Gem of a Ghost: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian

guess I sort of told her that.”
    Emma pushed. “You likened her to an animal who’d rather chew off her foot than marry you, didn’t you?”
    Phil hung his head like a broken hinge. “Oh, son, you didn’t!”
    Keith looked up, his brown eyes drooping behind his glasses. “I know, I was a complete dumbass. I just didn’t know what else to think. We were having a fight. After I said that to her, she took the ring off and threw it at me. I’m only in the condo until she returns from Serenity. My stuff’s all packed and ready to go.”
    “Lainey believes something was driving her to do what she did,” Emma said. “She must have told you that.”
    “Yeah.” Keith ran a bony hand over the stubble on his chin. “She told me she felt like she had no control over her actions—like she’d space out and then snap out of it just as she was about to die.” He eyed Emma, his face still as stone. “Do you believe that?”
    “Yes, Keith, I do. I don’t think Lainey was responsible for her actions, and I want to get to the bottom of it.”
    Keith sat perfectly still as he mashed what Emma said together with his feelings. Picking up his soda, he took a long drink, tipping back the can until it was empty. He put it back on the table, the sound tinny and hollow as it connected with the glass table.
    “If it’s not me causing Lainey’s problems, do you think I have a chance to win her back?”
    Emma was quiet, but Phil gave it to him straight. “Hard to say with Summer in the mix. If she’s the one who’s told everyone where Lainey is, I’m sure she’s going to happily tell Lainey or Lainey’s true friends, like Kelly, about this little indiscretion.”
    “Oh, god!” Keith hung his head, cradling it in his hands.
    “You might want to be the one to tell her,” Phil suggested. “Man up, and let her know how you feel and how sorry you are.”
    Emma got up to stretch her legs. She walked to the patio door and looked out at the gorgeous view, studying the cluster of Century City high-rise office buildings that popped up in the distance like dandelions. She turned back to Keith. “Was everything else okay between you and Lainey? No other issues that might have upset her, or dreams or feelings she was having right before these incidents?”
    When he shrugged, she asked, “What about your parents? Did both sides approve of your upcoming marriage? After all, you are both quite young and still in school.” She took a step back toward the men and leaned her hands on the back of the sofa where Phil sat. “I know I’d be concerned if Kelly wanted to get married at this time in her life.”
    Keith gave the question some thought before answering. “At first my folks were concerned about Lainey. They knew she was the daughter of someone famous and cautioned me about life in the fast lane. But when I took her to Seattle to meet them, she melted their hearts, especially after she told them she doesn’t want to stay in LA after we’ve finished with school. They saw for themselves she isn’t at all like those rich bimbos they hear about in the news. She’s smart and down-to-earth.” A small smile crept across his face. “As far as my folks are concerned, there are only two things I’ve done 100 percent right in my life—set my sights on becoming a doctor and fall in love with a nice Jewish girl.”
    “And Lainey’s parents?”
    After a deep sigh, Keith shook his head in disgust. “My parents are definitely not going to like them.”
    It was Phil’s turn to make a guess. “I take it they didn’t take to you as your parents did to Lainey?”
    “They’re psycho. Her old man called me a gold digger right to my face.”
    The ghost of Max Naiman popped into view just behind Keith. “Don’t look at me. I like the boy.”
    Emma caught Phil’s eye as she asked Keith, “You mean Linwood Reid, her stepfather?”
    “Yeah. He actually had the balls to offer me fifty thousand dollars to drop Lainey like a lead