by Sue Pethick
“No,” Dee said at last, “I can’t say I’ve ever seen a ghost at one of these things, but I have friends who claim they did.”
“Well, you can always hope, I guess.”
“Yes,” Dee said. “I’m afraid that hope is all I have now.”
She lifted Gwen’s hand and examined the ring again.
“Your Todd must be very generous.”
“He is,” Gwen said. “He knows how to keep me happy.”
“My husband was generous, too. Not that he could have afforded a ring like that, but he gave me more love and laughter in twenty-one years than most people get in a lifetime.”
Dee had a faraway look in her eyes.
“I’m not sure I ever thanked him enough for that. I suppose that’s why I come here,” she said. “I keep wishing there was some way I could tell him.”
Gwen slowly withdrew her hand.
“When did you . . . lose him?”
“Hmm? Oh, Archie’s been gone for almost fifteen years now.”
“Your husband’s name was Archie?”
“Short for Archibald, yes, but he hated that.” She laughed. “I’m not even sure he liked the name Archie, come to think of it, but it suited him.”
Gwen almost said something about Uncle Bertie’s dog, but decided not to. What were the chances? she thought. She’d have to be sure to tell Todd when he arrived. She gave Dee a thin smile and glanced at the door again. What on earth was keeping him?
Emma charged into the lobby and barked at Adam.
“Has he shown up yet?”
“No. Sorry.” He shrugged apologetically. “He just said he’d be back for the séance.”
“Well, it’s about to start and I can’t find him anywhere.”
She ran a hand partway through her hair and yanked, hoping the pain would help her focus. Big things were happening; her assistant manager was AWOL; and all she could think about was Todd’s stupid fiancée. If Adam hadn’t been standing six feet away from her, she’d have screamed in frustration.
“All right,” she said, “we’ll just have to move on without him. You stay here and take care of the guests. Don’t worry if you can’t answer the phones; they can go to voice mail for now. If anyone starts freaking out, I don’t want you to be stuck on the phone.”
The desk clerk looked crestfallen.
“I guess that means I can’t go to the séance, huh?”
“Adam, you know I love you, but I cannot deal with your disappointment right now. Unless by some miracle Clifton shows up this very second, the answer is no, absolutely not.”
She heard footsteps and saw Todd coming toward her down the hallway.
“I need to talk to you,” he said. “It’s urgent.”
Emma held up her hand.
“Nope. Sorry. No time to chat,” she said as she headed toward her office. “She’s waiting for you in the Spirit Room.”
“Who, Gwen? No.” He shook his head. “I need to talk to you. Right now.”
Emma worked her jaw, glancing from Todd to an openmouthed Adam. Why was he doing this to her? Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d told his fiancée that the two of them had been sweet on each other as kids? For a little while there, she’d thought Todd was still her friend, that maybe she’d misjudged him, but after Gwen’s crack about puppy love, Emma realized that the two of them had been laughing behind her back all along.
Even so, he was a guest and she could hardly tell her staff to treat the guests well if she wasn’t prepared to do the same. She forced herself to smile.
“All right. What can I help you with?”
Todd hesitated. “I’d rather talk in your office, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” she said. “Adam, I’ll be out in a minute. If Clifton shows up, please buzz me right away.”
Todd followed her into her office and Emma closed the door behind him.
“What do you want?” she snapped. “Or did you just drop by to give me more advice about how to run my business?”
“It’s Archie,” Todd said. “I think he may be your ghost.”
She almost laughed. Archie a ghost? Was this a joke?
“The first night I was here, remember? Lars and Viv told me they heard a ghost howling.”
Emma frowned, recalling Viv’s despondency when the spirits had refused to show themselves.
“No, that was the day after. There weren’t any encounters the first day.”
Todd shook his head. “The next morning, then. Lars said it was around midnight when they heard it. Then you told me that Archie showed up at the cottage around two, right?”
She thought about that for a moment.
“Yeah, I suppose, but I didn’t hear him howl.”
“I didn’t say you did. Remember that thorn he had in his paw? Jake and I found one of those bushes near the toolshed. If that was where Archie stepped on it, anyone on the east side of the building would have heard him howl.”
Emma thought about that. The Van Vandevanders’ room was on that side. If Archie had howled when he stepped on the spiny cocklebur, they would have been in the best position to hear him. But that was silly, she told herself. They’d have realized it was a dog, surely.
“Archie stole the sandwich, too,” Todd said. “I saw him with it in his mouth, but I thought the kitchen staff had given it to him. When somebody told me later that they thought a ghost had taken it, I didn’t bother to tell them. It just seemed like a harmless mistake.”
With the evidence piling up, Emma could feel her anxiety growing. What if Archie was the reason for the encounters?
“But the scratching and the other sounds, like someone walking overhead. . . .”
“I think I can explain those, too,” Todd said. “Or at least some of them. Dr. Richards told us he thinks there are hidden passages behind the walls. What if Archie got in there somehow? I know it sounds crazy, but . . .”
“No,” she said. “It’s not crazy. He’s right; there are empty spaces in the walls.”
Todd’s jaw dropped. “You knew about them?”
