"Dead?" Zack echoed. He felt a little faint.

"Oh, please come in." Mrs. Payne requested.

The two detectives entered the house. Mrs. Payne gestured to the couch, so
they both sat. A man entered.

"Micheal, these gentlemen claimed to have known Frederick," Mrs. Payne
informed.

Micheal, or rather, Mr. Payne shrugged. "You probably met him in college.
Freddy was majoring in architecture."

"How did he die?" Josha asked.

"It's a long story. Frederick always liked to visit a pond in the nearby
park. Almost a year ago, the bridge spanning the pond was growing old and
weak. That night, Freddy was out on a walk and never returned. The bridge had
collasped. Divers went under the surface to search. They found his dead body
ten feet under, tangled in bits of the broken bridge. He always was a good
swimmer, but that pond is full of weeds."
Mr. Payne explained, expression changing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Payne, do you have Frederick's certificate of death?" Josha
inquired.

"Oh, yes." Mrs. Payne answered. She went to a desk across the room and opened
a drawer. "Do you need it? This is only a copy. We have the original stored
in our family records."

"We really have to go." Zack said, getting increasingly uneasy by the minute.
"Come on, Josha." They left, still clutching the death certificate.

As the detectives walked down the hillside, Josha asked. "So he's deceased.
The question is now how do we break it to Ivy?"

"We don't!" Zack retorted. "Look, Josha. I don't exactly enjoy the idea of
having a ghost for a brother-in-law, but we can't just expose him!"

"And why not?"

"Ivy doesn't believe in ghosts!"

"If this certificate doesn't convince her, nothing will."

"If you say so. At least you're not sniffing her hair. But if you want to
know, it smells like strawberries."

"It does smell like strawberries, yes," admitted Josha. "But you're
neglecting to mention that it also smells like peach blossoms and lavender.
And that's not our main concern. Ghost don't love the living. They're jealous
of them!"

Zack groaned inwardly.

******************************************************************************

******

Meanwhile, in a VILE hideout, Carmen was still debating over whether she
should accept the proposal. "This feeling can't be right. I know I love him,
but-"

"Carrrmen. Who are you talking to?" Sara Bellum asked as she strode into the
room. With her was Hannah Lulu.

"She's talking to me!" Francesca snapped as she suddenly materialized.

"Hannah, get out of here!" Carmen began to say-

Too late. Hannah had already seen Francesca. Her face paled, she screamed and
fainted.

"Whoops," Sara commented, stifling a giggle. "I had better get some water."
She shook Hannah, woke her up, and pulled her out of the room.

"I just saw a ghost...I just saw a ghost...." Hannah mumbled.

"Ha! And they call me MAD!" Sara said, accenting the last word heavily. "Not
to mention insane, looney, and hostile! And boy, were zay right!" she added
laughingly as she left.

As soon as the two henchwomen were out of earshot, Carmen turned to
Francesca. "Hannah Lulu is completely superstitious. You just scared half the
life out of her!"

Francesca only replied, "I'm a ghost. We have to have some fun. It's the same
with practical jokes."

Carmen shivered and drew her red trenchcoat closer to keep warm. Being with a
ghost somehow made room temperatures a lot colder.
******************************************************************************

**********
Back at ACME Headquarters, Zack and Josha were telling the Chief what they
had found out when Frederick and Ivy came in.

"I'm going to the lounge!" Zack announced, quickly making his exit. He didn't
want to be around Frederick any more than he had to be.

"Ivy? There's something about Frederick you should know...." Josha began.

"What is it?" Ivy asked in an irritated tone.

"I have his certificate of death here."

"What?!"

"Let me see!" Frederick said, trying to intercept the paper. Josha held it
away from him.
"Don't listen to this wacko inventor," the deceased architect complained as
he left.

Ivy turned on Josha fiercely. "I don't know where you got this sudden fear of
the truth!"

"This is the truth. Chief!"

"Not listening! Leave me out of this!" the Chief cried.

"Ivy, listen to me. You're dating a spirit from the dead! A ghost!" Josha
insisted, voice reduced to a mournful beg.

"Josha, I think you've been watching "Ghostbusters" too often." was the reply.

Back in the lounge, Zack was reading a copy of 'Nature World'. He noted that
some of the photo credits read "Christine Larson". He heard a familiar voice
call his name. He quickly looked up.

The speaker was dressed in blue jeans, a navy blue sweater over a white
dickey and loafers. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun. She wore no
perfume or makeup.
And yet she looked familiar.

"Antithesis?!"

"Correct." she said, looking slightly annoyed.

'Boy,' Zack thought silently. 'Ivy in love with a ghost. Antithesis in casual
clothes. Carmen being proposed to. Chief dating
one-glazed-donut-short-of-a-dozen Sara Bellum. I think we finally popped the
top of the weirdness meter with this one!'

To Be Continued...............