Dead to the World Read Online Free Page B

The bigger antique shops were full of junk, most of which I wanted desperately. I’d given myself a budget for the weekend of two hundred dollars to spend on ‘stuff.’ With the cistern shops and the antique shops, I’d only hit three hundred by the time we stopped for lunch. We found a little bistro and settled in. Inevitably, the conversation turned to Miss Hutchins and her daddy.
    ‘I think we’ve established that even if there are such things as ghosts, which we both doubt—’ I started.
    ‘Indubitably,’ Willis said.
    I rolled my eyes. ‘Ghosts are not known for wielding weapons such as knives. Therefore, someone other than Miss Hutchins’ father killed her mother.’
    ‘Agreed.’
    ‘Who?’ I asked.
    Willis shrugged. ‘I have no idea. We don’t know anything about the rest of her family, or other players that might have been around back then.’
    ‘You think we should ask her?’
    It was Willis’s turn for the old eye roll. ‘Here you go again, getting involved,’ he said.
    ‘What?’ I said. ‘I’m not doing anything!’
    ‘Yeah, but you’re intrigued. I can see it in your eyes, not to mention you’re actually talking about it.’
    ‘OK, never mind. You’re right. It’s our anniversary. What do we care if the old lady loses her family home because of someone playing pranks?’
    ‘We don’t know anyone’s playing pranks!’ Willis said. ‘For all we know, she’s lost customers because it’s a lousy B&B.’
    ‘When she serves breakfasts like that?’ I asked, wide-eyed. ‘I seriously doubt it!’
    ‘Maybe she sleepwalks at night and the word got around.’
    ‘Maybe you’re full of it,’ I suggested.
    Willis sighed. ‘OK. Let’s ask her why people stopped coming. What it was “Daddy” did that made people run off.’
    Inwardly I grinned; outwardly I just nodded my head sagely. ‘I think we can do that.’ Inwardly I also knew that Willis was beginning to enjoy the chase as much as I did.
    When we returned to Bishop’s Inn, Miss Hutchins was busy puttering around the living room, straightening things that already looked straight, fluffing pillows that were already fluffed, etc.
    ‘May we join you?’ I asked as we entered the room.
    ‘Oh, my, yes!’ she said, smiling joyfully. ‘Please, sit! Mr Pugh, you take this chair,’ she said, pointing to a very old barrel-shaped easy chair that had obviously been recovered at least once in its history. The latest upholstery was a tapestry of books and reading accoutrement, such as reading glasses, a fireplace and a sleeping dog. It had a matching ottoman. ‘This was Daddy’s chair. I’m not sure if he sits in it when he comes back, but I like to think he’s grateful I kept it for him.’
    Willis took the easy chair and I sank down on the camel-backed sofa. ‘Speaking of your father,’ I started, ‘what did he do to drive away your customers?’
    ‘Oh, this and that,’ Miss Hutchins said, sitting down next to me. ‘He started screaming one night, which ran off two couples who were staying here. They just packed up in the middle of the night and left. Then there was the destruction of those suitcases that time.’
    ‘Tell me about that,’ I said.
    ‘Well, I had this lovely older couple staying with me. Gladys and Herman. Such nice people. The second day they were here, in the morning, they woke up to find their suitcases had been slashed with a knife and their belongings scattered all around – even some of Gladys’s unmentionables hanging from the light fixture! Needless to say, they were very upset and I had to supply them with paper bags for their belongings so they could leave immediately.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I didn’t dare ask them to pay for that one night. I mean, that would have just been tacky.’
    I nodded my head. Tacky for sure. And a knife again. Were Willis and I wrong about spirits being unable to wield weapons? What did either of us know about ghosts and spirits and other things that go