The Trouble with Ghosts (Here Witchy Witchy Book 3)

by A. L. Kessler

  I had no idea. “I thought I was seeing things, you know, left over shock. I’m going to try to contact this person and see if they can describe the house to me in more detail.”

  “Good plan. I’ll fill you in on the basement.”

  Single. “Did you open up the other one yet?”

  “No, I don’t think we’ll find anything in that one. This one though, is a mess. It was like a prison or something.” He swallowed. “I’ll make sure to bring all the pictures tomorrow, and Jason is calling in back up to work on all the bodies. They’ve never had this many of them.”

  “Are any bodies missing their thumbs?” I tapped my fingers on the desk. The thumbs weren’t fitting in anywhere.

  “Not that I’ve noticed, but I didn’t get too close. Look, Abby, I have to go. Good luck with the former owner. Call me if anything of priority shows up.” He disconnected without another word. Part of me wanted to know how that basement looked in the daylight, the other part of me didn’t want more fuel for my nightmares.

  I glanced at the clock. My stomach rumbled, agreeing with the numbers that it was lunch time. I had no car, so going out to get lunch wasn’t an option.

  I pulled up a sandwich delivery place and put my order in. I switched screens, locating the number I needed, and put it in my phone. The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

  “Look, if you’re selling something, I ain’t buying. Don’t call again.” A deep southern draw rang out. “I’m on that do not call list.”

  “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m not selling anything. I’m Agent Collins with the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, I have some questions about a house you might have owned. Is this Jerry Borneheart?”

  He was silent for a moment. “This about that house out in Ellicot? The one that was foreclosed on in 2003?”

  “Yes, sir, particularly about some of the activity that went on in the house while you were there.”

  “Ma’am, I swear, had I known that house was haunted, I never would have bought the place. My cupboards would always be open in the morning. The least the ghost could have done was make my damn coffee.”

  I chuckled at that. “That would make them helpful ghosts. I’m actually asking about a female ghost that you drew a sketch of.”

  “Oh yeah, she was a beaut, she always looked so sad though, even when she smiled. She was the only apparition that I saw. I assumed it was her that was opening the cupboards.”

  “You also mentioned voices. Can you tell me where they were coming from?” I made a note on a pad of paper on my desk.

  He was silent for a moment. “They were coming from outside, right near the south side. It sounded like they were coming from underground.” He hesitated. “Have you heard of Tommy Knockers, ma’am?”

  “I have, I’ve never personally dealt with them.” I made note of the location and made a note to cross reference it to where I fell through.

  “That’s what it reminded me of, something evil trying to call out.” He made a noise that sounded like he shivered. “I’ve never heard anything like it before.”

  Tommy Knockers weren’t originally evil creatures. The original Irish folklore had them as helpful spirits, but as soon as the spirits came to the United States they became malicious. “Not many people hear or see spirits, have you had any other experiences?”

  “Not since then. Now I bring in someone to make sure none of my places are haunted. I don’t know how this is going to help in your investigation. Why are you even looking into this?”

  “There’s a murder investigation going in that house and I’m just trying to hunt down some leads.” I couldn’t give anything else away.

  “I was told about the murder, but I never thought anything of it. I hope I was able to help.”

  “A little bit, thank you sir.” We disconnected just as the sandwich delivery guy knocked at my door. I got up and opened it, stepping out to greet him. He flicked his little plastic visitor badge. “You guys take security here seriously, huh? Visitor badges for the delivery people?” He handed me a receipt to sign.

  “Yep.” I signed my receipt and he walked off, shaking his head. I stepped back into the office. My phone buzzed in my pocket, catching me off guard. I nearly dropped my bag as I tried to dig the phone out of my pocket.

  “Agent Collins speaking.” I balanced the phone between my shoulder and cheek.

  “Abigail, any chance you can come downstairs to the lab?” It wasn’t a lab tech that I was familiar with, but it was the in house lab.

  “I just got lunch. Can you just tell me the results?” I put my bag down on the table and sat in my chair. “Is this about the thumbs?”

  “Yes, but I’d rather you come down so you can see it.”

  I looked at my sandwich and then to the door. “Okay, I’ll be down there in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you.” He disconnected.

  I pulled my sandwich bag close to me. I was going to take a few minutes and eat. I deserved a bit of a lunch break after the day I had.

  The brightness of the lab lights stung my eyes. I walked down the hall. We didn’t often use our own lab for big cases, just little things here and there because it wasn’t top notch and PIB was still trying to find the funding for it. A lady in a white lab coat walked out and smile at me. “Agent Collins, thank you for coming down.” She motioned to the room behind her. “I have the thumbs in here.”

  “The person who called made it sound like an emergency that I came down to look at them.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not a scientist, I’m not going to know what I’m looking at.”

  “I know you’re not, but you’ll be able to see what’s etched into the skin.” She held the door open for me. “I’ll be able to update you on the rest if you tell me what the symbols mean.”

  Great, more runes. I pressed my lips together and followed her in. I was debating on what I was going to find, runes from the Cult, runes from my coven, or something else entirely.

