by Rose Pressey
I turned to Annie. “So he worked here. Why would he talk to me now? Is there some message he would want to get to you? Since he knows that I work at the library maybe?”
I wasn’t sure that he did know I worked at the library, but I was grabbing at straws trying to think of any explanation for his presence. If he had wanted to give Annie a message, then why had he knocked me down? That didn’t seem like any way to treat someone you wanted to do something for you. She said he was a sweet man, but that action hadn’t been so nice. Maybe he hadn’t been the one to knock me down after all. I hadn’t seen the spirit who did it.
“How did he die?” I asked.
An accident, I think, but I can’t remember exactly Annie responded on the screen.
It seemed as if Annie didn’t know him well, so she was probably right about him not delivering her a message.
“I wonder what he could want with me,” I said mostly to myself.
Have you asked him? Annie’s message read.
“No, but he hasn’t been around long enough for me to ask. He needs to stay in one spot.”
That was when it hit me that I should go back to his grave and ask him questions. Maybe he would show up and answer. I still didn’t know for sure that this was the same ghost, but I was almost sure. It had looked like the same man even if I’d only seen him out of the corner of my eye.
A loud thud sounded out and I jumped in my seat. I looked back and saw that Annie was still behind me. If it wasn’t her making the noise then who was it? I could see the cat cleaning her paws from where I sat. So it hadn’t been her. The noise sounded again.
“What was that?” I pushed to my feet and eased down the aisle. My heart thundered in my chest thinking that maybe there was a killer in the library. Maybe whoever had killed Marion had come back. I peeked around to my left and my right, but didn’t see anyone. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
I eased over to the front desk, but still didn’t see anyone. Annie had followed me. I turned around and gave the library one last scan. I must have been hearing things. Just then someone grabbed my shoulder and I let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Tammy clutched her chest. “You almost killed me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were behind me.”
When she caught her breath, she said, “No, I should have said something before I grabbed you like that. What are you doing?” She looked around.
“Looking for information about a ghost.”
Tammy nodded. “Of course, what else. Who’s the ghost?”
“The one from last night.” Just then my phone rang.
I looked at Annie and she shrugged. If she wasn’t calling me, then who was it? When I saw the number I recognized it right away.
“It’s Brannon,” I whispered.
Tammy motioned with a wave of her hand. “Well, answer it before he hangs up.”
I let out a deep breath and then answered.
“Just wanted to check and see how you were doing after the graveyard incident.”
It was very sweet of him to call to check on me. I didn’t know what came over me, but I decided to invite him over. “Why don’t you bring your crew by and go ahead and investigate the library?” I couldn’t believe what I had just agreed to do.
Tammy looked equally as shocked. The more I talked with Brannon, the more I felt bad for not letting him investigate the building sooner. After all, he had helped me last night, so he must be a nice guy. Maybe I would regret what I’d done in the morning. I just hoped that the board didn’t catch wind of this.
“Wow, are you sure?” He sounded as stunned as the rest of us.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said.
“When can we come by?” he asked.
I looked at the clock on the wall behind me. “I suppose any time now would be okay.”
He paused. “That’s kind of short notice, but I’ll round everyone up and we can be over there in an hour.”
“You’d better get over here before I lose my courage and change my mind.”
“No, we’ll be there, don’t worry.”
“I’ll see you soon,” I said.
He hung up and I clicked off. I’d never bothered to ask just how many people he would be bringing with him and who they were. I hoped it wasn’t many. Furthermore, I hoped that Annie behaved when Brannon and his crew came to the library.
Speaking of my ghostly librarian, she was standing next to the door looking all innocent, but I knew that she liked to play pranks now and then. This would give the perfect opportunity for her to do just that. She looked and me and smiled.
“You had better be nice to the people who come here, Annie.” I waved my finger in warning. She didn’t send a text in response so I figured I was in trouble. All I could do was warn her, after that it was out of my hands.
Tammy cleared her throat. “What are you doing?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t say no to him anymore. Every time I see him he looks at me with those big blue puppy dog eyes and I practically melt.”
“You are such a sucker,” Tammy said.
“Maybe so… but if he is in and out of here with his crew quickly, then I figure no one will ever have to know.”
“You’d better hope that Leslie doesn’t find out.”
“Unless someone rats me out or she shows up here tonight then we should be safe,” I said.
“I hope that is true, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” Tammy walked toward the door.
“You’re leaving me here? Alone with Brannon?”
“You won’t be alone. The ghost is here.” Tammy looked around then rubbed her arms as if warding off a chill. “Plus Brannon has his crew with him. I would stay, but I have to work.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah, sure. If you say so.”
She chuckled as she opened the door. “If I thought you were genuinely afraid of the ghosts or paranormal I might stay, but I know the real reason is you just don’t want to be alone with Brannon.”
“I’ve been alone with him,” I said defensively.
Tammy waved and then vanished out the door.
