Ghostly Endings (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 5)

by Aubrey Harper

  “I get that a lot. So, do we have a deal or not?” I smiled my best smile.

  “Fine. Whatever. Let’s get this over with. And after we’re done, I don’t want to see you anywhere near any of my crime scenes again. Got that?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. Inside I was thinking, fat chance. If Jonathan thought that I could just ignore the ghosts that asked for my help, he didn’t know me at all. Sure he was sheriff now and had a reputation to maintain, but he knew better than anyone that what I did helped more than it hurt.

  Jonathan unlocked the cell and led me back to the interrogation room where he was holding Callie. On the way there, I saw a few familiar faces in the waiting room. Kane, Dax, and Lily looked worried, but I gave them a reassuring look before Jonathan closed the door behind us.

  Callie looked relieved when she saw me. “I didn’t say a word,” she said.

  “I know. That’s why I’m here. It’s time for you to tell us what you saw.”

  She looked from me to Jonathan. “Are you sure?” She asked me.

  “Yeah. It’s our only ticket out of here. And you said you had a case waiting for you back home. So, what did you see when you touched those bones?”

  Callie’s whole demeanor immediately changed. She looked like she had the whole world on her shoulders again. I hated doing this to her, but we needed to know.

  I turned around and gave a reassuring look to Rebecca. She was standing by the door, patiently waiting for whatever revelation Callie had in store.

  “When I touched the bones, I didn’t just see what happened. I lived it,” Callie said. Her voice was already starting to break. She took a deep breath and continued. “I’m sorry to say that I didn’t see his face, but I’m pretty sure it was a man. I was full of fear and panic and I was running away. Then I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head.”

  “The coroner confirmed that head trauma was the cause of death,” Jonathan interjected.

  “After that, it was just blackness. I think that’s when…that’s when she died,” she finally said. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

  “Do you remember where you were? Can you remember anything about your surroundings in the vision?” Jonathan asked like the good cop he was.

  “It all happened so fast, I’m not really sure,” she said. “It could have been a basement. It could have even been a barn. I don’t know. All I remember is that awful sharp pain and the utter dread and fear that filled my body. Her body.”

  I looked back to see how Rebecca was taking it. The good news was that she was still there. But she had a blank expression on her face and it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

  “So we’re right back where we started,” Jonathan said. “I’m sorry, but you didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.”

  “The Universe is like that,” Callie said. “I usually don’t get the whole picture, but bits and pieces. And then I have to piece it together. If I get any other visions, I’ll be sure to tell you guys. And if you manage to find a picture and a name, I’d appreciate it if you could send them my way. That usually helps kick things into gear.”

  “But you had her actual bones in your hand,” Jonathan pointed out. “And her watch. How would a picture and a name be any better than that?”

  “I don’t know how all this works, to be honest,” Callie said. “But I’m able to pick up things based on the last thing that happened. Obviously, her death was traumatic, so that’s the only thing the bones could show me. But if I could get a picture and a name, I could find out who exactly she was before this terrible thing happened to her. Even better would be the place she died. If you find that, I’d be happy to come back.”

  That was a huge if.

  “Thank you for all your help,” I said to Callie. “We’ll keep you informed.”

  Jonathan begrudgingly let us go after that. He had to add a warning to stay off the case even though he knew I wouldn’t.

  It was the middle of the night once we finally left the police station.

  “I’m sorry, I really am,” Callie said again. “I hope she knows that.”

  “She understands,” I said. “You did your best. I’m just sorry you had to experience that.”

  “I only had to experience it in vision. I’m alive and fine now. The same can’t be said for her. I really hope you get to the bottom of this.”

  “I will. We will,” I added when I saw Kane and Rebecca standing by.

  I gave Callie a quick hug.

  “But things were just getting interesting,” Lily complained once they headed for their car. “Plus, Danny might be the love of my life. Please tell me we can stop by and at least say goodbye to him?”

  Callie sounded like she was at the end of her rope. “Really, Lil? Do you really think he’s just waiting by the phone for you to call?”

  “You don’t know. He might. I’m a catch, aren’t I?”

  We said our goodbyes one last time and went our separate ways. Seeing Callie and Lily arguing about silly things reminded me of my relationship with Rebecca. Or the relationship we used to have before all of this. Things were a lot more serious now. The stakes were higher than ever.

  Kane drove us back home. We didn’t talk much. Once we were back at Gran’s house, I told Kane to go ahead and that I’d be right up. I made myself a cup of tea. I petted the cats. And then, finally, I was ready to talk this out with Rebecca.

  “Are you okay? It must have been hard having to hear all that. I can’t even imagine.”

  “I’m okay,” she said. She had her back to me. She was looking out the window at the darkness beyond.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I just want all of this to be over. If only I could remember what happened, you wouldn’t have to break the law to get to the bottom of this.”

  I smiled. “You know as well as anyone that I have no problem breaking the law.”

  She turned around then and smiled a smile tinged with sadness. “I know. I just wish I could be of some help.”

