The Ex Who Saw a Ghost (Charley's Ghost Book 4) (9 page)

Lila scowled. “Are you talking to me or the television?”

Teresa turned to face her and gave her best phony smile. “You, of course.”

Lila’s lips thinned and her eyes narrowed. “I thought you said he told you about me.”

Teresa bit her lip. Busted.

A thick silence filled the room.

“He did tell us.” Amanda flinched at the words coming out of her mouth. She was getting way too handy with the fluid explanations, an art formerly practiced only by Charley. “Parker said you were close. He just didn’t specify exactly what your relationship was.”

“That’s right,” Teresa agreed. “He, uh, said you were very close.”

Lila reached for another cigarette. “Yeah, we were. Do you have a problem with that?”

Ross looked at Teresa and arched his eyebrows in a questioning expression. She shrugged. Parker wasn’t being as informative as they had hoped.

“Let me handle this,” Charley said. “Parker, my man, were you and this lady...” He paused then cleared his throat. “Were you and this lady, uh, you know, sleeping together?”

Amanda could only imagine what crude expression he’d almost used. Actually, she probably could imagine it but didn’t want to.

“Hey,” Charley continued, “it’s okay if you were. I mean, we’re all adults here, right?” He paused and looked puzzled. “You weren’t sleeping with her, and she wasn’t blackmailing you. So you were paying her every month just because you’re a nice guy? That doesn’t make sense.”

Naturally Charley found it hard to believe that anyone would have purely altruistic motives. Though, to be honest, Amanda didn’t quite buy into that either. Something strange was going on, and both Parker and Lila seemed reluctant to discuss it.

Parker had been anxious to get his accounts transferred into Ross’ name. That would make sense if she’d been blackmailing him. If she had been, of course Lila wouldn’t want to admit it but why wouldn’t Parker speak up, exact revenge from the grave as Charley had done?

“So Parker was your friend and he helped you.” Ross knelt next to Lila’s chair and took the hand that wasn’t holding the cigarette. “Can you help him now? Do you know anybody who’d want to hurt him?”

Lila took another puff of her second cigarette and smashed it in the ashtray with a vengeance. She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, smearing her mascara. “I thought you wanted to talk about Parker, not question me like you’re a cop and I’m a suspect or something.”

“She is a suspect,” Charley muttered. “I bet she’s still using. That’s why she’s wearing long sleeves in this weather, to cover the tracks on her arms.”

“I’m asking as his brother,” Ross said hastily, “not as a police officer. Just as somebody who loved him and misses him terribly, the same way you do. Someone who wants to see his murderer punished.”

Lila rubbed her arms. “I don’t know anybody who’d want to hurt him. Can we talk about something else?”

“Of course. The last time Parker came up for the weekend we went out and had a couple of beers, and he told me all about his classes. Did he tell you about the English class that was a required subject and how much he hated it?”

Lila relaxed visibly. “Yeah, he said he didn’t understand why a geology major needed to read Shakespeare.”

“I’m glad he got to see both of us one last time. You must have been the friend he said he was going to visit when he left my place Sunday two weeks ago.”

She nodded. “Yeah, he came by for a little while on his way back to school.”

“Was that the last time you saw him?”

Lila’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

“She’s lying,” Charley said.

“Yes,” Amanda said softly. “I recognize the signs. Thank you for the training.”

She spoke in a whisper, but Lila looked over at her, tears dry, dark eyes squinting. “Who are you talking to?”

“Myself. Nobody.” She cleared her throat. “Bad habit. You smoke cigarettes, I talk to myself.”

“Parker was doing really well in school.” Ross skillfully drew Lila’s attention back to the subject at hand. “Was it hard on your friendship, not seeing him often? Did he call you from school?”

She nodded.

“When was the last time he called you?”

“I don’t remember.” She focused on picking a bit of ash off the sleeve of her blouse.

“Lying again,” Charley said. “This is getting really monotonous. I’m going to look through the rest of the house and see what I can find while that woman tells lies and you all pussy foot around.”

Amanda shot to her feet. “You can’t...”

All eyes turned to her.

She coughed and sank back to the sofa. “Talking to myself again. Don’t mind me. Just go on as if I wasn’t here.”

Lila’s expression said she thought both these strange women were...strange.

