The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt Page 26
“I didn’t hate him,” Ginny murmured.
“One night she left her bedroom and went to sleep in my grandfather’s car. There were some chemicals on the floor in the back seat, and they spilled—probably when she climbed into the car. Toxic combination. Killed the poor child as she slept. My grandparents were utterly heartbroken. I think that’s why my grandfather was so protective of us. He didn’t want to lose another child. As for the house, the death was ruled a horrible accident. Since my grandfather was Virginia’s only family, the house—which my grandparents had initially insisted be put in her name—went to him and his wife.”
“So that’s what happened to me,” Virginia murmured.
“Your grandparents loved her?” Walt asked.
“Oh yes. My grandfather used to tell me about Virginia. She never cared for dolls, but loved to fish and climb trees. Spunky, that’s what he called her.”
“Why didn’t he ever visit my grave if he loved me?” Ginny blurted. But only Walt could hear.
“I imagine he used to visit her grave often?” Walt suggested.
Angeline shook her head emphatically. “No. After her funeral, he refused to go to the cemetery ever again. My grandmother said it was because he blamed himself for her death. He couldn’t bear looking at her headstone. And when my grandmother passed away, he never went to her gravesite after the funeral.”
Angeline and Walt talked for about forty-five minutes. Finally she said her goodbyes, and he watched her leave while Ginny stood quietly by his side.
“They loved me,” Virginia said.
“It sure sounds that way. Let’s go find Evan and Danielle,” Walt suggested.
“I have a brother. Well, maybe not a brother, but a cousin who thinks of me as his sister. I would have been his big sister if I had lived.”
Walt smiled down at Virginia. “Yes, you would.”
“I remember when my uncle would take me fishing. I had fun. I forgot how much fun I had. He never got mad at me when I asked him to bait my hook,” Ginny recalled.
“Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by the bad things that happen to us, we lose sight of the good moments. We need to hold on to those good moments and let the bad ones go,” Walt told her.
They reached Danielle first. She sat alone on a bench, watching Evan, who stood about twenty feet away at the gravesite of his great-grandparents. Walt took a seat by Danielle while Ginny remained standing. He spied an elderly man and woman with Evan.
“I take it that’s Grandma Kat and her husband?” Walt asked, nodding toward Evan and the elderly couple.
“Kat’s husband is shy of mediums. But he is making an exception for Evan,” Danielle explained. “I believe he is rather excited to see him. They have been chatting nonstop.”
“I’m going to go talk to Evan now,” Ginny interrupted.
Danielle smiled at Ginny. “Thank you again for saving our lives.”
“Thank you—for everything,” Ginny told them before turning and walking toward Evan and his great-grandparents.
“How did it go?” Danielle asked when Ginny was out of earshot.
“Better than I expected.”
Danielle studied Walt. “You look pleased with yourself.”
“If it all works out. Let’s see.”
With a sigh, Danielle leaned back on the park bench. Walt took her hand and they sat silently, watching as Evan talked to Ginny. After a moment, Ginny walked to Kat and took her hand. The three spirits turned to Walt and Danielle. Kat and Ginny waved briefly, and then the three vanished.
Evan stood alone for a moment, looking at the place where the spirits had been moments earlier. He then turned abruptly and ran to Walt and Danielle.
“They moved on,” Evan said with a wide smile. “They said it was time.”
“I’m very proud at how brave you are being,” Danielle said as she stood up. “I know how much you’re going to miss them.”
Evan took Danielle’s hand. “Aw, there are always dream hops, Danielle. Huh, Walt?”
Walt smiled down at Evan and took his free hand. “Yes, there are. Who wants ice cream?”
Forty
There was no reason to ask Ian to come over and help move the casket into the truck Chris had borrowed on Thursday. Chris and Walt were able to easily carry it from the downstairs bedroom to the truck parked outside in front of the house. Of course, Walt did most of the work; Chris just needed to create the appearance of carrying his half so some passerby didn’t witness a floating casket.
