Haunting Danielle 23 The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit

by Bobbi Holmes

  Lily furrowed her brows and looked blankly across the room.

  “What?” Danielle asked.

  “I’m just trying to picture Pearl having a Lassie and Timmy moment. You know, Lassie, go get help. Timmy fell down the well!” Lily said.

  Danielle chuckled. “You still watching those old classic TV shows?”

  Lily shrugged and then glanced over to check on her son, who appeared to be dancing across the room—some six feet above the floor. Lily shook her head and then looked back to Danielle. “Are you going to see her at the hospital?”

  “They put her in intensive care last night, and the chief doesn’t know how long she’s going to be there. They only let family see intensive care patients.”

  “Is she that bad?” Lily asked.

  “She’s suffering from exposure. Heather saw her up on that ladder when she came over here yesterday. That was hours before we found her. According to the chief, she fell not long after Heather walked by her house.”

  “Do they think she’s going to be okay?”

  “From what the chief said, it sounded more precautionary, but I’m not sure.”

  “I guess as long as she’s in intensive care, you won’t go over there,” Lily said.

  “The chief promised he’d keep us updated on her progress and let me know when they move her to a regular hospital room. When they do, Walt and I plan to visit her. We thought we’d offer to keep an eye on her house, you know, like bring in her mail, or if she needs me to bring her something from home.”

  “That’s nice of you, considering how she’s treated you guys.”

  “She is our neighbor. And I do feel sorry for her, and she doesn’t really have anyone,” Danielle said.

  “And it is Christmas,” Lily added.

  “True,” Danielle agreed.

  “Not to change the subject—but I am—last night, you never said what you guys are going to do about that lady who broke in here. Our conversation sort of ended when Colin and Owen came back,” Lily said. “And then after finding Pearl, we never had time to discuss it again.”

  “I had one idea,” Danielle said as she looked over at Marie. Lily looked too, and they both silently watched as the ghost played with the baby—Danielle actually seeing Marie, and Lily only seeing her son seemingly floating in midair.

  Feeling the eyes on her and noticing the silence, Marie stopped making funny faces at Connor and looked to the kitchen table.

  “What?” Marie asked.

  “We know who broke in here. We know where they are staying. But what we don’t know is why. We were hoping…” Danielle began.

  “You want me to go undercover?” Marie asked.

  “Yes. Hang out with the Hoopers, listen to their conversations. Hopefully they’ll say something about breaking in here—and why. And if they plan to break in again,” Danielle said.

  Connor floated back to his stroller.

  “Fine. But first, let’s make Adam’s divinity,” Marie said. “And then I’ll go down to the Seahorse Motel and see if I can find anything out.”

  Marie didn’t bother opening the door to the office of the Seahorse Motel. She simply moved through the wall. Once inside, she spied Sam sitting behind the counter, talking on the phone. He was the only one in the office.

  She marched up to the counter and stood, listening to Sam’s side of the phone conversation.

  “That doesn’t sound like a work call,” Marie said.

  She listened a few more minutes and then said, “Sam! Really? You should be ashamed of yourself? Who is she?…Oh, never mind. I don’t want to know if she lets you talk to her like that!”

  Sam let out a low laugh and then leaned one elbow against the desk behind the counter, the phone still by his ear. Marie folded her arms over her chest and shook her head in disgust. Sam lowered his voice as he continued to talk into the phone, his words barely audible as his eyes occasionally darted across the room as if he was on the lookout for someone coming into the office.

  “Just how long are you going to be?” Marie said with a deep sigh. “I need to know what room the Hoopers are staying in, and I really can’t look at the register with you standing there.”

  Sam laughed again and then leaned back in the chair.

  Annoyed, Marie walked through the counter, looking for the register book. She found it sitting a few feet from Sam.

  Sam leaned back in the swivel chair and swung it around so that his back was to the counter. He glanced up to the wall clock to check on the time. “Come on, baby, I’ll pick you up after I get off work, and we can try this all out for real.”

  He heard her giggle on the other side of the line. He smiled. Swinging the chair around again so that he was again facing the counter, his eyes widened when he spied the guest register was now open and its pages were slowly turning, as if someone was flipping through them looking for something. The only thing—no one else was in the office.

  Sam bolted out of the chair, still holding the phone but no longer listening to the woman on the other side of the line. The pages stopped turning and slowly drifted down, falling back in place. He looked around anxiously and then waved his hand over the book, trying to feel for a draft—but there didn’t seem to be one.

  “Thanks,” Marie said cheerfully as she turned from the counter and started to leave. Just as she reached the wall, she turned one last time to look at Sam. He was still standing over the registration book, wildly waving one hand over it, still looking for the elusive draft.

  With a chuckle, Marie turned back around and walked through the wall. Several minutes later Marie found herself in Marcella and Forrest’s motel room. Inside the room were two unmade queen-size beds separated by a nightstand. On one wall was a dresser under a large picture window facing the ocean. Next to the window was a wall-mounted flat-screen television facing two small recliners and a small table. Forrest sat on one of the recliners, watching television, while Marcella lounged on one of the beds, reading a magazine.