  “I’m sorry, I never caught your name.” I pulled a pair of gloves out of the box hanging on the wall.

  “Doctor Withers.” She smiled. “I’ve ran a few of your labs, but I don’t think we’ve ever met in person.”

  The name sounded familiar, but she was right, we’d never met face to face. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.” I walked over to the table in the middle of the room. A silver tray lined with white parchment paper glinted in the overhead light. Dr. Withers had laid out the ten thumbs all in the same direction, the severed bone facing me, the nails facing down. Above the edge of the cut, on each thumb was a letter scratched in. Not runes at all, just letters.

  “Can you get me a pen and paper?” I leaned over, careful not to touch them. Dr. Withers came over with the requested items. I put the pad down on the table before glancing at her. “They aren’t magic, if that’s what had you worried.”

  “What is it then?”

  I copied down the letters ‘pbototleai’ onto the pad. “I don’t know. Can you tell me if the marks were made before or after the thumbs were cut?”

  “I can tell you that the thumbs were sliced off with a sharp blade while the victims were still alive. We’ve confirmed that they’ve been kept in a preservative for ten years, and that those letters were carved recently.”

  I stepped back and looked at the paper. “Okay, thank you. I don’t know what to make of it, but I’ll work on it. Did we have any luck with identification?”

  “I did with our system. I’ll email you the full report, but all ten thumbs belong to humans.” That was a relief, to an extent.

  “Thank you. I’ll start looking into the names and see if they are—“

  “They were all labeled deceased in our system, or proclaimed dead.”

  Great, I had ten more bodies hiding somewhere. I’m pretty sure I’d hit my body quota for a case. “Lovely, thank you for all your work.”

  “You’re welcome. Good luck with your letters.” She went back to the thumbs.

  I walked
out with the sheet of paper. I stopped in the hall to text a quick update to Nick. I still had a few hours until sundown, so going home wasn’t an option since I needed Levi to bring me the Hummer.

  I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going, my eyes all for the yellow legal paper that had the letters scratched on it. Just random alpha characters with no known rhyme or reason to it. I looked up when I stepped out of the elevator to see someone standing in front of my office door. His caramel colored hair had grown a bit since I’d seen him last. He turned hazel eyes to me and my heart jumped a bit, until I noticed the scowl on his face. I had a feeling that Simon hadn’t come for a fun visit.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I stopped in my steps and waited for Simon to give me a friendlier look, but his face never softened. I found my voice. “What can I do for you?”

  “You can go back to the club and fulfill our deal.” He crossed his arms. “You left us…exposed.”

  I raised a brow. “I thought your second in command had another witch coming in.” I unlocked my office and invited him in with a wave of my arm.

  “He told me that you took the wards off before he could bring someone else in.” He sat down in front of my desk. “Abby, you look like hell.”

  “I fell into a body pit today. So really, if you’re here to yell or degrade me, I suggest you leave.” I sat in my chair and met his gaze. “Your second threatened my life, it was either take my magic with me, or shoot him.”

  “You should have just walked away.”

  Yes, because that was an option when I was pinned to a wall. “You should teach him not to attack a witch.” I shook my head. “I’m not coming back to redo it. He made it clear that he didn’t need your permission to handle that aspect, and I like my limbs right where they are.”

  He nodded. “Then I guess we have nothing else to discuss here.”

  “Really? You came down here to handle that? Couldn’t have just called?” I turned to my computer and tried to keep my voice even. “Keep your pack members in check, I’d really hate to have one of them cross my cases.”

  He didn’t move. “I came down to see you, I was hoping the bar was a misunderstanding. Clearly it’s a case of you and him not getting along and neither one of you understanding what was best.”

  “My life was on the line. How much more pissed off would you be if I had shot him?” I closed my eyes. “How much more of your pack would want my blood after that? Not six months ago, I was the reason your alpha was killed, and if I had shot him? That’s one more wolf dead because of me.”

  He was silent. “You’re right. I’ll handle it.”

  “Don’t, he made it clear he doesn’t want me on the grounds, you need to back up your pack members or you’re going to lose their support.” I tried to force a smile. “Go back to your wolves.”

  He sighed. “They are still torn, the events with Mina really widened the divide in the pack.”

  “Then back those who are loyal to you, Simon. You haven’t seen the last of this witch, remember? I own the protective circle around your pack grounds.” I gave him a look. “You just have to tell me if you need back up and I will go up there if things are that bad with the pack.” I hadn’t known there was still turmoil, and I wasn’t sure what else I could do against a bunch of werewolves, but I wasn’t going to just leave him without an offer. It was my land now after all.

  “I don’t think it’s that bad. Not yet anyways, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I need magical intervention.” He stood. “Until then, I guess I’ll let you be. I’ll have him get another witch for the bar.”

  “Make sure he doesn’t threaten that one. We don’t like it, and the next one might not be so nice and actually hex him.” I leaned back in my chair. “Have a good day.”

  He glanced back at me over his shoulder. “Did you really fall into a body pit?”