“He gave you money every month,” Teresa said, “so you wouldn’t have to worry about working, so you could recover because you were on drugs.” The last part of the sentence sounded like a question and Amanda suspected she was fishing, that Parker hadn’t said that. Teresa was relying on Ross’ information about Lila’s drug arrests and Charley’s belief that she was using again or still.

Lila glared at Teresa. “He had plenty of money and he wanted to share. He was a nice man.” She didn’t deny the accusation of drugs.

“Did he ever bring Steven Anderson to meet you?” Ross asked.

Lila’s gaze shifted to one side. A slight flush spread over her cheeks.

Amanda vaguely recalled watching some crime show where the detective said looking to the left meant the person was getting ready to lie, right meant they were going to tell the truth. Or was it vice versa?

“No,” Lila said.

“But you know who he is,” Ross continued.

“Of course I do. The senator’s son. He’s dead.”

“Did Parker try to help him get off drugs too?”

Lila blinked twice and reached for her cigarettes again.

“It helps to have somebody else in your same situation,” Ross said casually. “Talk about what you’re going through, help each other with the bad times. Steven had a few of those. His dad had to bail him out of jail more than once. But maybe he couldn’t stay clean the way you did. Maybe Parker had to give up and walk away from him. Did he ever talk about Steven?”

She lit her third cigarette, her complete attention on the action, took a puff and shook her head. “No.”

Teresa tilted her head toward the television as if listening then turned her attention back to Ross. “She’s telling the truth.”

“Of course I’m telling the truth!” Lila smashed her cigarette so hard, ashes from the first two flew upward.

Ross looked dubious.

Amanda felt dubious.

Charley darted through the wall. “Holy crap! You need to see all the papers in this chick’s night stand. They weren’t sleeping together! She’s his sister!”

Teresa spun and faced the television again. “She’s your sister? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Lila shot to her feet. “One of you talks to the television and the other one talks to herself! There’s something wrong with both of you!”

“You’re our
sister
?” Ross deep voice rose several octaves on the last word.

“Says so right on her birth certificate,” Charley affirmed. “Father, Nicholas Minatelli.”

Lila looked at Ross for a long moment. Different emotions played across her face—fear, happiness, anger. Defeat won the struggle. She sighed and shook her head. “No.” She fell back into the chair. “I’m Parker’s sister, not yours.”

Ross sank onto the edge of the coffee table. If it hadn’t been there, he would likely have fallen straight to the beige carpet.

Teresa moved to sit beside him. “Her birth certificate lists Nicholas Minatelli as her father.”

Ross peered at her closely, silently, digesting the meaning of her words. “Dad? My father—my stepfather is her father?” He spoke slowly, carefully. He’d totally lost his cop façade. “I don’t understand.”

“How do you know about my birth certificate? Did Parker tell you that too?” Lila gazed at Teresa as if she was an alien...or a ghost.

“Yes,” Teresa said softly. “He told me.”

“Actually,” Charley said, “I told you. Give credit where credit’s due. Parker just didn’t deny it.” He looked at the television screen. “Come on, man, give us more information. So your dad fooled around a little on your mom. It happens. It’s not like you have to wear a hair shirt for what your old man did. You sure didn’t have to pay out all that money.”

Amanda would not have expressed it in exactly those terms, but Charley kind of had a point. Protecting his deceased father’s memory was one thing, but if Lila was twenty-six and Parker was twenty-one, the deed had been done before Parker was even born. In fact—

She looked at Teresa and tried to remember the exact details of the marriage of Ross’ mother and stepfather. Had she said two years before Parker was born?

“Who are you? Why would he tell you?” Lila demanded.

Charley got directly between them. “He didn’t tell her. I found the papers in your bedroom.” He pointed to his chest. “Me!” He threw up his hands and sat on the coffee table next to Teresa. “It sucks when people ignore you.”

Teresa laid a conciliatory hand in the general vicinity of his leg before turning her attention back to Lila. “I’m a friend he could talk to when he couldn’t talk to anybody else.”

That was, Amanda thought, a tactful way of saying she was conversing with Parker’s spirit because no other living person could.

Lila frowned. “If you knew that all along, why would you ask me if we were sleeping together? That’s sick! You’re sick! I don’t want to talk to you people anymore.”

Ross leaned toward her, eyes narrowed, elbows on his knees, hands fisted. Back to cop mode? No, the air of desperation gave sincerity to his actions. He was genuinely distraught. “Please,” he said. “I need to understand. My father never mentioned you. Who was your mother? Did Dad know about you? Did he take care of you? How did Parker find you?”

