The Girl with the Uninvited Ghost: Pandemonium Cozy Mystery #1

Chapter 29

Half an hour later, Tony, Evelina, Mahogany, and Guy entered Tipsy O'Lush's. The place was packed with Friday night revelers sending a din of conversation and alcohol fumes into the enclosed space.

Tony approached the crowded bar and inquired as to Steve's whereabouts. The bartender leaned towards Tony and yelled into his ear to be heard above the cacophony. Tony nodded his thanks and returned.

"Steve's working at the moment," Tony said, bouncing from foot to foot. A crease pulled his eyebrows together.

"What's wrong with you?" Evelina said. "Do you need the little boy's room?"

Tony shook his head. "Steve's in the basement moving kegs and organizing boxes."

"The basement?" Mahogany said, her face scrunching into a mask of disgust. An image of a worn corduroy couch marred with unknown bodily fluids materialized in Mahogany's head.

She turned to Guy. "Are you sure you want your murder solved?"

Guy crossed his arms over his chest. "Wimp."

Mahogany turned to Tony and Evelina. "Guy's fine with being a ghost. He says we don't need to go to the basement and witness Steve and Nancy's love nest."

"Quit being such a virgin." Evelina grabbed Mahogany's arm and guided her through the crowd to the basement door at the back of the pub.

Evelina pulled open the door and descended, towing Mahogany behind her, followed by Tony and Guy.

The well-lit basement was the exact dimensions as the pub above. The dry concrete floor met sturdy brick walls lined with boxes and kegs. A scraping sound traveled to them from deeper in the basement.

They followed the sound and discovered a teenage boy puffing over a keg as he maneuvered it into place alongside several others. A multitude of coiled nylon tubes ran from the various casks through the basement ceiling connecting to the tabs at the bar above.

Steve was a short chubby red-headed kid of about seventeen. A light dusting of acne mingled with dark brown freckles on his cheeks and forehead. Mahogany, Tony, and Evelina exchanged puzzled looks.

Tony cleared his throat, making Steve jump and almost upend the keg.

"What are you doing down here?" Steve's pitchy voice died against the brick walls.

"Are you Steve?" Mahogany asked. Her mind whirled as she tried to reconcile the posh and put together Nancy Roberts and the frumpy boy before her.

"Who wants to know?" Steve returned to affixing the fresh keg to the taps upstairs, turning his back on the intruders.

"We're making inquiries into the murders that happened last Tuesday. Do you happen to know anything about that?" Evelina watched Steve for any signs of guilt.

"Uh, why would I?" Steve asked. He parked the hand truck and began loading it with boxes of bottled beer.

"So you have an alibi?" Tony said.

"Why would I need one?" Steve paused his work and gazed at Tony, frowning.

"What can you tell us about Nancy?" Evelina asked, taking a step towards Steve to read his expression better.

"Nancy?" Steve's voice came out as a squeak rather than a word. He cleared his throat. "What about Nancy?"

"Were you with her the night of the murders?" Mahogany asked, her gaze running over Steve's chubby frame.

"No," Steve squeaked again. "She's my friend's mom. Why would I be with her?"

Evelina peered around the basement and spotted the infamous couch. "So if I were to test those couch cushions for yours and Nancy's DNA, I wouldn't find any?"