Ghostly Endings (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 5)

by Aubrey Harper

  Ghostly Endings

  A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book Five

  Aubrey Harper

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 Aubrey Harper

  All rights reserved.

  Contents

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  19. Nineteen

  20. Twenty

  21. Twenty-One

  22. Twenty-Two

  23. Twenty-Three

  24. Twenty-Four

  25. Twenty-Five

  Author’s Note

  Also by Aubrey Harper

  One

  “He’s coming!” I heard Rebecca yell from the other room.

  “Here we go,” I said to Kane.

  He had the salt and iron mixture ready in his hands, just like I did.

  It didn’t take long for the big, scary ghost to make an appearance. His see-through form was flying through the air at breakneck speed.

  “You dare to disturb me! You will pay with your life!” He said in an almost demonic voice.

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you think you’re laying it on a bit thick, buddy?”

  Kane looked over at me like I was crazy. It was understandable. He couldn’t exactly see where this big, bad ghost was. And he’d already caused a few bumps and bruises. This guy wasn’t going out easy, that was for sure.

  “Prepare to die!” The ghost screamed as he reached for me.

  “Now!” I said to Kane. “He’s right where he’s supposed to be.”

  Both Kane and I threw our salt and iron mixtures simultaneously at the poor bastard.

  “Freeze!” I ordered him, and he did. But the will of this particular ghost was too strong. I knew it wasn’t going to last for long.

  “The circle!” I said to Kane.

  He laid the salt down, while I did the iron filings. By the time we were done, the ghost was already starting to move. Once he realized what had happened, he screeched an awful sound. I had to cover my ears. To my surprise, so did Kane.

  “You can hear that?” I practically yelled over at him.

  He nodded. “It hurts!”

  That wasn’t good. In fact, it was pretty impressive. I’d only seen it a handful of times in my career as a ghost hunter. The Smiths weren’t kidding when they said they had a poltergeist problem.

  “It’s time for you to move on,” I said, just as Rebecca finally made her appearance on the other side of the circle. She was see-through as well, but far friendlier than the pesky guy in the circle.

  “No!” He screeched.

  I refrained from covering my ears and focused on the task at hand.

  “Do you have a name for me?” I asked Rebecca.

  “Walter Sunder,” she said. She was eavesdropping on a few living people whose cages I’d rattled for any information. While I could send ghosts packing without a proper name, it was always easier when dealing with the extra pesky ones. I guess it reminded them of their humanity, for a moment at least. And that moment was all I needed to send them on their way.

  “William Sunder, it’s time for you to let go and move on to the next world. Are you ready?”

  “No!”

  “Well, it looks like the afterlife is ready for you,” I said, pointing to the ground. A circle of light was opening. It began to swirl like a vortex. Walter, if indeed that was his name, looked down in horror.

  “I don’t want to go! I want to stay here!” He wailed.

  “Well, then maybe you should have been nicer,” I said. Then I shrugged my shoulders. “I hope you have a nice trip, Walter.”

  It wasn’t long before the troublesome ghost was sucked into the vortex. I looked down, but as always all I saw was a circle of light. And then after he was gone, the circle faded out of existence.

  “It’s done,” I said as I took a deep breath. “He’s gone.”

  Kane visibly relaxed. “Good,” he said. “Anyone up for a drink?”

  “It’s the middle of the day,” I said. “But sure, why not?”

  But first, I had to tell the Smiths about what just transpired. They were waiting out on the front lawn. Jennifer and Carl, and their five-year-old son, Stuart. The troublesome ghost had zeroed in on the boy as soon as the couple moved in a few months ago. They had tried everything, including having a priest come over before they finally gave me a call.

  “Is it…really gone?” Jennifer said.

  “Yup. He won’t be bothering you any longer,” I said.

  “You’re not going to sage the place or do anything else like that?” Carl said. He was the skeptic in the house, though even he couldn’t ignore that something out of the ordinary was happening. Hence why I was even here in the first place.

  “No need, though if it makes you guys feel better, you could even throw some holy water around the property,” I said. “But really, if you want most ghosts to stay away, a salt circle will do the trick.”

  Carl nodded but it was clear by the look on his face that he wasn’t about to do any such thing. He had a pristine lawn to maintain after all.

  After getting paid, I wished the Smiths a good night’s sleep. That was when Walter would usually come out and terrify the poor boy.

  “Remember, the bad man is gone,” I told the boy. “He won’t be bothering you any longer.”

  The boy hid behind his mother, one of his stuffed toys in his hands. “Thank you,” he said softly.

  “You’re very welcome,” I said.

  Once we were back in Kane’s van, he had a grin on his face.

