Cadaver Lab 2, page 5
In hopes of getting more time with the ghost, Natalie decided to dangle some incentive. “They might want to take a look at that date scratched in the bedroom at your place, but of course we can meet here if you don’t want to put Agnes out.”
Jules’s eyes popped wide. “What date scratched where?”
“The numbers one, nine, two, zero are carved into the door frame of the guest bedroom at Agnes’s house,” Harper explained.
“Nineteen-twenty,” Jules whispered. “Prohibition went into effect on January first in nineteen-twenty.” She glanced up at Harper and Natalie. “We learned about it in school. It led to an explosion of illegal activity. Bootleggers. Gangsters.”
That was a subject she was well acquainted with after the events of last year.
Natalie drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. So I’ve… heard.”
She definitely couldn’t tell Jules and Harper she’d met a real live—or rather dead—bootlegger last year. Or that the new ghost at Agnes’s appeared to also be from that era.
“Interesting that that’s the date in your woodwork,” Jules pointed out.
“But why scratch that or any date into the wood?” Natalie asked, getting the discussion back on track.
“That’s the big question, isn’t it?” Harper said.
“So let’s get the LADS together and discuss it,” Natalie prompted again.
Harper nodded. “I’ll text Agnes and see where she wants to have the meeting, here or there. Either way, I’ll go home and take a picture of the date and tell Agnes to gather all the information she has on the history of the house.”
“Perfect.” Natalie agreed, while thinking it would be more perfect if she could get into Agnes and Harper’s house again to speak to Twenties Girl herself, but she’d take whatever she could get.
“This is exciting. Maybe some gangsters were there at your house!” Jules said.
“Does this mean you’ll actually come to the meeting?” Harper asked the teen.
Jules cringed at the suggestion she spend the night with the octogenarians of the town. “I’ll think about it.”
The tinkling of the bell above the door ended their teasing of the girl and heralded the store’s first official customer. Alice Mudd, barely five foot and only if she were to stand up straight, walked in.
“Hey, do you know you have a deranged crow on your roof cawing at everyone who walks by?” she asked.
“That’s Poe the crow,” Jules announced with a level of excitement that had Natalie groaning.
It seemed they might have already acquired yet another uninvited shop pet. Lovely. Hopefully this one would stay outside.
“Your crow is particularly interested in your landscape crew in the side yard. I’m not sure what they’re doing myself. It looks like just a lot of digging. Not that I mind watching them bend over, mind you, but are you putting in a garden, Natalie?” Alice asked.
The bone crew had arrived.
Natalie let out a groan. “No. But actually, maybe.” If the holes were already there anyway…
She’d always wanted a formal Victorian garden with stone benches and roses and lavender and a fountain and geometric walking paths between the beds…
One thing at a time.
First, find out if there was a body buried in the backyard, then design the garden.
Her To-Do list was certainly getting interesting.
Chapter Eight
The discussion regarding Harper’s discovery of those four numbers scratched into the wood of the guest room’s door frame, and what they could possibly mean, was the first piece of business of the second meeting of the LADS that Natalie attended.
So far this meeting was proceeding pretty much the same as the first with no apparent organization.
A kind of well-mannered chaos…with refreshments. Except this time, unlike the first, they were in the side room of the book and wine shop since Agnes was having the wood floors downstairs refinished.
That had been a huge disappointment to Natalie. She’d been hoping to get back there to corner the young female ghost. Especially now, after Gabe had unearthed that rumor about her having been killed and her body never found.
Two things tempered Natalie’s unhappiness over the location of tonight’s meeting…
One, Gabe had promised to go to Agnes and Harper’s house without her—in spite of his funeral home aversion—and try to talk to the girl ghost while the house was empty.
Two, there were homemade cookies from Margaret Trout and a fruit and yogurt dip platter from Mary Brimley. Natalie knew from the book clubs they always offered to leave her any leftovers.
The older generation sure knew how to throw a party—or a meeting. It was becoming apparent that no gathering happened in Mudville without something being served to the attendees.
The treats were accompanied by an urn of very tasty herbal hot tea that was non-caffeinated according to Alice Mudd.
It was perfect for the chilly night and just sipping it had left Natalie feeling completely relaxed. All warm and fuzzy inside.
She was grateful for that. Life had been challenging lately. She had to treat herself to the small pleasures when she had the chance.
Taking another bite of a lemon-flavored butter cookie shaped like an open book—adorable—Natalie leaned back in the second-hand upholstered wing chair donated by Red from her resale shop and listened to the din of voices around her.
“I still say those numbers are a date,” Alice said for what had to be the tenth time tonight.
“I’m leaning that way myself, Alice,” Harper said from behind the open screen of the laptop resting on her knees.
Agnes, the owner of the turn of the century Victorian for longer than Natalie had been alive, looked down at the contents of a folder. She’d said she’d accumulated the documents over the decades, given to her by various past owners and town locals.
“It looks like in 1919 Evaline Ham sold the house to Fred and Marion Hunt,” Agnes read before glancing at the group over the top of the frames of her reading glasses.
