Haunt the Haunt, Walk the Walk (Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Book 3)

by Pressey, Rose

  I had to tell Brannon. I might have kept some small clues from him, but this was too big not to share. This could possibly lead to an arrest in the murder. I hurried back over to the reference desk to grab my phone. There was a text on there that I had missed.

  I’m coming for you.

  Just like the other one. For the moment, I ignored the message and instead dialed Brannon’s number. Since the police hadn’t found Melissa’s phone, I wondered if it was really a ghost sending the messages at all.

  Brannon didn’t answer the call, so I left a message. I didn’t explain everything over the phone, just that I had something important to tell him and to call me right away. This was too complicated to leave in a voicemail. I just hoped that he called me back soon. I didn’t want to let Jaden possibly hurt someone else. I wondered why he was mad at Melissa. Probably because she had ignored his advances.

  When I glanced up, I saw Mrs. Agnew coming through the door. I groaned, and for a split second, seriously considered hiding under the desk. She’d find me though, and I’d never be able to explain that one. There was no getting away from her.

  Mrs. Agnew marched right up to me with her eyes fixed on me. As usual, Mrs. Agnew’s walnut-brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun. May that was why she was always cranky, her hair was pulled too hard. She wore a black skirt suit with a black silk blouse underneath the jacket. Was she going to a funeral? Maybe she was sending me a message that my job at the library was on the verge of being kaput. The black suit was her attempt at symbolism.

  I plastered a fake smile on my face. “Hello, Mrs. Agnew. So nice to see you.”

  Even I knew my words sounded anything but sincere.

  The frown remained on her face. “I guess you know why I’m here.”

  I did know the reason for her visit, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it.

  Without waiting for my response, she continued, “We just can’t have this bad publicity around the library.”

  “Well, Mrs. Agnew, I haven’t killed anyone, so it’s kind of hard for me to control that.”

  She narrowed her eyes and then stomped over behind the desk in her black clunky shoes. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she was definitely inspecting everything. Jane Austen was licking her paws. When Mrs. Agnew stepped close to her, the cat hissed and ran away.

  “And will you please get rid of that cat.” She stuck her boney finger in my face.

  As tempting as it was, I kept a sarcastic comment to myself. There was no way Jane Austen was going anywhere.

  “Where is she?” Mrs. Agnew placed her hands on her hips.

  “Who?” I asked.

  Mrs. Agnew studied my face for a moment. “The assistant with the dead roommate,” she whispered and looked over her shoulder.

  “She’s around here somewhere,” I said.

  Mrs. Agnew shook her head and then took off down the hallway. I knew where she was headed. I didn’t like her looking in my office. That was my personal space. I hurried along behind her, virtually powerless to stop her. Annie was sending text messages as I walked. She wanted me to get rid of Mrs. Agnew. I wanted that more than anything right now, but what could I do.

  She went into my office immediately started looking around, scrutinizing every detail. Her stare landed on the untidy stack on paperwork on my desk. I tried to keep things organized, but lately I had been busy.

  “Is it something I can help you find?” I asked.

  “I’m just checking things out,” she snapped.

  Just then a hardback flew from the nearby credenza and landed right at Mrs. Agnew’s feet. She gasped. “Did you do that?”

  “I’m standing all the way over here. How could I do it?”

  When she turned her back to me I smiled, knowing that Annie had knocked the book off. Mrs. Agnew hurried out of the room and down the hall. Apparently if Annie wanted something bad enough she made it happen. I’d never seen Mrs. Agnew move so quickly.

  “I’d always heard this place is haunted, but it’s no wonder that strange things are happening with you and all your paranormal nonsense,” Mrs. Agnew said as she rushed to the door.

  “Sorry,” I said, fighting back a smile.

  Mrs. Agnew opened the door and then she turned to face me. “This isn’t the last of this.”

  I didn’t think it would be. She turned and stormed out the door.

  Sorry.

  The text from Annie said.

  “That’s okay. She was mad already,” I said with a wave of my hand.

  I went back to work and tried to take my mind off of what had happened. When my phone alerted me to a text message I jumped. I didn’t want to know if it was something bad, so I ignored it. But when Annie appeared in front of me and pointed toward the phone I knew that it was her. By the scowl on her face, she was unhappy that I had ignored her. I hadn’t done it on purpose, so I would have to find a way to make her feel better.

  You need to call the police.

  “I did call, Annie. Brannon will call back soon.”

  Just don’t go anywhere alone until you speak with him.

  Chapter 21

  It was later that day and time to close the library for the evening. Tammy and Crystal had already left for the day, leaving me alone with just Annie and Jane Austen. I wrapped up a few little things and headed out for the cemetery. It was as if something was pulling me there, but I wasn’t sure why.

  I made the walk in record time, still unsure of why I was in such a hurry. The walk down that alleyway to the graveyard seemed to take forever. As soon as I reached the gates though, I noticed movement over by the big oak tree. This time I knew it wasn’t ghosts. Two people were in the graveyard. What were they doing? I knew they were supposed to be here. They hadn’t even noticed me as I stepped through the gates. I could easily slip up on them and scare the bejesus out of them. They were actually sitting on the ground near one of the older graves. I didn’t like the looks of this. They were definitely doing something they shouldn’t be. Where was Mrs. Clatterbuckwhen I needed her?

