“Darling, you look good enough to eat.” He whispered in her ear. Callie sucked in a breath. She knew there were undercover agents watching her at every moment but she was still unnerved by his presence.
“Well, well. I was hoping to see you tonight. Are you here for business or pleasure?” She hoped she managed to sound calm.
“Unfortunately, it’s purely business tonight. What a shame, I’ll be leaving town tonight.”
“Well, that is shame.” Callie pouted. He was leaving town tonight? Very suspicious. The music stopped and the MC announced the auction would take place in the room next to the ballroom in a few minutes.
“That’s my cue.” Reginald said, as he disappeared into the crowd. He was certainly sneaky. He had come and gone in a few seconds. She hoped that the agents were better at keeping an eye on him than she was.
Callie scanned the room for Thorne and saw him standing by the exit. She hurried over to him.
“Did you see him? He just talked to me!” She whispered to Thorne.
“You dig a great job, my agents were able to get a lock on him. We were hoping you would draw him out. We think he will strike after the auction is over. We have the necklace under surveillance as well. He won’t be expecting us and we think we will be able to catch him red handed.” Thorne smiled down at her. “I have to get to the auction. But I just wanted to tell you how much you have helped the investigation.”
Callie felt happiness swell in her heart. He was proud of her! Thankfully, she had made up for the other night. But now she was confused. She felt strong feelings for Thorne but what about her vision and the perfect love that came with it? Her visions were never wrong. Callie walked into auction room and stood at the back. She wanted to watch the action but still wanted to be able to get out of the room if things went off the rails.
The auction was exciting. Callie could see the necklace glittering from inside its glass case. It was certainly stunning but Callie couldn’t believe how much the necklace was worth. After an exciting battle the auction ended at a million point five!
Suddenly the fire alarm went off and the roomed filled with smoke. But it wasn’t smoke from a fire, it was fake smoke from a machine or smoke bomb. People screamed and began to rush out of the room. Callie couldn’t see anything and she was pulled out the door by the crowd. Once outside there were police officers calming everyone down and ushering them back into the ballroom.
“It’s just a false alarm, a prank! Please return to the ballroom.” The officers shouted as they corralled everyone into the ballroom. The music started up again but everyone was chatting excitedly about the disturbance.
Callie wondered what had happened. Had they caught him? She rushed out the back door where she saw police cars with their lights flashing. She saw Thorne and had Reginald in handcuffs and was putting him in the back of a police car. Once he was secure, the car drove away, lights flashing. She rushed up to Thorne.
“You caught him! What happened?” she cried out as soon as she reached him.
“Callie!” he took by the arm and lead her back towards the ball. “Covington set off the smoke bomb and was hiding nearby. He managed to knock out a guard and grab the necklace but he wasn’t prepared for us to be outside waiting for him. We nabbed him with the necklace in his possession. I am hoping we can get him to confess to the bank robberies as well. But first I need one dance with my girl. It is a ball after all.” He smiled down at her and led her onto the dance floor.
They swirled around together in perfect rhythm to each other. It was almost a dream come true for Callie. But what about her soulmate? As if in answer to her question the clock struck twelve and glittering confetti burst from the ceiling raining down on everyone below. She looked up and Thorne was looking at her with his wolf eyes. Her vision flashed back to her. The man with unusual eyes with diamonds raining down from the sky! Thorne wrapped his arms around her and she felt perfect love. It was her exact dream come true. Thorne was her soulmate.
“Callie.” He put his finger under her chin and tipped her head up. “I have fallen in love with you. The other night when I said I claimed you, I meant that I want you as my mate. They offered me a job here and I accepted. I love you, Callie. We will never be apart again.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly. She melted into his kiss just like she had that first night. She had found her soulmate.
End.
Ghosting
1
“New England Paranormal Society,” she answered, stifling a bored yawn. “How may I help you?”
“H-hello...?” came a man’s frightened voice. “I...I think my house is haunted.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, scribbling everything he told her onto a piece of paper. “And how long has this been going on?”
“I can’t be sure,” he said in exasperation. “It started after we moved in.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t!” he shouted through the phone, making her wince. “You don’t know what it’s been like with that thing running about destroying my house! Get out here and do something about it!”
She let out a weary sigh and did as she was instructed to do. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll inform my boss and someone will get back to you shortly. But if you want my opinion…”
At that moment Carl strolled in munching a bagel. He snatched the receiver out of her hand. “Listen, we’ll be out there tomorrow.” Carl flashed her a look
Jenna Scott hung her head in shame. “I know,” she sighed. “He seemed so helpless. I’ve been working here a year, I can handle cases.”
Carl finished his bagel and made himself a cup of coffee. “Someday,” he said, patting her on the back. “You’ve just got to learn to tell the difference from the ghouls and the nutjobs.”
“You mean there’s a difference?”
“Ha-ha,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You have a big imagination and you get too obsessed with the cases, but listen,” he began, as he eyed her large breasts through her low cut shirt. “How’d you like to get away from the phones for a while?”
