Ghost Handled (Valley Ghosts Series Book 3)

by BL Maxwell

  The drive to Woodland flew by, and after getting lost and a couple of extra turns, we were driving up to the Gibson House. The long driveway led to a large house that looked like it belonged somewhere else.

  “It looks like a southern mansion.” The white pillars against the red brick, and the large front porch covered by a second story balcony added to the image.

  “It does. Sort of stands out around here. You don’t see many buildings in this style,” Dean said.

  “No, you don’t. And I know the family moved here and lived in one room as they expanded and built the rest of it. But they were farmers; it’s so strange they’d build a southern mansion rather than the typical farmhouse that was popular at the time,” Jason said as he looked at the large house we were pulling up closer to.

  It didn’t have a menacing feeling as we stopped the car, and all of us sat for a second just taking it in. It had the same feeling of any museum I’d ever been to. Nothing felt out of place, or suspicious. A woman with dark curly hair walked over to the car with a big smile on her face.

  “Hi there, my name is Molly. I’m the manager here. I can show you around and get you settled before I leave for the evening.”

  “Nice to meet you, I’ve talked to you on the phone.” Jason held his hand out to her as he climbed out of the car. “What can we help you with? I looked up the history and didn’t find many reports of paranormal activity.”

  She led us to a side door that entered through a mudroom by the kitchen. The rear of the house was completely different than the front. It looked more like a simple farmhouse, complete with a white railing along the back porch. “We’ve kept it pretty quiet, but there seems to be activity centered around one of the rooms upstairs that was one of the children’s rooms.”

  The house was beautiful, but sparser than I would have expected.

  “The family was considered well off for the time, but they were still farmers and didn’t waste money on more than they needed. We’ve spent lots of time on the wallpaper and trim to restore and replace it to what it once was. It’s beautiful in its simplicity.”

  The kitchen was small by today’s standards; simple and utilitarian. Molly led us to the front room which she said was where the family usually spent time together, and then to the formal parlor.

  “This room wasn’t used very much, which is why it has more expensive furnishings. This was also the original house when it was a one room cabin.” We all spread out and looked around, but there wasn’t much to see. “Let me show you upstairs, that’s where most of the activity seems to be centered.”

  We all followed her upstairs to the bedrooms. They had been sealed with plexiglass at the doors so as to not allow visitors to step inside. As we stood in front of the children’s room, the temperature was noticeably cooler.

  “How many kids did they have?”

  “Five. In those days, the more kids you had, the more help you had. So even though they were in a one room cabin they were usually working outside, so not everyone was in here all at once.”

  “Did anyone die here?” Jimbo asked.

  “Yes, the husband and wife were both buried on the property as well as three of the children. The other two eventually married and moved away.”

  “Are their bodies still on the property?” Jason asked.

  “Yes, we considered moving them, but they’re located at the edge of the property and unless you know where to look, you wouldn’t be able to find the graves.”

  “Okay, I think we’ve seen enough. We’ll get busy setting up cameras. I think it might be best to set up in the room that was the original cabin,” Jason directed.

  “You’re welcome to use whatever you need. Now, if you don’t need anything else from me, I’ll be leaving for the night. You have my phone number, so if you need me for anything just call, I live really close.”

  We followed her out the door and waved goodbye as she drove away.

  “Time to get to work,” Jimbo said.

  I couldn’t control the shocked look because he was never ready to start ghost hunting.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Dude, are you drunk or something?”

  “Fuck you, Wade, grab a bag.”

  Jason laughed and patted me on the back as he rushed inside carrying as much equipment as he could. Yeah, that wasn’t weird or anything.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jason

  As investigations went, this one seemed pretty straight forward. One of the children, or possibly a parent, was still sticking around. If they didn’t start upping their game, there’d be no reason for us to remove them. But first we needed to figure out exactly who it was, and why they were here.

  “Wade, you and Dean take a few cameras upstairs. Put them facing into each room, and at the end of the hall. You know the drill.”

  “Aye aye, captain,” Wade said, before fake saluting me.

  I rolled my eyes before turning to face Jimbo. “You and I will set up down here. We don’t need more than one camera per room. It’s so open, we can see it all pretty easily.” Without saying a word, he grabbed some of the cameras and got busy installing them.

  Taking out the laptops and the other equipment I’d need, I got busy setting up our control room. I thought it was odd the manager still hadn’t said much about why we were here. Usually the person who wanted us here was well informed on any activity and was anxious to get rid of it. That didn’t seem the case for Molly.

  “Jimbo, what do you think of this place?” I asked him when he walked back into the room.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, with an odd expression on his face.

  “Well, it seems strange that they made a big deal of calling us, but Molly wasn’t able to give us any details about the haunting. And she didn’t seem anxious to get rid of any ghosts that might be here.”

  “I don’t know. I try to stay out of that side of things.” He kept his back to me as he rummaged around in one of the bags.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked.

  “Fuck, I have no clue.”

  Something was up. What it was I didn’t know, but Jimbo knew more than he was saying. Dean and Wade walked into the room and I tried to ignore Jimbo and focus on the job. It didn’t take long for us to have everything set up and ready to go.

