Ghostly Town (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 4) Read online

  “Let’s save that for last,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

  “Good idea,” Rebecca said. Even she looked a bit freaked out. We spent the rest of the time waiting for Kane to arrive by looking at the church. Occasionally, I thought I could spot strange orbs of lights, but they disappeared just as quickly as they appeared so I wasn’t sure if it was anything concrete or just my imagination running wild.

  I jumped up a little when I noticed Kane’s headlights coming our way.

  “It’s going to be all right,” Rebecca reassured me. “Let’s just hope Henry can snap him back to reality and we can get out of here.”

  “If what the little boy told me is true, there is no getting away. Even the inn is one of their hangouts. I still can’t believe you didn’t notice anything when you checked the place out.”

  “In my defense, I didn’t even know the place had a basement. They must be pretty powerful to hide a whole level of the house like that. You’d think they’d try to recruit me or something. I’m actually kind of offended. I mean, I could be a bad spirit if I wanted to, right?”

  “Yeah, Rebecca, you can be anything you put your mind to.”

  Thankfully, Kane had Henry with him.

  “I’m not sure how I could be of any help,” Henry said once they came to where we were standing. “I can’t even see him.”

  “That’s all right,” I said. “I hope he’ll be able to hear your voice and snap back into reality.”

  Henry stepped forward, then stopped when he saw the circle of salt. “He’s in there?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Try not to break it. We don’t want him running away and disappearing forever.”

  “What exactly is wrong with him?” Henry asked. “Kane said some things, but I’m still kind of confused. He’s here but he’s not here?”

  “Yeah, that about sums it up,” I said. “You should just focus on talking to him like he was here. Tell him things that you think could get through to him.”

  Henry looked at the salt circle but no words came out of his mouth. “Maybe a little privacy?” He finally said.

  “Of course,” I said. “But I’ll keep an eye on from the distance, to see if there are any changes to his state.”

  Kane and I left Henry and Charles to it. Even Rebecca gave them a bit of privacy, though she remained within earshot. But since Henry couldn’t really see her, it’s not like she posed much of a problem.

  “Do you think it will work?” Kane asked me.

  “I don’t know. I hope so. It’s worth a shot at least.”

  He nodded. Then he looked toward the church. “So you’re getting bad vibes from that place? It looks just like an abandoned church to me. Nothing special about it, as far as I can see.”

  “That’s why I’m the ghost hunter, and you’re just a regular PI.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Just a regular PI?”

  “You know what I mean,” I said.

  “Oh, do I?”

  “Stop being difficult. You know you’re just a regular guy. And that’s why I love you.”

  “You love me, is that right?”

  I pushed him away.

  “Well, as if it needs to be said,” he said. “I love you, too.”

  “You guys are making me wanna puke,” Rebecca said, suddenly a lot closer than she was mere seconds ago.

  “Did it work?” I asked her.

  “Something is happening. I think you should come and check this out.”

  Kane and I walked over to where Henry was, still talking to what to him looked like empty air. But to me, it looked like Charles, and it looked like he was starting to slow down his frantic movements. He was coming back to himself.

  “It’s working,” I said to Henry. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”

  “Good, because I was starting to think I was just talking to myself. I’m still not sure I’m not.”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you,” I said. “Keep talking.”

  While Henry talked about some funny thing that happened in Paris what sounded like a very long time ago, I focused on Charles.

  “Charles,” I said in a strong voice. “Come back to us. Henry is here.”

  Little by little, the rapid movements slowed down and what looked like a blur before looked like Charles again. He looked around, confused.

  “How did I get here?”

  He tried to move out of the circle but found that he could not leave it.

  “What is the meaning of this?” He asked me.

  I quickly explained the general situation.

  He looked back in the direction of the church and then quickly looked away.

  “Did you remember something?” I asked him.

  “No…but I know that’s a bad place…”

  “Well, at least that’s something. I’ll open the circle and then you can go with Rebecca. But before I do, you have to promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t go running off half-cocked again. The only reason we’re currently in this mess is because you decided to run after Carl. Let’s not do that again, all right?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Just let me out of this trap before they decide to come out of that wretched place.”

  I did just that, and as soon as I broke the circle of salt, Charles flew out of it like a bat out of hell.

  “Keep an eye on him,” I said to Rebecca.

  She nodded and flew after him. From what I could see, she caught up to the ghost. I hoped they’d stay out of trouble, because if there were more places like this abandoned church in town, then the trouble was just starting. I wondered how many mediums were going to die if these spirits were left to their own devices. That’s why I was determined to stop them once and for all. The least I could do is to at least try. I just hoped that I wouldn’t lose my life in the process.

  Ten

  Once we were back at the inn, in our room, Kane said something that surprised me but probably shouldn’t have.

  “I think maybe we should leave town,” he said as soon as he closed the door behind us.

