The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt Read online

  “Did Annabelle tell you about Walt?” Danielle asked.

  “She did. It was hard to believe. But I imagine Annabelle and I will see more spectacular things when we continue with our journey.” He grinned at Walt and Danielle.

  “Can I ask you a question before you go?” Danielle asked.

  “Sure. What?”

  “That missing key, where was it normally kept?” Danielle asked.

  “Behind one of the bricks in the wall—one of the stamped ones. The one closest to that door,” Abe explained.

  “We know what happened to that key,” Walt told him. “Thomas Bellemore took it, and his grandsons eventually found it.”

  “Did he know? Did he know what happened to me?” Abe asked.

  “I suppose you can ask him yourself when you move on,” Walt told him. “But I suspect he knew. By the time he realized you might be trapped in the tunnel, he had to have known you couldn’t have survived all that time. I caught him breaking into the house right before the new owners moved in. I don’t know if he had time to go into the tunnel and look for your body or not. Perhaps that’s one reason he left town so quickly. The guilt—the fear of someone finding you.”

  “I don’t blame him,” Abe said. “I blame no one.” He looked to Annabelle and asked, “Are you ready to go?”

  “First I need to tell them about Virginia,” Annabelle told him.

  Danielle looked quizzically to Annabelle. “Ginny?”

  Annabelle smiled sadly. “We tried to talk her into going with us. She’s been here so long. But she still doesn’t want to go.”

  “Where is she?” Danielle asked.

  Annabelle pointed down the path and told them where they would most likely find her.

  “Thank you,” Abe told them right before he and Annabelle vanished.

  Danielle and Walt stood a moment, staring at the headstone where the two spirits had been sitting just moments earlier.

  “I still don’t understand one thing,” Danielle said.

  “What’s that?” Walt asked.

  “Why couldn’t Abe open the hidden doorway into his house? The only reason you couldn’t push that door open was because the Bellemore brothers had added screws from the other side into the copper panel. I would have to assume, for Abe to open the wooden door in the first place, he needed to remove the copper panel. And then when Annabelle was looking for him, she would see the copper panel was removed and see the wooden door. And someone obviously replaced that copper panel after Abe was trapped.”

  Walt looked to Danielle and smiled sadly. “I suspect because he never completely removed the copper panel to open the door.”

  “I don’t understand.” Danielle frowned.

  “After Ian let us out of the tunnel, I took a closer look at the copper panel and the wooden door it concealed. That copper panel had been nailed to the wooden door from the outside. If anyone had been paying attention, they might have suspected there wasn’t brick behind the panel, because it’s not easy to nail into brick. But you can into wood.”

  “So all someone needed to do to open the door from inside the house was pull on the corners of the copper panel and the door would open?” Danielle asked.

  “Exactly. And from inside of the tunnel, all you needed to do was give it a good shove. But then the Bellemore brothers added those screws into the brick along the edge, making it impossible for me to push the door open.”

  “But why couldn’t Abe push it open?” Danielle asked.

  “It was the piano,” Walt explained.

  “Piano?” Danielle frowned.

  “Annabelle mentioned there was a piano delivered the day she left to go to Portland. Abe wasn’t there; it had come early. I suspect she had the movers put it in the house.”

  “So?” Danielle frowned.

  “I remembered the piano when Ian let us out of the tunnel. The piano Annabelle’s spirit mentioned. In the first house, the one the Fortunes lived in, there had been a piano sitting along the back of the room, butted up against the brick wall.”

  “Are you suggesting the piano blocked the door?” Danielle asked.

  “The first time I saw the piano was after Annabelle died and we had to clean out the house for sale. Their family didn’t want any of the furniture. I recall feeling sorry for them, so I gave the attorney for their estate some money to buy it all. I just left everything with the house when it sold—including the piano.”

  “You’re suggesting when the movers arrived early to deliver the piano, Abe was already in the tunnel, and Annabelle had them put the piano in the corner, not realizing she was blocking the door her husband needed to use,” Danielle said.

  “She was gone for a week, so if he pounded on the door like we did, there was no one to hear. And I read once a person can only survive for about three or four days without water.”

  “What do you think is going to happen when Abe and Annabelle realize why he was trapped?” Danielle asked.

  Walt smiled at Danielle and took her hand. “I honestly don’t think any of that matters to them anymore. They are together, starting a new adventure.”

  Thirty-Nine

  They found Ginny sitting by her headstone, watching the clouds move overhead. She didn’t notice Walt and Danielle’s approach until Danielle said hello.

  Ginny sat up abruptly. “You’re here.”

  “We had to come say thank you. You saved our lives,” Danielle told her as she sat on a nearby bench.

  “You think I did?” Ginny asked brightly.

  “I’m pretty sure you did. We just said goodbye to Annabelle and Abe. She told us she wanted you to go with her, but that you didn’t want to move on,” Walt said.

  “Everyone else has someone waiting for them. I have no one,” Ginny said.

  “But you know Annabelle,” Danielle reminded her. “And Kat mentioned she and her husband are ready to move on, and they would like you to go with them. See, a lot of people want you.”

