When we jumped in the car, I said, “We have to call the police.”
“Make sure the doors are locked,” Tammy said as she shoved the lock on her door.
“They’re locked.” With a shaky hand, I pulled out my phone and dialed 911. It would be hard to explain why we were there and how we’d found her body. That wasn’t going to look good for us. After hanging up, I immediately dialed Brannon.
“Hi, Rip, what’s going on?” Brannon’s voice was smooth like bourbon.
I was about to spoil his good mood.
“Well, Tammy, Crystal, and I went to the haunted house in Edgewood and we just discovered Krista’s dead body.” I rushed my words. Might as well get it over with.
“You did what?” His voice went up several decibels.
“There’s a dead body. Krista’s dead.” The words still seemed surreal.
“Have you called the police there in Edgewood?” He used his best professional voice.
“Yes, I just called.”
“I’m on my way. Wait in your car with the doors locked.” Brannon sounded more stressed than I’d ever heard him.
“He’s on his way,” I said when I hung up.
Tammy said, “Well, that’s reassuring. I hope he can get us out of this mess because we’re going to prison.”
“Don’t panic. Everything will be fine. We’ll just explain what happened and they’ll understand.” Crystal glanced at me. She didn’t look convinced. In all honesty, I wasn’t convinced either.
We sat in silence in the creepy surroundings, knowing that the dead body was right up there. Luckily only a couple minutes later the sirens drew near and the lights became visible. A police car pulled up beside my car.
The officer motioned for us to get out of the car. We immediately complied and got out. Tammy had her hands up as if we were already being arrested.
“She’s inside, officer,” I said, motioning to the house.
The middle-aged officer looked at me for a brief moment. The look on his face let me know he didn’t want to go in there either. Finally, he took off for the house. A couple of other police cars pulled up. I knew that we were going to have to answer a lot of questions. I also knew that it was going to be about an hour before Brannon got there.
“Do you think this has anything to do with Melissa’s murder?” Crystal whispered as we watched the police talking amongst themselves.
“I’d be willing to bet,” I said.
Chapter 19
Thank goodness Brannon rescued us from the house. I didn’t know how long the police would have kept us there if not for him.
I rode back to Devil’s Moon with him as he followed Crystal and Tammy. They were still freaked out by what had happened, and I’d probably never forgive myself for dragging them into this situation. Tammy said I hadn’t dragged them into it, that it had been their choice to go, but she was just being sweet.
I was in the middle of explaining to Brannon again why we had been at the house.
“Melissa developed an interest in talking to ghosts after her grandmother died,” Brannon informed me. “So that’s why she started doing the séances.”
“Since Krista asked me to do the séance with her, there has to be a connection between the deaths,” I said.
Brannon pulled up in front of my apartment and cut the engine. “Yes, I’m sure they are related, but we just don’t have proof yet.”
“It has to be someone who was doing séances with them, right? I think the boyfriend is the connection.” I looked out the window to see if the ghost had returned.
“That’s a good theory, except he has an alibi for the night of Melissa’s murder.” He opened his car door.
Well, that put a kink in my theory.
Brannon walked me to the door. It was late at this point after we had followed Tammy and Crystal home.
“Will you be okay?” he asked as he stood in front of me.
I attempted to smile. “I’ll be fine.”
He leaned down and kissed me softly on the mouth. For a moment, I forgot where I was, lost in the sweet moment.
He smiled and said, “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Have a good night.” I waved.
As I went inside and closed the door behind me, Brannon waited on the porch. Once again, I peeked out the side window to see him walking back to his car. For a moment, I thought I saw one of those dark shadowy figures. Again, it had moved as if it wasn’t a ghost, but a person.
Brannon paused and looked in the same direction, so I thought maybe he had seen it too. When he went on to his car, I figured I had just been letting my imagination play tricks on me. It had been a long, stressful night.
As soon as I got inside my apartment I got ready for bed. I was pretty sure that sleep would evade me. Only a few hours remained until time for work, so I had to at least try to get some rest. Of course a million thoughts raced through my head.
I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. My head had barely hit the pillow when my phone alerted me to another text message. I had set the phone on the nightstand by the bed. For a moment, I thought about ignoring it, but I wouldn’t be able not to look. What if it was something important? I grabbed the phone and swiped the screen. The glow lit up the dark room. I’d received another text message from Melissa’s number.
They’re coming.
But who were they? The thought of finding out sent a shiver down my spine. I just wanted this to stop. I stared at the screen for a few seconds longer, waiting for another text to come through. What would happen if I sent a text back? I typed, Who are they?
I watched the screen for a response, but nothing happened. After several minutes, I placed the phone back on the nightstand and lay back on the pillow. I closed my eyes again.
I should have just gotten up and got ready for work because I wasn’t going to sleep. Not after everything that had happened.
