by Rose Pressey
“Would you like me to come by the library?” he asked.
“Maybe, but I’ll have to let you know. The board members are really on me for all the paranormal stuff, and I wouldn’t want to take a risk. Not unless I absolutely have to. If they found out I’d probably be out of there.”
He nodded. “I understand. You’ll let me know?”
“I will as soon I find out anything.”
“Or if you need any help don’t hesitate to call, okay?” He gave me a hug goodbye.
Watching him get into the car and drive away seemed like such a final statement. His leaving without getting any details and without getting things resolved was disheartening. But there was nothing he could do. Brannon wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.
“We should get out of here,” he said. “It’s been a long night. How about we pick up some pizza?”
He knew me so well. Tonight was definitely not a salad kind of night. “Can we get pepperoni?” I asked.
He smiled. “Absolutely.”
We got into the car and pulled out of the driveway. As we were leaving I gave the house one more look. Emma was standing out on the front porch, watching us drive away. I wondered if she was telling us everything. Was she withholding some kind of information from me? I got a strange feeling from her, but I couldn’t read it.
We picked up a pizza and headed for the house. Before we got there my phone rang. It was Tammy. I’d forgotten to call her soon as we were done.
“You better answer now or she’ll be calling me,” Brannon said.
“I’m fine,” I said as soon as I answered.
“Well, you had me worried. I was starting to freak out,” Tammy said.
“We just picked up the pizza and are heading back to the house. It’s been a long night.”
“You can say that again,” Tammy said. “As long as you’re okay.”
“Oh, yeah, everything’s fine.”
“So what happened?” she asked.
“Absolutely nothing other than the board breaking and the room shaking. The demon didn’t come back through. Now I have to find out where he’s hiding.”
“Other than that? That sounds like a lot.”
“Well, things are fine now,” I said.
Tammy sighed.
“Are you sure everything is okay with you?” I asked.
“Maybe this is nothing, but I guess I’ll mention it anyway,” Tammy said.
“Something happened?” I pushed.
“I’m not sure,” Tammy said.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, a bunch of glasses fell off onto the floor at the tavern tonight. I just thought it was odd. There was no vibration and it was a quiet time. I was the only one behind the bar. I thought something had knocked them off on purpose.”
“That is strange,” I said.
Brannon looked at me.
“Something weird happened at the tavern tonight,” I said. “I’ll explain in a minute.” I went back to the conversation with Tammy. “But you’re all right? Nothing else happened?”
“No, nothing else. I cleaned up the mess and it’s been quiet ever since.”
“Will you call me if anything else happens?”
“Okay, I promise I will,” she said.
Now I was worried that this shadow thing would come after her. That was always one of my fears.
“I hope it’s not here at the tavern,” she said.
For her sake I hoped not too.
“I still have a few more hours here. Enjoy the pizza for me,” she said.
“I can save you a slice if you’d like.”
“I’m going home after this, but call me if anything happens, okay?” she said.
“I promise I will.”
As soon as I’d hung up we had arrived at my place. Brannon pulled up to the curb and we got out.
“I really hope they fix that streetlight soon.” I pointed.
Brannon looked up at the light. “It does make it a lot darker here.”
“I know, and that’s spooky, as if this place isn’t scary enough already.”
I had left the porch light, on so that helped. As we walked up the path that led up to the front porch something black zipped in front of us.
I yelled out. “What was that?”
Brannon turned around and scanned the whole area. “I don’t see anything.”
It couldn’t be the cat because the shadow thing had been right in front of my face. I knew exactly what it was. “It was the black shadow,” I said.
Brannon took me by the arm. “Let’s get inside.”
That sounded like a good idea to me. I looked over my shoulder several times to make sure it wasn’t behind me.
“Don’t look back,” Brannon said.
Once inside I slammed the door shut and locked it. I released a deep breath and leaned against the door. “Whew. Thank goodness that is all over.”
Brannon grabbed my hand and said, “We need to relax. How about a movie too?”
“All right,” I said. “But nothing scary. I’ve had enough of that tonight.”
“It’s a deal,” he said with a wink.
Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with a scary movie, but not tonight. Halfway through the romantic comedy my cell rang. I instantly became worried when I saw the name pop up on my phone screen.
“Dana, are you all right?” I asked when I answered.
“I didn’t mean to call and scare you, dear.”
“No, I just was worried, you know, after everything that happened.”
“I figured you would be worried.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that.”
“You mean there’s more activity at your place?” I didn’t even want to think that someone else had died there.
She sighed. “I don’t know. There were things missing and things falling onto the floor.”
That sounded exactly like what had happened at the tavern. I wouldn’t call it paranormal just yet, but I was having suspicions.
“I just thought I would let you know about it.”
“I’m glad you called,” I said. “I can stop by there if you’d like.”
