Restless Spirits Boxset: A Collection of Riveting Haunted House Mysteries

by Skylar Finn

  “It’s them,” Riley whispered, her eyes wide with terror.

  The baby monitor shut off.

  I shot to my feet, tugging out of Riley’s grasp as she tried to stop me from going into the bedroom. I picked up a brass candlestick from the mantel and held it over my shoulder like a baseball bat as I stormed into the room, shaking from head to toe with rage and fear.

  “Get away from her—”

  I stopped dead. The bedroom was empty. No dark figure. No crib. No baby.

  “Lucia?” Riley’s voice wavered. She appeared in the doorway with the baby monitor in hand. She’d popped open the back of it. “There are no batteries in this thing.”

  We fled from the suite. I clasped Riley to my side in the elevator. We rode all the way to the lobby like that, both of us shaking. On the ground floor, we stormed the concierge desk, where Trey tilted his smartphone from side to side as he played a racing game, leaning on two legs of the desk chair.

  “Trey!”

  He lost his balance and the tall chair fell over. Trey toppled to the ground with a loud grunt. As he righted himself, he said, “Crap, Miss Star, you freaked me out. Did you need something?”

  “I need you to look up a guest for me.” I held Riley’s hand in mine. The calluses on her palm grounded me. Every few seconds, she squeezed my fingers as if to check I was still there. “She’s the only other person staying on the twentieth floor.”

  “Guest records are confidential,” Trey said as he picked up the chair, “but I don’t have to look it up. I know for a fact that you and Detective Hawkins are the only guests staying at the resort.”

  “What do you mean? I saw her.”

  “Miss Star, I promise. No one else is checked into this hotel.”

  8

  My first instinct was to get the hell out of King and Queens. My entire body quaked with loaded energy. The door was right there. I could walk out, call a cab, and be at Jazmin’s in four hours, ten thousand dollars be damned. Any sane person would have left as soon as Riley laid down her creepy sixth sense prediction in my suite that first night.

  “That’s not possible.” I bumped Trey out of the way to look at the guest records myself. “She has to be here somewhere.”

  “You can’t do that,” he protested.

  “Shut up,” Riley said, and he fell silent.

  I scrolled through the resort’s files but found no trace of a Stella or Odette on the guest lists. Neither one of them existed. Dazed, I let Trey scoot me out from behind the front desk.

  “Can I offer you ladies tea or coffee?” he said, keeping Riley within his eyesight at all times. “You both seem a little on edge.”

  “Tea would be great, Trey,” I said. “Thanks.”

  He hurried off to the Eagle’s View to fetch it.

  “You didn’t see her, did you?” I asked Riley. “Maybe in the lobby earlier or when you were coming up the hallway? She’s a tall brunette with pretty blue eyes, like yours but darker.”

  Riley shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen anyone like that.”

  “What about Odette? You saw Odette.”

  “I saw her on the baby monitor,” she reminded me. “Did you actually see her in the bedroom?”

  “Yes,” I insisted. “Stella showed me into that room. There was a crib and a baby. God, am I going insane?”

  Riley wiggled the baby monitor at me. Without the batteries, it was a hunk of pointless plastic. “If you are, you’re not alone. I thought this thing was on too, remember?”

  I flipped the switch to turn on the monitor, shook it to and fro, and banged it against the palm of my hand, but it gave up nothing. No glitch or fault. I dunked it into the wastebasket next to Trey’s desk, where it swished against the plastic liner bag before thunking to the bottom.

  “I gotta get out of here,” I announced. “I can’t deal with this—”

  The blood drained from Riley’s face. “What do you mean? You can’t leave!”

  “Riley, I know what I said—”

  “You promised me,” she protested. “Hours ago, you promised me that you wouldn’t leave me here alone with the ghosts. Madame Lucia—”

  “Madame Lucia isn’t real,” I said. “I made you that promise before I knew actual dead people were roaming around the corridors of King and Queens.”

  “Shut up. You knew.”

  “Excuse me? Don’t say shut up to an adult.”

