The Ghost and The Haunted Mansion: A Haunted Bookshop Mystery

McClure?”
    “Yes!”
    “Let me make it easy for you, okay? You want to go to dinner or a movie with me sometime? Is that what you want to ask?”
    “No, no! You’re misunderstanding—”
    “Hi, Jim!”
    “Hey, there, Bob.”
    It was then I noticed a few passersby were glancing our way with more than a little curiosity. The whispering women on the street seemed especially interested in what Jim and I were discussing so intensely. I closed my eyes took a breath.
    “I’m not trying to ask you out, Jim,” I whispered. “What I’d like to know is if you knew the name of the older woman with Charlene Fabian.”
    “Oh, I see . . . Uh, yeah, actually I do. Her name’s Mrs. Beatrice Ingram. I just had a short meet-and-greet with those two inside.”
    “Meet-and-greet?”
    “Uh-huh. We had coffee together. Mrs. Ingram’s planning to invest in a property with Charlene, turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. They need some work on the place and I’ve done work for Charlene in the past.” He shrugged.
    “Where is this place?”
    “Newport.”
    “You have an address?”
    Jim shook his head. “No. They said they’re not ready for me to see it yet, but in a few weeks they’ll have me take a look. Like I said, this was just a meet-and-greet. I’m sure they’re talking to other construction guys, you know?” He shrugged. “I did my best to charm them. What else can I do? You win some, you lose some.”
    “But you hardly ever lose.”
    Jim smiled. “Thanks for saying that. I’m good at under-bidding. It’s true.”
    “Okay. Well, thanks for the name.” I was about to walk away when Jim lightly touched my arm.
    “Wait.”
    Get away from this stormtrooper, baby. He’s just gonna lay a line on you.
    “What?” I said.
    “That’s it?” He laughed. “Use me and toss me aside?”
    Oh, brother.
    “It’s nothing personal, Jim. I just wanted the woman’s name because there’s a very good chance she’s Miss Todd’s sister.”
    “Miss Todd? The old woman who was—” He glanced around. “You know what the rumor is, right? That she was frightened to death.”
    “I know what the rumor is. But I have my suspicions that the frights were manufactured.”
    Jim’s blond eyebrows rose. “You sound like a private eye.” He smiled. “But then, that’s what they say about you around here. You do more than just sell those detective books. You like investigating, too. It’s kind of a hobby of yours, right?”
    “I’ve solved my share of puzzling cases around this little town. Let’s leave it at that.”
    “Let’s not.” Jim smiled again, bigger this time. The man’s teeth were nearly as dazzling as his eyes. “Let’s go out sometime. How about it? You can tell me more about your, uh, puzzling cases.”
    “I hardly know you.”
    You tell him, doll!
    “That’s the point of going out, right? Getting to know each other better?”
    “Well, stop by my store sometime. Maybe we can go out for coffee.”
    “Will do, Mrs. M.” He reached out and touched my hair again. “It’s Penelope, isn’t it?”
    “Pen.”
    “See you next week then, Pen. Maybe I’ll even break down and buy a book. Three of the guys on my crew are enjoying books you sold them just this week.” He gave me a little wink.
    “Really? What books are those?”
    “Not books—book. They’re all reading the same one. They say it’s really hot, too.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Sounds like it from the title. It’s called—”
    I gritted my teeth, already guessing.
    “— Bang, Bang Baby .”

CHAPTER 20
     
    Past Is Present
     
    Now let’s add it up and don’t interrupt me.
    —The Long Goodbye , Raymond Chandler, 1953
     
     
     
     
    “NO WONDER HE asked me out! He thinks I’m a loose bookseller, peddling pornographic fiction!”
    Aunt Sadie smirked at me over the check-out counter. “He asked you out because you’re an attractive redhead who ran into him on the street.”
    “Yes, literally !”
    “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, dear, especially when it’s six-three, has sky-blue eyes, and owns its own business.”
    I glanced at my watch: eleven thirty A.M. We were due to open in thirty minutes, and I was dead on my feet. I’d already called Eddie and Fiona to tell them the name I’d uncovered (Beatrice Ingram); and with one marathon running of the mouth, I’d brought my aunt up to date on the haunting, Miss Todd’s audiotapes, tonight’s séance, and Jim Wolfe.
    Sadie’s reaction wasn’t