Unfortunately, the best-laid plans can go awry when someone is distracted by a cellphone. Danielle held the front gate open for them as they stepped onto the sidewalk. It was at that very moment Pearl Huckabee happened to drive by. Pearl rarely drove north on Beach Drive. After all, downtown was south from her house, and she normally had no reason to drive by Marlow House aside from checking on her nemesis. But today she had a particular reason for driving by. She wanted to make sure they had finally removed the haunted house sign from their front gate.
The timing was perfect. Seeing them carrying a wooden casket from the house was shocking enough, but as Pearl slowed down to pass by Marlow House, she looked their way just as Chris let go of the back half of the casket to answer his phone. From her vantage point, it looked as if Walt carried the cumbersome wooden casket at the front end, while the rest of it simply floated along—following him.
So startled by the sight she swerved and barely missed taking out one of her neighbors’ mailboxes. Fortunately for Pearl—and the neighbor’s mailbox—she quickly corrected her error and then sped off, disappearing up the street.
“She does come by at the most inopportune times,” Danielle noted as she watched Walt and Chris load the casket into the truck bed.
“You sure you don’t want to just keep the casket for next year, in case you decide to do the haunted house again?” Chris asked.
“I’m sure,” Danielle said.
“I appreciate you taking the casket back,” Chris told Norman Bateman. He stood with Walt and Danielle in the front lobby of the mortuary, talking to the funeral director. They had already unloaded the casket from the truck and placed it in the storage room.
“I had a feeling you would want to bring it back,” Norman said with a chuckle. “It always seems that after Halloween most people don’t really want a casket sitting around the house.”
Danielle was tempted to ask him how his mother was doing, but since he didn’t bring the subject up, she thought it best to skip over it. He actually looked rather cheerful, especially considering his elderly mother, whom by all appearances he had been close to, was now facing the possibility of life in prison for murder.
Instead of asking Norman about his mother, she excused herself to visit the restroom, leaving the three men alone to chat. The moment the bathroom door closed behind her, a swirl of light took up the space between her and the bathroom sink. Before her eyes it transformed into a male figure. It was the same ghost she had seen at the funeral home before—when Norman’s mother had plotted to kill her. According to Eva, he had died years earlier after falling off the pier in a drunken stupor.
“Someone really needs to explain to you how inappropriate it is to follow a woman in the bathroom!” Danielle scolded.
Instead of showing remorse, he twirled his right hand in a flourish and said, “Tea, anyone?”
Danielle’s eyes widened. “Were you the one? Were you the one in the parlor during our haunted house?”
He grinned mischievously. “I must say, I had the most delightful fun! I do hope you do it again next year. And did you like how I made that mask grin and wink?”
Danielle arched a brow. “That was you too?”
He nodded. “I am sorry for breaking your vase. I hope you will forgive me. But here, well, the best I seem to be able to do is occasionally slam a door. I was practicing when I accidentally tipped over those chairs and broke the vase. Please forgive me. But I did have such a jolly time!”
Da
nielle smiled. “Yes, I forgive you. And thank you for telling me. You know, I had a few visitors from the cemetery—and afterwards they decided it was time to move on. What about you?”
He frowned. “Me, move on? Oh pshaw. You silly thing!” He then grinned. “But I will let you have your privacy now. Ta-ta!”
Thursday night the mediums and a few friends gathered at Marlow House for dinner. Adam and Melony had been invited, but Angeline wanted to take the couple out to dinner at Pearl Cove to thank them for helping her search for real estate before she left town, so they declined the invitation.
Danielle curled up with Walt on the living room sofa, sipping a glass of wine before dinner. Lily rocked Connor nearby as he slept on her lap. The chief sat on one of the chairs facing the sofa. His two sons rolled a ball in the spacious entry hall for Sadie and Hunny; nearby, Max perched on the chair, watching the canine duo. The chief enjoyed a beer while Heather, who sat next to him in the other chair, enjoyed a glass of wine. Chris sat with Ian on the fireplace hearth, and they, like the chief, each drank a can of beer.
“I noticed all the Christmas decorations up at the hardware store today,” Heather noted.
“Before we turn around, it will be here,” Danielle said before sipping her wine.
“What is everyone doing for Christmas?” Heather asked. “Do you know yet?”
“Staying home,” they all replied at once, and then laughed, realizing they had all said the same thing.
