“What about in the woods? Anyone see him there?”
“Sometimes, but never too far from the house. It’s like he’s watching over the place. He stays close. Now the ghost out in the woods is the Lady in White. She’s never seen inside here, she’s always where the forest used to be—what’s left now is hardly the size of the original forest, but it’s still quite wooded. She walks through there and down to the bridge. They say she cries the whole way. In fact, my cousin once saw her as he was driving across it. Said she was just standing in the center of the bridge, holding what looked like a bundle. He rolled down the window to ask her if she needed any help, but then she disappeared. Oh, and the other thing we hear about are the ghost lights. You know, round orbs of light? They see them all over Kali Oka Road. There’s an old cemetery out back here, and they like to appear there. I saw one here once when we first started looking at the house. At first, I thought maybe it was light from a car, but it was the middle of the day! It bounced through the kitchen and out the window. My stars! Liked to have given me a heart attack.”
“I can imagine. Let me ask you this, have you ever seen any unusual birds?”
Junior and Barbara looked puzzled. “You mean like a woodpecker?” he asked.
“More like an owl. A big dark one, maybe larger than normal.”
“No, but I wouldn’t doubt if we had a barn owl or two on the property. Lots of mice to snack on in these fields and such.”
“My team and I would enjoy investigating Oak Grove. If we find anything, we’ll be happy to put it in writing if that helps you at all. There’s enough history here to believe that something could be here. I’m certainly not going to dismiss it if there is, but give us a chance to investigate.”
“What do you do on these investigations?” Junior asked. “I hope you don’t use Ouija boards. I’d have to object to that. I’m not afraid of a ghost or two, but I don’t want to tinker with those creepy things.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d been asked that question. “No, sir. We don’t use Ouija boards. We use scientific devices like this EMF detector.” I pulled the small item from my pocket and showed it to the couple. I flipped on the device and waved it around. “See this? This meter tells me if there are shifts in the electromagnetic field. If there are spikes or surges, it usually means one of two things: there’s an electrical appliance nearby or there’s movement in the electromagnetic field. We believe ghosts pull on electricity and other power sources when they want to manifest.”
“Oh no,” Barbara said as she stared at the device. “I think you forgot to charge the battery.”
“Not a problem. I have a fresh one here.” I swapped out the battery and demonstrated how to use the machine again and then handed it to her. “Just wave it like this, but move it slowly.”
Junior watched us with some amusement. His wife didn’t pay him any attention. “Look, honey. I’m a ghost hunter! Shoot! This one is dead too.”
“That can’t be right. I charged it before I got here.” I took the battery out and popped it back in. Nope. Dead as a doornail. “Strange.” I glanced around the room suspiciously. It was starting to feel cold in here, much colder than it should have been. Barbara shivered beside me.
“All right, honey,” Junior said. He turned to me. “We better get going if we’re going to meet our son for lunch. Airport Boulevard is always busy this time of day. Let’s get going.” We headed out the door, and Junior locked it behind us. “What time do you want to meet us here?”
“About five o’clock? That will give us time to set up and investigate before it gets too late.”
“All right. How late will you stay?”
“Usually we wrap up around two.”
“In the morning?” Barbara asked, sounding shocked.
“Yes, ma’am. We find that twelve to two are the most supernaturally active times.”
“Really? I heard that three was the witching hour,” Junior added.
“Yes, sir. I believe that too. That’s why I’m out of here by then.”
“Seriously?” Barbara’s voice shook.
“No, ma’am. I’m just kidding. To be honest, we’re usually tired by then. Most of my team members have day jobs, and I try to respect their time. They are all volunteers.”
Junior nodded. “I see. Well, we don’t stay up that late. I’ll leave you the key; just make sure you lock up when you’re done. We have a lot of looky-loo's who like to come around. I can’t blame them for being curious, what with all the rumors about ghosts, but I don’t want them vandalizing the house. How long do you think it will be before you have the results of your investigation?”
“A few days. After we’re done investigating, we’ll review every camera and audio device thoroughly.”
