Ghostly Wedding (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 3) Read online

  Ghostly Wedding

  A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book Three

  Aubrey Harper

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Aubrey Harper

  All rights reserved.

  Contents

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  19. Nineteen

  20. Twenty

  21. Twenty-One

  22. Twenty-Two

  23. Twenty-Three

  24. Twenty-Four

  Next Up…

  Author’s Note

  Also by Aubrey Harper

  One

  “I can’t see a thing,” Kane said, shining his cellphone flashlight where the ghost was.

  “Did you really expect to see anything?” I said.

  “I can’t even see anything through my camera,” he complained.

  “I told you him coming with us was a bad idea,” I said to Rebecca.

  Rebecca shrugged her ghostly shoulders. “Hey, I was willing to change things up, okay?”

  Changing things up was Rebecca’s forte the past few months. But now that we were in a creepy warehouse, I didn’t really have time for a fight.

  “How many ghosts are there?” Kane asked.

  “I’ve spotted two so far,” I said.

  “Serial killer?” He offered.

  “I don’t think so. This used to be an apartment building before it was torn down. And now they’re going to tear this down and build who knows what on top.”

  “So the guy who bought the land wants you to get rid of all the ghosts before he starts anew?”

  “Something like that. But thankfully he’s paying top dollar, so I can’t complain.”

  Ever since my TV interviews about a certain dead magician, demand for my gift had gone up. I had a choice between staying in the city or going back to Silver Bells Cove. Needless to say, I was back in Silver Bells. My grandmother was here and so was my cousin. Who was just about to get married. And since I was the maid of honor, I kind of had to be there for her.

  “You’re dead,” I told the ghost.

  “No, I’m not,” the middle-aged woman said. “If I was, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now, now would I?”

  I gave Rebecca a look.

  Rebecca rolled her ghostly eyes. “It’s true, you’re as dead as I am, sweetheart. Now you just have to move on.”

  The woman didn’t look convinced.

  “What’s your name?” I asked. I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to see if she could remember.

  “Mary Louise Smith, of course,” she said.

  “And what year is it?”

  “Well, I don’t know the exact date, but…”

  Before she could get any more confused, I pulled out my cell phone. I looked at the folder saved under her name. I showed her the newspaper story about the fire that had happened there some thirty years ago.

  “That can’t be right,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I would remember something as traumatic as that. This must be some kind of trick.”

  I pulled up the video I found of the fire, aired by some local station at the time. I played it for her.

  “That’s a really small TV,” she said.

  “It’s a phone,” I informed her. “Now just look at that video.”

  Then her picture pulled up as one of the victims.

  “All right, so I might be dead. So what do you want from me?”

  “Don’t you think it’s time to move on? To go into the light?”

  Kane winced when he heard that. He still wasn’t convinced that going into the light was a good idea, but it was part of my job, so he just had to get used to it and keep his opinions to himself.

  “I don’t see any light,” she said. “All I see is my apartment.”

  I looked around and only saw an abandoned, dark and damp warehouse. Mary Louise was living in her own self-created illusion.

  “You’re not seeing the reality. Your apartment building got torn down soon after the fire. Right now it’s a warehouse. Tell her, Rebecca.”

  “It’s true,” Rebecca told her. “And we can walk through walls as well.”

  While Rebecca was busy with Mary, I was on the lookout for the other ghost. The other ghost was an elderly man who had a penchant for scaring the crap out of anyone who stepped foot in the building. He was the real reason that the man who bought the property had hired me.

  “Charles, are you here?” I asked the darkness.

  Kane was right behind me with his flashlight.

  “Do you think he’ll try to scare us?” He said. “Wouldn’t that be cool.”

  I turned around and gave Kane a look. “There’s nothing ‘cool’ about a ghost scaring people. You know, one of them almost threw me down the stairs. I could have died, Kane. I could have died!”

  Kane put his hands on my shoulders. “Stop being hysterical, Millie.”

  I pushed him away.

  “Don’t call me that,” I warned him.

  “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. Ever since your grandma told me about that nickname, I’ve waiting for an opportunity to use it.”

  “Well, you chose the worst possible time.”

  I felt a chill go through me. It stopped me in my tracks.

  “He’s here,” I said.

  “Holy crap,” Kane cursed. “I felt it too. This chill just passed through my whole body. It felt…unpleasant.”

  “This guy might be dangerous. You better keep your voice down. You might be annoying him or something.”

  “Very funny,” Kane said. But he kept his mouth shut after that just in case.

  I turned from him and smiled in the darkness. That’s what you get for calling me Millie, Kane.

  “Meredith! She sees the light!” Rebecca called.

