A Haunted Invitation (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 5)

by J A Whiting

  Lin did not believe that William joined the illegal group to make money and find adventure. He had been a member of the citizens’ watch-dog group prior to joining the smugglers so Lin speculated that William must have felt that the citizens’ group was ineffective and decided to do something drastic by joining the smugglers to try to bring them down by working from within.

  Lin tamped the soil around the base of the hosta she’d just planted and stood up. Nicky rested on the grass watching his owner’s progress on the garden. “I think that’s why William joined the smugglers, Nick. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

  The little dog jumped to his feet and let out a woof of agreement.

  Lin heard the creak of a hinge and, surprised, her eyes flicked to the large cedar gate as it opened. Kurt came into the side yard with a concerned expression on his face.

  “Oh, hi.” Kurt seemed distracted and in a hurry. His mouth turned down and his forehead was creased with worry as he rushed along the brick walk to the front of the building.

  “You okay?” Lin looked at him with concern.

  “My daughter’s camp called just now.” Kurt kept walking. “My daughter has a terrible headache and feels sick. I’m going to pick her up.”

  “I hope she feels better soon,” Lin called after him. Watching Kurt hurry away to help and comfort his little girl, something pinged in her head. “That must be it.”

  Lin removed her gardening gloves and pushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as she considered her ghost’s motivations. “William’s daughter ran off with a smuggler.” Looking down at her dog, Lin sighed. “Did you see how worried Kurt was about his daughter? My bet is that William probably wasn’t really concerned about the illegal alcohol. He was worried about his daughter and wanted her to be safe.”

  Nicky wagged his tail.

  “We have some research to do after work tonight.” Lin returned to the landscaping hopeful that she was on the right track.

  After two more hours of planting and mulching, Lin opened her cooler and removed her sandwich, a large bottle of water, and a bowl for Nicky. She looked around for the dog. “Time for lunch, Nick. Come here, boy.”

  Lin’s smile faded. The little brown creature was nowhere to be seen. Lin hurried to the front gate and pushed against it to check if it had stayed open since Kurt exited the property that way. The gate was latched. For a moment, Lin stood dismayed and then she realized that the back gate might not have latched properly when Kurt came through it to the side yard on his way to pick up his daughter.

  Lin rushed to the back gate worried that the dog was in the yard at the rear of the property and she hoped that Mrs. Perkins was not at home so that Nicky would not incur her wrath as he frolicked on the property’s lush lawns. Pushing through the gate, Lin’s head turned from side to side scanning the sweeping rear grass and gardens for her dog. Groaning, Lin started for the back of the space thinking that Nicky might be having fun stalking some chipmunks or birds or squirrels.

  She wasn’t worried that he’d dig or damage or disturb anything as she’d trained him not to do such things, but she knew Mrs. Perkins would have a fit that a dog was loose in her garden just a few days before her event was to take place. Lin sped around trees and checked under bushes and plantings, all the while calling the creature’s name. Unable to find the dog, she started back to the side yard, her heart pounding, worried that Nicky had run off or worse, that someone had taken him.

  On the mansion’s lower level, wide glass doors were open and a tall man who Lin recognized as part of Kurt’s crew stood on the stone patio looking around. When he spotted Lin, he waved her over. “That little brown dog is yours, right?”

  Lin nodded and glanced behind the man. “Have you seen him?”

  “He raced by me while I was laying tiles in the wine room.” The tall man led Lin into the lower level. “I followed for a few seconds, but I lost him. I thought you’d have better luck than me getting him out of the house so I came to find you.”

  Lin thanked the man as they moved through the lower level’s rooms. Her emotions swung from relief that Nicky had been found to annoyance that the dog had done such an uncharacteristically foolish thing. “He never behaves like this.”

  Lin couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the rooms they were walking through. Dark, polished wood lined the walls of a wine tasting room and light sparkled through the glass of four stained-glass windows on the far wall. A circular wooden table and six high-backed chairs sat in the middle of the space on a beautiful antique area rug.

  “Did you see which way he went?” Lin asked as they left the wine tasting room and entered a multi-level media room furnished with brown leather sofas and chairs which faced a large screen hanging on one of the walls.