  I eased over toward the section where they still sat, trying not to step on any dead leaves and make my presence known. They still had no idea I was walking toward them. If I got a little closer without them noticing, they might freak out. When I neared the oak tree, I realized that they had probably been trying to communicate with a spirit. They’d been holding hands and had their eyes closed. I moved like a cat, trying to remain as quiet as possible so that they wouldn’t hear me. If they were really up to no good, then they’d be mad that I’d discovered them.

  I was thinking twice now about actually speaking to them. Maybe I should just get out of there. Just then I saw the girl’s face. I recognized her from the library. The guy had been there too. They had been in the group with Jaden and had taken off when I confronted them. Well, she had been the one left behind and stuck talking to me. As I stood there watching them, they looked over and made eye contact with me. Panic crossed their faces and they jumped up, taking off through the graveyard.

  I wasn’t sure where they thought they were going because there was no exit in that direction. Perhaps they thought they’d climb the fence. They darted around graves and I took off after them. The guy wasn’t slowing down to help her, and she looked as if she was struggling to keep up. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when she stumbled and fell. She called out to him, but he didn’t stop. Some friend he was to leave her like that. I finally caught up to her.

  She looked up at me with fear in her eyes. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Please don’t tell my parents.”

  I stretched my hand out to her to help her up. “Are you okay?”

  She stared at me as she pushed her feet. She nodded, but looked as if she was still too stunned to talk.

  “What are y’all doing?” I asked.

  Not that I expected her to be truthful with me because I hadn’t gotten an answer out of Jaden or her as to why they were in the library acting suspiciously. I might have
to turn to tell her. Because it looked as if he didn't want that to happen.

  I placed my hands on my hips to let her know that I wasn’t going anywhere until she answered me.

  She wrapped her arms in front of her chest. “We were having a séance.

  What? That's not a good idea. You shouldn't do that, not here. Well, actually not anywhere, but especially not here. I was the one who had to deal with the bad spirits if they brought them through. They could just pack up their stuff and leave. I was the one that worked here. Not to mention she shouldn’t disturb the good spirits who were there by bringing bad ones in.

  “Why are you having a séance here?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “It’s just something we do…something for fun.”

  “Well, it’s not fun.”

  She looked down at her sneakers.

  “You’re friends with Jaden. I talked to you at the library. Is this his idea too?”

  She shook her head. “No, but we’ve done them with him in the past.”

  “You’ve been back to the house in Edgewood, right?”

  Her eyes widened. “How did you know?”

  “I just have ways of finding out the things,” I said.

  That made me sound a lot smarter than I was.

  “So why were y’all really in the library? Were you looking for something specific? Did it have anything to do with Edgewood haunting?” I pushed.

  She nodded. I would have to pry info out of her. “He was looking for books, but he didn’t tell us why.”

  “So can you tell me more about Jaden’s involvement in this séance stuff?”

  She ran her hand to her hair. “I don’t know. He’s weird. I just went with him because my boyfriend wanted me to.”

  "Was that your boyfriend who left you tonight?”

  She nodded.

  “You should make him your ex-boyfriend,” I said.

  “Jaden is friends with another weird group. I’m not sure what they do.”

  “He went with another group? What was their reason for going there? Why do they do this?” I asked. “I don’t know.”

  “Did you know that we found Jaden at the Edgewood house tied up?”

  She fidgeted as if she wanted to get out of there. She hadn’t been in such a hurry to leave earlier. She could give me a few minutes now.

  “Yes, I heard.”

  “Do you know anything about that? Who took him there?”

  She looked at me. “I heard the group took him there. But I don’t know why.”

  She knew that would be my next question.

  It looked as if this would be the only information I could get out of her.

  “Just don’t come back and do another séance here, okay? I don’t need you disturbing the spirits here. And there are a lot of spirits here, and I don’t need any more.”

  She nodded. “I won’t do it again.”

  “Good because I don’t want to have to tell your parents.”

  I didn’t even know her parents.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled and then took off toward the gate.

  I guess the other guy had jumped the fence. I looked around to see if there were any spirits watching. I hoped that they hadn’t stirred up something bad.

  Chapter 22

  When I walked back over to the gate, I realized I’d left lights on in the library. My luck Mrs. Agnew would stop by and notice. I had to go back and switch them off. I had plenty of time though, so I took off for the library.

  You forgot to turn off the lights.

  Annie sent the text as soon as I walked in the door.

  “I guess I have too much on my mind,” I said.

  Jane Austen meowed as she strolled along beside me. I’d just reached for the light switch when a noise came from the back of the library. I was pretty sure I had checked to make sure everyone was out of the library when I’d left. If Mrs. Agnew discovered I’d locked a patron in the library she would surely fire me. Now that I thought of it, I might have forgotten to lock the back door. What was wrong with me? I hoped that no one had gotten in. I’d lock the door and give one last look around to make sure everyone was out.

