by Raven Snow
“He’s been helping me investigate,” said Rowen, not sure that was actually a point in his favor. “I need to send an e-mail to my boss,” she continued before they could make an argument against her. She was too tired to argue right now, especially when she was the one being the hypocrite. She headed upstairs. “I’ll be back down when I’m finished.”
In the attic, Rowen checked her messages. There were a few from Ted. He was annoyed she hadn’t sent her report before he went home for the evening, but that was no surprise. Rowen changed into her PJs and settled into bed with her laptop. She was only one sentence in when her eyes started getting heavy. She pressed on, trying to finish it up before bedtime. There was no fighting it, though. Rowen was asleep within minutes.
Rowen was wholly aware that she was dreaming when she came to next. She was still in bed, but the room wasn’t the same as the one she had fallen asleep in. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked around, but the room was a dark abyss. “Hello?” she called. It felt like there was someone there with her. She couldn’t see anyone, but she could feel a presence.
Oh, please let it be Rebecca, she thought. This whole thing was way too creepy. Rowen had never dealt with a murderous ghost before now. She wasn’t sure what it wanted with her dreams, but it probably wasn’t anything good.
“Help me,” said a woman’s voice.
“Rebecca?” Oh, thank God. “I’m trying to! What else can I do?” She scanned the darkness for Rebecca again but didn’t see her. She didn’t dare get out of bed, though. She wasn’t quite that bold. Who knew what else could be out there?
“He’s angry,” said Rebecca, sounding nearer.
“Who? Lionel? I’ve noticed.”
“He wants your family to pay.”
“I’ve noticed that, too.” Rowen didn’t mean to judge a messenger from the afterlife too harshly, but it could at least be delivering a more helpful message.
“And him,” added Rebecca.
“Him?” Rowen repeated. “You mean Mundy?”
“Who?” If possible, the spirit actually sounded a bit puzzled. “No, the other one. His family?”
“Eric?” That got Rowen out of bed. She had forgotten she was dreaming though. The moment she tried to put her feet on the floor, she was falling into an abyss. Damn it! She needed to wake up.
“Help me!” Rebecca pleaded again. “I’m trapped.”
“I will, but first I have to help Eric! Wake me up!” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Rowen hit the attic floor. She woke up in the real world, having fallen out of bed.
Rowen wasted no time. She scrambled to her feet and made a grab for her phone. She dialed Eric’s number and waited. No answer. Damn! She tried again. It was still dark out. Maybe he just hadn’t woken up when the phone rang. When he didn’t answer a second time, she tried a third, already slipping on her shoes and hurrying down the steps.
Rose came out to intercept her on one of the landings. The lights in the house were off, and Rowen nearly ran right into her. “What’s up?” Rose yawned. “Something wrong?”
“Ghost stuff,” Rowen blurted, hurrying around her and continuing on.
“Here?” Rose called after her.
“No!”
“Do you need help?”
“I don’t know yet!” She wasn’t about to wait for the house to wake up and get dressed. Rowen grabbed Aunt Lydia’s keys from the counter and ran out to the Buick outside. It was only once she was in the car that she realized she had no idea where to go. There was only one hotel in town, though, right? Surely, he was there.
Rowen drove well above to speed limit. She hoped there weren’t any policemen watching the house. They would have reason enough to pull her over for this. They would have even more reason to blame her family if Eric turned up dead. She didn’t want to think about that one.
The hotel wasn’t far, at least. It was a small hotel that didn’t get much business—Lainswich never had many visitors—and the main office doubled as a house for the owners. It was a relief the front door wasn’t locked, though they might start locking it in the future. Rowen barged in and started banging on the bell at the front desk. “Hey! Can I get some help over here?”
When there was no immediate response, Rowen went around the desk and checked the sign in book herself. There he was. Eric Richardson: Room 14. Rowen grabbed the correct key just as a man emerged from the back room wearing slippers and a tired expression. “Hey!” he called. “You can’t do that!”
“It’s okay, I’m his girlfriend!” Rowen explained, as if that was excuse enough for what she had just done. It probably wasn’t going to fly, but right now she wasn’t willing to wait. She had a bad feeling about all of this and, generally speaking, the Greensmiths’ instincts were usually right on the nose.
Rowen ran up the stairs. Behind her, she could hear the owner picking up a phone. No doubt he was calling the police. Who knew what they would make of all this?
The room was on the third floor. Rowen was out of breath by the time she got to the door. She started to put the key in the lock but thought better of it and knocked instead. No answer. “Eric!” she called.
Down the hall, a door opened and an elderly woman poked her head out.
Rowen waved a halfhearted apology at the woman but didn’t stop shouting. “Eric!” A bang sounded from inside the room. It sounded like there was a struggle going on. That was all the excuse Rowen needed. She shoved the key in the lock and hurried inside.
She didn’t see Eric at first. She scanned the room for him, expecting trouble. “Eric!” she called again, before realizing that he was still in bed. The bedside table had been knocked over and a lamp lay broken on the floor. He must have knocked it over in his sleep. His eyes were open, though, like he was gripped in some kind of sleep paralysis. Was he breathing?
