by Rose Pressey
Brannon held his finger up as he finished the bite of sandwich. Of course, with the peanut butter it took extra time. “Sounds like you might need to with all the action going on around there. A murder and a haunting.”
Heading over to the refrigerator I grabbed the almond milk. “It’s crazy. I think there’s a black cloud over town because of me.”
“Don’t say that,” he said. “Sometimes maybe you do pull out trouble. Like what you did tonight.”
I knew he was going to move the conversation back to that. I supposed it was time to get the discussion over with.
“Okay, maybe the haunted woods tour wasn’t one of my better decisions. Though I don’t think it’s any different from the other locations. But it’s over now and I’m sure that guy will show up tonight. Do you think Jenny will file a missing person’s report? I think she must be his girlfriend.”
“She seemed pretty serious about it,” Brannon said. “I’ll let you know what happens. Promise me you won’t do that again.”
“I planned on making the woods a special tour.”
He finished his bite of sandwich. “Well, maybe you could have someone else do the tour with you when you have a special event.”
“Do you have anyone in mind who might be willing to do that?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.
Brannon took a drink of his milk. “I may have someone in mind.”
The thought of doing a tour with Brannon seemed like a good idea. Then I wouldn’t have to go alone. Plus the added perk of spending time with him. It seemed like a win-win situation for me.
When I checked the time on my phone I couldn’t believe it was almost midnight. “Wow, it’s late.”
“I should let you get to bed,” he said.
“I do have to get up early and get to the library. There are a few things I want to do early before the patrons arrive. I need to get there before we open.”
Along with the work I wanted to finish I was sure there would be a meeting with the library board after what had happened today.
Chapter 7
Grogginess had a firm hold on me as I walked down the stairs toward the kitchen the next morning. In spite of not wanting to get out of bed, I’d crawled out from under the comfy covers and gotten ready for work. Even the shower hadn’t done much to energize me though.
Today I wore my usual library attire, only varying the colors from day to day. Just black slacks and a blue cardigan. I liked to keep things simple. Really, I had no dress-up clothing in my closet. Fancy parties were never penciled into my schedule or typed into my smartphone for that matter. Though Brannon had taken me to the nice restaurant in town quite often. I supposed I should get a new dress for that.
I hoped that coffee would wake me up this morning. Maybe a bit of breakfast would help too. The peanut butter sandwich from last night had long since worn off. I made it down to the bottom of the stairs and into the kitchen. When I opened the cabinet to retrieve the coffee, I quickly saw that the container was empty. It barely had any remnants in the bottom. I groaned. Of all mornings when I really needed the caffeine. I tossed the container in the recycle bin. I needed to get one of those makers with the pods. My mother had given me her old coffee pot. She’d had that thing since I was ten.
When my phone rang, I saw that Brannon’s picture popped up on the screen.
“I hope you have good news. Anything good?” I asked when I answered. “I’ll take even a smidgen of good.”
“We searched for Ms. Emerson, but there’s no sign of her. I’m thinking maybe she left town,” Brannon said.
“Where would she go?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Brannon said around a sigh. “We’re speaking with her friends and family.”
“Alexandria Emerson seemed so sweet. Well, except for when somebody messes with her pie.”
“I suppose people hide it well,” Brannon said.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said, looking at my empty coffee cup.
“What about Jonathan?”
“Nothing there either. Still no sign of him. They came by and filed a missing person’s report last night.”
“What about his car?” I asked.
“It’s still in the same spot. I see no reason to tow it since we don’t know his intentions yet. I’m still thinking he left on his own. Is there anything else that happened last night? Maybe you forgot about it?”
“No, absolutely nothing. Well, other than we saw a shadow person. That was right before Jonathan went missing.”
“That’s odd,” Brannon said.
“Well, you know the place is haunted, so I didn’t think much of it.”
“I suppose not,” he said. “But I guess it is a bit of a coincidence.”
“I’m sure it’s just that,” I said.
“I thought I’d go by his house later. If there’s no sign of him there, then I’m not sure what to do next.”
“It’s certainly weird. If there’s anything I can do to help with the case let me know,” I said.
Brannon laughed. “I know the sleuth in you is just dying to get involved in something.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing,” I said.
“It very well could be if things are dangerous,” Brannon said. He was always warning me about things being dangerous.
“If you say so. Keep me informed, okay?”
“You know I will,” he said.
“Well, I’m heading out to the coffee shop now. I just realized I’m all out of coffee.”
“I wish I could meet you instead. Maybe I can swing the library later,” he said.
“I’d like that,” I said. “Talk to you soon.”
I thought about fixing eggs with avocado for my breakfast, but since I had no coffee I figured stopping to grab a pastry and coffee to go would be the best thing to do. Yes, that definitely seemed like the right plan after yesterday. Oh, wait. I’d had a bunch of pie yesterday. Though I supposed I had walked that off during the tour.
