beyond the grave 03 - a ghostly demise by tonya kappes Read Free Book Online Page B

Eternal Slumber.”
    She shoved the box toward me.
    “One more thing.” I knew it was going to be a shocker of a question. “What do you think really happened to Cephus Hardy?”
    “I think he drank himself to death somewhere.” Granny never said anything she didn’t mean. “I think he got tired of all of Leotta’s bullshit and decided to get out.”
    “Bullshit?” I asked. “What bullshit?”
    “Stop talking like that,” Granny warned. There were things that always seemed okay for her but were never okay for me. Swearwords were one of them. “Leotta was always stringing along some man around Cephus to get his goat.”
    “That’s right, Zula Fae.” Cephus appeared. He leaned on the counter near the cookie sheet. “I’d love to have a cookie and an ice-cold Stroh’s.”
    “Leotta might be all sweet, but she is the jealous type and she’s still a woman. Likes to be center of attention. At least that is what I was told.” Granny pushed the box of cookies a little closer to me.
    Granny pulled back. “Why all these questions? This don’t have nothing to do with my campaign, does it?”
    “I want to make sure you are nowhere near this mess in the past since Bea Allen Burns has come back to help her brother beat you.” I shook my head. “When in politics, the past has a habit of rearing its ugly head.”
    “Trust me.” Granny jabbed her finger in her own chest. “I never ran around with that group. Nor did I do anything in my past that would keep me from winning this election.”

 
    Chapter 7
    T here were two things Southerners hated to see knocking on their door. Jehovah Witnesses, because the majority of us were Baptist, and the undertaker. It was understandable that when Terk Rhinehammer opened the door, his face turned white as all the blood was drained from it after he looked past me and saw my hearse.
    “What’s wrong?” He used his hands to pat down his chest. “I’m not dead, am I?” he halfheartedly joked.
    “You gonna be!” Cephus had a habit of appearing at the wrong times. Which happened to be when he wanted to fight someone.
    Cephus bounced on his toes, jabbing the air.
    Ahem. I cleared my throat to try to get Cephus to stop. He was becoming a bit of a distraction.
    “Can I get you a beer?” The cigarette nestled in the corner of Terk’s mouth bounced up and down with every word.
    Terk looked different from what I remember when I was a little girl and seeing him around Sleepy Hollow. Granted, that was a lifetime and headful of hair ago, but still, time had not been good to him. His muscular build had turned to flab, especially under his chin, and his long ponytail had turned into a long, thin crown around the bald spot.
    “No thank you.” I couldn’t help but notice the beer gut he had developed from the consumption of the drink in his hand.
    “It’s noon.” He joked. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and took a swig out of the Pabst Blue Ribbon can before he crushed it and threw it in the plastic trash can outside the door. “If I ain’t dead, and no one I know isn’t, what’s the pleasure?”
    “I was wondering if I could take a few minutes of your time to talk with you about the election, and my granny, Zula Fae . . .” I held out one of Granny’s buttons.
    “I know who your granny is.” He pulled his pants clear up to his armpits. His eyes filled with surprise. “Say, are you Bo Raines’s kid?”
    Now we were getting somewhere. Granted, it wasn’t about Cephus, but I was going to hear how he knew my daddy.
    “We ain’t here to talk about Bo.” Cephus stomped. “Take the beer! Hell, I’ll take any beer!”
    “Do you know my daddy?” I asked, rolling up on my toes and trying to take a gander into his trailer.
    He stepped in front of me with his beer gut and chest jutting out, blocking my view.
    “I know of your daddy. We never ran around the same circles. That whole funeral gig y’all got going kinda gave me and my buds the creeps.” He