Movies and Murder Read online

  “Why aren’t you up yet?” came the man’s voice from above Anna-Lee’s head.

  Her eyes flickered open and realized she was staring up at a black and white pencil mustached face.

  “Ack,” she cried out, sitting bolt upright, her own head going straight through the man’s.

  “Darn you, Harlem,” she spat at the ghost who floated just above her pillow. “You scared me half to death.”

  “Sorry about that. I wasn’t really trying to spook you. I just noticed your alarm hadn’t gone off,” he jabbed a thumb toward the red digital numbers of the clock, indicating that it was five till nine. Anna knew she was supposed to be at the drive-in at nine.

  “Shoot.”

  “Aren’t you glad I popped over?” he smirked, floating his legs out of the wall where they were hidden and setting his loafer-clad feet on the maroon carpet of the studio apartment.

  Anna rolled her eyes as she started digging through moving boxes she had yet to unpack for fresh clothes. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought I would be seeing less of you after I moved out.”

  “Can I help it if I miss you?” he joked, walking over to her. “Wear that one,” he suggested, pointing at a turquoise t-shirt.

  “Do you mind?” she snapped.

  “Sorry, sorry.”

  “Talk about invasion of privacy.”

  Harlem nodded his understanding and turned to face the window that looked out onto the street below, so Anna could get dressed without prying eyes.

  His relationship with the two sisters wasn’t something anyone had planned on. However, after his murder, Harlem had somehow found himself trapped in the drive-in’s projector, and therefore, in one of the movies that was playing. Somehow, he’d possessed the character of Fredric Lauren from the film and now walked about the earth as a black and white ghost that only Anna and Belle could see.

  He was able to help them out around the drive-in by running the projector from the inside and other little tasks. Giving the place a “haunted” vibe only brought in more tourists and guests.

  Despite being dead, he was quite enjoying the afterlife.

  As he waited for Anna to dress, he watched people outside on the street below.

  Town residents milled about, doing their morning chores and errands as the day got going. Most of them were getting ready for the daily influx of tourists. Downtown Sunken Grove was deemed the Mini-French Quarter by travel agencies. All the buildings and shops had a similar structure, with wrought iron balconies, gas-style lamps, and even a few voodoo shops.

  Anna’s new apartment was your typical sort of place, with one wall being made of brick and the three others plaster. All the baseboards and doorways were classical wood moldings. One corner of the room had a tiny kitchenette with a mini-fridge and permanent hotplate set into a marble counter.

  The only other door, besides the one that led outside, was the bathroom which had a standing shower, a toilet, and a wash basin style sink.

  “Okay, I’m done,” Anna announced.

  Harlem turned and smiled at her. She was one of the only women he’d ever known who could just throw on a new set of clothes and look as fresh as a daisy. He was sure she didn’t feel that way, of course.

  “I’ll just have to shower tonight when I get home.”

  “Seems so,” he agreed. His eyes wandered over the stacks of boxes still waiting to be unpacked.

  “I’ll get to them,” she groaned, seeing his judgmental gaze.

  “I didn’t say anything,” he protested.

  “You didn’t have to,” she replied, picking up a comb from the table beside the pullout bed and running it through her wavy brown hair. “Just you wait. A little love and attention, and this tiny apartment will be the coziest place in all of Sunken Grove.”

  “You’ve already got that fantastic smell going for you,” he admitted, taking in a nonexistent breath.

  “Yeah, that’s a new bakery that just opened downstairs.” Setting the comb down, she rushed into the bathroom to brush her teeth. “In fact, I was going to pop down and pick up something for breakfast. Interested in coming along?” she asked, even though she knew he couldn’t eat.

  “Sure. I’d like to see it,” he said. “But won’t Valerie be offended?”

  “Offended, why?” she shot back, putting the brush in her mouth.

  “I don’t know. She always brings you and Belle some sort of baked goods in the mornings.”

  “And I don’t live at the drive-in anymore,” she replied around her toothbrush. “Besides, I’ve been dying to try it.”

