Spooked on the Gulf Coast (Gulf Coast Paranormal Trilogy Book 3)

by M. L. Bullock

  As soon as he said it, one figure shrank and disappeared just as if he’d walked back and headed below decks. Now the second figure seemed more animated; its stick arms went wild as if it were trying to warn us off.

  “Probably not a good idea, Joshua. Look!”

  Joshua hit the spot with his flashlight again, and then the figure vanished off the screen. “Shoot. I ran him off.”

  “Uh, no, you didn’t. He’s right in front of us. About twenty feet, just next to that far bench over there.”

  “What?” Josh touched my shoulder, or at least I thought it was Josh. I turned to look at him and realized he’d walked too far away to have touched me.

  I held my breath and then said calmly, “Someone just touched my shoulder.” I didn’t move and waited for Joshua to come see what was up behind me. “It’s gone now, but I definitely felt someone touch my shoulder.” Shoot! I’d been distracted, and now I’d lost the other dancing skeleton. “Josh?”

  “I’m looking behind you, but I don’t see anything. Was it a hard or soft touch? Did you feel pressure or fingers?”

  “Kind of in between. Some pressure, but I definitely felt fingers too.” I couldn’t help but brush off my shoulder. “I’ll never get used to that.”

  “I understand that. Believe me.”

  I checked the screen one more time and we walked around the room, but the anomalies did not reappear. “Well, we’d better head down. Let’s leave the tablet up here, in case Pete wants to play around with it. Maybe the ship’s crew will like them better.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” As we made our way to the stairs, Joshua paused. “Did you hear that?”

  My ears pricked up as I listened along with my fellow investigator. “I did hear something. Real soft, like crying. What did you hear?”

  “I thought I heard someone call my name.”

  “Check your radio. Did you turn it down too far?”

  He waved his light over the radio’s settings. “No, it’s at the right level.” We heard unintelligible whispers, and he added, “It feels kind of negative in here now.”

  “Yeah, I agree.” As we headed for the stairs, Joshua suddenly doubled over and groaned.

  “God! Someone just punched me in the gut.” He clutched the top of the railing, and I suddenly worried that the stick man we’d seen on the screen might push him down the stairs.

  I grabbed the radio from his belt. “Cassidy to Midas.”

  “Go ahead, Cassidy.”

  “Would you mind coming up to the top of the stairs? I need your help with Joshua.”

  “On the way.”

  Five minutes later, we were leading Joshua out of the museum and into the van. His pain had subsided a bit, but he swore he felt as if he’d been punched. “I’m not joking. I had the wind knocked out of me. Right before that, we heard some noise. Cassidy said she heard crying, and I thought I heard someone calling my name. It should be on the recorder since I still had it going. No, I’m okay, Sierra. Just give me a second.”

  The team crowded around Joshua as Midas played back the tape. I could hear the two of us talking, and then there it was—a hissing sound. He was right! Something was saying his name, and it didn’t sound friendly.

  Joshua!

  “I’m out tonight, Midas. I don’t think I need to go back in there. I feel like I have a bull’s-eye on my back. It’s not a good feeling.”

  “Maybe you’re right. You hang back with Sierra. Patricia, why don’t you stay here too? Aaron can come with Cassidy, Pete and me. I think the four of us can finish up in here. I didn’t plan on hanging out here all night.”

  “This isn’t good at all, Midas. First Carl and now your team member? Am I going to have to shut this place down for good? God, this is so horrible.”

  I could tell Midas was kind of ticked at Joshua, but he really didn’t have any reason to be. It wasn’t Joshua who had allowed Patricia to come on this investigation. That was all on Midas. No way was Joshua making it up, either; I’d been with him the whole time.

  “This happens from time to time. Joshua knows the risks, right?”

  “Yep. I’m fine, just winded.” The blond-headed investigator put on a brave face and reached for his headphones. “We’ve got room for you in here, Patricia. Pull up a bench.” With a thumbs-up to Midas, Joshua smiled, and Patricia hesitated but ultimately joined them.

