Ghost in the Polka Dot Bikini: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Read Online Free PDF

of the two of them sharing a tête-à-tête.
    Granny drifted over to a nearby bench and sat down in the middle of it. Emma and Phil followed.
    “Scoot over, Granny, or Phil will sit right down on top of you.”
    “Humph.” The ghost crossed her arms across her chest but moved to the end of the bench. Phil and Emma sat down, with Emma in the middle.
    “So, Granny, did you learn anything?”
    “The girl’s still saying nothing about this Curtis fellow. I think he’s the one who done her in.”
    “Why do you think that?”
    “I get the feeling he’s the last one to see her alive. He told her to wait until he came back—said he was going to fetch help.”
    “So she was hurt?”
    “Seems so. She doesn’t remember much about it, except that there was a lot of blood and her head hurt. She remembers that. And that Curtis said he was going for help.”
    Emma leaned in toward Phil while she talked to Granny. “That doesn’t sound like he killed her. He was going for help.”
    The ghost got up and moved within Emma’s line of vision, her arms crossed in front of her to emphasize her point. “But he never came back, did he?”

As they walked back toward Avalon Bay, Emma relayed to Phil the little information Granny had gleaned from Tessa. Granny had disappeared shortly after they’d left the gardens.
    “Okay, let’s review what we know so far.”
    “Spoken like a true lawyer.”
    Phil grunted. “What can I say, an occupational hazard.”
    Emma ticked off the facts in her head as she said them out loud. “First, we’re pretty sure Tessa died here on Catalina, close to the water. We know she came here in June of 1968 on the boat of a man named Curtis. Somehow she was hurt, and Curtis went for help. He never returned.”
    “Correction,” Phil interrupted. “We don’t know that he never returned. He could have returned and it was too late. She might have already died from whatever injuries she’d received.”
    “You have a good point there.”
    “Counselor.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Counselor. You have a good point there, counselor .”
    Emma shook her head and tried to suppress a laugh. “Have you ever noticed that when it suits you, you’re an attorney, but any other time, you prefer to be thought of as a rancher?”
    “I was a rancher long before I was an attorney. I only put the attorney hat on when it’s needed.”
    “Like now?”
    “Now seems as good a time as any to put all that analytical thought processes to work, doesn’t it?”
    “Correct… counselor .”
    Phil put an arm across Emma’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Now you’re catching on.”
    “Okay,” Emma continued. “To our knowledge, or from what Tessa told us, Curtis never came back, or she doesn’t think he ever came back. And her ghost has lingered here all these years waiting for him.”
    Emma pulled her cell phone from her backpack and started dialing. Phil watched her with a raised eyebrow. She threw him a coy smile. “What’s the use of having a research assistant if you don’t use her?” He touched the side of his head with an index finger, letting Emma know that was smart thinking.
    When Emma’s call was answered by a voicemail recording, she said, “Jackie, it’s me, Emma. When you get back into the office, can you do some research on a Tessa North? She would have been born sometime in the late forties. Probably lived in the Los Angeles area in the sixties, died June of 1968. I’m afraid that’s all I have right now. Thanks a lot. Hope you’re having a great holiday.”
    Jackie Houchin had been assigned to Emma by the studio. When her show was first being put together, Jackie divided her time between The Whitecastle Report and a weekly travel show. She was young, smart, and committed to a future in television, but Jackie had wanted no part of The Whitecastle Report when she’d first come onboard. Convinced that Emma was no different than her famous, hyped-up ex-husband, Jackie had been sure Emma’s show