  “You’re on,” he agreed.

  * * *

  “Good morning, dear,” Shera Shaffer said, a big smile making her chubby cheeks brighten to a new hue of red. With a round face and a constant twinkle in her eye, Shera was a heartwarming sight to behold and Anna was looking forward to coming down to the shop each morning to say hello.

  She was like a typical British cook, only with a southern accent and a taste for Cajun cooking.

  “How is the apartment working out for you?” she asked, unfolding a white paper sack in preparation for an order of muffins, cakes, beignets, and other goodies.

  “It is lovely. I can’t thank you enough for letting me rent the space from you.”

  “Well, why not, darlin’?” she waved a meaty hand almost daintily. She began taking a few lemon mini cakes from the glass display and loading them in the sack. “I wasn’t going to use it, what with the new house I bought just a few minutes outside of downtown.”

  “A new house?” she asked, surprised to hear that there was any new development at all.

  “Well, new to me, of course,” she chuckled, her whole body bouncing happily with the vibrations. She was grabbing a few cinnamon beignets and sliding them inside the bag. “It is quite old, actually. I think the seller claimed it belonged to some great artist or something.”

  “Sounds exciting,” Anna agreed.

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” she squealed like a little girl in a candy shop. She was scooping in a few French crullers and Anna was beginning to wonder just who had ordered so many sweets. Maybe it was for an office breakfast or something in the downtown area. Maybe it was for the police station?

  No, Anna decided. That couldn’t be it. Valerie wouldn’t stand for her husband, Police Chief Dan Bronson, to have any kind of baked goods that weren’t hers in the station. Anna had to laugh inwardly at the thought.

  “Moving here was simply one of the best choices I ever made. My daughter always told me how much she loved this area, but I finally made the leap and moved.”

  “Your daughter lives out this way?”

  “Yes. In New Orleans, in fact. It’s so nice being so close to her.”

  “I bet it is. What is she doing out here?”

  “Oh, she has some boyfriend or other, but it’s none of my business.” She chuckled. “If it were up to me, I’d keep her all to myself, all the time.”

  Anna laughed in return. “I’m guessing she is your only one?”

  “Right O’, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I still remember the day she was born. Saint Mary’s Ward Hospital. Such a nice place,” she said, folding over the bag and holding it out to Anna. “Here you go, dearie.”

  “Huh?” Anna gasped.

  This time, Harlem laughed, having been standing off to the side and listening the whole time. “Think you can eat all that?” he teased.

  “Oh, Mrs. Shaffer, I couldn’t.”

  “It’s your first week in a new place and I haven’t seen one housewarming gift come your way. This is one from me.”

  Anna put up her hands. “I really don’t know if I should.”

  “Oh, hush your mouth. Of course, you can take it. This is your first morning coming down into my shop, after all, and I want you to sample some of my sweets and tell me if they’re worth selling.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come in other mornings this week,” she said.

  “Yo
u’ve been busy, doll. Now take it and get on your way,” she insisted, giving the bag a little shake.

  “You better do it before she forces you to eat them right here,” Harlem chuckled, unheard by anyone but Anna.

  “Thank you so, so much, Mrs. Shaffer,” she finally said, accepting the treats.

  “You’re quite welcome, hon. I want to see you down here often, okay? There isn’t nearly enough meat on those bones.”

  “Alright.”

  The woman chuckled again. “Perhaps you could become like a second daughter to me,” she said joyfully.

  Giving one final nod of gratitude, Anna headed out for the day. Harlem followed, riding in the car with her toward the drive-in, laughing most of the way at the sweet woman’s behavior. “You just don’t get southern hospitality like that anymore.”

  On the way into work, Anna could feel her mouth watering at the smell of all those baked goods. Finally, unable to wait, she grabbed one of the French crullers and took a bite. The lightly glazed outer layer flaked into her mouth, practically melting on her tongue. “Oh, my goodness, that’s amazing,” she declared with the bite still in the side of her cheek.

