Ghost Hunter

by Paige Tyler

  “How did you guys get into hunting ghosts?” she asked, trying to sound casual. “Do you do it full time or is it more of a part-time thing?”

  When no one answered right away, Cassidy thought they were going to ignore her, but then Robert spoke.

  “Trace and Wes do it full time, but Bella and I just help out now and then, mostly on the weekends.”

  Cassidy was a little surprised to hear Robert didn’t hunt ghosts on a full-time basis. From the way he talked, she assumed he was partners with the other two men. “For a little extra money on the side, huh?”

  Bella shook her head. “We don’t get paid. We help out Trace and Wes because they helped both of us.”

  Cassidy remembered what Robert had said about Trace and Wes letting people owe them favors. “Did Trace and Wes get rid of a ghost for you?”

  “Something like that,” was all Bella said.

  Beside Cassidy, Robert shook his head. “I wish it had been as simple as a ghost. My situation was a little more sticky than that. Trust me when I tell you there are a lot worse things than ghosts out there, Cassidy. If it wasn’t for Trace, my wife and kids would be—”

  “Robert,” Trace said warningly.

  Robert flushed. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

  Cassidy frowned as he turned to look out the side window, wondering what the heck that had been about. Robert had obviously been going to reveal something huge, something Trace clearly didn’t want her to hear. She wanted to press Robert for details, but decided it would be better to ask him later, preferably when Trace wasn’t around. The guy was a walking, talking conversation killer.

  “Tell us about the book you’re writing,” Bella said brightly.

  Once again, Cassidy had the feeling Bella was only asking because she wanted to defuse the situation. But since it didn’t look as if Trace and Wes were going to tell her how they’d gotten into the ghost hunting business, they might as well talk about her book.

  “It’s about a ghost hunter who falls in love with this ghost he discovers in a haunted house,” she explained. “For some reason—and I haven’t quite figured this part out yet—the ghost can materialize into a real woman whenever he’s around. Of course, he’s the only person who can see or touch her, and she can only materialize in the old, dilapidated house she’s trapped in, which poses all sorts of problems.”

  Trace let out a snort. “That’s supposed to be a romance?”

  “Sounds more like a horror story to me,” Wes said.

  Cassidy felt her face color. She started to ask what either of them knew about romance, but Bella put a hand on her arm.

  “Ignore them, Cassidy,” Bella said. “Not only are they both men, but they’re also both horribly unromantic ones. I think your story sounds very romantic. It also explains why you want to hang out with us. So you can get the ghost hunter stuff authentic, right?”

  Cassidy nodded. “I want the tools and techniques the ghost hunter uses in my book to be believable. I want to learn some general stuff about ghosts, too. I hope you guys don’t mind if I take a little literary license with some parts of your job, though. I know you don’t deal with life and death situations as part of your daily routine, but I’ll have to put that kind of stuff in the story to make it exciting.”

  Trace and Wes exchanged looks at that, the hint of smiles playing around the corners of their mouths. Cassidy didn’t know what she said that was so funny, but even Bella and Robert seemed to find it amusing.

  Now that they knew she was interested in the type of equipment ghost hunters used, Bella and Robert kept up a steady stream of conversation all the way to Moores Mill. While the information they gave her was exactly what she’d been hoping for, it would have been helpful if she could have seen each piece of equipment as they described it. She’d have to remember to ask to see some of the stuff when they got back to the office.

  When she asked about any ghost encounters they’d had, both Bella and Robert confessed they hadn’t seen much more than shadows. Cassidy was surprised. She’d expected them to regale her with one scary story after another. Made-up stuff, of course, but still good stories.

  “More substantial sightings are pretty rare,” Robert admitted as they turned into a subdivision. “Trace and Wes have seen a lot more than we have.”

