Kent couldn’t understand why he had called Felicia, asking her to come to Frederickport; yet he and Pamela finally came to the conclusion it had to have something to do with the misplaced guilt he had felt for the accident.
Chris had offered to drive Kent and Pamela to the airport. They were finally going home. He stood in the entry hall with Danielle and Kent, waiting for Pamela, who was making a visit to the bathroom before leaving for their drive to Portland. Walt stood nearby, unseen by Kent.
“If I have to, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to Pamela,” Kent told Chris and Danielle.
“Kent, you have nothing to make up for,” Danielle insisted. “The difference in the Pamela who arrived on Friday and the Pamela today is like night and day. She’s just ecstatic to have you back.”
“I understand that. But her sadness wasn’t just about me losing my memory, it was about how I was treating her.” Kent shook his head.
Danielle looked him in the eyes. “Listen to me, Kent, you are no more responsible for your actions this past year than you were responsible for the car accident. Trust me on this.”
When Kent started to argue, Chris interrupted him. “Listen to her, Kent. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Let it go. You and Pamela have been given a second chance; don’t dwell in the past.”
Danielle stood with Walt at the living room window, looking outside. Chris had just driven away with Pamela and Kent, on their way to Portland.
“I wonder why he can’t remember,” Danielle murmured. “Both Lily and Chris remember their out-of-body experiences.”
“I wondered that myself.” With a wave of his hand, Walt summoned a lit cigar.
Still staring out the window, Danielle let out a sigh. “I suppose it’s just the universe’s way of messing with me.”
With a bemused chuckle, Walt turned his head to face Danielle. “How is that?”
Danielle shrugged. “Just when I think I might have it figured out, it changes the rules.”
Walt looked back to the window and took a puff of his cigar. He then said, “I don’t believe we’re supposed to figure it all out.”
After a few moments of silence, each of them still looking out the window, Danielle asked, “Walt, if you had the opportunity, would you do what Tagg Billings did?”
“Perhaps I did take the Missing Thorndike, but I prefer not to think of myself as a thief.”
“Oh, I don’t mean take one like that. But like Eva said, if someone didn’t want their body?”
Walt chuckled. He took another puff off the cigar. “An interesting concept. But would it be possible to find a suitable body? It’s not like picking out a new suit.”
“Heaven Can Wait!” Danielle blurted.
“Excuse me?” Walt frowned at Danielle.
“The movie. Have you seen it?” Danielle asked.
Walt shook his head.
“I loved that movie,” Danielle told him. “It’s about a guy who dies before his time because of a mix-up where they pull his spirit out of his body too soon. But before they can get him back into his body, it’s cremated, so they have to find him a new one. Which they do. Anyway, when you asked if the new body would be suitable, that made me think of the movie. Because the guy needed a suitable body, one that would fit his needs.”
“And did they find one for him?” Walt asked.
“Yes.”
“And whoever owned the body didn’t have a problem relinquishing it?” Walt asked.
Danielle shrugged. “In the movie, it was the person’s time to die, so he didn’t need the body anymore. Of course, how Eva explained it, that would not really work because a body dies when it’s time for the person to die.”
“Not to mention, as Billings discovered, when you take over another person’s body, you also take their life—both the good and the bad.”
Danielle chuckled. “Yeah, I forgot about that. In the movie, Warren Beatty—the character he played—gets murdered after he takes over the new body.”
“That would be my luck,” Walt said dryly.
The next week moved quickly by and Danielle found it hard to believe it had been almost two weeks since the wedding. It was the first Saturday in October, and Ian and Lily would be returning to Frederickport the next day.
Evan had come over to spend Saturday at Marlow House. He was in the backyard, throwing the ball for Sadie, when Chris arrived.
“Babysitting?” Chris asked Danielle when he found her in the kitchen with Walt.
“The chief had to work today, and Evan hates staying with his aunt,” Danielle explained.
“And he gives Sadie a good workout,” Walt said with a chuckle.
“Is Eddy here too?” Chris asked.
“Just Evan,” Danielle told him. “Eddy’s spending the day with a friend.”