  “But Charles hasn’t moved on yet. We don’t even know who really killed him and Madeline. Besides, I also promised to help all those spirits.”

  One of them had stopped me on the way back to our room, but I said that whatever it was could wait until tomorrow.

  “If what you’re telling me is true, then these spirits are dangerous, and not to mention powerful. Powerful enough to kill people, Meredith. Do you really want to get their attention? You could be their next target.”

  “It’s possible, but I can’t just turn my back on this town, Kane. What kind of person would I be?”

  “One that’s still alive?”

  “I think you’re being a bit dramatic. I have no history with those spirits. From what we know, I believe Charles and Madeline were targeted. And besides, they were both in trance when they died. I don’t go into trance in order to communicate with spirits, so I think I’ll be fine. I’m not sure the rest of the mediums in town will be, though. That’s why I have to stay here until I know those spirits have been dealt with.”

  “There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ in what we know so far. I don’t like it one bit. If we were dealing with visible threats, I could protect you. But I’m running blind here. Half the time you might as well be talking to air, for all I know.”

  “You know it’s a lot more than half,” I joked.

  “This isn’t funny, Meredith. The wedding was bad enough, but I think this town might actually be worse.”

  “I don’t think anything will top that wedding,” I said. “But we made it out alive. I think we can get through this, too. We just have to be careful. We have to be smarter than them.”

  “We don’t even know who they are.”

  “And that’s a problem, I agree. That’s why we have to find out more. I think that group of ghosts that are so desperate for my help know more than they’re letting on. I know that ghost boy certainly does.�
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  “Maybe they’re keeping their mouths shut for a good reason? Have you thought of that? They probably don’t want to end up like Charles. And from what you told me, it doesn’t sound like most of them have any living relatives that could bring them back like Henry brought back Charles.”

  “You have a point there,” I said. “Which reminds me, I should look up missing children in the town. There can’t be that many in a town this small, can there? Who knows, maybe I get lucky and find that ghost boy’s name and he can finally move on after all these years.”

  Kane sighed. “You haven’t heard a thing I’ve said, have you?”

  “I heard you. Loud and clear. I just happen to think that I can actually help this town. I can prevent more mediums from dying, and I think that’s worth any risk there might be to me.”

  Kane drew me in closer. “You’re too good, Meredith Good.”

  “I never thought I’d heard anyone say that,” I said and laughed. “Usually people tell me I’m aloof, selfish, or just plain crazy.”

  “Well, I know you better than that,” he said and put his arms around me. “Though I will say that you’re more than a little crazy. Only a crazy person would stay in this town knowing what exactly is happening behind the scenes.”

  We went to bed. I was on my phone for a bit, checking out missing children in the area. Depressingly, there were more than I anticipated. But the online news stories only went back so far, and so did the websites. It looked like I was going to have to take the old-fashioned route and go to one of the local libraries and look through their old newspapers.

  The next morning, I woke up groggy, as if from a hangover, even though I drank no alcohol at all. It probably had to do with the restless night I spent tossing and turning and waking from half-dreams. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say something was trying to tell me to leave well enough alone. Kane’s words echoed in my mind throughout the night. Maybe he was right after all? Once daylight came, though, I felt more certain than ever that I needed to stay in Ghostly, Missouri until I got to the bottom of all of this.

  Kane woke up soon after I got dressed.

  “Where are you going?” He asked, looking quite groggy himself.

  “The local library. Don’t worry, I can do this one by myself.”

  “Not a chance,” he said as he quickly got dressed. “You know how much I love research.”

  Rebecca was still out and about with Charles. She hadn’t checked in last night. I hoped the two of them hadn’t gotten into too much trouble.

  I ran into a couple of ghosts on my way down.

  “Soon,” I told them. “Right now I’m focusing on the little boy’s case. Your turn will come.”

  The ghost, a man in his thirties, didn’t look too convinced that his turn would come, but he did step out of my way.

  The lady with the ghost cat was by the fireplace. Since she was one of the few ghosts who actually didn’t want my help, I ignored her. On the way out I stopped and tried to feel anything nefarious, but I couldn’t feel a thing. One of these days I’d find the courage to go down to the basement but right now I had more important things to worry about.

  We followed the directions on my phone. The library was only supposed to be five minutes away but we ended up circling the same area until Kane noticed that one of the houses had a sign out front. It looked like a regular residential property to me, but apparently, this was the local library. We parked on the street because all their parking spots were taken.

  The inside was surprisingly spacious. I guess a couple of walls were moved to allow a more open space inside of the one-level property. The librarian was an elderly lady.

  “Welcome to Ghostly’s only library,” she said as soon as I stepped up to her desk. “How may I serve you today?”

  “Do you have any old newspapers I can look through?”

  “What exactly are you looking for?”

  “Missing kids. A boy of eight or nine to be exact.”

