by Hazel Holmes
This was the hardest part. It was the part Ezra didn’t want to face. He couldn’t bring himself to explain why he had to ask these questions. It was awful to accuse someone of something like this. It was awful to question someone about something like this.
“You think I’m a danger,” Nathaniel whispered, coming to the conclusion on his own. “You mentioned that you have to keep your family safe. You think I’m a danger. You think…”
Nathaniel paused and looked at Ezra with a wounded look of disbelief that killed him. He looked beyond hurt by this man he considered a mentor, and Ezra regretted ever bringing it up.
“You think I’m so bitter about being unable to buy the property, that I’d sabotage you or hurt you. You think my father poisoned Oliva and Kyle, so you probably think I’ll poison you too. But you had me cook for you. So, if you really don’t trust me, why on earth would you have me cook for you and your wife? Why would you eat my food?”
“That’s the point,” Ezra said. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. If I thought you wanted to harm us, I wouldn’t have eaten your food and I certainly wouldn’t have allowed my wife to eat it. I’m not trying to accuse you of anything. I simply must ask you about it, is all.”
“This is insane,” Nathaniel retorted. “Just the fact that this crossed your mind. I… I don’t even know what to say. What are you trying to ask me? Am I here to kill you? Would my answer even suffice?
“I’ve given you my reasons for being here. I explained everything. If you can’t accept that, I don’t know what else to do. But I do know I won’t sit here and listen to you accuse my father of murder when you didn’t even know him. I won’t sit here and allow myself to be accused of something simply because of my family’s past.
“I liked you, Ezra. I admire your work and I enjoy working with you. I feel like I have a lot to learn from you. But it’s just not worth it. I’m out.”
He grabbed the rest of the cheesecake, including the pieces they hadn’t yet touched, then stormed out of the house. Ezra sat there and watched him leave, shocked.
What did this mean? Was Nathaniel storming off because he was guilty and didn’t want to be questioned about everything? Or was he innocent and hurt over being accused of something he didn’t do?
Ezra didn’t think he had taken an accusatory tone to the conversation, but it was difficult to know if he had done the right thing when he was this close to the situation. Regardless, Nathaniel was gone now. They wouldn’t have to worry about him threatening the family anymore, would they?
Perhaps not, but doubt remained in the back of Ezra’s mind. He couldn’t help but fear that this wasn’t over quite yet.
36
Directly following the heated conversation, Ezra put his headphones on and cleaned up the kitchen. He put away all the leftovers, tidied up every crumb. Then, he locked himself in his office and worked on the menu for hours, using the opinions and thoughts he gathered at the tasting as a guide.
Clara was dying to know how the conversation with Nathaniel had gone, but she could tell when Ezra needed space to defuse and knew it was best to give him that. He needed time to work through things on his own sometimes. Besides, she had heard the door slam and tires peel as Nathaniel left. She had some idea already of the outcome, even if her curiosity demanded she beg Ezra for the details.
She knew she would get them soon enough. Ezra would tell her everything, he always did. She just had to be patient. So, she busied herself with renovations and decorating as Ezra submerged himself in his work. They didn’t talk until their stomachs had recovered from the tasting and they congregated in the kitchen for a very late dinner.
There were so many leftovers that no one had to cook. They just piled their favorite foods onto their plates, warmed them up, and sat together in the dining room. Clara wanted to ask about what happened with Nathaniel, but she gave Ezra time to gather his thoughts. He knew she was there, waiting to listen.
“I don’t know what to think,” Ezra admitted after he had eaten a little. He told Clara everything that had been said, and the little things he noticed about Nathaniel’s reactions.
“I mean, he reacted horribly,” Clara pointed out. “He stormed off and it doesn’t sound like he actually said he wasn’t plotting something awful. He didn’t engage with any of your questions. He just got defensive instead.”
“True,” Ezra conceded. “But I’m not sure I directly asked him questions anyway. I felt too bad about the whole thing to interrogate him properly. Felt like I was stepping out of line by bringing it up in the first place.
“Besides, I would probably get a little touchy too if someone suspected me of doing something so awful. I can kind of understand where he’s coming from. It’s not an easy conversation to have. So, it’s difficult to know if he’s upset because he’s guilty and doesn’t like being questioned, or if he’s genuinely innocent and offended. I just feel bad.”
“Don’t feel bad. It made sense for you to question him, I think most people would. He shouldn’t have gotten offended by that. He must understand that we have our reasons. The family history looks bad. He doesn’t have reason to be so touchy.”
“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter now. He’s gone anyway so it’s not like he can hurt us. At least now I don’t have to try to decide what to do about it.”
“I mean, it’s less likely he can hurt us,” Clara responded. “It’s still a concern though. We’ll still have to be careful. Nathaniel’s angrier now. He has even more reason to hurt us now than ever. He doesn’t have to be working here to cause harm.”
She regretted saying it the second after she did. The worry that overcame Ezra was heartbreaking to see. But she didn’t want to keep things from him anymore. They were in this together. They both had to understand the severity of the situation, and it was severe. This was dangerous.
