by Terry Spear
“I would think you would want to help them out. What if Matilda scares off all their guests? Then what? You’ll be kicking yourself that you didn’t try to help any way that you could.”
“All right. Then either you tell Ellie what Yolan proposed, or I’ll tell Laurel and let them decide. It’s your choice.”
Brett considered it for a moment. “I’ll tell Ellie.” He was the one who had talked to Stanton and then Yolan. He had to be the one to tell Ellie about this.
They ended the call, and Brett punched in Ellie’s number. “It’s my fault that Matilda is haunting your inn. I want to do something to help.”
“No, it isn’t, Brett. These things happen.”
“Okay, if you say so. I hope you aren’t annoyed with me, but I still really feel my great-aunt’s presence is my fault. If I hadn’t given you the piano, none of this would have been an issue.”
“If I hadn’t kissed you, it might not have been.”
He sighed. “That wasn’t an option.”
She chuckled. “So what have you done now?”
“I spoke to Stanton about exorcising a ghost.”
She didn’t respond.
“Ellie?”
Still no response. Then he realized the phone line was dead.
Hoping it wasn’t just because she was pissed off at him, he called her back. She didn’t answer the phone this time. “Great.” He had two options: call CJ and let him tell Laurel what he was trying to do, or go over to see Ellie in person.
This was his matter to handle, and he had to make it right with Ellie.
He left work and headed over to the inn, though he wasn’t sure if she was there or at the house.
When he arrived, he saw her car was gone, but Laurel’s and Meghan’s were at the house. He knocked on the door to the house and waited. No one answered. He hurried down the path to the inn, knocked on the back door, opened it, and called out. “Laurel? Meghan?” He heard someone in the lobby and someone in the basement, and headed for the lobby first.
Expecting to see one of the sisters, he was shocked to the core when he saw his great-aunt sitting at the piano, staring at him as if she had seen a ghost.
Chapter 15
Ellie couldn’t believe Brett had talked to Stanton about their ghost when he knew they didn’t want to have the ghost busters in their inn trying to profit from them.
She drove her sisters to Silva’s Victorian Tea Shop to celebrate that the inn was now ready for guests—if they could help the ghosts find their way to their new home. She’d had to move her date with Radcliff to lunch tomorrow.
Before they got out of her car, Laurel asked, “Okay, so Brett made a mistake, but what exactly did he say about talking to Stanton?”
Ellie was fuming. “That he called him about our ghost. That’s enough, isn’t it? When he knows how we feel about our cousins with regard to the inn and revealing anything paranormal about it? I don’t know when Brett talked to him, but I can just see Stanton over here bugging us about helping us out and trying to figure an angle where he can make some money or get more publicity, or something, at our expense.”
“I agree. Why would Brett do something like that?” Meghan asked. “He knows how we feel, and he really cares about you. So he had to have a good reason, don’t you think? Did you even give him a chance to talk about it? To tell you what he was thinking?”
Ellie shook her head. “I was so mad that I just ended the call.”
“Call him back and hear him out. We need to know what Stanton is going to do next,” Laurel said. “I think it would be a good idea to learn exactly what was said.”
Ellie let out her breath. She knew Laurel was right. “All right. Go inside and get us a table. I’ll call Brett and talk to him, learn all the details, and see what he has to say for himself.”
Laurel squeezed her shoulder. “Good idea. We’ll see you in a minute.”
Ellie pulled out her phone but waited until her sisters left the car. Then she selected Brett’s contact number and called him as she watched Laurel and Meghan enter the tea shop. Brett didn’t answer, and she ended up getting his voice mail. She didn’t want to leave a message for him like this. She really wanted to talk to him now that she’d cooled down a bit. She figured he was off on an assignment and couldn’t talk to anyone else right this minute.
Waiting to record her message, at the sound of the beep, she said, “Brett, what exactly did you tell Stanton?” Then she hung up and stared at the tea shop, seeing her sisters taking seats beside one of the windows. She was certain Brett would want to talk to her when he could.
She let out her breath again and left the car to join her sisters. Talk about having to make a real effort to enjoy what was supposed to be a celebration!
“Any luck?” Laurel asked as Ellie sat down with them.
“No answer. I’m sure he has work to do and can’t answer the phone now. He always shuts it off for interviews.”
Her sisters were still waiting for her to tell them more.
“I left a message.”
“A nice one?” Meghan asked, one brow arched.
“A to-the-point one.”
Laurel laughed. “Well, he did try to call you back, so I’m certain he would have answered if he could have and will call as soon as he can.”
Meghan ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. “He will. Be nice to him. I like him lots better than Fred, the guy you had planned on mating before.”
Ellie did too. She still wasn’t happy about him going behind their backs on this though.
* * *
Brett felt frozen in place. His cell phone rang, but he didn’t dare touch it. He was afraid one little move and his very lifelike great-aunt Matilda would vanish into thin air. He still couldn’t believe it was her.
