October Ghosts (A Southern Romance Monthly)

by Hockenberry, CJ

  "I know that. And that Phil guy over there—who is also a hottie—told her Matt was right. You hadn't signed anything yet so what ever you experienced in that kitchen—besides the benefits of Mr. Hunt's hard body—wasn't allowable." He put his hands on his hips. "So are you going to tell me what happened in the kitchen?"

  After a quick look around she pulled him further into the semi-darkness and relayed everything she could remember, all the way to seeing him trapped in darkness.

  "Asthma, huh? So that's why Dr. Coleman and Nana are here? Other than Margo grilling the doc about this house's history. The guy's like some amateur historian."

  "Henry Coleman's here?" Chloe glanced around for her friend Nana Coleman. "But Henry's the coroner. Why would he be here?"

  "Henry said Matt was ill earlier and he was there talking with Phil. He treated him and asked if he could be the doc on the set since they have to have one. Does he have his inhaler with him in case he has another attack tonight?"

  "I guess. I didn't check to see if he did." Chloe bit her lower lip. "Kevin—I need to tell you about Matt's ex too."

  "Margo already did while we were eating pizza. I've learned a lot while I've been here."

  "She tell you Sarah was in Roswell?"

  "Mmhmm. And she said she told Sheriff Harhmon. Soon as he shows up I'm gonna make sure."

  "You don't trust her?"

  "Chloe…" Kevin looked very serious in the dim light. He looked around again to make sure they were alone. "I read a lot of mysteries, right? And I love to watch cop shows."

  "You just like men in a uniform."

  He pursed his lips. "That's true, but that's not what I'm getting at. What I've learned from watching them is things aren't always so black and white. Margo thinks this Sarah broke into your shop and hung that witch. How? You'd already locked up. I was already hiking it to the train station. There was no sign of forced entry. So how was this person supposed to know that you were the intended psychic for this show and magically show up here just hours after Matt showed up and asked you?"

  Well, when he put all the events together like that, none of it made any sense. "So…you don't think this Sarah's responsible for the witch?"

  "No. Could it be someone we know pulling a prank? Maybe.But I don't think that witch has anything to do with Matt Hunt. It's October. Tomorrow's Halloween. This is press and that kind of silliness sells hits, it sells the show."

  Chloe slowly shook her head. "I don't think my mind's going where yours is. So you don't think Sarah's even here?"

  "Nope. Did you get this woman's last name?"

  She shook her head. "No. He just called her Sarah."

  "That's all Margo called her too. I plan on doing a bit of digging tonight—if you promise not to run off and leave me here again. I need to get to the shop and do a bit of investigating in the computer. And I'm assuming we're going to be open tomorrow? You've got a full appointment book."

  "Oh crap. That's right."

  "Oh, and Mr. Hunt is waving to you. Good luck."

  Chloe gave him a hateful look as she trudged around the crew and approached the door. Matt held his hand out to her and she took it. Apparently he wasn't afraid of showing his affection with her to everyone else. She saw Phil's eye go to their hands and then snap up to Matt's face. When Matt didn't answer, Phil said in a hushed voice, "I don't think a relationship between the two of you will play well on the show. So…" he glanced at their hands. "I would keep it behind the scenes."

  "Oh sure, sure," Matt said, but he didn't let go. He did lead her into the house. She stepped over large cables, metal tracks and around light stands as they made their way back into the main parlor. "Okay we're going to start from here, right Phil?"

  He came in behind them and nodded, a tablet in the crook of his elbow. "Right. We already took shots of the house from the outside in the daylight, and we took some last night before the crews arrived. We'll use those for the entrance shots. Then we'll cut to the usual opening credits and Chloe, we'll add you in at the back so you can give a quick history of the Barrett House."

  That surprised her. "Me?"

  "Yeah. It's Margo's idea. She thinks it'll give a bit of atmosphere to the house if a local psychic describes it. We'll do that in post editing. Then after that, we'll do a mock meet and greet outside where Matt'll introduce the team and Margo will introduce you to them. Margo's the one that found you so she'll get the intro credit."

