Jon's Spooky Corpse Conundrum Read online

  Table of Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  Epilogue

  Author

  This book is a work of fiction, so please treat it like a work of fiction. Seriously. References to real people, dead people, good guys, bad guys, stupid politicians, companies, restaurants, events, products, locations, pop culture references, or wacky historical events are intended to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. Or because I wanted it in the story. Characters, names, story, location, dialogue, weird humor, and strange incidents all come from the author’s very fertile imagination and are not to be construed as real. No, I don’t believe in killing off main characters. Villains are a totally different story.

  JON’S SPOOKY CORPSE CONUNDRUM

  Jon’s Mysteries Case 3

  PRINTING HISTORY

  July 2019

  Copyright © 2019 by AJ Sherwood

  Cover by Katie Griffin

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  Purchase only authorized editions.

  www.ajsherwood.com

  Trigger Warnings:

  Your average cop show violence and criminals

  Tags:

  haunted house, disappearing corpses, not in a zombie way, Donovan doesn’t do ghosts, family drama, because families are complicated, muuuuurder, bareback sex, terrible parenting, Donovan puts up with a lot to say the least, developing relationship, Garrett’s a good bro, sometimes, yeeeeeeeeeeeeees, FINALLY, healthy life choices, possibly wrong forensics, I don’t even know, I tried, no ghosts were harmed in the making of this story, supernatural elements, the author regrets nothing

  1

  I came out of my stretch sharply, head lifting from my knee so I could look at Garrett. “You want to buy the house?”

  My friend sat on the weight bench in front of me, a little sweaty from the workout we’d just finished. His shirt tried to stick to his chest, and he pulled it away with a pluck of the fingers, his blue eyes never leaving mine.

  “I actually wanted to put in an offer earlier, before that first buyer, but you guys locked it up too fast for me to get a word in. But the contract fell through, right?”

  “Yeah, financial issues on their end.” I’d been a little bummed by the news yesterday, resigned to another week or so of advertising. It wouldn’t take long in this market. Houses moved blazing fast. It wasn’t insanely priced or anything. We were only asking a little under $300,000 for it, which I knew he could afford. Garrett had always been conservative with money, and with the inheritance he’d gotten from his grandfather last year, he’d definitely have a good down payment. “You like the house that much?”

  “You did a great job on the place. I won’t need to do anything to it. And it’s really close to work.” Garrett batted his eyes at me. “Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

  I snorted, coming out of the stretch altogether and standing. “You know very well my family would want you to have it. We just didn’t think you were ready to buy a house here yet.”

  “I know I’ve only been here two months, so it might be a bit quick for me to buy something, but…” Glancing away, he ducked his head, looking strangely shy. “I really like the job. Our coworkers are awesome. I love working with you again. And if it all goes well? I might get Michael on an actual date with me in the near future.”

  Coming around to his side, I straddled the weight bench he sat on. This was the first thing I’d heard about him and Sho. “You said that was going okay. You making progress?”

  “Yeah. Slowly.” As he rubbed at the back of his neck, a smile chased its way over his face. “Your better half gave me some good advice, to take things slowly and patiently with him, and it’s working. Michael’s hanging out with me more and more, and he doesn’t get all nervous about it now if I invite him to dinner or out for a movie. Every time we’re out together, I see him relax just a bit more. It’s like he’s finding his feet, figuring out how to accept me into his space.”

  I’d seen that myself in the office. Sho wasn’t really a touchy-feely person, but I’d seen him grab Garrett’s arm or hand several times now, the touch lingering as they spoke. It was incredibly cute.

  Not that I’d say that out loud. I preferred my jaw attached.

  “I’m really glad, man. For his sake and yours. I know Jon’s been downright gleeful about whatever he’s reading off you two. Not that he’ll tell me jack.”

  “He’s strangely good about keeping confidences, for all that he runs off at the mouth sometimes.” Garrett’s lips crooked up in a manner that suggested he contemplated mayhem. “By any chance, do you know Michael’s ex’s name?”

  “Nooo…” I drawled out, knowing very well where he headed with this. “But I’m sure I can find out. We need to have a chat with the man, after all.”

  “Just a small talk, make sure he understands that laying his hands on someone else is a no-no,” Garrett agreed deadpan. “It’s a community service, really.”

  “Absolutely,” I agreed mock-somberly. “I’ll get on that. You haven’t seen him, have you?”

  Garrett hesitated a long second before he said, “I haven’t. But sometimes there’s this dark blue car that shows up where we’re at. It spooks Michael. Nothing ever happens, and a couple of times he’s relaxed, like he’s realized it’s not the right vehicle. But sometimes he doesn’t. Those times worry me.”

  I bumped up finding the info to a higher priority. “I’ll ask. But if Jon doesn’t want to tell us, we can always look it up in the court system. The asshole’s got a restraining order against him, after all.”

  “Good point. Actually, might be better to just do that.”

  Probably would. If nothing else, it wouldn’t tip our hand. I clapped Garrett on the shoulder and then urged him into motion. “Come on. Showers. I need to head home. Sky’s going to be at our place soon.”