  “At least fifteen bodies, hidden basement. Great fun, you should try it.” I scrubbed at my cheek self-consciously.

  He shook his head. “Try not to get killed.” He walked out without another glance. I debated on calling him back for a hug, but that wasn’t going to happen. Now I needed to find something to keep me entertained until I could call Levi for the Hummer.

  Five games of solitaire in, and no luck with the random letters from the thumbs, my phone finally rang. I snatched it up. “Agent Collins speaking.”

  “Bodies are at the morgue now.” Nick’s voice came through. “Fifteen total, good guess. All vampire victims it seems from first sight. We won’t know any details until they are done with the bodies.”

  I groaned. “Any idea how long they’ve been down there?”

  “Judging by the timeline of the house, it’s possibly that they’ve been down there for a hundred years.”

  Back with the first murder. “Do we know the ratio of male to female yet?”

  “I didn’t check. I’m heading back to the office, did you accomplish anything there?”

  I thought about Simon’s short visit, but pushed it out of my mind. “A little bit, turns out that there are letters carved on the thumbs, all ten victims are humans, the thumbs were cut off while they were alive, but the carvings were done at a later time. They are ten years old, and were kept in some kind of preservative. I think you got the better part of the case.”

  “Oh yes, because I want to deal with fifteen mummified bodies. I didn’t think you’d want to touch them after falling in on them.” He laughed. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. “Did you seriously call just for that?”

  “Well, I was checking in on you to make sure you were okay after your fall.”

  It was sweet, and really he should be concerned for me since I was his partner. “I’ll probably have some nightmares, but I’ll be okay.” I hesitated, debating on telling him about the information I got from Merick, but I kept quiet. “I’ll see you when you get to the office.”

  I didn’t want to explain how Merick knew about the runes, nor did I have a good explanation of how he knew I needed to talk to him. Nick wouldn’t have been happy about it and I’d had enough talking down to for the day. My e-mail dinged at me and I saw a message from the receptionist saying that someone had faxed me a few photos. I wished that the higher ups would just give us fax machines in the office, but they considered it an outdated technology even if some branches still used it. “I have to go Nick, it looks like our first clues to the vampire aspect of this case just came in.”

  I hung up without waiting for a response. I ran to the elevator and bounced on my heels waiting for it. If they had been able to enhance the photo enough, then I could have a vampire connected to the crime. The elevator dinged and I stepped in. Jamming the button for the main level, I tried to reign in my impatience. There was nothing on this case other than dead bodies and letters. Nothing to go off of.

  The doors opened. I gained control over my emotions as I stepped out, heading towards the receptionist’s desk. I looked around for the receptionist and shook my head. Where was that woman? Someone needed to talk to her about leaving her post. I saw the pictures with a sticky note on her desk. My name stood out against the bright yellow post-it, so I snatched up the pictures. I looked at the first one, just a copy of the photo with what we hoped was the entrance to the other basement. I flipped that one to the back and looked at the photo with the blurred image. The first one was the original, the second one was the enhanced version. It was clear enough to tell it was a male, dressed in a tail coat and a top hat, but that’s not what caught my attention. I knew the face peeking out from the hat. A smirk pulled up at the corners of the man’s lip, his eyes glinted in the camera as if daring the photographer to admit to seeing him there. I couldn’t place where I knew him from. It wasn’t Levi, which was a relief, and it wasn’t Mario. But I knew that vampire from somewhere.

  I took the images back to the office. I scanned them in and tried to run a search for the vampire’s face. The systems sat there while the mo
use turned and turned and turned some more. I put my head on the desk, the slow search made me wonder if we didn’t have gremlins in the systems. I looked up at the screen. The results filled the window, but in the right hand column, was a word I hadn’t seen in any of my searches before.

  Restricted.

  As far as I knew there weren’t secret files amongst the PIB, especially if it was related to another case. I double clicked on the first file and it pulled up a similar photo, but this time the vampire was standing still. I scrolled down to see the name, date, and location, only to find black bars from the redacted information. I frowned and leaned back in the chair, studying the picture. Redacted information meant top secret, restricted was a light word for that. I closed out that result and opened the next.

  A report with the year 1918 scrawled on top, an obviously scanned in document, but another black mark blocked out the rest of the date and much of the report itself. It was originally an FBI report, judging by the year, but just like the vampire case, it was imported to PIB intel because of the nature of it. Still, everything that I needed was redacted.

  The door squeaked as it opened. I looked up to see Nick walk in. Dirt clung to his shirt and pants and I wondered if he had fallen into another hole. “Long day on the field?”

  “Glad to be back in the office for a little bit. I had some things I wanted to run through the system before calling it a night.”

  Night. I glanced out the window and saw the sun starting to set. I snatched up my phone and sent Levi a quick text. “Well I hope you have better luck than me. All my information is coming up as redacted.”

  “That’s strange, there’s not a lot in the PIB databases that is considered classified.” He walked over to the computer and looked over my shoulder. “All of that is marked as restricted?”

  “Everything that came up with searching this photo.” I showed him the enhanced photo of the vampire.