“That’s good.”
Junior took off his hat and scratched his head. “Tell me again why you want to explore Oak Grove. You mentioned Ranger Shaw, that’s the boy who lost his girlfriend over by the bridge?”
“Yes, sir. Ranger’s really sick…lung cancer has just about taken him out, but Melissa’s still on his mind. He needs to know what happened to her. And I imagine he’d like to clear his name before he passes.”
Junior slapped his cap back on. “I can see where a man would want to do that. It’s all right with us if you search the house. I don’t think the girl is here, but if it helps Ranger…”
“Thank you for allowing us to come. Like you, I’m not sure that the house is related at all to Ranger’s experience, but I would like to get to the truth for him and for Melissa’s family.”
“Glad we could help him. Well, call us if you need us. And please be careful.”
“Always. Thank you both.”
It had been a long time since I’d been this excited about an investigation. We were actually going to check out Oak Grove. That was amazing. I turned the car onto Kali Oka Road and hit the Bluetooth on my dashboard to call Josh. “Get everything ready and pack extra batteries. I had a serious power drain on the EMF.”
“Get out! Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’ll meet you guys at GCP at three-thirty. Can you call everyone else?”
“Sure.” I heard Sierra in the background. Josh said, “Ugh, Sierra. You’re so nosy. She wants to know if she should call Cassidy in too.”
“No. I’ll call her myself.”
“All right. Later.” Josh hung up, and I headed to Cassidy’s place.
I hoped I was doing the right thing.
Chapter Seventeen—Cassidy
I slept like a lumberjack for a while, but at five in the morning I was up and thinking about the painting. I hovered in front of the now-dry canvas with a brush in my hand but didn’t know what to do next. One more drop of paint on this canvas felt wrong. It didn’t need anything else. With sleepy eyes, I spotted one especially dark spot on the canvas. I wet the brush and rubbed the spot, hoping to lighten it up a bit.
No sooner had my brush touched the canvas than my surroundings changed; they melted away like crayons in a microwave. Now I wasn’t in my chilly loft apartment. I was standing inside Oak Grove. How I knew that, I wasn’t exactly sure.
Oh my God! Now what do I do?
I resisted the urge to call out because I didn’t want anyone to know I was here. I wasn’t supposed to be here. This was wrong. Completely wrong! As I was trying to determine what to do next, hide or run out of the house, a breeze swirled around me, like a mini tornado on a country road. I spun around just in time to see a dark figure rushing toward me. It was the man I’d seen on the porch of Oak Grove when Sara was with me. His face was taut and his hands stiff at his side. The next thing I knew he walked through me without seeing me. My stomach felt like a pulled rubber band, stretched and ready to pop. I gasped as I crumpled to my knees trying to regain my composure. I stood still for a few seconds until the sensation ceased. I watched as the man Aurelia called Cope walked quickly up the stairs.
I was looking at a ghost! No, that wasn’t right. He wasn’t the gho
st—I was. I was in the past, not the present. I stared at my hands. They didn’t seem unusual at all. Not ghostly, not invisible. But obviously Cope hadn’t seen me.
Voices from a nearby room tore my attention away.
“You aren’t going to throw me out of Oak Grove like a pile of garbage, Bernard. I got you here. I did everything you asked. It was me—and my power—that got you your fine wife and all your money.”
“Like any pack mule, Hattie, you’ve served your purpose, and now it’s time to put you out to pasture.” I heard a clicking sound and then something crash to the ground, like smashed ceramic or porcelain. “What did you say to me? Are you calling me a mule?”
“Leave Oak Grove, or I’ll have Cope throw you out on the road.”
I shimmied closer to the open door. I could see a man in a brown suit leaning over a desk. He had neatly combed brown hair that came together in a wave at the left side of his head. He wore a blue and brown vest with brown dress pants and a pressed long-sleeved blue shirt. If I were to paint him, I would certainly include pink for his cheeks; it appeared as if he’d had a few belts before this meeting. This had to be Bernard Davis. I couldn’t see the woman yet, but I could hear the swishing of her skirts as she moved around the room. They were voluminous and black, shiny—like that freaky owl.