  “Don’t let Valerie hear you say that,” Harlem teased as they pulled through the ticket booth and into the drive-in parking area, where cars usually faced the screen to watch the movie.

  Finishing off the cruller, she grabbed the bag of sweets and opened the door. It was as she was stepping out of the car that she heard her sister scream inside the building.

  “Good heavens. What was that?” Harlem exclaimed, passing through the passenger side door.

  “I don’t know, but we better go see,” Anna said, opening her door and jumping out.

  Chapter 3

  * * *

  “Belle? Are you okay?” Anna shouted, rushing through the kitchen and into the dining area. Freezing in her steps, and nearly running into Val who was standing just outside the swinging doors, she looked toward where her sister was standing.

  She appeared to be just fine and was standing in the shadow of a looming figure.

  “That thing is a sight,” Harlem said with a laugh.

  “What in heaven’s name is it?” Anna exclaimed, looking up at the six-foot statue that was in the drive-in restaurant’s doorway.

  “It’s a gorgon,” Belle shouted with excitement, throwing her arms up like she might just hug the thing.

  The edifice before them seemed to be made out of stone. It had the figure of a woman but seemed to sport a snake’s tail instead of regular legs. Her head was a mass of twisted snakes, all looking down with little red glass eyes. The final touch was the yellow eyes in the woman’s face which seemed to stare endlessly out, no matter where you moved.

  “I thought you might like this piece,” came a voice from behind the statue. A moment later a short little spit of a man appeared.

  “Don Delta. I should have known,” Belle joked, putting her hands on her hips as she recognized the antique salesman.

  “What the heck is a gorgon?” Anna groaned. “It’s horrible looking.”

  “A gorgon is from Greek mythology, Anna,” Belle answered, turning around and moving one arm up and down in front of the statue like a model in a game show displaying a prize.

  “I figured as much from the snakes.” Anna pointed.

  “Anyone who looks into a gorgon’s eyes is turned to stone.”

  Shaking her head, Anna stepped back and took a seat on one of the bar stools, setting her bag of treats on the countertop. “You would know something about it,” she said.

  “There is a great old movie from the nineteen-sixties about a gorgon attacking a small British village.”

  “Of course, there is,” the older sister said, rolling her eyes and feeling irritated that she’d worried herself so unnecessarily over Belle.

  She had never shared her sister’s obsession with old horror and sci-fi movies—the very ones the drive-in specialized in showing on a weekly basis. While she would never admit that they had grown on her a little since she’d begun working at the drive-in, she just didn’t ever comprehend her sister’s fascination.

  “How the devil did you get it here, Don? It must weigh a ton,” Val asked, stepping forward to look at the stone giant.

  “Not so much,” he admitted. Putting his arms on either side of its waist, he rocked it back and forth a bit, showing that it didn’t have the weight it originally tricked onlookers into believing it had. “You see? It’s made from a plaster exterior, probably with either a light wax interior or a hollow one. It’s only painted to look like stone.”

  “Wow,” Belle marveled, clearly captivated by the monstrosity.

  “I thought you might be interested in buying it,” Don finally said, getting to his point.

  Anna and Val made eye contact, both skeptical of this deal. While Don was a nice man, he wasn’t above a little swindle now and then. Clearly, with someone as wide-eyed and innocent as Belle was when it came to things she fancied, he thought he had a good deal.

  “How much?” the younger sister asked.

  Don poked out his lower lip as if he were thinking deeply, despite the fact that he’d come up with a price earlier, as was his method. “Why don’t we say, two hundred dollars?”

  “Two hundred dollars?” Anna exclaimed, standing up.

  Belle’s look of excitement dissolved. “Don, it looks a little beat up for two hundred. Where did you find it? In the bayou?” she joked.

  Don’s face paled a little.

  “And it’s dirty,” Anna pointed out.

