Down Home and Deadly

lifesaver.”
    “That’s better than a dum-dum, I guess.” I tossed her a silly smile.
    The girls giggled and Carly groaned. “That was corny, even for you.”
    “Yes, well, I’m getting cornier in my old age.”
    “You only use that term because you know I’ll always be older than you,” she said.
    “You’re probably right.” I swung the car into the almost - deserted parking lot of the Lake View Athletic Club and jumped out.
    Carly jumped out , too , and ran around to the driver’s seat. She gave me a quick hug before sliding in. “Bye, Jenna, and thanks again.”
    She waited to make sure I was inside before leaving the c lub parking lot. Ordinarily I would think that was overkill, but with a real killer on the loose, I wasn’t complaining. The thought of a “ real killer ” sent a shiver down my spine and made me glad to hear the hum of voices in the exercise room.
    I shivered again when I started looking at the mess that Lisa had left. Her housekeeping skills were on par with her management skills —a lthough I had a feeling it was more of a n “ I don’t care ” attitude than not being able to do it.
    After I’d been cleaning for a while, Dave stuck his head in the door. “I’m about to lock up. You want me to wait for you?”
    “No, thanks. I’ve still got a little more to do here.”
    He nodded. “Rumor has it there’s a ghost in here late at night, so if you hear anything, get your cell phone ready to take a pic.”
    “If I saw a ghost, the last thing I’d be worried about would be taking its picture.”
    He shrugged. “Your loss. A photo of a real ghost would sell for no telling how much.”
    “I’d rather just have peace and quiet and get my job done. But thanks.” I glanced back at the stack of junk I was sorting through then thought of something. “Oh, and Dave . . . ”
    He stuck his head back in the door. “Yeah?”
    “Thanks for spooking me before I get locked in here by myself.”
    “Spook the legendary Jenna Stafford? No way.”
    He laughed all the way down the hall. I threw myself back into cleaning. I should have turned some music on, because as soon as I knew he was gone, I started hearing little noises. Creaking noises, swishing noises, ceiling fan noises.
    A scraping sound from the back door might as well have been a cannon shot. T hat’s the kind of noise that puts all other noises to shame. The kind you can’t ignore or explain away. That was definitely something. I cautiously peeped over the top of the cabinet I didn’t realize I’d ducked behind.
    I heard footsteps , and they were coming this way. No way anyone would have any business in the back room of the club after hours. Well, no one but a cleaning freak like me. Unfortunately , the cabinet was too small for me to crawl into. I wished I’d closed the hall door when I came in here, but all I’d had on my mind was getting the place aired out and cleaned up.
    Suddenly , it hit me. Mama had been wrong. All those times she’d warned me about curiosity leading to an unhappy ending for me, she should have told me that cleaning would be the death of me. That would have saved me a lot of prune hands and sore knees over the years. And tonight it might have saved my life.
    The footsteps stopped at the door. I wondered if my foot was sticking out beyond the edge of the cabinet. If I drew it in, would it make noise? Speaking of noise, was that whistling? A whistling killer? “ Yankee Doodle, ” no less. Forget my whole death - by - cleaning theory. Mama was right, as usual. Curiosity would kill me. But I had to look. I borrowed a trick from Tiffany and prayed that my “hand” gun would be as unnecessary as hers had been.
    I swung out from behind the cabinet in one fluid motion , bringing my fake gun out in front of me. “Who’s there?” I said in my most commanding voice to the shadow in the hallway.
    “It is Marco ! Who is there?” His voice trembled.
    My taut muscles went limp. “It’s Jenna.”
    He stuck his head inside the doorway , and his eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
    “I think that’s my line. I work here.” I frowned. “If I remember correctly, you don’t.”
    “I can explain.” He walked into the room, his face suffused with color. “Or I could, but I do not want to get someone into trouble.”
    I crossed my arms in front of me. “Well, ‘someone’ is in trouble. It’s you. So you’d better start explaining.” I was still shaky from the fright he’d given