by Rose Pressey
I quirked an eyebrow. “Do you really think so?”
“Okay, probably not. Is there any clue about who wrote it?” she asked.
“Other than the address, the paper’s blank. I don’t think there’s any way to find out.”
“I have to get back in there. Are you coming inside?” Tammy gestured.
“That’s where I was headed when you found me.” I winked.
We reached the tavern door and walked in. The smell of bourbon lingered in the air. It was more crowded now, but there was still available stools at the bar.
“Take a seat. I have to get them drinks.” Tammy went behind the bar and started pouring a bourbon.
I sat down on a stool at the bar, trying to calm down.
After a few seconds Tammy came back over. “Beyond the paper you found it looks like you had a rough night,” Tammy said.
“You could say that, yes,” I said.
She made another drink and placed it front of the customer sitting beside me.
“Can I get you something other than water?” she asked with a quirked eyebrow.
I shook my hand. “No thanks.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I’m not sure where to even start,” I said. “There was a dead man at the coffee shop.”
She made a time out gesture. “What?”
“You heard me. Two men were together. One strange man was in there right before the other man died. When Dana and I came out from the back, we found one man slumped over the table. The other man had taken off.”
“Shut up,” Tammy said. “That is bizarre. What happened then?”
I shrugged. “We called the police and that was that. I guess we’ll know what happened to him soon enough.”
"What did Brannon say?” Tammy asked.
“He’s looking for the mystery man. Needless to say they’ll try to find the other man’s cause of death. I would’ve stopped by here before the tour, but I was running late because of that what happened."
“Of course. That’s understandable,” she said. “I can’t believe you went through with the tour. Did anything else happen?”
“Let me tell you about the tour…”
After explaining everything to Tammy, I waited for Brannon to arrive. I was peering down at my phone not paying attention when someone grabbed me from behind. I tossed the phone in the air and screamed. When I looked in the mirror behind the bar, I spotted Brannon behind me.
“Rip, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked stunned at my reaction.
I spun around and Brannon hugged me.
I blew out a deep breath. “No worries, I’ll be fine.” As soon as my heart went back to a regular rhythm.
“How was the tour?” Brannon handed me the phone after picking it up.
“Other than spotting the mystery man from the coffee shop?” I asked.
“Yes, other than that. He hasn’t been found, by the way.” Brannon waved at Tammy.
“A woman on the tour disappeared,” I said.
He frowned. “What do you mean a woman disappeared?”
I shrugged. “She was there for most of the tour, but at the end she wasn’t there.”
“So she just didn’t stay for all of it?” he asked.
“I suppose, but she left with my flashlight.”
Brannon chuckled. “I’ll get you a new one.”
“It wasn’t a great flashlight anyway,” I said around a laugh.
He took my hand in his. “I have special plans for us tonight.”
“You do?” I stood from the stool. “What kind of plans?”
“I can’t tell you that. It’s a surprise.”
Brannon wasn’t really a surprise kind of guy, so his announcement was a bit shocking. He seemed happy with his scheme though, which was completely adorable.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said.
Tammy had been listening to the end of the conversation. I looked at her and shrugged.
She smiled. “Have fun.”
Brannon guided me toward the door. Once we stepped out on the sidewalk he motioned toward his car.
“Oh, it’s too far to walk?” I asked.
“You’re not getting any clues out of me.” He opened the car door and motioned for me to get in.
A short time later we pulled up to my house. The moon cast a white glow over the surroundings. I lived on a tree-lined beautiful street with other similar homes. Pots of orange and yellow chrysanthemums decorated the front steps that led up to the porch. Fall was calling me. I just hoped that I could keep the flowers alive. I didn’t have a green thumb.
“You’re thinking this isn’t much of a surprise, right?” Brannon cut the engine.
“You brought me home? Is that the surprise? I can’t deny that’s a little disappointing.”
Brannon laughed. “That isn’t the surprise.” I opened the car door and Brannon hurried over to my side of the car. “Don’t worry. The surprise is in the house.” He shut the car door.
Brannon didn’t live with me, but he had a key to the house. It was a three-story Victorian with a wrap-around porch. When I moved back to town I’d rented an apartment on the top floor of a house that looked a lot like this one. The opportunity had come for me to buy this place and I’d taken the chance. Sure, the place needed a lot of work, but I had fully acknowledged that when I’d signed on the dotted line.
Brannon and I walked up the front steps to the door. He stuck the key in the lock and opened it for me. He motioned for me to enter. “After you, beautiful.”
I eyed him. “What are you up to?”
“Just follow me and you’ll find out.” Brannon took me by the hand and guided me through the foyer toward the dining room.
I wouldn’t lie and say this house wasn’t spooky. Not only had it been a funeral home, but it had been the scene of a murder. A lot of people probably thought I was crazy for living here. Sometimes when I heard unexplained footsteps in the middle of the night I questioned my sanity for living here.
