The Ghost of Second Chances Read online

  The Ghost of Second Chances

  (Haunting Danielle, Book 17)

  A Novel

  By Bobbi Holmes

  Cover Design: Elizabeth Mackey

  * * *

  Copyright © 2018 Bobbi Holmes

  Robeth Publishing, LLC

  All Rights Reserved.

  robeth.net

  * * *

  This novel is a work of fiction.

  Any resemblance to places or actual persons,

  living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Dedicated to my author friends. Thank you for all your support, encouragement, advice, and humor. This journey would not be half as fun—or as rewarding—without you.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  The Ghost Who Dream Hopped

  Haunting Danielle Newsletter

  Haunting Danielle Series

  Bobbi Holmes

  Unlocked Hearts Series

  The Coulson Series

  Also by Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

  One

  Considering the spring break pedestrian traffic on the pier, Officer Brian Henderson wasn’t surprised when he and his partner, Joe Morelli, stepped into Pier Café on Wednesday morning and found all the booths and tables occupied. Wearing their police uniforms and each carrying a hat in hand, the two men stepped all the way into the diner and glanced around. The door closed behind them. They looked for someplace to sit at the counter. Unfortunately, there was only one empty seat.

  Before Carla could put their names on a waiting list, they heard a familiar voice call out from a nearby booth. “Brian, Joe, you’re welcome to sit with me.”

  Turning to the person offering the invitation, they found Joanne Johnson, Marlow House’s housekeeper and cook, and longtime Frederickport resident, smiling in their direction. She and Brian were about the same age, each in their fifties, while Joe was much younger. Each officer flashed Joanne a grin while walking to her booth.

  “You’re alone?” Brian asked as Joanne scooted over, making room for him to sit down.

  “I just got off work. Thought I’d treat myself to breakfast out. You’re welcome to join me. I’d like the company.”

  “Thanks,” Joe said as he took a seat across from Joanne.

  Brian glanced at his watch and then looked to Joanne as he sat down beside her. “A little early to get off work, isn’t it? It’s not even ten yet. With it being spring break, I’d think Marlow House would be hopping.”

  Before Joanne had a chance to respond, Carla stepped up to the table, turned the cups in front of Joe and Brian right side up, and filled them with coffee. She then took their orders.

  After Carla left their table, Brian said, “That’s right, I forgot Danielle told me she wasn’t taking reservations for a few weeks.”

  “That was the plan,” Joanne said with a shrug as she set her cup on the table. “Danielle figured we would need a break after having Clint’s entourage stay with us for two weeks.”

  “I heard he was getting out of the hospital today.” Brian picked up a sugar packet, tore it open, and dumped it into his coffee.

  “That’s why I was at work this morning. Got his room ready. We’re putting him in the downstairs bedroom. No way he’d be able to maneuver the stairs with a cast on,” Joanne explained.

  “You don’t seem too thrilled about it,” Joe noted.

  Joanne shrugged again. “I’m sorry, but he’s an unpleasant man. Yet it’s Danielle’s call. Between you and me, that girl has too big a heart.”

  “How long do you think he’s staying?” Brian stirred his coffee with a spoon while waiting for Joanne’s answer.

  “I’ve no idea. I asked Danielle, and she said nothing had been decided yet. Something about taking one day at a time. But really, it’s not like we’re a boardinghouse. So I have to assume it’s temporary. It’d be rather expensive for him to stay very long.”

  “Knowing Danielle, she’s probably giving him a discount,” Joe suggested.

  “I’m surprised they’re releasing him so soon,” Brian said. “When did he get out of the coma, like three days ago?”

  “According to the doctors, there’s nothing wrong with him—aside from the amnesia and broken leg. Nothing that requires hospitalization, anyway. They really don’t have a reason to keep him, and from what I understand, he was adamant about getting out. He wanted the hospital to release him on Monday,” Joanne explained. “But they wanted to keep him under observation for a few more days.”

  “For a guy who supposedly can’t even remember who he is, I’m surprised he’s so anxious to get out of the hospital. I’d think most people would be terrified and would want to stay somewhere safe,” Joe said.

  “Danielle claims he wants to stay at Marlow House because it’s the last place he stayed before the accident, and he’s hoping that will help jog his memory.” Joanne reluctantly added, “I suppose I can understand that.”

  “Let’s hope he gets his memory back quickly. I don’t think Danielle needs to be looking after Clint Marlow for any longer than necessary,” Brian said.

  “She shouldn’t be doing it at all,” Joe grumbled.

  “And did you know? He wants to be called Walt!” Joanne said.

  Brian nodded. “Yes, the chief told us. He saw Marlow right after he came out of the coma. According to the chief, Marlow said he didn’t feel like a Clint, so he decided to go by his first name.”

