Make the Ghost of It (Witch Woods Funeral Home Book 3): (Ghost Cozy Mystery series) by Morgana Best Page A

Lowes?”
    “Did you know him?” he asked me.
    “I only met him in passing when he was on his way to the drop zone,” I said. “Such a terrible thing.”
    “The police said they don’t know how long they’ll take with his body,” Norbert said. “For that reason, we thought we should hold a memorial service. Violet and I have pressing business, but we’ve contacted everyone who would like to attend such a service, and they all said they can come at once. I know it’s short notice, but do you have a vacancy for this week?”
    I nodded. “Funerals are always at short notice. People don’t usually book months in advance.”
    Neither Norbert nor Violet showed any amusement at my statement. Both simply nodded solemnly.
    I made a show of looking through my appointment book and took the opportunity to look them over. Norbert was good looking in a similar way to Lewis. Violet, on the other hand, was strikingly attractive. I could not guess her age—she could have been anything from twenty-five to fifty. Her skin was glowing, and she had long straight blonde hair and a slim figure. Had she been taller, she could easily have been mistaken for a supermodel.
    “Do you mind me asking how you knew Mr. Lowes?”
    Violet and Norbert exchanged glances. “We were friends,” Violet said. It was the first time Violet had spoken, and although she spoke softly, her voice held the commanding presence of a drill sergeant.
    I pushed on. “Had you known him long?”
    They both nodded. “We all met at college, and the three of us have been friends ever since.”
    That was news to me. “Do you know my accountant, Basil Sandalwood?” I asked them. “Apparently he went to college with Lewis, too. He was with Lewis when, well, you know…” My voice trailed away.
    “We don’t know Mr. Sandalwood,” Norbert said. “They were probably doing law or accounting classes together. Lewis also took archeology classes, and that’s how we met him.”
    I nodded. “Oh, you’re archeologists?”
    They both looked aghast. “Good gracious me, no,” Violet said. “We took those classes just because there were no exams.”
    I changed the subject. “What day would you like the memorial service?”
    “Is tomorrow too soon?” Violet asked me.
    “Tomorrow?” I echoed.
    “Is it too soon?” Norbert said.
    I shook my head. “No, not for us, but is it too soon for Lewis’s friends and family?”
    Norbert looked somewhat uncomfortable, but answered readily enough. “Lewis doesn’t have any family. That is to say, he has no living relatives at all. He does have friends, though, and Violet and I have contacted all of them, and most of them can make it tomorrow. Violet and I needed to leave town as soon as possible, because we have pressing business.”
    I bet you do , I thought cattily. I thought of all the puns I could make. I suppressed a weird urge to giggle. “Do you have anyone in mind to take the service?” I managed to say.
    Norbert looked blank. “Don’t you organize that?”
    “Yes,” I said. “I most certainly can. Most people use the minister from their own church, but I’ll check to see if Pastor Green is available. He does non-denominational and inter-denominational services.”
    Norbert and Violet did not seem to care. “He will be fine,” Violet said dismissively.
    We then moved to discussing prices. “We want the standard, average service,” Violet said.
    I was silent for a moment, pondering her words. What would be her motivation for saying that? Did she want the cheapest service, but didn’t want to say so?
    I stared at her again. There was just something about her that I didn’t like. She didn’t appear to be the sort of person that one warms to. There was something cold and forbidding about her. I wondered why she hadn’t told me that she had been Lewis’s fiancée. Surely that would have been the normal thing to do?
    I stabbed the folder in front of me. “This is the service that most people have,” I