As I waited for Brannon I read a note that Leslie had left for me. Apparently the ex-librarian ghost was still making her presence known with unexplained footsteps and flying books to the patrons. A few had complained.
“Annie, why are you trying to scare people?” I asked.
I would never scare anyone. I’m just having a little fun.
“Just try to be a little nicer,” I said.
I busied myself looking for more information about the man and then tried to locate who might have used the computer that night. I needed to ask Leslie and Tammy to see if they remembered letting anyone use that particular computer. Unfortunately, I hadn’t learned anything new by the time Brannon arrived.
I spotted him and the other members of his paranormal team and I raced over to the door to let them in. He smiled at me with that bright smile when I opened the door. I motioned for them to enter.
“Good evening, Ripley.” His voice seemed even sweeter when he said my name.
I looked over his shoulder to see if he’d parked his car in front of the library.
“Don’t worry, we parked down the street.”
“Yeah and my back is feeling it too after carrying all this equipment,” the dark-haired guy said.
The three men entered the library and placed their equipment on the floor. The men looked around the library as if it was the first time they’d ever been inside.
“This is Trent Baldwin and Adam James.” Brannon motioned toward the men. They both wore jeans and similar black t-shirts. The taller of the men had black hair and the other a lighter shade of brown.
“Nice to meet you. Have you seen the building before?” I asked.
“It’s been a number of years since we’ve been inside the place.”
I frowned. “A number of years?”
Brannon offered a smile. “I told them they’d be in tro
uble for saying that.”
“The books miss you, guys,” I said.
Annie walked up and Brannon immediately looked in her direction. Could he see her? If so he didn’t mention it, nor did she send me a text.
“We should get started,” Brannon said, grabbing a piece of equipment.
“Good idea,” I said. “The faster you do this the sooner you will be out of here.”
The other men grabbed the equipment.
“Adam, you can check down that hallway, and Trent, you can look upstairs.”
Trent nodded, saying something about a bad knee as he walked away.
“I’ll look around down here, if you don’t mind?” Brannon asked.
I smiled. “No, I don’t mind.”
My phone went off, but I didn’t answer it. Annie was right behind Brannon.
“Do you feel that?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.
Okay, so he couldn’t see her, but I knew that he felt her.
I nodded. “I guess so.” I wasn’t being honest with him, but I had no choice. “I’ll follow you,” I said as I walked behind him like a shadow.
“I’d like that,” he said with his sexy drawl.
I blushed. “You’ll have to explain the equipment to me because I’ve never used it before.”
I walked around behind Brannon as he weaved through the aisles holding out his piece of equipment. Annie had moved around and now appeared directly in front of Brannon. When he held the thing out in front of him, the equipment went off immediately. The buzzer was making a loud noise.
“Something must be right in front of us,” Brannon whispered.
Annie looked at me and smiled. Oh, I so should tell him, but now was not the time. How would I explain that I could see her as plain as day and that the dinging of my cell phone was her leaving me a text message? He must think I was hugely popular. I was surprised he hadn’t asked me to turn the thing off. But that was exactly what I planned to do.
I pulled the phone from my pocket and switched it off. Annie placed her hands on her hips and frowned. I would definitely receive a message about that later.
Brannon handed me the equipment. “Here, can you hold this?”
“Sure.” I took it from his outstretched hand and held it away from me as if I might break it.
He pulled another object from his pocket.
“Is that a recorder?” I asked.
He nodded and switched it on.
“You think you’ll get her voice?” I asked.
He whipped around to look at me. “What do you mean she? So you do know Annie Gibson is haunting the library.”
I stared at him as if I’d been caught in the act of the crime. I shrugged. “I just call the spirit she.”
He stared for a moment and then nodded. I knew that he was now suspicious of me.
Brannon held the recorder out and then said, “Is there anyone here who would like to speak with us?”
He asked a few more questions and then turned off the recorder.
“I’ll play it back,” he said.
After rewinding it, he hit play. A voice sounded from the little recorder.
“I’m here,” the female said.
Annie jumped up and down, her ivory dress swooshing back and forth against the floor.
“Did you hear that?” Brannon asked.
I nodded. I had a hard time focusing on him and Annie at the same time. She was now pacing back and forth in front of us. Brannon played back the rest of the tape, but no other answers appeared.
“I never get tired of communicating with them,” he said.
I couldn’t help but feel his excitement. And Annie’s too.
Brannon stood beside me, flashing his sexy smile. “Would you like to ask any questions?”
When I glanced over at Annie, she nodded.
I shook my head. “No, I think I’m good.”
“I could try the flashlights with her,” he said. “Maybe if we’re lucky she will show herself.”
“Um, I’m not so sure about that.” Annie danced around Brannon and giggled. I tried not to let her distract me. “Uh, I’ve seen the flashlight thing before. It’s where you put flashlights out and the ghost can turn the light off and on, right?”
