walking faster now, and both Dex and I sped up, too, Dex still walking backward. “No, back then it was named after some Confederate general. Anyway, Mary fell in love with one of her teachers.”
“Gross,” Dex and I said at the same time.
Ignoring us, Romy continued. “So they had this big secret romance going on for a while, and then she got knocked up.”
“Double super gross,” Dex said, turning on his heel so that he wasn’t facing us anymore.
“So they were going to run away together,” Romy said with a shrug. “Or at least that’s what the teacher promised Mary. He was supposed to meet her in a cave right outside of town. It was where they’d been hooking up, apparently.”
“But he lied, and then she froze to death waiting for him, and now her ghost haunts the school where she met him,” I finished, almost without thinking.
It took me a second to realize that Romy and Dex had stopped walking. I stopped and glanced over my shoulder.
“How did you know that?” Romy asked. “You’ve lived here, what, a week?”
It had been less than that, but that wasn’t how I knew this particular ghost story. There were versions of it all over the place. It didn’t mean the story wasn’t necessarily true; it was just…kind of boring.
I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved. I’d told Mom this would be an easy case, but I hadn’t expected it to be quite this easy. This had to be the ghost we were dealing with.
I realized Dex and Romy were staring at me, waiting for an answer. “Oh, right. The Mary Evans thing. It was, uh, in the brochure they gave my mom about the school.”
Dex frowned. “We have a brochure? And it mentions the local ghost story?”
“Do you still have it?” Romy asked. “It would be a good thing to add to my file on Mary Evans.”
“I think we threw it out,” I said quickly, before trying to change the subject. “So you think that the ghost of Mary Evans is pissed at teachers or—”
Romy chewed her lower lip. “That’s what we thought at first. But if the Barbie is a warning for Beth like the frog was a warning for Mr. Snyder, what does that—”
Suddenly, Dex stopped, pressing a hand against his chest. He made a kind of wheezing sound, and at first I thought he was joking. But then Romy grabbed his arm. “Dex?”
He fumbled in his pocket, getting out his inhaler. He took two deep pulls on it, and the wheeze slowly started to fade. One more pull and his breathing sounded normal, if kind of fast. “Sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t trying to be a drama queen.”
“You shouldn’t have been running,” Romy chastised him, and he rolled his eyes.
“I was just walking quickly. And I’m fine now.” He raised his head, and while his face was a little pale, he didn’t seem to be in danger of keeling over. “Anyway, why don’t you go inform Anderson of this little aha moment? I think he has yearbook this period.”
When Romy hesitated, Dex waved her on. “Don’t worry. If Coach Lewis decides to grace us with his presence, I’ll tell him you went to the ladies’ room. That ought to scare him to death.”
“You’re sick, Dex,” Romy told him.
“Which is why you like me. Now go.”
Once Romy had dashed off, Dex turned to me. “Alone at last. So how’s your second day stacking up against your first?”
“They’ve both been full of peril, but since today involved less maiming, I’m gonna give it the edge.”
Dex laughed, but he still sounded out of breath. “I’m glad you decided to join our little ghost-busting gang.”
Shrugging out of his jacket, I handed it back to him and tried to sound casual as I asked, “Yeah, what’s with that? You don’t strike me as the ghost-busting type.”
Dex gave me a little half-smile, taking his coat. “I’m just full of mysteries, Miss Brannick,” he said. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to head back to my bleachers and my book. But I’ll see you on the bus.”
I watched his retreating back, wondering just what Dex’s mysteries might be.
CHAPTER 12
I’d hoped to get right to my first meeting of the Paranormal Management Society, but on the way home that afternoon, Romy informed me that for “budgetary reasons,” they could only meet every other week, which meant there wouldn’t be another meeting until the next Thursday. That gave me nearly ten days to