  “This is exciting,” Marie muttered. She took a seat on the empty recliner and waited. Forty-five minutes later she had finished watching a reality show with Forrest and had heard Marcella let out countless sighs while turning the pages of the magazine she read.

  Tired of waiting, Marie looked at the television set. A moment later, the screen went black.

  Forrest frowned and picked up the remote from the small table. He punched a button. When it did nothing, he punched it again.

  “TV is broken,” Forrest grumbled.

  “It seems a lot of things break around this place,” Marcella said as she closed her magazine and tossed it on the bed next to her. “But I don’t think they’ll move us over to Marlow House for a broken television set.”

  Forrest pushed the remote’s on button. The television turned back on. Before Marie had a chance to turn it off, Forrest beat her to it. He then tossed the remote back on the small table and said, “It’s working. But I’m sick of watching television.”

  “This would have been a lot easier if we had run into Samuel Hayman before she died,” Marcella said.

  “True. But if we hadn’t run into him at all, then we never would have discovered Eloise’s little secret,” Forrest reminded her.

  “A lot of good it’s doing us.”

  Forrest looked at his wife. “I thought I was the pessimist and you were the optimist?”

  Marcella laughed. “You’re right. I should just be grateful we did run into Hayman. Now we just have to get it.”

  “Get what?” Marie asked.

  Forrest stood up and walked to the empty bed. “I’m going to take a nap.”

  Marcella picked up the magazine and opened it. She resumed her reading. Fifteen minutes later Forrest began to snore.

  Thirty

  Residents and guests of Marlow House retired to the living room after breakfast on Saturday morning. Danielle sat on the sofa between Walt and Noah, while Chris and Owen occupied the chairs facing them, and Colin sat on the nearby ro
cking chair, with Hunny napping by his feet. Max stretched out under the Christmas tree on his back, occasionally swatting the gold ball hanging on the limb above him.

  “Ever since I met you, I could swear we’ve met before,” Noah told Colin. “But I just can’t place where.”

  “I did have a brief career as a model,” Colin said with a laugh. “Maybe you recognize me from one of the drawings.”

  “You were a model?” Danielle asked with surprise.

  “I suppose that would be stretching it,” Colin said. “It was hardly a career—I certainly didn’t get paid. It was for an artist friend of mine from New York. I sat for him. But his drawings of me did become rather famous at the time.”

  “Really? Who was he?” Danielle asked.

  “This was years ago, long before you were born,” Colin told her. “Frankly, I never thought they looked that much like me. Tom made me considerably rounder and shorter than I really was. So now that I think about it, if I look familiar to you, I doubt it’s from those drawings.” Colin chuckled.

  “As we all know, some people do have doppelgangers.” Chris snickered, looking to Walt.

  “No kidding,” Owen agreed. “That portrait in the library, I could swear that really was of Walt.”

  “It’s because it is,” Marie’s spirit said when she burst into the room. Not everyone in the living room could see or hear her.

  Danielle looked to Marie expectantly, curious to know what she had learned. She hadn’t seen the spirit since they had finished making divinity the day before.

  “I know a little,” Marie said. “Why don’t you excuse yourself, and I’ll meet you in the parlor.” Marie vanished.

  Marie was already waiting in the parlor when Danielle walked in the room.

  “What did you find out?” Danielle asked.

  “Not as much as I had hoped I would. They spent most of the evening watching TV, reading or sleeping. They hardly ever talked with each other. I left them at the theater right before I got here; they’re watching a double feature. So I doubt they’ll be doing much plotting or chatting for the next few hours.”

  “But you said you know a little?”

  “They are definitely looking for something that belonged to Eloise Winterborne. It was something they didn’t know about until after she died.”

  “What is it?” Danielle asked.

  “They never said. But, from what I gather, Samuel Hayman told them about it.”

  “Samuel?” Danielle frowned. “It must be jewelry.”

  “Maybe you need to take a closer look at that shoe. Perhaps that’s not all paste,” Marie suggested.

  They were interrupted when Chris, Walt and Noah walked into the room.

  “Colin went upstairs, and Owen went for a walk,” Walt explained as he shut the door behind them.

  “What did you find out?” Chris asked.

  Marie repeated what she had told Danielle. When she finished, Walt said, “Let’s look at that shoe again.”

  Danielle walked to the desk and pulled the decorated shoe from the mermaid bag. She handed it to Walt. He examined it and then passed it to Chris, who studied it, fingering the stones. When he was done, he passed it to Noah. When Noah was finished, he handed the shoe back to Danielle, who continued to examine the jewels affixed to the shoe while the men reached their verdict.

  “I’m hardly an expert,” Noah said. “I suppose they could be real. But even if they are, are there that many stones on that thing to risk getting arrested trying to steal it?”

  “Two diamonds the same size don’t necessarily have the same value,” Chris reminded him.

  “True. The color, the quality, the cut can all make a difference in value,” Danielle agreed.

  “You need to have someone look at this thing,” Chris urged.

  Danielle considered Chris’s suggestion and then looked at Walt. “I know of only one person in Frederickport who could tell us if any of these stones are real. The only other option is to go out of town and find a jeweler.”