  “It’s still early, you guys want to walk around the property? We can check out the outbuildings and see if there’s any reason to investigate them.”

  “Sure, I’m curious about the blacksmith shop, and the grounds,” Wade said. Jimbo nodded along, but still hadn’t said anything. Yep, something was up.

  “Sounds good, come on, James, let’s go check it out,” Dean said, and dragged Jimbo along behind him.

  We all walked outside, and it was the perfect evening. The moon was just rising in the dimming sunlight, painting the sky a deep red. There was a small orchard in the corner of the lot that was original trees the owner had planted. This place had a well documented history on everything the original owner had planted, and a lot of details about the slow renovation and expansion.

  “They have weddings here,” Jimbo blurted out.

  “Yeah?” Dean answered, and they held hands while they walked off toward the small orchard.

  “He’s totally up to something,” Wade whispered to me as he reached for my hand. I stood frozen and pulled him back to me. “Hey.”

  “What do you think this is all about?”

  “No clue, but you know how he is, he can’t keep a secret for shit. I give him thirty minutes before he can’t stand it anymore and has to spill.” He pulled me along as we followed Dean and Jimbo.

  “Dean doesn’t seem to notice anything at all.”

  “Let him have his fun, or whatever it is, and besides, it really is a nice night. I don’t mind going for a little walk around the property with you.”

  I pulled him to me and kissed him. How could I resist him? “Promise me, we’ll take some time and go away
for a weekend soon. No ghosts, no Jimbo. Just you and me, and a king-sized bed. Maybe satellite TV. And food, lots of food.”

  “Name the date and we’re there. We could rent a place at Tahoe for a weekend, I haven’t been there for years.”

  “As long as we know, without a doubt, there are no ghosts, I’m ready to go anywhere you want. I can’t wait to spend some time alone with you.” And like he knew we were having a conversation he shouldn’t interrupt . . .

  “Hey, Wade, why don’t we go check out the carriage house?” Jimbo said.

  “Oh, yeah, I could go for that. Sorry, baby, but it’s like being on a school fieldtrip after hours.”

  He gave me a look that reminded me of a kid asking his mom for a new toy. Well, more specifically, the look he used to give his mom when he wanted something he knew he may not get.

  “Go ahead, we’ve got plenty of time.”

  Jimbo rolled his eyes and they both rushed over to the outbuilding that had once been a carriage house. Dean stepped closer to me as I fought not to laugh at Wade and Jimbo.

  “He’s up to something isn’t he,” Dean said as he joined me walking behind them.

  “Oh, he’s totally up to something.” We both laughed as we caught up to them. And for the next half-hour we all wandered around and explored the area. When we walked back out, it was dark, and time to start our investigation. I had a feeling we wouldn’t find much tonight, which was fine after the past two nights. But whatever Jimbo was up to, I had to admit, I was curious to see what it was.

  Chapter Thirty

  Wade

  “Wade, why don’t you and Jimbo go upstairs and see if you catch anything on the EVP.”

  “Sounds good. I thought I felt a temperature drop but I didn’t sense anything more. But maybe if I spend more time up there someone will try to make contact.”

  “Jimbo, why don’t you take a recorder, just in case. You might pick up something,” Jason said.

  “Yeah, whatever,” he breathed out with his usual snarky attitude, and grabbed the recorder.

  Dean and I stood at the bottom of the stairs as they both walked up. “Lights off, good luck.” I didn’t imagine the grumbling I heard from him as he stomped around on the top landing while Wade shushed him.

  “Let’s go watch in the control room and see if we catch anything.” Dean followed me into the other room, and we both settled into chairs in front of monitors.

  “So, I still think James is totally up to something,” Dean said as he checked the camera views on the screen.

  “What do you think it is?”

  “Who knows. He has no filter, but he’s sneaky as hell when he wants to be.”

  “You should have asked Deidra, she most likely knows, and she can’t keep a secret for shit.”

  “I almost asked her, but I wanted to wait to see what he did. It’s actually kinda fun to see what he comes up with.”

  “I guess. If it was Wade, I’d be bugging him until he finally told me what was up.”

  “I have way more patience than that.”

  I thought of how long they’d waited to end up together. Neither of them finding anyone else who compared to the attraction they’d felt for each other all those years earlier in culinary school. It was sweet, and after knowing Jimbo . . . a little weird. He was so guarded, and to say I was shocked that someone like Dean, who was so pulled together and organized in every area of his life, would be the perfect match for someone like Jimbo, would be putting it mildly. But together they were perfect. Just like Wade and me.

  “So, do you think there’s anything here?” Dean asked.

  “Not really. I think the manager got creeped out and just wants to prove to herself it’s safe to be here. There was nothing in the history of the place to make me think there’s anything dangerous here at all.”

  “Not like the place last night.”

  My eyes shot to his, but he kept his focus on the computer screen. “That scared the shit out of me. I was so worried Wade was hurt more seriously than he was. We got lucky.”