He opened his very dry mouth to speak but then closed it, not sure what to say. He heard noises in the basement, but he didn’t want to call out to the sisters and have his great-aunt disappear on him. He was a reporter. Think like a reporter!
Only she wasn’t a news story. She was his beloved great-aunt. Well, the ghost of his beloved great-aunt.
“We miss you and your piano playing, Aunt Matilda.” Even though she was his great-aunt, she never wanted to be called great. It made her feel too old. “We hope you like the framed sentiments.” He motioned to the wall where the plaque was hanging. “I liked that photo best of you, sitting at the piano where you loved to be.”
She just watched him, didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He kept expecting her to speak, but then she wasn’t really…real. How could she speak?
“I really care for Ellie. She was upset when you disapproved of our kissing.”
His great-aunt tilted her head down, giving him a disapproving look.
He couldn’t help but smile a little at her. “She told me you helped her with her first lesson. She’s been afraid she couldn’t ever complete anything, and you gave her the willingness to give it a try.” Brett shifted his gaze to the piano. “I love playing the piano. And we hope to do a duet at the inn sometime during Victorian Days. So thanks for helping her.” Then he thought he should get down to business and see if there was a way to learn from Matilda what had happened. “I…don’t know how to put this without just coming out and saying it. And I don’t know if you would know what happened to you exactly either. But everyone thinks you died of pneumonia from a cold. Maybe took a bath and it chilled you further.”
She frowned.
“Were you out in a boat instead? Did you drown?”
She ran her hand over the top of the piano and stared morosely at it.
He didn’t know what to say next. How could he tell his great-aunt he wanted her to leave so she didn’t disturb the guests arriving soon? He was afraid he would hurt her feelings. He never wanted to do that. There were really only two options that he could se
e, because he didn’t believe it was in her power to avoid playing the piano, not as much as she loved it. So he had to help her find her way to the other side somehow, or maybe he could offer to take the piano back home. He hated doing it when it looked so nice in the inn lobby, and he thought more people would enjoy seeing it and maybe playing it there than if he kept it at home. Besides, how could he ask the sisters to give it back when he had just given it to them?
“Do you want me to take the piano back home to my place? I’ll talk to the sisters, and I’m sure if they felt you’d be happier about it being there, they wouldn’t mind.” Would she play at his house? All hours of the night? And he would hear it? If he had Ellie over for a barbecue, would Matilda be standing there watching them, not happy he was taking advantage of Ellie? Or that Ellie was being too forward?
“You were dating a man, weren’t you?” At least as evidenced by what had been left in the rowboat. His grandmother was afraid of the water and would never go near it. “We need to know who he was. Did he have anything to do with your death?”
She looked up at him and didn’t say anything. Though he imagined he would have a stroke if she started to talk to him.
“What do you want me to—”
The back door to the inn opened, and Brett swung around as Ellie called out, “Brett? Are you in here?”
“I’m here.”
“What are you doing in there?”
“I came to see you.” He looked back at Matilda, ready to tell her that they’d work it out somehow, and if she’d died as a case of foul play, they’d discover the truth, but she’d vanished. He stared at the bench seat, not believing it.
“We were at Silva’s tea shop until none of us could remember locking the door. I ran home to lock it and saw your car out front. What are you doing here?” she asked again.
“You wouldn’t answer your phone. I came to talk to you in person, to explain everything.” Then he smiled and joined her, taking her in his arms, but she was stiff and still annoyed with him. He wasn’t releasing her for anything. “I spoke to Matilda.”
She snorted. “How far did that get you?”
“Wait, if none of you were here, who’s down in the basement banging around? You wait here. I’ll check it out.” He headed down the stairs, and she waited at the top with her cell phone in hand.
“Be careful,” she said, concern in her voice.
He turned on the light switch and checked all the rooms, the bathrooms, to find no sign of anyone. He twisted the knob on the back door, but it was locked. “I guess it was just Chrissy.” He headed back up the stairs, not believing all of this. Why had his great-aunt appeared before him now? Why was Chrissy making such a racket to get his attention when before he never knew she existed?
Ellie’s jaw was slack.
Brett closed the basement door and took Ellie’s hand and led her into the common area.
“You heard Chrissy?”
“I saw my great-aunt. And yeah, I heard Chrissy.” He took a seat with Ellie on one of the love seats.
“You talked to her? Matilda?”
“I did. She didn’t say anything.”
“Did you ask her how she died? If it was some way other than what the coroner’s report stated?”
“Yes, but she only frowned. I thanked her for teaching you your first lesson, and I asked if she wanted me to move the piano back to my place.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. She didn’t say anything.”
Ellie made a disagreeable sound. “Ghosts don’t always just talk like we do. They do other things to help us understand what we need to know.”
“All right. Well, she didn’t do anything either. Just vanished when you came in the door.”
“Where was she?”
“Seated at the piano.”
“Okay, tell me what you told Stanton.”
“Nothing. I just said I had a…” Brett paused. “Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else.”
