Moonrise Diner Read online

  Amanda turned to face him and sighed. "He was about to tell me when..."

  Phillip snorted and his mouth formed a crooked smile. "Yeah, he was cut off just like in the movies. I'm surprised there wasn't a knife sticking from his back."

  "A man is dead, Phillip, this is no time for jokes."

  Phillip winced. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Amanda, but death makes me a little goofy. I'll stop. But really, any idea who he might have been talking about?"

  She nodded her eyes drifting to the vacant chair next to him then moving back to him. "Actually, there were several gangsters in the trial transcript Gib said may have been the murderer."

  Phillip arched a single eyebrow. "Really, any idea, which one Milt might have known?"

  "Oh, I expect he knew them all but his ghost told me the name of one who was jealous of Gib and who threatened Lucy."

  "Well, why didn't you say so before?"

  "Because my dear, Phillip, Milt's ghost just sat down beside you and shared the name with me."

  Phillip chuckled. Since partnering with Amanda on several cases nothing shocked him anymore and he fully accepted her talents were very real. "I love it when you use your gift. It really is so cool."

  Amanda ginned. "Thanks, partner. We're going to find Al "Stinky" Garbone, the man who allegedly murdered Lucy Dark."

  She knew then she didn't need to find Stinky Al because the murder of Lucy was pure cause and effect. Amanda's paranormal senses told her something was rotten in Arizona. Neither Milt nor this faceless small time wise guy, Stinky Al, killed Lucy. She knew now who committed the murder and who should pay the price.

  ***

  Amanda entered the Moonrise Diner with Phillip a step behind her. Upon seeing the diner's interior she pulled up short and he ran into her from behind nearly causing her to stumble and fall. "Hey! Watch it."

  "Sorry," Phillip said after stepping away from her. "What's up?"

  "Look at this place," Amanda said waving her arms at the pile of wood wreckage around them. It actually seemed worse than before.

  Phillip scanned the restaurant. "Yeah, it looks like an old dumpy broken down diner."

  Amanda had never expected to find the diner shiny and new like when they left here last time, but the dilapidated condition of the long abandoned building caught her off guard. Dust and mold covered every shattered booth and the rotting counters were weathered and sand blown in through the gaping holes in the walls.

  She hadn't realized how bad it was inside before since it had been dark the last time they were here. In the daytime she worried the ceiling would fall on them any second. This wasn't so much a haunted diner as a had-it diner.

  "Uhhh, Uncle Gib? Aunt Lucy?" Amanda stepped forward tentatively unsure if the floor might collapse beneath her at any second. She froze when the floorboard under her creaked followed by a loud snapping sound.

  Suddenly the broken down restaurant began to transform once again beginning at the far wall.

  Amanda closed her eyes as the wave of change came rushing toward her. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Within seconds there was a soft whirr then a cool breeze washed over her. Opening one eye she saw a smiling Gib standing behind the transformed lunch counter beside Lucy who also grinned at her.

  "Whew," she said, "I'm so glad to see you two." Amanda collapsed with relief on an empty stool while Phillip sat on the one next to her. She shot him a glance and saw he his eyes looked as relieved as she felt. The diner had been regenerated before it fell on them.

  "Do you have good news?" asked Gib, his handsome face eager as a child on his birthday.

  "Sort of," began Amanda uncertain how Gib and Lucy would accept the death of his old partner. Much like taking off a Band Aid it was best to pull it off in one go. "Milt's dead."

  Gib's face sagged. "Really?"

  Amanda nodded. "But I did manage to speak to him while he was still alive."

  "So you killed him?" said Lucy as she wiped the counter with a white cloth.

  "No, of course not, I don't kill people. I just talk to dead people." She hesitated realizing how ridiculous this sounded. But then Gib and Lucy were ghosts and she was talking to them.

  Gib glanced at Lucy. "Why don't you get them some coffee?" Lucy nodded and walked to the stainless steel coffee brewer station standing on the service counter in front of the wall separating the kitchen from the counter area. The brewer had three warmers each with a glass carafe containing black coffee. The two on the side warmers were half full; the one under the dispensing spout was three quarters full.

  Ghosts must drink a lot of coffee.