Annie would probably love that. It would be like a game for her. Still it probably was best if we left the communication end for the night.
“Maybe we’ve asked enough questions. I am feeling a little drained.” I held the back of my hand up to my forehead.
“The spirits will do that. They’ll use your energy to communicate or manifest.” Brannon stuffed the flashlight back into his pocket.
We finished walking around the rest of the ground floor, but nothing else exciting happened.
“It’s getting kind of late,” I said.
I was worried that people would notice the lights coming from the building. Brannon radioed the other men. “Guys, we need to wrap this up for the evening.”
The men met us by the front desk.
“Did you get anything?” Brannon asked.
They shook their heads in frustration. “Not a thing.”
“I think I found enough for all of us. Listen to this,” Brannon said as he played back the recorder.
Annie was still pacing beside us as Brannon played back the recording. “That is one hell of an EVP,” Trent said.
“Have you seen anything in here recently?” Brannon asked.
I would tell him. Just not right now in front of the other men. “No, not recently,” I said.
“Thanks for letting us come here tonight,” Brannon said as he stood by the front door.
“Think nothing of it.” Maybe he’d remember my hospitality when the chief of police was looking at me like I was a murderer.
“Nice to meet you,” Trent and Adam said.
Brannon paused at the door. He turned to look at me and then mouthed thank you. When I smiled he winked. He really knew how to make a girl weak in the knees.
Annie was pacing beside me when the men exited the library, so I knew that I had to turn my phone back on.
You need one of those recorders.
I shook my head and waved my hand. “I know. You want to say a lot. I’ll get one.”
I didn’t like messing with the things though because I was worried that I would bring in a spirit that I didn’t want to talk to. But at this point, how much worse could it be? Okay, it could always be worse, but I wouldn’t think about that. Annie really wanted to talk and I didn’t have the heart not to listen.
I closed up the library in a hurry after the men left. I wanted to get out of there before someone really did catch me. I waved goodbye to Annie and Jane, promising to buy a recorder thingy, as Annie called it.
That night as I walked home from the library, trying to wrap my mind around the murder, footsteps echoed behind me again. I was almost afraid to turn around.
I spun around and screamed out. “What the hell are you doing?”
Brannon held his hands up. “Sorry.”
“You should know better as a law officer than to sneak up on anyone.”
“I didn’t think I was being that quiet. Are you okay?” he asked.
I released a deep breath. “I’ll be fine now.”
“I saw you and thought maybe I should walk you home. I was talking with the guys by their cars for a while.”
Brannon probably thought I was thinking that he had waited around for me.
I nodded. “Okay.” There were far worse things than having Brannon walk me home. “I could use the company.”
I wondered if I would have enough nerve to tell him about Annie now. Brannon smelled too good to hang around for too long though. I didn’t want to be interested in anyone right now. So why was I having those thoughts?
“What are you thinking? he asked.
Well, I couldn’t tell him the truth, so I said, “I was thinking about the voice you caught tonight.”
“I was thinking about that too,” he said.<
br />
Just then my phone sent an alert.
“You sure do get a lot of text messages,” he said with a frown.
I chuckled. “My friend is having a crisis right now.”
That wasn’t entirely a lie. Could Annie the ghost be considered my friend? I suppose if Casper was the friendly ghost than Annie could be too. I pulled the phone from my pocket. Of course it was a text from Annie. I had just left. Couldn’t what she had to say wait until tomorrow? When I looked at the phone I realized she was adding her two cents. I looked back at the library window and saw her watching us.
Kiss him, was all the message said.
I stuffed the phone back in my pocket.
“Is everything okay?” Brannon asked.
“You know I am worried about Marion’s death and how that will affect my job,” I said.
I had to tell Brannon about the dilemma with work—but I would leave out the ghost part.
“Please don’t worry about the chief. I will help you any way that I can.”
I nodded. “Thank you.” I could use all the help that I could get.
When we reached my apartment we stopped once again at the front door. Brannon looked as if he wanted to reach out and touch my hand or, even worse, kiss me. Definitely not what I needed right now. But I wondered what his mouth would feel like against mine. And he smelled so good.
“Try to get some sleep, okay?” he said softly.
Brannon had stepped closer to me and I didn’t back away. My phone dinged again, ruining the moment. I sighed and pulled it from my pocket. I should have ignored it, or thrown it away. How had Annie sent me a text from so far away? She’d only been able to send them when she was near.
I looked around, but didn’t see anything. Then again, it was dark and it would be hard to see any spirit lingering around, including George Wise.
Annie’s text was full of advice. The young man should court you at your home in front of your family.
Not exactly modern advice and technically Brannon was at my home. There was no courting going on though. My dysfunctional family would surely chase Brannon away if he’d met them. Annie should stick with haunting the library and leave my love life alone.
Brannon smiled. “Don’t forget I am here if you need anything.”