  Garrett hefted his water bottle with a sly grin. “You liked saying the ‘our,’ didn’t you.”

  I snorted and shoved him playfully, heading for the men’s locker rooms. I really had. After a full month of living with Jon—not including our trial period—I was still a little giddy with it. My lover had relaxed his guard utterly. No tension, no barriers between us, no anticipation things would fall apart. I still had no idea what I’d done to get him over that final hurdle, where he could trust in us completely, but we’d finally landed. Whatever it was, I didn’t question it.

  The men’s locker rooms were nicer here than most places, so I chose to shower and get changed before going home. Skylar wanted to come over today and do some sort of software update. Sometimes that was code for ‘I don’t want to be home, I want to hang out with you guys,’ and sometimes it really was a software update. I’d see shortly which way the chips fell today.

  As I waved bye to Garrett, my phone rang, and I answered it with a smile. “Mom, perfect timing. Got some news for you.”

  “Oh?” my mother answered brightly. “I’ve got some for you too. I’ll go first. Your brother just got approached by the FBI.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks and belly-laughed. “So they caught him after all?”

 
“I thought Jon was joking when he told us about that, but they really were serious, weren’t they?”

  “Dead serious. I mean, it sounded like a joke, but they really were impressed with Brandon. Well, okay, hopefully he has fun switching careers. If he gets to work with the same team I just did, he’ll have great coworkers.”

  “He’s really been at loose ends with his old job and not happy with it, so this is a good change regardless. What’s your news?”

  “Garrett wants to buy the house.” I continued my trek down the hallways, heading for my truck outside.

  “Don! Oh, I’m happy about that, I know he’ll take good care of the place. Why didn’t he say so earlier?”

  “Said he missed his timing. But can you call the real estate agent and tell her we have a friend who wants to buy the house? So she doesn’t accept offers from anyone else.”

  “I will. And I’ll call Garrett too. It’ll be nice having him close.”

  Garrett’s relationship with his own family was a little strange. They loved each other but didn’t seem to care if they stayed in contact. They could go a full year without saying boo to each other. Garrett actually had a better relationship with my parents than his own. He spoke to both Dad and Mom at least once a week.

  “I’ll let you two handle that. I’ve got a teenage girl heading to the house.”

  “Skylar? She hangs out with you two often.”

  “Yeah. Crap’s been happening at school and she escapes the drama by hanging out with us. Which is fine, she’s a cool kid.” My phone rang again in my hand, that beep beep of another incoming call, and I pulled it away from my face to look at the screen. Jim. If Jim was calling me on a Friday morning, odds were something had gone wrong somewhere. “Mom, boss is calling me. Gotta let you go.”

  “Sure. I’ll talk to you later.”

  She hung up and I instantly accepted Jim’s call, pausing just outside the main doors to the rec center. It was a bit cooler now with the mid-October weather, and I enjoyed the light breeze that washed over my skin. “Hey, Jim. Tell me something good.”

  “How about something weird?” He sounded both amused and intrigued.

  “Hey, I’m good with weird too. What’s happened?”

  “There’s been a murder in Sevierville. You know where that is?”

  “Uh…east of Knoxville, I think?”

  “You’re correct. About four hours from here. Anyway, the home owner died in his own bed, in a very famous haunted mansion.”

  Chills raced up and down my nerves, goosebumps raising along my arms. I hated anything supernatural. I did not do ghosts. “I see where you’re going with this, and I’m not a ghost hunter.”

  “None of us are. I don’t think the ghost did it, and that’s not why we’re being called in. The corpse has disappeared.”

  I blinked, staring up at the bright sunny day overhead, which was the least likely weather for a ghost story. We weren’t close enough to Halloween for this crap either. “Wait. What do you mean the corpse disappeared?”

  “I mean exactly that. I’m not clear on the details, but apparently only the victim’s daughter and people from the police department were in the house. They left the room for a minute, came back in, and presto! No body. They’ve torn the house apart looking for it, and still no idea. Now it looks like someone there absconded with it, and they can’t continue the investigation until everyone’s cleared.”

  This made more sense now. “And they’re calling us in to prove who’s guilty and innocent, is that it?”

  “That, and help them find the corpse. Every psychic closer to their neck of the woods is apparently unavailable. I was the seventh person the poor captain called, and he’s pretty desperate to get us over there and get the ball rolling.”

  “Yeah, I bet. Okay, I assume we need to go there now?”

  “You assume correctly. And pack a bag. We’ll need to stay there for at least two days.”

  Four-hour trip there, work the case, stay overnight. And that was if we could clear things up quickly, which…yeah, I wouldn’t bet on that. Cases were never open and shut, not when we were involved. “Okay. I’m not at home, but I’ll swing by and grab Jon. We’ll be on our way in the next half hour. Text me the address of where we need to go.”

  “Will do. You’ll probably beat us there. We need to grab the camera and other things. And I haven’t managed to reach Carol yet.”