“Of course. That’s why the inn is so hard to maintain. There are places we can’t even get to inside. Not without breaking through the roof or the walls, anyway.”
And if Archie was in there, Emma thought, how would they ever get him out?
“The ghost in the laundry room,” she said, thinking aloud. “Lupita had just emptied out the linens from the cottage. Archie’s blanket was in there.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Todd said. “Maybe he was trying to get the blanket back when Lupita grabbed the hamper. He’s small and he doesn’t weigh all that much. If she piled some sheets on top and picked everything up, Archie might have stayed quiet, thinking it was a game.”
Archie had been playing a game with his blanket that afternoon, Emma thought. What if Todd was right and Archie thought Lupita was playing a game with him? When she dumped the laundry out on the floor, she must have seen the blanket move and thought it was alive.
If the ghost hunters find out, they’ll think I set them up.
“Maybe we’ve got it wrong. Maybe Archie’s still inside the cottage.”
Todd shook his head.
“I just checked; he’s not there,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Emma looked around, trying to think of what she should do. Everyone was already gathered in the Spirit Room. Maybe the best thing to do was just hope for the best and go searching for Archie once the séance was over. If Todd was right, Lars and Viv had already heard Archie’s cries and failed to recognize them. In the bewitching atmosphere of the séance, even a skeptical person might believe he was hearing ghosts, and there seemed little chance that Archie would bark as long as no one called his name.
“Oh, no.” Emma grabbed Todd’s arm. “Your dog’s name is Archie.”
“Um, yeah,” he said, smiling uncertainly. “I thought you knew that.”
“Noooo,” she moaned. “Why didn’t I think of this before?”
&
nbsp; “Think of what? What are you talking about?”
“Dee—one of the ghost hunters, an old friend of my Gran’s. She comes here every year hoping to contact her dead husband.”
“So? What’s the problem?”
“Archie,” Emma said. “Dee’s husband was named Archie.”
Todd’s mouth fell open. “So, if Viv thinks the ghost is Dee’s husband . . .”
“She’ll call Archie’s name. And if Archie is trapped inside the walls . . .”
“He’ll start barking to let us know where he is.”
Emma looked at the door. “We’ve got to stop the séance.”
“How? Everybody’s already in there.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But we’ve got to try.”
CHAPTER 23
The Spirit Room was packed when Todd and Emma walked in. Todd was surprised. This wasn’t like the séances he’d seen on TV, with people sitting around a table while someone banged on it from underneath. The participants were on chairs arranged in two concentric circles, while sitting cross-legged in the middle was Viv Van Vandevander. A candle was burning on the floor in front of her. Its flame flickered as the door behind them closed.
“I’m going to go talk to Lars,” Emma whispered. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
“Shouldn’t I stay here?” Todd said. “What if he says no?”
She shrugged helplessly and shook her head.
“Beats me,” she said. “But believe me, it’ll be harder with the two of us.”
Todd glanced around the room and noticed with regret that the only empty seat was the one next to Gwen. Excusing himself as he hurried past, he crossed the room in front of the others and sat down.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he whispered. “I was hoping we could call this thing off.”
“Why?” Gwen said. “Are you afraid of ghosts now?”
“No, because I think the only ghost around here is Archie and I’d rather not have a mob go after Emma if these people find out.”
“What?”
As heads turned toward them, Todd put a finger to his lips.
“Dr. Richards said there were passages inside the walls,” he whispered. “I think Archie might have gotten in there somehow.”
“That stupid dog has ruined everything,” Gwen muttered. “You should have just taken him to the pound.”
Todd looked back to see if Emma was having any luck persuading Lars. As she whispered something in his ear, the professor shook his head vehemently. What were they going to do if he refused to call it off?
The question quickly became moot as Lars reached over and turned down the lights. The candle’s flickering flame cast eerie shadows on the walls and turned the faces in the circle into ghoulish masks. On the floor in front of them, Viv closed her eyes and began to sway. There were whispers around the circle, and Todd was surprised when Gwen slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. He supposed he couldn’t blame her. Even for someone who didn’t believe in ghosts, it felt pretty eerie.
There was a thump overhead and someone in the audience squealed. Muted cries of, “Hush!” filled the room and then died down again. Todd looked for the noise’s source but saw only shadows dancing overhead. It hadn’t sounded like Archie, he thought. But if it wasn’t Archie, what was it?
Viv appeared to have gone into some sort of trance. As she continued to sway, she filled the room with a low hum. At length, the humming stopped.
“Someone is here,” she said.
The quality of Viv’s voice had changed. To Todd, it sounded as if two people were speaking instead of one. He wasn’t the only one in the room who’d noticed, either. People around him exchanged startled looks.
Lars called to her from his place by the door.
“Vivienne,” he said, “why have they come?”
Viv moaned.
“To witness,” she said. “To make amends. To ask for . . . forgiveness.”
Todd heard a scuffle directly overhead and then an ear-piercing howl that sounded like Archie. Three people stood to leave and the others coaxed them back down. He searched the room, looking for Emma. Where was she? he wondered. Had she recognized it, too?
Lars continued his interrogation.
