by Elle Adams
“I already spoke to him,” I said. “It sounded like Mr Renner tried to convince him to banish his grandmother’s ghost without payment, but the Reaper didn’t want to know. Granted, the Reaper is as capable of lying as anyone else.”
“I suppose he is,” he said. “Were you on your way back to Mrs Renner’s house? Is that what you wanted my help with—to speak to Mr Renner?”
“Not him,” I said. “I need someone to come with me to the retirement home. Preferably someone with authority, and right now, that’s you.”
His brows shot up. “Any reason?”
“To speak to a resident,” I said. “A dead one, that is. I’m told that Dolores’s ghost is there, but I reckon the staff might get suspicious if I show up alone. Still up for helping me out?”
“Of course,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t mind speaking to her myself, but I lack the necessary skillset.”
“Yeah, this isn’t really an orthodox way of solving crimes,” I said. “My comment about it being standard in magical communities was an exaggeration.”
“I thought so,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a lot easier with someone like you on the team.”
A Reaper, or a witch? I managed to shove that question aside before my mouth got me into trouble again. It wouldn’t do to expect more of him than he intended to give, and for all I knew, he was just acting out of a misplaced sense of guilt about how he’d researched my history and nearly driven me out of town.
Whether he just felt sorry for me or something else, it didn’t matter. Time was running out, but I had someone on my side who could help me get to the truth, one way or another.
14
For our first step, we had to find Dolores Malone’s ghost and find out if she knew more about the spell on Mrs Renner’s house. It was a long shot, but with none of the current construction workers able to figure out when it had been put there and Mr Renner refusing to cooperate, I could do worse than speak to the one person who’d been around at the time. Even if she was, you know, dead.
Drew and I made straight for the retirement home, and he knocked on the door. Then we waited.
“So,” I said, to fill the silence. “Next you’re going to tell me you’re secretly a Reaper yourself. You never did tell me what type of paranormal you are.”
He grinned. “If you guess right, I’ll buy you a drink.”
My face warmed up, but before I could say more, the door opened, revealing the same goblin as before.
“You again?” Frankie looked from me to Drew. “Are you here on official business? Because we’ve already answered enough questions, and our residents are getting quite agitated by all the drama.”
“Don’t worry, we’re not here to speak to you,” he said. “We’re here to speak to Mrs Malone’s ghost. Or rather, Maura here is.”
“Oh, her,” she said, without so much as blinking. “Some of the residents have been talking about seeing her in the garden, but it’s hard to say what’s real and what’s imagined, with some of them. Come on in.”
It seemed I’d made the right call when I’d recruited Drew to accompany me to speak to the ghost, because she didn’t even ask any questions when we walked through the main room. The other residents looked at me with interested expressions—or, more specifically, at Drew. I heard one of them say, in a carrying whisper, “Has Drew finally got himself a girlfriend?”
“I don’t recognise her.”
“It’s about time, either way.”
“I thought he was saving himself for me.”
“Alice.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling my face heat up, and Drew chuckled under his breath. “It seems your presence has caused a stir.”
“Speak for yourself.” I’d deal with putting the rumours to rest later. First, I had a ghost to find and a murder to solve.
As I’d hoped, Mrs Malone occupied the same table and chair as beforehand, except she floated instead of sat, her pasty face now transparent. I stopped for an instant, unsure what to say. From her calm manner, Dolores didn’t appear the sort of spirit who’d flip out and throw a tantrum when I reminded her that she was dead, but you could never be quite certain.
“Oh, hello,” she said, spotting me. “It’s you… Maura, was it?”
“Yes, and I think it’s my fault you’re dead.” The words came out in a rush before I could hold them back. I sensed Drew’s eyes on me, but he didn’t step in to ask what I meant. Or put handcuffs on me, thankfully. Then again, he couldn’t see or hear her, only me.
“I beg your pardon?” she said. “You aren’t to blame for anything, dear. I’m the one who foolishly decided to try reasoning with Elizabeth Renner. Really, after everything she’s done, it was inevitable that she’d have the last word.”
A chill raced down my back. “What do you mean by ‘everything she’s done’?”
“We knew each other since childhood,” she said. “The two of us belonged to the same coven. We were rivals from an early age, and she was always jealous that I occupied a higher position in the coven than she did. We engaged in petty pranks… you know the sort. But otherwise, we got along fine. That is, until the floods.”
“The floods?” I looked questioningly at Drew. “What floods?”
“A couple of decades ago, the river overflowed,” Drew said. “It’s the worst tragedy the town has ever faced. Is that what she’s talking about?”
“Our entire coven was affected,” said the ghost. “Elizabeth’s house sat on the river, so she got hit worse than most of us. I tried to persuade her to move in here with me, but she wasn’t having any of it. She insisted on staying in that house.”
“Even though it was underwater?” I said, nonplussed. “How’d she manage that?”
“She built an extension laced with a shielding spell to keep the water out,” she said. “A shoddy job all around, but it worked. She got to keep her house and stayed put.”
“So she’s been there ever since,” I said. “When did Mr Renner come to town? Around the time of the floods?”
