Cookies, Corpses and the Deadly Haunt: Haunted House Flippers Inc. (Bohemian Lake Book 2)

by Rachael Stapleton

  The town’s council, particularly Helen Patone, Kaitlyn’s mother, had been over the moon to discover that Spirited Construction had purchased it and were attempting to breathe new life into it. It wasn’t long after the purchase that she’d sent Pike to talk Juniper into lending the house for the annual Halloween Ball. Apparently, attendance had been low the last couple of years and they thought with it being the one hundred year anniversary of the murder, they could drum up ticket sales using morbid curiosity. Juniper suspected the publicity would be good for Spirited Construction—not to mention she was secretly macabre obsessed, so what could be better than spending Halloween in a house rumored to be haunted.

  Pike leaned against one of the open beams. “This attic is just so naturally creepy. Doing a haunted house up here in addition to the ball downstairs was good thinking. The teenagers are going to love it.” Pike picked up the scissors. “So how do I make this ghost again?”

  “Start wrapping the tape around the mannequin and we’ll stick an LED light in there when you’re done.” Juniper took a sip of the spiced pumpkin latte Pike had brought her from her coffee shop, Cookies & Corsets.

  “How’s business, anyway?” Juniper asked over the squeak of the tape. “I can’t wait to check it out. I think it’s so neat that you share the space with a vintage dress shop.”

  “It’s only been six months, but so far it’s great.” Her blue-green eyes clouded over. “Of course, the building is possibly being sold.”

  “What? Why?”

  “The owners, Lulu and Peter are having problems.”

  “Lulu owns the dress shop, right?”

  “Mm-hmm, they also own the building. I think they’re heading for separation. It’s been a war zone all week.” Pike shook her head. “Poor Lulu. She tries to hide it, but she’s heartbroken. She thinks Peter is having an affair and now he’s in talks to sell the building. To the mayor of all people! Like the Patone family needs to get its grubby little hands on anything else in this town.” Pike shook her head. “I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens. Lulu doesn’t want to sell. It’s taken her a long time to get her vintage clothing business off the ground, but Peter doesn’t seem to care. I think they’re having money issues on top of everything else.”

  “You can’t take on other people’s problems, Pike. Anyway, won’t the Mayor let you stay? Share the space perhaps, the way Lulu does.”

  Her face twisted in disgust. “Hell no, apparently, Mayor Frank Patone wants to open up a pizza parlor for his kids to run. It’s bad enough I have to put up with that uptight snot bag, Kaitlyn, with regards to this project… soon she’ll be stealing my shop.”

  Juniper frowned. Pike had worked non-stop since College to save every last penny to open that bakery.

  “It’s too far-fetched to even consider, but I wish I could buy the building. Sadly I can barely afford to rent it after buying all new appliances.”

  Juniper snorted. “I hear ya. It’s nice to have a business partner, but I wish I could have afforded this place solo.”

  Pike’s eyes lit up. “The Charming Little Inn—it’s so close to the wineries—you could advertise to the upper crust winos.”

  Juniper smiled. This was a game they often indulged in—who could dream bigger. “You could move your coffee shop in here. We could do ghost tours every year in the fall. Believe me, I’ve thought it over, but I’ve got my hands full with this construction business. Maybe after a couple more flips, we’ll have broken into the high-end historic-home-renovation business. Then Jack can buy me out and we can finally go our separate ways.”

  “Right. Like you and Jack actually want to separate. I’ve never seen more amicable ex-lovers.”

  “What choice do we have? We own this company together and neither one of us can afford to buy the other out.”

  “Is that why you both spend so much time together?”

  “We can’t afford additional help.”

  “Did someone say help?” Axl Patone, the mayor’s son, climbed the stairs into the attic.

  Axl was a ruggedly handsome twenty-something with a rich frat boy vibe. He was always hitting on Pike and getting rejected. “Where should I put the stiff?” He joked, referring to the life size doll he clutched in his arms.

  “Right over there with the trunk and the chainsaw is fine,” Juniper instructed. We’re going to outline it in chalk and put up yellow caution tape.

  “Where did that come from? It looks familiar.” Axl commented.