  “Technically his first name is Walter, not Walt,” Joanne grumbled. “And I find it annoying he’s using Walt Marlow’s name. It isn’t right.”

  “It is his name too,” Brian reminded her.

  “He’s not at Marlow House yet, is he?” Joe asked.

  Joanne shook her head. “No. Danielle is picking him up from the hospital this morning.”

  Danielle had pulled up to the front door of the hospital several minutes earlier and now stood by the side of her Ford Flex, the passenger door wide open. She watched as a nurse pushed a wheelchair through the open doorway of the hospital and toward her vehicle. Its passenger, Walt Marlow, looked up and smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling.

  Walt the flesh and blood man looked much different from the last time she had seen Walt the spirit, and it wasn’t the shorter hair. It was the fact he hadn’t shaved for the last few days. It was more than a five o’clock shadow, yet not quite a beard. While she normally wasn’t a fan of men’s facial hair, she had to admit, Walt wore it well.

  On his lap he held a plastic bag and a pair of crutches. She assumed the bag contained the meager items he had acquired while at the hospital. The previous day she had brought him a new pair of slacks, shirt, slippers, and undergarments to wear
home. The tan slacks were a loose cotton-blend fabric, making it easy to pull on over his cast. She had found a white linen shirt to go with the slacks. They reminded her of a shirt Walt had worn in one of their dream hops. When selecting the clothes, she had thought of what suited Walt’s style, not Clint’s.

  He seemed pleased with her selection, yet he had been apologetic over her having to go clothes shopping for him. She hadn’t mentioned there were more clothes waiting at Marlow House. After all, she couldn’t have Walt coming home and having nothing to wear. It wasn’t like he still had the power to conjure up a new suit on demand.

  Before helping Walt into the passenger side of the vehicle, the nurse handed Danielle the crutches and plastic bag. While the nurse carefully maneuvered Walt into the car, Danielle tossed the bag and crutches into the backseat and then walked around the Flex and got into the driver’s side.

  “You need to put on your seatbelt,” the nurse instructed Walt. He looked at her with a confused expression, as if he didn’t grasp her meaning.

  Shutting her car door after sitting down, Danielle glanced over to Walt and frowned. She then realized what the problem was.

  “I’ll help him,” Danielle told the nurse. “Sometimes that seatbelt sticks,” she lied.

  “Okay, but make sure he buckles up,” the nurse said brightly. “You take care of yourself, Mr. Marlow.”

  “Thank you,” Walt told her.

  The nurse shut the passenger door and then turned from the vehicle and pushed the now empty wheelchair back toward the hospital.

  “What was she talking about?” Walt asked.

  “Your seatbelt, Walt.” Danielle grabbed her own seatbelt and stretched it out to show him.

  “What in the world?” He frowned.

  “Your seatbelt, you put it on like this. Come on, you must have seen seatbelts in one of the shows you’ve watched on TV.” She snapped the belt around her waist and looked over to Walt, waiting for him to do the same.

  He shrugged. “I probably have, but I didn’t really pay much attention to them. It doesn’t matter; I don’t want to wear it. I don’t need to be belted in. It’s not like I’m about to fall out of the car.”

  Danielle removed her seatbelt and turned to face Walt. “It’s not really an option. It’s the law.”

  “The law?”

  Danielle nodded. “Yes. You have to wear a seatbelt in a moving vehicle.”

  Walt chuckled and leaned back in the seat, making no attempt to fasten his belt. “Considering the laws I’ve broken in the past; I’m not going to get too worked up over a seatbelt law.”

  “Walt, you have to wear your seatbelt. Anyway, if you don’t, my car is going to make an annoying buzzing sound until you put it on.”

  Walt looked over to Danielle and noted her stern expression. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  Danielle nodded. “Yes. Seatbelts save lives.”

  Walt considered Danielle’s words a moment and then let out a sigh. “I suppose I shouldn’t be careless with this life I’ve been given.” He reached for his seatbelt. “Now, how do I do this?”

  With a grin, Danielle leaned over Walt and helped him buckle up. When he was settled in his seat, she secured her own seatbelt. As she started to turn on the ignition, Walt reached for her hand, stopping her.

  “Can we sit here a minute before we go?” Walt asked softly.

  Danielle glanced out her back window and then looked back to Walt. “Just for a minute. But we’re in a loading zone. If someone pulls up behind me, I need to move.”

  Walt nodded and then settled into his seat again, closing his eyes briefly. “I understand. But just a moment, please.”

  Danielle studied Walt. He opened his eyes and looked around the interior of the vehicle, as if seeing it for the first time.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Your car. It’s so different from the last car I was in.” He looked down to his feet briefly and then up to the dashboard.