Lila’s gaze narrowed. “If Parker told you everything, why are you asking me questions?”

“He didn’t tell us everything.” Teresa leaned forward, mirroring Ross’ actions though she appeared more composed. “All we know is that you’re Parker’s sister. His half-sister. Now he’s dead and won’t...can’t tell us the rest of the story.”

“That’s all Parker said, that I’m his sister?”

Teresa looked at the television and sighed. “Yes.”

Lila lifted her tea, peered at it as if she wished it was something stronger, and took a drink. She set it half on and half off the coaster, her mind no longer on the preservation of her new furniture. Her hands shook as she lifted the package of cigarettes, took out another one and lit it then drew on it so hard the end sizzled.

Charley floated over to join Amanda on the sofa. “Parker just asked Teresa not to do this to Lila.”

“How touching,” Amanda murmured. As determined as Parker was to protect his sister, she probably hadn’t killed him but that didn’t mean she didn’t know who did.

“So your mother had a relationship with Parker’s father?” Teresa prompted, ignoring Parker’s request.

“Mama worked at his pizza place. When I was little, she’d take me with her because she couldn’t afford a babysitter. I’d sit in the back room and play.” A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips. “Watch TV, color. Sometimes he...Mr. Minatelli...would come back and talk to me. He bought me toys and ice cream.” She took another long drag on her cigarette and stared into the distance as if she too might be seeing ghosts. “I didn’t know then he was my daddy. I just thought he was a nice man.”

“He was,” Ross said softly. “He was a very nice man. He raised me as if I was his own son.”

Any hint of a smile disappeared into a dark hole. “Well, how nice for you. He didn’t do the same for his own daughter.” She focused her accusing gaze on Ross. “When he married your mother, she fired my mama because she didn’t want the competition.” She spat out the words.

Ross studied her intently as if he would see inside to her very soul and ferret out the truth. Finally he drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “I vaguely remember when my mom and dad got married that he had a woman working for him who had a little girl, but she had brown hair like her mother.”

Lila nodded. “Dark like my mother and my father.” She tossed her hair and raised a hand to smooth it. “I like being blond. When I look in the mirror, I just see me. I don’t see my mama or that man.”

“When did you learn that Nick Minatelli was your father?” Teresa asked.

“A year ago Mama died from lung cancer. She never would tell me who my daddy was. She said he was somebody rich and one day he’d come for us. He never did, of course. After she died, I was going through her things and found my birth certificate.” Her lips thinned to a straight line. “And then it all made sense.”

Her mother died from lung cancer? Lila bleached her hair so she wouldn’t look like her mother, but the way she was smoking, she seemed to be trying to get lung cancer like her mother.

As if she could read Amanda’s thoughts, Lila took another long drag on her cigarette and blew out the smoke defiantly. “We were dirt poor. I didn’t have nice clothes and my mother struggled to pay the bills. We didn’t always have enough to eat or a warm place to stay in the winter. All she knew was waiting tables, and that doesn’t pay very much. I got pregnant in high school but I knew we couldn’t afford to keep the baby. I gave it away.” She glared at Ross as if the entire situation was his fault. “A little girl.”

“Parker has a niece?” Ross spoke so softly Amanda could barely hear him.

“Yeah, that’s right. Because my daddy threw away his daughter, he’s got a granddaughter out there somewhere that none of us will ever know. While Mama and me were living on food stamps and I was buying my clothes from Good Will, my daddy was rich. He could have spent just a little of that money on us. He’d never have missed it, but it would have made a big difference for us.”

“Did my brother find you or did you find him?” Ross asked.

“I tracked him down.”

A muffled ringing sound came from the vicinity of Lila’s butt. She pulled a cell phone from her back pocket and checked the screen. Her face went pale. She glanced at Ross then answered. “I’ll call you back. I’m busy now.” She took the phone away from her ear, and even from across the room Amanda could hear someone shouting on the other end. Lila returned the phone to her ear and swallowed hard. “I know. I got company right now. Parker’s brother is here...I will...I will!” She returned the phone to her back pocket. Her fingers shook when she lifted her cigarette to her lips again.

Amanda and Teresa exchanged glances. Amanda would really like to know who had just called, who caused Lila to look so flustered and guilty.