  I headed to the area where I thought I’d heard the sound. With my back up against the shelf, I inched around, but didn’t see anyone back there. The sound came again, but this time it was on the opposite side. My phone alerted me to a message and I reluctantly looked.

  Where is that coming from?

  Thankfully the message had been from Annie.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  I wasn’t sure why I had whispered, but something was definitely giving me the creeps now. I wanted to hurry up and get out of there. With my nerves on edge, I didn’t even want to find out where the sound had come from.

  As I rushed toward the front of the library I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked over, I saw the figure. It was the same one I’d seen at the graveyard and then again at the library by the tree. The figure was dressed all in black with what looked like a cape. The creepiest part was the gray mask covering the person’s face. It was one of those Halloween-type masks. In an instant, it sprinted toward me and I took off running as fast as my legs would move. The thing was coming after me. The cape moved like a bat’swings flapping in the wind.

  There was something else I spotted about this figure. And it wasn’t very paranormal. It was wearing shoes.

  Now I knew there was a person underneath this costume. This had to be the killer and now I was panicking thinking I would be the next victim. I ran down the hallway, trying to escape. He had blocked my path to the front doors. I would have to try to reach the back doors. That was when I remembered what if the doors were locked and I didn’t have the key on me. I would have to hide. But where could I hide without him seeing me?

  There was a broom closet, but I figured he would look there first. As fast as I could I ran up the stairs, but I knew that was a mistake. It was like you see in all the horror movies. The victim always ran to the most vulnerable spot, enviably allowing the bad guy ample opportunity to kill. I knew I shouldn’t go upstairs, but I had no other choice. He practically had me cornered. Annie was moving along beside me and I knew she was panicked too. This wasn’t looking good for me. I reached the top of the stairs and ran down that hall. My plan was to go into one of the conference rooms and hide.

  A small table covered with a white tablecloth sat in the corner of the room. This was my only chance to hide, but I was sure he would look there first. I decided to leave the door open and hide behind it. Then when he ran to the table to look for me, I could zip out the door and back down the stairs. That was my plan—whether it worked or not was the big question.

  As I hid behind the door my breath was heavy and my heart thumped wildly in my chest. His footsteps echoed down the hall, each step growing closer. He wasn’t in a hurry since he knew he had me cornered.

  He entered the room slowly and I thought I might faint from the stress. I had to run at the exact right moment, otherwise he would catch me.

  Just as I prepared myself to make my move, my phone dinged.

  Of course the noise caught his attention. His steps paused. I peeked out from the crack between the door and the wall and saw him standing in the middle of the room.

  When he turned to face where I was hiding, I ran for the door and out into the hallway. Without looking back, I dashed down the stairs, knowing that he was right behind me. One misstep and I was done. He would grab me and it would all be over.

  Somehow I made it to the bottom of the steps without being caught. Racing across the library, I made it around an aisle of books and headed for the front door. When I reached the end of one of the stacks, he popped out in front of me. I screamed and ran down the way I had just come. If I didn’t pick the exact right stack to run down he would be at the end waiting for me again. He was probably just waiting in the middle to see which one I would pop out of, so I darted down to the farthest one and then ran as fast as I could t
o the end.

  Just as I suspected, he was waiting in the middle, so that gave me a little bit of time to get to the front doors. I’d never run so fast in my life, but I reached the front doors without being caught. Thank goodness I had left the doors unlocked. Now I had to figure out where I was going when I got out there. I needed to be able to use my phone to call 911, but I couldn’t stop running long enough to even place the call. I burst out the doors, unsure of what my next move would be.

  Unfortunately, no one was around to help me, so I ran over to the big oak tree and paused long enough to swipe my phone and punch in 911. This was one situation I needed a little help with. I couldn’t handle this guy on my own. Who was behind that mask? I wondered if the attacker was back there waiting for me. Could he hear me placing the call? After telling the operator what I needed, all I could do was wait.

  Chapter 23

  It had seemed like forever, but probably had only been seconds. I decided to peek out from behind the tree and see if he was there. I expected him to pop out and attack me when I did.

  My body was pressed against the tree trunk. Bark poked into my back. I inched out from behind a tree and didn’t see him. My body and my heart jumped wildly waiting for him to pop out again. There was no way I was going back in the library again tonight. Peering out over the landscape, I tried to spot him hiding somewhere. Thank goodness he was nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t believe he’d just disappeared. He had to be watching me and waiting. This was some kind of game to him… a very sick game. My stomach turned thinking about what he’d done and wanted to do to me.

  When I glanced to my left, I spotted something on the ground next to the cemetery. I looked around to see if he was nearby one more time, but didn’t see him, so I eased over, reached down, and picked up the phone. I had to see who the phone belonged to. If it was the killer’s phone, then this might lead me to his identity. Maybe he had dropped it when he’d run away. Why would he run away? He’d had me where he wanted me.