Ghost On Duty (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

here?”
    I looked over at where he sat, even further back than we were, and he gave me a nod. “I think he’s here to keep an eye on me,” I said softly, half joking. But then I realized that might be true. “He thinks I might have killed Ned Barlow. He wants to watch my every move in case I give myself away.”
    “Ah, he’s on to you,” she teased. “The North Destiny Bay Reaper.”
    But Lance was beginning to speak and we turned our attention there. He began with a short statement of regret for Ned Barlow’s demise, not mentioning the murder angle, and going right on to announce that though he was gone, his issue lived on—and needed to be fought tooth and nail. Then he opened up the floor to other speakers.
    I was surprised to hear so many people speak out against the pageant. At first I tended to write them off as the usual curmudgeon folk who loved to oppose anything that made other people happy. Sometimes it was like Destiny Bay was their lawn and they wanted the kids to get off it. But there seemed to be a few serious ones as well.  
    And finally, the real reason became clear. It seemed there was a developer who had offered large bonuses to be divided among those who voted to break the contract—and, in effect, dump the pageant—if the vote was successful. Of course, that would mean all the people in Victorian Village would have to look for a new place to live. But they would have a tidy little fortune to make that process comfortable.  
    It seemed to boil down to whether these people thought living in a special place and being able to put on the pageant every year was something to be cherished—or they just wanted someone to show them the money.  
    In other words—the usual.
    People went up and spoke, pro and con. Bebe made a nice presentation and pointed out how many jobs depended on the income from the pageant. That was when I realized mine was included. No pageant, no job for me. No official orchid and townwide admiration. Hmm.
    By now everyone was milling around and Jill and I went over to the snack table to grab some cookies.  
    “Peanut butter chocolate chip, my favorite!”
    We each took two and dropped them into our pockets so we wouldn’t look greedy. As we were doing that, a little boy of about ten brushed by me and put a piece of paper into my hand. I stared at it for a moment, not sure what it was or why, and by the time I looked up for the kid, he was nowhere to be seen. Jill turned my way and I instinctively put the paper into my pocket with the cookies rather than show it to her. I’m not sure why, but somehow I knew it was going to be something I would want to look at in private before I showed it to anyone else.  
    Jill introduced me to a surfer-type named Bobby who was brash and funny. A transplant from Australia, he had an amusing story about how Ned had tried to get him arrested for selling souvenir pageant tee-shirts online.  
    “I’ve been dreading what he was going to try to do to me this year,” he said, looking cocky. “I’ve had to change where I stash my stuff I’m selling twice to keep away from Nosy Ned. And now, no worries. So whoever took care of that little problem for me, good-on-ya!”
    Everyone in our little crowd of onlookers gave a cheer for Bobby, but Jill gave me a look and whispered, “Ned had every right, you know. There is an official vendor and Bobby ain’t it.”
    “So he’s selling knock-offs?”
    “I don’t know for sure exactly what he’s selling. There are rumors of things that are actually illegal. But Ned was furious that he seemed to get away with it year after year.”
    I looked at her sharply. “But…he wouldn’t have killed Ned for that reason, would he?”
    She shrugged. “Who knows? Australia was once a penal colony. You gotta watch ‘em.” She gave a snarky laugh. “It seems that someone was mad enough at Ned to do the deed.”
    She pointed out a lovely older lady sitting near the podium, along with a middle-aged man