by Elle Adams
The detective pressed his mouth together. “Harold is a known recluse. You shouldn’t have gone to visit him.”
“Something is wrong in this town,” I insisted. “There shouldn’t be this volume of lost spirits wandering around.”
“That isn’t any of your concern,” he said. “I should write you up for breaking into Mrs Renner’s house—again—but I’m going to be generous and escort you back to the inn. And tomorrow morning, you’re going to leave town.”
“Says who?” I had planned to leave the following day, but his attitude got up my nose and made me want to dig my heels in. It wasn’t wise, but he was either in denial and didn’t want to know about the ghosts… or he had something to hide. Like everyone else here in Hawkwood Hollow, it seemed.
“Don’t you have a job to go back to?” he said.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I don’t.” I didn’t want to get into the I got fired because a ghost disagreed with his family’s funeral arrangements discussion, not when he’d scoff and disbelieve me.
“She works as a ghost hunter,” Carey put in. “Which is why I invited her here to begin with. Why are you being so mean to her?”
“Thank you!” I gave her a nod of genuine gratitude. “If you showed any signs of wanting to learn the truth about Mrs Renner’s death, including speaking to her ghost, I’d leave you to it. But this town is spiritually constipated in a way I’ve never seen before.”
“Spiritually what?” he said.
Okay. Maybe not the word I should have used if I wanted him to take me seriously. I wouldn’t typically use such a term in front of a hot guy either, but his personality kind of made me forget that most of the time.
“I’ve been a ghost hunter most of my life,” I said—technically true. “Normally, you don’t get more than five ghosts in any given paranormal community at a time. In towns with resident Reapers, the number is closer to zero. And when it comes to the rare exceptions, people generally aren’t resistant when I offer to help out. Maybe the witches and wizards who can see ghosts don’t mind the constant disruption, but as for this house? It’s haunted to its back teeth.”
“You said you were here to get rid of one ghost,” he said. “One who hasn’t been seen.”
“She chased off the construction crew.” I looked to Carey for confirmation.
“They didn’t leave the house because of a ghost,” said the detective. “The renovators were forced to evacuate because half the ceiling collapsed when they tried to fix up the living room. They’re coming back tomorrow with a specialist… not that that’s an invitation to interfere.”
I smiled. “Of course it isn’t.”
If there were renovators coming tomorrow, Detective Drew would have less freedom to march around giving everyone orders… and who knew, maybe they’d be grateful for my offer to assist them with getting rid of Mrs Renner’s ghost.
He gave me a suspicious look. “What are you plotting?”
“Who says I’m plotting anything?” I walked towards the gate. “C’mon, Carey. Let’s head back to the inn.”
I waited for Carey to catch up, my knee still throbbing from where it’d scraped against the floorboards. Trust that detective not to be fooled by my leaving the scene earlier. Mart was nowhere to be seen, so I looked behind me to make sure he hadn’t gone into the house and run afoul of the ghost.
The outline of a shadowy figure appeared in the upstairs window behind the detective. While one side of the window was boarded up, the other showed a dark bedroom… and a definite human-sized figure, transparent as glass. The hairs on my arms stood on end.
“Detective,” I called out. “You might want to move away from the window.”
He frowned at me. “What?”
The glass in the upper window shattered as a pile of wooden boards tumbled out, straight on top of Detective Drew.
I didn’t stop to think. I whipped out my wand and cast a levitation charm on the wooden boards, running forwards in a futile attempt to reach the detective before the boards did. The gate slammed open and closed, and a gust of air set me stumbling right into the detective’s arms. The boards clattered harmlessly to the ground, while Detective Drew looked down at me with his eyes slightly wider than before. It was the first time he’d looked at me with anything other than condescension in his expression.
I broke away from him, peering wildly into the hallway behind him. “Damn you, Mrs Renner. That was uncalled for.”
“What are you talking about?” He eyed the wand in my hand. “Did you just knock those boards onto my head?”
“No, I levitated them away from you,” I corrected. “That’s one powerful ghost you’ve got in there.”
He glanced at the pile of boards, then up at the window. “That’s the third time one of those boards has broken. They’re practically falling to pieces.”
“You don’t believe me.” Again. Unbelievable. “Okay, I’ll let them fall on your head next time.”
And with that, I turned around and left through the gate once again. Carey hovered beside me, her eyes wide. “Did you see her? For definite?”
“I think I did,” I said. “I definitely saw someone in that window, but I have no hope of getting her out as long as Detective Obstructionist is in my way. I don’t think Mrs Renner is his biggest fan, either.”
“I think we should go back,” Carey said. “He might be in danger.”
“Not if he’s sensible and doesn’t go back into the house,” I said. “Besides, if the roof falls on him, he’ll just come back as a ghost and insist it was an accident.”
Her brow wrinkled. “If he’s a ghost, he can’t deny they exist, can he?”
“You might be underestimating his determination to prove me wrong.”
Ungrateful, much? He could have at least thanked me for my attempt at stopping him from being knocked out cold. That’s what I got for taking the initiative.
Carey gave a faint laugh. “You really get under his skin. That’s what my mum said when she spoke to him earlier. I don’t think he appreciated that comment.”