  We closed the van doors behind them and walked back into the museum. “Let’s head upstairs, guys,” Midas said. “I’m anxious to find out who that was and why it attacked Joshua. I hate to say it, but I think Patricia might pull the plug on this investigation soon if we don’t get some answers. What happened, Cassidy?”

  “We were headed to the stairs; we’d just caught two anomalies on the ship. I think Sierra told you about them. Well, the smaller one disappeared, but the larger one appeared in front of us. It didn’t seem to want us around.”

  “What makes you say that?” Aaron asked.

  “It was waving its arms around erratically.”

  Pete said, “The sensor has difficulty detecting precise movements. You might have been seeing a bit of lag due to the equipment’s processor.”

  “Fine, but then it charged us and I felt a tapping on my shoulder. We decided to leave because the atmosphere changed.”

  “Describe it,” Midas nudged as we stood at the bottom of the stairs.

  “It got heavy, really negative. I know we can’t use feelings as definitive proof of anything, but you kind of know when the atmosphere has a negative or positive charge to it. It went negative for sure.”

  “I see. Then what happened?”

  “Um, we heard a sound. I thought it was crying, but Josh says he heard his name being called. I can’t account for why I heard the crying, but you heard what it ended up sounding like on the recorder. Definitely his name.”

  “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I think the thing that is disturbing Patricia and probably Carl the most is thinking that this negative entity is their friend Deter. I’d like to try to prove or disprove that idea. I don’t think it is. I think something here is playing games with us.” I took Midas’ hand. I’d sensed he was shaken up earlier but thought it was because of Joshua. Obviously, I was wrong. I was about to find out how wrong I truly was. Midas continued, “I saw Dominic. He went running past me as we were coming out of the storerooms, but it couldn’t have been him. Dominic has no ties with this place at all. I think somehow this entity knew I’d been thinking about him. It knew that and used it against me. Keep your negative thoughts and any bad memories out of your mind during the rest of our investigation here. I know for a fact that Josh is in a bad place right now. He’s got a lot on his mind, and this thing, whatever it is, knew that. I think it tried to shake you up, Cassidy, but you didn’t give it any fuel.”

  “Man, that sucks.” Pete rubbed his hands through his dark hair and licked his lips nervously. “That means even though we might have residual hauntings here, we might also be dealing with an intelligent entity. I don’t know if it’s human or non-human, but it’s strong. So strong it punched Joshua in the gut and it’s using our minds against us?”

  “That about sums it up. If anyone doesn’t want to go up, I understand.” Midas looked at all of us, but he clearly intended on heading upstairs.

  I broke out my flashlight and waved it up the stairs. “Lead the way. I’m with you.”

  Aaron and Pete glanced at one another. “Yeah, we are too. Ain’t no quit in this game,” Pete said jokingly.

  “All right, let’s do it.”

  Chapter Eleven—Cassidy

  “Pete, let’s you and I hang out here by the ship. Cassidy, you and Aaron take a seat over by the case, the one with the comb in it,” Midas said.

  “Midas, I’d really like to hold that comb. If I open the cabinet, am I going to set an alarm off?” I said as I waved my flashlight at the glass display case. “I’d like to use it as a trigger object.”

  “Do you think we need to? It seems li
ke this ship is one big trigger object,” Pete answered for him.

  “I guess you’re right. Let’s try that first.” I still felt a compulsion to handle that comb, but it could wait. Maybe Pete was right. This place still had a negative feel to it, so maybe it didn’t need to be charged at the moment. Remember what Midas said. Keep your mind under control.

  For ten minutes, Pete and Midas held an EVP session, but no one responded. We didn’t even hear a peep. Pete said, “Let’s try Cassidy’s idea. Maybe the ship wasn’t the trigger object after all.”

  “Well, it can’t hurt to try using the comb. It’s quiet up here. Midas to Joshua. I have a question for Patricia.”

  “Go ahead, Midas,” Patricia’s nervous voice came over the walkie-talkie.

  “Would it be okay to remove the comb from the case for a few minutes? We’d like to use it as a trigger object. As you guys can probably see, there isn’t much going on up here at the moment.” There was silence, and then Joshua came back on.

