Page 18 of A Midsummer Night's Ghost

The bartender slapped my beer glass down so hard it sloshed over the edges and I jumped. “What about James?” he demanded.

Alyssa gave me a look like “what are you doing?” but I figured there was no way to get any information without actually asking about James. Besides, I didn’t want to hang around here longer than was necessary.

“I work at the senior center,” I lied. “I was there when he…”

Three sets of expectant eyes drilled into me. Another man had come up behind the woman and put his palms on her shoulders.

“When he what?” New Guy asked.

“Did he quit his job?” the woman demanded. “That son of a bitch. I knew he’d do this. He’s trying to weasel out of paying child support to me.”

So James and the ex he owed child support to partied together regularly at the bar?

Huh. That seemed like a mixed message to me.

“Well. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but he passed away,” I said, lowering my voice into a sympathetic hush. I hadn’t expected that no one in his circle would know he died. I would have thought the police would notify the mother of his child, butmaybe she’d been at Danny O’s instead of at home when they had swung by.

Or they’d called her and she hadn’t called them back, because this was a woman who looked suspicious regarding law enforcement.

“What?” She stared at me blankly. “What do you mean?”

The man behind her swore and took a menacing step toward me. I eased back a little on my stool.

“I mean he died. At work. At the senior center. They think he had a heart attack.”

Shock crossed her face then she instantly became angry. “How do you know he’s dead and I don’t? I’m the mother of his child, his ex-wife. His girlfriend now, off and on. We’ve been on this month, actually, and it was going really well. Was he cheating on me with you?”

“No! I told you, I work at the senior center. I have a boyfriend and she’s married.” I jerked my thumb in Alyssa’s direction.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said disdainfully. “James was charming.”

Not from what I had seen. Of course, to be fair, that was post mortem. Maybe he’d been a swell guy prior to death. “I only met him once. But I was at the senior center when…it happened.”

“So why are you here then?” the man asked.

The other three people with them had come over and now we’re encircling me and Alyssa like a schoolyard fight was about to ensue.

Nope. No and no. Time to leave.

“I saw he comes here all the time and I just wanted to raise a glass to him.”

That almost sounded believable. I tapped Alyssa’s leg and threw a twenty on the bar top. We both slid down our stools but we were left with very little room. Alyssa’s knee accidentally bumped the second man, perilously close to his crotch.

“Did you just touch my man?” one of the other women, who had frosted tips and an unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth, asked.

She looked about sixty-five and super unhappy.

At the moment, I understood her vibe. I wasn’t thrilled with the circumstances either.

“Not on purpose, trust me,” Alyssa said, throwing her hands up. “Now can you please step back so we can leave. I’m sure this news has been unsettling for you.”

“What’s “unsettling” (yes, she used air quotes) is that you’re hitting on my man right in front of me.”

“I am not hitting on your man,” Alyssa snapped. “Seriously, back up.”

I was grateful Alyssa was with me. I would have been like a baby bunny in a cage full of Rottweilers if I were there by myself.

Though I was regretting not taking her up on her offer to drag Lawson along with us.

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