by Rose Pressey
The other employee scoffed. I knew she’d been listening even though she’d pretended to be busy sorting cups.
Dana raised an eyebrow. “Well, I didn’t think so, but it just seemed odd. I suppose I have a lot on my mind.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
She let out a deep breath. “I heard about what happened at Mr. Byrd’s and I immediately thought of you.”
Why had she immediately thought of me? Did she know about the surveillance footage? Or was it just because I was friends with Mr. Byrd?
“Why me?” I asked.
“I know that you’ve spent a lot of time with the tour over there and have a relationship with Mr. Byrd. He’s a very nice man. I just hate that this happened to the customer. It’s awful.”
“There’s been another murder in Devil’s Moon. It wasn’t a medical emergency,” I blurted out.
Oops. At least the employee had stepped into the back room and hadn’t heard what I’d said.
Dana’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, I didn’t realize.”
She truly hadn’t known? Of course, she hadn’t known. How could she? I’d just found out when I blurted it out.
“When did you find out?” Dana asked.
“Actually, I just found out,” I said. “So don’t tell anyone. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to know.”
“Why is that?” she asked. “I mean this is a small town and everyone is going to know.”
“I guess you’re right,” I said.
I had to tell her about the video. Should I tell her now?
I sighed. “I’m going to need a chocolate croissant, Dana.”
She chuckled. “Coming right up.”
“Thank you. Iced coffee too.”
“Looks like something else is on your mind,” she said as she grabbed the pastry from the display case.
“Well, I’ve been told there is video surveillance of me going into the antique shop right at the time the murder occurred.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, dear. Maybe we’d better make this a double chocolate croissant day.”
“The thing is, I didn’t go into the antique shop,” I said.
She paused with a croissant halfway in the bag. “I’m confused.”
“You’re probably just as confused as me,” I said around a sigh. “Have you ever heard of a doppelgänger?”
“Yes, I have,” Dana said.
“I think that might be the case here.”
“Like someone who looks just like you walked in there?”
“I suppose that’s what happened. I think I would know the difference between a doppelgänger and a real-life person who looked like me. The person on the video looked exactly like me, but I think it actually might be a spirit. Or it could even be a demon.”
She almost dropped the bag as she was handing it to me. “A spirit? A demon?”
“I know that sounds far-fetched.”
“Well, you do know this paranormal stuff,” she said.
“It’s the only explanation I have. Either that or Mr. Byrd is responsible for the murder.”
She clutched her chest. “Oh, I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I don’t think so either. No matter, I’m going to get to the bottom of this. It really is life or death.”
“How are you going to find out?” she asked.
“Good old-fashioned detective work, I suppose.” I handed Dana the money for my coffee and pastry.
“Let me know what happens,” she said.
“I’ll keep you informed. I just hope that people in town don’t blame me for the murder.”
“Well, people might, but you just have to ignore that,” she said.
“I’ll try. Thank you, Dana,” I said, waving the bag. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Good luck,” she called out as I headed out the door.
When I stepped onto the sidewalk, I looked to the left and right to see if my doppelgänger was anywhere around. This was freaking me out. Had the spirit actually done something to the customer? It was the only explanation because I knew for sure that Mr. Byrd would never harm anyone. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.
First of all, I had to find out more about the murdered woman. In order to find a killer, I had to know more about the victim. I needed more than just the victim’s name. But how would I even start? Brannon had said she was from Nashville. Therefore, I had to discover why she was here at the antique shop. Maybe she’d just made a trip to town to shop for antiques. Many people did that. Starting with the basics, I would just do a simple search for her name and see what popped up. Considering she had a relatively common name that might not narrow it down much though.
Brannon would get more information, but would he really give me that information? He might feel as if it would jeopardize the case. Especially since I was being looked at as a suspect. Maybe I wouldn’t even ask him for that information. I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position. Besides, he wasn’t technically on the case because of the fact that he was dating me.
Chapter 7
I still twenty minutes before I had to be at the library. Taking my time and enjoying the walk would be nice, but there was a lot of work to be done. Maybe it would be relaxing for me, or maybe that was wishful thinking. Nevertheless, I needed to get to the library.
The sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue sky, warming up the summer day quickly. It still wasn’t too hot though, so at least my walk across town would be pleasant weather-wise I sipped on my iced coffee, hoping that would calm my nerves. I thought about projects I had at the library, anything to distract myself. No reason to fill my head with negative thoughts right now, right?
I passed by the usual spots on my tour—the bookstore, a restaurant, gift shop, clothing boutique, and even a new shop selling bourbon related items. Suddenly I stopped in my tracks. I turned around and walked a few steps back to the light post on the corner. A paper attached to the pole had caught my attention.