  “She says okay, but please keep the comb in the exhibit room.”

  “Roger that. Thank you, Patricia. All right, Cassidy. Can you and Aaron carefully remove it?”

  “Sure,” I answered. Aaron lifted the case for me, and I removed the comb. He closed the glass top, and the two of us took a spot on the carpeted floor in front of the case. We both examined the comb quietly and then placed it between us. “Midas, I’m going to start an EVP session.”

  “Go ahead.” Pete and Midas sat on the floor about twenty feet from the ship. Midas’ IR camera was trained on the stairs while Pete held up his tablet hoping to see his tool spring to life with anomalies.

  “Is there anyone here who would like to communicate with us? Deter Simon? Are you here?” I put the digital recorder down next to the comb. Neither of us heard anything. I tried again. “If not Deter, then who are you?” I waited another minute and then kept going. “I was here a few minutes ago. Someone hurt my friend, Joshua. Was that you?”

  The four of us waited in silence for a few minutes. The floor squeaked beside me, which was odd since the entire upper level was carpeted. I flicked my flashlight in that direction but didn’t see a thing. Must be the wood beneath it settling. The temperature is dropping outside, so that would explain it.

  “If that wasn’t you who hurt my friend, can you tell me your name?”

  Aaron picked up the recorder and played it back. “Nothing yet.”

  “Do you have a K2 meter, Aaron?”

  “Yeah, I do.” He dug in his backpack and positioned the K2 next to the recorder.

  I continued, “Maybe you’re too shy to talk. I understand that. If you hear me, touch Aaron’s toy there. You can light it up just by…oh boy.”

  “Cool,” Aaron said, his dark eyes wide at the sight of his K2 coming to life. “Can you make it stop so we know that it is you?” Sure enough, the meter went dark.

  “Great. Thank you. Are you a male?” Nothing happened. “Deter?” Still nothing. I said to Aaron, “I don’t think Deter is up here.”

  “Me either. Let’s try another tactic. Are you a girl?”

  The meter flashed to life. “Great!” I said, nearly clapping my hands. “So, you’re a female. Do you know this ship?” The meter flashed again, and this time all greens appeared. The floor beside me groaned again. “Do you hear that?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Is that the floor settling?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Midas? Are you hearing that?”

  “Yep. It’s not the floor. I think it’s coming from the ship,” he responded. “And hey, look, Pete. We’ve got an anomaly on the deck. Keep going, you guys. You’re doing great.”

  “Okay,” I whispered back. My heart pounded in my chest, but I remembered to keep my cool. “Have you seen this ship before? Are you one of the Pelican girls?” The ship creaked again, and I shined my flashlight at the bow. I didn’t want to disturb Pete’s toy, but I had to see for myself what was going on up there. “That was definitely the ship.” I stood on my feet, and the thought of taking off running crossed my mind. Aaron didn’t move. I could hear him breathing beside me. “Are you one of the Lottery winners?” I asked. Before I even finished the question, the K2 lit up all the way into the red zone and the creaking sound returned.

  “Cassidy, Aaron. Grab your stuff and put the comb back.” I couldn’t ignore the tone in Midas’ voice. He wasn’t joking around. Aaron and I put the comb back, gathered our stuff and hurried to the other side of the exhibit. I peeked at Pete’s tablet and nearly hit the floor. Pete wasn’t moving, and the light from the tablet cast an eerie blue light around his face.

  “Oh my God. How many are on there?” I gasped at the numbers. “Could your equipment be going crazy, Pete? That’s ridiculous. I count ten anomalies, no, make that twelve. It’s like they’re coming out from below deck!” I couldn’t hide my fear any longer. “I don’t want to be here.”

  “You and Aaron head down,” Midas said. “Pete and I will record a little longer and then follow you.”

  “I’m not leaving you up here either,” I said with some determination. The ship creaked, and for a second it appeared as if it swayed a few inches. How sturdy was this exhibit?

  “She’s right, bro. We’d better go. I’ve never seen this before, and I’m not sure what it means. Look, some of them are jumping down from the ship.”