  “You’re helping more than you realize. We’ll just have to take it one step at a time. One clue at a time. Tomorrow is another day, as they say.”

  “And what exactly is the plan?” She asked, looking more lost than ever. And I was helpless to help her.

  “My grandmother of all people provided our next clue. Tomorrow I’m going to have a chat with the guy who wrote about all those missing women back in the day. Gregory Slater is his name.”

  The next day, I did not wake up bright and early. I slept in. When I did wake up, I found Kane down in the kitchen, making scrambled eggs. I looked at my phone again and saw that it was already past noon.

  “A little late for breakfast, don’t you think?” I said.

  “Breakfast can be eaten at any time of day. And since you just woke up, I thought it would be a perfect time to make you something. Now sit and eat. We have a busy day ahead. I already got a head start on that Gregory Slater guy. I found his address.”

  Before I ate, I took a good look around the house, but Rebecca was nowhere to be found. Marmalade and Ebony, on the other hand, were just as attention-hungry as ever. I quickly gave them some canned food and then fed myself.

  Kane had already had his breakfast so he just sat across from me and sipped his coffee.

  Once I was done, we were ready to start our day. I stopped by my office to check on things. There were no lines of people waiting for my assistance. Then I stopped by Gran’s bakery to say hi. To my surprise, Rebecca was there.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her.

  “I just needed some time to think,” she said. “And this seemed like a good place. People coming and going. Living their lives while I’m stuck being…well, you know.”

  “Being what you are has gotten me out of more jams than you realize,” I said. I was looking in Kane’s direction so that the few customers that were there didn’t think this crazy lady was talking to herself. I usually wouldn’t care, but
I didn’t want to do that to my grandmother. She needed the business after all. Though I doubted that even having a crazy granddaughter like me could keep people from her delicious pastries.

  “Be careful,” Gran said after I told her about our plan for today. “He might have a shotgun. He’s in the middle of nowhere out there.”

  I remembered her telling me about that whole neighborhood moving on. All except Gregory Slater, which didn’t exactly make him look innocent. What if the real reason he wasn’t keen on moving was because of all the bodies buried on his property? It was something to keep in mind.

  “You know I am. Plus, Kane will be there. And Rebecca. I’m sure between the three of us, we can keep things under control.”

  “And what about having a sheriff along for the ride?” Gran offered.

  “So he could arrest me again? Not a chance. We will tell him if we find something out, of course, but he doesn’t have to know our every move in the meantime.”

  We said our goodbyes then. I had gotten a text from Callie earlier that they were already on the road. I was glad she had decided to come at all.

  Kane was waiting out by his van.

  “Ready?” He asked when he saw me getting out of the bakery.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s just hope we aren’t on our way to a cliché from a horror movie.”

  “With you along for the ride?” Kane joked. “Anything’s possible.”

  Nine

  Gran was right, Gregory Slater did live in the middle of nowhere. Kane wanted to stop several times, the further and further we went from civilization, but I implored him to keep driving.

  “It feels like we’re going back in time with each mile,” Kane said.

  “It’s not that bad,” I said, though I had to admit he had a point.

  “I can go ahead and assess the situation,” Rebecca offered.

  “No, that’s alright,” I said. “We’ll be there soon anyway. Maybe when his house is in view?”

  Rebecca shrugged her ghostly shoulders as if to say that at least she tried. And she did.

  “What does the GPS say?” I asked Kane after an awkward silence. He was starting to look more frustrated and confused by the minute.

  “Either it’s a piece of junk or we’re entering no man’s land.”

  “Right,” I said and looked out the window instead.

  After a few more miles, Kane realized that we had missed a turn.

  When we finally arrived at our destination, it was clear that someone had planned something but that it didn’t quite work out. The lone house stood in what looked like an empty field, though there were still hints and signs of where the houses that stood there before they were razed down by a helpful bulldozer used to be. Alas, whoever bought the surrounding neighborhood wasn’t planning on just how stubborn some people could be.

  “Don’t park too close,” I said to Kane. “We don’t want him to start shooting right away.”

  Kane grimaced. “That’s reassuring.”

  “This is my cue,” Rebecca said. She was out of the van before I could say a word. She disappeared through the wall of the house. Sometimes, actually most times, it was good to have a ghostly friend on your side.

  She came back a minute or so later.

  “He’s asleep on the couch. The TV is on. There’s a shotgun in the back bedroom.”

  “That’s…good to know,” Kane said when I relayed the information. “So, how do you want to do this?”

  “The old fashioned way? A knock on the door?” I offered.

  “I guess that works,” Kane said.

  Every step toward that house felt like a long walk down the gallows or something. I hoped it wouldn’t get quite that morbid, but you never knew in situations like these. If Gregory Slater was more than a reporter, things could get dicey pretty quick.

  Kane took the initiative while Rebecca stood by, ready to offer the ghostly touch if it was needed. She couldn’t really affect physical objects that well, but she could give people a chill, which was better than nothing I guess.

  Kane knocked again, louder this time.