Just then footsteps came from the hallway. I sat up and then froze, trying not to breathe so that I wouldn’t make a sound. Was it the ghost or the killer who had come to find me? What would the killer want with me? I hadn’t even done a séance. Maybe having offered to help Krista would be enough for the killer to want to kill me.
I listened for the footsteps. The apartment remained quiet. A dog barked in the distance. The footsteps had sounded as if they had been next to my bedroom door.
Pulling the covers over my head, I listened for any little sound. I had a feeling that the footsteps would return. Perhaps I should have gotten up and checked it out, but I didn’t have the willpower to do that at the moment. Too much had happened and my energy was drained. I just wanted it all to stop.
To my surprise, the footsteps didn’t return, not that I was aware of. The sun streaming through the window woke me up. After glancing at the time, I jumped out of bed. I only had twenty minutes to get to work. The last thing I wanted was to be late again.
First I had to check the hallway to make sure that nothing was out there. Things didn’t seem quite as scary with the sun out. After pausing with my hand on the doorknob, I eased the door open and peeked out into the hallway. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Relieved by this discovery, I rushed around and getting ready and then remembered my phone on the nightstand. I hadn’t even checked to see if I had gotten another text message sometime in the night. Maybe I had gotten a response. I hurried over and grabbed the phone from the nightstand. My hand shook as I swiped the screen.
There was no message. I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed or happy. Talk about mixed emotions.
I needed to get myself together. I was tough. I could handle this. There was a case to solve and I couldn’t let this break me down. I was too far into this—I had to finish what I’d started. I wouldn’t let any killer or ghost scare me. In my opinion there had to be a connection between that Edgewood house and the séances, and I was determined to find out what it was today.
After locking my door and stepping out into the sunshine, I rushed down t
he sidewalk toward the library. Mrs. Agnew would be by today for a visit. I’d checked my email as I walked and had gotten her notice. As if things couldn’t get any worse.
A car’s engine roared from beside me. I looked over. The red sports car cruised along beside me. When I saw who was behind the wheel, I recognized her right away. The gorgeous blonde was Brannon’s ex-wife. Darlene McGuire had a way of popping up in Devil’s Moon that was most assuredly not a coincidence. Surely her appearance beside me this time was no accident either.
What did she want with me? She kept popping up at the oddest times. I couldn’t help but wonder if her reason was because she didn’t want to let Brannon go.
“Excuse me?” she called out to me.
I looked at her, but didn’t answer. Our eyes were locked on each other, making the encounter even more awkward.
“Aren’t you the librarian?” she asked in a sweet tone.
It was too sweet and I knew she was just being fake. She had to know who I was. Darlene had taken the tour before, so surely she remembered me. Was I that forgettable? We’d gone to the same high school, for heaven’s sake. She graduated a couple years before me, but surely she knew me by now.
“Yes, I’m the librarian.” I waited to see what else she had to say. “Ripley Van Raden, remember?”
“You do the haunted tour also, right?” She flashed a fake smile.
She was just doing this to make me mad. I wouldn’t let her get to me. Not to mention I was getting an unsettling vibe from her.
“Yes, I do,” I said without smiling.
Maybe I should have been friendlier. After all, she hadn’t done anything to me, per se. Other than pretend she didn’t know me. Perhaps it wasn’t an act.
“Great. I would love to take the tour tonight. Do I need a ticket?” She pushed her hair off her shoulder with a flick of her wrist.
Now I was going to have to deal with her tonight. I still thought she was up to something.
“You took the tour before. Don’t you remember?” I asked.
She glared at me as if she couldn’t believe I’d called her out. “It’s been a long time. I’m too busy to remember those kind of things.”
She was a potential customer for the tour, so I had to be nice. “You can buy a ticket at the tavern.” I gestured across the street.
“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you tonight.” Something about her voice sounded insincere.
“Looking forward to it.” I forced a smile this time.
I wasn’t even going to tell Brannon that I’d seen Darlene and that she wanted to take the tour. Why ruin things by mentioning her? There was only a couple minutes left to get to the library, so I hurried down the sidewalk. I had just enough time so that I wouldn’t be late.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I spotted Melissa’s ghost. Our eyes met for a moment, but then she was gone. She had disappeared right before my eyes.
No matter how many times I’d seen a ghost, it was still unsettling. I rushed toward the library. Something about Melissa’s ghost was sending off a terrifying vibe. I’d almost reached the library when I spotted the dark shadowy ghost again. It darted behind the big oak tree just on the other side of the library door. It wasn’t my imagination this time—the thing had been watching me.
First Melissa’s ghost was behind me, and now this shadowy spirit was lurking around. The terrifying scenarios were popping up even more now. If I could just get in the library right now, maybe I could escape them, but then again, I probably wasn’t safe in there either. The spirits could get into the library and into my apartment. They could go anywhere I went.
I had just reached the edge of the sidewalk that led up the library path when my phone sent an alert. Again I thought about not answering it, but I wanted to know. I pulled the phone from my bag and swiped the screen. This was something bad all right. It was another message from Melissa’s number.