Had I read that correctly? I stepped up to the paper and scanned the words. Sure enough, it was advertising a haunted tour through the streets of Devil’s Moon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an advertisement for my haunted tour. What was going on here? Not that I had a monopoly on haunted tours in town, but I hadn’t been expecting competition. I wasn’t quite sure there was room enough for two haunted tours. Plus, I hadn’t thought anyone else would be interested enough to actually do it.
A phone number was listed to call for information. Glancing around, I checked to see if anyone was watching. I pulled the paper from the light post and folded it, stuffing it into my bag. I couldn’t wait to share this with Tammy. Maybe I would have her call the number and ask for more information. I didn’t want the person behind this new tour to know that I was the one calling.
Now instead of taking a leisurely stroll to the library I was in a hurry to get there. I shuffled down the sidewalk, wanting to run, but not wanting to draw too much attention to myself. Especially after what had happened yesterday. People would talk as it was, I didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. Thank goodness the library came into view.
I hurried up the path, moving by the graveyard. Though I didn’t get all the way past before something smacked me right in the chest. It was like a tornado had moved right through me and I landed on my rear on the pavement. For a moment, I was dazed. What in the world had just happened? Finally, I was able to catch a breath and I sucked in as much air as my lungs allowed. Releasing it out slowly, I tried to calm my nerves.
I looked around at the nearby tall oak trees. The branches were completely still. No wind whatsoever. What had I experienced? I had my suspicions, but as I scanned the area, I saw no signs of a ghost. Yet I had experienced this type of thing before. It had been a paranormal activity and I assumed that was the case now. Couldn’t they just leave me alone for a bit? All right, maybe I was asking for it by going around all the haunted locations. I had to expect some interactions, right?
I got myself up from the ground, brus
hed off my pants, checked my hands for any scraping, and then marched myself up the stairs to the library doors. Just as I put my key into the lock, noise came from the other side. It was kind of loud too. Jane Austen was in there, but I didn’t think she would knock anything over that would cause that kind of ruckus. Plus, she was usually good about not knocking things over.
Of course, the faster I tried to get the door open, the more I fumbled. After what seemed like forever, I shoved the key into the lock and opened the door. Chaos had broken out in the library. Books were actually flying through the air. I ducked to avoid being hit by one. My first emotion was anger.
“Don’t mess with my books,” I yelled as I ducked from another flying hardback.
I could barely catch my breath as I witnessed the books soaring through the air. It was just like a tornado had unleashed inside the building. Kind of like what I had felt hitting me in the chest outside. I stood in shock, unsure of what to do next.
“Oh, my gosh. What’s going on in here?” Tammy yelled from beside me.
With the noise from the books hitting the floor, I hadn’t heard her walk up.
“I don’t know why this is happening,” I shouted.
“Can we make it stop?” Tammy asked.
After a few more intense seconds, everything stopped. Books fell to the floor. Thud, thud, thud. Tammy and I still stood outside though, unsure if it was safe to set foot through the door. Where were Annie and Jane Austen?
“Should we go in now?” Tammy asked as she clutched my arm.
“I suppose we have to at some point.” I eased into the library first, inch by inch.
I didn’t want to get too far away from the door in case we needed to run again. Nevertheless, I had to do my job.
“Do you think the cameras caught any of that?” Tammy asked.
“I would think they caught every bit of that,” I said.
“If it did, the video will go viral. We’ll be the talk of the whole United States,” Tammy said. “Maybe even the world.”
“Well, I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I said. “People will just think that it was a staged event.”
“That’s true,” she said. “But we’d never do something like that.”
Tammy and I made it halfway to the reference desk with no other incidents. Still no sign of Jane Austen and Annie. I held my breath, waiting for another attack.
“I want to check the video, but right now we need to get this place cleaned up before people arrive. I don’t want them to know what happened,” I said.
“Well, if it’s on video everyone’s going to know,” Tammy said as she peeked around a book stack.
“True,” I said. “They’re probably watching us right now as we look like dummies trying to figure out what to do.”
“I knew those cameras were a bad idea. Though I suppose it’s probably quite funny,” Tammy said.
“For them maybe, not for me or you.”
Jane Austen peeked out from around the corner of the staircase as if trying to decide if it was safe to come out.
“It’s okay, Jane, you can come out now. I’ll get you something to eat.” I moved from behind the reference desk and grabbed the food from the storage cabinet.
As soon as I poured food into the dish, she started eating, so I figured she was feeling okay now after all the chaos. Thank goodness. I filled up her water dish with the bottled water from my tote bag. Jane preferred bottled water. Now that Jane had been fed, I had to get the mess cleaned up pronto.
“Still no sign of Annie,” I said.
I checked my phone to make sure she hadn’t sent a text and I had missed it. Oddly, there was no message from her.
“I don’t blame her for hiding,” Tammy said as she picked up a paperback from the floor.
“Annie,” I called out.
Still nothing. This wasn’t a good sign. I hoped Annie popped up soon. In the meantime, Tammy and I started picking up the books. So far, none were damaged. Thank goodness. Nevertheless, this was going to take a while.