  Chloe bit her lower lip and didn't say anything. That was mostly true. But she was a bit nervous about giving any kind of interview that dealt with the Barrett House. Hell, she didn't want to do any kind of interview. That would just give them more footage to screw up.

  Matt gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Chloe caught a few familiar faces moving in through the front door and waved at Dr. Coleman and his niece, Nana. They waved back and stood behind the cameramen. Everyone was filing in for the run through so they would know where their places were. What astonished Chloe was the amount of prep and rehearsal that went into a show that was advertised as Unrehearsed Realty TV.

  Not.

  "Okay in here is where most people, especially the former History Society workers used to hear voices. More than half of the witnesses claimed they were children calling out for help. Someone heard a woman wailing as well. So we'll be setting up the EVP questions and answers here." He looked around. "Has anyone seen Mr. Harrison?"

  Mr. Albert Harrison was the caretaker of the property and a member of the Historic Society. Kevin had told her Harrison was going to be the set-up guide, the one that told the Ghost Hunt Crew about the events and haunting in the house.

  "Oh my fault," Margo spoke up and came out of the darkness. "Mr. Harrison's granddaughter went into labor so he's headed into Atlanta. But I was talking with Dr. Coleman and he's agreed to fill in tonight, and to be on camera tomorrow if Harrison can't make it back."

  Phil didn't look happy. "I wish you'd told me this sooner."

  Henry Coleman stepped forward. He was a stooped man, with thinning gray hair and a large nose. It wasn't until she was older that Chloe discovered what all those thin, red veins were on the doc's red nose, which explained his nickname, Doc Blossom. He'd been the county Medical Examiner for over thirty years, and he was less than a week from retiring. Nana had the party planned a week from Friday. "Don't worry, Phil. I can do it. Just relax a little. And be happy Harrison's gonna be a grand daddy. Might actually make him easier to deal with."

  The laughter shared by the local help, and the way the doc spoke to Phil, clued Chloe in on a friendship there. Something she hadn't known about. Was Phil from Roswell or maybe the Atlanta area?

  "Okay doc. Am I right about this room?"

  "Ah-yep. And then in the dining room," Dr. Coleman led everyone into the dinning room toward the kitchen. "This is where guests and several of the Society members said they could hear dishes clinking. Like silverware on china. Also," the doc said as he rubbed at his mustache. "See the chairs around the table?"

  Chloe almost gasped. There hadn't been any chairs there earlier.

  Matt spoke up. "Who moved the chairs back? They weren't here earlier."

  No one spoke up. Phil looked around. "Oh come on guys, it's okay…all right. Fine. We'll leave them here and see if they show back upstairs again."

  "Phil…" a young woman with a headset on stepped forward. "None of us touched these chairs. Matt told us not to so we didn't."

  Chloe squeezed Matt's hand and he looked down at her and wiggled the fingers of his other hand in the air. "Spooky."

  "Not funny, Matt," Phil said.

  "Not a surprise," Dr. Coleman said and led them into the kitchen. "Now in here is where things move. And they go missing. When the Society moved in, a few members actually lived here to save money and to watch the house twenty four seven. They always complained of dishes breaking, the appliances sparking, and one or two of them swore they could see a fountain through the window and a little girl playing beside it." He moved
to the window. "But as you can see, the fountain was removed nearly fifty years ago and the grounds outside have filled things in."

  At the mention of the fountain and the little girl, Matt turned and looked down at Chloe. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "You're the real thing, Chloe. What you experienced was right."

  She wasn't really paying attention to the doc, or to Matt. Her attention kept moving back to the twin doors by the fireplace. No one else seemed disturbed by the idea of children crying out for help. But she did.

  In fact…every time she walked through the parlor to the dinning room, that feeling of danger she first experienced with Matt grew stronger.

