Little Ghost Lost (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

live child, I wouldn’t want to go off and leave her alone like this-not at such a young age, when she was unfamiliar with the house. But she wasn’t a live child. And she’d been mostly on her own, probably longer than I’d been alive. So there wasn’t really any point in me hovering over her.  
    And yet…. Here was the paradox. At the same time, she was a ghost, and to leave a ghost unattended anywhere in your house was to lay yourself open to all sorts of mischief. That much I knew.
    I would have to risk it. I left the room and she didn’t seem to notice. I felt empowered by that. I went through the house and out the kitchen door into the back yard, hoping to find Aunty Jane. It was getting dark, but there was still enough light to see down the pathways. I wandered up and down until I found her.  
    There, in a corner of the yard, she was putting on a show for Sami, our big black cat. In her usual colorful muu-muu, her straw hat on her head, she wiggled her hips, dancing a traditional hula and singing an old fashioned Hawaiian song, and Sami sat watching her, closing and opening his eyes with lazy affection for the older lady, his thick tail lashing the leaves around where he sat. I didn’t have to tuck my hand under his chin to know he was purring like an engine on high.  
    I watched the two of them, waiting for her to finish, and then I gave a whistle and a round of applause.  
    “Very nice, Aunty,” I said. “Did you ever entertain on the Waikiki Hotel Circuit when you were young?”
    “Maybe.” She had a dreamy look on her face. “Could be. I don’t remember.” She shook her head. “It get harder and harder to remember da kine things.”
    Well, I didn’t have a doubt about it. She had the fluid grace of a professional. The song she’d been singing sounded as though it came from the twenties or thirties—and Mandy’s clothes made me think she was from that same era. Maybe that could be a bonding element between them?
    “Aunty Jane, I have a problem and I need your advice.”
    Her head cocked to the side. For one flashing, happy moment, I thought she was actually listening and ready to help, but she quickly tore that pipe dream to shreds.  
    “Listen to that silly bird,” she said, motioning toward the large aviary built against the back of the house where our adopted parrot sat chuckling to himself. “Do you hear those jokes he keeps telling? We should wash his mouth out with soap.”
    “His beak, you mean.”
    “Whatever.”
    “Don’t you dare,” I said, hoping she wasn’t really contemplating taking action. “Detective Roy is going to want to take him back one of these days and when that happens, I don’t want to have to apologize for how he’s been treated here.”
    “Detective Roy isn’t coming back,” she said, her voice like a death knell.  
    That sent chills down my spine. “What are you talking about?” I cried, though I knew she wouldn’t give me a straight answer.  
    I shouldn’t listen to her. Not about things like my semi-ill-fated romance with the handsome policeman I’d been dating off and on for months now. When was I going to learn to ignore her red herrings? I bit my tongue, took a deep breath, and got back on track.  
    “Will you come into the house with me? I’d like to show you something.”
    The look on her face was suddenly quite benign. “Of course, dear,” she said. “Just as soon as I finish making this little Samurai hat for Sami.”
    “Samurai hat?” I looked down to see what she was doing and sure enough, she was folding a piece of heavy paper into an origami hat for the cat.  
    “Oh course,” she said. “Sami…samurai hat. You see, it all works together.”
    “Uh huh.” I tried to stay patient, but it was getting harder.  
    “And anyway, I don’t think I can come in the house.”
    “Why not?”
    “That Captain Stone is there.”
    “Nope. They’ve gone to the movies.”
    “Oh. Good.”
    “You don’t like Captain