Sticking To It

I looked through the frosted glass of the front door. The silhouettes of two people could be plainly seen, thrown into sharp relief by the setting sun behind them.

One of them was speaking. “We’ll get to the bottom of this real quick, Inspector.”

I rolled my eyes. Officer Saggot was back. And by the looks of it, had brought reinforcements.

One of them put a finger on the bell and left it there.

I jerked the door open, startling the two men standing on the front step. “Officer?”

“Oh, erm . . . Mrs. Sputterling, I mean Kayser,” the officer said. He hitched his uniform up over his too, too solid midsection. “Yes . . . well . . . um . . . I'm back.”

I nodded. I mean, he was standing right there. Hard to miss. I leaned against the edge of the door. “Yes, Officer?”

He waggled a finger at me. “And to make sure there are no more shenanigans, I’ve brought Inspector Wilson with me.”

The way the title rolled off his tongue, I almost felt I should be bowing. I glanced at the man beside him. About retirement age. Short. Lean. With a gleaming bald head and thick, bushy eyebrows. “So?”

Now, I know you know I’m really not a rude person. But I’d been accused of nasty things by this officer and I wasn’t feeling charitable. Plus, I still hadn’t found my sister. Okay, yes, I had spoken to her, but you also know that speaking to Norma without benefit of visual aid is usually . . . unproductive. Or downright confusing.

“Mrs. Kayser.” The Inspector had decided to get into the conversation. “May we come in?”

I stood back and swung the door wide. “Of course. But I don’t know what you are going to be able to do.”

The two men stepped into the front hall.

“My colleague informs me that you have been uncooperative on this investigation.”

I frowned sharply. “I have not!” I snapped. “It’s just that he didn’t believe me!”

The inspector’s eyebrows went up. They looked like two big, fat caterpillars perched above his eyes.

“Did you know your eyebrows look like big, fuzzy caterpillars?” someone asked.

I suppressed a smile.

“I . . . erm . . . what?” The inspector looked around. “Who said that?”

“It’s her! The sister. I told you!” The officer leaned toward his colleague, looking smug. “Still up to their tricks!”

The inspector narrowed his eyes and looked at me. “Would you be so kind as to explain this, Ma’am?”

I shrugged. “I will but you won’t believe me.”

He merely waited.

I sighed. “This house is haunted.”

The Inspector sucked in a quick breath.

I paused, but when he said nothing, went on. “My sister has been quite friendly with the spirit or spirits who live here. Christmas, BBQ’s. Weekends at the lake. She invites them to everything. Yesterday, she disappeared in the middle of a conversation about going to the ‘other side’ for a visit.”

Officer Saggot snorted. “See? And she expects us to swallow this!”

But the Inspector was looking . . . interested. “Go on,” he said.

I blinked. “Well . . . there’s not much more to tell.” I scratched my head. “I’ve talked with her. She says she having fun. Norma never really was much into details.”

“So she’s on the other side right now?”

I nodded.

The eyebrows again as he tipped his head toward me. “Could I talk to her?”

His colleague looked at him, a sharp frown on his round face. “Sir, I . . .”

“If you aren’t interested, go wait in the car, Saggot!”

“No. No, I’m interested,” he said hurriedly.

“Well, we can try,” I told him. I looked up. “Norma? Are you here?”

“Well where else would I be!” Norma sounded a little testy. “I live here, don’t I?”

“The inspector wants to talk to you.”

“I heard!” There was a pause. “So? What do you want to talk about?”

“Well . . . maybe you’d like to describe to me . . . erm . . . where you are?”

“I’m right here!”

He looked around. “I don’t see you.”

“Well, on the other side of right here.”

“Could you describe it?”

A sigh. “Foyer. Stairway. Doors to the front room and the outside. Hallway to the back of the house. My sister and two policemen standing looking around. I don’t know. What do you want to hear?”

“That’ll do.” The inspector was looking more and more  . . . happy? Excited?

“Sir, I really think we should be . . .”

“Quiet, Saggot!”

The officer pressed his lips together and took a step back.

“So you don’t have to wait for night or the light of a full moon or anything like that to talk to us?” the Inspector asked.

“Nope.” Norma was sounding a little more cheerful. “The lines are always open.”

“Are there other . . . people there?”

“Oh, yeah. Lots of them.”

“Any . . . young people?”

I looked at him. His expression had just gotten very intense.

“Oh yeah!” I could hear the smile in Norma’s voice. “They keep things hopping!” Her voice lowered a bit in volume, almost as though she had turned away from us.” “Yeah. Yeah. Okay.”

“What?” the Inspector asked.

“Oh, I was just talking to someone. I’m supposed to give you this.”

A hockey stick appeared out of the air, narrowly missing Saggot as it clattered to the floor between the two officers.

Enjoying this episode of the Sputterling Sisters?
Catch up with them here:
From Over There

Barbecue With Spirits
Something Scary
Beached
Christmas with the Sputterlings
Raindance

Tell-Tale Sneeze
Sisters
Catching Up

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.  

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them. 

My words for September: bell ~ moon ~ hockey stick ~ real ~ car

They were submitted by: Karen at http://Bakinginatornado.com   

Now go and see what the others have done with the challenge!

Baking In A Tornado

Cognitive Script

The Blogging 911

The Bergham Chronicles

Southern Belle Charm

Bookworm in the Kitchen

Part-time Working Hockey Mom
TaylorLife
Climaxed