  But what did that mean?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  After the run through, Chloe said she had to take Kevin home and wanted to stop by her shop. Matt wanted to go with her but had to remain at the house until everything was locked up tight. The work would start earlier on Friday morning, starting with a few radio interviews for Matt and Margo as well as a few local appearances at Haunted Houses around the Atlanta area.

  Then they would be free for a couple of hours and back at the Barrett House by six to start the show.

  It was the first time Matt felt constricted by a show. Usually he loved every minute of it, but now he just wanted to spend time with Chloe. They didn't even have to be in bed to do it. He just felt…comfortable when he was with her.

  That and he was a little worried about Sarah. Sheriff Harhmon hadn't shown up at the test run so he called and left a message with the Deputy about Sarah. After giving her his cell phone number he turned from the house and watched as Chloe pulled away.

  "So you think she's the real thing?" Margo said as she approached him.

  "Yeah. I do. I saw it for myself. She knew about the fountain."

  "Is that what all the commotion was about in the kitchen earlier?"

  He turned to face her. "Yeah. And then she touched me and read parts of my life. Especially something only I know about. So yeah…" he smiled. "I think she's incredible."

  "Is that because you got to bone her?"

  Matt released a short, irritated sigh. "Look, what is your problem? Where is it in my contract that I can't have a relationship with someone?"

  Margo crossed her arms over her chest. "It's right there under the clause that says you can't engage in any behavior that will endanger the production of the show. And you getting involved with women could interfere. Look what it did tonight? You put us over an hour and a half behind schedule."

  He'd heard the argument before. It wasn't new. And he'd always backed down and broke off what ever he was thinking of pursuing. But this time he didn't want to. He didn't want to keep going on alone. "Really? Would you like for me to recount all the times you've made us late? Two weeks ago your car broke down and your cell phone wasn't charged so no one knew where you were. We were late starting the actual taping. The time before that was when you got lost and were late meeting the house's owner. Oh, and the time before that—"

  "Shut the hell up. It's not the same thing."

  "How is not? Margo—I really like Chloe and I want to get to know her better. And I'm not going to back down this time."

  "She's the wrong one."

  "How can you know that? Exactly how many successful relationships have you had?"

  "They're all the wrong one, Matt. Because the moment you get your dick warm you stop thinking about the rest of us who work to make sure the show goes on. Since you met her you've been late and inattentive. And the producers are already pissed off about you not wanting to make Miss Stohl look like a fool—"

  "Who told the producers what I wanted to do? I didn't."

  She put her finger into her chest. "I did. Because they need to be made aware that you plan on working with her on this one. That's not the way the show plays out, Matt. Ghost Hunt goes out and disproves the existence of ghosts. Hell, the selling point is the two of us used to make haunted houses. Have you even once gone over the house to check for devices? Pressure plates? Sensors?"

  "No."

  "You see? Because the minute you found out the psychic was attractive, you checked out. It's the same thing you did with Sarah. You got so involved with her you made mistakes."

  "What in the hell has this got to do with Sarah?" The tightening started and he put his hand to his chest and took a deep breath. "Don't you dare bring her up. God, Margo, why don't you get a life?"

  "You are my life, Matthew. This is my life!" She poked at his chest again as she took a step toward him. He actually stepped back. It was just he and she in the house. Phil was outside with the doc, waiting on them. "And I'm not going to let you fuck it up the way you fucked up our other job. And Chloe Stohl's not going to screw this up for me, or for you."

  "What—" he said but pain centered in his chest. Oh no. No, no, no. Not again. Twice in the same day? He coughed and wheezed as he breathed. "Margo…stop poking me. Sarah didn't screw anything up. I had to quit because I was in the hospital for too long." Matt tried to inhale slowly, and it felt like it was working.

  "Because of Sarah! She was the one that tried killing you. So you think Chloe's going to be any different?"

  "Chloe isn't going to try and kill me." He gasped when he tried to exhale and he shoved his hand into his pocket and grabbed his inhaler. He shook it, inhaled twice and turned away. Within seconds the medication worked and his chest relaxed.