  “Copy that. We’ll see you there.” I hung up and immediately called Jon. It would be best to give him a head’s up, as I was still fifteen minutes out. He answered on the third ring. “Hey, babe? We got a job.”

  “Today?” he protested in a near whine. “Come on, we’ve worked ten days straight! I had plans for you!”

  “Well, now I’m upset. Fun plans?”

  “I wouldn’t be upset if they were of the non-fun variety. So what’s happened this time?”

  “We got a spooky corpse conundrum in Sevierville. And babe, I gotta tell you, this is one case I am NOT looking forward to.”

  In an hour, we were packed and on the road, leaving a pouting Skylar behind at our place. It was a nice enough day for a drive, Jon in the driver’s seat so I could navigate and handle any phone calls coming in. I gave him a general update on things as we left Nashville behind us, taking 40 East in a straight shot across the state. Traffic was good to us and we made great time.

  “Garrett wants to buy the house,” I informed Jon.

  “Hooo,” he said thoughtfully with a glance at me. “I wondered. I’ve been picking up some interesting emotions from him recently. A desire for stability, mostly. I think he wants to stay near you and your family.”

  “Yeah, he’s always gotten along great with us. And my parents treat him like a son, more than his own do. He doesn’t have strong ties to his own family. Anyway, he’s going to put an offer in with us, and my mom’s thrilled. He also said he and Sho are hanging out more. But that was the good news.”

  Making a face, Jon sighed. “Of course there’s bad news too. What?”

  “When he and Sho go out, sometimes Sho gets really tense and nervous. Always at the sight of a dark blue sedan.” I watched Jon carefully, analyzing his reaction. Both of his hands tightened on the wheel to the point his knuckles shone, a frustrated grimace pulling at his face. “That belongs to Sho’s ex, doesn’t it?”

  “When I knew him, at least, he drove a dark blue Nissan.” Jon blew out a breath, all levels of tense. “Dammit. I thought he’d finally given up.”

  “Any reason why this guy’s stalking Sho a year after a breakup?”

  “Because he’s a controlling motherfucker who’s borderline obsessive. Look. This is between me and you, alright?”

  I nodded immediately. “Okay.”

  “The reason why he hit Sho? Was because he’d go places with other people. Even if it was just his brother. Roy—that’s his name—he wanted complete control over Sho. He wanted Sho to ask permission before even going to Walmart. It was insane. Sho fought with him a lot about it, and the relationship was already at the breaking point when Roy finally lost his temper and hit him. Sho got out immediately and called me, as I was closest to him at the time. I won’t lie, reading Roy’s lines scared me. I knew he was a little off when I first met him, but he’d been careful to not let me see him much after that first meeting. I didn’t realize how badly he’d degenerated.”

  Before this explanation, I’d not really understood what had gone down. Sho hated to talk about it, and Jon felt honor bound to keep his confidence. Knowing all this helped me understand just what I was dealing with, but if Jon was saying this much now? When he didn’t feel it appropriate before? Then shit really was going to hit the fan soon. My gut said so.

  “Do people really change like that? Fundamentally, I mean.”

  “Yeah, all the time. Humans are all about change, for better or worse. It’s why I won’t make snap judgements on someone I haven’t seen in a while. I never know how they’ve changed in the interim.” Jon gav
e another one of those stressed sighs. “I really wish Sho had said something to me about it. If he’s seeing the car, it’s in direct violation of the restraining order.”

  “What’s the distance on the restraining order?”

  “A mile, I think. It was either a mile or a mile and a half. Shouldn’t be hard to manage. Sho now lives in the Mt. Juliet area, far from where Roy was. If he’s seeing the car, it means Roy’s not ready to give up on him yet. We need to get documented evidence and report it.”

  “You think Sho hasn’t already done that?” I doubted it. Sho wasn’t a pushover, and more than tech savvy enough.

  Jon gave me a troubled look before returning his eyes to the road. “Yeah. You’re right, he likely has. Let’s follow up with him properly about this after we’ve sorted out the missing corpse.”

  The conversation turned to happier topics, and time flew by as it always did when I was with him. I did keep an eye on the GPS as we talked, and we made the necessary turns in order to reach our destination. I really wasn’t looking forward to the case. Ghosts gave me the absolute creeps. Horror was so not my thing. I tried not to think about it too hard. I was supposed to be the protector in this relationship, right? I felt like I was failing on the job to let anything scare me. To let fear get the better of my judgment.

  Besides, there was no such thing as ghosts, right? Right.

  We came up on a two-story brick building with a wide porch dominating the front, the railings all in white against the orange-red brick. It looked old. Really old. I wasn’t clear on the history of the property, but it had that vintage older-than-dirt style. It was also occupied. An ERV, two police SUVs with Sevierville Police Department written along the sides, and another brand-new Ford truck were all parked along the front driveway and the yard.

  “We’re definitely at the right place,” Jon noted as he pulled into the gravel driveway. He had to squeeze a little into an open spot on the right, mostly on the grass. There wasn’t any room to park, and I had a feeling that when the rest of our coworkers got here, they’d be parking along the street. “And it looks like everyone’s waiting for us on the front porch.”