As I walked from the kitchen through the living room I immediately noticed a heavy feeling in the air. Something was definitely off and I didn’t like it. Goosebumps popped up across my skin. I felt as if someone watched me. As I moved toward the foyer the feeling grew worse. I grabbed my bag to head for the door but before I made it halfway across the foyer a loud bang rang out. I froze on the spot. Ghostly activity already this morning? I’d heard nothing for days, so I supposed they were letting me know they were still here.
The noise seemed to have come from upstairs. I supposed I should check it out quickly before I left for work. Though it was probably just a mischievous ghost. Nevertheless, what if it wasn’t a ghost, but something that had broken, like a window? Stranger things had happened. After all, this was an old house. I headed upstairs—even though I told myself that it was probably nothing, the heaviness remained in the air. Normally that meant paranormal activity.
When I made it to the top of the stairs, I peered down the hallway. I expected to see something, but there was nothing. First I checked my bedroom. There was no sign of a ghost or anything broken. I even checked under the bed, like a ghost would really hide under there. But hey, maybe a raccoon or a squirrel had gotten into the house. I hadn’t checked all the other bedrooms since I really didn’t have the time. Plus, there was no sign of anything out of place anywhere else. I supposed the ghosts were just playing a trick on me.
Since I’d found nothing I figured it was time for me to get to work. The ghost would just have to make sounds without me here to listen. Ghosts were everywhere I went—the library, my home, and the cemetery. I was surrounded by them. And I was convinced it was because this was the most haunted place on earth. I supposed moving into a former funeral home hadn’t helped. But it hadn’t always been a funeral home. It had been a family home at the beginning and then converted into the funeral home. I’d just made it back into a residence for the living.
I moved down the staircase and reached the bottom. However, I hadn’t been exp
ecting what I saw in front of me. The three ghosts from the library were now standing in my foyer, staring up at me with the same angry looks on their faces. I couldn’t help but scream out. It didn’t seem to faze the ghosts at all. They stared at me with angry looks. I wasn’t going to stand there and let them grab me either. Though I wasn’t sure what to do.
Instinctively I turned and ran back up the stairs. I just wanted to put as much distance between us as possible. But it wasn’t like they couldn’t come find me. Apparently, they could go wherever they wanted. I needed to banish them from every place I frequented—my house, the library and every street and sidewalk in town. That would be a lot of work with no guarantee that it would work. When would I find the time for that? Until then I would be worrying about when the ghosts would pop up.
Reaching the top of the stairs again, I tried to decide where I’d hide from the ghosts. Under the bed? In the closet? Where was the best place to hide from a ghost?
There was no time to waste on debate. I would just go to my bedroom and wait it out there. Running into the room, I closed the door behind me, and locked it. I leaned my back against the door, hoping that they wouldn’t come looking for me. My breathing was heavy and my heart rate sped up. A thousand thoughts ran through my head. I was pretty sure they would come for me soon. I couldn’t wait here forever though. I had to get to the library.
I checked the time on my phone. Should I call Brannon and have him help me? What could he do? Arrest a ghost? I definitely needed to cleanse the house and get rid of them. It had been five minutes. I had to go check on them. Surely they weren’t still standing down there at the bottom of the stairs. They didn’t have that much energy, right?
They would probably fade away and then pop up when I least expected it. I wasn’t sure when that would be now. Nevertheless, I would always be looking for them. I inched the door open and peeked out into the hallway. Thank goodness the ghosts weren’t right there. I was being such a scaredy-cat after being so brave and wandering around a haunted graveyard and woods. Now I’d turned into a bowl of jelly. But these ghosts felt different. They scared me to my core and wouldn’t see my bravery.
I tiptoed out into the hallway. Once at the banister, I leaned over and peered down. I didn’t see their legs. What if they were hiding somewhere? Just as I was ready to head back downstairs I heard the creak of the floorboard. My breath caught in my throat. It sounded as if the footstep had come from the bedroom across the hall. I shouldn’t look. Just let it go, I told myself. Nonetheless, the paranormal was my part-time job. I spent a lot of my time in graveyards giving haunted tours. Plus, I went with Brannon on investigations.
If I couldn’t check out things in my own house, then how could I do anything else paranormal related? Just ignoring it wouldn’t help. I pushed my shoulders back and held my head high as I marched down the hallway toward the bedroom door. However, once in front of the door my shoulders slumped a little and my head wasn’t nearly as high. I supposed I was trying to muster the courage to actually open the door. I wrapped my hand around the door knob and slowly twisted.
The door hinges groaned as I pushed it open. No way would I step into the dark room. This room only had one window, so it stayed shady even on a sunny day. Now the shades were drawn, and it was practically like nighttime. I inched my arm through the open door and felt around on the wall for the light switch.
Where is the thing?
My hand made contact with the switch. I flipped the lever, but nothing happened. I groaned. The light was burnt out. Using the tiny light from my phone, I tiptoed into the room. My heart beat faster with each step. So far nothing had grabbed me, but that didn’t mean a ghost wasn’t lurking close by. I inched across the room trying to keep my footsteps quiet as if I could sneak up on a ghost.
