Be My Ghost Read online

  Books by Carol J. Perry

  Witch City Mysteries

  Caught Dead Handed

  Tails, You Lose

  Look Both Ways

  Murder Go Round

  Grave Errors

  It Takes a Coven

  Bells, Spells, and Murders

  Final Exam

  Late Checkout

  Murder, Take Two

  See Something

  BE MY GHOST

  CAROL J. PERRY

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Acknowledgments

  RECIPES

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2021 by Carol J. Perry

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3136-4 (ebook)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-3136-0 (ebook)

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-3135-7

  For Dan, my husband and best friend

  You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to

  come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

  —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

  Chapter 1

  Maureen Doherty stood at the window of her corner office on the top floor of Boston’s William G. Bartlett Building. “Rain,” she muttered. “Pouring down rain. Just what I need.” With a sigh, she turned away from the cold, gray outdoor vista and faced her almost-empty desk where a brown corrugated box stood open.

  She reached for the framed photo of her parents, Nancy and Frank Doherty, posed in front of their San Diego condo. They smiled up at her. Into the box they went, followed by half-a-dozen brass plaques engraved with her name and “Independent Retailers Ready-to-Wear Buyer of the Year.” With the closing of the venerable Bartlett’s of Boston department store there’d be no more of those plaques in her future. A framed document certifying her degree in Fashion Merchandising, and a well-worn copy of Mastering Fashion Styling were next, along with a manilla folder of tax information. It was only September, so she didn’t need to worry about taxes on past income just yet. The immediate problem was going to be future income.

  The closing of Bartlett’s hadn’t come as a shock to Maureen. The shutting down of brick-and-mortar stores was happening all over the country. Even the big guys, like Sears and the great independents like Filene’s, were gone, so it was no wonder that a family-owned department store like this one was doomed to fail, even after eighty-five years at the same address. It was a good bet that the market for women’s sportswear buyers was dwindling too, even for an almost-thirty-six-year-old frequent “buyer of the year.”

  With another sigh, a “New York, New York” paperweight, a souvenir of one of many buying trips to the city, went into the box, followed by a dusty jade plant rooted in Maureen’s maternal grandmother’s willowware flowerpot. She made a final check of the desk drawers, pulling them out and closing them one at a time, just in case something had been left behind.

  Not much to show for ten years in the same job, she thought, brushing back a stray lock of short blond hair and blinking back tears.

  “Maureen? May I come in?” William G. Bartlett III stood in the doorway.

  She wiped a hand across blue eyes and smiled at the gray-haired older man. He looked tired. “Of course, Bill. Just cleaning up a few loose ends.”

  “I understand. This hasn’t been easy for any of us.” He shook his head. “We held on as long as we could, didn’t we? I want you to know how much I appreciate your staying on until the last minute.” His smile was wry. “Nothing left to sell now except the store fixtures. The moving crew is having a ball sweeping up all the coins that have been under those old wooden counters since nineteen thirty-six. Probably quite a lot of silver down there.”

  A bit awkwardly, he handed Maureen a long envelope. “This’ll help a little to tide you over for a while. Any plans for the future yet? You know I’ll give you a glowing reference, whatever you chose to do next.”

  “Thanks so much, Bill. No plans yet, but I’ll keep in touch,” Tears threatening again, she slipped the envelope into her handbag and tucked the carton under her arm. Feeling more than a little sorry for herself because of the “no plans” reality, she pushed the last empty bottom desk drawer closed with her foot—a bit harder than necessary. “It’s been a good ten years. I’ll miss the old place.”

  “We all will,” he said, and held the door open for her. A coin rolled slowly across the carpeted floor, stopping at Maureen’s feet. He bent and picked it up. “A nineteen-eighty-three Bermuda nickel. Must have been under your desk.”

  Had she really kicked the drawer that hard? She felt a flush of embarrassment.

  He turned the coin over. “The queen of England on one side and an angelfish on the other, but no silver.” He handed it to her. “Can’t be worth much, but here, keep it for good luck.”

  “I will.” Sliding it into her pocket, she gave a wave with her free hand, stepped into the top-floor elevator, and pushed the DOWN button.

  Leaving by the employees’ ground level exit, she gave a reluctant backward glance and stepped out into the nearly empty parking lot at the rear of the building. It was early afternoon and the rain, by then wind whipped, fell in slanting, stinging sheets. Balancing the carton on the rear fender of a five-year-old green Subaru Forester, she unlocked the back hatch, shoved the box inside, climbed into the driver’s seat, and headed for home.

  The drive to Saugus on US 1 took Maureen only about half an hour on a good day and she usually enjoyed the ride. This was not a good day, weather-wise or otherwise. She turned on the radio. More rain and cooler temperatures were forecast. She switched to the easy-listening station. Cher’s “Believe” was a much better choice.

