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

by Aubrey Harper

  That meant that Chloe, Mike, Kane, and I were the ones going inside the house. Rebecca was already there, waiting for us. Waiting to show me whatever it was she found so interesting.

  Kane did his lock picking trick and we were inside in under a minute. But not before he told Chloe and Mike to turn around, so the break-in wouldn’t be immortalized on video.

  Once we were inside, the flashlights I brought with me proved to be more than useful.

  While the rest of them checked out the rest of the house, Rebecca led me to the garage.

  She showed me some cleaning supplies and some rags that appeared to have spots of dark red on them. Blood. Probably human. Most likely Jenny’s.

  I went back into the house to share the news. Everyone was gathered in what looked to be the living room. I didn’t see any blood there or any sign of a struggle at all. But Chloe was in the middle of the room, frozen on the spot.

  “What’s happening?” I whispered to Mike.

  He was holding up one of his ghost-hunting gadgets, but it wasn’t making any sound at all now. If only he’d turn the thing around, maybe it would, because Rebecca was not far behind.

  “She senses something,” Mike said. “She said this looks like the place she saw in her vision.”

  We were close. Incredibly close. But if this was the place Jenny died, then where exactly was her ghost? I found it hard to believe that she would have moved on already.

  I slowly approached Chloe.

  “Do you see anything?” I asked softly.

  This seemed to snap her back to the present.

  She shook her head. “Maybe if I touch something?”

  She kneeled to the floor and extended her hand, looking for the spot that felt different from the others.

  “Here,” she said, holding her hand above a rug. A suspiciously new looking rug, at that.

  “Let me,” I said, and removed the rug to reveal the hardwood floor beneath. It was hard to tell, but there was what looked like a faint stain there. Whether it was natural or something more sinister we were about to find out.

  “You can do this,” I told Chloe when she looked hesitant to touch the spot beneath her hand. “Just take it slowly.”

  She gently put her hand on the floor. The effect was almost immediate. Her head went up, her eyes too. Then she jerked back from the spot, jumping backward.

  “It was here,” she said, tears falling down her face. “She was killed here.”

  While Mike comforted her, I looked around the place.

  “What are you looking for?” Kane asked.

  “A picture. A picture of Jenny and her boyfriend, to be more precise.”

  There were some there, right above the fireplace.

  I took one of the frames and looked at the picture. It was Jenny and her boyfriend, all smiles, on some beach. “This will have to do,” I said under my breath as I kneeled down to be on Chloe’s level. She was sitting on the floor now and managed to calm down some.

  “Sometimes I really hate my gift, if one can call it that,” she said.

  “I’m afraid it’s not over just yet,” I said. “We have to find out where he is right now. Can you do that?”

  She looked at the picture in my hand and slowly nodded. “I can try.”

  She took hold of the frame and actually took the picture out of it. Then she held the picture in her hand and closed her eyes. “Where, where,” she whispered under her breath.

  “I see him,” she said after a moment. “He’s…he’s in a small cabin. In the woods.”

  Mike texted the info to Rachel or Jacob or both as Chloe continued to share her psychic impressions.

  “He’s alone…he doesn’t look well…”

  Kane gave me a knowing look.

  “Can you tell us anything about where exactly he is?” I asked gently.

  “I think there’s water. There might be a lake close by.”

  “A lake, woods,” I said out loud. “This sounds awfully familiar.”

  “Maybe because there’s a picture of a cabin in the woods right here?” Rebecca offered.

  I joined her by the fireplace and shined my flashlight at all the pictures to get a closer look. Rebecca was right. That’s where I saw it. A cabin, and then in the distance there was just a sliver of water.

  I took the picture out of the frame and thankfully, the address was written on the back. I took a quick picture of it with my cell phone.

  Kane reminded me that we needed to wipe down anything we had touched. After we did that, and after we put everything back where we found it, we got the hell out of that house.