“Maybe I should have asked her to tell him I left town.” I sighed. “I guess there’s no chance of me talking to the guy who inherited the house or anything?”
“Actually, you might be in with a shot,” she said. “He’s going to be staying at the inn. He arrives in town tomorrow morning.”
6
I woke early, ready to talk to the person due to inherit Mrs Renner’s house. In theory, anyway. Bright sunlight streamed in through the violet curtains, while the soft bed and comfy mattress made me reluctant to get up. Much nicer than my ratty old mattress back at my apartment. The inn itself was pretty nice in general, if you discounted the occasional ghost. Thankfully, the only one in my own room was the usual occupant.
“How did you sleep?” Mart asked. “I slept like the dead. Get it?”
“That wasn’t funny the first seven hundred times you tried that one,” I told him. “And I’d have slept better if I hadn’t had a narrow brush with death at the hands of a ghost last night. You didn’t happen to get a glimpse of her, did you?”
“Of course not,” he said. “You and the detective stood outside nattering for so long that I came back here by myself.”
“Couldn’t you have looked around for the ghost?” I asked. “You might have been more likely to get through to her than me.”
He put on a shocked face. “You’d have sent me after the ghost alone?”
“It’s not like she could have done you any harm,” I pointed out. “Which is more than I can say for the rest of us. If not for me, the detective would be in hospital with a concussion. Or worse.”
“That’s right, you saved his neck,” said Mart. “Even though you hate him. Or so you say, anyway.”
“I don’t know why.” I was too tired for this. “Instinct, I guess. Also, he did save me from falling through the floorboards.”
He laughed. “Sure, and it’s not at all because he�
�s a hot detective who riles you up.”
“Please don’t say that,” I said. “You’re my brother. It’s weird.”
“I’m also dead, so I get free rein to comment on your love life for eternity. I don’t make the rules.” He floated away through the wall, humming the Doctor Who theme under his breath.
After a quick shower and a quicker conjuring spell to fetch a clean outfit from home, I went to the restaurant to grab breakfast and found a whole buffet laid out on rows of long tables. I spotted Allie standing near the end and made a beeline for her.
“How do I pay for this?” I asked.
“You don’t have to pay for anything,” she said. “You’re here to help us.”
“But… I haven’t achieved anything yet.” Not for lack of trying, but last night had hammered home how ill-prepared I really was. Especially for dealing with bad-tempered Reapers, detectives and ghosts all at once.
“You’ve done more than anyone else has,” said Allie. “Mrs Renner’s grandson arrives in an hour, by the way.”
That gave me enough time to eat a decent breakfast, so I loaded a plate and sat down at a table. I was starving after last night’s ghost-hunting misadventures, and it had been a long while since I’d woken up genuinely excited about getting to work. Even if this was a one-off and I wasn’t an official ghost hunter, whatever I’d told Detective Drew.
I needed to do something about him if I had any intention of going back to Mrs Renner’s house, but right now, I’d settle for explaining the situation to her grandson and hoping he was more likely to believe me.
I ate on my own, as Carey was getting ready for school and Allie was helping some new guests settle into their rooms. Hayley wasn’t in, so the two of them must be handling everything alone. It seemed a lot to deal with, but from what I’d heard about the relative lack of tourists in town, the restaurant was their main business.
I mentioned this to Mart while I was milling around the lobby, waiting for Mr Renner to arrive.
“Most of the inn’s rooms are empty,” he responded. “If you ask me, they could double their business by offering a free ghost with every room. Everyone wins, including the ghosts.”
“Have you found your calling, then?” I gave him an eye-roll. “I thought you didn’t like it here.”
“It’s grown on me.” He circled the lobby. “I like all this open space. It’s not like that cramped apartment of yours.”
“It’s not cramped if you can walk through walls,” I pointed out.
“Technically, so can you,” he responded.
“Not without drawing the Reaper Council after me.” I hadn’t used my Reaper skills in years—aside from banishing ghosts, that is—but if the detective hadn’t helped me out of that hole in the floor last night, I might have had to break that rule and mess with the laws of physics a little. The Reaper’s number one rule: get the soul first, worry about everything else later, including the rules of nature. That’s how Reapers can extract the souls of people killed in accidents at sea or crushed beneath falling buildings. On the other hand, let’s just say ordinary people would be a little freaked out at the sight of me stepping through a wall of shadows and reappearing elsewhere. Even Carey. Better to save the party tricks for a last resort and stick with my wand.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs behind me cut through Mart’s reply. Carey had entered the lobby, wearing her mustard-yellow school uniform. “Isn’t Mr Renner here yet?”
“I think your mum said he’d be here soon.”
Sure enough, we hadn’t been there for a minute before the front door swung inward. A tall man entered the hotel, along with a woman who I assumed was his girlfriend or wife. He was a little older than I was, late twenties at most, and from the look of his sharp suit, he might have been whisked away in the middle of a business meeting. The woman wore similar attire. Her red hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and her nose held high as though she’d trodden in something foul.
“Hey, there!” Carey said brightly. “Are you Mr Henry Renner? And this must be Claudie, your wife.”