After a number of years of neglect I’d done a lot of work bringing the house back to life. . The hardwood floors had had deep scratches. I’d sanded down all the floors and re-stained them. After putting some elbow grease into it the scratches were gone now and the floors gleamed like new. Layers of wallpaper had been scraped off the walls and I repainted every inch. Brannon, Tammy, and my parents had helped, so it hadn’t been too bad. Of course I was still trying to decorate, finding furniture and other things. My parents had gifted me a dining room table and chairs for a housewarming gift, which was incredibly generous.
I’d only remodeled one of the bedrooms, but I planned on tackling the others soon. It would be time for Halloween decorations soon, and I was excited about that. And I couldn’t wait to put a huge Christmas tree in front of the living room window. However, right now I needed to focus on what Brannon was up to. The dining room was dark when Brannon led me into the room.
“What are you doing? I think this house is a little too spooky in the dark,” I said.
“Wait right there.” Brannon left me at the dining room entrance. A thud sounded. “Ouch,” Brannon said.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Just bumped into the table. I’m fine.”
The smell of sulphur wafted across to me as Brannon lit a match. A second later a flame flickered on top of the candle. Next, he lit the other candle. The table was set with plates and glasses. A bottle of wine waited for us on the table.
“What have you done?” I asked.
“I made dinner for you.”
Brannon looked so handsome under the flicker of candlelight. Closing the distance between us he took me into his arms and kissed me. This was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me. The most romantic thing my ex had ever done was a trip to McDonald’s when I told him I wanted fries. He’d gotten extra ketchup for me.
Brannon pulled out a chair for me. “Dinner will be served soon.”
“Did you cook?” I asked as
I sat down.
“Well, no. It’s takeout, but it’s the thought that counts.”
I chuckled. “Yes, it is the thought that counts. Thank you, I love it.”
I still couldn’t believe he had done this for me. The sound of banging pots and pans came from the kitchen. That was a lot of noise for takeout food.
“Do you need help in there?” I called out.
“I’m doing fine,” he said.
A couple more seconds passed and he returned with plates full of food.
“Oh, you bought this from my favorite restaurant in town.”
It was the nicest restaurant in town, and because of that I didn’t get to eat there often. The pricey menu kept me away. My favorite dish was the baked chicken with mushroom sauce. Brannon had remembered what I liked.
“I know how much you love it,” Brannon said as he set the plate in front of me.
He poured the white wine into my glass and then sat across from me at the table. We talked over dinner, but avoided the topic of Dana’s coffee shop. Brannon had made this a perfect evening.
Thunder rumbled and the rain sounded against the window. At least it had held off until after the tour. Now the stormy setting was romantic. When Brannon looked at me my body tingled. He leaned across the table and kissed me again.
A knock sounded at the front door and we froze.
Chapter 4
“Someone’s at the front door,” I said. “Who could it be?”
Brannon got up from the table and headed over to the door. I followed him closely, standing right behind him when he stopped. I wasn’t expecting anyone. If Tammy came over she would have texted me and let me know that she was outside. The rain was falling hard now and I knew she wouldn’t stand out there in the rain. Worry filled my mind as I wondered if it could be my parents. Why wouldn’t they have called first? Brannon looked through the little peephole in the door.
“Who is it?” I whispered.
“There’s a woman out there,” he said.
“A woman?”
Maybe she had the wrong house. I never had visitors. He moved over so that I could check and see if I knew the woman. Standing on my tiptoes, I pressed my face up against the little hole and stared out. I recognized her all right, but I had no idea why she was here.
“I know that woman,” I whispered.
I didn’t think she could hear through the door, but I wasn’t going to take a chance.
“Who is it?” Brannon asked with his voice low as well.
I still couldn’t understand how she had found out where I lived. “It’s the woman who disappeared from my tour tonight.”
Brannon stared at me in disbelief. “Are you sure?”
I couldn’t blame him for being skeptical.
“I’m positive,” I said.
“How does she know where you live?” Brannon asked.
“That’s what I’d like to know. I’m not sure I should answer the door,” I said.
“Well, I definitely want to know why she’s here and how she found out where you live. She could have followed you here. This sounds too strange to let it go.”
As Brannon wrapped his hand around the doorknob I braced myself for some weird activity. He opened the door and I stood behind him, peeking around his arm. The woman had her back turned to us. When she heard the door open she spun around with a wild look in her eyes. For a moment we stared at each other. I wasn’t sure who would speak first.
“May I help you?” Brannon asked.
The woman looked at me and then to Brannon. “Yes, I’m sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to see if I could speak with the woman who does the tours.” She looked right at me.
There was no way Brannon was letting her get past him. Not until he knew what she wanted to speak with me about.
“What is this about?” he asked.
“Well, I know this is strange, and you’re wondering why I’ve shown up at your place, but it has to do with a ghost and I also heard that you’re the librarian. I have a problem with books as well.”