  “What took you so long?” Rachel complained when she saw us. “It’s freezing out here.”

  “You can’t rush these things,” Mike said. “We actually got some good stuff.”

  “Ghostly activity?” Rachel said, immediately perking up.

  Mike shook his head. “Not as such. But we do know where Jenny’s killer might be.”

  “Maybe we should tell the cops then and stay out of their way?” Jacob said. He looked even more uncomfortable than Chloe, which was saying something. Thankfully, after seeing how useful her psychic gift actually was out in the field, Chloe relaxed a bit.

  “Not yet,” I said. “Everything we’ve got on this guy so far is circumstantial and probably wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. He could make plausible explanations for even those rags in the garage. No, we need to make sure that there’s no doubt.”

  “And how exactly are we going to accomplish that?” Rachel asked.

  Kane already knew what I was about to say. He didn’t look too happy about it either.

  “We’ll need a confession,” I said.

  Sixteen

  We got back in our vans in search of a cabin in the woods. We had agreed to keep our distance from the actual cabin because we didn’t want Jenny’s boyfriend to hear us coming. Once we were close enough, we decided to go on foot.

  Kane had his gun, Rachel and Mike had their cameras, while Chloe and Jacob stayed behind with the vans, just in case they needed to call the authorities if we all ended up dead for one reason or another. Plus, their getaway vehicles were right there.

  “Are you sure about this?” Kane whispered when we saw a light in the distance. Someone was definitely in that cabin.

  “No, not at all,” I had to admit. Rebecca went on ahead to check the place out while I told the others to stay put and stay in the shadows.

  A minute or so later, she was back.

  “They’re both in there. Jenny and her boyfriend.”

  “Is he armed?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “There’s a shotgun close to the door but he’s asleep on a chair.”

  I relayed the information to the others.

  “What’s the plan?” Mike asked, looking completely lost.

  “I think I need to talk with Jenny. On my own,” I said. “You guys should keep your distance while Rebecca and I get closer to the house.”

  “Absolutely not,” Kane was quick to say. “I’m coming with you.”

  “Me too,” Rachel said. “I don’t want to miss all the good stuff.”

  “I agree with Rachel,” Mike said. “We came here to get proof of life after death. What better proof than you talking to a recently murdered woman? My readings will be off the charts.”

  Rebecca and I looked at each other.

  “Rebecca’s here right now and your little gadget there hasn’t alerted you to her presence,” I said.

  “That’s…that’s different. Just go ahead. We’ll be right behind you,” Mike said, all the while looking at the gadget in his hand.

  I shook my head and told them to stay as far away and as quiet as possible. Once we were fairly close to the cabin, I told Rebecca to introduce herself to poor Jenny. And to tell Jenny to meet me outside, if possible.

  The next five or so minutes were agonizing. The waiting was the worst part. Was Jenny going to agree? Was she actually going to say it was her boyfri
end who murdered her? Was her boyfriend a serial killer by any chance?

  All these questions were going through my mind that I barely noticed when Rebecca returned, with Jenny in tow. The ghostly woman stood behind Rebecca, as if afraid.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said. “I’m Meredith Good and these are my friends. We’re here to help you.”

  Rachel and Mike looked excited all of a sudden. All gadgets and cameras were pointed in my direction, though how much they would pick up in the darkness was anyone’s guess. Though Jacob had told me earlier that his cameras were equipped with night vision and temperature readings.

  “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” Jenny said, stepping forward. “I’m dead.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was self-aware, which wasn’t something I could say for most ghosts I encountered in my work.

  “Who did this to you?” I asked. “Was it your boyfriend?”

  Jenny nodded. “Nathan did this to me. We got into an argument. He’s lost his temper before, but never to this extent. It’s like he became a completely different person. And then it was all over. And now I can’t leave his side for some reason. I tried, but I always end up where he is.”

  That was strange. “Did you have a strong connection while you were alive?”