“No, he was only a child at the time,” she said. “But her memory goes back a long way, and she’s always been paranoid that the floods were the work of someone inside her own coven.”
“Why would she think the floods were caused by someone in the coven?” I said the last part aloud for Drew’s benefit.
Drew cleared his throat. “The floods may have had a magical cause. It’s never been proven, and it was long enough ago that a fair portion of the people who might have been able to work out the truth have left town or passed on.”
Or not. After all, there are enough ghosts here. I filed that piece of information away for later and got back to the task at hand.
“She was paranoid,” Dolores went on. “Refused to re-join the coven even when her money began to dwindle. Of course the house started to fall apart. She always got into fights with anyone she hired to fix the place, so they never finished the job. Finally, a couple of years back, her grandson came to the town.”
I leaned forwards. “Mr Renner came here… why?”
“He wanted her to move out of the house and to sell it,” she said. “Needless to say, she told him to get stuffed.”
“And did he do anything in retaliation?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“The construction workers found a spell had been cast on the house,” I explained. “They seemed to think it was put in there when the extension was built, but not who did it. It makes no sense for Mrs Renner to damage her own house.”
“Spell?” she said. “Are you sure it isn’t just her own spell? She glued that extension on as efficiently as stapling a broomstick back together. It was always going to fall apart.”
“Her own spell?” I said. “But… she seemed certain someone else put it there.”
“Did she?” said Dolores. “Whatever the case, that place is on its last legs. If I were you, I’d tear the whole house down before someone gets seriously hurt—o
r worse.”
A shiver ran down my back. “You mean like you? Why did you go back to the house the other day?”
“I should have known better than to think I could reason with her,” she said. “But I felt I owed it to the rest of my coven to try.”
“Okay.” I nodded to Drew. “That’s all we needed to know.”
“Thanks for talking to us,” Drew said. “We’ll leave now.”
“We will,” I said. “Um, if you ever feel like moving on, I can arrange it myself if you like. I know the Reaper has no intention of helping any of the ghosts in town, but if you want my help, feel free to ask me anytime.”
“That’s very generous of you to offer,” she said. “I’ll be in touch, sweetheart.”
At least one ghost was grateful to meet a Reaper. In my experience, older witches and wizards didn’t fear what came after death, for the most part. They knew as well as I did that the living were more of a nuisance by far.
I rose to my feet, and Drew and I retraced our steps through the retirement home and to the exit.
“I think she was telling the truth.” I waited until the door closed behind us to talk to Drew. “Or what she thought to be the truth, anyway. She said Mrs Renner built the extension herself using magic to protect herself from the floods, then refused to move out. But she’s not clear on who bumped her off.”
“It fits in with what I know of Mrs Renner’s history,” he said. “Her grandson, too.”
“Wait, so you knew he was after the house?” I said. “Is that why he came to town two years ago?”
“I expect so, but her grandson has every reason to want the house,” he said. “For that reason, it makes sense that he wants the ghost gone.”
“Question is, did he want the same of the living person?” I asked. “Or was Mrs Renner’s shoddy shielding spell the cause of her death, and everything she told me a lie?”
I couldn’t discount the possibility. Being dead didn’t make her any more truthful than she’d been when she was alive. But if she’d lied, everyone in that house might be in danger.
“Even she lied, there’s no guarantee her grandson will listen to reason and cancel the construction work until it’s safe,” he responded. “He’s convinced this should have been a quick and easy job.”
“Which is why he tried to make the Reaper get rid of her for free.” I gave an eye-roll. “Ghost-hunting might be a dying art, but it’s worth paying for.”
Despite my light tone, worry gnawed at me. This particular ghost had stuck around far too long already, and Mr Renner hadn’t seemed to care how much danger he might be putting everyone in by making them stay in the house.
“I agree,” Drew said. “If it helps, I think you can do it. I’ll work my powers of persuasion on Mr Renner to get you into the house.”
My brow arched. “You seem confident. Sure you aren’t hiding a wand up your sleeve?”
“That would be telling.” He eyed the inn as we drew closer. “It feels remiss to leave your young friend behind, but I think this is going to be too dangerous for her.”
“I have an inkling that if I leave her out of this, she’ll end up hiding under a table anyway.” I walked towards the inn, trying to quell my misgivings. “Besides, I have a feeling we might need an objective outsider to watch our negotiations.”
“If you’re sure,” he said. “It might be dangerous… is that her mother?”
I halted, spotting Allie. She hurried in our direction until she halted in front of us.
“Maura,” said Carey’s mother. “Have you seen my daughter?”
“Why, isn’t she at home?” My heart gave an uneasy flip.
“She went out not long after Drew dropped her back at home,” she said. “Said she was meeting you.”
Oh, no. “I went to see the Reaper, and then Dolores’s ghost. I haven’t seen Carey since I left.”
Had she gone back to the house? With the construction crew around, it wasn’t as though she’d be alone in there, but that didn’t make it any safer.
Her mouth pinched. “I can’t leave the restaurant unattended, but I’m worried for her.”