Rowen closed the remaining distance between them at a sprint. She shook his arm, and when he didn’t immediately respond, she launched herself onto the bed. “Wake up!” she yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and throttling him.
That worked. Eric woke with a gasp, blinking rapidly.
“Get off,” shouted the old lady. She had come to see what was going on and apparently thought she was witnessing some sort of attack. “Someone help!” She hurried off, probably downstairs.
Rowan ignored all that. She looked down at Eric, smoothing his sweat-slicked hair back from his temple. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t…” Eric began, breathless. “What…What’s going on?” He looked up at her, his face growing rather red.
It was only now that the oddness of the situation caught up with Rowen. Eric was at least half naked and here she was, straddling him in her pajamas. “I’m going to be super embarrassed if you were just peacefully sleeping.” She scrambled off of him, moving to sit on the other side of the bed.
Eric sat up. He glanced at the wide open door then back at Rowen. It sounded like there was some on-edge conversation going on downstairs.
“Yeah…The police are probably on their way. This isn’t going to look very good.” Rowan stood. “I don’t suppose you want to come back to my place before they get here?”
“I don’t think I’m ever going to sleep again,” said Eric, sounding shaken. Rowen felt a bit guilty about it, but hearing that he had experienced something came as a bit of a relief. “But, yeah. Let’s get out of here. I’ve about had my fill of cops for today.” He stood and headed for a suitcase in the corner.
Rowen watched him as he went. She couldn’t help but notice he had a rather impressive physique; his torso was lean and lightly muscled. She glanced away when he pulled on a shirt. “How did you—” he began, but Rowen interrupted him.
“Let’s get out of here first.” Rowen led the way out. “We can talk at my place.”
The elderly woman and owner were both waiting downstairs. “I’ve called the police,” the owner said, making a point to keep his distance.
“False alarm,” said Eri
c, coming down the stairs behind her. “She was getting me for a…family emergency.” He didn’t stick around to clarify more than that. He followed Rowan to her Buick. He didn’t even offer to follow her in his car. Instead, he just dropped down into the passenger seat. It was easy to see that he was pretty shaken by whatever had just happened.
Rowen pulled out and started driving back to the Greensmith place. She’d hoped he would open up about what happened on his own, but he just kept staring out the window at passing scenery. “Are you all right?” asked Rowen, deciding to just go ahead and fish for a response.
Eric was a bit zoned out. It took him a moment to realize she had even spoken to him. He looked over once he did. “This is all so insane,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “Before I came here, I didn’t believe in ghosts or magic. Tonight, I’m chewed out by a long-dead relative I’ve never met and then saved by a woman I’ve just met, who somehow knew I needed help.”
“He chewed you out?” asked Rowen, puzzled by the phrasing.
“I didn’t actually hear him say much,” Eric said. “But I saw him over my bed. He was angry and disappointed. I didn’t hear those words, exactly, but I could feel it. I’m not sure he wanted to kill me—at least, not yet. I think it was more of a threat.”
“I’m sorry,” said Rowen, because what else could she say? This seemed like it was mostly, if not entirely, her fault. Had she kept her distance from Eric, he never would have gotten himself into this mess.
“It’s not your fault,” Eric assured her. “If anything, I’m just glad you got there when you did. That was terrifying. How did you know to show up anyway?”
“I had another dream.”
“Have a lot of those, do you?”
“Not for a long time. I forget how many strange things happen in this town.” God help her, Rowen had even sort of missed it. The work she had been doing in the city felt so inconsequential in comparison to this.
“You’re welcome to sleep on the couch,” Rowen offered when they had arrived back at her family’s place.
Eric shook his head. “I still don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep.”
Rowen gave him a critical look. He looked more exhausted than ever to her, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. “Do you want to come with me up to the attic?” she asked.
Eric took her up on that. He followed her up the stairs, with them both doing their very best to keep quiet. Fortunately, none of her cousins were awake to see them enter her bedroom together. That almost certainly would have caused a stir.
“Make yourself at home,” Rowen said, grabbing her laptop and moving to go sit on her bed. She wasn’t feeling much like sleeping either—even less so now that she was sharing a room with Eric. If she was going to be awake for the night, she might as well write that e-mail she had been meaning to send to Ted.
Meanwhile, Eric just sort of stood awkwardly in the center of the room. He clearly didn’t know what to do with himself. Rowen patted the empty space beside her on the mattress. Eric hesitated but went to sit down beside her. As Rowen occupied herself with finishing her report, Eric gradually got more comfortable. By the time she was finished, he was stretched out beside her. At first he occupied himself by reading something or another on his cell phone, but when Rowen put her laptop aside, he placed his cell phone aside as well and put an arm around her. “Whatever happens,” he said, “I’m glad I met you.”
“We haven’t known each other that long,” Rowen reminded him, but she couldn’t help but smile. She was glad she had met him, too. “You might be better off leaving town. I got lucky this time, but I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to protect you if it happens again.”