  “We get it. We’re leaving, but you don’t get to hurt anyone. That’s off-limits,” Midas shouted authoritatively. “You can’t!” To my surprise, the figure closest to us lifted its arm, as if to tell the others to step back. They didn’t leave, but they didn’t move either. “Go now. Slowly, everyone. Hands on the rail as you go down.”

  As quietly as four church mice, we walked down the stairs. Every one of us looked behind us a few times, but nobody said a word. Midas set the alarm and locked the museum. Patricia met us outside the van. “Our cameras malfunctioned, and we couldn’t see you. How did it go? Did Deter appear?”

  Midas glanced at Joshua but didn’t ask any questions. “Yeah, we’re fine. No one got hurt. We checked out the top floor, especially the area where Joshua got injured. We did some tests and tried to make contact with Deter Simon but didn’t have any luck. I can’t say for sure yet, but I think our initial report was correct. If Deter is here, he’s a residual haunt, which means he’s not trying to harm anyone. In fact, we didn’t make any contact with him at all. I think he’s staying on the bottom floor doing his thing.”

  She breathed a visible sigh of relief. “But there’s something, isn’t there?”

  “What do you know about that ship, Patricia? Is it just a reproduction? Is any part of it from the Pelican or some other ship?”

  “I can find out. I’m pretty sure a local shipbuilder, a hobbyist, did that work for us. But I can find out for sure. Can I call you tomorrow?”

  “That would be great. We’ll be back tomorrow about an hour after closing. That will be our Night Two investigation. We’re going to try a few more things and hopefully have some answers for you.”

  Patricia paled a little. “I’m not required to be here for that, right?”

  “No,” Midas said softly. “And if it’s okay with you, I’ll come back in the morning to move those cameras out of the way. Most of the time, clients don’t come out with us. I promise you I’ll give you a full report when it’s over.”

  “That sounds great. Well, I’m going home. Good night, everyone.”

  Pete said, “I’ll walk you to your car. Are you parked out front?”

  “Thanks. I won’t say no.”

  The two of them walked away, and I helped Midas load up the handhelds. “Smart move cutting the feed like that,” Midas said to Joshua.

  “I thought so, but Sierra recorded everything. I’m dying to know. What exactly did y’all see?”

  “Nothing short of a shipload of ghosts.”

  “Oh hell,” Joshua said as he flicked off the computer.

  “Exactly. Tomorrow is
going to be interesting.”

  We waited for Pete, drove back to the office in silence and headed our separate ways. I wasn’t sure what the rest of them were going to do, but I had a plan.

  Eat. Feed the cat. Sleep, if I could, and paint. A lot.

  Chapter Twelve—Gabrielle

  Our departure from Massacre Island took longer than I expected. Many of the men were anxious to marry, as were most of the Lottery winners. Despite their snobbery, my fellow passengers were apparently not picky about who they selected as bridegrooms. At least by the second day, many of the so-called “patriots” had decided to shave and dress properly for our meal together. Jean was not so easily impressed, and most of the men, having heard of her high status, did not even try to speak with her. I had quite the opposite experience.

  Having no parent or custodian to speak for me or make my introductions, I was left to make my own match. As a result, almost every unattached male in the colony felt it his duty to speak to me, except the one I was curious about. His name was Jon Batiste. He merely watched the ridiculous procession to and from my dinner table and occasionally smiled as if he found my situation amusing. I did not enjoy being made fun of and eventually stopped looking in his direction despite his handsome face.

  And to make matters worse, Claudette hovered nearby. Even though she had not yet manifested, I felt her presence. In recent days, she arrived quietly and did nothing but appear at the most inopportune times. I tried not to gawk at her when she did appear. I glanced over my shoulder a few times this evening, as I suspected she was near, but so far there was no sign of Dead Claudette with her pale, wet skin and pitch-black eyes. I felt cold and sick, all feelings that often accompanied her unwanted presence, but at least she did not touch me. I knew the reason for her presence here. I knew what she wanted—she wanted justice. Claudette wanted me to tell what Father Huve had done. But who would I tell? From LeMoyne to Jean, they all thought me mad.