2 The Haunted Fixer-Upper

by Rose Pressey

  Finally, after a few seconds, I broke the silence. “Who do you think killed him?” I asked softly.

  He let out a soft sigh. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. Maybe it was someone we know nothing about. It could have been someone else he’d screwed over. Maybe he did sell someone a real lemon.”

  “Maybe,” I whispered as I fell into dreamland.

  Chapter Twenty

  The paranormal activity at the house was not worse, but definitely not better. The ghost had to want something. She wasn’t haunting the place for no reason. There was always something a ghost wanted to say or some message that the ghost wanted to relay. I was going to make it my job to find out what.

  I’d only seen the woman in the house, but it seemed odd that the footsteps seemed a lot louder than a woman’s footsteps would make. Sure, I guessed she could have some heavy footsteps, but it still seemed odd. My curiosity was getting the better of me and I wanted answers. Wanting answers to the unexplained was why I’d started investigating the paranormal in the first place. I wanted to know what the heck ghosts really were—spirits or just figments of our imagination?

  Actually, with all my experiences with the paranormal I knew without a doubt that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. But what it really was I didn’t know. I wondered if I could get the ghost to come out and talk to me? So far I hadn’t had any luck with that, but that didn't mean I wouldn’t keep trying. Maybe she was just scared. A stranger was in her house and that had to be terrifying. I would continue to try and speak to her every time I was in the house until I got answers. Of course if Reed heard me he'd think I was nuts. I’d only do it when he wasn’t around. There was one thing I couldn’t keep from him though, the paranormal team that would arrive at McKeeley Plantation at any moment. He’d been around when I investigated the last house, but he was still clinging to his skeptic mentality. I’d break him of that eventually.

  The cars pulled up in front of the house as I waited on the front porch. Two women and two men stepped out from the cars. They grabbed several bags of equipment and approached me.

  “Are you Alabama Hargrove?” the man with the curly blond hair asked.

  I nodded and motioned for them to move closer. “Come on in. I’m glad you’re here.”

  They paused and looked up at the house, craning their necks to take in the full view of her majestic beauty. Based on their expressions, I didn’t know if they were scared or in awe. The group exchanged looks, then finally made it up the path to the porch.

  “I’m Harper Bishop, we spoke on the phone. This is Danielle Stone, Shawna Evans, and Dan O’Boyle.”

  They were all dressed casually and ready for some serious investigating. Danielle had short chestnut hair and she wore white open-toed sandals, an olive-green tank top, and brown capri pants. Dan and Harper both wore well-worn jeans with white T-shirts with their team’s logo. Shawna had chin-length blonde hair and wore long pink shorts, a white shirt, and crisp white sneakers.

  I shook their hands. “I’m so glad you all could make it out. I’d really like to get some answers to what’s going on in the house.”

  I opened the large wood door and motioned for them to enter.

  “What’s been going on in the house?” Harper asked as he scanned the space.

  “Like I said, I saw a female ghost,” I offered.

  “You’ve seen a full-bodied apparition?” Harper asked with eyes wide.

  “Yeah,” I said nonchalantly.

  “That’s the holy grail of ghost-hunting,” Dan said.

  I shrugged like it was no big deal, but I had to admit I was a little excited that the ghost had showed herself to me.

  “I’ve seen fleeting shadows in my peripheral vision, heard disembodied voices, and felt cold spots. You know, the usual stuff,” I added.

  The paranormal crew exchanged glances. Their faces lit up as if they’d hit the paranormal lottery.

  Harper picked up a piece of equipment. “I guess we should get started.”

  “This is where she appeared,” I said as I pointed out the spot.

  “What did she look like?” Danielle asked.

  “She wore a white dress with delicate little flowers. She was so vivid. She wore her hair up with loose strands dangling down.”

  “What era do you think she was from?” she asked.

  I paused. “Actually, she looked like she was from the early nineties.”

  Did they know about Amber Gaines? Would they put two and two together?

  They all stopped in their tracks and exchanged looks again. Yep. I guessed they knew about Amber. Apparently they were thinking the same thing I’d been thinking.

  “Do you know what happened here in the house?” Harper asked.

  I shook my head. “I heard a woman was murdered here.”

  Harper pulled out a digital recorder from his pocket. “That’s what they say.”

  “Can you show us where the rest of the paranormal activity has occurred?” Shawna asked.

  Going from room to room, I pointed out any strange occurrence I’d experienced. As they began to set up their equipment, a bang sounded on the door, then the front door flew wide open as we all stared, frozen on the spot.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Mama burst through the door with Lacey close behind.

  “Are we late?” she bellowed.

  Oh dear heaven’s, she had on a long black skirt, a black lace blouse, and a black hat. She looked like she was going to a funeral.

  “What are you wearing, Mama?” I asked.

  The paranormal team had momentarily abandoned their fascination with the paranormal to stare in amazement at my mother.

  Mama snorted. “I dressed for the paranormal. You know, all black and mysterious.”

  Lacey snickered.

  “Of course. How silly of me. I should have noticed.”

  “Everyone, this is my mother, Sylvia Hargrove.”

  “Enchanté!” My mother did a little weird curtsy thing.