  Cassidy glanced at Trace and Wes, hoping they would elaborate, but to her annoyance, neither one did. She should have known. Deciding it was useless to try to pry anything out of either man, she looked out the window and was amazed when Wes pulled into a driveway in front of a two-story house on a cul-de-sac. After hearing Robert talk, she’d expected the place to be old, decrepit and creepy looking. Even in the gathering darkness, she could see it was well-kept with a manicured lawn and a fresh coat of paint. No self-respecting ghost would be caught dead in a house like this. Or should the expression be caught alive in a house like this?

  She made no comment as she got out of the Hummer though, especially since everyone else looked quite serious as they grabbed duffel bags out of the back. Deciding to go along with it, Cassidy followed them up the front walk.

  Chapter Two

  Cassidy looked around as she walked into the entryway, but she couldn’t see much without a light. She waited for someone to turn one on, but instead they pulled out small flashlights.

  Bella held one out to her. “Regular lights can create an electromagnetic field and give us a false positive on our EMF meters. Appliances can do it, too, so we’ll shut off the power before we start.”

  Cassidy nodded. That was good. She’d have to remember that for her book. Taking the flashlight from the woman, she turned it on and frowned when she saw the meager light it put out. How the heck was she supposed to see anything with this?

  Robert must have noticed the look on her face because he said, “It’s LED so it doesn’t put out a lot of light, but because it uses an extremely small watch battery, it’s as close as we can get to a zero electromagnetic field signature and still be able to see.”

  Cassidy nodded even though she had no idea what he was talking about. She wanted to ask, but Trace was already barking orders.

  “Robert, Bella, you’ve got the first floor. Wes, you take the basement. I’ll cover the upstairs.”

  Cassidy wondered if he’d left her out on purpose. “What about me?”

  Trace turned that impenetrable gold gaze on her. “It was Robert’s idea to have you tag along with us, so you can go with him and Bella. And try not to get in their way.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and headed up the steps. Cassidy clenched her jaw as she watched him go. Bella was right. He was a jerk.

  “Don’t pay attention to him,” the woman said. “Come on. Robert and I will show you the tools of the trade.”

  Taking Bella’s advice, Cassidy put the surly ghost hunter from her mind and instead turned her attention to Robert and the strange-looking stuff he was pulling out of the duffel bag. If Trace didn’t want to play nice, that was fine with her. She’d go to Wes with any paranormal questions Bella and Robert couldn’t answer. He seemed like the nicer of the two men.

  “This is the EMF meter we were telling you about,” Robert said as he stood up. “There are several different varieties, but this one is called a Tri-Field Meter. They’re more expensive than the other kinds, but Trace and Wes like it because they think it gives more accurate readings. Bella and I like it because it’s simple to use.” He held it out to Cassidy. “You can go ahead and take a closer look at it if you want.”

  She took the EMF meter and shined her flashlight on it. The unit was rectangular in shape with a knob on the bottom that switched between magnetic, electric and radio fields. The top half was made up of a scale with a needle that measured the amount of energy coming from each of the fields. It looked pretty high tech, but it could be a Geiger counter for all she knew.

  “If the needle moves, does that mean there’s a ghost in the house?” she asked as she handed it back to Robert.

 
“Not necessarily,” he said. “It picks up electromagnetic fields, which can come from anything electrical. You need to be able to differentiate between those and the ones put off by ghosts. That’s where the real talent of the ghost hunter comes in, being able to tell a false positive from the real thing.”

  “It’s also why we turn off the power and use other detectors, like thermal scanners,” Bella put in.

  “What are those?” Cassidy asked.

  “They’re basically a regular digital thermometer, only they measure the temperature of the air.” Robert crouched down to rummage in the duffel bag. A moment later, he held out a thermometer that looked a lot like the one the nurses in the hospital had used to check her temperature. “Like this.”

  She nodded. “Why is it important to take the air temperature?”

  “It lets you know if there are any cold spots in the room.”

  “Cold spots?”