“No, it won’t be necessary, but I will call you if anything else happens.”
“Yes, please do so,” I said.
This evil presence was making the rounds of all the places that I frequented. Would it show up at Brannon’s place?
***
It was around two o’clock in the morning when I woke up with my heart pounding. I had had a dream that I couldn’t quite remember all of. It was just flashes of bits and pieces, but I knew for sure that Emma and Joanna were in it.
It took me a while to calm down. My heart rate eventually settled to normal. It had been quite a terrifying feeling. I’d felt as if I was out of control, and I always liked being in control. But now I couldn’t stop thinking about Emma and Joanna. I had to go to Joanna’s place again. I had to have answers to my questions and I felt as if she had the answers. Though I knew I probably wouldn’t find Joanna there. She wasn’t telling me everything. I had to convince her that she needed to be truthful with me. If I couldn’t speak with Joanna, then I needed to talk with Emma again.
As much as I wanted to go right away, I knew that I couldn’t go there at two o’clock in the morning. I would have to wait until I was on my way to work. I hoped that wasn’t too early for her. I didn’t know what she did or if she had a job or school. I knew nothing.
I had a hard time going back to sleep that night. I somehow managed to get a couple more hours. I tossed and turned, thinking that I heard footsteps. Once I opened my eyes and thought I even saw a dark shadow at the foot of my bed. I wrote that off as just me being in a dream-like state and the anxiety.
So I got up a little early and got ready for work. I went about my normal routine. I even stopped by the coffee shop once again. Dana wasn’t at the front working, so I didn’t bother her agai
n. I had no news. I was hoping that something would happen soon. And by something happening I meant I hoped the killer was caught. Still there was no sign of Joanna. Or the mystery man. They had just finished. As quickly as they’d come into Devil’s Moon they’d gone out.
I only got coffee this time because I wouldn’t have time to eat anything. I’d have to get something later. I was headed straight for the apartment to see if I could speak with her. I walked to my old place. I paused for a moment, standing at the gate and peering up at the old house. Should go in and see if Joanna was somehow back at her place? I guess it wouldn’t hurt.
Chapter 15
After leaving the apartment, I headed straight for Emma’s place. As suspected, Joanna hadn’t returned. I played over what I might say in my mind. It sounded good in my head, but it might be a completely different situation when I confronted her.
It was a lot longer of a walk than I’d realized. Maybe I should have gotten a ride. It wasn’t like I could call Brannon and tell him what I was doing. He would discourage that. I’d had a car but it finally gave out and I hadn’t replaced it yet. I walked to work most of the time, so I really hadn’t seen a reason to get one. Now I was thinking it would be nice to have. After walking a few more minutes, I reached the street and then down to the driveway. My anxiety increased as I walked to the driveway. I wasn’t sure why.
The sound of a car pulling up caught my attention. I spun around quickly because I thought someone had turned into the driveway. That scared me. I was even more shocked to see who was there. It was Tammy. Thank goodness it wasn’t Brannon. I rushed over to the car.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I saw you walking. What are you doing here?”
“I came to snoop on these people.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? Wouldn’t Brannon be upset?” she asked.
“Of course he would be upset. That’s why I didn’t tell him.” I opened the car door and hopped in. “Park down the street so they don’t see us.”
Tammy pulled the car down a little way and then shoved it into park. “What are you going to do now?”
“I have to go back up there.”
“I can’t let you do that alone,” Tammy said.
“But I’ve done things like this in the past,” I said.
“Yes, and that’s even more reason why I can’t let you do this again. You always seem to get in trouble and I want you to be safe.”
“I don’t want to drag you into the trouble.”
“We could argue like this all day long, but we don’t have time for that.”
“No, we do not,” I said.
“Okay, come on. Let’s go.” Tammy opened the car door.
We got out and headed down the sidewalk until we reached the driveway again.
“Okay, we’re going to go to the door?” Tammy asked.
“Well, eventually, yes, but I thought maybe we could snoop around outside a little bit.”
“And what’s the reason for that?” she asked.
Tammy was taking this seriously, as if she thought I had a plan. I didn’t want to tell her I didn’t have a plan. Rarely did I ever know what I was doing in advance.
Movement caught my attention. Tammy and I stopped on the spot. We dashed behind a tree to my right. After a couple seconds, I peeked around the edge. Emma had just stepped out onto the porch, but she wasn’t alone. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Joanna with her. What were they doing together? What was Joanna doing here? So she wasn’t gone at all?
I didn’t know what to do. Should I jump out and confront them right here or should I wait and see what happened? This definitely made me suspicious because they’d acted as if they hadn’t seen Joanna. Also they’d acted as if they didn’t know anything about what she was up to. Their actions now told me otherwise. I had to get to the bottom of this right away. I watched as they moved down the front steps and headed toward the car.
