“Well, I was just asking,” Alice whimpered. “Let’s see. There was Birda and her other two investigators—Tallulah and Pearl.”
“I didn’t talk to them.”
“Well, let me think. Birda has so much personality the others sort of fall by the wayside, but if I remember correctly, about a year ago Pearl was going to leave the group and start her own investigation team.”
I scraped a bit of crust onto my fork. “Why?”
Alice pursed her lips. “I think it was because Birda took credit for something she didn’t do.”
“What? See a ghost?”
“I think that was it.” Alice sipped her coffee. “That made Pearl and Cora so mad they wanted to leave. But somehow Birda managed to smooth things over. She came out and apologized is what she did.”
“Is that all?”
“Let me think.” Alice mulled it over for a few minutes.
Sheesh. She’d be dead and I’d be her age by the time she worked the whole situation out in her head.
“Well, then there’s Tallulah Bankston.”
“Tallulah Bankston?”
“That was the other woman. The one with the blue hair.”
I had barely glanced at the women—this Pearl and Tallulah had escaped my scrutiny. After all, there had been other distractions like moonshine and pork butt that had seemed much more interesting than a foursome of old women.
“What about Tallulah?”
“Well,” Alice said slowly, chewing on her words, “Cora and Tallulah had lived together for a while after their husbands died. Apparently Tallulah wanted to run card games from her house and charge the other senior citizens pennies to join, but Cora considered that gambling.”
“And gambling is a sin,” I murmured.
“Right. Apparently Cora let it get out about what Tallulah was doing, and the old sheriff paid them a visit. Shut down the operation.”
I rubbed my thumb over the porcelain mug. “Doesn’t sound like they made much money from it if it was a penny operation.”
“It wasn’t that,” Alice said. “It was the fact that all the church folks found out about it. Tallulah wasn’t as welcome at Bible study after that, if you know what I mean.”
“So Cora ruined Tallulah’s social standing in Haunted Hollow.”
“As far as I know,” Alice said. “Isn’t it funny that in a town full of ghosts, a little bit of play gambling would get someone in trouble?”
“I’ve heard of stranger things,” I muttered. “But was their split that bad? They’re both still Birda’s Chicks.”
“Only because Birda made them sign a contract.”
My eyes flared. “A contract? To hunt for ghosts?”
Alice shrugged. “Birda runs a tight ship, Blissful. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
I sighed, annoyed that we hadn’t found a knife in Birda’s clothes. If anyone was close to being certifiably crazy, it was her. Making folks sign a contract? Very strange.
I sorted through the information Alice had given me. “At least we’ve got a place to start.” I rapped my knuckles on the table. “First thing tomorrow I’ll go talk to Tallulah.” I paused. “But there’s one thing that bothers me.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone’s clearly targeted Ruth. Her jacket was ripped. Was there anyone in that group that might also have a problem with her?”