  But that wasn't going to stop Margo. She came around him and pushed his shoulder. "Look at you. You're falling apart. It's been months since your asthma flared up and now you've had what, a dozen attacks?"

  "My asthma and Chloe aren't linked and you know that. I'm stressed about Sarah."

  "You aren't going to see Chloe anymore, you got that?"

  Now he was just pissed. He couldn't breathe easy, he just missed another asthma attack, and his best friend was telling him he couldn't see someone he was interested in. Matt had never really disagreed with Margo. Mostly because Margo had been good at making decisions, and she'd been a great friend.

  But this was way beyond friendship. He fixed her with a harsh looked and said simply, "No."

  "No?"

  "No, Margo. I am going to see Chloe. I am going to work with her tomorrow, and hopefully we can make a show that'll scare the crap out of the producers, and viewers. I believe making a unique and new show, and not some re-hack of a previous show is the way to make this successful." He watched her face as he spoke and saw shock. Matt had never talked to her like this. Even he was a bit surprised.

  Someone clapped and the two of them turned to see Phil and Doc Coleman approach. The clapper was Phil.

  "I couldn't agree more, Matt," he said and stopped a few feet away. "I've already told Jeff and his team we're going to handle the editing this time."

  "You can't do that!" Margo hissed. "His team is what put us on the map. We need his editing."

  "No Margo," Phil said. "We need to step things up like Matt said, and not do the same thing over and over. And Matt—you're gonna ride with me. You need rest. And after I finish up a few things, I'm going to check in on you several times."

  "Oh…that's okay. You don't have to do that. I'm not an invalid."

  "I know. But doctor's orders." He nodded to Doc Coleman. "Margo you need a ride?"

  "No. I have my car." She glared at Matt and walked off. "Don't forget we have an interview at seven. Meet me in the parking lot at five, Mr. Hunt."

  Matt watched her disappear into the darkness. "I think I pissed her off."

  "Eh…she'll get over it. Come on, let's get you back to your place."

  "I really wanted to go see Chloe."

  Doc Coleman chuckled. "I'll call Chloe and tell her you need a relaxing night, okay?"

  Matt laughed. He took in a deep breath. "Hey Doc—where's at pretty lady that was with you?"

  "Nana had to leave. She's a photographer and sometimes works for the local law enforcement taking pictures of crime scenes. Seems there
's one about six miles north of here."

  "Oh no."

  Henry spoke up. "It's okay. She's already called to tell me Ogden's taking care of it. He's my assistant and he's capable of handling it." He stepped forward and winked. "You look much, much better. You should take afternoon breaks more often."

  Well if that didn't set him blushing nothing would. Who were these people? This town was crazy. It was obvious everyone was up in everyone else's business, but as far as he could tell, there wasn't a lot of judging going around. Or maybe this just wasn't in the right hen party.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Chloe and Kevin arrived back at the shop close to eleven. The reporters and TV crews were long gone, except for the soda cans, food wrappers and other bits of litter. After checking on the office Kevin and Chloe grabbed a few garbage bags and cleaned up the front parking lot.

  The night was cool and now and then she thought she heard thunder rolling around the sky. She hadn't had time to check the news for the weather and wouldn't at all mind if rained all night while she and Matt made love.

  "Would you please get that ridiculous look off your face?" Kevin said as he opened the front door for her. "Geez…you look like the happiest zombie in the movie."

  Chloe laughed and took Kevin's bag with hers to the break room. "Oh Kev…is it okay that I feel this good?"

  "Is it okay? What kind of society have we become when we have to find out if it's all right to feel good? I mean, The Secret says you're supposed to feel good all the time."

  "Yeah well…" she faced him. Kevin leaned against the sink, looking as perfectly coiffed as ever. "Relationships in my life haven't always given me the happy. Not like this."

  "What makes him so different?"

  "I don't know. Something I feel in here," she said as she put her hand on her chest. "I can't remember ever feeling like this with someone. He talks to me and I believe him. And when I hear his voice, it's like I can tell when he's not being honest."

  "So he's being honest now?"