behind Maxwell makes him jump two feet in the air. The caretaker pauses to lean on his rake by the weeping angel.
    Alexis turns to him. “He still drives the same blue sedan; it reminds him every day.”
    The caretaker nods. “And he visits every week.”
    Maxwell shrugs. “A lot of people drive blue sedans; that was a lucky guess.”
    “She’s happy when he visits; she loves the wildflowers the best. He makes her proud.”
    The caretaker looks at Maxwell’s cynical frown. “I’ll tell Peter. A message like that can save a man’s life.”
    Maxwell ignores his comment. “Do you know if anyone by the name of Tennon is buried here?”
    “It doesn’t sound familiar but I can check the registry. Feel free to keep walking, living people are easy to find around here.” He continues on to his golf cart and drives off towards the main gates and office.
    Alexis can’t help a small smile as she and Maxwell continue to thread their way through the headstones. “Seems like my abilities might work outside Blackvine Manor after all.”
    “Why would that make you happy?”
    “Because now that I realize what I’m able to do, it would feel like losing my eyesight or ability to taste if it disappeared.”
    Maxwell makes a face. “Alright, how about another test? If you happen to see another ghost, let me know and I will check out the headstone before you can see it. Then we’ll see if you can give me any information that matches the engravings.”
    “It doesn’t work that way.” Alexis can feel herself getting nervous and tight again.
    “Just let me know. And I still say we try to find the lake this cemetery is supposedly named after.” Maxwell strikes out in a new direction.
    Alexis tries to distract herself and dissipate the pressure of Maxwell’s test idea. “You know, the caretaker was right; living people are easy to find around here. There is no one else around but us. Maybe that’s why Amelia was coming here.”
    “To get away from the living?”
    “No, to find something that Fenton hid. Lots of hiding places around here and no witnesses to see you bury it.”
    Maxwell scrubs his chin. “True. And repeat visitors are a normal thing for a cemetery.”
    Alexis doesn’t respond. Her attention is captured by a stocky man waving to her over to a tall, white headstone. “There’s your test.”
    Maxwell is surprised but goes to the front of the white headstone. “Alright, gimme anything you can.”
    “He’s a sailor, he has an anchor tattoo. He’s mad because he’s in his family plot instead of with his fellow servicemen.”
    “Name?”
    Alexis closes her