Read Online Roses Are Red; He's Dead (A Mellow Summers Paranormal Mystery Book 9) by Janet McNulty - Free Book Online Page B

What would I say? Hello, Chad. This Billy, who worked as a janitor, and whose dead body turned up in my room, his ghost is haunting you, convinced that you killed him. I don’t think that would go over too well.
    “You don’t have a crush on me, do you?”
    “No!” That came out ruder than I had meant it to.
    “It’s happened before. One woman came here with her boyfriend and started hitting on me. Her boyfriend was not pleased and there was a bit of a heated confrontation between us.”
    “Heated confrontation?”
    “A few punches were thrown. That was it.”
    “It’s not like that,” I assured him.
    “Then why is it your boyfriend has been following me around all day; and when I go into town, I run into you?”
    Before I could think of an excuse, a snowball crashed into Chad from behind and I found myself glad that Billy had shown up. “Take that you murdering jerk!”
    Chad turned around, staring at the wooded scenery behind us and I knew that he had heard Billy’s outburst, even if he didn’t see him. “What was that?”
    “Probably just some kids,” I said.
    “Calling me a murdering jerk?”
    “You know how they are.”
    I motioned for Billy to go away, while trying to make sure that Chad didn’t notice.
    “Well, he is!” shouted Billy, throwing another snowball at Chad before disappearing.
    Chad just stood there, confused as to how a snowball had managed to throw itself.
    “Let’s just go,” I said, pulling him along. Please, do not ask me what had just happened, I thought to myself.
    The rest of our walk was done in silence. I knew that Billy’s antics had confused Chad. It’s not every day you see something move of its own accord. When we arrived back at the resort, red and blue flashing lights greeted us. Confused, we both headed for them, while I prayed that no one else turned up dead, and that Billy hadn’t decided to do something stupid just to get his revenge.
    “Mel!” Greg ran up to us.
    “Greg, what’s—”
    “They’re looking for him!” Greg pointed at Chad, yanking me away from him.
    “What? Why?” I said, still confused as to what was happening.
    “Mr. Seagel?” said an officer, approaching Chad.
    “Yes,” answered Chad.
    “I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Billy Sunders.”
    “What?” screamed Chad. “I didn’t do anything!”
    The officer turned Chad around, and placed his arms behind his back before handcuffing him.
    “Yeah!” said Billy, but only I heard him. “Take that, you murderer!” He threw another snowball at Chad.
    I glared at Billy.
    “What?” he said to me, noticing my disapproving look. “I didn’t do it.”
    “You threw the snowball.”
    “No, I mean the murder weapon.”
    “What?”
    “Yeah,” said Billy, “they found the thing used to knock me on the head in Chad’s locker. Emily had agreed to a search.”
    Billy left to continue taunting Chad, much to the confusion of the officers around us.
    “I don’t get it?’ I said. “Why stay here, if he killed Billy?”
    “Maybe he thought that running would make him look guilty,” said Greg. “The murder weapon was found in his locker.”
    “Why did the police wait so long to search through the lockers?”
    “The detective on the case wanted a warrant, but I overheard Emily say that she would have agreed to it no matter what. She wants this whole thing over with.”
    I couldn’t blame her on that one.
    “Maybe we ought to leave,” I heard one guy say to his girlfriend. “I don’t think this place is safe. Hiring a murderer and all.”
    Emily stood outside, watching the proceedings and I could tell she had overheard what that man had said as a panicked look crossed her face and she chewed her nails. The poor woman. I knew that she was seeing the dismal future of her business right then.
    I hated to say it, but I had to agree with Greg; it looked like Chad had actually done it. As I listened in on the conversations around me from the other guests, I learned