  “I loved him more than anything in this world,” she said, suddenly looking sad. “But after he did what he did, all that disappeared for me. He’s like a stranger to me now. And after I saw how he dumped by body…”

  “What exactly happened there? Why did he leave your body all the way in Silver Bells? Why not get rid of it?”

  “He panicked,” Jenny said. “He remembered seeing some news about a body being found in that town. He thought this would cover up what he did. That the cops would think whoever killed the other woman also killed me.”

  “But the other body is decades old by now. It’s actually just bones,” I said.

  “Yeah, your friend here already told me that,” Jenny said, glancing over at Rebecca.

  “Good. We’re all on the same page now. Do you think your boyfriend would confess if pushed came to shove?”

  Jenny looked thoughtful. “Nathan would have. But that’s not Nathan in there right now.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “You can’t believe he’s capable of doing what he did?”

  “It’s not that,” Jenny said. “I think that’s the reason I can’t leave his side. Why I haven’t moved on yet. Death…it’s never been something I was scared by. So when it happened I thought maybe I could move on from this world. But he…that man in there. It’s hard to explain, but I don’t think Nathan is the one that killed me. It’s that man he kept telling me about.”

  “What man?” I said. It seemed that this wasn’t just a crime of passion. There was something more sinister going on beneath the surface.

  “He kept telling me about a man that came to him in his dreams as a kid. He said he’d wake up in strange places, not remembering what happened. Except for the nightmares. His parents thought he was sleepwalking, and that’s what the doctors thought too, but now…”

  Was Jenny’s boyfriend being possessed by some evil spirit?

  “Is he still asleep?” I asked Rebecca.

  She came back after a moment and nodded. “Why?”

  “Because I need to get some supplies from the van. It looks like I’m going to need to perform an exorcism.”

  “This is crazy,” Kane said once we were back at the van. “We can’t exactly knock on the door and ask him nicely to perform an exorcism on him. Can we?”

  “Of course not,” I said. “That’s why you’re going to lock pick your way inside and I’ll put a salt and iron circle around Nathan. That should keep whatever bugger is inside him trapped. He won’t be much of a threat to us then.”

  “Well, let’s just say I’m bringing this for extra protection, in case your juju doesn’t work,” Kane said, pointing out the gun holstered to his belt.

  “Hey, that’s offensive,” Rachel said. “I’ll have you know that juju and hoodoo and all kinds of folk magics actually do work. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. In fact, I’ve just started doing some deep study into it myself. Who knows, by this time next year, I might actually be a practitioner.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kane was quick to say. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  I turned to Rachel. “Anything in your studies that could help us now?”

  “Nothing off the top of my head. There’s stuff about working with the spirits, but nothing about how to actually exorcise them from people. Unless you’re talking about the way priests do it.”

  “No, I’ll stick with my own method,” I said. “It’s been effective before. Though I rarely had to use it.”

  When we had loaded up on supplies, we headed back toward the cabin. Rebecca and Jenny waited for us there.

  “He’s still asleep,” Jenny said helpfully. “I better get back in there in case he wakes so I can warn you guys.”

  “I’ll keep my distance in case he can sense ghosts,” Rebecca said, staying where she was.

  “He hasn’t said anything to me, though sometimes I get this feeling that he knows I’m there,” Jenny said. Then she disappeared into the cabin.

  The very thought of it creeped me out. I wondered how poor Jenny felt about it.

  It was Kane’s turn to do his thing. He tried to be as quiet as possible as he lock picked his way inside. Rachel and Mike were right behind me, waiting not so patiently. While Chloe and Jacob were behind them. Jacob decided that he couldn’t miss seeing a real-life exorcism, and Chloe didn’t want to stay back by herself.

  If something did happen, at least it was six against one now, eight if you counted the ghosts, which I didn’t for obvious reasons. Rebecca’s manipulation of physical objects was limited and Jenny didn’t show any signs of being able to do anything of the sort, which wasn’t surprising since she was newly dead.