“Go ahead and call your dog, Bernard. I’ve got something that will take care of him.”
“Hattie, where did you get that? That’s not a toy, my dear. Set the gun down now.”
“You don’t command me, Bernard Davis. I’m not some lily-white, pasty-faced coward that you can treat like a field hand. I won’t be manhandled or abused in any kind of way.” I heard the clicking of metal.
“Hattie, put the gun down. I understand how upsetting this is for you, but you have to see that it isn’t possible to continue. You can’t stay here. What we had is over, but we can remain friends, my dear. And I am of course fully prepared to compensate you. How much would you like? A hundred, two hundred?”
She didn’t say anything, but I heard her high heels on the wooden floor of Bernard’s office. He moved away from the desk but never turned his back on her. She moved into my view, and I studied her as any good artist would. Hattie’s dark hair shone in the lamplight. It was so dark it was almost blue. I could see her profile. She was probably thirty-five with smooth skin and a full bottom lip. Her high-collared black gown revealed nothing, and she looked stiff and matronly except for the ruby red earrings that dangled from her ears.
“I want everything, Bernard. If you want me to go away, to leave and never come back, I want it all. You owe it to me. Think about what I’ve done for you. All the bodies I’ve put in the ground. All the spells I’ve cast. And you think you can send me away?”
“Hattie, put the gun down. Let’s be reasonable. You want me to give you my entire fortune? That’s not possible. You’d leave me penniless.”
“That’s better than leaving you and your progeny dead, isn’t it? You honestly love that little monster, don’t you?” Her steely voice dropped into a whisper. “He’ll be a little monster, just like his father. If you do this to me, I promise you I’ll kill him—and Aurelia.” I moved closer to hear her better when the floorboard squeaked under my feet. “Who’s there?” Hattie called in my direction. I caught my breath. She heard me!
At that moment, I heard the sound of bodies crashing to the floor. Hattie screamed as they struggled beneath the desk. It was only a matter of seconds before it was all over. The shot exploded in the house, and I could smell the gunpowder. Nobody moved. Perhaps they were both dead. I raced up the stairs to see Cope leading Aurelia and her wiggling, blanketed bundle down the hall to a back stair, obviously one used by servants or slaves.
“You have to go now! This is your only chance.” He rushed her down the hall, looking over his shoulder nervously.
“Cope! What have you done with her, you bastard!” Hattie’s shrill scream pierced the quiet of the house.
“Go for the bridge. I’ll meet you there!” Cope shoved Aurelia away from him in the direction of the woods.
“No! She’ll send that bird! What about the baby? What if she gets the baby?” Aurelia’s thin face crumpled with fear.
“Run, Aurelia!” Cope shouted at her.
Then the sound of Hattie’s anguished scream rang through the house. She wept loudly and called Bernard’s name repeatedly. I hung on the porch for a few seconds, unsure what my next move was. Hattie had heard me once—what if she could see me too? My heart beat so fast, a reminder that I was indeed still very much alive.
Aurelia flew across the dusty yard. The moon rose high, and the sound of cicadas filled the night.
“I’ll kill you!” Hattie shouted as she practically fell down the porch steps. “Get out of the way, Cope. I’ll kill you dead.”
He didn’t waste any time, launching himself toward her and gripping her hands. His eyes widened with desperation, but Hattie was strong.
All I could think was, “Aurelia!” As they struggled I watched the frail-looking woman and her bundle disappear into the woods, and I ran behind her. Fear crept up my spine, and I prayed that she wasn’t going to do what I thought she was.
Could Aurelia feel so desperate that she would harm her own baby? Was she so full of fear that she would do anything to protect him from Hattie?
Don’t let it be true! It can’t be true!
I passed through the yard and into the woods. Aurelia’s dark hair flew behind her, and the baby began to whimper and cry. She was very near the road, and there was no sign of the bird. As she stepped off the sandy path and onto the moist peat, a gunshot reverberated through the air.