  “And this is my best friend, Lacey. She’s a psychic medium.” I gestured toward Lacey.

  Lacey smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Well, let’s get this started, shall we?” I said, trying to change the subject back to the topic at hand.

  Harper took the bait because he asked, “Do you know how to use the K2 meter?”

  I took it from his outstretched hand. “Give me that. Do I know how to use it? I’m a pro.” I winked.

  He laughed. “Well, Daniel and I can head upstairs if you ladies would like to investigate down here.”

  “No problem, but be careful up there. The floor is uneven in some spots.”

  I had no idea what my mother was going to do during this investigation. The best that I could hope for was she wouldn’t get scared and take off out the front door and forget to open it on the way out.

  We made a little small talk with Danielle and Shawna as we moved through the bottom half of the house, but the women were mostly quiet and focused on the job at hand. That was a good thing though. At least I knew they took their jobs seriously. I wasn’t sure how they could concentrate with my mother’s constant chatter.

  When we reached the kitchen, the K2 meter went crazy. It buzzed and beeped like mad.

  The women looked at me with wide eyes. I had warned them that this was one of the hot spots. Would the ghost appear? I hoped she would. Even though I knew they believed in the paranormal, I wanted someone to witness it and back me up. It would feel good to have everyone see her too.

  We asked questions in hopes of capturing a disembodied voice on the recorders. We wouldn’t know if we’d caught anything until the team analyzed the evidence, which would take days.

  The meter continued to beep in my hand. When I moved to certain areas in the room, it would stop, only to start again when I moved in a different direction. I decided to follow the activity. Maybe the sound would lead me to the ghost.

  “It’s almost as if the ghost is trying to take me somew
here,” I said as I moved from the kitchen into the dining room.

  “She’s here, but she still doesn’t want to speak to us,” Lacey said.

  “Do I need my rosary?” Mama asked.

  “Let her take you wherever,” Shawna said. “We’ll see where she takes us.”

  I prayed it didn’t take us to the basement. I really wasn’t ready to deal with that today. We moved through the dining room, parlor and into the foyer. My mother held the back of my shirt as if I was her lifejacket. Shawna and Danielle had forgotten about the equipment in their hands and focused all their attention on me. They all followed me like a shadow.

  Once we made it to the parlor, I allowed the device to guide me to the staircase. I paused and glanced over my shoulder at the women.

  “We’ll have to disturb the men and go upstairs,” I said.

  “We can’t stop now,” Danielle said.

  “This ghost is trying to tell us something, but she doesn’t want to tell me. She wants us to figure it out,” Lacey said.

  They nodded, but didn’t utter another word. The experience had left them speechless. We slowly inched our way up the stairs. My anxiety increased with each step. My heart thumped and my hands became clammy, making it hard to hold the meter. I looked down every chance I got to make sure I didn’t miss a step or hit one of the uneven spots. The last thing I needed was to tumble to the bottom of the stairs.

  “Be careful, everyone, the floor is tricky,” I said.

  We made it to the top of the stairs and the meter kept up its steady beeping. The lights flickered in a rhythm with the noise. If I moved the device to the left or right, it would stop immediately. But as long as I held it out in front of my body, the thing lit up like a Christmas tree. The spirit really was leading us somewhere. I hoped it wasn’t somewhere bad. A demonic entity trying to do us harm? Pretending to be someone that it wasn’t?

  The sound of the men walking around with their equipment came from the back bedroom. They’d probably hear us soon and come out to investigate. I moved along with my ghostly guide letting the way. She let me into the bedroom on the right. The women were right on my heels. Once we’d entered the empty bedroom, I stopped in the middle of the hardwood floor. The meter had stopped its insistent beeping. The lights didn’t blink and the room fell silent. I exchanged glances with the women. Mama’s eyes were as wide as saucers, but she didn’t take off running, so that was a surprise.

  “What do you think is going on?” Shawna asked.

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. Are you picking up anything, Lacey?”

  She rubbed her temples. “No, she won’t talk and I’m getting a headache.”

  Obviously the ghost wanted us in this room, but why? My stomach turned. What if it really was a bad spirit? Had it lured us to a trap? I scanned the space around us, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Cobwebs filled the corners of the room and dust covered the floor. There was no furniture and the windows had a layer of dirt, making it difficult to see outside and causing the room to be dim.

  On the right wall was a closet. I stepped closer and placed my hand on the knob. Of course I was alone in my movements. Heavy breathing sounded from behind me as all the women gathered around. I glanced over my shoulder at them. The look in their eyes let me know that it was better me than them opening that door. I’d be brave though. What was the worst that I could find? A dead body? With my luck, that was a real possibility.

  I sucked in a deep breath and yanked the door open in one grand movement. No need in wasting any more time, if something was going to jump out at me I might as well get it over with quickly. Dust motes hit me in the face and flew through the air, but there were no dead bodies and no killer. I let out a sigh of relief. There was, however, an old trunk on the closet floor.

  “What do you think’s in it?” Mama asked.

  “Let’s find out.” I motioned for them to help me pull it out.