  “It looks more like he stole it from a defunct wax museum,” Harlem noted. “They have a few of them in New Orleans and this was the kind of crap you could expect to see.”

  Anna looked back at Harlem with a raised eyebrow and mouthed, “Do you really think he stole it?”

  Harlem only shrugged. “Or he bought it off a con.”

  Realizing that Val was looking at her with a weird look, seeing as Anna was staring off at nothing, the older sister turned around to face the salesman. “It’s too much for a piece of junk,” she shot out, trying to be honest and give her sister a hint that it wasn’t worth buying at any price.

  Don put up his hands for the women to calm down, trying to keep his smile intact. “Okay, okay, I can bring the price down to one-fifty.”

  Now it was Belle’s turn to twist her lips around as if she were thinking, but she was as good at playing the money game as he was, unbeknownst to her sister. “I don’t know. I just don’t think I have that much money to blow,” she said with a hint of disappointed innocence.

  “Okay, how about one hundred?” he asked.

  “Naw. I still can’t do it,” she said. “Oh, well. I’m real sorry, Don.”

  “Fine. Seventy-five is as low as I’ll go,” he said, his smile waning.

  Belle cocked her mouth up to one side and then jabbed a finger into Don’s chest. “Fifty dollars or it’s no deal.”

  “Fifty dollars? That won’t even cover my overhead cost,” he exclaimed.

  Belle eyeballed the man, catching him at his game.

  Sighing, Don tilted his head down and looked at his feet. Finding his smile again, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Fifty it is, then.”

  “Fantastic,” Belle exclaimed, digging into her pocket for the cash.

  Anna sat back down, feeling slightly more impressed with her sister’s bartering skills.

  Once Don had brought the statue inside and left, Belle turned on her heel and eagerly clasped her hands behind her back. “Okay, ladies. We have a lot to get done before tonight’s showing.”

  “You’re really going to leave that thing out here for everyone to see?” Anna complained.

  “Of course, I am. Why else would I have bought it?” she asked.

  Anna looked up at the thing’s creepy staring eyes. “I don’t like it.”

  “Well, that’s too bad, because I love it,” she proclaimed. “And we’re going to make a last-minute change to
the movie we’re showing tonight.”

  “Let me guess,” Anna offered.

  “The Gorgon,” Belle shouted at the same time her sister said it.

  Chapter 4

  * * *

  “What are these?” Belle asked, picking up Anna’s bag of pastries from the counter about a half-hour later. The three women had all rushed into the kitchen to get to work on the food for the evening, and Harlem had gone upstairs to switch the movie schedule around for the projector.

  The enticing aroma of Cajun style goulash had filled the entire room with its spice. Meanwhile, Val was busy cutting pastry flour for beignets while the sisters chopped pickles for frying—that was until Belle had spotted the unfamiliar white sack on the counter.

  “Oh, t-those are nothing,” Anna insisted, rushing over to grab them from her sister’s hand.

  “Well,” Belle huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “You didn’t have to snatch them from me.”

  “Sorry. I just got a little excited, I guess.”

  Belle folded her arms. “So? What are they?”

  “Oh, just my lunch,” she said, trying to lie and cover up her sin of eating baked goods from someone other than Val.

  “Your lunch sure smells awfully sweet,” she pointed out, reaching out to grab the bag.

  Anna bobbed out of her sister’s grasp and furrowed her brow. “Hey! Now who is grabbing?”

  “I just want to see what you brought for lunch,” she insisted, making another grab, but missing.

  “Stop.”

  “Why did you bring a lunch anyway? You’ve never brought a lunch before.”

  “W-Well, now I’m bringing them from home since I don’t live here anymore,” Anna insisted.

  Belle made one last leaping grab for the bag but missed again.

  Val sighed, brushing the flour off her hands onto the apron. “Oh, sometimes I think you girls never grew up. Let me have those,” she said, marching over.

  At that point, Belle noticed her sister almost turning green and put two and two together. “I know what those are,” she said, her eyes bobbing mischievously from her sister to Val.