by Bobbi Holmes
“Yeah, as if they could steal my magic, if I had any,” Heather scoffed. She took another bite of salad.
“The second one,” Lily said.
Heather glanced over to Eva, who sat nearby with Marie, floating on invisible chairs and listening in. The story was Eva’s, but Heather would have to retell it, since not everyone in the room could see and hear Eva.
“The house the Parkers rented once belonged to an old friend of Eva’s. I asked her about it after Chris and I drove by it, the day we saw one of the sisters in the alley behind my place,” Heather explained.
“At the time, I wondered if they were triplets,” Chris said.
“That house had been boarded up before they moved in,” Heather explained. “And it looked like it needed major work. I wondered about its history.”
“And Eva had known one of its prior owners?” Lily said.
“Yes. His name was Wallace. He was a playwright. According to Eva, not a very successful one, but he threw himself enthusiastically into the creative process. She told me about him when I asked if she knew the house’s history. He was the author of that spell book,” Heather explained.
“This playwright was a warlock?” Lily asked.
“No. But he was working on a play about witches, and to get into the topic, he wrote a spell book—basically he used his imagination and made all that stuff up. He must have put the book somewhere in the house, where it remained hidden for years. As best we can tell, the Parkers found it after they moved in. According to Eva, he died before he finished the play, but she remembered seeing that book when he was working on it. She recognized it when they brought it into the interrogation room.”
“Why in the world would they assume any of it was real? They find some book, and they don’t even know who wrote it. Why believe it in the first place?” Lily asked.
“Unfortunately, that’s not as uncommon as you think,” Ian said. They all turned to him for a further explanation.
“How do you mean?” Chris asked.
“Think about the internet. The crazy conspiracy theories out there. For example, one very popular conspiracy, believed by thousands, originated from some anonymous post. No one knows who really made that first post. It could be some kid playing on the computer or someone with a fertile imagination, like Eva’s friend. Fact is, people believe what they want to believe. And the Parkers wanted to believe they found a powerful spell book. Gavenia’s spell book had obsessed them for years. I imagine when they found Wallace’s book in the house, they thought it was destiny, as if the book waited for them. They wanted to believe in it.”
“Yeah, and imagine their surprise had they gotten their hands on the Leabar, only to discover the most magical thing about it were potions to get rid of things like toe fungus,” Heather scoffed.
“Hey, a good toe-fungus potion is hard to come by,” Chris countered.
“What happens to Gavenia now?” Brian asked. “Is she here?”
“No,” Danielle said. “Gavenia has moved on. She believes many of the bad things that happened recently is because she stuck around so long. But I think it has more to do with the absence of a medium, and had Gavenia left years ago, all of this might have still happened.”
“In what way?” Brian asked.
“It had been several generations since there was a medium in her family. So the stories about her were handed down, secondhand, and they changed and took on their own life. The Parkers became fixated on the notion they were from a line of powerful blood witches, and the secret to unlock their powers was in the Leabar,” Danielle explained. “All because old family stories passed down from one generation to the next morphed into fantasy land.”
“Sort of reminds me of that game I used to play with my class,” Lily said. “You put the children in a large circle and then whisper something to one of them. They, in turn, are supposed to whisper it to the person next to them, and so on. When it gets to the very last person to hear the whisper, it’s always much different from what the first person heard.”
“What about the Bairds? They claimed to be blood witches,” the chief asked.
“Yes, but I think they saw it a little differently. While they claimed they were not Wicca, I had the feeling their view of witchcraft wasn’t really that different from Wicca,” Danielle said. “But I believe the Bairds, like their distant cousins, the Parkers, didn’t clearly understand who or what Gavenia was, considering they never knew anyone personally who had talked to her.”
“Until you,” Lily reminded her.
“Is it true what the paper said?” Lily asked the chief. “There won’t be a trial?”
“Not exactly,” the chief said.
“They’re all at the funny farm,” Heather said. “Until they’re no longer nuts and can stand trial.”
“Heather,” Danielle scolded, “it’s not nice to say it like that.”
“And it was not nice to drug me and leave me out in the middle of the forest to die,” Heather countered.
“She has a point,” Brian said.
Heather smiled at Brian. “Thank you, Officer Henderson.”
“It’s just that it’s not completely their fault,” Danielle said. “They had to be unbalanced to believe all that nonsense.”
“I don’t know about that,” Ian said. “If we give everyone a pass for buying into ridiculous beliefs, too many people in this country will avoid paying the consequences if they choose to act on some outrageous untruth they’ve chosen to believe. Critical thinking skills would be nice.”