  Juniper looked at the beat-up blue trunk that she’d almost fell over earlier. “I don’t know. It was here when we took possession. It was originally up in the rafters, but someone must have brought it down last night or this morning.”

  “Do you think it’s THE TRUNK?” Axl asked.

  “Huh?” Juniper questioned.

  Pike, who had been sitting on it, suddenly stood up and moved away. “I hardly think a one hundred-year-old chest that once housed the dead body of the doctor’s wife would still be here.”

  “Oh that trunk,” Juniper said, cluing in to the rumored murder that had taken place.

  “Is it locked? Let’s pop that bad boy open.” Axl walked toward it.

  “Later. We still have a lot to do.” On top of helping with the decorations, Juniper still had her regular house flipping tasks to finish like stripping wallpaper, installing new tile and shopping for fixtures.

  “Fine,” Axl relented, setting the dummy on the trunk. “I’ll go bring up the rest of the decorations.”

  From outside, Juniper heard the sounds of hammering. She walked to the window and saw that Jack was busy replacing the rotting floorboards on the porch. Her heart beat faster. It had been four years since Jack and Juniper split. They’d met through Pike, and Jack had begun working the summers for Juniper’s dad’s construction company. At twenty-two, fresh out of school they’d opened Spirited Construction with Juniper’s father’s help and had great success. In two years they’d flipped two houses and bought a third and then Jack had proposed marriage. Pressured by his friends and family, he’d done it here in his hometown on Christmas Eve. Juniper was still modeling part-time and was due to leave on assignment for a month and in a moment of panic, she’d rejected him. They broke up and when she returned, he was already dating one of his old school chums, Sally-big-boobs.

  Juniper shook her head in disbelief. So much water under the bridge, but they’d pushed past it and their relationship and business were better than ever, except for the fact that he was now engaged to Sally, the devil’s hand-maiden.

  “Hey,” Pike interrupted. She was kneeling on a built-in window seat, looking out the bay window over the back. “I think I saw someone go into the garden.”

  “Yeah, we have a landscaper helping out today.”

  “I can’t see a landscaper dressing like this.”

  Axl who’d just returned with another box joined Pike and Juniper at the window just in time to see a woman in an antique white dress disappear behind a tree. It was broad daylight. A chill ran through Juniper. Outside, the hammering stopped. It was replaced by the sound of a violin coming from downstairs. Juniper looked hard, but she could no longer see the woman in white.

  They all froze and looked at one another.

  “It’s the Doctor’s Wife.” Axl said.

  Footsteps sounded from the floor below. And though the music had stopped, the quiet was just as eerie.

  “You don’t have to be scared,” Axl assured us. “The neighbors have reported seeing a ghost here for a long time. She never hurts anyone.”

  The overhead lamp flickered out.

  “Bad sign,” said Pike.

  “It’s just old wiring,” Juniper responded.

  The dummy which Axl had left propped in a sitting position on top of the trunk fell over with a loud bang.

  They all jumped, “Break time.” Pike shouted. “Let’s hit up my place.”

  Juniper couldn’t agree more. As they hurried down the stairs, Axl disappeared out the bac
k door. “I guess he’s not coming with us.”

  “He probably has a hot lunch date. I bet he gets more action in a week then you’ve seen in two years.” Pike teased.

  “Oh, like that is it? Nose into Juniper’s sex life day, huh? How about we talk about that woman in the garden—did that really just happen?”

  “I don’t know. She was so far away. I guess maybe it could have been one of the neighbors taking a stroll. Maybe Kaitlyn’s trying to scare us off.”

  “Yeah, really.”

  “It was a pretty dress though, which is what you need to wear sometimes. Put on a dress occasionally and remind Jack of what he’s missing.”

  Juniper looked over at Pike, whose outfit matched her own—white tank top, torn jeans with the ankles cuffed and brown beat-up motorcycle boots. “Well maybe people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. You were awful grouchy to Miss Patone this morning. Wanna talk about all that repressed sexual energy?”

  Pike had her arms crossed, and a stubborn frown crinkled her forehead. “Don’t try to turn the tables on me. You told me to wear a tank top and jeans. I wear frilly tops and dresses every other day. We’re talking about the yummy things in your life—the things that are right under your nose.”