  Maureen had sent a few resumés aroun
d recently, but so far nothing had materialized. She hadn’t looked inside the envelope Bill had handed her but was pretty sure there’d be enough there to tide her over for a month or so. Then what? She could head out to California and visit the parents for a little while. But then what? She’d have to find someplace she could afford and it had to be someplace that accepted dogs. Sort of big dogs. She smiled, thinking of Finn.

  “Poor Finn. He’s out of work too.” She’d acquired the beautiful, lovable golden retriever for way less than he was worth from a guide dog instructor she’d met at yoga class. “He’s too friendly. Too easily distracted,” the woman had told her. “Nice pet, but a dismal failure as a guide dog.”

  Cher crooned something about being sad about leaving. That fit. Maureen was sad to be leaving Bartlett’s. No doubt about it. She slowed the Subaru to a stop at a red light and Cher almost whispered that it was time to move on. Nodding agreement with the lyric, she turned onto Lincoln Avenue, passed Kane’s Donuts, where a grinning jack-o’-lantern proclaimed the fast-approaching October holiday. Maureen stuck her tongue out at the pumpkin. This isn’t a good time to be out of work in Massachusetts with winter coming on, she told herself. High taxes, high rents, and high heating bills.

  She turned into the alley behind the two-story house where a cozy second-floor apartment had been her home for a decade. It was a good thing she hadn’t signed the new lease Mrs. Hennessey had stuck under her door. The current lease would expire at the end of the month and now there was no way she’d be able to afford even the modest rent on this place. She’d be able to collect unemployment insurance for a while, she had a 401(k), and there was a small savings account. No need to panic.

  Not yet.

  She drove into her usual parking space, stepped out onto rain-soaked ground, opened the hatch, picked up the box, and hurried to the back door. Wiping her feet several times on the rough fiber mat, she went inside, opened the metal mailbox with her name on it, pulled out a few envelopes and a couple of catalogs, and stuffed them into the cardboard box. Starting up the stairway, she heard Finn’s welcoming “woof.”

  “I’m coming, boy.” She spoke softly, sliding the box along the wooden bannister, hoping the landlady wouldn’t poke her head out of her kitchen door and invite Maureen in for “a cup of coffee and a little chat.” Mrs. Hennessey loved chatting and knew that the old store was closing—everybody knew that. However, they’d never spoken about the possibility of Maureen moving. This didn’t seem to be the right moment for that conversation.

  Maureen unlocked the apartment, slipped inside, and pulled the door closed. She put the box on the kitchen table and knelt to accept Finn’s joyous welcoming tail-wagging, doggy kisses, and happy “woofs.” “Looks like we’re both out of work now, boy,” she whispered. “But don’t you worry. We’ll be okay, you and me—I think. I guess. Somehow.” The golden nudged her leg. “Dinnertime?”

  She poured his favorite kibble into his bowl and while he happily ate, she began removing the remaining items from the box, spreading them on the table. “If I was going to stay here I’d make a nice wall arrangement with the plaques and my diploma,” she told Finn, “but why mess up the wall with nail holes when I’m going to be moving anyway?” She put the photo of her parents on top of a bookcase, and put the jade plant into the sink for a good soaking.

  Last of all she pulled out the envelopes and the colorful catalogs, then pushed them aside. “I can’t afford anything from Bas Bleu or J. Peterman,” she told the dog, “and I’m sure the rest are just bills.” She gave the pile a casual once-over. “See? Utilities, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Discover card—whoops. What’s this?”

  The cream-colored envelope bore a Florida postmark and a distinctive script return address. Jackson, Nathan and Peters, Attorneys at Law. A letter from a law firm. Not good. “The way things are going for us lately, Finn,” she said, “it’s bound to be bad news.” She laid the letter facedown on the table. “Now I’m almost afraid to look at the one Bill Bartlett gave us.”

  She opened a box of Lean Cuisine and popped it into the microwave, glancing every few seconds at the two envelopes. When she’d finished her dinner, she put a decaf pod into the Keurig machine. “Well, Finn, shall we open the mail and see what our future holds? Financially and legally?”

  Finn gave an affirmative-sounding “woof.” He put his head in her lap. “Which one should we open first?” The dog looked up at her with soft brown eyes.

  “I know. We’ll toss a coin. I’ve got one right here.” She pulled the Bermuda nickel from her pocket. “The queen, we open the one from Bartlett’s; the fish, the letter from the lawyer. Here goes.”

