Page 26 of My Blind Date is a Ghost

“How did she die?” I ask, wondering if the answer to this mystery is walking right in front of me.

“I was not allowed to do an autopsy,” she says. “Women were forbidden from such arts back then. The coroner was a human man at the time. I was his mortician too, some years later.”

Even though Veronica speaks with almost imperceptible inflection, I can tell she got a bit of glee from sharing that little bit of information.

“But judging from her pallor, her livor mortis, and the foaming at her mouth, I was sure she was poisoned.”

“Poisoned? By whom?” This information nearly stops me in my tracks. I hadn’t even considered other causes of death. But poisoning would mean that Cora was indeed murdered.

“I have no idea,” she says, slowing and looking at me over her shoulder. “I’m not a detective.”

“I’ve read through the coroner’s report, the court transcripts, the newspaper articles,” I explain. “Nothing in any of it indicated that she was poisoned.”

“I know,” she says. She stops and looks down. “It was a tragedy all the way around.”

I stand next to her and look at a tombstone. There, plain as day, is written “Cora Barnes—Beloved Wife, Daughter, Mother”. I have to shake my head for a moment. How could such a life be distilled so simply? Cora was so much more than that. A writer. A businesswoman. A woman of wit and integrity. But you’d never know that there was so much to her by looking at this tombstone.

“Her mother certainly didn’t commission this,” I say.

“No,” Veronica confirms. “Her husband did.”

“Did he even know her at all?”

For the first time, I see a hint of smile on Veronica’s face. “He was a man of his time.”

I can’t help but scoff. “That’s not saying much.”

“I know.”

I kneel down and get a better look at the grass. I reach out and touch the sod. It’s firm.

“Has Jasper been tending her grave?” I ask.

“No,” Veronica says. “There’s been no work here.”

“So, no one could have…dug their way out of here?”

“No.”

“And no one could have dug her up and then covered it back over?”

“I can assure you, Detective, the grave is undisturbed.”

I scratch my head, stand up, and dust off my hands and knees. “Very well. What did you want to show me?”

Veronica narrows her eyes at me. “What is going on? Why are you asking about Cora’s corpse?”

“That’s…classified,” I say.

“Come, Detective. Do not treat me as though I were a fool. You’ve either found Cora’s body or she’s turned up alive somewhere. So, which is it?”

I cock my own eyebrow this time. She’s indeed a clever woman. Though, I suppose those are the only two conclusions to draw from my questions. I guess I’m not being as obtuse as I’d like to think.

“She’s alive,” I say, and I must admit I do draw some satisfaction from seeing her eyes go wide in surprise. I bet she doesn’t surprise easily.

“How…interesting,” she finally says. “Then perhaps what I am about to show you will make some sense.”

She turns and walks away from Cora’s grave, and I follow behind. We come to a wall, and she steps on a few fallen bricks to climb over. She doesn’t even need my assistance. I am right behind her.

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