“It seems like this will never end,” Ezra said, shaking his head. “I love this place, but I’m starting to regret ever buying it. I just want us to feel safe again, stable again.”
“Me too,” Clara admitted. “I… I don’t know what to do anymore.”
They held each other’s hands and looked in each other’s eyes. They mirrored the same exhaustion, the same near-defeat look. They weren’t giving up yet, but they weren’t quite as passionate about all this as they once were either. The turmoil and drama were starting to get to them.
The candlelight flickered. They often ate by candlelight, especially when their lives were extra stressful. They found it to be more romantic, more like their literary heroes. Tonight, it was especially soothing. It brought them together, gave them some much needed warmth.
Until a gust of wind blew the flames out. All the lights in the house went off. Ezra and Clara were left alone in darkness. Their hearts pounded as Ezra recalled the earlier conversation and worried that he waited too long to fire Nathaniel. He worried he had made a horrible mistake in hiring him. A deadly mistake.
37
“Ezra,” Clara whispered. They were still holding hands, but she needed to hear him. She needed some sort of familiarity in this world that had become terrifying lately. It would be different if just the electricity had gone out, or just the candles had gone out. But both at the same time…
“I’m here,” he assured her. “It’s probably just a storm.” But he was whispering too and anxiously looking around the room. If Nathaniel were trying to sneak up on them, he’d be effective. Neither of them could see a thing. Neither of them was going to ask how a storm outside affected the candles in the dining room.
“Do you have the lighter close to you?” Clara asked.
“I think so. Let’s see if we can find it.”
They hesitantly dropped each other’s hands so they could feel around the table for the lighter. It was slow going. They didn’t want to dip their fingers in their food. But finally, Ezra’s fingers clasped something familiar.
“Got it,” he whispered.
“Wait!” a voice called out.
They looked towards the sound of the voice and froze. Standing in front of their table was a little girl with light brown curls and blue eyes. She was pale. No, she was more than pale. She was translucent, and they knew what that meant even before they could acknowledge it. This type of thing couldn’t be happening. Everything they’d ever heard told them it wasn’t real.
“We need the light,” the girl explained. “It gives us energy. We still can’t stay for long though, so you better listen.”
“Who are you?” Clara asked, though she knew. She couldn’t accept it, refused to accept it.
“My name’s Olivia,” the girl said, doing a little curtsy.
“Names don’t matter,” a young boy said as he stood next to her. His brown eyes and dark hair made him look a little more solid than his sister. “We don’t have time. You’re in trouble, right Dad?”
A couple came in to join the children. They also looked like they were barely there. Lyla’s long dark, curly hair fell over her blue eyes, but not quite enough to cover the haunting look within them. Richard’s warm, brown eyes were filled with compassion but also sorrow. They all looked desperately sad.
Terror overwhelmed Ezra and Clara, but the sadness was so strong that it made its imprint too. They were terrified, horrified, and filled with incredible empathy for these spirits. They weren’t sure if they should scream, run, or weep.
“I must be dreaming,” Clara whispered. “Ghosts aren’t real. I must be dreaming.”
“I can assure you, you’re not dreaming,” Richard said. “I wish you were. I wish this were all one big nightmare and we were still alive, happy in our home, running our business, and raising our family. But none of this is a dream and we don’t have time to try to convince you it’s not. So, you’re going to have to get over the shock real quick. We’re here. We’re ghosts. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Excuse my husband,” Lyla cut in. “He can be a bit… abrasive.”
“But I’m right,” Richard replied.
“Yes,” Lyla agreed. “You don’t have to be so blunt though. The poor things are probably scared to death.”
“We were murdered,” Richard said. Lyla reached over to cover the children’s ears, as if she could protect them from their fate. They scurried away from her, curious to see and hear the exchange. “Someone poisoned our children and shot us. They brought our bodies into the woods and…”
Richard looked over at his wife, who silenced him with a glare.
“I’ll bet the wolves ate your bodies, didn’t they?” Kyle taunted.
“Kyle!” Lyla screeched, with a tone that indicated he might be telling the truth.
“What.” He shrugged. “It would be a better death than ours. I wish my body were eaten by wolves. It’s not like I’m doing anything important with it now. That’s pretty cool, and at least they were useful.”
“That’s not important right now,” Richard snapped. He turned to Ezra and Clara with a frightening level of desperation in his eyes. “We were murdered, but you’re still alive. And you’re in danger.”
“In danger?” Ezra asked.
Clara was still frozen. Though the ghosts were right in front of her, she still couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t allow herself to believe it. Ghosts didn’t exist in her world. She was convinced she was dreaming or hallucinating. There had to be another explanation. She couldn’t function until she figured out what that explanation was.
Ezra on the other hand was stunned, but he believed it. He had already acknowledged the existence of ghosts that night when he talked to his father’s spirit. He never fully believed it was a nightmare, so he could more readily accept the family of ghosts hovering in front of him now. So, as Clara’s mind freaked out, Ezra paid close attention. He listened to everything they had to say.
“Yes,” Lyla answered, her voice low but urgent. “We don’t know who killed us, but we suspect it had something to do with the bed and breakfast, so now you may be in danger too. We need your help to get justice. I want whoever destroyed my family to pay for what they did. But in helping us, you’ll also be helping yourselves.”
