Read Gem of a Ghost: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery for Free Online Page B

aerobics class. Just beyond the pool were a couple more picnic tables situated under a few shade trees.
    “Why don’t we sit and visit?” Emma suggested.
    Lainey nodded, and they settled in at one of the tables, Emma wishing she had on shorts like Lainey and not a cotton dress. Still, she managed to swing her legs over the bench seat in a fairly lady-like motion.
    “Mrs. Whitecastle,” Lainey began.
    “Call me Emma.” She smiled. “After all, you’re all grown up and, I understand, nearly a married woman.”
    Lainey avoided looking at Emma. “I’m not sure that’s going to happen. Not now.” It was the first time she showed any sign of sadness.
    “I had lunch with your mother yesterday. When I said something about the engagement, she never said it was off.”
    Lainey shot her a look of suspicion. “Did my mother ask you to come here?”
    “Lainey, I’m here because Kelly heard you tried to kill yourself. She asked me to visit you, not your mother.” Emma smiled and touched Lainey’s hand. “And I wanted to come as soon as I heard. Your mother never mentioned to me that you were here.”
    The look softened. “Kelly was my best friend until my mother sent me away to school.”
    “She’s still a close friend. She’s very worried about you, as am I.” Emma paused. “Did you really try to take your own life?”
    Lainey took a very deep breath, her chest rising as her lungs filled with the fresh air. She looked away as color washed over her cheeks.
    “I’m sorry, Lainey. I’m afraid I’ve overstepped my bounds. I shouldn’t be prying like this.”
    Slowly Lainey shook her head, still not looking at Emma. “No, I want to tell you … Emma. I think it will do me good. My mother has never asked much about it. It will be like trying to explain it to her.” Lainey got up and took a few steps to one of the nearby trees. She leaned against it, looking out toward the horizon, where the ocean met the sky, melding two different shades of blue into one as deftly as the brushstroke of a talented artist. “Maybe you can go back and tell her what I couldn’t.”
    “But she must know.”
    “She knows I tried to kill myself, but she never wanted to hear about what actually happened.”
    The scenery was peaceful, but Emma was horrified that Lainey hadn’t spoken to her mother in depth. If Kelly had tried to end her life, Emma would have been all over it, wanting to know the details of how and why—especially trying to get to the root of the why. She reminded herself not to judge Joanna too harshly. People responded to tragedy in different ways, but it still sickened her like a bad stench.
    “The first time I tried to kill myself,” Lainey began, still not looking at Emma, “the day began like any other. I got out of bed, showered, shampooed, brushed my teeth. Three hours later I was driving my car toward one of those concrete walls that border the freeway.” She finally turned to Emma. “That was about two months ago.”
    Emma tried to listen without displaying the shock she was feeling. Her gut was like an unbalanced washing machine trying to clean a heavy pair of sneakers. She steadied herself, understanding that if Lainey picked up on her discomfort, she might not continue.
    “Perhaps you fell asleep at the wheel.”
    “No.” Lainey returned to the table and swung her long, tanned legs over the bench to face Emma. “I clearly remember turning the car and heading straight for the wall. At the last second, I pulled the steering wheel to the left. The car hit the wall, but not head-on. The car spun out of control and slammed back around and hit the wall again.”
    “You were fortunate you weren’t killed.”
    “That’s what I’m told.” The words changed to deadpan, as if the girl didn’t care one way or the other about death. “I was banged up but okay. A couple weeks later I almost did the same thing. It was late at night. I was returning home from visiting a friend and was driving along PCH