  “I didn’t see what happened, but I could tell you’d been hurt. All I know is I will never get used to seeing a spirit like we saw there. Not gonna lie, it scared me too. I was so fucking relieved when you took control and sealed it into the salted area. I wish I hadn’t been quite so close to it. But I was relieved once it was finally gone.”

  “Dean, can I just say, for someone who had never been exposed to any of this shit until you were confronted with it at your restaurant, you are really very good about dealing with it. You could freak out and leave us. But you’re always there when we need you.”

  “Jason, you and Wade brought James back into my life. I know you probably don’t see it like that, but I do. I can’t ever thank you enough. And I’m starting to not mind the ghost adventures so much. Like I said, I can do without the scary blobby ectoplasm, or whatever the fuck that was. I liked the nice ghosts at the Saloon much better.”

  I slapped him on the back and had to stifle a laugh. “Me too, dude, me too! Now, let’s see if they’re having any luck at all. Those rooms are so small it won’t take them long.”

  We watched as they walked along the hallway and stood in front of the room that was the children’s room. The plexiglass didn’t allow them to enter, but the room was so small it was easy enough to see it all from the doorway. They stood still for a few minutes and Wade asked a few questions before they moved to the next room.

  “If there’s anything here he’ll know it,” I whispered with my eyes locked on him.

  “His abilities really are amazing. Do you ever wish you had them?” Dean asked.

  “At first I did. The paranormal has always fascinated me, as you know. But I’m better with the tech and knowledge side of it. I like knowing what’s going on and not second-guessing it. For Wade, he’s never quite sure who he’s dealing with, or if they’re telling him the truth. Ghosts really enjoy fucking with us. I’m so proud of him. He’s embraced all these changes and learned how to use them with help from Janis. And I guess Jimbo too. If we hadn’t gone to him for advice on The Vineyard House, none of this would have happened.”

  “So, it sounds like we both owe the ghosts some credit for having our boys in our lives.” Dean smiled at me—he was so sweet. Maybe his hair was a little too perfect, but I could forgive that.

  “You know you’re right. If we hadn’t gone to The Vineyard House, I’m not sure Wade and I would have ever admitted our feelings.”

  “See, I fucking told you they were shooting the shit and not paying attention,” Jimbo said as he stomped into the room and promptly kissed Dean on the head. Wade rolled his eyes and stood behind me to look over my shoulder at the monitor.

  “Any luck?” I asked.

  “Nope, I don’t sense any spirits here. I think there may be a possibility that the noises and other things the manager thinks she’s seen can all be explained. When you’re looking through that plexiglass into the room, it has a pretty good reflection against the hallway. I think it could easily be mistaken as a ghost.”

  “Dean, do you want to go with me to the other room and see if we have any luck?” Jimbo asked.

  My head spun so fast to look at him, and at the exact same time Wade kicked my foot. “What the fu—”

  “Go ahead, Dean. I’ll stay here with Jason.”

  I kept my mouth shut as Dean stood and followed Jimbo out of the control room and into the main room.

  “Sorry, baby, but just watch,” Wade said, and took my hand.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Wade

  “What’s going on?” Jason whispered, as we leaned in closer to watch Jimbo and Dean on the monitor.

  “You’ll see. He set this up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Dean and Jimbo slowly walked around the perimeter of the room. Jimbo waved an EMF meter all around, and Dean watched every move he made.

  “Jimbo knows the manager. He went to school with her, and he rented the pla
ce for the night so he could do something special for Dean.”

  “What? Why didn’t he let us in on it?”

  “You know how he is. If he told us, he’d tell Mom, and if he told her, there is no way in hell it would still be a secret.”

  “Wait, what’s he up to?” Jason asked.

  “Just wait.”

  Both of us watched as Jimbo put his arm around Dean, and Dean pushed him back. He waved his hand around. The room was close enough we could hear the buzzing of their conversation.

  Dean walked around Jimbo and got back to work with an annoyed look on his face. But once again, Jimbo walked over to him and put his arm around him, and Dean stopped moving. I reached over and turned up the volume on the feed.

  “Dean, you’re the love of my life. I am so fucking glad you had that damn ghost problem and called us.”

  “O-kay, what’s going on? I want to get done early so we can get some sleep.”

  Jimbo moved in front of him and dropped to his knee. Jason sucked in a shocked breath, Dean’s eyes about popped out of his head, and Jimbo looked right at the camera and smiled. Fucker.

  “Dean, I love you. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, you big crazy motherfucker that I love more than anything in this whole world.”

  He pulled Jimbo up and kissed him deeply. Jimbo panted as they broke apart and shook his head before he spoke again.

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, but I thought this one was nice, and I could get a matching one if you’re happy with it,” Jimbo rambled.

  Jimbo handed Dean a box without any more ceremony, making him swoon when he opened it.

  “I love it, and I love you. I can’t believe you did this, you’re so sneaky!”

  “I wanted it to be special, and I love it that you go on these adventures with us. I know I grumble about it, but I secretly love it. Don’t tell the guys that though.”

  Jason looked at me and we both struggled not to burst out laughing.