“Who is it? What happened?” I strained to sit up, but my head swirled and I feared I would pass out again. I was amazed at how much strength a body needed to maneuver from lying down to standing up.
“They haven’t identified him yet, and they probably wouldn’t tell us if they had.”
“Let me help you up.” The young female EMT removed the blood pressure cuff and the oxygen mask. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to a sitting position. “Sit there until you get your bearings.”
I surveyed the room. Doc stood in the corner talking with a couple of uniformed policemen. Two men, their heads close together in conversation, kneeled beside the body. One was Joe, the EMT, but I didn’t recognize the other one decked out in a nice suit. I wondered if he was the medical examiner.
An unfamiliar man dressed in a rumpled trench coat, reminiscent of Columbo, walked toward me. I pegged him to be in his late fifties or early sixties. His black hair streaked with gray, matched his thick, bushy eyebrows that reminded me of two caterpillars.
His wrinkled suit gave the impression he’d slept in it. A big fat cigar stuck out of his mouth. Please let him walk past me.
“Ms. Montgomery?” His rough, craggy voice belied years of smoking. He stabbed an unlit cigar at me. “Are you better?”
“Ugh, I guess I am.”
“I’m Detective Bowerman from Marietta P.D. I need to ask you and your friend some questions. One of the officers will stay with you until you’re questioned.” He turned and walked away.
“Can you get up now?” The young EMT shouted, as if I were deaf.
“Yes, I think I can,” I said. She grabbed one arm and Dee Dee clutched the other. Between both of them they stood me up. They held on tightly until I steadied myself.
“Ladies, I’m going to see if the Medical Examiner needs me.” She observed me and said, “If you feel faint again, be sure and alert us.” She hurried over to assist the M.E.
Dee Dee hung on to me like Stonewall Jackson hung on to Manassas. I welcomed her support. “Dee, did you see the body? He was all crumpled, and there was so much blood.”
She nodded. “Yes, I did.” She leaned and whispered in my ear, “Not again, Trix. Why us?”
“I don’t know.” The reason we kept stumbling over dead bodies was a mystery to me.
The officers made their way over and introduced themselves as Officer Debra Roach and Officer Rick Trapp. A nervous laugh escaped my lips. Dee Dee covered her mouth in an attempt to keep from laughing out loud.
“Don’t worry, we’ve heard all the jokes. Follow me ladies,” Officer Trapp said. Dee Dee and I walked arm in arm until he announced, “Ms. Lamont, you come with me. Ms. Montgomery can go with Officer Roach.”
“Can’t we stay together?” Dee Dee pleaded.
“I’m afraid not. Detective Bowerman wants you to remain in separate areas until he speaks with you.” Officer Debra wasn’t someone you’d want to disagree with. Built like a linebacker, she stood a good six feet tall. Her short spiky hair only increased her macho appearance. So, I gave Dee Dee a forlorn look as we went our separate ways. She answered with a hang-dog expression.
Officer Debra and I passed Doc’s office. Detective Bowerman sat on the edge of Doc’s desk. Doc squirmed in his chair like a worm on a fishhook. I anticipated my turn as much as a root canal.
CHAPTER FOUR
After Officer Debra and I exchanged niceties, no one spoke. The silence became deafening, and I broke like a tortured woman. “What do you think is keeping them? Why wouldn’t they let Dee Dee come with me? It’s not like we’re in cahoots or anything,” I blabbed.
She observed me with pity. “There’s no need for concern, Trixie. Detective Bowerman just likes to interview the witnesses separately. Shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Easy for her to say. I sat in the hot seat waiting to be questioned by a wanna be Columbo.
“I hope he hurries. I want to check on Dee Dee and Doc. And I need to call my editor to update him on what’s happened.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She straightened her gun belt and repositioned her pleasantly plump body in her chair.
Time passed slower than a snail riding on a turtle’s back. When Detective Bowerman finally entered the room, he glanced at Officer Debra and said, “Officer Roach, help secure the scene.” I wanted to shout, please take me with you. I’m a quick learner and I can help. But I didn’t say a word to her, and she left me alone with Columbo.
“Detective, would you tell me how my friend is doing?” I clasped my hands in silent prayer.
He chewed on his unlit cigar and answered in his own sweet time. “Your friend is fine. She’s shook up of course, but you don’t have to worry; she’s in good hands. And I’ll ask the questions now.”
Geeze Louise. “All right.”
I must have talked on and on, gauging by his glassy-eyed stare by the time I slowed down. I explained the reason we spent the night at the museum and how we met Doc and Penny. Next, I mentioned the mysteries Doc told me had plagued the museum lately.
I described our delicious meal at Hemingway’s Bar and Grill, at which point my stomach emitted an unlady-like growl. Of course, I revealed the Chocolate Fetish was to die for, and if he ever had a chance to eat at Hemingway’s he needed to sample it. I reckon the only reason he listened to all of the useless details was because he wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I shared how Dee Dee had procured a bee in her bonnet when I told her the assignment required me to spend the night in the museum with the resident ghosts. Amazingly, he didn’t stop me then and there. I revealed Harv had sprung this on me, and I wasn’t too thrilled about the assignment either. Taking a deep breath, I related how Doc claimed to see the ghosts and how the media ran with the story.
I continued the saga of our harrowing night up to the moment Doc woke me, and that his sickly appearance spurred me to assume he was having a heart attack. Without skipping a beat, I ended with the big finale – when Doc showed us the body and everything went blank. I sat back in my chair and let out a sigh.
“Are you finished, Ms. Montgomery?” Bowerman stared at me.
I wanted to say, well duh. The truth – the fight in me had been extinguished, so I politely answered, “Yes, sir.” I felt the perspiration dripping down my forehead. I guess the detective noticed, too. He offered me some Kleenex and I gently wiped the droplets away.
Thinking he was done, I relaxed a little. Then he said, “Now, tell me about these spirits you say you claimed to behold.”
I ignored the barb. “I understand a sighting is hard to grasp, Detective. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen them. At first, only one soldier appeared. Then Dee Dee spotted a lady ghost. That makes two.”
With mouth agape he stared at me like I was crazy. “Okay. Go ahead. Tell me the rest.” He wrote as I talked.
“Well, I don’t have much else to say. One minute they were there, and the next they weren’t. I do remember, though, I experienced a strange awareness when we went to the facilities right before we lay down. The ladies’ room is close to the Andrews’ Raiders display where Doc discovered the body. Oh yes, something else I thought seemed odd.”
“And what would that be, Ms. Montgomery?” He twirled his cigar between his thumb and forefinger. Did he use the unlit cigar as a prop?
“The soldier was dressed in a Yankee uniform. Don’t you find that outlandish, Detective? Why would a Yankee ghost want to hang around in the South?”
“You’ve got me.” His caterpillar brows wiggled up and down, giving the illusion of crawling. “I appreciate your patience. I’m going to interview Ms. Lamont next, and I’d like for you to stick around until we’re finished. Then I want to talk with both of you, as well as Mr. Pennington. Please try to stay out of the way while the officers work on the crime scene. I’ll speak with you again in a little while.”