Pleas of the Poltergeist

It was strange to think of a family using the tunnels beneath my family’s home as their murder cover-up spot.

“Were you able to find another way to help William cross over?” he inquired.

“I googled a few things, but there were two main types of links. Those that thought I needed help for mental issues because speaking to ghosts means I’m unhinged. The other direction was way too dark, and I was kind of scared to click on the links, afraid of where it might lead me. There could be nightmares after going down that kind of online bunny trail.”

“Maybe you should reach out to a medium,” he suggested.

“Haha, it’s not like those are just on every street corner here in Larkhaven. I wouldn’t even know where to look for someone that might be able to help.”

“With the growing ghost population here, we are going to need help if this is going to keep happening,” Don remarked.

I took a breath. “It’s something we can look into if I can’t figure out how to get William to cross over. I’m nearly out of ideas to help William anyway.” I grabbed my cup, so I’d be ready for a big dose of caffeine when the coffee finished, and noticed the time with a gasp.

“Oh, look, I’ve got to go or I’ll be late for work.” I raced up the stairs to finish getting ready. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Drive safely and don’t speed. Better late than dead,” he warned, his usual jovial self suddenly gone.

“Will do. Bye.” I ended the call and chucked my cell onto the bed, so I could scramble into my clothes for the day.

Shadow followed me into the room, and I tried not to step on her as I danced around the room in my hurry to get ready.

Taking a moment to pet her, I bent down and enjoyed a few seconds, calming down.

“I think we made some actual progress today, Shadow. I hope Don can find a report or something to point us in the right direction.”

She simply blinked her beautiful dual-colored eyes and purred at me.

“At least it does feel like progress,” William joined in, making me jump. “Perhaps when you have time today, you could come up with another idea to do something festive with my bones.”

I shot him a dark look before I darted out the door.

14

My morning wasn’t filled with playing with his bones, as William had suggested. Instead, I spent it working on content to upload while making designer candles for the shop.

I swapped jobs with Aunt Linda just before lunch and took over the register so she could run some errands, including making the deposit I’d forgotten in the safe.

“I’ll pick up something at Jitterbug for you on my way back,” she called over her shoulder as she left.

“Thanks.” I didn’t have a chance to think about anything else because a set of sisters came in. They wanted to see and smell everything in the shop, murmuring about “saw this one on that video.”

The first one turned to me. “We were traveling through town, and we can’t get over how it feels like the setting of a Hallmark movie.”

Then they gushed over a few of the town’s features.

“It can be a dreamy place, if you romanticize it,” I said. The words had barely left my mouth when, as if on cue, Wes walked through the door.

His green scrubs and lab coat with embroidered pawprints on the pockets gave him a certain added cute factor to go with his natural English charm.

The ladies were browsing on their own, so he came over to me.

“How’s your day going?” Wes smiled, and I wanted to melt under its spell. “Want to grab some lunch with me?”

“It’s just like a movie. A hotshot doctor in love with the local candle maker,” I overheard one sister commenting to the other. My cheeks pinked, but not terribly. They were mostly right anyway. I held up a finger to have Wes wait just a second while I answered them.

“He’s a vet,” I corrected with a smile.

They giggled, probably certain that love was in the air.

I turned back to Wes.

Wes looked slightly confused, which made the already tittering sisters laugh even harder. “What was that?” he mouthed.

I shook my head. Louder, I said, “I really wish I could, but Aunt Linda is out right now, so I have to stay here.” I grimaced because I would have really liked to share lunch with him. “Maybe we could eat and work on William a little bit tonight? I have a few ideas I’d like to try, but I’m not sure how successful they’ll be.”

He picked some fur from his scrubs. “Perfect. Just what I was thinking. I’ll grab lunch and head back to the office, see if I can get ahead of schedule and leave earlier this evening.” Wes left as quickly as he’d arrived, but the sisters were watching everything we did.

One of them shook her finger at me. “Bad move, honey. You should never turn a hot doctor down for lunch.”

The front doorbell jingled, and I glanced up to see Don come through the door with bags of food in his hands. “I saw your Aunt Linda while she was out, and she mentioned that you were alone in the shop. So, I brought lunch to you.” Don grinned at me, looking proud of himself.

If my cheeks had pinked before, they burned bright red now. I could hear the sisters whispering back and forth between themselves. I heard the words cop and vet, along with “some girls have all the luck.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you want to grab a chair at the crafting table, I’ll join you in a minute.”

He made his way behind the counter and into the back. I smiled as the sisters walked up to the counter with a couple of different candles to purchase.

“You should have a DIY candle-making night. We’d come back to make custom candles, and we’d love to learn how you get all the hot eligible men to come into your shop,” the older of the sisters suggested. The other one wagged her eyebrows.

I laughed at their antics and got them checked out. Once they were on their way, I joined Don at the table, glad for a moment to sit down.

“How’s business today?” Don asked as he took a large bite out of a gyro from across town. He pushed one of the bags toward me.