“Okay.” Ellie and Brett started to lock up the inn when she got a call. “Yeah, the door was unlocked, and we had a visitor.”
Brett wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the house.
“Brett. And guess what? He heard Chrissy banging around in the basement, who knows why, and he saw Matilda. Talked to her even.” Ellie glanced up at Brett. “No, she didn’t talk to him, and as far as he knows, she didn’t tell him anything.” She paused, listened, shook her head. “We haven’t gotten that far. I’ll pick you up later. CJ will? Okay, fine. No, thanks, I’ll make some lunch here. Talk to you later.”
When they reached the house, she asked, “What do you want for lunch?”
“Anything is fine with me.”
“Are grilled cheese sandwiches all right?”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“Okay, tell me your story.” She cut up cheese to add to the sandwiches, buttered the bread, then placed the sandwiches on a griddle pan.
“I didn’t tell Stanton the ghost was at the inn. I asked him if he could exorcise one. He said he could. For five thousand dollars.”
Ellie slid the spatula under one of the sandwiches and flipped it to grill the other side. “Wow. I’m in the wrong business.”
“I don’t know if he ever gets that price. He wanted to share the exorcism on his show, but I said no.”
“You didn’t tell him the ghost was at our inn?”
“No. I just wanted to know if he really could exorcise a ghost.”
“And you were willing to pay that much money to do so?”
“No. That’s why I used the sage.”
She smiled as she served up the sandwiches. “Okay, but I don’t believe he would have given up so easily.”
“Yolan called today, saying he wanted to make it up to you and your sisters and would exorcise the ghost for free.”
“So Stanton does know the ghost is at the inn,” she said as she set the plates on the table.
“I didn’t tell him it was. I said it was my ghost to exorcise.”
Ellie studied him. “You really think it’s your fault.”
“Yeah, it is. I’m the one who gave you the piano. And then kissed you next to it. It’s like it awakened her. I don’t know. Anyway, I know you’re troubled that she’s going to cause problems for you with your guests. I feel I’m responsible.”
Ellie got them glasses of ice water and a jar of pickles. “So what did you tell Yolan?”
“That it was my ghost. And he said he wouldn’t do the job for free if it wasn’t at the inn.”
“So he’s fishing for information for Stanton.”
Brett took a bite of the sandwich. He hadn’t planned on having lunch with Ellie, thinking she was having lunch with Radcliff, but if she could get over being mad at him, this was great. “Could be, but he sounded sincere that he wanted to help and make amends. He told me something interesting too. He said only he can really exorcise ghosts. That Stanton is in charge of the show, but Yolan is the only one of the three brothers who has the ability.”
“So Stanton was going to send him in to do the job?”
“He said he was coming alone, but Yolan said Stanton would have sneaked him in because Stanton couldn’t have done the job himself.”
“Huh. That’s interesting. I wonder why he told you that.”
“Maybe he really does want to get on your good side.” Brett finished the sandwich. “The sandwich was great.”
“Thanks.”
“Listen, I didn’t tell Stanton the ghost was here, but Yolan said since CJ is mated to Laurel and I’m dating you, Stanton believes it has to be haunting the inn. So if he bothers you about it, that’s the story.”
“Do you really want to take the piano back?”
“No. It looks great in the lobby. It needs to be where it ca
n entertain people.”
She smiled a little. “You’re afraid your great-aunt will return home with you and play music at your place in the middle of the night.”
He chuckled. “The thought did cross my mind.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I want to help guide her to the light.”
“Sometimes spirits stay because they have unfinished business here. A message they need to get across.”
“Like she died because someone killed her or neglected her.”
“Or some other message. I asked her if she didn’t believe she died of pneumonia. A sheet of music flew off the piano stand. That’s how they communicate. Not by talking. At least not that I’ve heard—most of the time. Meghan is more auditory. She hears things that Laurel and I don’t hear. I see things sometimes that the others don’t see. Laurel senses things, and her skin crawls. The hairs on her arms and nape stand up. She’s like a wolf that senses something’s presence even if she can’t hear or see or feel it.
“For some reason, Matilda is reaching out to me. We tried a séance, but only Chrissy showed up. She wants Matilda out of her home. That may be why she was banging around in the basement. I think Matilda is reaching out to you now because you aren’t doubting her existence. At least that’s what I think. Maybe it’s because we’re learning to play her piano, like we’re her last students.”
“You said they communicate in different ways. So if she tossed a song sheet off the music stand, what was the message?”
Ellie shrugged. “That she was trying to say something about her death was wrong? Or that she was angry that she died. That’s all I can figure.”
Brett took her hands and squeezed. “Are we okay?”
“Stanton will probably be a problem.”
“Matilda, and maybe Chrissy too, are going to be a bigger problem when your guests arrive. How much do you want to bet?” Then he cleared his throat. “So what happened about lunch with Radcliff?”
“Lunch with him tomorrow. I’m surprised you didn’t know about the change in plan since you seemed to know about all my other dates.”
