Page 28 of Deathtoll

She wasn’t scared of going over there alone after dark, regardless of what Emma had thought she’d seen. Kate didn’t believe in ghosts and spirits.

Chapter Nine

Kate

“How long do you think this is going to take?” Linda Gonzales asked from Betty’s recliner Thursday morning. To spare her bad back, she was only directing the work. At ninety, the woman had earned her rest.

Kate stopped packing to stretch her own spine. “I should have started yesterday, but I ended up with a killer headache after dinner. I swear I saw stars every time I bent over.”

“It’s this weather front. And you can’t bend over with a headache,” Linda agreed. “We’ll get it done. Betty kept a clean house. The place shouldn’t need that much scrubbing, just packing up her belongings.”

Kate taped up the box at her feet. She was working in the living room, while Emma tackled the laundry room in the back, Murph carrying the boxes to his pickup, then delivering them to wherever Linda said they should be delivered.

Mr. Mauro was walking around the kitchen island with his cane.Dear, merciful God, please don’t let him bring up funeral arrangements.

He’d also come to help, but he couldn’t bend and he couldn’t reach, so mostly he just aggravated Linda. The two couldn’t stand each other, possibly a residue of their rivalry for Betty’s affections.

“Whatare you doing?” Linda snapped at him. “Can’t you see that you’re in the way?”

He rubbed his sternum with a look at her like she was a witch, and he was trying to think where he’d left his matches. “My chest’s been hurting the last couple of days. I could be having a heart attack. I’m trying to walk it off.”

“You should walk in the basement,” Linda suggested in a sweet tone that was new to their exchanges.

He raised his bushy gray eyebrows. “How does that help?”

“Gets you used to being underground,” Linda said with a straight face, then lost it and cackled.

Kate stared at them horrified, but also on the verge of bursting out laughing, which she was going to hold back if it choked her and she fell headfirst into the new box she was packing.

She cleared her throat. “Do you need me to drive you over to urgent care?”

Mr. Mauro waved off the offer. “I’m not going to die.” He gestured toward Linda with his cane. “Wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.”

“Are you sure?”

He sighed. “Maybe I’ll go home and take a nap.”

Kate nodded, her worries not entirely dispelled. “I’ll check in on you later.”

He shuffled out of the kitchen, passing Murph in the foyer.

Kate tossed the empty tape roll onto the counter and grabbed a new one. “I think we’ll get a good chunk done by the time we have to leave for work.” Both she and Murph worked the afternoon shift. “We can come back tomorrow and tackle the rest. Emma won’t start work at the flower shop until Monday. We should be done by then.”

Murph strode into the kitchen, bringing the scent of fall air with him. Along with a boatload of fall memories, all the things the two of them usually did this time of year. He carved good pumpkin. He was a wizard with a knife. He was a wizard with peeling her out of various skimpy Halloween outfits too. She used to pick them just for him, just to see his eyes grow heavy lidded with desire.

Elvira in the corn maze…

Heat flashed across her cheeks. Kate clenched her teeth. No Elvira in the corn maze! She swallowed back a half-escaped groan. What was wrong with her?

Murph flashed her a puzzled look. “Goodwill run is signed, sealed, and delivered.”

Emma came from the back with a box and handed it to him. “Towels. Gently used. Clean. For your next Goodwill trip?”

They’d had their big reunion already, when Murph had first shown up earlier. And Kate had felt like a jerk for not inviting him over sooner.

He carried the box to the foyer, put it aside, then came back to ask Linda, “What’s next?”

“Church bazaar.” Linda patted the pile of boxes stacked next to her, while Emma returned to the laundry room, and Kate focused on her own work.