  “I thought he headed this way.” The tall man checked around the room.

  Lin called for the dog.

  “Just don’t call too loudly.” The man warned Lin. “Mrs. Perkins is due back any minute.”

  Anxiety flooded Lin’s body. She wanted to find Nicky and get out of the house. “Where could he be?”

  A long hallway led away from the rooms they were in and Lin started in that direction.

  “We don’t go down there,” the tall man said.

  About to turn away, Lin was engulfed in a shaft of freezing air and she slowly shifted her eyes to the hallway. A gasp of surprise caught in her throat when she saw the cause of the cold. Her ancestor, Sebastian Coffin, stood outside an open door off of the hallway. Sebastian held Lin’s eyes for a moment and then his translucent atoms began to sparkle until they flared out and he was gone.

  Lin hurried down the hallway.

  The worker called to her. “Wait a second. We aren’t supposed to go that way.”

  Lin ignored the man and headed to the door which opened into a luxurious bedroom. The worker reluctantly followed. When Lin stepped inside, she stopped short as her head spun and her vision dimmed for a moment. As she sucked in deep breaths trying to control the sense of vertigo, the man didn’t notice her distress and he knelt to search under the king-sized bed. “Not under here.”

  Lin closed her eyes for a moment and balled her hands into fists fighting the strange feeling of alarm that had overcome her. Opening her eyes, she whirled around and stormed towards a door on the side wall of the bedroom.

  The door was open a few inches. Her body feeling weak, Lin gripped the doorknob, steeled herself, and flung the door wide.

  Nicky sat against the back wall of the enormous, empty walk-in closet. He pointed his nose to the ceiling and let out a deep, low whine that sent chills down Lin’s back. She rushed forward and scooped the dog into her arms.

  “Let’s get out of here.” The tall workman hurried out of the bedroom without waiting to see if Lin was following.

  Holding the whining animal, Lin was desperate to leave the mansion and get outside and she was right on the man’s heels as they practically jogged through the rooms. “What’s wrong with you, Nick? Shush now.”

  As soon they reached the patio, Lin’s agitation eased a bit. Thanking the man for his help, she promised to check the gate so that the dog would not be able to escape again. When she got to the side yard, Lin placed the dog on the grass. “What was that about, Nick?”

  Her leg muscles shaky and weak, Lin sank down on the grass. Nicky crawled onto her lap and settled there acting shy and shook up. He looked up at Lin’s face and whined again. Lin didn’t know why, but she felt like crying. She wrapped her arms around the dog and rested her head against his.

  Jeff opened the front gate and stepped into the side yard. “Lin? You here?” When he spotted his girlfriend and Nicky sitting together on the grass, Jeff hurried over to them and knelt, putting his arm around Lin’s shoulders and running his hand down Nicky’s back. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

  Lin lifted her face and leaned into Jeff. She told him what had happened and how she’d felt inside the house. “Nicky is upset, too.”r />
  Jeff looked from Lin to the dog and the tension and anxiety coming off of them was almost tangible. Pulling Lin closer, he glanced up at the brick mansion. “Don’t go in there without me. No matter what. Don’t go into that house alone.”

  Lin raised her hand to touch her horseshoe necklace and she looked up at her boyfriend. “Sebastian Coffin was in there.”

  Worry pulled Jeff’s facial muscles down. He tightened his grip on Lin’s hand.

  “Something terrible happened in there.” A tear escaped from Lin’s eye and traveled down her cheek. “I can feel it.”

  Jeff’s strong hand brushed away the tiny drop of water from Lin’s skin. Pressing her cheek into Jeff’s palm, Lin said, “And I have to find out what it was.”

  22

  Lin stood at the beverage counter of Viv’s bookstore talking things over with her cousin while Nicky and Queenie rested side-by-side in the upholstered chair next to a display table of new books. “I was so thankful that Jeff was there. He made me feel much better.”

  “What’s up with that house?” Viv’s lower lip trembled. “What was Rowan Richards doing in there?”

  A petite older woman with short black hair paid for her large vanilla latte and glanced at Viv with a scowl. “Nothing good, I can tell you that.”