I knelt down and checked under the bed. What if this wasn’t a ghost and was really someone who wanted to harm me. Had Alexandria come back? She could possibly be coming for me. Why, I had no idea, but it was possible. Thank goodness no one was under the bed. The only other place to look was in the closet. The thought of opening that door terrified me. However, it had to be done. I would check the small space and then get out of here.
My breathing sounded like a prank phone caller. When I reached the door I paused again, going over in my mind what would happen if I actually saw someone on the other side of the door. Likely I would scream. Maybe I would run, Maybe I would punch the person in the face. Then again, if it was a killer maybe the person had some kind of sharp object and would attack me before I had a chance to do any of those things. On the count of three I intended on opening the door. No more putting it off.
I grabbed the knob, turned, and then… one, two, three, I yanked the door open. Of course, this space was dark too. Before shining my light into the tiny room, I spotted the glowing red eyes staring back at me. As expected I screamed. Unfortunately, instead of running I took a couple steps backward and fell on the bottom. There had been glowing eyes in the closet.
I stared in disbelief. Before this thing could get me, I needed to get out of there. The thought had barely finished when the red eyes vanished. What just happened? Still breathing heavily, I managed to scramble up from the floor. I shone my light into the little space. There was simply no one there. That was fine with me. I hoped to never see anything like that again.
I never knew that a ghost could have glowing eyes like that. A demon sure, but not a ghost. Was I really dealing with a demon? It sounded more and more like that was the case. I’d been warned to stay away. But how could I stay away from them when they were following me?
“Get out of my house,” I yelled. “You’re not welcome here.”
This was one instance when I was thankful not to receive a response. I slammed shut the closet door and then hurried out of the room. I counted my blessings that there wasn’t a ghost waiting for me in the hallway. Unfortunately, I knew just telling them to stay away wouldn’t work. I would have to call the demonologist and ask him to come over here and check on the activity. He’d always said I could call him anytime. Even so, I didn’t want to bother him unless absolutely necessary.
Little by little I eased down the staircase, practically holding my breath. When I reached the bottom, I released a deep breath. They weren’t there waiting for me. I glanced into the parlor. No sign of them there. Looking to the right, I saw they weren’t in the living room either. I wouldn’t even bother checking the kitchen. If they were hanging out in there they would just have to stay. Of course, I had to worry about them being there when I got home. I’d deal with that later.
My phone alerted me to a message. Who was texting me? My mother, Brannon, Tammy, or was it Annie? I pulled out my phone and checked the screen. I didn’t recognize the number. A picture was attached to the message.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw the picture was of me. It had been taken when I was in my bedroom upstairs. It was after I’d fallen and seen the eyes. Who snapped this photo? The person had to have been in the house. Were they still here? A shiver ran down my spine. There would be no looking. I had to get out of here.
I grabbed my bag again and headed out the door. Even though this turn of events had shaken me, I still thought I would walk to work again today. Though if I saw the ghosts again I’d probably regret that decision. The library was a good distance away now that I’d moved into this house, but I was okay with that. I enjoyed the exercise and it gave me a reason to stop at the coffee shop and get a pastry.
As I headed down the sidewalk, I glanced back at the house. Thank goodness there was no sign of the ghosts on the front porch. I released a deep breath, calming down a little bit now that I was out of that situation. Safe for now, but what if they showed up again on the sidewalk? If someone saw me in the daytime running from nothing, they would think I was crazy for sure. Or would they? A lot of people in town witnessed ghosts and I wondered if they’d understand my actions.
No matter what people thought, I needed to stop wor
rying about the ghosts and focus on my work ahead at the library. What would people in town say about the murder? As I headed down the sidewalk my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I picked it up anyway.
“This is Ripley Van Raden,” I said.
Maybe it was something to do with the library. I hoped it wasn’t bad news.
“Ripley?” the soft female voice asked.
“Yes?” I asked.
“This is Alexandria Emerson.”
Oh, my gosh. It felt as if I’d been punched. The air sucked out of my lungs. I couldn’t believe she had called me. I was talking to the killer.
“Where are you?” I asked.
Like I really thought she’d tell me.
“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that.” Her voice was barely above a whisper
“Well, understandably people are looking for you,” I said.
I wasn’t even sure what to say and why was she calling me?
“I know they’re looking for me, Ripley, but I didn’t murder that woman.”
I supposed I hadn’t seen her murder Lucy Marcus. I’d only caught her over there. I was willing to listen to what she had to say.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
“I moved around the side of the library and there she was. I ran over there and screamed. That was when you caught me. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well, if that’s the truth then I’m sure if you tell the police they’ll figure it all out.”
“I don’t want to take that chance. I can’t go to jail. Besides, you heard me say that I would kill whoever messed with my pies. And I have to admit I confronted Lucy about messing with the pies. But I would never really kill her.”
“I suppose I can’t be sure of that, but I really think if you just talk to the police they’ll sort everything out. I can have my boyfriend call you. He’s very understanding.”
“Oh, no. I can’t do that,” she said with even more panic in her voice.
My urging her to turn herself in wasn’t working.