Jenna sat up with renewed interest. “What’s up?” she asked as she pulled her sweater on to avoid Carl’s gaze. Men had trouble looking her in the eyes.
He guzzled his coffee before setting the cup down on her desk. “How’d you like a case? A real case.”
“But you said I wasn’t ready.” Jenna frowned. Carl looked shiftier than usual. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was plotting something. “Alright, what’s the deal?”
Carl blanched. “Deal?” he repeated nervously. “What deal?” He whipped out a hankie and mopped his brow. “I just thought you wanted out of the crypt for a while.”
“Sure,” she replied slowly. “I do.”
“Then don’t ask silly questions. This case is a chance for you to show the boss what you’re made of.”
“So spill it.”
He leaned forward and began reciting with unabashed glee. “It’s a haunted castle. In England!”
“A castle!”
“Sure enough,” he laughed. “But listen, We can’t get anyone out there. No one will touch it with a ten-foot pole.”
“What do you mean no one will touch it?” she demanded. He got up and rifled around in the file cabinet for a folder and tossed it at her. “Everything you need to know is in there.”
Jenna dragged the folder towards her and eyed him suspiciously. “Why won’t anyone touch it, Carl?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Read the file.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“Because I want to sleep at night,” he snapped. “We need someone out there stat. Randy won’t go and Brad hates to fly.”
“So why don’t you go?”
“Look,” he said irritably, “I’m doing you a favour by offering you this. The guys don’t think you’re good enough anyway. Refuse this and they’ll be right.”
“I’m plenty good enough,” she retorted. “You idiots think
just because you can hold a camera straight you’re experts. Well, you’re not. I helped you out with Waverly Hills, remember?”
“You did,” he admitted. “But that was a lucky break. The bossman wanted to take you up to that house in Concord, but the guys said all you’d do was scream.” Carl shuffled his feet in embarrassment. “I sort of agreed with them.”
Jenna was hurt. “Carl! I thought you were my friend!”
“I am,” he sighed. “Just look at the file and get back to me. This could be your big chance, don’t screw it up.”
She picked up the folder and a cassette fell out. “What’s this?”
“The EVP’s they got when they investigated in ’94.”
“So, no one’s tried to go back?”
“Not that I know of.” Carl handed her a tape player. “The place has a habit of driving its owners nuts. The last guy strung himself from the rafters.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I were.” Carl glanced outside. “It’s getting late. Take that stuff home and see what you think. The boss is willing to send you up there, all expenses paid.”
Jenna nodded, tucking the folder and tapes into her bag. “So if I go, what’ll I take with me?”
“Just you and a strong stomach.”
“You mean I’ll be on my own?”
Carl paled. “Well, you’ll have Marcus.”
“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything, Carl. You look like you’re about to wet your pants.”
“Shut up!” he snapped angrily. “You should be on your knees thanking me. I could have gotten those yahoos from the university.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Carl looked at her and said grimly, “He didn’t want them.”
“What are you talking about?” Jenna replied uneasily, not caring for the way he was acting. “You’re scaring me.”
“Good.” He helped her on with her jacket and walked her out. “You want the job or not?”
Jenna sat behind her steering wheel and answered without thinking, “I do.” She was just as surprised as Carl and added hastily, “I mean, sure I’ll go.”
Carl nodded. “I’ll tell the bossman. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep. You’re going to need it.”
Jenna drove off feeling oddly content. This would be her first solo investigation and hopefully, not her last.
2
Twenty-four hours later, Jenna was on her way to London. Of course, Carl would have to stick her in coach. After a lousy dinner of cardboard salmon and limp asparagus, she read through the file and immediately asked why she didn’t pack a parachute.
Blackmoor Castle. Just the name was enough to induce a cold sweat. Built in 1266, the stone behemoth had braved enough murders and invasions to render it uninhabitable. Jenna shivered as she read horrific tales of beheadings, torture, and dungeons. Numerous husbands had offed their wives in gory and messy instances in which the heads or bodies were never found, while recent tenants fled screaming into the night with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
“Carl,” she muttered to herself. “What did you get me into?”
Page after page of police investigations, broken leases, and mysterious accidents swam before her eyes. At one point Jenna listened to the EVP’s recorded during half-hearted ghost hunts. What she heard was enough for her to rip the earbuds out and shove the tapes back into her purse. As she flipped through the pages her eyes caught a photograph of a painting of a handsome man. His eyes looked familiar and she felt heat rising in her body.
“Calm down, Jenna” she whispered to herself. “I know its been awhile but there is no sense in getting turned on by a ghost.”
The plane would be landing soon, and Jenna decided to take a nap to avoid the feelings that picture had stirred within her. She slipped a pillow under her head and closed her eyes. As she did so, she tried not to give too much credence to the horrors that she’d heard on the tapes. She fell into a restless sleep plagued by sex dreams. Unseen hands, caressed her body, moving slowly. The hands slid along her jawline, fingers softly traced her mouth. She reached out to suck the fingers gently but they disappeared. She lay still and the hands returned, urgent, searching. She longed for that touch. A touch like she had never experienced in her real life. The hands appeared at her feet, gently sweeping that amazing touch over them and up her legs. She parted her legs, wanting desperately for that touch. The hands disappeared again. Frustrated, Jenna lay still again. But the hands did not return. Just a man’s voice whispered to her. He only said one thing.