  “What are you smiling like a fool about?” I said, not in the mood.

  “You were pretty great back there,” he said as he started the engine.

  “Aren’t I always?”

  Rebecca snorted from the back seat. Thankfully I was the only one that could hear her, so I just ignored her.

  “I meant with the kid. You’d make an excellent mom one day.”

  “Don’t even joke about that. I have enough on my plate dealing with the dead. I don’t need to add valuable little living things into the mix.”

  Kane laughed. “I guess that’s one way of thinking about kids.”

  “Drive to the nearest bar,” I said. “I think I’ll need more than one drink after this conversation.”

  It took us about an hour of driving to get back to Silver Bells, Ohio, my quaint little hometown. While I updated the files and logged the income into my trusty little notebook, Kane went straight over to my grandma’s bakery, which was conveniently located next door. I joined him as soon as I was done.

  I said a quick hi to my grandmother since several customers were waiting to make their orders. Thankfully, Kane had already gotten me one of my favorite pastries and had found a place for us to sit. There was even a bottle of water next to my treat.

  “Hazelnut chocolate filling in a fluffy puff pastry shell. It feels like heaven,” I said after taking a bite. And best of all? It was still warm.

  “I knew you’d like that,” Kane said with a smile.
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  “What did you get?” I said as I looked over.

  “The same, but mine’s already gone,” he said.

  “You should have gotten us more,” I said. “Though I guess my waistline is thanking you right about now.”

  I took a sip of the water to wash down the sweetness with. And then I finished the rest of the pastry.

  By the time I was done, scary ghosts and skeptical clients were far from my mind. The day was good again.

  “Is Rebecca here right now?” Kane asked, looking around suspiciously.

  “No. She said she wasn’t in the mood to see me eat food she could never taste. I assume she’s in the neighborhood. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason,” Kane said, sporting a sheepish look.

  “You wanted to talk about something and you didn’t want her to be around to hear it. Spill it, Kane Xavier, before I call Rebecca and make you talk.”

  Kane visibly shivered. “Don’t even joke about that,” he was quick to say.

  I laughed. “A little chill never hurt anybody.”

  “Fine, I’ll tell you, before you send your ghostly best friend to torture me. I was thinking maybe it was time for us to…”

  “I’m waiting,” I said after a full minute of silence. “Time for us to do what? And if you say have children, I’m going to punch you right here.”

  Kane laughed. “Nothing like that. I was just thinking that maybe we should move in together.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Is that a good oh or a bad oh?” Kane asked.

  “It’s not bad,” I was quick to say. “I mean, I have been spending a lot of nights over at your place anyway. But I don’t know how I feel about that little apartment of yours. Maybe if we could get something bigger? But I’d still be over at my Gran’s a lot, because you know she’s older and I want to make sure she’s okay and you know how these things are and—”

  “Slow down,” Kane said. “It’s not like I asked you to marry me or anything.”

  But we both knew that was the next step.

  “Sorry, I guess it’s just a lot to take in all at once.”

  “Just think about it, that’s all I’m asking. No pressure.”

  Easy for you to say, I thought. I was the one who had to come up with an answer in a reasonable amount of time. And if Kane didn’t like my answer? What would that mean for our relationship?

  Two

  The next day I woke up in my childhood bed, at Gran’s house, of course. I’d told Kane that I was tired but what I really needed was some time alone to think things through.

  To my surprise, my grandmother was still in the house. I heard her down in the kitchen. I looked at my phone and saw that it was only six in the morning.

  I yawned and made my way downstairs.

  “Someone’s up early,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re having trouble sleeping?” She touched my forehead. “A little on the warm side, but nothing to worry about just yet. Maybe some tea is in order?”

  I nodded. “I’m not sick, Gran. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  After getting me a cup of tea from the pot she’d already prepared for herself, she sat across from me. “Isn’t that what grandmothers are for? Tell me what’s on your mind, Millie.”

  Only my grandmother was allowed to use that nickname, but even then I didn’t like it very much. But I decided to ignore it because we had more important things to talk about.

  “Kane asked me to move in with him,” I finally said. I was afraid to look her in the eyes.

  “Oh,” Gran said.

  “That’s exactly what I said!”

  “I think it’s actually nice. You have been going out for quite some time. I was thinking it was time for you two to take things to the next level. Of course, back in my day that usually involved a ring…”

  “Gran!”

  “I’m just saying, hon,” she said with a mischievous smile. “But moving in together, that’s a big deal as well, I suppose.”

  “It sure is. Sometimes it’s the true test of a relationship.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “I guess,” I said, still uncertain. “But I don’t want to leave you here in this big house all by yourself.”