  Was there a dead body in the trunk? It was a real possibility since the thing weighed a ton. It took every bit of strength I could pull together with the help from the others to drag the thing out from the closet. A hinged closure adorned the front.

  “I can’t believe there isn’t a lock on it,” I said.

  “I can’t believe it’s still here after all these years of the house being vacant,” Danielle said.

  “Who wants to open it?” I asked, looking from one woman to the other.

  Their expressions said it all.

  “It’s your house. You’d better open it,” Shawna said.

  She did have a point. I had to suck it up and be brave. We might kill each other running out of the room if we made a grisly discovery though. My mother would be the first to go.

  I steadied myself for what I might find and squatted down to the trunk. With shaky hands, I grasped the sides of the lid and eased it open. It squeaked loudly echoing across the empty room. My heart rate increased as I pushed the lid all the way back.

  I let out a deep breath. The only thing in the trunk was clothing. Whew.

  “Thank goodness it wasn’t a skeleton. I almost wet my pants,” Mama said.

  Everyone chuckled. I had seriously thought it might be bones and a body. I reached down and touched the clothing, pulling out a cream-colored dress.

  “It looks like clothing from the nineties,” Mama said, her eyes lighting up.

  I nodded and handed Mama the dress. Next I pulled out a blouse, then noticed a couple books stuffed under the clothing.

  “They look like year books,” Shawna said from over my shoulder.

  “Class of 1995 and 1996,” I said as I read the covers.

  I opened the book and flipped through the pages.

  “It’s from Davis High,” Shawna said.

  “Did you go there?” I asked.

  “No, but my brother’s girlfriend did. She graduated in 2000.”

  I’d have to look at the books later. The woman who had been murdered had been a teacher. These had to be her books. The clothes looked like they were from that time period, but they didn’t look as if a teenager had worn them. They looked older, like maybe from a professional woman in her thirties, so they had to be hers too. I dug through the trunk, but there were no other items, just more clothing.

  The men walked in as I was closing the lid.

  “What’s going on? Why are you all up here?” Harper frowned.

  “The meter was going crazy. It was as if the ghost was leading us up here. It brought us directly to this trunk.” I pointed.

  “It was in the closet,” Shawna said.

  Harper quirked an eyebrow. “The meter did all that?”

  “Okay, don’t believe us, but it really did.” Shawna frowned.

  Wasn’t he supposed to believe in the paranormal? Why was he being such a skeptic?

  “What’s in it?” he asked.

  “It’s just a bunch of old clothes and these yearbooks,” I said.

  Harper stepped closer and picked up one of the books. Once he looked at the cover, he frowned and handed the book back to me. “Amber Gaines was a teacher at Davis. I’d assume those were her books and clothing.”

  Her husband hadn’t taken the books with him? Was there a reason he’d left some of her belongings behind?

  “What can you tell me about her?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Nothing, really. All I’ve heard are from rumors around town. It hadn’t twenty years ago. I was only twelve years old. I didn’t pay attention to the news back then. All I remember is my parents talking about it a little.”

  “The subject was dropped pretty quickly when I heard people talking about it,” Danielle said. “You’d think the police would have tried to find her husband longer than they did. It’s like they didn’t even try.”

  “Yeah, well, the police don’t do a whole lot around here anyway,” Dan added.

  Hmm. That was exactly what Carrie had told me. The feeling must be shared by a lot of folks.

  “Would you all mind carrying the trunk d
own when you come? We’ll head back down and see what we can find down there.”

  Harper nodded. “Yeah, no problem.”

  I couldn’t believe that Reed hadn’t checked the closets. I’d have to look in every closet as soon as I got the chance. What other secrets were tucked away? I would have been up here sooner if the stairs hadn’t been so dangerous. I placed the books back in the trunk and made it back down the stairs with the women following not far behind.

  ***

  Everyone had gone for the day. Mama and Lacey had gone back to the hotel. I knew my mother was mentally exhausted after the paranormal investigating. And the spirits always drained energy from Lacey, leaving her useless for the remainder of the day. Reed was outside finishing up, so I decided to try one last paranormal investigating trick. I’d leave the experiment overnight, and with any luck, capture some useful evidence in the morning.

  During the last house renovation a ghost had actually communicated with me. Well, he hadn’t actually spoken to me, but he’d pointed things out and led me to items. He was able to tell me his story, and I thought that I’d helped him to finally move on and find peace. I would love nothing more than to do that again for Amber. I wanted to help her so she wouldn’t be stuck in this house. Not that the house wasn’t a beautiful place to me, but she didn’t need to be there for eternity.

  What were the odds that I could get her to communicate though? Probably pretty darn slim. She wouldn’t talk to Lacey, what made me think she’d communicate with me? That didn’t mean I wouldn’t try though. No, far from it. I would keep trying as long as I owned the home, and heaven only knew how long that would be. I had no idea what our plans were with this house. Reed's expressions had been difficult to read lately. I had to make time to talk to him about it, but with everything that was going on there never seemed to be just the right time.

  Before I got ahead of myself though, I needed to remember to take things one day at a time, and that was what I was doing with the ghost investigation too. I wondered why the ghosts couldn’t just come out and tell me what they wanted. No, that would be too easy.