  Lucy filled two white ceramic mugs then came back to set them on the lunch counter in front of them. "I'll get the creamer and the sugar," she said. She quickly returned with a stainless steel creamer with a hinged lid, a mint green ceramic bowl filled with white sugar, and two spoons.

  Phillip looked at Amanda his eyes curious. She shrugged then reached to grasp the mug and realized it was warm. Raising the mug she sipped the coffee and it tasted slightly nutty and rich. How was this possible?

  Lucy looked anxious. "Is it OK?"

  Amanda nodded. "Yeah, it's good." Phillip raised his mug and took a small sip. His eyes went wide.

  Amanda grinned and set the mug back on the counter. "As I was saying I spoke to Milt and he told me who really murdered Lucy." Seeing the fear in Gib's ghostly eyes she paused. It seemed every case brought new experiences. A ghost afraid? Who knew?

  She cleared her throat then continued. "Anyway, Milt says some guy named Stinky Al murdered Lucy—"

  "I knew it!" Gib cut her off and turned to face his wife. "You and Al? Really?"

  Lucy took two steps back from Gib her body trembling fear in her eyes. "Gib, it wasn't like that..."

  Gib walked up to her and pressed an index finger into her chest "Really? You and Al were cheating on me behind my back, weren't you? You lousy whore! Slut!" It was then Amanda realized Gib had a chef's knife gripped in his right hand. He stepped up and slashed the blade across Lucy's throat.

  Since she was a ghost her head separated from her body floating in mid air, but no blood came from the wound. "Gib!" Lucy's disembodied head screamed at her husband. "You bastard! You killed me again."

  Amanda leaned closer to Phillip in order not to be heard. "I think it's time we exited stage left."

  Phillip raised one eyebrow. "Huh?"

  "Let's go and leave these two lovebirds alone."

  They rose simultaneously from the stools and hurried to the door just as the diner began to change to its former state of about to collapse.

  Once outside they watched as the diner's four walls collapse inward with a loud crash. Then the roof fell onto the pile of broken, weather-grayed wood enveloping them in a cloud of dust and sand. The diner was now a pile of kindling.

  "What just happened?" said Phillip coughing as the dust cloud settled over them. Trying in vain to brush off his tan shorts and cactus green shirt he turned to face Amanda who shook her head to shake some of the dust out of her hair.

  She snorted to clear her nostrils and spat sand from her mouth. "The end of the Moonrise Diner obviously, but also the truth."

  "What truth?"

  "Gib killed Lucy and got away with it. Blaming Milt then Stinky Al, they were decoys, or maybe an excuse to fool himself, or to bury his guilt, or who knows why. Whatever the reasons, my Uncle Gib is exactly who he appeared to be."

  "What now?"

  Amanda smirked. "Well, I expect with the destruction of the diner they've both crossed over." She scanned the wreckage. "Somehow I don't think Gib is much liking where he ended up."

  Phillip stepped up and wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back feeling his heart beating against her chest. "What about you?" he said softly.

  "I'm better. Much better."

  Whoever said the truth will set you free knew exactly what they were talking about because Amanda Dark had never felt as free as she did right now.

  About the Autho
r

  International selling author, Russ Crossley writes science fiction and fantasy, and mystery/suspense as well as their various subgenres.

  His latest science fiction satire set in the far future, Revenge of the Lushites, is a sequel to Attack of the Lushites released in 2011. The latest title in the series was released in the fall of 2013. Both titles are available in e-book and trade paperback.

  He has sold several short stories that have appeared in anthologies from various publishers including; WMG Publishing, Pocket Books, and St. Martins Press.

  He is a member of SF Canada and is past president of the Greater Vancouver Chapter of Romance Writers of America. He is also an alumni of the Oregon Coast Professional Fiction Writers Master Class taught by award winning author/editors, Kristine Katherine Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith.

  Feel free to contact him on Facebook, Twitter, or his website http:www.russcrossley.com. He loves to hear from readers.