“I am.” Mr Renner looked down at her. “Who are you?”
“I’m Carey,” she said. “My mum owns the inn.”
“Then I assume you’re here to carry my bags to my room.” His gaze flickered to me. “Go on, run along.”
Excuse me? “I don’t work here.” I kept my tone polite, with difficulty. “I’m here to talk to you about your grandmother’s house.”
“Oh, you’re with the construction crew.” If anything, his expression grew even more disdainful. “I’ve heard nothing but complaints about your shoddy work since it started, and now I’ve had to leave my office behind during our busiest season in order to ensure the house is fit for my wife and I to occupy. It’s a disgrace.”
“I’m not with the construction team either,” I said, now thoroughly annoyed. “Did anyone tell you why the renovators keep being driven out of the house?”
“I assumed it was simple incompetence.” He indicated his suitcase. “Aren’t you going to carry that to my room?”
“Of course.” Carey grabbed her wand and gave it a wave, and the suitcase vanished. “You’re in room six. My mum will have your keys. She’ll be here in a second.”
Mr Renner and his wife walked to the desk. Allie popped up a moment later, engaging them in conversation.
“What a piece of work,” I muttered to Carey. “He makes that detective look like a gentleman. Doesn’t he know his grandmother’s ghost is terrorising anyone who goes into the house?”
“I don’t know,” said Carey. “My mum said he was very rude to her on the phone, and it seems like he was pretty hard to get hold of, too. In the end, he only came here because he wants the house.”
“That figures,” I said. “I’d believe he bumped her off if he was the slightest bit enthusiastic about inheriting her house.”
Then again, he struck me as the type of person who’d never been enthusiastic about anything in his life and had come out the womb loudly complaining about the state of the universe. I didn’t particularly want to deal with him any more than I had to, but on the other hand, he was the most likely person to have a stake in the outcome of Mrs Renner’s ghost being given the boot. As quickly as possible.
Detective Drew… I didn’t know what his deal was, apart from his apparent need to get in my way at every step. But he wasn’t a relation of Mrs Renner’s, nor did he have anything to gain whether she stayed in the house or not. So I’d need to stay on this guy’s good side—if he had one, that is.
Mr Renner pocketed the keys to his room and walked away from the desk, eyeing Carey and me. “You’re still here? If you’re not with the construction team, then who are you?”
A ghost hunter. An exorcist. Was there a professional word for someone like me? A non-official Reaper? “I’m here to help with the problems the construction company have been having with the property.”
Namely, getting rid of the ghost of its former owner.
“Employed by whom?” He made for the door, followed by his wife.
“I work freelance.” I turned back to Carey. “I don’t want to make you late for school. I’ll tell you everything afterwards, okay?”
Her expression creased. “You’re going to the house now?”
If I’m allowed in. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that Mr Renner would be much more help than the detective at letting me do my job. If he believed in ghosts, it would be an improvement, though he and his wife clearly wanted to be rid of me. “If I can. Should I walk you to school on the way?”
“I don’t need to be at school for an hour,” she added. “It’s only up the road from the house, too.”
“I’ll drop you off after we look around the house, then,” I said, and her expression brightened.
“You still haven’t told me what your business is with the house,” Mr Renner said to me.
“I was hired because I was told there’s been a high level of spiritual disturbances o
n your grandmother’s property.” No sense in beating around the bush any longer. “As I witnessed for myself yesterday, the ghost of your deceased grandmother is still present, and is causing a great deal of trouble for the construction team trying to renovate the house.”
“You’re here because you think my grandmother’s house is haunted?” He gave me a withering look. “What do you do, rattle a few boxes and then charge a bloody fortune for a bogus exorcism?”
“It isn’t bogus, and I’m not charging you a penny,” I said evenly. “I didn’t even know you were coming to town until last night. A concerned citizen hired me to help out, as I have years of experience dealing with stubborn spirits.”
“A likely story,” he said. “Sounds more like excuse-making on the construction company’s behalf, to make up for their gross incompetence.”
“If you don’t believe in ghosts, living in that house isn’t likely to go very well for you,” I told him. “Fair warning. A local detective tried to deny her existence and then the ghost threw a plank of wood onto his head.”
“I think we should listen to her,” said Claudie, his wife. “Maybe she’s telling the truth.”
“I doubt it,” said Mr Renner. “I find it hard to believe a mere ghost could have caused enough delays in the construction work that I was forced to come here myself. Besides, I’m hearing that the issues with the renovation started long before she died.”
“Huh.” I hadn’t known that. “I haven’t met the people involved, so I wouldn’t know about the specifics of the renovation issues. From what I’ve seen since I arrived here in Hawkwood Hollow, though, I don’t blame the crew for leaving the house before one of them got hurt. Did you ever meet your grandmother while she was still alive?”
“Several times, but I didn’t care for her,” he said. “By all accounts, she was a miserable woman.”
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in that case, then. I managed to keep my mouth shut, with difficulty. “That may be, but if her ghost doesn’t leave, it’ll be too dangerous for you to live in her house. For that reason, I’m here to get rid of her.”
