by Rose Pressey
A short time later, I made it to the library safely. The large Victorian Gothic-style building dominated the entire area, commanding attention—it never wanted to be forgotten. The hauntingly beautiful three-story building that housed the library was constructed of stone and brick. Rivets, gables, and a tower set in the center of the structure decorated the façade. A steeply pitched roof topped it off with ornamental gables for a finishing touch. Big wide wooden doors led into the marble-floored vestibule.
The library had another unique feature—a graveyard right out front. It had been there long before the library had been built in 1851. Every day when I walked by that spooky graveyard with its faded headstones a chill ran down my spine and my heart thumped faster. No matter how quickly I walked, it always felt as if someone watched me. Mr. Bilson, the man who constructed the library was buried there so that he could always be close to his beloved building. Plus, the first Bilson Library librarian had her final resting place in the graveyard too. Her ghost liked to chitchat with me via electronics. Actually, Annie Gibson used text messages, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, too. Needless to say, she had embraced modern life.
Just walking by the spot that was still marked off as the crime scene sent a shiver down my spine. The crime scene wasn’t exactly in front of the library, but it had been close enough. The man probably had just been walking by when it happened. Had someone been following him? Had it been a robbery? Surely Brannon would have more answers soon. Now that I’d had time to think about it, I figured it was doubtful the man had been here to see me. The fact that he was from Nashville had just been a coincidence.
Chapter 5
I was the first one at the library this morning. I turned on all the lights and put my bag away. Immediately I went for my phone to call Brannon and tell him what had happened. He wasn’t going to believe this.
Annie was nowhere in sight yet. Jane Austen had greeted me with a meow. She weaved around my legs as I made my way to the reference desk. The fluffy black cat had adopted the library and all occupants as her own. Before calling Brannon, I had to feed Jane Austen.
I placed her breakfast and water into the dishes that we kept behind the desk. “Breakfast is served, Ms. Austen.”
She would expect some of her favorite treats soon. It was a good thing I had picked up an extra package last time I’d gone shopping. She wouldn’t be happy if I forgot them. I hoped Brannon answered this time, though he still might not be awake. If he didn’t answer, I’d have to leave a message and tell him I’d been accosted by a reporter and cameraman. I’d tell him to call me as soon as possible, careful not to make it sound like an emergency, though.
Luckily, on the second ring, he answered. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” I said.
“No, I was just waking up, it’s okay. Is everything all right?” he asked with a hint of worry.
“Not exactly okay, but I guess it’s nothing serious. I was confronted this morning.”
“By the killer? A ghost?” He started filling in the blank.
“A reporter,” I said around a sigh.
“A reporter?” he asked with confusion.
“Yes, from the news in Nashville. They wanted to know about the murdered man. They assumed because it was in front of the library that I knew something about the murder. I guess word got all the way to Nashville.”
“What did you tell the reporter?” Brannon asked.
“I told her that I had no idea about the murder. Which is true.”
“Okay, don’t worry. I’ll get in touch with the media and see if I can get them to leave you alone,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said.
Would it be that easy though? Somehow, I doubted it.
“Are you available for lunch?” Brannon asked. “No wait, I have a meeting at noon. Maybe we should do that dinner.”
“Sorry, but I have the tour tonight.”
“The tour, right,” he said around a deep breath. “Okay, well, lunch then?”
“We can do dinner this weekend,” I said. “Sunday night?”
“Sunday night it is,” he said.
“You still have time for lunch after the meeting though, right?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Unless of course something comes up with the case.”
“Of course,” I said. “Okay, I have a text message. It’s probably Annie. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Love you, Rip,” he said.
“I love you too.”
After ending the call, I checked the message on my phone. It was in fact from Annie.
There’s another ghost in this library. I don’t know who he is or where he came from but expect to see him. He’s been very active. I can’t believe you didn’t see him on the cameras.
With so much else going on I never thought to check in on the library cameras. Patrons could log in to check the library for ghosts too. I wondered if anyone had seen this ghost Annie talked about. Some people had managed to capture screenshots of Annie caught on video. Annie hated that. She was camera shy.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see neither,” I said, looking around for Annie or the ghost that she was talking about. “Have you talked to him?”
Actually, he said he wanted to talk to you.
“To me? What does he want with me?” I asked.
He didn’t offer that much information. He’s probably in his thirties with dark hair. He didn’t give me his name. I’ll be on the lookout for him.
“Where are you?” I asked, still trying to spot her.
I’m not coming out until he's gone. You know how I am around other ghosts.
Annie had warned me she didn’t like other ghosts around the library. Therefore, that meant I had to get rid of him. The library had a portal that led to the other dimension. It was right on the wall over by the local books. Luckily, we’d had it closed. And so far, that had been working out fairly well. As far as I knew, no other ghosts had popped in. Annie didn’t like it at all when another ghost showed up. This was her space and she wanted to keep it that way. Jane Austen wasn’t that fond of other ghosts either, although she hadn’t acted as if anything odd was around this morning.