  Lin and Viv turned to the woman with wide eyes.

  “Why do you say that, Paulina?” Viv addressed the customer who came in every late afternoon, rain or shine, for her vanilla latte. “Did you know Rowan Richards?”

  “I knew him alright.” The woman’s brown eyes darkened. “I’m not a suspicious person… well, maybe I am, but what I heard in that house made my skin crawl.”

  Lin stared at the short, stocky woman wondering how she knew Rowan Richards. “I’m Lin, Viv’s cousin.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Viv was so surprised by Paulina’s comments that she’d forgotten to introduce her to Lin. “This is Paulina. She comes in every day.”

  “How did you know Rowan?” Lin’s heart thudded hoping to hear something about the businessman.

  “I work as a PCA, a personal care attendant.” Paulina lifted her drink to her lips and sipped. “It’s not for everyone, but I like the work. I like to help people. I got hired to care for Mr. Richards. I worked with him for about three years.” The woman shook her head. “I quit the year before he died. He must be dead now, what? Over ten years?”

  Viv suggested that they sit at one of the café tables and the three of them moved to a table in the corner.

  “Why did you quit?” Viv leaned forward to hear what Paulina had to say.

  “At first, Mr. Richards was quiet and easy to work with. As time went on, his mind wasn’t so great. He could be nasty, contrary, uncooperative. I don’t mind that. I work with lots of people who become difficult as they age.”

  “What was different with Mr. Richards that made you decide to give your notice?” Lin was impatient to hear about Paulina’s experience with the man.

  Paulina’s lips were held tight together in a thin line. “Like I said, I’m not suspicious, but, well, I didn’t like the things Richards was saying. It made me very uncomfortable.”

  Lin’s heart jumped into her throat. Did Rowan Richards confess his evil deeds to Paulina? “What did he say to you?”

  Paulina shifted nervously in her seat. “He started to act odd, often in the evening. He said….” The dark-haired woman looked over her shoulder and then she lowered her voice. “He told me duppies came to him.”

  Confusion furrowed Viv’s brow. “Duppies?”

  Lin made eye contact with her cousin. “Duppies are ghosts.”

  Viv’s mouth dropped open. “Ghosts?”

  “My momma was Jamaican,” Paulina said. “She believed in such things. I don’t, really, but the way Mr. Richards talked about them, I didn’t want to stay there anymore. I didn’t want to work there anymore.”

  “What did he say?” Viv looked horrified. “He saw ghosts?”

  “That’s what he said.” Paulina nodded with authority. “He told me the duppies were angry. He called them ghosts. He said they came at night. Lots of them. They haunted him over the things he’d done.”

  “Did he say what he’d done wrong?” Lin stared at Paulina.

  Paulina shook her head. “He never mentioned what he’d done. And I sure didn’t ask him what he’d done. No way I was listening to that. Mr. Richards would get agitated and fearful when darkness came.” The woman harrumphed. “He was a hundred years old when I quit the job. He knew he wasn’t long for this world. Most people would get agitated when they’re looking down into the jaws of hell. I say, you should have been concerned about how you lived your life a long time before now.”

  “So you quit?” Viv asked.

  “I did.” Paulina held tight to her cup. “I didn’t want those duppies haunting me. What if they got confused about who needed to be haunted? I was in that house with Mr. Richards most days and well into the evenings. I got scared when he was carrying on about ghosts and spirits. I was afraid I’d see one. I didn’t need that.” Paulina looked from Viv to Lin. “You wouldn’t want to see one, either, I imagine.”

  Lin didn’t respond.

  Paulina continued. “I know ghosts aren’t real. But the way that man carried on, it made me nervous. It gave me a chill.”

  At the word “chill,” Lin eyed her cousin thinking that if Paulina had felt a chill then there must have been ghosts visiting Rowan Richards. “You made the right decision. No one should be uncomfortable in their work.” Lin nodded reassuringly. “Did Mr. Richards’s daughter hire you for the job?”

  Paulina’s eyes narrowed and she gave a slight nod of her head. “Yes, Mrs. Perkins, she hired me.”