“I’ll find her,” I vowed. “Drew and I are going back to Mrs Renner’s house. Maybe Carey decided to head back there.”
I couldn’t think of anywhere else she might be, but knowing what I knew now, I couldn’t quell the notion that I’d left it too late.
Drew and I walked at a fast pace, without speaking to one another. I knew he must be thinking the same as I was. While Mr Renner had chased Carey out earlier, her curiosity knew no bounds, and if she’d thought I’d left town and wasn’t coming back, then maybe she’d decided to take matters into her own hands. I hoped not, because Mrs Renner’s ghost was already too powerful for a regular banishment. And with one Reaper refusing to step in, I was the only person left who might be able to stop her.
Drew slowed as we reached the house. The door and gate were both shut, and nobody stood outside. I didn’t hear any voices from the inside, either.
I glanced at Drew. “Did the construction workers go home?”
“I wouldn’t have thought Mr Renner would have let them leave without a fuss.” He opened the gate and entered the front garden, crouching to pick up the spare key under the doormat. “The key’s not here. They must still be inside.”
A scream came from inside the house. Carey.
“Carey?” I ran up to the door, my heart sinking into my shoes. “Carey, are you in there? Is anyone with you?”
I couldn’t hear any voices, but my own heartbeat was loud enough, and a swamping cold sensation pressed down on me from all angles. It took me a second to recognise the sensation as my long-dormant Reaper senses informing me there was a ghost inside the house.
Bit late there, Reaper senses. I ignored the chill and pushed against the door, but it didn’t give. Someone had locked it from the inside. I dug into my pocket and used my wand to cast an unlocking charm, and Drew entered ahead of me.
The hall stood empty, but I heard voices, muted, from somewhere near the back of the house. Drew and I followed the murmur of voices to the kitchen door. I tried the handle, and a shock of cold jolted through my palm.
“Ow!” I let go of the handle. “I wouldn’t touch that. Carey, are you in there?”
Drew shoved on the door with his shoulder. “Are you in there? Mr Renner?”
The rumble of muted voices quietened.
“The police are here!” Mr Renner said to someone in the room, his sharp voice impossible to miss. “This blasted ghost locked us in. Let us out.”
“Might be tricky,” I lifted my wand and cast an unlocking charm, but it wasn’t any ordinary lock holding the kitchen door closed. As I’d feared, my spell had no effect, and the door didn’t budge an inch. “She’s frozen the place up. I guess the Reaper was right when he said she was getting stronger.”
Drew’s brows rose. “The ghost is holding the door shut? How is that possible?”
“Because she’s stronger than before.” Strong enough to awaken my Reaper senses for the first time in years.
Carey’s scream echoed from above. Drew took a step back. “She’s not downstairs. She’s above us.”
“I’m going up there to get her.” I backed away from the kitchen door. “Drew, can you try to get everyone out? If I distract the ghost, I might be able to get her to let go of the door so everyone can escape the house.”
“But—” Drew halted, his hand on my arm. I hadn’t even noticed he’d moved, but my heart skipped a beat at his touch. “All right. But please don’t risk your life any more than you have to.”
“Can’t make any promises, but we Reapers are pretty resilient.”
I backed away, heading for the upper floor. The instant I stepped onto the bottom stair, an invisible force pushed me backwards, and a ferocious breeze struck up, roaring down the stairs and through the hallway.
“Get out!” screamed Mrs Renner.
The whole house trembled with the f
orce of her anger, and I hopped off the stairs before the force caused me to lose my balance. The doors rattled in their frames, but when I peered down the hall to check on Drew, it didn’t look like he’d managed to free the others from their room yet.
“How is she so much stronger than before?” Drew leant against the wall, bracing his feet on the floor.
“Because she’s drawing on the fear of everyone inside the house,” I said grimly. “When ghosts stay on earth beyond their natural span, they generally start to fade away unless they have something particularly strong to anchor them here. Her own anger has been enough to tie her to this house until now, but if she has the others trapped in here, she can draw on their fear for as long as they’re within reach of her.”
Worse, if she took in more energy than she could expend herself, then there was nowhere for it to go. She might well bring the whole house crashing down… and that was bad news for everyone inside it. Including both of us.
He turned to face me, his eyes rounding. “She’s drawing on our fear? All of us?”
“Yeah, but don’t ask me how it works. I skipped that part of Reaper training.” I put my wand in my pocket and prepared to try the stairs again.
“Does it only work on humans?” asked Drew. “Drawing on our emotions, that is?”
“Uh… why?” I tried to ascend the stairs again, but the same invisible force pushed me backwards into the hall.
“I can think of a way to weaken her.” He moved back from the kitchen door… and then he shifted into a giant wolfhound.
My mouth fell open. He was a shifter? “I thought you said no more secrets.”
He growled in answer, then bounded towards the locked door and slammed into it. The door trembled, and I suspected even the ghost’s power would crumble under the force. His claws dug into the frame and tugged, and a growl slipped from his teeth. The wood splintered and cracked, while the force pushing me downstairs weakened slightly.
Now was my shot. I needed to get to Carey, and it was about time I had some stern words with Mrs Renner.