“Can you imagine what they paid for that place back then?” Margaret commented.
Glasses back in place, Agnes referred to the paper and answered, “Eight thousand five hundred dollars.”
That led to a round of gasps and an in-depth discussion of the value of a dollar and property values before Natalie was finally able to get in her question.
“And when was it a funeral home? What years?” she asked.
If the local dead population was half as gossipy—and inaccurate—as the living, she wanted to gather some facts herself and not just trust the rumor Gabe had heard in the graveyard.
Even though she’d love to simultaneously solve both mysteries—the source of the bone and the death of the twenties ghost—she needed to keep an open mind. Hence, her exploring another theory.
Natalie wasn’t sure of all the ghost rules, if there even were rules for the dead, but her thinking was that maybe Twenties Girl might be hanging around the house because that was the place her body had been last—at the funeral home.
If her body had been buried in town but her spirit hadn’t moved on to wherever it was those who didn’t stick around went, the girl might have chosen to remain in the location of the former funeral home.
“The funeral home would have been about the nineteen-forties, I believe,” Alice answered. “The war was on then. Lots of boys leaving for the front. I was very young but I remember Mom complaining that the village variety store ran out of black dye. People in mourning were dying their clothes black.”
As Alice spoke, Agnes glanced back down at the papers in her lap. She ran her finger over the page and nodded. “Yes, Alice. Nineteen-forty through forty-four. That would have been the Shermans who owned it then. ”
Harper groaned. “Please, can we stop talking about the house’s Funeral Home era?”
Agnes dismissed her niece’s comment with the flick of one hand. “Don’t worry, sweetie. You’re living on the top floor. The embalming would have been done in the basement and the viewings held on the first floor, I’d imagine.”
“Exactly, Agnes.” Alice Mudd nodded vigorously. “I remember attending a viewing there when I was little.”
Alice Mudd wasn’t the town historian but she might as well have been since she’d lived through almost a century of Mudville history. Not to mention Alice’s ancestors were Mudville’s founding family, hence the name.
Although this town was certainly living up to its name in the amount of actual mud. Natalie’s first year here in Mudville had been a messy one. After experiencing heavy rains in the fall, she’d had to invest in big, industrial doormats to contain the mud being tromped into the shop by customers.
After winter’s deep freeze had given her hope the mud would remain under control for a few more months, the temperatures had risen enough to melt any snow and ice, leaving the brown mess behind once again.
The spring rains were going to turn her side yard—currently an excavation site—into a hellscape. Taking another sip of minty tea, Natalie decided not to worry about that until later.
“Has anyone found out anything that could relate to the bone?” Harper asked, bringing the LADS back to the real purpose of the meeting, not to mention away from the funeral home talk, which really creeped her out given she lived in the house.
The mysterious number slash possible date had taken up the first hour of the meeting and they were still no closer to knowing the reason for it. Although, the discussion had yielded some helpful information. Now Natalie knew Twenties Girl was not connected to the funeral home, but she didn’t know much more.
They’d moved back to the topic of the bone and with any luck, some more useful information.
She glanced hopefully around the group, which had gone silent for possibly the first time tonight except for the occasional clink of a teacup or clearing of a throat.
“Nothing?” Natalie asked, shocked. These people lived to talk. And now they were quiet?
Agnes pressed her lips tight and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Natalie. This bone might have us stumped.”
“Maybe those hunks digging outside will find some clues,” Alice suggested before glancing around at her fellow LADS. “Did you all see them out there today? Hubba-hubba!”
Drawing in a patient breath Natalie shifted gears.
“What about any killings in town?” she asked, trying to lead them to the graveyard rumor about the murder without actually revealing what she was doing.
“There was the shooting in the parking lot of the Bishop Hotel in the eighties,” Mary Brimley supplied.
A bunch of the women in the room, all of a certain age, nodded.
“Any others? Not just recently but over the past hundred years or so,” Natalie prompted. “No juicy history of—oh, I don’t know—Prohibition era murders, perhaps?”
She glanced around but got only blank stares and a few head shakes.
That was how Natalie’s night ended. No answers. No clues.
She should have probably felt more disappointed by that but she couldn’t seem to. And on the upside, they’d left her with the leftover tea and cookies.
Chapter Nine
By the time everyone had cleared out and the meeting room was put straight again, it wasn’t early but it wasn’t late either. Definitely not too late to call Liam and see if he wanted to come over.
Disappointment over the lack of information about the ghost girl aside, Natalie was in a pleasant mood. A mood that would only be improved if she could share it with that handsome hunk of man she was dating.
She picked up her cell and tapped to make the call.
Liam answered on the second ring. “Hey.”
“Hey. Whatcha doing?” she cooed.
There was a pause before he answered. “I’m packing away your, uh, two lady friends for pickup. Why?”
Natalie pushed past her macabre curiosity about how exactly one might go about packing up a cadaver for pickup and moved on to the more important reason for her call. “You wanna come over?”
Again there was that pause. Not long, but long enough she noticed before Liam spoke again.