“I want to be in our own house for Connor’s first Christmas,” Lily said, dropping a kiss on the baby’s head. “But we promised my folks we would join them in Tahoe for Thanksgiving. They have a timeshare there. Ian’s parents are coming too.”
“I heard Joe and Kelly might go,” the chief said.
“I think that’s still up in the air,” Lily said.
“My brother is coming to spend Christmas with me,” Chris added.
“You haven’t seen him for a long time, have you?” Ian asked.
“No. But we talk just about every day,” Chris said.
“I would love to host Christmas dinner, if anyone is interested. You are all invited,” Danielle said.
“I don’t have to cook?” Heather perked up. “I’ll be there!”
A few minutes later, after the direction of the conversation turned to the events of Halloween week, MacDonald told Walt and Danielle, “You two were right about the Bellemores’ grandfather saying fortune instead of treasure.”
“They told you that?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. As far as they know, their grandfather never told their father there was a treasure hidden in the tunnel, just a fortune. They assumed he was talking about a hidden treasure,” the chief explained. “They had no idea he was really talking about a man.”
“What’s happening to them now?” Ian asked.
“They’ve agreed to pay for all of the Crawfords’ repairs before leaving town,” MacDonald told them. “If they do everything they promise to do, we aren’t pressing any charges.”
“So they’re leaving Frederickport?” Chris asked.
The chief nodded. “Yes.”
“Have any of you seen Marie and Eva?” Ian asked.
“Yes,” Walt told him. “They both popped in—actually that is a rather literal description—” He chuckled and then added, “—not long after we returned from the funeral home. They left again to go to the local theater to watch a Humphrey Bogart marathon.”
“I still don’t know why they had to bail on the haunted house,” Heather grumbled.
“To make it up to us, before taking off to the theater, they both went through all the walls in Marlow House,” Danielle told her.
“And the floors,” Walt added.
“And Marie and Eva assured us there are no more hidden passageways—no more secret staircases,” Danielle said.
“If Marie needed money, she has several career options—now that she’s a ghost,” Ian said before taking a swig of beer.
“How so?” Heather asked.
“She did a great job painting Connor’s room. And now she’s performing home inspections,” Ian said with a chuckle.
“I suppose it is handy when you can walk through walls,” Heather said.
“Now that we are confident Marlow House has no more surprises, let’s all enjoy a calm and peaceful holiday season,” Danielle said as she raised her wineglass in mock salute.
“Yeah, right,” Lily scoffed under her breath. “What else could go wrong?”
The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit
Return to Marlow House in
The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit
Haunting Danielle, Book 23
It’s once again Christmastime at Marlow House and the mediums of Beach Drive have all decided to stay in Frederickport for the holiday. Surprises await for them when the true Spirit of Christmas comes for a visit.
* * *
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Haunting Danielle Series
by Bobbi Holmes
The Ghost of Marlow House, Book 1
The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds, Book 2
The Ghost Who Wasn’t, Book 3
The Ghost Who Wanted Revenge, Book 4
The Ghost of Halloween Past, Book 5
The Ghost Who Came for Christmas, Book 6
The Ghost of Valentine Past, Book 7
The Ghost from the Sea, Book 8
The Ghost and the Mystery Writer, Book 9
The Ghost and the Muse, Book 10
The Ghost Who Stayed Home, Book 11
The Ghost and the Leprechaun, Book 12
The Ghost Who Lied, Book 13
The Ghost and the Bride, Book 14
The Ghost and Little Marie, Book 15
The Ghost and the Doppelganger, Book 16
The Ghost of Second Chances, Book 17
The Ghost Who Dream Hopped, Book 18
The Ghost of Christmas Secrets, Book 19
The Ghost Who Was Says I Do, Book 20
The Ghost and the Baby, Book 21
The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt, Book 22
The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit, Book 23
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Sundered Hearts
After Sundown
While Snowbound
Sugar Rush
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The Coulson Series
by Anna J. McIntyre
Coulson’s Wife
Coulson’s Crucible
Coulson’s Lessons
Coulson’s Secret
Coulson’s Reckoning
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Also by Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes
Havasu Palms, A Hostile Takeover
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