“Jenna”
3
They lost her luggage. She was supposed to meet her assistant, Mr. Niven from Cambridge, but he seemed to have fallen into a black hole.
By the time the rickety cab pulled up, Jenna was ready to strangle a man; any man who resembled Carl. The grizzled driver deposited her on the doorstep of a rat-infested hovel as her boss had ran out of money when he was booking accommodations.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she groaned. “I was better off at the airport.” She flung her backpack onto the stained carpet and unrolled her sleeping bag. She didn’t bother to undress.
Jenna wasn’t staying.
* * * *
After finally getting in touch with Mr. Niven, Jenna risked pneumonia by taking a cold shower in a tiny bathtub, while breakfast was a meagre offering of sugary tea with a side of soggy buttered toast.
When she met her hapless assistant at the train station, Jenna was groggy and felt a nasty migraine brewing. He was nice enough, she supposed, with tortoiseshell glasses and a head full of frizzy curls. But since she hadn’t slept well and hadn’t had a decent cup of coffee, Jenna was feeling bitchier than usual. The poor boy wisely decided to keep his distance while he debriefed her.
“I’m Marcus by the way,” he said cordially.
Jenna winced and offered her hand. “Jenna.”
He smiled, revealing a set of dimples in his soft cheeks. “Well, is it normal for Carl to send a newbie all by herself?”
“I’m not a newbie,” she grumbled, too tired to defend herself. “I helped with the Waverly Hills investigation.”
“Oh...?”
“Later,” Jenna said irritably. “What have you got on Blackmoor?”
“Well,” he began, pulling a folder from his bag. “The last investigation didn’t turn up much. And the last tenant won’t talk to me.” He gave her a rueful grin. “Though I tried.”
“What happened?”
“It was a group from Wales. A few tourists decided to tag along. You know, amateurs.”
“Yeah.”
“They went in and ran out ten minutes later.”
Jenna couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Ten minutes, huh?”
Marcus nodded, pushing his glasses back onto his nose. “They have footage. But it’s mostly a lot of screaming and running about. Not much. No EVP’s either.”
“That’s a shame.” Jenna glanced out the window, stifling a yawn. “So where are we staying?”
“I booked us a couple of rooms at the local inn. And a Mr. McKendrick will be waiting to accompany us as well.”
“That’s a relief. I thought I was going to be all alone.”
Marcus shook his head. “He won’t be staying with us for the investigation. He’s only driving us up. After that, we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
Jenna laughed again. He sounded like he was going to Disneyland. “Eager to get your ass handed to you by Casper, huh?”
He grinned. “I’ve been waiting a long time to get into Blackmoor. This will make or break my career.”
She nodded. “You and me both.” Jenna glanced at his bag. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything to eat, would you?”
Marcus pulled out some cheese crackers. “Will these do?”
Snatching them greedily, Jenna popped one into her mouth and smiled. “I think you’ll do, Mr. Niven.”
They napped for the remainder of their journey and arrived in
the midst of a raging thunderstorm. Jenna shivered and pulled her sweater closer about her, wishing she’d had the foresight to pack a coat. Carl had been nice enough to relay weather information for July. Marcus was unperturbed and simply covered his head with a newspaper as he ushered her into the station.
Jenna shook off the rain while Marcus went to see about their cab. Soon they were crammed into the backseat while the driver jerked and raced his way through the countryside in an attempt to make it home in time for dinner. After he dumped them alongside a swollen bog, Jenna gave him the finger, and the old bastard just laughed.
Cursing under their breath, they hoofed it across two lanes of traffic and collapsed in a muddy heap. “I hate that man,” Jenna said bitterly. “So much for English hospitality.”
“Don’t let it get to you,” Marcus said, helping her up. “We’ll eat and get some sleep. Tomorrow we go to Blackmoor.”
“Good.”
After a lukewarm supper of roast beef and potatoes, Jenna took a long soak in a hot bath. Despite the warm weather, she felt cold and donned her sweats. She was in bed by eight and was relieved when Marcus knocked on her door the next morning.
For some reason she could not explain, she was eager to get to Blackmoor. She could feel it calling to her.
Mr. McKendrick, the castle’s caretaker, arrived the next morning. He was a sharp-faced man who walked with a noticeable slump. Jenna felt nauseous when he took her hand but she shook the feeling off. This whole trip was making her tense. Mr McKendrick drove as a steady drizzle blighted the windshield. Twice the wheels stuck in the mud and poor Marcus had to get out and push the car. Jenna silently vowed to murder Carl as the boy began sneezing and she handed him a tissue.
“So,” Mr. McKendrick said. “What are two nice kids like yourselves doing here abouts?”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “We just wanted to see what everyone was talking about. I mean it is the happening place to be, right?”
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