  Other titles from 53rd Street Publishing you may enjoy

  http://www.53rdstreetpublising.com

  Other books by the Author

  Razor and Edge Mysteries

  The Kidnapping of Billy Buttons

  String of Pearls

  Death by Clown

  Beggin' For Murder

  Ragged Ice

  The Grand Central Mystery

  A Strange Case of Undead Murder

  Jazz Stiletto Mysteries

  A Day Without Sunshine

  Skullduggery

  Instrument of justice (first published in Over My Dead Body online mystery magazine)

  The Amanda Dark paranormal mysteries

  Hook Island

  Grind Manor

  Moonrise Diner

  A Father’s Daughter

  The Trudy Wilson Mysteries

  Bad Loyalty

  Shear Murder

  Buzzcut coming soon

  Novels

  Attack of the Lushites

  Revenge of the Lushites

  My Zombie Prince

  Antique Virgin

  The Fire In Their Hearts

  with R.S. Meger (from Champagne Books)

  Zomopolis

  The Last Serial Killer

  Short Stories

  Countdown

  Shoeless Moe

  Round Up At The Burger Bar:

  The Story of Trixie Pug, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Five Minutes

  Blossom Queen, Barbarian

  The Secret

  The Family Line

  End of the Flies

  Death by Magic

  The Penguin Sleeps With The Fishes

  Only The Worthy

  Hero For A Day

  End of Empire

  Strange Bedfellows

  Big Business

  A Perfect Crime

  The Wise Guy and The Pirates

  In Search of the Perfect Cup

  T.I.N. Men

  The Legend of G and the Dragonettes

  The Incredible Mr. Fix-It

  Lock Stock and Barrel

  Divided Loyalties

  Cave of Wonders

  A Family Empire

  Until We Meet Again

  Dragon Rising

  Solitary Man

  The Keel Mountain Conspiracy

  Angel on My Shoulder

  Heroes of Old

  The Great Bicycle Race

  Tikka's Big Day

  "My Partner the Zombie" —

  Hungry For Your Love Anthology

  (St. Martin's Press)

  Big Hairy Deal

  One Red Shoe

  A Bad Day in Lunden Texas

  Bloody Betty, Queen of the Pirates

  Mirror Image

  Dangerous Waters

  Cape Disappointment

  Boomerang

  The Watcher of Wayburn Street

  The Apprentice

  Drip!

  A Beautiful Friendship and The Parrot of Doom

  Robine's Diary

  The Christmas Club

  Loose Ends

  Splatter Pattern

  It Takes Two

  Lexicon

  Replacement Parts

  Sidekicks

  Lost Stories

  Time and Space

  Survivors

  Neighborhood Watch

  Unnatural Immortal

  Rum Runner’s Lounge

  It’s A Small Galaxy

  A Shattered Man

  Betrayed

  Replacement Parts

  Clubhouse Heroes

  Anthologies

  Tales of Urban Fantasy

  Five Tales of Bizarre Detectives

  Tales of Mystery and Suspense

  Tales of Weird Fantasy

  Spies, Detectives, & Heroes

  Tales of Twisted Crime

  Tales of The Unexpected

  Tales From Space

  10 by Russ Crossley

  Round Up At The Burger Bar: The Story of Trixie Pug,

  Parts 1- 5 The Beginning

  Worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy

  More Tales of Mystery and Suspense

  Ladies of the Jolly Roger

  Justice Served

  Love Stories

  Ladies of the Jolly Roger with R.S. Meger

  The Adventures of Razor and Edge:

  Five Tales From The Quirky Detective Team

  An Unexpected Journey

  On Edge

  Non-Fiction

  The Writers Tools - The Synopsis

  Also available from 53rd Street Publishing

  Aloha Armstrong, The Woman from L.I.P.S returns in an exciting new adventure. Her mission: to go undercover as sheriff of Zomopolis, a domed town where incurable zombies are kept until a cure can be found, to discover the fate of the previous sheriff who went missing under mysterious circumstances.

  She soon discovers a town filled with secrets, people who might not be who they claim to be, and a deadly conspiracy than threatens to destroy humanity. Handsome diner owner Hanson Braddock, a man with his own secrets, offers his help but can she trust him?

  Surrounded by possible enemies Aloha must face a decision that will change her life forever.

  Will Aloha save the world from certain doom or is this her final mission?

  The book may be purchased from your favorite online bookseller or ordered from your local book store.