  Once Kane finally managed to open the door, we quietly sneaked inside. The man asleep on the recliner looked out of it. There were bottles of alcohol, mostly empty now, strewn about on the floor around him.

  Kane held his gun in the man’s direction while Rachel and I poured salt and iron around the chair he was in. Once it was done, it was time for the show to start.

  We turned off the TV, which was still blaring, and turned on the lights.

  “What…what is this?” Nathan said as he jerked awake.

  “Don’t move an inch,” Kane said, pointing the gun straight at him.

  Nathan was completely awake now.

  “What are you doing in my cabin? What is this?” He looked at me, at Rachel, at Kane, and even Mike, who was off to the side. Jacob and Chloe kept their distance and were out of sight for now.

  “Is this really your cabin?” I asked him. “Or does it just belong to the guy you’re currently possessing?”

  Nathan laughed. “Oh, you’re serious?” He finally said.

  I showed him the salt and iron mixture I held in the palm of my hand. “I wonder what will happen if I blow this in your face?”

  “Don’t,” he said. Nathan fidgeted in the recliner chair. Then his entire expression changed. “You got me. So what?”

  “So, you’re going to leave his body and I’m going to send you where you belong. A place where you’ll never be able to hurt anyone ever again,” I said, not missing a beat.

  His voice and demeanor changed. He was definitely someone else now. I wasn’t even sure if the real Nathan was even there to begin with. Maybe it was the evil spirit all along, pretending.

  “You can try, witch,” he said and laughed.

  “I’m actually a ghost hunter,” I corrected him.

  Rachel and Mike looked on, no doubt recording everything.

  Kane still held the gun in Nathan’s direction.

  “Who are you?” I asked him.

  “Can’t you guess?”

  I blew the salt and iron mixture
in his direction. He screamed as soon as the mixture hit him.

  “Stop playing games. Who are you?”

  “I am the one you fear in the night. If you meet me on the road, my face will be the last thing you see.”

  Rebecca took a few steps back then.

  “It can’t be…” She said.

  It couldn’t be, I told myself. Or could it?

  “Your name,” I said.

  “Rochester Bailey,” he said and looked like he regretted it almost immediately.

  “Did you kill all those hitchhikers?” I asked.

  He smiled then. “I did and I enjoyed every moment of it. And now that I’m finally back in this world, with a body to boot, I’ll kill many more.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” I said and took a handful of iron filings from the bag we brought with us. “It’s time for you to leave this body and this world forever.”

  Just as I was about to throw the iron at Nathan, he smiled.

  “You didn’t think this through, did you, witch?” He said, almost mocking me.

  “And how’s that?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  “This contraption you have around me, this circle of salt and iron. It traps spirits, does it not?”

  I nodded.

  He got up from the chair then and stood tall and confident, that smirk still on his face.

  “Do not move or I will shoot!” Kane yelled, gun still in hand.

  “I’m going,” Nathan said. “But I won’t be gone for long. You’ll see soon enough.”

  Then, before I could do anything, he broke the circle of salt and iron with his boot, and then Nathan fell to the ground.

  The lights flickered and a cold wind moved all through the house.

  And then it was dead quiet again.

  Seventeen

  “Where is he? What just happened?” I asked Jenny and Rebecca.

  Rebecca looked shell-shocked and didn’t utter a word.

  “He’s gone,” Jenny said. “I saw him go straight through the door and into the night.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I needed was one of us to be possessed. But I decided to play it safe and tested everyone with some salt and iron mixture just in case. No one screamed or called me names. That meant that the spirit of Rochester Bailey was truly gone, for now at least. He was still out there, looking for the next person to possess. But from my experience, possession wasn’t an easy feat, no matter what horror movies want us to think. It took him years to break down Nathan’s barriers in order to take over. And I had a feeling he had only managed it now because Rebecca’s bones were unearthed.