She froze on the path, clutching the crying baby. “Cope?” I thought for a second she would run back to Oak Grove. If she did, she would surely be killed. That is, if Hattie had survived. The danger remained. I could feel it in the air, and it was coming for Aurelia.
“Run!” I shouted to her instinctively. Her dark eyes grew large—she must have heard me! She broke and ran toward the road, and I ran with her. As she ran she mumbled a prayer.
I could see the bridge now. A thick fog had rolled in over the creek below. Panting now, Aurelia stopped to catch her breath. Then the tears came. “Cope!” she called back. The baby was screaming at the top of his lungs. From the woods not too far off, I heard the sound of wings rustling. It was the owl! It was flying toward her.
She disappeared into the fog, but I heard the baby continue to cry. Aurelia wasn’t moving, judging by the sound of the screams. I prayed to God that I wouldn’t hear a splash. “Run, Aurelia! She’s coming!” I yelled into the night.
Someone broke branches just a few feet away from me. All I could do was flee. I ran into the fog, and everything began to fade. All of it. The crying of the baby. The sound of the cicadas. The breaking of the branches. I woke up breathing heavily with tears in my eyes.
Someone was knocking on my door. I flung it open, anxious to make human contact. With a living human and not the ghosts of the past.
It was Midas.
Without a word, I put my arms around his neck and cried.
Chapter Eighteen—Midas
My team waited in the conference area while I fumbled around my desk looking for my keys to Oak Grove. I’d just put them here. I couldn’t be so scatterbrained that I’d leave them lying around for anyone to grab. But then again, who would steal them? I trusted everyone here.
Well, almost everyone. The sound of Pete’s voice booming through the other room set my nerves on edge. Both Pete and Sara made me nervous, actually. I didn’t trust them. Not anymore.
“Hi, you lose something?” Sara dangled a small clump of silver-toned keys near her head.
Speak of the devil.
“Yeah, I did. Where did you find them?”
“On the floor out there. You must be getting senile, Midas.”
“That’s not funny,” I complained like a bear with a sore paw. She slapped a file folder on my d
esk and stood with her hands on her curved hips.
“Get over it, Romeo. Don’t get all cranky because you didn’t get any sleep last night. Do you even know who she is?” I assumed she was talking about Cassidy. I stalked to the door and closed it.
“She told you who she is. She’s Cassidy Wright.” I didn’t bother to open the file folder. Sara was dying to tell me something, something I’d apparently missed. “She’s filthy rich. Even richer than you, and that’s saying something.”
“What?” I said, staring at the pages.
“Seriously. You didn’t know?”
“So what? She’s got some money. Does it matter?”
“Does it matter? Well, it does to me. What else is she lying about?”
“Spell it out for me, Sara. No more damn head games! If you know something, spit it out. Otherwise, we have a meeting to attend.”
Sara put an envelope on the table. My name was typed neatly on the outside. “This is for you. I’m taking that offer. I’ll sell you my share for the figure you proposed. I want to be done with you.”
“Fine. Is that it?” Her anger mystified me. She was the one who broke us up. Was I supposed to live in a monastery now?
“I guess so. It’s as good as done.” Her mouth drew up in a tight line.
“What do you want, Sara? You wanted to go, so go. Am I supposed to die because you decided to move on? What the hell do you want from me?”
“You know what I wanted. How I wanted this all to end. I guess you found a younger, richer model. One who thinks the sun and the moon rise over your big, strong shoulders.”
Walking back to the door completely frustrated, I said to her in a low voice, “You can be a real bitch sometimes, Sara.” I half expected something to hit me in the back of the head, but it never happened. In fact, when we walked into the meeting room we were the sunshine couple again. Sara was all smiles when. She turned the hallway lights off and closed the door. As was our habit she locked the front door too and pulled the blinds closed. I don’t know why we did it, but we always had.
The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road (Gulf Coast Paranormal Book 1) Page 11