Maybe the ghost had already taken off. At least I hoped so. Although maybe I was mildly curious as to why he wanted to talk to me. It could be something innocent like a ghost coming to say hi, or it could be a bad ghost who had nefarious intentions. I just never knew with the ghosts. They kept me on my toes.
A chill came over the room and I sensed someone watching me. I rubbed my arms to fight off the goosebumps. When I looked to the left, I caught a glimpse of the ghost. I knew it was him because he was slightly see-through. He moved down the long dimly lit hallway toward my office. I wasn’t sure if I should call out to him or just go after him. Either way, it might scare him off, or if he was a bad ghost, it might allow him to attack me.
I was used to being afraid of things, yet I moved forward and did them anyway because that was part of life. I might be afraid, but I did the things anyway, even if sometimes it was questionable and maybe slightly stupid. I made mistakes, but I did what I thought was best. And right now, that was to go after the ghost, down that long dark hallway. I’d ask him why he was here and what he wanted. Then I’d kindly ask him to leave.
I moved toward the hallway, but not too fast. So far, I hadn’t spotted the ghost again. My heart rate increased slightly as I eased down the hallway. With each step, I waited for something to happen. It was like I was touring a haunted house, waiting for the ghost to pop out at me.
I reached my office door now. With still no sign of the ghost, I pulled out my key and unlocked the door. The ghost could just float right on through the door, so I figured that was where I’d find him. After easing the door open, I peeked inside. To my shock, there was no sign of the ghost in my office. It didn’t take much to look around for him either. This was a small space.
My desk sat in the middle of t
he room toward the back wall. It took up most of the space. Some file cabinets were on the left, a credenza on the right, and that picture of the former librarian that they refused to let me get rid of was on the wall above the credenza. I wanted to move it because every time I was in the office it seemed as if her eyes moved with me. She stared at me, judging me on if I was doing the wrong thing at the library.
Anyway, back to the ghost. He wasn’t here so where had he gone? Had he taken off to the other dimension? I sure hoped so. Maybe I should check out the rest of the library just in case he was still hanging around. I had to try to get rid of him for Annie.
I placed my hands on my hips. “Okay, Mr. Ghost if you’re here in the office and just hiding, you need to come out and talk to me. If you want something, then here I am, but the other ghost that haunts the library doesn’t appreciate you coming around. She would prefer if you would haunt some other place.”
A knock sounded at the door and I screamed, spinning around. The auburn-haired woman stared at me with her wide blue eyes, almost as if she wanted to run.
“I’m so sorry, Jill. I’m didn’t mean to scare you,” I said.
Jill Settles was the new assistant that we’d hired last week. Today was her first day and I’d completely forgotten. How long had she been standing there listening to me? I was sure she’d heard me talking about the ghosts. I hadn’t actually mentioned the spirits to her during the interview, but she’d probably heard the rumors by now.
“Is this a bad time?” she asked.
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I’m just getting things ready for the day. We’ll get you all set up and started, okay?” I asked with a smile.
How long would it take until she asked about the ghosts?
A short while later, I finished showing Jill around and getting her ready to start the day. When we moved back out into the main part of the library, everyone else was already busy. The patrons milled around, checking out books and reading at the tables. It was just a normal start to the day, but then, unfortunately, one of the library board members came in and that changed. Not just any board member, but the head of the library board. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, but I wasn’t sure she liked me much. She was much better than the previous head of the library board, but she wasn’t exactly Ms. Personality either.
“Good morning, Ms. McMillian,” I said.
“Nice to see you again, Ms. Van Raden,” she said with a smile that I knew was forced.
Like I’d said, she was always pleasant, but there was just something that led me to believe she wasn’t completely sincere.
“What can I do for you today? Are you just here to check out some books, I hope?” I tried to sound cheery.
Okay, that had come out the wrong way. Maybe it sounded as if I didn’t want her here. I was just trying to make pleasant talk. Now I was just digging a deeper hole for myself. I should shut up and let her talk.
“Actually, I came here to speak with Ms. Settle,” she said, looking over at Jill.
“Oh, how nice,” I said with a smile.
That had probably come out the wrong as well. Ms. McMillian probably knew by the tone of my voice that I was excited she would be talking with Jill and not me.
“I will just leave y’all to it then,” I said. “I’ll be over here at the reference desk if you need me.”
“Sure thing,” Ms. McMillian said with another fake smile.
I wasn’t quite sure, but maybe it was the ghost hunting that she didn’t like since that was what the former head of the library board didn’t like as well. Jill wouldn’t say anything since she was new, but she’d probably be upset with me for leaving her alone with Mrs. McMillian.
Chapter 6
Even though I was pretending to work I was still trying to eavesdrop on Mrs. McMillian and Jill. Though I wasn’t sure what they were talking about since I wasn’t catching most of the conversation. I decided to grab a couple of books and act as if I was working in the area. They didn’t notice as I neared them.
“I’m just saying I don’t know if the ghost hunting is such a good idea. When I went back to her office she was talking to a ghost. What if the patrons hear that? I just don’t want people to be scared,” Jill said.