  “Hold your horses,” a voice inside yelled out, presumably Gregory Slater’s.

  After a minute or so, the door finally opened.

  “This is private property,” were the first words out of his mouth.

  Gregory Slater had seen better days, that was for sure. He looked much older and heavier than he did in those old pictures from the seventies and eighties, which wasn’t totally shocking. People tended to age, after all. But it was just the overall disheveled appearance that was the biggest contrast to his old self. Before, he was a professional journalist. Now, well, he was just an old guy living in the middle of nowhere, looking like the world outside was more than an annoyance.

  “We’re not here about the property,” I was quick to say. Gran had told me all about people trying to buy him out. “We’re actually here to talk about the missing women you wrote about back in the eighties.”

  “Oh,” Mr. Slater said, looking more than a bit taken aback. “No one’s talked about that for decades.”

  “I’m Meredith Good and this is Kane Xavier. We’re private investigators looking into a case that might be related to the disappearances you wrote about back in the day.” I held off on revealing that I was a ghost hunter for obvious reasons. After all, I wasn’t hunting for ghosts right now. I was hunting for a real, living killer. That is if the person that killed Rebecca was still alive.

  Gregory Slater looked like he was at a loss for words.

  “I know this must seem strange, after all this time, but could we please talk to you about those women?” I said after a long silence. Thanks for nothing, Kane, I thought in my head.

  “Fine, come in,” he said. He walked back into the house without a second glance. Apparently, he didn’t see us as much of a threat. Or maybe he knew that he was the bigger threat here? It’s not like anyone would be able to hear us scream out here in the middle of nowhere.

  “Thank you, Mr. Slater,” I was quick to say. “We’ll try not to take up too much of your time.”

  He chuckled. “No one’s called me that in a very long time. Not unless they’re trying to get me to sell this place. And call me Greg, please.”

  The inside didn’t look much better than the outside. It was clear that Gregory here had given up on tidying up a long time ago. There were boxes and newspapers strewn about everywhere.

  Rebecca went her own way, presumably to do more ghostly snooping around the place.

  Gregory, or Greg as he preferred to be called, was nice enough to offer us something to drink.

  “I’m good,” I said.

  “Me too,” Kane added.

  “Suit yourselves,” Greg said after opening the beer he got from the fridge. He sat back down on what looked like his favorite chair, a very comfortable looking sofa. He motioned toward the couch, which was mostly clear of all the papers strewn about. Kane and I awkwardly sat down. This was heavy stuff we were going to talk about so standing wasn’t really an option.

  “What’s this about?” He asked after I failed to find the words.

  “There’s…there’s a body that someone found recently,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s been on the news.”

  “That’s about as much as the news is telling. Why do you think it’s connected to the missing persons I wrote about back in the day?”

  “Well, the timeline matches up. The coroner thinks that the body might be from the early eighties. The clothes certainly match that time period.”

  Gregory Slater looked at me for a long time. “This is personal for you, isn’t it?”

  “How…how did you know?”

  “I can see it in your eyes. God knows I’ve seen that look plenty of times when I interviewed the family members of those missing women. What was this woman to you?”

  Just then, Rebecca returned. I looked at her as I answered.

  “A family friend,” I said. “I was j
ust a kid when she died, but it left an impact.” I wasn’t exactly lying, just talking around the truth. I didn’t think introducing ghosts this early in the conversation would go over too well.

  “I see,” he said. “Do they know what exactly happened to her?”

  “A blow to the back of the head,” Kane said when I couldn’t exactly find the words. Not with Rebecca right there.

  “That’s a shame,” Gregory said. “They never did find the women I wrote about, but I always suspected foul play. Sure, most of them were running away from something, but that made them easier targets for whatever monster is responsible.”

  The way he was talking about the person responsible, it was clear that he didn’t think much of them. So much for my theory of him being the serial killer. Still, maybe he was just a good actor. Wasn’t that a hallmark of a serial killer? The uncanny skill of blending in with the crowd? Or maybe that was just the way it was in the movies. It wasn’t like I was running into them on a daily basis.

  “That’s why we’re here. Did you ever have any suspects in mind when you were working on those stories?” I asked.

  Gregory seemed to think about it. “There were a few names thrown about here and there but nothing ever came of it. Just loners, guys that kept to themselves. A couple of repeat offenders as well, but they all seemed to have alibis, or at least that’s what the cops said at the time. I always suspected it was someone no one would suspect. Helpful, isn’t it?”

  Rebecca came closer then. “There’s…there’s a room back there,” she started and I immediately got chills. Did Gregory have bodies in this very house right now? I was ready to bolt for the door when Rebecca continued. “He’s been obsessed with the missing women it seems. He has a whole wall covered in newspaper clippings and printouts.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Anything that comes to mind,” I said. “We can even share information. You see, we’re actually trying to figure out this woman’s real name.”

  Gregory raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just say she was a family friend?”

  “Yes…but it turns out she wasn’t very forthcoming about her real identity. She went by Rebecca but that’s not her real name as far as we know.”