A problem with books? Oh, now that really was stranger than I thought. Lightning flashed across the sky. The bolt of lightning looked as if it was close to hitting the front yard. Thunder rumbled, shaking the house. I had to get her in from the front porch. Sure, I questioned whether I should let her in the house or not, but with weather like this I couldn’t allow her to stand out there.
I touched Brannon’s arm. “Maybe you should let her in now. It is really bad weather out there.”
He stepped aside and opened the door wider.
I knew that he was reluctant. Brannon was suspicious of a lot of things, even more so than me. And that was saying a lot. Rain dripped from the woman’s hair and coat when she stepped into the hallway. She wore the same clothes she had on during the tour, although she had a black raincoat now.
“Here, let me take your coat,” I said.
She slipped out of it and I hung it on the rack next to the door.
“We just finished dinner. Would you like some tea?” I asked, motioning toward the dining room.
“I’d love some,” she said, looking around the house.
As she walked into the dining room Brannon and I exchanged a look. I shrugged. I really didn’t know what to say.
“Please have a seat.” I gestured toward the chair.
She seemed a bit shy, but she sat down anyway. How shy could she be when she came to a stranger’s door in the late hours of the evening after disappearing earlier?
“I’ll go get you some tea and you can speak with Brannon. He’s a detective with the police department.” I wanted her to know just in case she decided to try any funny business.
Her eyes widened when I mentioned this, as if now she regretted coming to the house.
I disappeared into the kitchen to make the tea. I hoped that Brannon was able to get some answers out of her. I wanted to hurry because I didn’t want to miss much of the conversation. Luckily, I could make tea quickly with my new coffee maker. The hot water was already there. Grabbing cups from the cabinet I put them on the tray and then poured the hot water in over the tea bags, I grabbed the tray and hurried back into the dining room.
“Here you are,” I said, placing a cup down in front of her.
“Joanna was just explaining to me that she had been on the tour with you and she followed you home,” Brannon said.
So Joanna was her name. She’d followed me home? My eyes widened. “Why would you do that?” I asked.
This was so creepy.
“I know it sounds strange and I apologize, but I didn’t know what else to do.” She took a sip of tea.
“Maybe you should start by explaining why you followed me here,” I said.
I still hadn’t sat down at the table. Before I got comfortable she had explaining to do. I stood near the table with my arms folded in front of my chest. Sitting and having a casual conversation with her wasn’t an option when I knew she had followed me like that.
“Honestly I’m surprised you left the tour,” I said. “You could have talked to me there.”
Actually I wasn’t that shocked, but I wanted to hear her reason for leaving. She had been acting so strange during the tour that I wasn’t surprised when she came up missing.
“I figured it would be best if I found some place to get away.”
“Get away? Where did you go?” I asked.
“Well, I went back to the tavern because I thought that it would be a safe place with lots of people there.”
“Another good place would’ve been the police station. That’s where I would’ve gone.”
She stared at me. “Yes, I guess that would have been the better thing to do.”
“So you stayed at the tavern. Why and when did you leave?” I asked.
Maybe she thought I was asking too many questions.
“By the time I hung around there a little bit I figured it was save to leave so that I could come find you,” she said.
Someth
ing about her story just seemed off to me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“I wanted to speak with you about a haunting, so I thought I would do the tour.” She placed her cup down.
“Like I said you could have talked to me during the tour.” I frowned.
“I wanted to, and I was going to, but then I saw him, so I decided to hide.”
“You saw who?” Brannon asked.
“The man who has been following me and leaving books with notes.”
“A man has been following you and leaving you books with notes?” I repeated her statement, as if that would somehow make it clearer to me.
Now we had to find out more information about not only Joanna, but this man she claimed was following her.
“What kind of notes is he leaving you?” I asked as I finally sat down on the dining chair across from her.
“He writes that he has been following me and that he’s my secret admirer.”
“And you saw this man on the tour?” Brannon asked.
She took a sip of tea and then placed the cup back down. “Yes, I saw him on the tour. That’s why I left early. I was afraid.”
“Well, you could have gone to the police,” I said. “Brannon would have come if you’d asked me for help.”
“I didn’t know what to do. I just figured you could help me now. I’ve heard good things about you.” She smiled.
“Of course I’ll help you,” I said. “Do you know who this man is? The one leaving the books and notes for you—are they the same person?”
“I suppose I don’t know for sure. I’ve seen him a couple of times and I’m sure he was following me.”
“You don’t know for sure, it’s just that you saw him following you?” Brannon said.
She shook her head. Though she didn’t have confirmation, it seemed like a good indication that it was the same man. Why else would he be following her?
“Do you know anything about him?” Brannon asked. “Like his name or where he lives?”
“No, I don’t know his name or where he lives. I know nothing about him, but I can tell you what he looks like.”
“What does it look like?” I asked.
I couldn’t wait to hear this. After she described him I couldn’t help but think that he looked exactly like the man who had been at the coffee shop. Plus, I’d seen him in the tavern.