Eva and Marie left the dinner party first, not long after Danielle served the second course. Now that they were no longer needed, they had ghostly things to attend to. Lily and Ian left not long after dinner. Connor had been napping on the bed in the downstairs bedroom while they ate, but he had woken up during dessert. They felt it was time to get him home and ready for bed.
The chief said goodbye the same time Chris headed home, leaving only Brian and Heather, who ended up leaving at the same time.
After all their guests departed, Danielle went to the bathroom, leaving Walt alone in the kitchen to start loading the dishes in the dishwasher. When she returned, the kitchen was clean, and the dishwasher running.
“You finished already? That was quick. I was going to help.” Danielle said as Walt drew her into a hug. They stood together in the middle of the kitchen, Danielle wrapped in Walt’s secure embrace while he rested his cheek against the top of her head.
“I was hoping we could get back to that little project of ours,” Walt whispered.
“What project is that?” she asked, leaning into him and closing her eyes.
“Expanding our family.”
Danielle chuckled. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
Walt pulled away from Danielle and said, “I have to go check the garage first. I think I left a light on. I’ll meet you upstairs.”
“Okay. I’m going to go jump in the shower,” Danielle said.
Walt gave her a quick kiss.
Clouds blocked the stars in a moonless sky. Walt glanced up for a moment, wondering if it might rain tonight. He continued to the garage. Before turning off the light, Walt heard something. He stepped out the back gate, into the alley, and heard it again.
Looking into the alley, he watched as the black figure stepped out from the shadows and meowed again.
“Max, what are you doing out so late? Danielle is going to be worried.” Walt leaned down and opened his arms. The cat jumped into them and began to purr as Walt stood up, holding the cat and gently stroking the back of his neck.
“You were visiting Bella? But Heather keeps her inside…through the window?…Ahh…you miss having her around.” Walt chuckled and turned back to the gate when he heard Max say something else.
“What do you mean Heather has a visitor?”
Walt frowned. It was rather late for a visitor. Considering the events of the past week, he hoped everything was okay. Without grilling Max, Walt turned back tow
ard the alley and walked toward Heather’s house. He walked by the rear entrance to his neighbor’s, Pearl Huckabee, and then reached Heather’s property. Max was right, there was someone at Heather’s.
Walt looked at the car parked behind her garage—it belonged to Brian Henderson. Walt arched his brows and gave Max’s neck another stroke. “Interesting,” he murmured before turning and heading back to Marlow House, with Max in his arms.
The Ghost and the Mountain Man
Return to Marlow House in
The Ghost and the Mountain Man
Haunting Danielle, Book 27
* * *
Life is about to change for Brian Henderson, now that he knows the secrets of Beach Drive.
* * *
Unbeknownst to Brian and the others, they have brought something else home with them after their misadventure in the forest. The spirit of a mountain man has followed them to Frederickport with a secret of his own.
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Haunting Danielle Series
by Bobbi Holmes
The Ghost of Marlow House, Book 1
The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds, Book 2
The Ghost Who Wasn’t, Book 3
The Ghost Who Wanted Revenge, Book 4
The Ghost of Halloween Past, Book 5
The Ghost Who Came for Christmas, Book 6
The Ghost of Valentine Past, Book 7
The Ghost from the Sea, Book 8
The Ghost and the Mystery Writer, Book 9
The Ghost and the Muse, Book 10
The Ghost Who Stayed Home, Book 11
The Ghost and the Leprechaun, Book 12
The Ghost Who Lied, Book 13
The Ghost and the Bride, Book 14
The Ghost and Little Marie, Book 15
The Ghost and the Doppelganger, Book 16
The Ghost of Second Chances, Book 17
The Ghost Who Dream Hopped, Book 18
The Ghost of Christmas Secrets, Book 19
The Ghost Who Was Says I Do, Book 20
The Ghost and the Baby, Book 21
The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt, Book 22
The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit, Book 23
The Ghost and the Silver Scream, Book 24
The Ghost of a Memory, Book 25
The Ghost and the Witches’ Coven, Book 26
The Ghost and the Mountain Man, Book 27
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Most are available in audiobook.
Bobbi Holmes
Also known as Anna J. McIntyre
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Sundered Hearts
After Sundown
While Snowbound
Sugar Rush
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The Coulson Series
by Anna J. McIntyre
Coulson’s Wife
Coulson’s Crucible
Coulson’s Lessons
Coulson’s Secret
Coulson’s Reckoning
Now available in Audiobook Format
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Also by Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes
Havasu Palms, A Hostile Takeover
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