  Ginny shook her head. “It just isn’t the same. You don’t understand.” Ginny looked down and began fiddling with her hands.

  “You and Annabelle lived in the same house,” Danielle said after a few moments of silence.

  Ginny nodded. “We didn’t know each other then. But we died within the same year.” She looked at Danielle and said, “I think maybe when I was alive, I might have been a little like Evan, a little like you.”

  “Why do you say that?” Danielle asked.

  “Because those voices that used to scare me in my room late at night, I think it was Abe’s spirit calling out for help. He didn’t know he was dead. And when he called out, I could hear him. I wish I had known sooner, I could have told Annabelle.”

  “It all worked out,” Walt told her.

  “You think Evan would ever visit me here?” Ginny asked. “I like Evan. I never get to visit with other children. When any come through here, they’re always in a hurry to move on. There’s always some grandparent, aunt, uncle or some relative on the other side they’re eager to see or meet.”

  “Did you see your aunt and uncle after they died?” Danielle asked.

  Ginny shook her head. “I don’t think their spirits stopped here. Annabelle said many don’t. After I died, I was so confused, I don’t even remember my funeral—if there was one. By the time I understood what Annabelle was trying to say, my body was already buried. No one ever visited my grave. Some would stop and visit the graves next to me, maybe read my headstone, say something about how sad I died so young. But they weren’t really there to see me.”

  Walt studied Ginny a moment. Finally he said, “If I can convince Evan’s father to let me bring him, would you like to see Evan later today? After he comes home from school?”

  Ginny perked up. “Really? You would do that?”

  “You did save our lives,” Walt reminded her.

  “What are you up to?” Danielle asked as they walked back to their car.

  “Why do you think I’m up to anything?” Walt aske
d with a smile.

  “I can tell.”

  “Ginny did save our lives, and I think deep down she wants to move on. I have an idea. Didn’t Adam say Angeline Michaels was coming to his office at eleven today?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  Walt glanced at his watch. “Then we need to hurry. It’s about a quarter to eleven now, and I would like to be at Adam’s office before Angeline gets there.”

  “What are you up to?” Danielle asked. They had just reached their car, and Walt was unlocking the passenger door for her.

  “I’ll explain on the way over to Adam’s,” Walt said as he opened the car door for Danielle.

  When they walked into Frederickport Vacation Properties ten minutes later, they found Adam sitting alone in the front office, waiting for his client.

  “How are you two doing after your adventure last night?” Adam greeted them.

  “It was harrowing,” Danielle said, taking a seat on one of the chairs. “We just wanted to stop by and thank you for helping last night.”

  “No problem. By the way, I ran into Brian Henderson at Lucy’s a little while ago. I guess he’d just left you at the police station after interviewing the Bellemores. I don’t think any of our local contractors have to worry about them stealing business. I doubt they’ll be in town long.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Adam then began to laugh. “And it is typical Danielle Boatman.” He paused a moment and looked at Walt. “Sorry, Danielle Marlow.” He laughed again.

  “What is so funny?” Danielle frowned.

  “Brian told me why those two were down there. Looking for a treasure. They didn’t find it, but I have no doubt you will. You always seem to end up with the buried treasures around here.” He laughed again and shook his head.

  “She already found it,” Walt told Adam. “Actually, we both found it.”

  “Damn!” Adam slammed his fist on the desk. “I knew it! So what was it? More gold coins? Some expensive jewels? What?”

  Danielle flashed a smile at Walt, but said nothing. She waited for him to finish.

  “The Bellemore brothers were looking for a treasure. But I’m fairly certain their grandfather never told them there was a treasure hidden in the tunnel. He said there was a Fortune in the tunnel.”

  Adam shrugged. “So? Are you saying it was money? A fortune would mean a lot of money.”

  “It can also be a name,” Danielle said. “Their grandfather, in his delirious state at the end of his illness, was telling his son about Abe Fortune—who was trapped in the tunnel. That’s whose remains we found. He was never talking about a treasure. He was talking about a person.”

  When Angeline walked into the real estate office a few minutes later, she seemed pleased to find Walt and Danielle there and wasted no time in telling them she had already talked to Melony that morning about what had happened the previous night.

  “I can’t believe I grew up in that house and had no idea there was a hidden passageway in that corner!” Angeline told them. “Of course, that’s always where my parents kept the piano.”

  “You had a piano?” Danielle asked, exchanging a quick glance with Walt.

  “Yes. It was an upright. Not that any of us played, although both my sister and I took lessons briefly when we were children. Mother wanted to get rid of it; it was impossible to clean behind. But it had belonged to my grandparents, and my father was sentimental about it. It stayed with the house when my sister got the property. In fact, after the fire, I heard the piano only suffered smoke damage. It was the bedrooms and kitchen areas that suffered the brunt of the fire,” Angeline explained. “I heard Pete got rid of the piano.”

  A few minutes later, after exchanging more words, Walt stood. “We should get going. I know you two have business to discuss. But I will have to say all of this has really given me an idea for another book.”

  “Really? Oh, I just loved your first book,” Angeline said.

  Walt turned to Angeline and added, “In fact, if you have any free time, I would love to talk to you more about that house—your parents. Your grandparents. If you don’t mind.”

