Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet Read Free Page A

for?”
    “You’ll have to buy food and spices and crap.”
    “I hate going to the grocery store.”
    “And you’ll have to learn to cook.”
    “Fine,” I said, letting a defeated breath slip through my lips. I had a fantastic
     flair for the dramatics when needed. “Send back everything that involves any kind
     of food preparation. I hate to cook.”
    “Do you want to keep the Jackie Kennedy commemorative bracelet?”
    “Do I have to cook it?”
    “Nope.”
    “Then it stays.” I lifted my wrist and twirled the bracelet. “Look how sparkly it
     is.”
    “And it goes so well with Margaret.”
    “Totally.”
    “Pumpkin butt,” Aunt Lil said.
    I looked up from my Jackie Kennedy commemorative bracelet. Now that she knew she was
     dead, I would never have to go through that surge of panic at the prospect of her
     insisting on cooking for me for two weeks straight. I almost starved to death the
     last time. I held up the bracelet. “Do you think this bracelet is too much?”
    “Jackie goes with anything, dear. But I wanted to talk to you about Cookie.”
    I looked in Cookie’s direction and frowned in disappointment. “What has she done now?”
    Aunt Lil sank down beside me and patted my arm. “I think she should know the truth.”
    “About Jackie Kennedy?”
    “About me.”
    “Oh, right.”
    “What in the world does this monstrous machine do?” Cookie asked from somewhere near
     the kitchen. A box appeared out of nowhere, hovering unsteadily over a mountain of
     other boxes.
    I smiled in excitement. “You know how sometimes we order coffee and it comes with
     that incredible foam on top?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, that machine does the magic foam trick.”
    Her dark head popped up. “No.”
    “Yes.”
    She looked at the box lovingly. “Okay, we can keep this. I’ll just have to carve some
     time out of my schedule to read the instructions.”
    “Don’t you think she should know?” Aunt Lil continued.
    I nodded. She had a point. Or she would have if Cookie didn’t already know. “Cook,
     can you come here a sec?”
    “Okay, but I’m working out a system. It’s in my head. If I lose it on the way over,
     I won’t be held accountable.”
    “I can’t make any promises.”
    She sauntered over, shaking another box at me, a disturbing kind of joy in her eyes.
     “Do you know how long I’ve wanted a salad spinner?”
    “People actually want those?”
    “You don’t?”
    “I think that was one of those four A.M. purchases where I’d lost all sense of reality. I don’t even know why anyone would
     want to spin a salad.”
    “Well, I do.”
    “Okay, so, I have some bad news.”
    She sat in a chair that catty-cornered the sofa, a wary expression on her face. “You
     got bad news since you’ve been sitting here?”
    “Kind of.” I tilted my head discreetly to my side, indicating a presence .
    Cookie frowned.
    I did it again.
    She shrugged in confusion.
    With a sigh, I said, “I have news about Aunt Lillian.”
    “Oh. Oh!” She looked around and questioned me with a quirk of her brows.
    I gave a quick shake of my head. Normally, Cookie would play along, pretending she
     could see Aunt Lil as well, but since Aunt Lil had finally caught on to the fact that
     she could walk through walls, I didn’t think that would be appropriate. I put a hand
     on hers and said, “Aunt Lil has passed away.”
    Cookie frowned.
    “She’s gone.”
    She shrugged in confusion. Again.
    “I knew she’d take it hard,” Aunt Lil said by my side. She sniffled into her sleeve
     again.
    I wanted so badly to roll my eyes at Cookie. She was not getting my hints. I’d have
     to try harder. “But you know how I can see the departed ?”
    A dawning emerged on Cook’s face as she realized Aunt Lil had caught on at long last.
    I patted her hand. Really hard. “She’s here with us now, just not as you will remember
     her.”
    “You mean—?”
    “Yes,” I said, interrupting before she could give anything away.