Who Killed the Ghost in the Library: A Ghost writer Mystery by Teresa Watson Page A

especially if you want my help.”
    “I believe I can agree to that stipulation, provided you don’t tell Aggie about my adventures.”
    “It’s a deal.”
    “What happened to your arm?”
    I looked down at the splint. “A minor accident this morning.”
    Stanley glanced at Jo, who was walking around, trying to get a look at him from all angles. “Is your assistant feeling all right?”
    Jo had the decency to blush slightly. “I apologize, Mr. Ashton, for being so rude. You’re the first ghost I’ve encountered that looks so life like.”
    “Thank you…I think.”
    Aggie entered the room carrying a silver tray with four glasses of ice tea in crystal glasses. Randy, ever the gentleman, took the tray from her and placed it on the coffee table. After making sure we all had some tea, Aggie sat down on the couch; Randy sat on the other end while Jo and I took the two leather chairs near the desk. “You said you had some questions, Miss Camille. About what?”
    I decided to jump right in. “Where’s your husband, Aggie?”
    “He’s in the guest house, watching his programs.”
    “That’s a pretty neat trick,” I replied, “considering he’s been missing since 1968, he hasn’t held a job since then, and you closed his bank account in 1969.”
    “What are you trying to say, Miss Shaw?” Stanley said.
    “Merely trying to find out the truth, Mr. Ashton.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Camille,” Aggie said. “Ray is sitting in our house right now.”
    I looked at her. She had a blank look on her face, but she had turned pale. I decided to call her bluff. “I’d love to meet him,” I told her, standing up.
    Aggie didn’t move. Stanley looked at her, then me. “Certainly sounds like a reasonable request to me, Aggie. Better yet, why don’t you call and ask him to join us?”
    I reached into my bag and pulled out the missing person report. “Clifford Scott had the file about your husband, and he was looking into his disappearance again. Did you know that? And before you try to deny it, I have his notes. All of his notes.”
    Sighing, she took a sip of her tea. “I ran into him in town a month or so ago. He said he had received some new information about my husband’s case. He wanted to talk to me about it.”
    “And did you?” Randy said.
    “No.”
    “Why not?” Jo said. “I’d want to know what happened to my husband, even after all these years.”
    “I’m not you,” Aggie snapped. “Ray was a pig. Once I started working here, he quit working. He said we had it good, living in the guest house, getting the leftovers from the big dinners, and everything was being paid for. He never lifted a finger to help me around the house. I worked all day here in the big house, then I’d have to go out there and do it all over again.”
    “So when he disappeared, you filed the report to make it look good, but didn’t follow through because you weren’t heartbroken about him being gone,” I said.
    “Would you be?”
    “Aggie, why wasn’t I aware of any of this?” Stanley asked.
    “I didn’t want to bother you with my petty problems.”
    “I would hardly call a man vanishing into thin air a petty problem,” he retorted.
    “What I don’t understand, Aggie,” I said, “is why you’ve stayed here all this time. I mean, it’s obvious he had no real need of your services anymore. You and Ray could have left, started over somewhere else. Why did you stay?”
    “Because I asked her to,” Stanley said.
    I looked at him. “Why would you do that to her? She was young and married. You were dead…” he flinched when I said that, “…and your family was gone.”
    He and Aggie looked at each other before looking away. “That’s none of your concern.”
    “It is if it’s related to your murder,” Randy said.
    “It isn’t,” Stanley said. “I think you should all leave. This entire thing has been a mistake. Your services are no longer required, Miss Shaw.” He left