“What should we do now?” Tammy asked.
“I think there’s only one thing we can do,” I said. “We have to follow them.”
“We’d better hurry,” Tammy said. “We don’t want them to get a head start on us.”
Tammy and I raced out from behind the tree. We ran down the driveway and then the sidewalk toward Tammy’s car.
“Do you think they saw us?” Tammy said as we got into the car.
I fastened my seatbelt. “I certainly hope not.”
We just sat here and watched in the rearview mirror, waiting for them to pull out.
“What if they go in the opposite direction?” Tammy asked.
“Then you’ll have to do some quick maneuvering,” I said.
She started the engine and we watched for the women to pull out.
“What do you think they’re doing? Maybe they went back inside,” Tammy said.
“I hope not, but it’s starting to look that way. Do you think we missed them pulling out?” I asked.
I’d just finished with the sentence when the car backed out of the driveway.
“Okay, here we go,” Tammy said, putting the car into drive.
The good thing was they turned in the same direction that Tammy’s car was pointed. Now we just had to hope that they didn’t look over and see us. I didn’t want to get caught. They drove down the street. Neither of the ladies looked over at us.
“Bingo. We’re in luck,” I said.
Tammy pulled out right behind them. We followed them down the street. I was pretty sure they had no idea we were following them.
“Where do you think they’re headed?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t know. It could be anywhere in town.”
We had reached the main section of town now. They made a left turn and then she used her turn signal that indicated she was going to take another left.
“I have an idea where she’s headed,” I said.
“Where is that?” Tammy asked, glancing over at me.
“I think she’s going to that abandoned building. The one that the mystery man was in.”
“That’s so bizarre,” Tammy said. “Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. There has to be a connection somehow, right? Maybe she’s looking for the mystery man as well.”
“I would think if he was stalking Joanna then she wouldn’t want to find him.”
“Well, maybe she wants to confront him and tell him to leave her alone.”
“That should be something the police should do. It would be way too dangerous for her to do that, and I hope that’s not the case.”
They pulled up to the abandoned building just as I’d thought they would. Tammy stayed back just a bit so that they wouldn’t see us. At least that was the plan anyway. We watched as the women got out of the car and headed up to the building.
“What should we do?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t know. I think we should stay back here. Last time I went inside it didn’t work out so well. I should probably call Brannon. He can come see what they’re up too.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I like that one,” Tammy said.
Emma and Joanna went inside the abandon building.
“It’s dangerous in there. I can’t imagine they would want to go in.”
“Yeah, well, you went in there, didn’t you?” Tammy asked.
“Yes, I did, and like I said, it wasn’t a wise decision.” I pulled out my phone to call Brannon.
“I hope he answers,” Tammy said.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said when he answered. I tried a playful tone so that he wouldn’t be upset with me.
“With you, I think I would believe just about anything,” he said, teasing me back.
“Well, I went over to talk with Emma and guess who was there?” I said with a click of my tongue.
“Joanna?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Lucky guess. Are you there now?” Brannon asked.
“No, they left so I decided to follow t
hem.”
“How are you following them?” he asked. “Please don’t tell me you stole a car.”
“Of course I didn’t steal a car,” I said.
Tammy laughed.
“Tammy’s with me. She drove.”
“So now the two of you are this together? Okay, I’ll be there soon. I’m on my way,” he said.
I took the phone away from my ear and ended the call. “He’s on his way.” I smiled.
“So he wasn’t that happy with you?”
“No, he’s not happy with us,” I said.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You’re with me, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Why do I let you get me into these things?” Tammy asked.
“You volunteered.”
Now I felt bad that I’d got her into trouble. I would take all of the blame. We watched the building to make sure that the women didn’t come back out and get in their car. I didn’t want them to leave without us knowing it.
Just a couple of minutes passed before Brannon sped up to the old building. He pulled his car up behind ours and jumped out. I watched him through the side mirror as he rushed up to the passenger side of Tammy’s car.
He leaned down to talk to me. “So they went inside?”
“Yes, I think they’re still in there,” I said.
“They drove that car.” Tammy pointed.
“All right. You all stay put, okay? I’ll be right back.”
We watched as Brannon walked up to the building.
“Oh, I’m so anxious. What if there’s like a shootout or something?” Tammy twisted her hands together.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that. We don’t have any proof they’ve committed any crime specifically. At least not that I know of,” I said.
“You’re right. I’ve probably been watching too much TV,” Tammy said.
A few minutes later and Brannon stepped outside. He came over to the car. “I can’t find them anywhere.”
“Well, they have to be here somewhere,” I said. “Their car is still here.”
“How can they be gone?” Tammy asked.
Chapter 16
“How did they get away if the car is here? They have to be in there somewhere,” I said.
“They might be hiding. We’ll have police officers all over this place checking every inch of the building,” Brannon said.