  “Shut up,” she said again with intentional ferocity. Her shoulders rose like the hackles of a plucky alley cat. “You knew, before you came to King and Queens, that you had some kind of power to see ghosts. You created Madame Lucia for a reason, because you felt your ability before you knew about it, so don’t pretend like any of this is a surprise. Furthermore, just because you’re scared doesn’t mean you’re allowed to treat me like everyone else does. I thought you were different. I thought your promises meant something, but I guess you really were just in this for the money, weren’t you?”

  The accusation felt like a slap across the face, not because she was wrong, but because it was true. My supposed vacation at King and Queens had never been about helping Riley. I wanted to reboot the Parlour and make a quick buck. If those were the only things that mattered to me, I could cut my losses, take the money Oliver had already given me, and leave the resort, but something else held me back. Someone else. As Riley stared me down, defiant and dauntless, I realized I couldn’t leave here to deal with her ghosts, her father, and her brother all by herself. She needed me.

  I sat on the floor, my back against the front desk, and pressed my palms flat against the frigid marble designs. It soothed the nervous heat coursing through my body. Riley deflated and sat cross-legged next to me.

  “You’re right,” I said, resting a hand on one of her bony knees. “I showed up here because I needed the money. I didn’t believe in ghosts. I’m not sure if what you said about my ‘ability’ or whatever is true, but if it is, I can’t run from it, can I?”

  “No more than I can,” Riley said.

  “I’ll stay,” I said. “Against my better judgement. I overreacted anyway. All Stella wanted was a good babysitter. Maybe she didn’t have anyone to watch Odette while she was alive.”

  Riley braided the strings of her hoodie, set them free, and braided them again. “If only all the ghosts at this resort were so nice.”

  My experience with the dead made me forget about Riley’s. No matter how many times I watched the footage of my interview with her, her speech about the ghosts’ orders and threats never failed to send shivers up and down my spine. I wanted to forget about Riley’s voices. I wanted to attribute all of King and Queens’s weirdness to Stella’s benign presence. After all, nice ghosts were never the problem in horror movies—all they wanted was to cross over to the other side and be at peace—but the way Riley put it, the resort wasn’t home to one or two benevolent spirits. It was infested with violent ones.

  “We need input from an objective source.” I tugged Riley’s hoodie strings out of her hands before she could twist them together a third time. “Someone who won’t judge us for what we’re seeing but can also give us solid advice.”

  She scrunched her nose. “I don’t know anyone like that.”

  “Good thing I do.”

  Jazmin arrived at King and Queens late in the afternoon. When the Land Rover rumbled into the parking lot, I dashed out to help carry her bags. Snow poured from the sky and coated Jazmin’s shoulder-length copper hair. As she rounded the Rover to unpack the trunk, I tackled her into a hug and took a deep breath of the familiar jasmine shampoo she used partially because of her namesake and partially because it smelled so damn good.

  “Don’t let go,” I warned, clasping her tightly.

  She chuckled and rubbed my back. “I missed you too, Lucia.”

  “You have no idea. How was the drive?”

  “Awful,” she said. “This storm is blowing in quick. Have you been watching the weather? It’s going to be one of the worst bl
izzards on record. You should have seen the gas stations. I’m glad I got out of town when I did.”

  I finally let go, brushing snow from her bangs. “Thankfully, King and Queens is well stocked. This is the best place we could be for a blizzard.”

  “Except for the ghosts,” she reminded me.

  “Do you still think I’m kidding?”

  Over the phone, as I pled for Jazmin to come stay the weekend at King and Queens, she first regarded my frantic desperation as an elaborate prank. It took a solid twenty minutes to convince her I wasn’t joking about the things I’d seen and felt at the resort.

  “No,” she said. “You convinced me, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to help if you and Riley are the only two people who can see and hear the ghosts.”

  I unloaded her overnight bag, ushered her from the Rover, and slammed the trunk shut. “I told you. We need a fresh perspective. Let’s go inside before we both freeze to death.”