  Gran smiled that warm smile she was so known for. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she said. “I can still take care of myself, thankfully. But isn’t Kane’s apartment on the smaller side?”

  “Yup. That’s another thing I pointed out to him.”

  “Great minds think alike,” Gran said. “But maybe you don’t have to move out at all. Why doesn’t Kane move in instead?”

  “I hadn’t even thought about that,” I said. “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “There’s plenty of room. Kane is a good boy. Though I’d understand if the two of you wanted some privacy.”

  “Speaking of privacy,” I said as Gran’s two cats, Marmalade and Ebony, made an appearance.

  “Time to feed these two rascals,” she said as she got up to do just that.

  I sipped my tea as I thought about what Gran had said. I mean, it wasn’t a bad idea. Plus, anything that meant that I didn’t have to pack up my stuff again sounded like a good idea to me. Now I only needed to broach the subject with Kane.

  Surprisingly, Kane was out on one of his own jobs. He hadn’t had much luck with his PI gig. Most of the jobs weren’t that close by. But this most recent one was just a town over. He said he’d be home in time for dinner.

  I sat in my office and rearranged my files for the umpteenth time.

  “Anything on your mind?” Rebecca asked me.

  It didn’t take long for me to spill my guts about the whole moving in situation.

  “Interesting,” Rebecca said. She certainly looked like she was holding something back.

  “What is it, Rebecca? Don’t make me use the iron filings on you.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “I would,” I quickly retorted though we both knew I would never do that to her. Not unless she went berserk on me or something, and I couldn’t really see that happening. Not in my lifetime, anyway.

  “I may have accidentally overhead something or other,” she finally said.

  I gave her one of my knowing looks. “Puhleese. You were eavesdropping, weren’t you?”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it that. It’s not like I needed to stay out of sight or anything…”

  “I promised Kane that you’d never do that to him, Rebecca. I’m very disappointed in you.”

  “So I’m guessing you don’t want to know what I accidentally overheard then?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You know as well as I do that I want to hear every last sordid detail. Is Kane cheating on me or something? I wouldn’t think he’d have the audacity to do that with you around, but you never know…”

  Rebecca shook her head. “Nothing as dramatic as all that. I just overheard him talking on the phone with what sounded like an old friend. He confessed how much he loved you—”

  “Aww—”

  “Let me continue, please,” Rebecca interrupted. I gave her the go-ahead. “Anyway, he was saying how much he loved you and that that was the main reason he’d stayed in Silver Bells Cove so long. He wasn’t used to not living out of his van. He even talked about how he turned down jobs that were too far away.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. It gets better, I promise. He said he was itching to move back into the city. But he knew that your grandmother was here and that you’ve established your business here as well.”

  “Hmm, so when he said he wanted us to move in together, he actually meant move away together?” I mused out loud.

  “That’s the impression I was getting from that conversation, but he said he was just thinking about it.”

  It was a good thing Kane wasn’t close by right now, because I had the urge to talk this out with him right here and right now. I looked down at my cell but then thought better of it. Besides, I didn’t want to interrupt any spying he
might be doing at the moment.

  That only left one person to discuss this with: Rebecca.

  “My job involves a lot of travel, too,” I said.

  “Yes, but when was the last time you and Kane went together for one of his jobs?”

  Rebecca certainly had a point there. But it wasn’t like I didn’t offer.

  “Thanks, Rebecca,” I said. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.” My stomach growled. “And now I’m hungry.”

  Rebecca just rolled her ghostly eyes at me.

  On the way to Gran’s bakery, I ran into a familiar face. Jonathan. The town sheriff who just happened to be an ex from what seemed like a lifetime ago now. Oh, and did I mention that he was recently married to my cousin? Yeah.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked as soon as he saw me in front of the bakery. It seemed we both had the same idea at the same time. We moved out of the way to let a few customers get out of the shop. “Please don’t tell me you’ve found another dead body,” he whispered when they were out of earshot.

  “Very funny,” I said. “Nothing like that. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “Trouble in paradise,” he joked.

  I didn’t like that joke one bit. “How’s married life, by the way? Speaking of, how’s my cousin doing?”

  That wiped the smile right off his face.

  “She’s fine,” Jonathan said. “We’re fine. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

  “Works every time,” I whispered to Rebecca.

  Rebecca rolled her ghostly eyes at me. “You were a maid of honor at their wedding, remember?”

  As if I’d ever forget that disaster of a day. “Let me have my fun, Rebecca,” I hissed. “After all, you’ve certainly had yours, putting your nose where it doesn’t belong.”