  “Are you talking about pizza again? ‘Cause man I could really go for a slice. When are the Patone’s opening up that parlor?”

  Pike fake punched Juniper on the arm as they started down the front walkway. “You’ll just have to settle for sandwiches and pumpkin pie cookies.”

  “You still make those? They were my favorite.”

  “Of course and they’re much better now.”

  Juniper glanced over her shoulder at the imposing red brick mansion, only half listening to Pike, as they crossed the road. This house had all the requisite parts to make it spooky: eyebrow dormers set into a mansard roof, an iron widow’s walk, and a ghost, and yet Juniper still couldn’t help but find it beautiful. My house, Juniper thought with a bit of pride. Well, half mine, she amended. There was always Jack to consider. Still, Juniper wished they didn’t have to sell it; there was something different about this place, or was it just that it was Jack’s hometown?

  Pike’s shop, Cookies & Corsets was jammed with tables, booths and baked goods on the left and racks of dresses to the right. It smelled like a combination of fresh laundry, coffee and vanilla bean.

  It was two stores operating out of one storefront, just like the name. The lighting was soft and flattering and the space was separated by a decorative wall of beads. Where Pike’s shelves were crowded with fancy plates and coffee cups, Lulu’s side held shoes and purses.

  “The love of your life is staring at you,” Pike whispered into Juniper’s ear.

  Juniper’s eyes focused on Jack as he paid for his lunch at the counter, a thatch of dark hair flopped over one eye. Her mouth quirked up, “Love of my life, huh?” Juniper wondered how in the world a long-ago boyfriend who’d dumped her for Sally-big-boobs qualified as that.

  “Hey, I think the situation is weird myself, but you’re the one who’s still in love with him.” With an amused glint in her eyes, Pike leaned forward. “You had no problem picking up on who I was referring to.”

  “He is one out of only two men in the store, and the other man is thirty years my senior.”

  “Don’t knock Harold. You should see that man dance. His comb-over is legendary—it doesn’t even move.”

  Juniper cracked a smile. “Most impressive,” Pike was right, Jack had stolen her heart once upon a time, but they’d moved beyond that.

  “This is exciting! So exciting,” interrupted the Mayor’s wife, Helen Patone. With her perfectly coiffed hair and single strand of pearls, Helen Patone reminded Juniper of a Chihuahua incessantly barking. She was most likely an ex-sorority sister.

  Helen lifted the lid on the glass case and stole one of Pike’s specialty pumpkin cookies. Pike’s employee, a young girl with a dark Betty Page bob and glasses rolled her eyes at Helen’s back. This woman was very different from her daughter. Where Kaitlyn was tall and muscular and standoffish, Helen Patone was petite and soft and overly friendly. Attractive for a woman in her fifties, she wore a white butterfly tea dress that Juniper was sure had come from an Audrey Hepburn yard sale. Pike referred to Helen as Stepford chic, she also said Helen had a penchant for sugar and gossip. Juniper agreed.

  “Okay, I’ll bite, Helen. What’s so exciting?” Pike asked after Helen repeated herself for the fourth time.

  “You girls… you saw the ghost! Honestly, Pike, don’t be so thick.” Helen said.

  Juniper furrowed her brows. How did Helen know they’d seen something? Pike and Jack had both implied she was a busybody, but this was next level. Either she was psychic, or she employed spies.

  Pike ignored Helen and instead addressed the smiling, tall and curvy woman across the room, “Lulu, you remember my friend Juniper?”

  “Of course.” Lulu motioned excitedly. Green gauze fluttered out behind her as she crossed the shop floor to give Juniper a lavender-and-vanilla-scented hug. “It’s all anyone can talk about. What a pleasure! My my, aren’t you still just as pretty?” She gushed.

  “Thank you,” Juniper said, a bit startled, but flattered by her warm welcome. “It’s nice to see you again.” Juniper had briefly met Lulu back in the day when she and Jack had dated. Lulu had long dark hair, and bright green eyes. She had been a beautiful woman then, and she still was, however Pike was right about her looking stressed. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red and there was a slightly glazed-over look.