Eric pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Then we’ll just have to stick together until this thing is all taken care of. Now that this has happened to me, I’m worried about you, you know?”
Even under the circumstances it was difficult for Rowen to keep a smile off her face. A sudden realization did the trick. “What about Mr. Mundy?” she asked. “If he killed your great grandfather, he’s likely in more danger than anyone.”
Eric’s smile wavered. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could be wrong. It’s just an idea I have, but…” Eric trailed off, reluctant to say what was on his mind.
“We need to talk to my grandmother again,” Rowen finished for him. As much as she hated the idea of interrogating a woman who meant so much to her, it was obvious she was the only one left with answers for them.
“Sorry.” Eric gave her arm a squeeze. “I think the only way to get this guy to go away is to solve this thing.”
He was right, of course. There was no denying that he was right.
Chapter Ten
Rowen woke to a knock on the door. Of course, in the Greensmith household, a knock was just a formality. By the time Rowen had actually opened her eyes, Margo was standing in the doorway, wearing a scowl. It took Rowen a moment to piece together what that was about. Quickly, she realized that she had fallen asleep in Eric’s arms. He was still asleep.
“What?” asked Rowen, pointedly ignoring her cousin’s disapproval. She wasn’t going to apologize, even if this did reflect poorly on her.
Margo sighed and got on with what she had come up to tell her. “They’re releasing Grammy today. Lydia is still there, but she rode in the ambulance. Someone will need to go pick them up.”
That seemed like as good a time as any to corner Grammy alone. “I’ll go,” Rowen announced, already sitting up.
“That’s all right,” Margo said. “I was just letting you know. I didn’t mean you had to—”
“It’s fine,” interrupted Rowen. “I want to go.”
Eric finally stirred beside Rowen. He gave a yawn and reached out for her only to stop dead when he noticed Margo. “Uh…” he began awkwardly. “Hey.”
“Breakfast is downstairs if you want it,” Margo said curtly before leaving.
Rowen stood and went to gather clothes to change in to for the day. “We’re going to pick up my grandmother from the hospital,” she told him.
“Are they, uh…Is your family angry with me?” he asked, murderous ghosts no longer the most pressing thing on his mind.
“They’re mad at me,” she assured him. “They don’t trust you. I guess that is what I initially wanted, though. I can’t really blame them.”
“You didn’t want your family to trust me?” Eric seemed to consider the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. “I mean, I guess that makes sense. Do they trust me enough for me to grab some breakfast before we leave?”
“Knock yourself out. I’ll be down in a minute.” Rowen watched him go before sitting back down on the edge of the bed. She’d been thinking about what she needed to do since last night. She called her boss.
Ted picked up on the second ring. “You should have checked in with me before now.”
Rowen couldn’t bring herself to be terribly apologetic. “I sent you my report.” If he had read it, he had to know she was going through a lot.
“You should have called and checked in. You know that.” Ted’s voice wasn’t without sympathy, but he still sounded pretty annoyed with her. “The story hasn’t exactly taken off like we’d hoped it would. You’d think this sort of thing would be big news.”
Rowen wasn’t surprised to hear that. She wasn’t surprised at all. Lainswich had its ways.
“See this through then head back,” Ted told her. “We’ll put you on something else.”
“That’s just it, Ted.” Rowen paused, considering what she was about to say. Was it what she really wanted? Yes, she decided, it was. “I think this might need to be my last assignment.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few beats. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m putting in my notice.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, it was like a great weight had been lifted from her chest.
“
Where are you going?” Ted asked, his tone accusatory. No doubt he thought she had been sniped by some local competition.
“Home,” said Rowen. “I just…I belong here.” Her family needed her, and she needed them. She had forgotten just how much.
“You don’t even have a job lined up?” Ted gave a snort. “You might want to double think that.”
Rowen knew her family would let her stay here until she found a job nearby. Heck, even afterward they would probably prefer she stay here. Maybe she should have discussed it with them first, but she knew, instinctively, this was the right thing to do, just like she had known she needed to help Eric. Her family needed her now. They would need her even more in the days to come, depending on what happened next.
“I’ll e-mail you my resignation,” she said. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll finish the story here first.” She hung up before he could say anything else. It wasn’t like she was going to change her mind.
Downstairs, everyone was hanging around in the kitchen. Her cousins were on one side, eating their breakfasts near the bar and fridge. Eric was on the other side, being avoided. Only Aunt Nadine hung around him, trying to make polite conversation.
“So, you have family from all over the place?” Nadine prompted. She cringed a bit at the end, no doubt thinking about how she had recently sold one of his family members at a yard sale.
“Well, not from all over the place. Most of our family comes from just outside of New York, but we travel a lot for work.” Eric noticed Rowen come into the kitchen and was visibly relieved. “We heading out?”
“Yep.” Rowen grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet and Lydia’s keys from the counter. “We’ll be back.”
“Drive safe,” Nadine called after them, also visibly relieved to have an easy out to an awkward conversation.
“What took so long?” Eric muttered, once they were outside.
Rowen saw no harm in telling him. “I quit my job.”