  “Air pockets that feel colder than the rest of the room,” Bella explained. “Ghosts are nothing more than coherent energy fields. The energy they’re made of is pulled right out of the environment. When you pull that energy out of a room with no electricity, you get cold spots. They’re literally sucking the heat out of the room to exist.”

  Cassidy nodded again. She had no idea ghost hunting was so complicated, especially since it wasn’t as if it was an actual science. On the other hand, Bella made it sound a lot more scientific than paranormal. Which was sort of unromantic. She might have to change that for her book. “I should have taken notes.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Bella said. “We can go over everything again tomorrow at the office, if you want.”

  Cassidy smiled. “That’d be great. Thanks.”

  Even though she didn’t expect to see a ghost, Cassidy’s pulse quickened as she followed the two part-time ghost hunters from room to room. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could see pretty well with the little flashlight and she found herself looking around eagerly for signs of the paranormal. She kept waiting for their detectors to go off at any minute, but to her dismay neither the EMF meter nor the thermal scanner so much as even beeped.

  When Wes met back up with them in the entryway ten minutes later to report he’d come up empty-handed as well, she had to fight to hide her disappointment. She hadn’t expected to see a real ghost or anything, but she’d been hoping the needle on the EMF meter would have at least tremored a little. Clearly, being a ghost hunter wasn’t as exciting as the television shows made it out to be. One more thing to change in her book.

  “Did you get anything?” Wes asked when Trace came downstairs a few minutes later.

  “I picked up some readings in the master bedroom.”

  Of course he did. The big, bad ghost hunter didn’t want the new girl to think he wasn’t fully qualified hero material.

  “Can you show me?” she asked.

  His eyes narrowed. “Show you?”

  “Yeah. That’s what I’m paying you for. Besides, I want to see the ghost for myself.” She lifted a brow. “Unless you’re making it up to impress me.”

  Trace clenched his jaw, but whether it was in response to her words or the amused chuckle from Wes, she wasn’t sure.

  “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  Cassidy followed him up the steps, as did the rest of Paranormal Investigations Unlimited. She didn’t know why she kept butting heads with Trace, but she couldn’t help it. His attitude was so damn infuriating. He could at least make an effort to act civil. She was paying him two-hundred-and-fifty dollars a day, after all, not to mention fixed his damn gas-guzzling Hummer.

  Once they got to the bedroom, Trace pulled out his EMF meter and turned it on. Cassidy leaned closer to get a better look and was surprised when the needle barely moved a quarter of an inch.

  “That’s it?” she asked. “That’s your big ghost. How scary.”

  Trace slanted her a hard look. “Yeah, I know. You could always go wait in the Hummer if you’re too afraid.”

  She gave him a sweet smile. “I think I can keep it together.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Cassidy ignored his sarcastic tone and looked around the room. “If the EMF meter is picking up a ghost, where is it?”

  Trace glanced at her as put the meter back in the duffel bag he had slung over his shoulder. “I never said it was a ghost. I said I picked up some readings.”

  “From what?”

  He shrugged. “Residual energy, maybe. This is a bedroom, so it isn’t surprising there might be some still hanging around.”

  She frowned. “Why would there be residual energy in a bedroom?”

  His mouth quirked. “If I have to explain that to you, then maybe you shouldn’t be writing romance books.”

  Cassidy’s face went red as she realized what he meant. She’d walked right into that one.

  Robert cleared his throat. “Any activity where emotions run high, like sex, can leave residual electromagnetic energy behind, though it usually dissipates rather quickly. This place has been vacant for months, so the fact that there’s still enough energy to pick up indicates the people who lived here must have been particularly…energetic.”

  “Does that make sense?” Trace drawled. “Or do you need Robert to explain what he means by energetic?”

  Cassidy’s color deepened. “No, I don’t need him to explain, thank you. I might need to do research for the ghost hunting portions of my book, but I can draw from my own experience when it comes to the sex scenes. I’ll let you read my book after I’m finished with it, so you can fill in any gaps in your own knowledge base.”