I peeked into my bag, pleased when I spied a small container of tabouli. “The shop’s been more relaxed today. We need to hire someone, though, but I just don’t think I can trust someone new.”

“What hours would they need to work?”

“Mostly mornings, and it would be part-time. We’re looking for someone that can free me up so that I can have time for more social media content and putting the online orders together.” I chewed while thinking.

“I know a really lovely trustworthy lady. Her name is Matilde Brown. She retired from the department last year. She’s been looking for a part-time job to keep herself active. I can get you her information if you’d like?” he offered.

“Thanks, Don. I’ll mention it to my aunt.” I took another bite of food and realized he might like to help us tonight. “Do you want to come over and help with the William research this evening?”

“I was going to visit the archives to find out more about Janice and her murder. But I can check that out later, so I’ll skip it and join you guys.” He stood up. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

The rest of the day didn’t move quickly, but it was steady.

I sent a message to both guys, asking them to meet me at my house.

When I pulled up, they were leaning against their cars, chatting amicably. I took a minute to study them. I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew, inviting them both around like this.

At some point, I would have to make a choice, wouldn’t I? They would probably want me to. They had such different qualities. How was I supposed to choose? But I didn’t feel comfortable leading them both on. Though, with everything going on right now, that was a problem for another day.

I took a deep breath and opened my car door. “Hi, guys”

They both waved.

“Wanna come into the backyard?” I decided it was time to jump right into working on the solution to William's predicament. “We have an entire list to work through.”

Since the gate was locked, I lead them through the house and into the backyard. William was sitting inside on my couch with Shadow curled up next to him.

He grinned up at me. “I’ve always been a cat person.”

While Wes and Don waited in the living room with the invisible-to-them William, I dashed to my room and grabbed his bones. Then I swiped a sheet of paper from my bedside table. When I came back downstairs, William’s eyes shot over to me. Wes and Don must have let themselves into the yard.

“Oh, are we going on an adventure?” William stood up from the couch, ready for action. He followed me into the backyard where the guys were already waiting for me.

“What’s first up?” Don asked.

I held up the paper. “First on the list: Ask the ghost to nicely leave.”

Don and Wes burst out laughing.

“Yeah, why didn’t we think of that?” Wes cackled. “Where did you get this list? Living with ghosts dot com?”

“No, it was 1-800-GHOST-B-GONE,” Don chimed in.

I scowled at them. “Don’t make fun.”

Still, they made jokes back and forth.

“Will the two of you be serious for a moment?” I glanced at William. “Obviously, that’s not going to work. They’re not taking it seriously.” I took a breath and tried to be as somber as I could with the raucous schoolboy duo going on beside me.

“William, would you please leave?”

A moment later, William blinked out of view, and I put a hand over my mouth to hide my shock.

Wes and Don went silent.

Wes had been watching my face. “Did it work?”

William popped back, and my expression dropped from one of joy to frustration.

“Nope. Not until I cross over,” William said.

My shoulders drooped.

“I can’t believe you fell for that after the burning bones trick,” William said.

I snorted at him. “How was I supposed to know ghosts liked to play pranks?”

“What pranks?” William rubbed his chin.

I sighed. It was shaping up to be an incredibly long evening. “Fine. That’s what I thought. So it didn’t work. Next on the list.”

15

As the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, we tried salt, holy water, and herbs of all types, along with burning black candles, laying out crystals around his bones, and, as a last-ditch effort, a prayer just in case.

Everything I could think of was thrown at William’s bones, but his remains… remained. At least his ghost did.

“Am I going to be stuck here forever?” William moaned when nothing worked.

I looked at the guys for possible ideas or answers.

“What if both sets of bones we’re working with aren’t his?” Wes piped up.

“No, these have to be his. He said he could feel the wax burn him when I dripped it on his bones in the shape you suggested.” I heaved a sigh. “The answer has to lie with Janice. I’ll have to ask her more questions in the morning. All of you might as well go home.”

Defeated, the fun little ghost party broke up, but we were still no closer to finding a way for William to cross over. It would have been nice to be alone, finally, but it had become my lot in life to have ghosts always looking over my shoulder.

That night, sleep didn’t come easy, but when I woke up, it was to the sound of the alarm and not to Janice’s braying laugh. She was nowhere to be found.

Shadow was curled up on the bed, sleeping undisturbed. I, on the other hand, was left confused. Besides the one Sunday, Janice had been there every morning, and I had a list of questions I wanted to ask her.

Could Janice have fulfilled her purpose by telling me that she was related to the governor and Kim? Could that have been enough to send her to the other side?

I tried to think through everything Janice had said since her appearance, but I was going to need a pen and paper. There was some in the kitchen, and I grabbed my robe to head down to get it.

I stopped short. There, in the middle of my kitchen, stood Janice. She was watching as William tried to turn on the faucet.

“You have to flip it up and then the water starts.” She kept handing out suggestions, but he wasn’t getting the hang of it. “Focus,” she added. “It’ll move. You just have to focus on it.”

“Wait? You can move stuff?” I didn’t want to get too excited, but this was something new for me.