“Forgiveness?” he said. “For what?”
There was another howl and Viv jerked like a marionette. When she spoke again, her voice had deepened.
“I shouldn’t have left you. I’m sorry.”
Gwen gasped and grabbed his arm. Todd looked over and saw the woman on the other side of her struggling to stand.
“Archie?” she said in a tremulous voice. “Archie, is that you?”
Todd panicked. This must be Dee, he thought. The one Emma had warned him about. The one who’d come to every convention hoping in vain to contact her late husband, Archie. He had to stop her. If she called him again, Archie might hear her and start barking. If that happened, even the true believers in the room would realize they’d been had.
He leaned toward her.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said. “Can I help you?”
Dee struggled to her feet. She was trembling; there were tears running down her cheeks.
“Oh, my darling, don’t be sorry,” she said. “It was my fault. I should have told you—”
Something heavy fell against the ceiling and Todd ducked as bits of plaster pelted the floor. He looked up and saw a crack race across the ceiling, widening as it went. He looked at Gwen.
“Get out of here! The whole thing is coming down!”
Gwen ran for the door as Dee clutched her chest and Todd rushed forward to catch her. There was a tremendous crash and people screamed, shoving their chairs aside as they ran headlong for the exit.
From her place beside the door, Emma watched in horror as chunks of plaster and lath tumbled down, followed by an enormous beam that hit the floor with a sound like cannon fire. Then, one by one, fifty-pound bags of rice and flour began falling through the hole, bursting open as they hit the ground and sending thick, powdery clouds into the air.
As people ran past her, choking and gasping for air, she saw Clifton drop from the hole in the ceiling. His green jacket looked like a snow-dusted fir and there was blood running down his face from a gash on his forehead. Under his left arm, Archie squirmed and growled, struggling to break free.
CHAPTER 24
Emma had set up a triage area in the banquet hall. As the steady stream of guests from the séance came through the door, she quickly directed them to the appropriate area for treatment. The inn had plenty of first aid supplies, including a defibrillator, plus blankets and cots for those who were too weak to stand or in danger of going into shock, and thanks to the SSSPA they also had two RNs, a naturopath, and a holistic healer on hand. Adam had earned high marks for remaining calm and dialing 911 when he heard the commotion, and the operator had assured him that the EMTs would be there soon.
Now, if I could just find Todd.
She wasn’t particularly worried. In the mad scramble to evacuate the Spirit Room, people who weren’t injured had fled to the safety of their hotel rooms. Emma had already seen Gwen retrieve Archie and whisk him away in his carrier; she figured Todd was probably back in his room getting ready to leave.
As much as Emma hated to see him go, she’d be glad to have Archie off the premises. The less the ghosts hunters saw of the little dog, the better the chances were that they wouldn’t connect him to the encounters they’d been witnessing since the night before. With everything else that had gone wrong, the thought of losing her best customers was terrifying.
Though perhaps, Emma thought, not as terrifying as watching Clifton Fairholm fall through the ceiling. She glanced across the room at her assistant manager, sulking in the corner, who was waiting for the police to arrive while Dick Richards loomed over him like a white-haired vulture. The gash on Clifton’s forehead had been bloody and he was badly bruised, but there was no sign that he’d suffered any serious injury.
Emma s
till had no idea what, exactly, he’d been doing up there, but the sight of all those supplies falling through the ceiling had made it pretty clear that he was at least partially responsible for the inn’s precarious financial position. The thought that the man she’d trusted to guide her after Gran died had been doing his best to ruin her made Emma feel sick. There were anxious murmurs at the door and Lars Van Vandevander staggered into the room holding Viv in his arms.
“I need help here, stat!”
As a nurse rushed over, Viv reached up and brushed plaster dust from her hair.
“I told you I’m all right,” she said. “Now, put me down, please.”
Emma helped Lars get Viv onto a cot. There were cuts on her arms and a swelling on her collarbone that looked ominous. With all the plaster dust in her hair, she might have suffered a concussion, as well. Emma grabbed one of the thermal blankets and wrapped it around Viv’s shoulders.
“Let him spoil you a little,” she said. “It’s a husband’s prerogative.”
As the nurse began checking his wife’s wounds, Lars pulled Emma aside.
“I checked on Dee.”
“How is she?”
“As well as can be expected,” Lars said. “We’ve covered her with a blanket and I’ve got a couple of ladies sitting with her, but I’d rather not move her until the paramedics arrive.”
“Good idea. Thank you.”
Tears of relief sprang to Emma’s eyes. The thought that they might lose Dee had weighed heavily on her mind.
Lars cleared his throat.
“However, I’m afraid the news isn’t all good,” he whispered. “There appears to be someone trapped underneath the rubble. If so, I’m afraid the ceiling fell right on top of them.”
Emma gasped. “Are you sure?”
He nodded.
“Dee says she felt someone push her out of the way as the ceiling came down.” Lars frowned. “You don’t happen to know who was sitting beside her, do you?”
She did. Emma felt her throat constrict.
“It was Todd and his fiancée,” she said. “But I know Gwen’s all right. I saw her leave a few minutes ago.”