Jill hadn’t even been here twenty minutes and she was already stabbing me in the back. This wouldn’t go well. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do about it either. Should I tell her I didn’t appreciate her telling the board member about what happened? No, I suppose if she was uncomfortable with it then she had every right to say something to the library board member. I wished she would have come to me first. I’d have a talk with her. I moved away before they realized I was listening to the conversation.
“What are you up to?”
I jumped when I realized that Tammy was standing right next to me.
“You are on edge today. What’s going on around here?” Tammy asked.
I quickly clued Tammy in on the latest details.
“So, let me get this straight, there’s a new ghost, the new girl overheard you talking to the new ghost, and now the board member probably knows about all of it,” Tammy said.
“That’s a pretty good summary,” I said.
“What are you going to do?” Tammy asked.
“I guess I’ll speak to her about the situation and ask her how she feels about the ghosts in the library.”
“That’s probably a good idea. When she realizes that the portal to hell is closed then she should be fine with working here,” Tammy said with a hint of sarcasm.
“When you say it that way it makes it sound not so great to work here at the library.”
“Sorry,” Tammy said with a grimace.
I checked my phone to see what text message I had just received.
He’s in your office again. He has to go immediately. Tell him to get lost.
Wow, Annie really was upset. She never wrote something so harsh to me or anyone else for that matter. I hurried headed back toward my office. As I walked by, I realized that Mrs. McMillian and Jill were watching me. That didn’t surprise me. I tried to act completely normal as if I wasn’t going back to my office to talk to a ghost, but they probably suspected I was up to something strange. I’d have to deal with that later, but now the ghost was the most important thing.
Actually, I didn’t see what the big deal was anyway. I was just talking to ghosts. There was nothing wrong with that, right? That was what I did. I mean, if I wasn’t here to talk to them then they’d just be running amok. They really should be glad that they had me. I kept the ghosts in check. Not many people would do that. Yes, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was doing so much more than just working with books at the library. Should I point that out to Mrs. McMillian? Yes, that was probably not a good idea.
I burst into my office as if I would catch the ghost in the act. The act of what I wasn’t sure. Haunting? To my surprise, he was gone. I had been fully prepared to confront him. I’d planned to ask him why he was here and what he wanted.
“Are you here, ghost?” I looked over my shoulder to make sure that Mrs. McMillian and Jill hadn’t slipped up on me.
Thank goodness they weren’t there. I received another text message.
He’s not in your office now. He went upstairs. You’d better hurry before he moves again.
Oh, my goodness. How was I going to chase this ghost if he kept going up and down the floors? I wasn’t that physically fit. I couldn’t handle that kind of cardio. Maybe I should just wait and see if it came back.
You’d better go, Rip. He’s going to be gone again soon.
“Oh, Annie, this is stressing me out. I suppose I should get up there, but I doubt I’ll make it in time,” I said around a sigh.
Making my way down the hall, I was on the lookout for the ghost. Plus, Mrs. McMillian and Jill. They were still in the same spot though. Apparently, they’d decided to have a lengthy conversation. When I walked by Mrs. McMillian and Jill, they grinned, but I figured they were still tal
king about me. This was kind of making me angry now. Tammy gave me a strange look as I hurried by. I grinned at her. Well, it was more of a grimace. She probably knew something ghostly was going on in the library.
He’s still there. Another text from Annie came through.
Was anyone else upstairs? People had to be up there. The library was crowded now. Had they noticed the ghost? Surely some of the patrons had seen a spirit hanging around or was I the only one who could see him? Jane Austin strolled along beside me. Apparently, she had decided to go along for the trip. Maybe she could see the ghost as well. They said animals could detect spirits that humans couldn’t see. I’d realized that was the case many times when she watched the ghosts who we hadn’t noticed.
I made my way upstairs to the main area of the second floor. The white open space mimicked the downstairs, but a bit less square footage and not as many patrons. Once there, I walked into the room, trying to act casual. People were around, but none of them was from the spirit world. At least I was almost positive they were all of the living.
A text came through. Looking for me?
“Annie?” I whispered.
That text wasn’t from me. He’s in one of the meeting rooms.
What? The ghost had sent a text too? This had taken an unexpected turn. My anxiety spiked as I turned around and walked down the hallway toward the reference rooms. In total there were three on this floor. Which one was he in? Was there a ghost behind door number one, two, or three? All the doors were closed since no one was using the rooms at the moment.
That meant I couldn’t just peek inside and look for the ghost. I had to open the door and announce my arrival. Uneasiness took hold as I thought about what I might find. I still didn’t know if he was friendly or not. Nevertheless, I grabbed the doorknob and twisted. This was yet another time when I was scared but had to confront my fear head-on.
With my heart beating faster, I eased the door open. The ghost stood by the tall window overlooking the front of the library. His back was facing me. He wore dark pants and a dark jacket. His dark hair was cut in a short style. I couldn’t see his expression to know if he was mean or nice.