“Yes, I like doing little things like flipping the faucet on and off again.” Her snicker wasn’t much easier on my ears than her laugh. “I like to run the hot water till the tank is empty at my son’s house, so he has to take cold showers.”

“He’s called three different plumbers, but no one believes him since there is nothing wrong with his water heater. The new technology is so cool these days.” Janice cackled at the thought of things she’d done.

At least she’d never done that sort of thing to me. It would be maddening. Then, I remembered the list of questions I had.

“Look,” I began. “I have questions that need answers. Please help me out, Janice. Somehow, you and William are all connected to the same thing.”

She pursed her lips and shook her head. “You’ll get more answers out of my family than you will out of me. I’ve been dead for too many years. There’s not much I can do to help you. Unless...” She turned thoughtful. “I can unlock their doors today if you’d like to visit. Then you can look through all of their stuff and find what you’re looking for,” she suggested as if trespassing was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

I shook my head. “Uh, no. I don’t think I’ll be doing that, but thank you for the thought. Are you even sure there are documents there that would help me?”

She harumphed. “My son has an entire room dedicated to hidden documents. There are all sorts of things hidden in there that need to be brought out into the light.”

“But the FBI went in and searched his home when they were investigating Kim. They didn’t find anything,” I protested.

“He let them in without a warrant because he knew they wouldn’t find out his secrets. Do you think your aunt’s house is the only one with tunnels and secret rooms?” Janice gave me a knowing look. “He had some of the best teachers to make sure everything was covered up well.”

“I’ll need to speak to Don, Wes, and Aunt Linda about all this.” I checked the time and started hurrying to get ready for work. We had to figure out a way to get into her son’s home, but the permission of his mother’s ghost wouldn’t do away with the trespassing charges in a court of law.

While on the way into town, I contemplated if I should take Janice up on her offer to sneak into their house while they were gone. It would allow me to look through their things and find the evidence we needed.

A light rain pelted my windshield, and I flipped on the wipers. What if I got caught though? It wasn’t like Don would be able to get me out of jail. Was it really breaking and entering if the door was unlocked for you?

Nope. It was a morally gray area I wasn’t quite willing to cross yet.

Shadow waited for me outside the shop as I pulled up. The rain had turned heavy, and I was surprised she wasn’t inside where it was dry. She’d proven she didn’t need doors or anything to get around. The wind howled through the streets, accompanied by even heavier rain. It didn’t look like there would be any letup in the storm. If the weather we were having now was any indication, it was only going to get worse before the day was out.

Aunt Linda was finishing up with a customer, so I held back until they were gone.

“We need to talk, but not where anyone can hear us,” I said.

She gave me a strange look. Then looked up at the few customers browsing the shelves. “Let me finish helping them and we can do that.”

I paced in the back room. Hiring help made me anxious. The last time hadn’t gone so well, but it was clear we needed help. After all, it took Aunt Linda ages to get all the customers helped and on their way.

When the shop finally emptied, she turned to me. “All right, out with it. What’s going on?”

“The shop is getting really busy, and we need someone to help us. We have to hire someone. Don suggested an older lady he knows, who retired from the department and is looking for a part-time job. Maybe we could give her a try.” I hoped Aunt Linda wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.

She pressed her lips into a tight line.

So I rushed ahead. “We can’t keep working like this all the time. After everything that’s happened, it’s not surprising we feel scared trusting a new person, but eventually, we’ll have to hire someone. At least this lady comes with a recommendation from a police officer.”

“So let me get this straight, we need someone, because what you have to tell me is important? It couldn’t wait until tonight when we don’t have the shop open?” Aunt Linda grinned. “Is that about right?”

“Yes,” I admitted a little sheepishly. “When you say it like that, it’s a little nonsensical.”

She grinned at me and opened her mouth to speak. But another group walked in, so Aunt Linda took over welcoming them to Colonial Candles.

She placed a small bell near the register. “If there is anything we can help with, just ring this bell. We’ll be in the back sorting stock.”

When Aunt Linda came back into the back room, everything came out in a rush as I told her what Janice had let slip.

“She’s related to Kim and was married to the governor from when the hospital was torn down.” I couldn’t keep it inside any longer. “Another ghost is trying to help us navigate through all of this confusing information and find a way to give our families some much-needed peace.”

Aunt Linda nodded. “We need to tell Don. He can get a warrant to search their house for hiding official documents.”

The bell rang just then, and we hurried out to take care of the customers. When they’d gone, we slipped back into the back of the shop.

“He can’t do that,” I said. “Warrants take too long, and it will alert the Houghs that we’re looking at them. We need to do something with a little more stealth. Something that won’t let them know we’re coming for them.”

The front door chimed, and a crowd of voices entered. Aunt Linda took a step toward the front, but she turned back and shook her finger at me. “Mags, don’t do anything stupid,” she warned me with a stern look before putting on her customer service face.

She slipped back out to the front.

I put my hands on my hips. It was time we took a proactive stance and brought the Hough family to justice. Murderers shouldn’t be allowed to roam the streets without paying the consequences for their actions.