  “I’d love to. But I’m leaving in a few days.”

  “Any chance you have some free time this afternoon?” Walt asked.

  “Why yes. I should be finished with Adam in a couple of hours. Would you like me to stop by Marlow House?” Angeline asked.

  Walt paused a moment as if thinking her question over and then said, “I know this may sound peculiar, but would you mind meeting me at the cemetery?”

  “The cemetery?” Adam blurted.

  “It’s a writer’s thing,” Walt said quickly. “It may sound odd, but I find cemeteries can provide inspiration. The headstones alone are story fodder.”

  Angeline smiled. “Yes, that would be fine. Actually, I need to put some flowers on my sister’s grave. It has been so long.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing. This could backfire,” Danielle told Walt as he drove them toward the cemetery late Wednesday afternoon. Evan MacDonald sat in the back seat listening.

  “It’s just something Angeline said the first time we met. If it doesn’t work, what is the worst that can happen?” Walt asked.

  “I hate those ‘what is the worst that can happen’ questions. Never works out well,” Danielle muttered.

  With a chuckle Walt reached over and patted Danielle’s knee. “Have faith, love.”

  They arrived at the cemetery parking lot just minutes after Angeline. Walt pulled up next to her car and parked just as she was getting out of her vehicle.

  “I still can’t get over that car,” Angeline said, admiring the Packard.

  “It belonged to my distant cousin, the other Walt Marlow,” Walt explained.

  “I’d heard that,” Angeline said with a nod. She then looked at Danielle and smiled. When she spied Evan coming out of the Packard, she frowned, somewhat surprised to find a child with them.

  “Hello, Angeline,” Danielle said cheerfully, taking Evan’s hand. “This is Evan MacDonald, the police chief’s son. He just got off school and the chief needed me to watch him. I’m going to take him over to visit his mother’s and grandparents’ graves while you and Walt visit.”

  Angeline smiled down at Evan. “Hello. Nice to meet you, Evan.”

  “Evan, this is Ms. Michaels,” Danielle introduced them.

  Evan smiled. “Hello.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you two to chat,” Danielle said before leaving with Evan.

  Danielle and Evan walked quickly toward Ginny’s gravesite before Walt could arrive with Angeline.

  “Remember what you need to tell her?” Danielle told Evan.

  “Maybe you should do it?” Evan suggested.

  “No, Evan. I think Walt is right. Ginny likes you. She considers you her friend. She trusts you.”

  When Walt and Angeline arrived at her family’s gravesites, Danielle and Evan were nowhere in sight. But Ginny was there, sitting patiently on the bench, waiting. Only Walt could see her. He flashed her a smile.

  “Evan said I needed to listen in to your conversation. He said it might help me,” Ginny told Walt. His only response was a quick smile.

  Carrying a bouquet of flowers to her sister’s gravesite, Angeline set it by the headstone. “I suppose I should have brought flowers for the others. If I end up moving back to Frederickport, I really should do that more often.”

  Standing next to Angeline, Walt glanced over the headstones. “By the names and dates, I gather those two are your grandparents, and those are your parents.”

  Angeline nodded.

  Walt then pointed to another headstone. “What about that one? Virginia—she has a different last name. By the dates I see she died rather young. Do you know who she was?”

  “Ahh, sweet Virginia.” Angelina bent down to her sister’s grave and removed half of the flowers. She then placed them on Ginny’s grave.

  “I don’t know her,” Ginny said. “Why did she call m
e sweet Virginia?”

  “Who was she?” Walt asked.

  “The little girl who broke my grandfather’s heart,” Angeline said with a sigh.

  “What is she talking about?” Ginny frowned.

  “Tell me about her,” Walt urged.

  “She was my father’s first cousin. Of course, he never met her. As you can see by the dates, she died before Dad was born. He used to say she was the sister he never met—but would meet someday. I guess he did, didn’t he?” Angeline smiled softly.

  “Why was she the sister he never met?” Walt asked.

  “My grandfather had one sister. He loved her, but she became addicted to drugs. Strange, drug addiction is really not a new thing, is it? I suppose just the type of drug changes each generation. Anyway, she married an abusive man. They had a little girl—Virginia—whom the parents neglected horribly. My grandparents tried to get custody of her, but at the time they had very little money and were only living in a room at a boardinghouse. His brother-in-law may have been a bum, but they owned a house. Maybe a shack, but it was still a house.”

  “I don’t understand,” Ginny said, walking closer. “They wanted me?”

  “But then there was a fire and both her parents were killed. There was an insurance policy that went to Ginny. The lawyer for the estate convinced my grandfather to buy a house with it. It’s the same property Pete just sold. My grandparents didn’t feel right about it. They felt the money was Virginia’s. But the lawyer convinced them it was really in her best interest, so she could have a house to live in. They eventually agreed.”

  “What happened to her?” Walt asked.

  “My grandparents were so young at the time. They hadn’t been married long. They were kids themselves. She was such a confused little girl. I suppose these days they would have counseling for the family. Virginia hated the house. My grandfather feared she also hated him, and he so wanted to save her, like he hadn’t saved his sister.”