The Realm of the Shadows (Tropical Breeze Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Mary Bowers

her. “Let’s put it this way, Myrtle. You’re needed there. Let’s give it a try. If it turns out that you don’t like the situation, you can move back with Florence any time you like. Why don’t you think it over, and if you want to come, I’ll pick you up tomorrow and bring you out there myself.”
    “You sit right there,” she said, popping out of her chair and moving like someone half her age. “I’ll call Florence and tell her I’m leaving, then pack. Won’t take me but a minute.”
    I waited in the antique living room, wondering if I was about to make everything ten times worse.
    “Okay, let’s go,” she said about twenty minutes later, dragging a suitcase into the room.
    “That’s all?” I said, looking at her medium-size suitcase.
    “If I need anything else, I’ll call Florence and have her pack it up and get it to you. Now let’s go. Can I have my old room back?”
    “Of course,” I said, picking up the old-fashioned suitcase and carrying it out to the car. She was like a kid going off to camp.
     
    On the way back to Cadbury House, my cell phone rang. I looked at the Caller I.D. and saw that it was Edson.
    “Hey, Ed.” I put him on speaker.
    Myrtle spoke before Ed could. “I heard about you hiring that silly man from St. Augustine,” she said to me.
    “We’re on speaker, Myrt,” I said. “He can hear you.”
    “Who’s that?” Ed asked.
    “Myrtle Purdy,” we said simultaneously.
    I glanced at my passenger. “Do you mind?” She made a sniffy noise, then turned her head away and stared out the window.
    “Go ahead, Ed.”
    “Well, I did as you asked,” he told me.
    So much was going on in my world that I had no idea what he was talking about. “Oh, good. And that was . . . .”
    “You wanted me to set up an interview with Frieda Strawbridge to see what she knows about the history of Cadbury House.”
    There was another loud sniff from the passenger seat. I ignored it.
    “And?”
    “Well, I wasn’t optimistic, but I gave it a try.” In a voice of wonder, he told me, “She said yes.”
    He may have been surprised, but I wasn’t. Lonely old ladies like to talk, especially about the days of their youth. “Good.”
    “I’ll be coming back tonight to observe in the cemetery.” Myrtle’s head snapped around, and I ignored her. “We can leave in the morning for Santorini around 9:30. She’s expecting us at ten.”
    “Excellent. We’d better take both cars. Then you can go back to your house afterward and compile your notes.”
    “Okay. I’ll have dictating equipment, so we have a record of the interview. Just exactly what is it you want to know?”
    “Off the top of my head, we can start with the lady in the barn.”
    Myrtle said, “Lady?” and I shushed her.
    “I wouldn’t,” Ed said.
    “Oh, really? Why not? It’s where the trouble started.”
    “Not Frieda’s trouble, and she’s not going to be interested in anything that doesn’t directly involve her. We need to get her going on other things, then work our way around to the barn. You’d better let me handle this.” Pause. “Are you there?”
    “I’m here. Sure. Fine. You’re more used to this kind of thing than I am. You take the lead.”
    “Thank you. We’ll talk more about our plan of attack when I see you.”
    “Okay.”
    I hung up, muttering. Northeast Florida’s premier crackpot had just told me that he had better people skills than I did. Well, we’d just see about that. I may not have interviewed people on ghostly infestations before, but I’d been around a lot of old ladies, and I made a bet with myself that I’d get more out of her than Edson.
    Myrtle was cackling for some reason. I ignored it. I was going to see if I could get the information I wanted out of her later. But first, I was going to get her installed in the house, pacify her by letting her feel like she was in charge, and keep her the heck away from the people from Realm of the Shadows.
     
    I managed to get Myrtle