  In the lobby, Trey rushed over as soon as he spotted Jazmin. “You’re back!” he said, beaming from ear to ear. “And you have bags with you! Can I book you a room? What would you like? Top floor suite? Something near the spa? I can put you anywhere. We’re very accommodating.”

  “She’s staying with me, Trey,” I announced. “Don’t bother her. We have work to do.”

  Jazmin blessed Trey with her signature dazzling smile. “Thank you though. You seem like you’re very good at your job.”

  Trey blushed a deep shade of currant-red. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Actually, Trey, can you take her bags up to my suite?” I dropped them into his grasp. His skinny shoulders collapsed with the weight. “Put them in the bedroom please.”

  “Sure thing!”

  As he rushed off to the elevators, Jazmin gazed around the massive lobby. “This place got bigger since the last time I saw it. Do you think that’s real gold on those columns?”

  “Probably.”

  I ushered her up the stairs to the Eagle’s View, though the view was less impressive than usual. The entire window was blanketed in white flurries. Snow piled up on the ground outside, creeping farther up the glass. The mountain was all but invisible. The ski lift looked like a pencil drawing, the faintest gray lines against stark white paper.

  “Swanky,” Jazmin said of the leather seating, lush carpets, and extensive liquor collection behind the bar. “You’ve been eating here for free all week?”

  “When the cooks aren’t mad at me,” I said. “I want you to meet someone.”

  Riley waited at our usual table by the window, sunk so low in her chair that her crimson hoodie camouflaged against the red carpet. I kicked the leg of her chair, and she straightened up.

  “Hi,” she said, waving shyly.

  Jazmin, who was good with everyone including children, replied brightly, “Hi! You must be Riley.”

  “Riley, I’d like you to meet Jazmin,” I said. “My best friend.”

  Riley surprised me by sticking her hand out of her sleeve to shake Jazmin’s. She already seemed more relaxed. Jazmin, like pure unfiltered essential oil, had that sort of effect on people.

  “You have a really pretty name,” Riley said. “Where does it come from?”

  “I think it’s Persian originally,” Jazmin replied. “But my family is from Argentina, so we pronounce it differently. Have you ever seen the flowers?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll bring you some,” Jazmin promised. “They’re beautiful like you.”

  Riley lit up like a candle as she beamed. The unexpected genuine quality of her smile caused a fissure in my heart. When was the last time someone told Riley something that made her feel like she actually mattered? She scrambled out of her chair and offered it to Jazmin.

  “You two should catch up,” she said. “You have a lot to talk about.”

  “Aren’t you staying?” Jazmin asked.

  “No, I think you should talk to Lucia first,” Riley said.

  I caught her by the hood and reined her in before she escaped. “I don’t know how I feel about you roaming around the hotel without me, especially now.”

  She ducked under my arm and twisted free. “Lucia, I’ve been roaming around this resort alone since I was born. Nothing’s killed me yet.”

  “Fine, but come get me if anything happens,” I called after her as she left the lounge. She waved over her shoulder. I sighed, sat across from Jazmin, and signaled for Karli to bring us the menu. “Anyway, that’s Riley.”

  “You weren’t exaggerating,” she said. “There’s definitely something off about her.”

  “You get used to it after a while,” I replied. “Either that, or there’s something off about me too. I think Riley and I run on the same type of batteries.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Karli arrived with the menus and a fresh pitcher of water, putting the explanations on pause. We ordered drinks and a late lunch, then settled in to watch the storm dump more snow over the resort. Once Karli was out of earshot, I filled Jazmin in on everything that had happened at the lodge over the course of the last week, including Riley’s interview, my jaunt into the old wing, the levitating hot chocolate, and Stella’s disappearing act. To her credit, she didn’t interrupt or ask questions until I finished my story. She let it all sink in first.

  “So as far as you know, only you and Riley are affected by these spirits,” she clarified, stirring cream into her coffee. “No one else around King and Queens has claimed to see anything weird?”