“I think maybe we should just stack them all on the table here and then figure out where they belong.” Tammy pointed.
“It’ll look a mess, but it’s still better than having them scattered around the floor,” I said.
“Yes, much better,” Tammy said.
I checked my watch. We had ten minutes before the first patrons might arrive. Usually somebody got here right when the doors opened. By the time Tammy and I finished we had a huge pile of books on the table.
“This looks very odd,” I said, blowing the hair out of my eyes.
“Well, maybe they’ll just think we’re doing some rearranging,” Tammy said.
“I suppose,” I said around a sigh. “This has been a crazy morning.”
I blew the hair out of my eyes. “It certainly has.”
“There’s been more than just the books,” I said.
Tammy frowned. “What else happened?”
“Well, I was knocked down outside on the sidewalk.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Tammy clutched a book to her chest. “How?”
“I’m not sure, but it was really forceful. I think it was the same thing that was making the books move around.”
“This is scary, Rip. You should call the demonologist.”
“Oh, I’m definitely calling him. In the meantime…,” I pulled out the paper from my pocket. “I need you to call this number.”
She looked at me quizzically and took the paper.
“Just read it and you’ll know why.”
She unfolded the paper and quickly scanned the words. “What is this? A joke?”
“That’s what I want to know.”
“Someone is starting a haunted tour in Devil’s Moon?” she asked.
“Apparently I have competition. I want you to find out who is doing this.”
“I’m on it,” she said, pulling out her phone.
“While you do that, I’m calling Davis,” I said.
Davis had helped with quite a few paranormal pickles. Like when we’d had a demon in the library. That had been such a scary time that even now I hated to think about it.
“Ripley, how nice to hear from you,” Davis said when he answered. “I hope everything is all right.”
Maybe I should call him when I didn’t have a paranormal emergency. It seemed like I only called when there was a problem.
“I’m not certain if things are all right,” I said. “We had a crazy event happen this morning with books flying everywhere. There’s a whole lot of energy. I can still feel it in the air. I think you need to come over as soon as possible.”
“I have some time right now if that all right.”
“The sooner the better,” I said.
“I’ll be on my way.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll see you soon.”
I was relieved at least knowing that he would be here soon. While I waited, I had to get things ready to open the doors. Sorting the books would have to wait. I hoped one of the library board members didn’t come in this morning. The messiness wouldn’t look good. I started all the computers made sure to turn on all the lights. One of the other library assistants was having a children’s book reading today. If anything paranormal happened when the children were here I would completely freak out.
Now I turned to placing the books back in the right locations. I was still concerned that I hadn’t seen Annie. She always popped out to say hello every morning. I couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t. That left a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I’d only made it through a couple handfuls of books when the first patrons entered. I hoped they weren’t looking for any of the books on the stacks on the tables. I waved as a lady headed for the non-fiction section. She looked at the piles of books curiously, but I supposed it didn’t look too odd. I mean, we were in the library and they were books. I hoped that chaos didn’t break out again while other people were in the library. I could handle it and I thought Tammy
was okay with it right now, but I wasn’t sure anyone else would feel the same way.
As much as I wanted to finish the books, I just couldn’t wait any longer. I had to check the video. Plus, I needed to tell Brannon what happened. It would take me all day to get the books back in the right locations so what was a few more minutes. It was almost as if the spirit had purposely tossed books around the library to cause as much pandemonium as possible.
I glanced over at the location where the portal was located. Everything seemed fine, but nevertheless, I inched closer. My anxiety grew the closer I got to the ghostly gateway. My nervousness certainly wasn’t a good sign. Negative energy might be coming from it.
“You sense something?” a male voice asked from behind me.
I spun around to find a tall, blue-eyed guy staring at me. I guessed his age close to my mine. Maybe a couple years older, like in his mid-thirties. The handsome man had short dark hair and a bashful smile.
“I guess,” I said hesitantly.
I wasn’t sure if he realized why I was staring at the wall.
He stuck out his hand. “My name is Charlie Shaw.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ripley,” I said. “I’m the librarian.”
He pointed at the wall. “A portal for the paranormal?”
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“I’m a psychic medium,” he said. “I pick up on these things.”
As best as I could remember I’d never seen this man in the library before. And I wasn’t sure how he’d managed to sneak up on me without me hearing anything. I liked to think I had good hearing. Maybe even a bit of intuition for these things, but apparently not.
“Are you sensing anything now?” I asked.
“Everything seems all right,” he said. “But I wouldn’t want to open it. The portal would allow in a lot of bad things.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. “Do you think it’s still closed?”
“Absolutely,” he said, waving his hand across the wall.
Unfortunately, even though I’d asked for his opinion, I couldn’t take his word for it.
“I know a demonologist. He’s coming by to check on it. He’s the one who closed the portal.”
