Page 48 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

“Hmm. I wonder what’s up. He’s not into wine.”

Harper laughed. “No. Not at all. But I am into wine, so let me grab a couple of bottles before he gets here.”

It was good to see Harper laugh. It had been a long time since she’d looked relaxed enough to enjoy anything. Unfortunately, after that ominous text from Stone, Natalie had a feeling Harper’s good mood was about to end.

All it took was one look at Stone’s expression as he rushed into the shop for Natalie to know her guess was right.

She’d just put the two bottles of wine in a bag for Harper when Stone reached the counter and said in a burst, “They found one of your pens at the site of Alice’s crash.”

“What?”

“Those pens you have with your name on them. The village crew was clearing the storm drains and they were at the spot where Alice crashed when they found your pen.”

“I buy those pens by the thousand to give away at book signings and events. Half the people in this town probably have those pens. Is the sheriff seriously trying to pin Alice’s accident on me too? Why in the world would I want to harm Alice?”

“No one is going to pin anything on you, because the guys gave the pen to me.”

“So now you, the mayor, are withholding evidence from the sheriff? That’s great. That’s going to look really good in the local paper and on WBNG news when it comes out.”

“It’s not going to come out,” Stone argued. “The crew are loyal. The sheriff will never know what they found or that I have it.”

Harper, eyes glistening, shook her head. “Stone⁠—”

“Okay, you two. Listen. It doesn’t matter even if the sheriff had the pen. He can’t pin this on you. You were here, with me and Liam and Agnes when Red came to tell us Alice had crashed. Remember? You have an airtight alibi.”

She nodded, still looking shaky. “You’re right.

“And aside from that, when Alice wakes up she’ll tell everyone exactly what caused her accident.”

“See? That’s why I didn’t turn the pen in as evidence. You have an alibi. I knew you obviously had nothing to do with it,” Stone said.

“Alibi?” Liam walked in through the back door. “What’s happened that Harper had nothing to do with? Has there been another attack?”

“No. Nothing new. The village crew found one of Harper’s pens at the site of Alice’s accident. But it’s probably just that Alice had the pen on her when she fell,” Natalie said.

Liam pressed his lips together. “Or…” he began.

Natalie didn’t like the sound of that or…

“Or what?” she asked.

He drew in a breath. “What if the entity has the power not just to frighten Alice into crashes, but also to plant evidence at the scene?”

“No. It couldn’t…” She shook her head. “Could it?”

So far, none of the ghosts she’d come in contact with could move things in the physical world.

Liam wobbled his head to one side. “What if it not only causes fear, but it feeds on it? And every attack strengthens its power.”

“The batteries,” Natalie remembered. “The entity drained the power from all of our batteries the morning Alice was attacked.”

“Yup.” Liam nodded.

“Jeezus.” Stone ran his hand over his face. “I guess I’m out of the loop, but what entity are we talking about?”

“The brain ghost,” Natalie said.

Liam nodded and repeated, “The brain ghost.”