  “The only thing the employees think is weird is Riley,” I said. “But they’re oblivious to everything else. Oliver, too. He never thought Madame Lucia was legitimate in the first place, so he clearly doesn’t see or hear what Riley does.”

  “I can’t believe we’re actually talking about this,” Jazmin said. “I can’t believe this is real.”

  “You can’t believe it?” I said. “Try having an entire conversation with a woman who doesn’t exist.”

  “Stella. What was the baby’s name again?”

  “Odette.”

  “Hmm. Kind of old school.”

  I ripped into a chocolate croissant and stuffed half of it in my mouth at once, as if the sugary flavors might stamp out the bitterness left from that morning’s paranormal experience. “Does it matter? They’re ghosts.”

  She sipped her coffee, leaving a perfect Betty Boop lipstick stain on the rim of the white mug. “Well, we’re trying to solve a bit of a mystery here, aren’t we? Stella and Odette stayed at King and Queens at some point. If we figure out how and when they died, we can get more backstory on the rest of the ghosts here. Can I be honest though? I don’t feel anything weird or out of place here.”

  “You don’t?” I asked, exasperated. “No chills or goosebumps? What about a prickle on the back of your neck? I get that all the time, especially in my room.”

  “Nada,” she said. “Which brings me back to my original questions. Why you and Riley?”

  “We’ve been trying to work that out ourselves, but we can’t think of anything,” I said. “Any ideas?”

  Karli arrived with the food. We ordered too much, but since Oliver was paying for it anyway, I figured Jazmin should try all of the lounge’s best meals. Xavier was cranky, but he sure as hell could cook a duck. Jazmin loaded her plate with shredded meat and vegetables.

  “Let’s rewind,” she said. “Riley told you she started hearing voices after her mother died, right? She was there when Thelma died.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “You don’t think it’s a weird coincidence that both of you are missing a parent and both of you watched that parent pass away?”

  “I—”

  “Didn’t think of that?” she finished. “I know you, Lucia. You never talk about your dad’s death, and I don’t think you ever got over it, especially with your mother breathing down your neck. What if that’s the connection here?”

  “Dad doesn’t have anything to do with this,” I
huffed. My appetite waned. The duck wasn’t as appealing now. “I don’t know why you’d bring that up in the first place considering you supposedly know me so well.”

  Jazmin gave me a look. “Don’t try that passive-aggressive crap with me. I mentioned it because it seemed like a point of interest. We can drop it for now, but you should give it some thought on your own. Let’s go back to Riley’s mom. Thelma, right? All of this escalated after she died. Maybe her death is connected to the ghosts in the resort.”

  “The police are investigating it as a homicide,” I said. “But Riley said she doesn’t hear or see her mother.”

  “There’s gotta be something. We’ll check your room next. I want to experience these weird vibes you’re talking about.” She glanced at something over my shoulder. “Who’s the stud?”

  Daniel dragged his boots up the stairs and into the lounge, wearing his usual pair of dark-wash jeans, navy thermal, and leather shoulder holster.

  “That’s Daniel,” I said. “He’s the detective working on Thelma’s case.”

  Jazmin raised an eyebrow. “You’re on a first-name basis with the homicide detective?”

  I waved Daniel over but he shook his head, nodded an apology, and sat at the bar instead. Karli filled a beer stein with ice water, tossed a wedge of lime in it, and slid it across the bar along with a basket of peanuts. He hunched over the nuts, pinching the shells away and lining them up along the lip of the counter.

  “He seems nice,” Jazmin joked.

  “He’s a little gruff,” I agreed. “I can’t usually get more than a few monosyllables out of him at once.”

  “The perfect man.”

  I tossed my napkin across the table at her. “Finish your food. We can go up to my room after this.”

  The suite, of course, looked magical and glowy when we arrived. The snow blanketed the terrace like a winter wonderland. Turndown service arrived early, probably because of the weather, to fix the bed and turn on the lamps. There was an entire pile of chocolates on the pillow, which made me think that it wasn’t a maid who prepared the room every night, but Trey.