“I stopped by to see if you wanted to go to the pier with me for an ice cream. Heather’s going too. I bet Evan wouldn’t say no to an ice-cream cone.”
“Hmmm, ice cream? Sounds kind of good. We just finished lunch about twenty minutes ago. I imagine Evan would be up for some ice cream.”
“Walt, you want us to bring you back something?” Chris asked with a cocky grin.
“You are sooooo brave,” Danielle teased Chris as they walked with Evan to Heather’s house.
Chris glanced at Danielle. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Taunting a ghost who’s learned to harness his energy.”
“Walt wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Evan spoke up.
Danielle grinned down at Evan. “Oh, I know. I’m just teasing Chris.”
“Anyway, the worst thing that could happen, I’ll get soaked with a soda or smacked.” Chris grinned.
Confused, Evan looked from Danielle to Chris. “Walt couldn’t do anything else, I mean if he wanted to?”
Chris reached out and rustled Evan’s hair. “Sure he could. But if he was to actually kill me, he would be stuck with me hanging around.” Chris laughed. “And trust me, Walt would not want that.”
Danielle laughed and then guiltily said, “We really shouldn’t talk like this around Evan.”
When Evan ran up Heather’s walkway several minutes later, out of earshot, Danielle whispered, “Sometimes, Chris, I think you look forward to dying just so you can hang around and haunt a ghost.”
“Only if I could haunt you too,” Chris muttered under his breath.
A small round table, with four attached seats, sat on the pier to the right of the door leading to the ice-cream shop. As soon as Chris, Danielle, Heather, and Evan had their ice cream cones, they each claimed one of the empty seats at the table.
The weather had cooled down considerably the past week, and while some might wonder if it was a little chilly to eat ice cream outside on the pier, no one at the table seemed to mind.
“Lily and Ian come home tomorrow?” Heather asked before taking a bite out of her vanilla ice cream. It was her favorite flavor, something Evan couldn’t understand.
“Yes. I imagine they won’t get here until after nine.” Danielle glanced over to the ice cream shop and smiled. “You know, the first time Ian asked Lily out was for ice cream here.”
“Sounds wholesome,” Chris said dryly.
“Although, now that I think about it, he actually asked both of us,” Danielle murmured.
“Not so wholesome after all.” Chris snickered.
In the next moment, Chris let out a yelp. Heather had just kicked his ankle under the table.
“Hey? What was that for?” Chris frowned.
“Don’t talk like that around Evan,” Heather hissed under her breath.
Chris frowned. “What? He isn’t even listening.”
In the next moment, Chris was proven right when Evan blurted, “We should start a club!”
“Club?” Danielle asked.
“Yeah. For people like us, who can,” Evan lowered his voice and whispered, “see ghosts.”
“Would we get a secret handshake?” Chris asked.
Heather rolled her eyes at Chris.
“A club, huh? Interesting idea,” Danielle muttered. “I suppose this would have to be a secret club?”
“Yeah. But we can tell my dad.” Evan smiled and quickly licked the chocolate ice cream now dripping down his cone.
“What would we call it?” Danielle asked.
“You know, Evan has a good idea,” Heather announced.
They all turned to Heather.
“So you like the idea of a secret handshake?” Chris asked with a grin.
“Do I need to kick you again?” Heather asked him.
Chris chuckled. “Okay, so why do you really think it’s a good idea?”
“Because sometimes we need to work together. Like when you guys needed our help when you were in Arizona. Or like how we tried to help Kent. Maybe not a club…perhaps more of a society?”
“Society?” Evan frowned.
Chris gave Evan a friendly poke with his elbow and whispered, “It’s sort of like a club, but sounds more exclusive.”
“As long as no one is going to make me be secretary and take notes, I’m in,” Danielle said cheerfully.
Chief MacDonald picked Evan up from Marlow House before five thirty on Saturday evening. Danielle asked him to come in, but he was in a hurry. He needed to pick up Eddy. The chief was just driving away when Adam Nichols pulled up in front of the house and parked.
When Danielle answered the door a few minutes later, she found Adam on the front porch, holding a manila envelope and folded piece of paper.
“Hey, Adam,” Danielle greeted him, opening the door wider.