  “What did you think of Mrs. Perkins?” Viv pushed her bangs away from her eyes.

  “Not much.” Paulina took a swallow of her latte. “She seemed kind of bossy and superior, almost rude. I didn’t have much to do with her. She didn’t visit her father much. The nurse was the one in charge of the care.”

  “Did Mr. Richards talk to the nurse about the ghosts?” Lin questioned.

  “He didn’t. I was the one who did the daily activities and care. The nurse was there to supervise everything and handle the medications. When Mr. Richards would whisper to me about the ghosts, he always made sure no one else was around to hear.” Paulina finished her coffee. “I need to get to my next job.” As she gathered her things to go, she said, “Mr. Richards must have done a whole heap of bad during his life. In all my years, I never heard anyone mention so many duppies.” Paulina wished the cousins a good evening and headed out of the bookstore.

  “A whole heap of bad,” Viv repeated.

  “Ain’t that the truth.” Lin sighed. “And I’m sure that some part of that heap of bad happened right there inside Rowan Richards’s house.”

  The girls discussed the case … what they knew and what they didn’t know. Lin told Viv again about that day’s experience at the mansion with Nicky, and when she finished the story, her body gave an involuntary shiver. “Nicky knows there’s something wrong in that house. He feels it, too.”

  Viv’s forehead scrunched up in thought. “You told me about Kurt going off to pick up his daughter today because she was feeling sick. You said it made you think again about William Weston and the concern he must have had over his daughter, Rose, running off with one of the smugglers. I think you’re right about Weston joining the smugglers to get some information about Rose.” Viv stood up. “Let’s go use my office computer.”

  A look of surprise showed on Lin’s face as she got up to follow her cousin. Nicky and Queenie jumped down from the chair and trotted after the two young women.

  Viv sat at her desk tapping at the keyboard.

  “What are you looking up?” Lin sat in the chair next to the desk.

  “Rose Weston. Let’s search marriage records in the Massachusetts database. Maybe we can find out if she ever married the guy she ran off with and where she ended
up. You told me her middle name was Yvette, right?”

  Lin nodded and leaned over her cousin’s shoulder peering at the desktop computer screen.

  Viv let out a sigh. “Huh. Nothing in Massachusetts.”

  Queenie growled low in her throat and gave Viv’s arm a nudge.

  “Try Connecticut or New Hampshire.” Lin thought that Rose and her smuggler might have wanted to stay near the seacoast.

  “Nothing.” Viv sat back. “Maybe Rose never married. Maybe she escaped being married to the loser.”

  Nicky let out a woof that made both girls jump. Something pinged in Lin’s chest. She swallowed hard. “Try New York.”

  Viv tapped away and clicked on an entry that came up. “Oh, God.”

  Lin stood to get a closer look at the screen and when she saw it, her heart sank and she slumped into her seat. “Oh, no.”

  “Ronald Jones.” Viv’s voice was soft. “Rose Weston married Ronald Jones.” Turning to Lin with concerned eyes, Viv used the smuggler’s real name. “Rose married Rowan Richards.”

  23

  Lin and Jeff and Viv and John walked along the brick walkways of a side street in Nantucket town on the way to Polly Perkins’s house-warming event at her renovated brick mansion on Fairview Street. The men were dressed in light-weight, fitted summer suits. Viv wore sandals and an ankle-length soft yellow and white dress accented with silver and gold drop earrings. Lin had her hair up in a high ponytail and she had on a pale blue sleeveless summer dress that flared slightly at the knees. Silver hoop earrings and her horseshoe necklace hanging delicately around her neck on a long white gold chain completed her outfit.

  The sun was low in the sky and some of the old-fashioned streetlamps had begun to flicker on as the two couples passed by nicely-tended homes and mansions in the historic district of town. Red, white, and pink roses climbed trellises and spilled over white fences. Flower boxes and planters overflowed with impatiens, geraniums, and petunias. Passing by the homes, Lin could see some people sitting on their front porches chatting with one another and small gatherings of families and friends sitting around wooden tables on stone patios in their side yards enjoying dinners and drinks.