  “How goes the renovation?” Helen interrupted. “Is our favorite haunted mansion going to be ready on time?”

  “Of course,” Jack said with a boyish grin as he winked at me. “Junie and I have never missed a deadline. Have we Junie?”

  Juniper smiled but shook her head at him like he was a naughty child. The man had no sense of jinxes and self-preservation. Jack took this as his cue to leave and glided out quietly behind another customer. Juniper scowled in his direction then smiled at Helen—public relations were apparently Juniper’s job.

  “I hope so! I just got into town today, but Jack and Pike and even your Kaitlyn have been in there for a couple of weeks now. Of course, as much as we’ve got done, there is still a lot to do.”

  Helen leaned forward in her chair, her hands clasped primly together. “And the… uh… ghost… what was she doing?”

  “Well, we don’t know that it was a ghost for sure. It could have been a woman. A neighbor just walking in the garden. We only saw her for half a second,” Juniper replied, pulling the lapels of her sweater a little closer around her.

  “Before she disappeared… that’s just what I heard. This is so exciting!” Helen repeated with a happy sigh, clapping her hands together as though Christmas was coming early. “I wonder what she wants.”

  “What who wants?” Harold asked.

  “The ghost of Victoria.”

  “Oh, that’s just hooey.” Harold barked.

  Pike seemed to notice Lulu’s discomfiture. “So, Lulu, we need costumes for the ball,” she said, readying a tray of cookies on the counter.

  Helen gave Harold a shove out of the way and crossed to Lulu. “I’ve just had a brilliant idea. Halloween is the anniversary of the Murder. Don’t you think our new owners would make the perfect Doctor and his wife? Then again, you’re not really a couple anymore, so I guess maybe Sally would object.”

  Pike practically choked on a piece of her blueberry muffin.

  “Have you seen the ghost?” Juniper asked Helen, doing nothing to keep the sharpness from her voice.

  “Not exactly. Kaitlyn has seen things on occasion, and the neighbor’s daughter is visited frequently, but I’m afraid I’m much too normal to see such things.”

  “Normal, my ass.” Pike mumbled.

  “Pardon me, Pike?”

  “Glass. Sorry this glass is dirty. I need to clean it.”

  Juniper looked at Pike and smirked
.

  “Are you okay, Lulu?” Helen blurted.

  Juniper looked back at Lulu whose olive toned face was white.

  Lulu nodded silently, but side stepped as if she’d lost her balance.

  “Are you sure?” Juniper asked with trepidation. “Maybe you should sit—” She approached the woman who then tumbled over with a slight thud, nearly taking down a large urn full of parasols and umbrellas.

  “Lulu,” Helen said, cutting in front of Juniper as she rushed over. She knelt down next to her cousin and pressed her hand against Lulu’s forehead. “Are you okay?”

  Lulu squeezed her eyes shut and Helen responded by prying one eyelid open with her thumb.

  Lulu twisted her head around and batted her hand away. “Get your damn fingers out of my face. Seriously, what are you doing?”

  “I don’t know, checking to see if you passed out.”

  “I’m fine. I’m sitting up for goodness' sake. I fell on my butt that’s no cause for hysterics.” She muttered, pushing Helen away. She turned to Pike, who’d also come over. “Help me up, would you, doll?”

  Pike bent down and helped Lulu to her feet.

  “Have you eaten today?” Helen asked. She turned to Juniper. “She’s always forgetting to eat.”

  “Of course I’ve eaten. What am I, an idiot?” She said a bit too quickly. “Fine. Everything’s fine.”

  Helen lifted one eyebrow. “Really? Is it Peter?”

  Lulu’s eye’s teared up. “No. I think I just ate some bad sushi last night or something. It’s passed.”

  Pike patted her hand. “Why don’t you go lay on the cot in the back and I’ll man the store for you.”

  “I said I’m fine, everyone. Thank you but I don’t need to be treated like some helpless crazy person.”

  Juniper and Pike exchanged a look. Where had that come from?

  “She’s fine. Just let her be.” Helen said, as Lulu stomped off to the back.

  Juniper turned back to Helen. “How did you know that we’d seen a ghost? It only just happened.”