“I wanted to drop this off before Ian and Lily get home,” Adam explained as he walked inside the house. “They’re coming home tomorrow, aren’t they?”
“Yeah. What is it?” Danielle closed the front door. She motioned to the parlor. Adam followed her there.
“The house is closing escrow on Monday. They’ll officially be homeowners. It’s the extra keys I have for the house, plus some random paperwork on the appliances and some other things I thought they might want.” Adam tossed the manila envelope onto the parlor desk. He then turned to Danielle and handed her the folded piece of paper. “I thought you might be interested in this.”
Curious, Danielle took the paper and began unfolding it. “What is…”
Before finishing her sentence, Danielle froze and looked at the paper Adam had just handed her. She stared at it a moment and then looked up at Adam.
“It looks just like him, doesn’t it?” Adam said excitedly. “Walt Marlow.”
Speechless, Danielle looked back down at the paper. It was a computer printout of a real estate advertisement. The Realtor in the ad was Walt’s distant cousin.
“He has to be related to Marlow. After all, they have the same last name. But this Clint Marlow could be a dead ringer for the guy in the portrait.”
“Where did you get this?” Danielle asked.
Adam shrugged. “I was just surfing around. I came across this real estate ad with the picture of the agent. I thought the agent looked familiar, wondered if I knew him. Maybe met him at a conference or something. But then I noticed his name was Marlow, and it hit me. The guy looks exactly like your Walt Marlow.”
“Yes, he does look a lot like him,” Danielle muttered under her breath, refolding the picture.
“I thought the guy might get a hoot out of the resemblance. Who knows, maybe they are related. So I sent him a link to your website. You know, the webpage where you have a picture of Marlow’s portrait.”
Danielle had fallen asleep twenty minutes earlier. Now she sat on a small sailboat with Walt. The two watched the coast move by, the sailboat setting its own course, neither Walt or Danielle steering the craft.
“I’m sorry, Walt. I know you didn’t want me to contact your cousin.”
Walt shrugged. “It’s alright. I just didn’t think it was necessary for you to reach out to him. He’s a stranger to me.”
“To be honest, I sort of wondered if he would find my website on his own. After all, it’s not unusual for people to search for their own name. And if he did that, my website would show up.”
“Perhaps he already has,” Walt suggested.
“Maybe.” Danielle let out a sigh and leaned back, watching the shoreline move by. “It’s lovely out here.”
Walt turned to Danielle and smiled. “Yes, it is.”
The Ghost and Little Marie
Coming December 22, 2017
The family of Adam Nichols show up in Frederickport when Marie ends up in a nursing home with a broken hip.
* * *
Yet unlike Adam, who is trying to get his grandmother home, the new arrivals are more concerned with selling off her assets and keeping her in the questionable facility.
* * *
While Danielle tries to help her dear friend, she begins wondering, maybe not having a family has its good points after all. And it’s not just Marie’s family causing problems, Walt’s distant cousin begins making his own demands.
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Haunting Danielle Series
by Bobbi Holmes
The Ghost of Marlow House, Book 1
The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds, Book 2
The Ghost Who Wasn’t, Book 3
The Ghost Who Wanted Revenge, Book 4
The Ghost of Halloween Past, Book 5
The Ghost Who Came for Christmas, Book 6
The Ghost of Valentine Past, Book 7
The Ghost from the Sea, Book 8
The Ghost and the Mystery Writer, Book 9
The Ghost and the Muse, Book 10
The Ghost Who Stayed Home, Book 11
The Ghost and the Leprechaun, Book 12
The Ghost Who Lied, Book 13
The Ghost and the Bride, Book 14
The Ghost and Little Marie, Book 15
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Bobbi Holmes
Also known as Anna J. McIntyre
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Unlocked Hearts Series
by Anna J. McIntyre
Sundered Hearts
After Sundown
While Snowbound
Sugar Rush
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The Coulson Series
by Anna J. McIntyre
Coulson’s Wife
Coulson’s Crucible
Coulson’s Lessons
Coulson’s Secret
Coulson’s Reckoning
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Havasu Palms, A Hostile Takeover
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