  I told Kane to follow me.

  The door of light was there. All Mary Louise needed to do was open it.

  “It’s going to be okay. It’s time to move on,” I urged her.

  She stepped closer and the door completely opened, almost blinding me. It didn’t blind Mary, though. She had tears in her eyes.

  “It’s so beautiful,” she said. “Is it real?”

  “Yes,” I said, even though I had no idea. My job was to help them move on, not answer all their questions.

  Mary Louise stepped through the door and was gone, as was the light.

  “You won’t get rid of me so easily,” a deep voice said.

  It gave me the creeps.

  “Is she gone?” Kane asked.

  “Yes, but this Charles guy won’t go as easy. He actually just said it.”

  “Damn, that’s creepy. Does that kind of thing usually happen?”

  “Nope,” I said. “Not usually. It usually happens when they’ve been a ghost for a long time and they’ve become aware. He doesn’t want to move on, Kane, so I’ll just have to make him.”

  “I believe in you,” Kane said. “Do you need anything?”

  “It’s back in the car,” I said. “Cha
rles will wish he never came across me.”

  Rebecca, Kane and I made our back to the van.

  “That’s right, run away,” Charles mocked.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” I said.

  Once we were by the van, Kane opened the back door. “The good thing is that he’s trapped here. If he was free, he would have followed us out,” I said.

  “Can you really cleanse this place of him?” Kane whispered.

  “I can certainly try, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You’ve got this, Meredith,” Rebecca said. “If you can get rid of a serial killer, you can get rid of this creep as well.”

  Rebecca made me feel a little better. I took out the salt and the iron just in case. If Charles wanted to play, I was about to give him the game of his life.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are,” I said to the darkness. I felt Charles lurking. From my research, I knew that he’d been dead at least a hundred years. More than that I didn’t know. Though there were certainly rumors and embellishments over the years. Apparently, people thought he was doing experiments on humans.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kane whispered. “This is basically Frankenstein.”

  “Please,” I said. “I’m not afraid of him.”

  I turned to Rebecca. “Do you see anything?”

  She looked around. “I see glimpses of him all around. Either he’s really fast, or he can be in more places than one.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “What is it?” Kane asked, looking thoroughly creeped out. It was all fun and games until he felt that chill, now he was taking this haunting thing a lot more seriously.

  “Charles is being tricky, that’s all, but pretty soon he’ll be gone. I can assure you of that.”

  “So confident,” Charles said. His voice sounded like it was above me. I looked up and shuddered when I saw him reach down for me. Instinctively, I threw sea salt into the apparition. Charles dissolved and screeched.

  “There’s more where that came from,” I said to the ghost.

  “What was that?” Kane said, covering his ears.

  “The sound of a ghost screaming,” I said. “They don’t like salt.”

  “Is he gone then?” Kane asked.

  “Sadly, no, just temporarily without form. He’ll reform soon enough and try again.”

  “He’s circling us again,” Rebecca warned me.

  “Well, that didn’t take long.”

  The salt was ready in my hand, but this time with something a little extra: iron filings. If Charles wasn’t willing to listen, I was going to make him. I didn’t like doing it, but he left me no choice.

  “Come on, come on,” I kept saying under my breath.

  “Behind you!” Rebecca yelled.

  I turned around and blew the salt and iron mixture right in Charles’s face.

  “Freeze!” I shouted before he could completely disperse. His form was both dissolved and frozen in the air. He was everywhere.

  “Do you have the extra salt?” I asked Kane.

  He lifted up the paper bag. “Right here,” he said.

  “Good. We’re gonna need it.”

  Kane shone the light while I made a circle of iron and salt around Charles. Once it was finished, I was ready to continue with the hostile spirit.

  “Reform. Now!” I told Charles.

  Within seconds, he was himself again. A tall, older man. He had an angry, dark expression on his face.

  He tried to flee the circle of salt and iron but he got pushed back each time.

  “I underestimated you,” he hissed.

  “It happens a lot,” I said.

  “What is he saying?” Kane asked, curious.

  “Nothing important,” I said, giving Charles my best “you’re screwed” look.

  He charged for me, and for a second I actually thought he could break through the barrier with force of will alone, but thankfully, he got pushed back.

  I glanced at my phone, making sure I had his full name.

  “Charles Ian Cornipicus, I banish you from this place. It’s time for you to move on.”

  “No!” Charles screamed. “You can’t do this!”

  “I just did,” I said as I saw a hole opening in the ground. It was made of light as well, though not as bright as the doors of light ghosts willingly passed through.

  “You’ll pay for this!” Charles screamed as he was sucked into the hole. Then there was nothing. The light was gone and so was Charles.