I’m coming for you.
The messages had never been that personal. The last one had said that they were coming for me. Now it said she was coming for me. This was not a good turn of events. It had been bad enough before, but now this message seemed like a direct threat. Fear settled within me unlike any I’d ever experienced.
I rushed into the library and tucked my bag underneath the counter. I fed the cat and tried to act as if nothing had happened. Annie kept asking me what was wrong and I told her nothing. When Tammy and Crystal came in they also picked up on my stressed vibe, but I assured them nothing was wrong. They asked if anything else had happened and I lied and told them no. Plus, they wanted to know if I’d heard anything about the murder. I told them the truth. I hadn’t heard a peep.
So far the morning had gone well. Nothing else had happened. Maybe I had fallen into a false sense of security, but I hoped that this would all stop now. When I came back into the main area of the library from my office, I spotted a group of people over by the non-fiction stacks. It was a large group, which was kind of odd. Most people were in there by themselves or just with one other person. That was when I noticed Jaden was one of the people. Now I had to go see what they were up to.
I walked over to where they studied the books on the shelf. They hadn’t heard me approach. I ducked around the corner because they were still talking.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this bad,” one of the guys said to Jaden.
“It’s no big deal. It wasn’t our fault.” Jaden picked a book from the shelf and then shoved it back.
Just then one of the women looked over and spotted me. The whole group stared at me. Now I’d been caught eavesdropping. I hadn’t heard much of their conversation, but it was enough to make me suspicious. Of course I wanted to know what they were talking about. Based on the scowls on their faces, they weren’t happy that I had caught them either.
Before I had a chance to ask what they were doing, the group filed out of the aisle, around me, and headed out of the library. I just stood there and watched them. What else could I do? They weren’t happy with me and now they knew that I was onto their little game. This had something to do with the haunted house and Melissa’s death, I just knew it. It was up to me to find out what they were doing. If they had been involved in the murders, and now they thought I was on to them, my life could be in danger too.
Chapter 20
As I watched the door, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked to my right, a woman was walking my way. I didn’t think she’d seen me standing there. When she came to the aisle, she looked around and I knew she was searching for the group that had just left. The young woman placed her hands on her hips. Finally, she spotted me standing there.
“Are you looking for the group that was here?” I asked, pointing beside me.
She grinned slightly, looking a little embarrassed. “Yes, did they leave?”
“Yes, they did,” I said.
She looked a little upset that they had left her there. “Okay, thanks,” she said and she started to walk away.
I rushed over and stopped in front of her. I held my hands up. “Wait just a minute. I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
Her eyes widened and she looked as if I was ready to bite her. Did I look mean or something?
“I was just wondering about your group and why you were meeting here in the library? Does this have something to do with the occult?” I asked, studying her face.
Now she looked even more terrified.
I knew she didn’t want to answer my question, so I said, “I just had a few questions about the group. No big deal.”
She stared at me for a moment as if she was considering whether she would speak or not, so I decided to press with more questions.
“Do you know about the haunted house in Edgewood? Have you all been there?” I asked.
Her frown let me know the answer to that was yes, but I was waiting for her to confirm it.
Finally, she nodded. “Yes, we were there.”
“You all are the ones who put the
pentagram on the floor, right?” I asked.
She widened her eyes. “Yes, that was them, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t.” I tried to make her think that I was on her side and believed her. “What were they doing there, some sort of séance?”
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.” She shifted from one foot to the other.
“Of course you should.” I tried to sound casual. “I’m just curious, that’s all. I won’t tell anyone. I investigate the paranormal sometimes,” I said.
She studied my face and shook her head, like she believed everything I said. “Yes, they brought up some bad spirits. I think they’re demons.”
Well, that wasn’t good. I never liked to hear that word.
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
She studied her sneakers. “I don’t know for sure. Just some bad things happened. I really need to go.” She looked toward the main door as if she wanted to escape.
“So did this guy Jaden have something to do with it?” I asked.
I wasn’t ready for her to leave just yet. I had more questions.
She waved her hand. “Yes, he was the one who had the idea in the first place.”
“Why did he want to do that?” I asked.
She sighed and then said, “Well, he was mad at this girl Melissa.”
That was when the hair on the back of my neck stood up. So it was really was connected to Melissa. Now I was getting somewhere.
“Do you know why he was mad at her?” I pressed.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Not really.” She pointed toward the door. “Is it okay if I go now?”
I stepped out of the way. “Sure, thanks for all of your answers. It was nice talking to you.”
She gave me a blank stare and then hurried toward the door. I wondered if she would tell Jaden that she had talked to me. I’d rather that he not know about this conversation. I was spooked to think that he had done something to Melissa. If he could do something to her or Krista, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Haunt the Haunt, Walk the Walk (Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Book 3) Page 14
