“You don’t believe me,” he sounded a little hurt.
“I do,” I said. “But if she didn’t discuss any problems with you, I am hoping maybe she mentioned a problematic guy to one of her girlfriends. You have to understand that it wouldn’t be an insult. There are just some things we women are only comfortable discussing with other girls.”
“Don’t I know it,” Josh said.
“What? Is there something?” I asked in the hopes he’d thought of something.
“No, it’s just that since Pepper has been gone, I’ve been watching some of her favorite movies. It seems like that’s a theme in a lot of movies aimed at women.”
“Oh,” I responded.
“Look, I don’t know if I can help you,” he said.
“You were Pepper’s best friend. Surely, you know if she had any girlfriends.”
Josh sighed. “She spent most of her time with various men, but I heard that perhaps she was friends with some women at work. I don’t know for sure.”
“Well, thanks,” I said.
It wasn’t exactly a revelation, but it did remind me that someone had mentioned her coworkers before. That was going to be my next stop, but I had to find a way to ditch Thorn. Nobody was going to talk to me with the town sheriff hanging around.
“You’re welcome,” Josh said. “Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”
“It’s okay,” I said as I walked to Pepper’s apartment door. “I’ll send someone to pack and store her stuff soon. I promise.”
Josh looked like he wanted to say something else, but I was done. I wanted to get out of there and go to the store to see if I could drum up a coworker who could tell me more about Peppermint Howard.
Chapter Twelve
“Hey, sweetie,” I said when I found Thorn waiting in the stairwell. “I need some rum raisin ice cream and spicy sausage.”
“Together?” Thorn asked as we went down the stairs.
“Well, I want both, but I’m not planning on mixing them,” I said.
“Did you find out anything from Josh?” Thorn asked.
“Pepper got around,” I said. “But he didn’t seem to think any of her male dalliances were anywhere near serious enough that they would have gotten jealous. They were all on the same page about where things stood. The same as with Tucker, except that nobody mistook them for an item.”
“So, you didn’t get anywhere?” Thorn asked. “That’s okay. You did your best. Maybe we should leave this up to Jeremy.”
On the other side of the parking lot from the apartment building was a grassy area and a copse of trees. Standing between two large pine trees was the ghost of Pepper Howard.
The look in her now completely black eyes sent a chill down my spine. “I don’t know about leaving it up to Jeremy, but I think I’ll sleep on what to do next...”
My plan had been to send Thorn off to find some specialty item while I was at the store. That would have given me time to speak to some of the female employees and see who was friends with Pepper. The problem was that fibbing to Thorn made me feel dreadful.
“What is it, sweetie?” Thorn picked up on my shift in mood.
“I’m lying,” I said. “I’m sorry. I mean, I would really like some rum raisin ice cream and spicy sausage now. It sounds good now that I came up with it, but it was a ruse. I wanted to go to the store and send you off to find some impossible item so I could talk to some of the female employees.”
“What? Why?” Thorn shook his head.
“Because I appreciate you helping me and protecting me through all of this, babe, I really do, but they’re not going to talk to me when they see you with me.”
“So you did learn something from Josh?” Thorn asked.
“Not really, but based on his complete lack of knowledge of her female friends, I’m guessing her work is the first step in finding a friend who might know anything about any problematic men in her life,” I said. “He said she might have had friends at work. That’s what I’m going off of. Sorry. I don’t want to lie to you, but you cannot follow me around the store if I’m going to get anyone to spill.”
“I’ll stay in the car,” Thorn said.
“I could take you home first,” I said.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll stay in the car,” Thorn said. “Unless you don’t want me in the car.”
“I’m not trying to leave you out of things,” I said. “Well, I am, but it’s not because I don’t want you there.”
I wanted to tell him that we could just go home. That I would drop the entire thing. But we’d already gotten in the car, and when I glanced in the rearview mirror, I could see Pepper’s spirit standing in the parking lot a few feet behind the car.
She was getting closer, and from the looks of it, angrier. I noticed that her spirit was no longer in the clothes she was wearing when she died. Instead, she wore an elf costume. It was like the one she would have worn had she lived and been able to work at the Santa house.
It made a statement. I just wasn’t sure what that statement was supposed to be.
I did end up taking Thorn home before I went to the grocery store. He decided he felt like an obsessed clinger sitting out in the car while I went into the grocery store.
His truck was interesting to drive. It sat up very high, so I felt like the queen of the road as I cruised through Coventry’s streets. I avoided the square because I knew there would still be tourists out and about. The trip would take less time if I just drove on the outskirts of town, and then I could get back to my new husband.
I pulled into a parking