  “That’s it?” Kane said after it was over.

  “What did you expect?”

  “I don’t know. Something more, I guess.”

  We made our way back to Kane’s van.

  “Believe me, it looked plenty exciting from my side. You just can’t see any of the ghostly activity, that’s why you’re disappointed.”

  “So what exactly happened to him when you banished him? Did he go to hell or…?”

  “It didn’t look like hell to me. Just light. Maybe it looked like hell to him? I don’t know. Either way, my work here is done. And I’m hungry. I hope Gran has something good waiting for me at home.”

  “You don’t want to go to my place?”

  Kane had gotten a small apartment in Silver Bells Cove.

  “No, I told you I want to take things slowly. Spending the night at your place is not taking things slowly, is it?”

  “Fine.” Kane sighed. “But you’re all mine tomorrow, right?”

  “Actually…”

  “What now? Another job?”

  “No. Well, yes. I have to prepare stuff for Sarah’s wedding. Tomorrow I have a bachelorette party to plan.”

  “Oh, when’s that gonna be?”

  “Tomorrow night,” I said sheepishly.

  “You really like leaving everything to the last minute, don’t you?”

  “Have you met me?”

  “Are we going?” Rebecca said. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

  “Any ghosts I missed?” I asked.

  “No, just in general.”

  “Take me home,” I said to Kane. “Even Rebecca is growing restless.”

  Two

  “What fresh hell is this?”

  I woke up and it was freezing in the house.

  “Fall is here,” Rebecca said matter-of-factly. “I wish I could feel the seasons.”

  “Yeah, yeah, but who has a fall wedding? Isn’t that silly?”

  “It’s a beautiful time of year. Just before winter starts to take the beauty away…”

  “Are you okay?” I asked Rebecca. She’d become prone to random melancholy since Darius left.

  “I’m fine,” she reassured me. She even improved her posture. “What’s on the agenda today?”

  “I have to make sure the bar is ours for the night. As for the entertainment, well, alcohol will have to do and maybe some karaoke.”

  “No male strippers? I’ve always heard about them but never got the chance to see one in the flesh. It would have been cool to haunt their dressing room for a bit.”

  I laughed. “Rebecca, sometimes you crack me up. Though I can’t really blame you. I’d probably do the same if I was a ghost.”

  “Do you think you ever will be one? Maybe when you’re dead we can be ghost buddies…”

  “Hmm, I don’t know if I’d want to hang around for too long. I bet I have a nice afterlife waiting for me since I helped so many dead people move on.”

  “You’re so full of yourself. I helped you plenty of times to help them move on, and I’m still here. Where’s my door, universe?” Rebecca said that last part loudly.

  Just then, Marmalade and Ebony invaded my room. They were two adorable cats that belonged to my grandma. Or did she belong to them? It was hard to tell sometimes.

  They meowed as they jumped on my bed. I knew what that meant.

  “I would feed them if I could,” Rebecca said.

  “Yeah, yeah, let me just put some clothes on
little kitties and I’ll be right there with you, all right?”

  The cat circled my feet as I put some jeans and a sweater on. I almost fell over them. Rebecca just laughed and said how adorable they were. Adorable but possibly deadly, I told myself.

  I fed the cats and got something to eat for myself while Rebecca waited impatiently.

  “I’m sorry, but a girl’s gotta eat,” I told her.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “But the way you’re looking at me says all that needs to be said. What’s gotten into you? Are you still not over that Darius guy? Do you want to join him in his grand adventure?”

  “No,” Rebecca said. “I’ll wait for you outside.” Then she disappeared through the wall.

  Having a ghost as a best friend wasn’t all it was cracked up to be sometimes.

  “You’d never abandon me like that, would you, kitties?”

  The cats looked up at me and gave me disapproving looks. Then they went right back to munching on their food.

  Once we were all finished with the food, I petted them a bit and said my goodbyes. Gran was already at her bakery. I looked at the clock and saw that it was nearing ten. I usually opened my offices at nine or ten anyway, but ever since my talk show tour talking about my gifts, there was always someone already waiting by the time I got there.

  It was quite surreal to go from no demand to having people travel across the country to see me. I was starting to regret ever having done that tour, but my bank account thanked me.

  Once I parked in front of my office, I was immediately recognized by the women standing in front. I didn’t even have a chance to get my morning pastry from Gran’s bakery.

  “You’re that psychic, aren’t you?” One of the women, about my age, said.

  “No, I’m a medium if you must call me something, Though I prefer ghost hunter if you must know.”

  “That’s so cool,” giggled a teenage girl that was with them.