  The coin landed with a clink on the table. “Heads. Okay. Money first.” She pulled open the unsealed flap of the white envelope. The amount of the check enclosed was a surprise. Her low whistle made Finn’s ears perk up. “Five thousand dollars. This’ll help a lot with our future plans.” Finn tilted his head to one side. “Yeah, I know.” She ruffled his fur. “We have no future plans.” She added two pink packets of artificial sweetener to the coffee, took a sip, then slit the second envelope open carefully—respectful of the 40 percent rag content with its graceful script designation, Lawrence Jackson, Attorney at Law—and withdrew a single sheet of paper.

  On the first day Finn had come to live with her, Maureen had read aloud the list of instructions that had come along with him. He’d immediately sat at her feet, eyes focused on her face, ears alert, apparently enjoying every word. She’d soon developed the habit of reading to him often—from newspapers, magazines, advertising flyers, novels. He seemed to like them all. She didn’t receive many personal letters, though— her parents usually phoned or e-mailed—so this would be his first.

  “ ‘Dear Ms. Doherty: In the matter of the estate of Penelope Josephine Gray, this is formal notice that Penelope Josephine Gray died on the last day of July past and that you are the apparent only heir to Penelope Josephine Gray’s estate, consisting of certain property in Haven, Florida. Please contact this office at your earliest convenience for further information regarding the administration of the decedent’s estate.”

  The letter was signed by Lawrence R. Jackson, Administrator of the Estate.

  “What does it mean?” she asked.

  Finn blinked. “Woof,” he said.

  “ ‘Certain property,’ ” she quoted the letter. “That could mean anything. A farm. A swamp. A mansion. And who is Penelope Josephine Gray?” Finn lay down and closed his eyes. Maureen read the letter again, this time to herself. The fancy letterhead included telephone, fax, and e-mail address.

  What if it was a scam? What if Lawrence R. Jackson was an identity thief? Maureen nearly laughed out loud at that one. Who would want her identity? A single woman with no job and pretty darned close to no home.

  She opened her laptop and typed in “Jackson, Nathan and Peters, Attorneys at Law, Haven, Florida.”

  “The website looks legit,” she told Finn. “They’ve been in business at the same address since the eighties. Not a very big building. Looks more like a house than an office. It says here they specialize in wills, trusts, estate planning, and family law. What do you think?”

  “Woof,” Finn said.

  “You’re right. I’ll call my folks. They probably know exactly who Penelope Josephine Gray is.”

  Frank Doherty answered on the first ring. “Hello, sweetheart,” he said. “What’s going on?” She knew her parents were concerned about the loss of her job, and she’d tried hard to convince them that she wasn’t worried, that something would come up.

  Maybe something had.

  “Darndest thing.” She read the lawyer’s letter to him—by this time her mother was on the line too. “Do you two know who Penelope is?” Maureen asked. “Do we have some kind of family connection to her? Or to Haven, Florida?”

  “Never heard of the lady,” he said. “You, Nancy?”

  “Uh-uh. I don’t recognize her name. But I think we’ve all been to Haven.
You’d just finished the eighth grade and we drove down to Florida. Remember, Maureen? It was right after we went to Walt Disney World. Nice little place. We went out on a fishing boat. You caught a fish.”

  She remembered the fish. “I wanted you to cook it for dinner. We took it to a restaurant and they cooked it for us. So that was Haven?”

  “I’m quite sure it was,” her mother said. “Cute town. Quiet. Near the beach. A little house there would be nice. I say you take them up on the offer. Whoever she was, Penelope what’s-her-name has done you a favor. Maybe she was a customer at Bartlett’s and you sold her the prettiest dress she ever owned. Maybe she saw your name somewhere and liked the sound of it. People do strange things. You’ll figure it out. Meanwhile, why turn down a trip to Florida, with winter coming on?”

  “I’ll give the lawyer a call,” Maureen promised. “If it sounds okay, I think I’ll do it.”

  Frank Doherty gave instructions for her to keep them informed and asked if she needed anything, as he always did.

  She answered that she was fine, thank you, and assured him that she didn’t need anything, as she always did.

  “Oh, Maureen?” Her mother’s voice was hopeful.

  “Yes, Mom?”

  “Maybe you’ll meet someone in Haven.”

  Maureen smiled at the familiar admonition, said goodbye and immediately googled Penelope Josephine Gray.

  An obituary from the Tampa Bay Times dated in July was headed with a black-and-white photo of an attractive white-haired woman:

  Penelope Josephine Gray, aged 89, died in her residence at the Haven House Inn. Ms. Gray had been the owner operator of the inn for many years and was known as an active and generous member of the community. She was a member and past president of the Haven Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Haven Ladies Guild. She was a graduate of Smith College. Ms. Gray had never married and had no children.