  “You’re talking about Samuel Hayman?” Walt asked.

  “We need to talk to him anyway. According to Marie, whatever the Hoopers are looking for, they are only looking for it because Sam told them about it,” Danielle said.

  “Sam Hayman, you’re talking about the guy who used to own the jewelry store in town that closed before I moved here?” Chris asked. “The one who tried to steal the stones from the Missing Thorndike?”

  “The very one,” Danielle confirmed.

  “What if he and the Hoopers are in this together?” Noah asked.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Walt said.

  Marie shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. From what I overheard, I got the distinct impression they’ve had no further communication with Sam Hayman. It sounded like they ran into him somewhere, and he inadvertently tipped them off to something that they are now following up on.”

  Danielle arched her brow. “Perhaps Eloise didn’t sell her engagement ring to Samuel—maybe she traded it for something? She couldn’t wear the ring anymore; maybe she wanted something else,” Danielle suggested. “And now they’re looking for it.” Danielle glanced down at the shoe in her hand. “Maybe a bunch of loose stones so she could use them in one of her craft projects.”

  “That sounds a little crazy,” Chris said.

  Danielle shrugged. “Elizabeth did say the woman was a little quirky.”

  “Gluing valuable stones on an old shoe is more than quirky. It is nuts,” Chris said.

  “If this Sam Hayman guy tried to steal from you once, what makes you think you can trust him now to tell you the truth?” Noah asked.

  “Because Sam served his time in prison, and he is trying to rebuild his life. The last time I saw him, he was riddled with guilt and regret. Anyway, it’s not like I’m going to take him at his word if he says the stones are worthless, and then let him keep the shoe,” Danielle reminded him. “And I think he would know that. He’d expect me to get a second opinion.”

  Thirty minutes later Walt and Danielle were in the Packard, backing out of their garage, on the way to see Samuel Hayman at the house he now rented. Danielle had obtained his phone number from the chief and had called him up. Samuel agreed to meet her and Walt at his home.

  “By the way, when I was talking to the chief, he told me they’re moving Pearl to a regular hospital room today,” Danielle told Walt as he paused a moment in the drive leading to the alleyway and used the remote to close the garage door.

  “Do you want to stop over there after we talk to Hayman?” Walt asked.

  “We might as well. We’ll be out anyway.” Danielle glanced down at the brown paper bag on her lap. She had put the decorated shoe in it before leaving the house.

  Walt glanced over to Danielle and noticed her peculiar expression while staring down at the paper sack. “What are you thinking?”

  Danielle glanced up to Walt and smiled as he pulled out into the alleyway. “Just remembering how Samuel tried to switch the diamonds and emeralds on the Missing Thorndike.”

  “Are you having second thoughts about having him look at the shoe?”

  “Not really. But please be on your guard, just in case this thing turns out to be covered with priceless gems and he decides to hit us over the head, take it and skip town. After all, he practically did that once already.”

  Walt grinned. “True. Don’t worry. If we discover he hasn’t really mended his ways, I promise to levitate him to the ceiling and keep him there until the chief arrives.”

  Danielle chuckled. “Yeah, I can just see that now if Joe or Brian came instead of the chief.”

  Samuel looked better than the last time Danielle had seen him. He seemed more relaxed—rested. She noticed a touch of gray in his curly brown hair that had not been there the last time they had talked. The clothes he wore were just as outdated as what she had remembered him wearing when they had first met over three years earlier, and she suspected they were probably from the same
wardrobe. One of his best features had always been, and still was, his straight white teeth, she thought.

  Upon arriving at his house, she had introduced him to her husband, and like others who met Walt and were familiar with the portraits, he expressed his astonishment at how much he resembled his distant cousin. Together Walt and Danielle sat on a small sofa, which looked as if it had been picked up at a thrift store, while Samuel sat in a chair across from them, examining the shoe with a jeweler’s loupe.

  After a few minutes Samuel looked up and smiled sheepishly. He stood briefly and handed the shoe back to Danielle before sitting back down in his chair. “I’m really sorry to tell you this; none of them are real. My guess, they were taken from costume jewelry.”

  “Are you sure?” Danielle asked.

  “Afraid so. Of course, you can get a second opinion.”

  “You have never seen this shoe before, have you?” Danielle asked, tucking the shoe back in the sack.

  Samuel smiled. “No, I haven’t. And it is…interesting. So tell me, why in the world did you imagine any of those were real?”

  “Oh, it’s not that we thought they were real,” Danielle lied. “We picked this up at a yard sale to use for a white elephant gift, and then we got to thinking, maybe some of these jewels are real.”

  Samuel laughed. “That would be rather funny to give something like that away as a joke only to discover it was valuable. But no. I’m afraid it is just a shoe with artificial flowers and costume jewelry glued all over it. It would make a good white elephant gift.”

  “Can I ask you something else?” Danielle asked.

  “Certainly.”

  “Do you know who Marcella and Forrest Hooper are?”

  “Yes. They used to work for Eloise Winterborne. Did you know her?”