  That comment earned her a scowl from Trace. On the bright side, it also got a chuckle out of Wes, as well as a laugh from Bella. Score another point for the new girl.

  Robert was the only one who seemed uncomfortable by the whole exchange. “Did you put some herbs around in case it is a ghost, Trace?” he asked, obviously hoping to change the subject.

  “Yeah.”

  “Herbs?” Cassidy asked curiously.

  “For some reason, ghosts don’t like garlic and sage,” Robert explained. “One whiff of the stuff and they take off.”

  “If there is a ghost, the salt Trace sprinkled across the doorway will keep it from getting into the rest of the house,” Bella added. “Ghosts can’t cross a line of salt.”

  While Cassidy had to admit the stuff about the herbs and the salt was pretty cool, she still couldn’t help feeling a little let down.

  “You aren’t disappointed we didn’t see a ghost, are you?” Bella asked as they got in the Hummer a few minutes later.

  “Maybe a little bit,” Cassidy admitted.

  Trace glanced at her from the front seat. “This was your idea to come along. I told you the house probably wouldn’t be haunted.”

  Cassidy had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something she shouldn’t. She’d had enough of trading barbs with the ghost hunter for one night.

  On the way back to Sleepy Hollow, Wes suggested they stop at a diner and grab dinner. Cassidy was all for that. Although she’d stopped for a late lunch at a café on the way to the ghost hunters’ office, she was surprisingly hungry. That wasn’t the only reason she wanted to stop, though. She hoped Trace and Wes might be inclined to open up about what they did for a living in a more relaxed setting.

  To Cassidy’s annoyance, Trace was as reluctant to talk once they got the diner as he’d been earlier. He barely said two words as he wolfed down the burger he ordered. She was all for the strong, silent type, but this was ridiculous. Wes wasn’t much better. While he let slip that he’d been in the Army Special Forces, he didn’t say much about his current occupation as a ghost hunter.

  Fortunately, Bella and Robert were more talkative. In between eating, Robert revealed he was a financial management consultant who lived with his wife and two kids over in Paterson, New Jersey.

  “Paterson. Wow,” Cassidy said. “That’s quite a drive, isn’t it?”
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br />   “Not really. It’s only about twenty miles.”

  She nodded and dipped her spoon in her soup. “That’s not bad, then. Doesn’t your wife mind you spending your free time hunting ghosts, though?”

  He shook his head. “She’s okay with it since Trace helped us out so much.”

  Cassidy glanced at Trace to see his jaw tighten. She wanted to ask again what he’d done for Robert and his family, but didn’t. She wondered why the ghost hunter didn’t want to talk about it. Was he that much of a reluctant hero or was he simply being the jerk Bella said he was?

  Ignoring Trace, she turned to Bella. “How about you? What do you do when you’re not ghost hunting?”

  “I’m a nurse in New York City. My hours aren’t as regular as Robert’s, though, so I don’t get out here to help as often as he does,” the woman admitted. “What about you? Do you write full time?”

  Cassidy smiled. “Not yet. Someday, maybe. Right now I’m a school guidance counselor in Stamford.”

  “That must be rewarding,” Bella said.

  “It is most days,” Cassidy agreed. “But I’ve always wanted to write.”

  It was the first time she’d ever admitted that out loud to anyone and she couldn’t believe she was sharing it with four people she’d just met, two of whom didn’t like her very much. Bella was fascinated with the idea of being a romance writer, though, so Cassidy found herself revealing more about her life than she intended without even meaning to. She was careful to leave out the part about Del Vecchio, though. The less she talked about what happened that night, the better.

  By the time they got back to Sleepy Hollow, it was almost ten o’clock. Cassidy waited in the garage while they put the gear away, then went inside along with everyone else.

  “Remember to show up a little earlier tomorrow, so we can demo the equipment before we head out again,” Bella said before she left.