Make the Ghost of It (Witch Woods Funeral Home Book 3): (Ghost Cozy Mystery series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

words weren’t entirely grammatical, but I was still reeling from the shock.
    “The forensics man said that the fastest Lewis could have been traveling would have been about one hundred and eighty five miles an hour, but given that Lewis was an experienced skydiver, he would have been going a lot slower than that. I mean, he would’ve been trying to slow himself down, so he would’ve been in a position to make himself fall much slower.”
    Lewis stepped forward. “Yes, that’s exactly what I did,” he said. “And I was looking for some bushes or some muddy ground. I was actually aiming for those bushes over there, but I didn’t make it that far.”
    I looked past him to see that he was pointing at a row of Alder trees at the edge of the sheep’s paddock. “But wouldn’t landing in trees be just as dangerous as landing on the roof?” I asked him.
    Janet shook her head. “The forensics man said that there have been several of cases of people who have survived their parachutes not opening. If someone’s chute doesn’t open and they land in trees, they will likely break all their bones and be in a bad state, but they won’t necessarily die. It’s much better than landing on the ground, and landing in water is a terrible mistake because water’s like concrete to land on.”
    “Yes, I’ve heard that about water,” I said.
    Lewis was muttering to himself. “If only I’d jumped out a little bit later, and then I might have made those trees.”
    “I wonder why he jumped out when he did?” I asked Janet, although I was actually addressing the question to Lewis.
    “I just wanted to jump first,” Lewis said. “I didn’t know that someone had tried to murder me. Oh well, he or she actually did murder me.” He sighed loudly.
    “What, murder?”
    Janet looked at me strangely. “What makes you think it was murder?”
    I thought fast. “Well, he was an experienced skydiver. And it didn’t look to me as if either chute had opened.”
    Before I could stop her, Janet turned. “I’ll go and ask the detectives,” she called over her shoulder.
    I looked around, but no one was looking at me. “So they did something to your chute? Packed it wrongly?”
    Lewis nodded. “Yes, it was a total malfunction. The risers were cut. I’m sure forensics will soon find that out. My parachute was sabotaged; that’s for sure.”
    “What are risers?”
    “They’re the fabric connectors between the harness and the lines. I would guess that the risers for both my main chute and my reserve chute were cut.”
    Janet was speaking to one of the detectives, and he was looking my way. If only she didn’t have such a big mouth. I put my hands over my face and pretended to scratch my forehead so I could ask Lewis one more question. “Is that the only reason you can think of that both your parachutes wouldn’t have opened?”
    “Yes,” Lewis said. “And I hold an FAA Master Parachute Rigger certificate. I’m an expert on the subject, if I do say so myself.” He laughed.
    The detective walked over to me. Janet made to follow him, but he sent her back. “So,” he said sternly, “your cosmetician tells me that you said it was murder.” His tone was somewhat accusing.
    “It was a guess,” I lied. I could hardly tell him that the victim himself had told me that it was murder. “We saw him falling, and it didn’t look like his parachute had opened. I know they have a reserve chute, but it didn’t look like either of them had opened. He told me he was an experienced skydiver, so I figured it had to be murder.”
    I was worried that the detective knew I was lying. I supposed they had a sixth sense about such things. His eyes narrowed and he looked at me for a while, before speaking again. “And is that the only reason you said that?”
    I nodded.
    “And how long have you known Basil Sandalwood?”
    “Basil?” I echoed. “I only met him when I moved back here from Melbourne, when my father died and left me the funeral