“Any chance you were drinking tonight at your meeting?” he asked.
“No. I mean yes, but not alcohol. We had hot tea. Alice Mudd made it. She said it was herbal and had no caffeine so I had two cups. I’m feeling really relaxed.” She felt almost boneless.
Maybe she’d had three cups. She couldn’t remember.
“I’ll be right over.”
There had been no hesitation before Liam spoke this time, or before he disconnected the call.
She smiled at his enthusiasm as she moved to unlock the back door for his arrival. She smiled wider when she peered through the window and saw him striding fast toward her building.
He hadn’t even gotten his coat on before he’d left the lab. It remained bunched up, gripped in one hand. The way he was practically sprinting to get to her, he wouldn’t be outside long enough to get chilled anyway.
This was how their relationship should be all the time. Liam so filled with want and need he was desperate to get to her. Her single-minded focus being solely on him… Not twenty-four/seven, of course. They needed to have lives of their own and time to work. But dedicating at least a few nights a week to just them would be fine with her.
Liam was nearly to the door when her cell vibrated with a text.
No!
No-no-no-no-no.
She wasn’t going to even look. It would only cause a fight if he arrived and she was engrossed in a text. Even if it didn’t upset him, whatever it was would definitely break the mood for her.
Nope. She was strong enough to ignore the text and that was exactly what she was going to do.
That decided, she did something she’d never done before. She pressed and held the power button waiting for the cell to power off. Before it did she couldn’t help but see Harper’s name on the text alert.
She proceeded anyway, holding the button until the screen went dark.
It would be fine. Harper had her aunt and her fiancé to lean on. Not to mention her besties Red and Bethany. And if it was something to be concerned about, Harper would call the sheriff’s department or 9-1-1. They’d be better equipped to deal with an emergency than Natalie anyway.
It would be okay that she didn’t read the text. It would still be there for her in the morning.
Amazingly, the unchecked text didn’t cause any panic. In fact, powering down the cell brought on a sense of relief. Freedom. Anticipation, even. Tonight was for Liam and her alone and that was exactly how she wanted it.
The door she’d left unlocked swung wide and Liam stood in the open doorway. His quick breaths had his chest rising and falling beneath his black shirt. His eyes narrowed when his gaze zeroed in on her.
“Hey,” she said, tossing her cell onto the table.
“Hey,” he repeated, closing and locking the back door before turning to her. “You have any of Alice’s special tea left?”
At Liam’s pointed question, realization hit Natalie.
It wasn’t plain old herbal tea that had her feeling like she was floating on a cloud. Alice Mudd had drugged them all once again!
Alice wanted to share her discovery of the all-natural benefits of ingesting small amounts of magic mushrooms. She thought it would help her friends combat the everyday aches and pains associated with old age and arthritis, as it had helped her.
Micro-dosing the psilocybin was always the octogenarian’s—possible nonagenarian since it was hard to judge Alice’s age—sincere intent. But micro-dosing only worked if the person imbibing stuck to the recommended amount.
One cup. Not many cups.
Natalie had accidentally found that out first-hand last year. Twice.
She should have realized immediately when that first cup had given her the warm and fuzzies. She hadn’t.
In her own defense, she had a lot going on right now. And Alice hadn’t drugged the meeting beverages since last year. At least not that Natalie knew off.
Be that as it may, it was becoming apparent that once again Natalie had unintentionally over-indulged tonight.
Not that it was a bad thing. She was home, safe, and with Liam.
What a perfect time to take advantage of her altered state.
She and Liam had experienced the effects of Alice’s magic mushroom tea together before with some interesting results.
Her lips twitched with a smile at Liam’s question. She turned and picked up the brimming cup full of tea. She’d transferred the remaining liquid out of the large dispenser so she could wash and return it to Alice tomorrow.
“Want me to heat it up in the microwave—”
“Nope.” He strode forward and downed the contents in a few large swallows. Then his hands were on her hips. “We alone?”
“Yes.” She wondered if she would have answered differently even if they hadn’t been, since the mushrooms were making her not care about much of anything except getting Liam naked.
Luckily she didn’t have to test her honesty while she was on shrooms and so happy and horny. Gabe was elsewhere tonight. She didn’t know where.
He could still be at Harper’s or he could be visiting the cemetery. But right now with Liam’s hard body crushing hers she had no inclination to wonder further about her ghost friend’s location, as long as it wasn’t here.
The corners of Liam’s mouth lifted at her answer, then he moved in until his lips pressed to hers as tightly as the rest of him.
The flavor of the honey-sweetened minty tea mingled with the heat of Liam’s mouth as he slid his tongue against hers. It had a needy groan rumbling from low in her throat.
“Been a long time,” Liam said after he broke the kiss and started backing her up toward the bed.
“Since Alice drugged us or since we—you know?” She tipped her head toward the bed.
“Both,” he growled.
She frowned. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Any time is too long.” The low timbre of his comment, combined with the look of need in his heavily lidded eyes had her changing her initial opinion and agreeing with him.