  “What was the last car you were in?” Danielle asked.

  “My Packard Coupe.”

  Danielle grinned. “A Packard? What happened to it?”

  Walt looked at Danielle and shrugged. “I don’t know. I assume it was sold after I died. I don’t imagine Brianna ever mentioned a Packard?”

  Danielle shook her head. “Heck, Aunt Brianna didn’t even mention Marlow House when she was alive. I suppose I could ask Ben Smith what happened to it.” Ben’s father had been the court-appointed attorney of Danielle’s great-aunt Brianna when she was a young orphaned child.

  “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” Walt bounced gently up and down, his hands clinging to the outer edges of the seat.

  Danielle chuckled. “What are you doing?”

  “These seats. They feel different from what I remember.”

  Danielle turned on the ignition. “I imagine they do.”

  His attention now on the lit dashboard, Walt leaned forward and gingerly touched its control center. “You have a computer in the car?”

  Danielle looked at the dash and shrugged. “Kinda, sorta. I suppose cars pretty much run by computers these days.”

  Walt let out a low whistle and shook his head. “I’ve seen car ads on television, but it’s different actually sitting in one. You don’t have any wood in here.”

  “Wood?” Danielle asked before hearing a honk. She glanced behind her out the back window. A car had pulled up. “I have to move.”

  Walt nodded. “That’s fine. But do you think we could drive through town before we go home?”

  “You want to see how it’s changed?”

  “I’ve only been out of Marlow House twice since I died. I didn’t have the opportunity to look around either time. I’m curious to see what I’ll recognize…how different everything is now.”

  “I’ll give you the tour.” Danielle steered the vehicle away from the curb and headed for the parking lot exit.

  “I suppose you never have to climb a hill backwards in this, do you?” Walt asked as his hand stroked the door’s interior and wiggled the controls. He jumped slightly when the window went down but quickly got the knack of how to roll it up again.

  “What do you mean backwards?”

  Still playing with the power window, making it go up and down, Walt said, “All the car ads I’ve seen on television show cars driving straight up mountain roads. None of them going backwards.”

  “Why would someone drive backwards up a mountain road?”

  Walt stopped playing with the window and looked to Danielle. “Sometimes that was the only way you could get up the hill.”

  A few minutes later, as Danielle drove through the streets of Frederickport, Walt pointed to familiar landmarks and discussed the changes. He expressed relief that his hometown was still recognizable to him.

  Danielle turned down one of the main sections of the business district. Walt spied an unfamiliar building up ahead with a large sign. It read Frederickport Museum.

  “That’s the museum?” Walt noted as they approached the building.

  Hands firmly on the steering wheel, Danielle glanced briefly in that direction. “It is.” As they drove by, a slender woman wearing a flower-print dress and straw hat was making her way to the front door of the building. In one hand she carried a purse, in the other a folded-up newspaper.

  “So that’s where they’ll be putting my paintings,” Walt said as they continued down the street, the museum now behind them.

  Two

  Millie Samson was just ringing up several postcards for one customer in the museum store when a leggy blonde wearing a floral-print dress and straw hat entered the museum. Millie spied her from her place behind the counter, but it was Ben Smith, doing docent duty, who approached the woman in the front lobby adjacent to the museum store.

  The Frederickport Museum was doing a brisk business for a Wednesday morning, due primarily to the influx of spring break visitors in the beach town. Vacationing families with young children often put the mus
eum on their list of to-do activities, seeing it as an educational outing. The local children had had their spring holiday the previous week, so Millie assumed today’s visitors with children were from out of town. However, the new arrival didn’t have any children with her. She appeared to be alone.

  It took Sonya Kozlov’s eyes a moment to adjust to the interior lighting of the museum. To her right was an open archway leading to the museum store. An elderly woman stood behind the counter, now glancing her way as she handed a customer a small paper sack. Aside from the elderly woman and customer being waited on, there was a younger couple shopping in the gift store, along with several young children darting about while the man tried corralling them.

  “Welcome to the Frederickport Museum,” a man’s voice greeted her.

  Sonya looked toward the hallway leading to what she assumed was the main section of the museum and found an elderly man walking her way. On his shirt lapel he wore a name tag. It read Ben Smith, Docent.

  “Hello, I assume there is a fee?” Sonya asked, her Russian accent noticeable.

  After Ben told her the amount, she dug some bills out of her purse and handed them to Ben with the same hand holding the newspaper.

  Ben took the money and when doing so, noticed the folded newspaper and the article in view. He nodded to the paper. “I assume you’ve read about the museum’s newest acquisition.”