“You found your brother, Parker,” Ross reminded her.

“Oh, yeah, Parker. He was easy to find. We poor people don’t make the news. We live on the outside. We’re invisible. Nobody knows about us.” She stabbed her cigarette toward Ross. “But you rich people, everybody knows about you.”

“Amanda, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” Charley said, “but I think I need to find out who called Lila.” He darted to the general vicinity of Lila’s cell phone—her back pocket.

Amanda flinched and tried to look away but the spectacle held her attention like a bad automobile accident.

“You found him and extorted money from him?” Ross asked.

Lila expelled another massive stream of smoke and lifted her chin. “He gave me money to ease his guilty conscience. I’m entitled to that money just as much as he is.”

A smiling Charley finally emerged from his visit to Lila’s cell phone.

Amanda raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. “Who?” she mouthed silently.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Her butt’s in the way. I can’t see anything.”

He’d certainly taken long enough to reach that conclusion.

Teresa giggled.

“You think that’s funny?” Lila asked.

“No.” Teresa cleared her throat and waved a hand in a negative gesture. “No, of course not. I wasn’t laughing at you.”

Lila and Ross watched her expectantly.

“It’s the same affliction that makes her talk to televisions,” Amanda said. Another fluent lie. “She laughs when nothing’s funny.”

“I do,” Teresa agreed. “Sorry.”

Lila took out another cigarette though one still burned in the ashtray. Back to her faithful friend, Mr. Nicotine. “I don’t mind talking to you,” she said to Ross, “but your friends make me nervous.”

He nodded. “I understand. Maybe I could come back another time without them.”

“Yeah, I guess so, but I don’t have anything else to say.”

Ross stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What about our brother’s estate? Don’t you think you should be entitled to your share? When he died, his accounts all transferred into mine. The automatic payments to you have stopped. That’s something we need to talk about. I can’t change all the years you lived in poverty, but I can help to make your life easier now.”

Time stopped. Amanda held her breath. Even Charley stood motionless, his feet a couple of inches off the floor.

Was Ross being sincere? When had he changed from accusing her of extorting money from Parker to offering her a share of Parker’s estate?

“That’s real nice of you,” Lila said.

“We’ll just do a simple DNA test and I’ll see that you get half of Parker’s estate.”

Lila lips compressed and she shook her head firmly. “Parker already helped me. I won’t be greedy.”

“Ha!” Charley snorted. “She has
greed
written all over her face. I know greed when I see it.”

Of course he did. He’d seen it plenty of times in the mirror.

Lila rose, shaking off Ross’ hand. “Y’all need to leave now.”

“I’ll let you know about funeral arrangements,” Ross promised.

“Thank you.”

The three of them—four, if you counted Charley—filed out the door to the front porch.

After stilted good-byes, Amanda, Teresa and Ross walked across the yard toward the car.

Charley looked around. “Parker’s not here. I’ll go get him.” He disappeared into the house.

The three non-spiritual entities pulled away from the squatty brown house with its new furnishings and peculiar occupant.

Charley darted back into the car. “He won’t come. He says he’s going to stay with her for a while. Says they have unresolved issues.”

Parker must have said it. Charley wouldn’t use words that long.

Ross turned from the gravel drive onto the road. “I didn’t expect that.”

For a moment Amanda thought he meant he hadn’t expected Charley to use those words either. Of course he was referring to Lila’s blood relationship with Parker.

“Neither did I,” Teresa said.

“He didn’t tell you?” Ross asked. “He didn’t give you any clue before we got there that Lila was his sister?”

“None.”

“He didn’t give you any clue
after
we got there.” Charley intruded between Ross and Teresa in the front seat. “If I hadn’t been there, you’d never have found out.”

“I was a little surprised when you offered to share Parker’s estate with her,” Teresa said.

Ross shook his head. “I wanted to see how she’d react when I suggested the DNA test. I’m not sure I trust her. If Parker’s been giving her money because he wants to make things right, why was he so determined for me to cut off that money, to get everything in my name? And why wouldn’t she want it to continue if she has a valid claim? She doesn’t have a job. He’s been supporting her. Is she going to go back to being a waitress? A hooker? All she had to do was agree to take a DNA test and she’d be set for life.”

“You don’t believe she’s really Parker’s sister?” Amanda asked.

“I saw her birth certificate!” Charley protested.