  “Do you know what year he went missing? His name, maybe?”

  “I’m afraid not. I just know his general description. Light brown hair, short, and I think he was wearing a schoolboy’s uniform.”

  “My, my, that’s very specific. Where exactly did you hear about this boy?”

  I leaned forward. “I actually saw his ghost over at the inn I’m staying in.” Usually, I would be more subtle, but since I was in a supposedly haunted town right now, I saw no need to hide my ability.

  The librarian took it in stride, though she did raise her eyebrows slightly. “Is that right? I think I might actually be more helpful to you than any old newspapers. If it’s the boy I’m thinking of, he disappeared when I was a little girl. I’ll never forget the day he went missing. Barry was his name. Actually, it was Bartholomew Reddington, but we all called him Barry, including his parents.”

  “What happened?”

  “No one knew. There were theories. From as innocent that he must have drowned and the body washed away to the sea, to the theory that his parents might have been involved. Nothing was proven, though. It still remains a mystery to this day.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “One last thing, do you know what happened to his parents? Any other relatives?”

  “His parents died a long time ago. Though I think his sister must still be alive. She was only a baby when he disappeared.”

  “Do you remember her name by any chance?”

  “Theodora Reddington, though I think she goes by her married name now. Miller? Meyer? Something like that.”

  “Thank you for your help,” I said as I prepared to leave.

  “Wait a minute, young lady. Are you saying that poor boy is still roaming around this town as a ghost?”

  “He doesn’t remember his name, but yes. Hopefully, he starts to remember things once I tell him his name. You’ve been very helpful in that regard.”

  “Please come back and tell me when his spirit is at rest,” the old lady said.

  I promised I would.

  “Well, that was easy,” Kane said as we made our way back to the van.

  “It was, wasn’t it? Though not surprising. Old people, if they can remember things that is, are a very useful source of information.”

  I went back to the inn and searched for the ghost boy. He was with the lady that was usually by his side. She decided to stay with us as I reminded him of his identity, and what I knew of what happened to him.

  “Barry,” the little boy said. “Yes, that sounds familiar.”

  I gave him some time to absorb the information. After such a long time of not remembering, a ghost needed time to adjust their perception.

  “Theodora!” He said then.

  This was a good sign. I hadn’t told him his sister’s name.

  “She’s still alive. Would you like to see her?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “Yes, please.”

  “But before we do, do you remember what happened to you?”

  “I think…I think I was playing by the water. I must have gotten too close because the next thing I remember is being like this.”

  I turned to Kane. He was on his phone, furiously searching for the Theodora we needed.

  “I think this is her,” he said. He gave me his phone and pointed to a local address. “Apparently, she still lives in the town.”

  We drove there with the ghost boy in tow. I walked him through car travel. He got the hang of it pretty quick.

  “So we’re just dropping in?” Kane said.

  “Yeah. I don’t think telling her over the phone that her dead brother wants to talk to her will make her any more welcoming.”

  We kept driving until we were at what looked to be a very fancy estate. Either the Reddingtons or the Millers were a rich bunch.

  “That’s my house!” Barry said as if he had read my mind.

  The door was answered by a maid that looked worn and tired. She made us stand out front while she asked the lady of the house if she wanted to see us. She
came back five minutes later and led us to the living room.

  Theodora Miller was wheeled in then by another maid.

  “You say you have information regarding my brother’s disappearance? If you’re another one of those kooks, you may as well leave now. I’m done giving money to you lot,” she said.

  “It’s completely free of charge. I’m just here to pass along some information.”

  “My family has been hounded by the ‘psychics’ and the ‘mediums’ ever since I can remember. That’s why I left this town as soon as I became of age. But now that my husband has passed, I’ve decided to come back here and spend my twilight years in my family home.”

  “That’s perfectly understandable. And while I don’t want any money, I am one of those people you speak of. I can see the dead and they can speak to me. That’s why I’m here. I’m staying at the local inn and I just happened to run into a boy ghost. He’s your brother.”

  “Get out, get out now,” Theodora said, suddenly getting agitated.

  “He’s here right now, Theodora,” I said. “And he wants you to know that his death was an accident. He was playing by the lake and fell in. He doesn’t remember anything after that.”

  “Did he suffer?” She asked through tears.

  “Not that I remember,” he said to me.

  I relayed the message.

  Then I noticed a door of light opening in the distance.

  “Is that for me?” Barry asked me.

  “Yes,” I reassured him. “You can finally move on and be with your parents.”

  He gave a ghostly hug to his sister. She shivered from the cold.

  “Was that him?” She asked me, her eyes as big as saucers.

  I nodded. “And right now he’s walking toward the light. He’s ready to move on.”

  “I know I didn’t know you, but I loved you all the same,” Theodora said to Barry. “I always wished we could have grown up together.”

  “Me too,” Barry said. “I’ll see you soon, Theodora!”