Gem of a Ghost: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian Read Free Book Online

just south of Point Magu. All of a sudden I got this overwhelming urge to slam my car through the barrier and into the ocean. ”
    The loud gasp escaped Emma’s lips before she could stop it.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Lainey said before Emma could speak. “You’re thinking like father, like daughter.”
    Emma wasn’t about to lie. “Yes, initially, but you weren’t drunk, were you? And you didn’t go over the cliff.”
    “No, Emma.” Lainey paused and studied Emma like a curious puppy. “That doesn’t feel right. Can I go back to calling you Mrs. Whitecastle?”
    “Of course. Whatever makes you more comfortable.”
    “I wasn’t drunk,” she insisted. “I’m not much of a drinker. I hadn’t had anything alcoholic in days, maybe longer. But like with the wall, I felt compelled to do it, like I was being told or ordered to do it. At the last minute, I snapped out of my zombie daze and turned the wheel, just like the time before. The barrier scraped the entire right side of my new BMW.”
    Emma clutched her hands together. Could it be that Max Naiman was trying to kill his own daughter, or was Lainey suffering from a real psychosis?
    “My mother about went berserk when she found out about the second car. She insisted I see a shrink, which I did. And things were better until about five or six weeks ago, shortly before I came here.”
    Emma was almost afraid to ask but did. “And what happened then?”
    “I almost succeeded.”
    “Another car accident?”
    Lainey shook her head slowly back and forth while lifting the right side of her knit jersey. Just below her breast was a large cotton bandage. She leaned back so Emma could get a good look.
    “Fourteen stitches, though the stitches are out now.” She made the announcement in a tone as dry as hot sand. “I was holding a chopping knife, cutting vegetables for dinner, when I had this urge to stab myself.”
    “More voices or orders?”
    “Yes. At least I think so.”
    Again Lainey got up from the table. She crossed her arms in front of herself as if chilly. Emma’s eyes scanned the area, wondering if there were spirits present, especially Max.
    “I’m up here, Emma.”
    In a slow movement, Emma looked up toward the voice, pretending to weigh Lainey’s words. At first she couldn’t see him, but finally her eyes distinguished the figure of the ghost of Max Naiman. He was sitting on the low branch of the largest tree, swinging his legs back and forth like an impish five-year-old. Emma wanted to speak with him but knew she couldn’t with Lainey present.
    “This time, though, it was really weird,” Lainey continued.
    Emma returned her attention to Lainey.
    “I was looking down, watching the knife get closer and closer to my chest … to my heart … like I was a bystander instead of the one it was happening to and doing it.”
    Lainey uncrossed her arms and pretended to hold a knife in a double grip, its tip aimed at her heart. Chills vibrated down Emma’s spine like she was watching a horror movie, and to her, she was.
    “It felt like something was holding my hand back,” Lainey explained. “Like I was struggling with myself for control of the knife and losing. Just before it went in, my body jerked to the left, and the knife tore into my right side. There was a lot of blood but nothing serious.” She looked up, not realizing she was staring directly at the ghost of her father. “It almost felt like someone pushed me out of the way, but I was alone.”
    Lainey relaxed her arms. “It was after that Mom decided I should be shipped off to a nut house.”
    Emma started to say something, but Lainey held up a hand to stop her. “I know, I know. This is not a nut house.” She leaned forward, putting both of her hands flat on the table, determination showing on her face for the first time. “But let’s face it, Mrs. Whitecastle, it really is.”
    Emma studied Lainey’s face. It was fresh and pretty, with smooth olive skin, large brown