“But… but Billy died,” Clara said. “We can’t be in danger anymore.” Then, words left her. She was speaking to a ghost. She couldn’t be speaking to ghosts, so she refused to say another word.
“Billy?” Olivia asked as she looked up at her mother. “Did Billy do this to us?”
“He couldn’t have,” Lyla replied. Yet as she looked at her husband, something passed between them that made Ezra believe she wasn’t quite as sure about this as she tried to seem. “Billy was part of the family. He loved us and we loved him. Sure, there were some disagreements, but…”
“Disagreements?” Ezra asked. “What do you mean?”
By then, the family was flickering out of existence. The thought of Billy being behind their deaths had drained their energy even quicker.
“Find who murdered us,” Richard begged, all harshness dropped. “For your sake and for ours.”
The flames returned to the candles, the lights turned on, and Clara sank back against her chair, stunned. Ezra continued eating his dinner. He needed food in his stomach before he could even begin to deal with all this.
38
Something changed in Clara that night. Ezra had been noticing a slow change in her for a couple of weeks now since the scarier stuff started. But that night was the final switch. Clara woke up in a daze, lacking the energy she’d gained once he told her they’d be buying a bed and breakfast. That light that initially drew Ezra to her, that was fueled as they chased after their dream, had dimmed.
Clara looked defeated. She went about her day slower. The passion in her had died a little, and Ezra hated to see it. She was finally getting what she always wanted, but she wasn’t happy. All Ezra wanted was to make her happy.
Everything was getting to her though. Seeing the ghosts had given Ezra some relief. He knew now that his mental health wasn’t deteriorating. The ghosts were real, they knew what they were dealing with. Ezra could accept ghosts and danger; he just didn’t like the unknown. It all made sense to him in a weird way and he could work with that.
Clara had a bit more trouble accepting it. Her whole world had shifted, and she was tired. She regretted buying the bed and breakfast. It wasn’t exactly turning out as she envisioned. She finished her breakfast slowly, then got ready to do more renovating. She was making this house her dream Victorian dollhouse. But it was haunted. That wasn’t part of the vision.
She knew she had to tackle this murder mystery, but she wasn’t even sure where to begin. It was all so overwhelming.
Before she could get to work, Ezra came into the house with two sets of snowshoes.
“What’s this?” Clara asked.
“We’re going to fall in love with this area again,” Ezra smiled. “I don’t like seeing you so unhappy, love. We’re supposed to be creating our dream here, and you were so excited when we started on this journey. I want to see that excitement again. I want to remind you why we love this place and why we wanted to be here. I want to remind you of why it’s worth it.
“We were supposed to spend time with Brittany and Sam today anyway, so I called them up to see if they might want to change up the plans a bit. They agreed to go snowshoeing with us. They said there’s a beautiful trail right by their house that they’ll give us a tour of. You can’t go snowshoeing in the city, which proves we made the best choice in coming here.”
“No, you can’t,” Clara admitted. She laughed, but it quickly died. “But we have so much to do here. Plus, we’re supposed to be solving this murder mystery. Their killer could still be out there. We don’t have time for this.”
“I thought you were convinced Billy killed them?” Ezra reminded her.
“I am, but…”
“But Billy’s dead.” He kissed the top of her head and held her. “That means their murderer is likely dead too. He’s not going to hurt anyone else from the grave. We have t
ime to solve the mystery. We don’t have to do it all today.”
“They seemed to think it was someone else though,” Clara pointed out. “They were shocked when we mentioned him, and the last thing they said was to find who killed them. So, they must believe their murderer is still alive. They still believe it wasn’t Billy.”
“Yes, but they admitted they don’t know who killed them. And they do care about Billy. Love can blind you sometimes. Their bond with him could’ve very well made them ignore the red flags simply because they care about him. You must’ve seen the way they looked at each other once he was mentioned.”
Clara had been too shocked to notice though. Her mind had been too busy trying to comprehend that ghosts were in front of them in the first place.
“There was something there,” Ezra said. “They were keeping something from us to protect him. And Lyla did mention that they fought sometimes. Billy could’ve killed them. It seems likely he did, and if he did, we’re safe.”
“Unless Nathaniel wants to hurt us,” she reminded him.
“Clara,” Ezra looked his wife in the eyes and kissed her forehead, “we’re going to be okay. I promise you we will. We’ll find the killer, we’ll protect ourselves, and we’ll open the bed and breakfast of our dreams. We’ll find success. We’ll be happy here.
“This is our dream. This is our fresh start, our chance to have all we ever wanted. I want to enjoy every step of the journey with you. To do so, I think we need a break right now. I think we need time away from this house to enjoy our life here. We’ll refresh, and once we’ve been able to reset a bit, we’ll come back and tackle the murder investigation. We’ll put our all into getting this place ready for opening day.
“We will burn out though if we don’t take time now. I don’t want us to resent this. I want to see you happy again. Come on, you made me take a break when I was overwhelmed. Now it’s your turn.”
