by Amy Boyles
Axel slid his hands down his thighs. “Thank you very much for your time, sir. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”
The three of us rose. I helped Mr. Menzel from his recliner. He shuffled to the front door. “If any of y’all want to come back, you can. I enjoy getting visits from young people.”
I hugged him. “It was wonderful meeting you.”
Mr. Menzel squinted as he studied the front lawn. “Looks like the leeches are back. Puts me in a foul mood just to see them. I never would’ve spoken to y’all if those fools had been buzzarding out there when you showed up.”
Pepper shot a glance at Axel. His face remained stoic except for a slight curling at his mouth.
“Thanks again,” I said.
As we walked off, the urge to return to Mr. Menzel’s house and spend hours talking to him overcame me. I would return, and next time I’d bring Roan.
He loved old people. It would be a blast.
I glanced over at Axel. “So what do we do now?”
When the three of us were in the Land Cruiser, he spoke. “We find out about those Hudsons. They might be gone, but even ghosts leave some kind of trace.”
Pepper’s head popped in between the front seats. “I’m betting the Hudsons were more involved than we think.”
I nodded. “I agree. But it still doesn’t answer the question about who killed Molly and who the dark spirit is.”
As we pulled away from the curb, Axel slid a hand over his jaw. “I saw we start with the most obvious.”
“What’s that?”
Axel shot me a knowing look. “Jinkins Hudson.”
FOURTEEN
Axel fished his car keys from his jacket pocket. “I’m going to see what I can find out about the Hudsons.”
We’d returned to Southern Ghost Wranglers. Alice crocheted a new pair of baby booties while Ruth listened to the voice mails.
She capped a hand on the receiver. “Your tube’s been breathing at us.” I frowned. She pointed to the Spiritus. “It’s breathing,” she repeated.
“Great.” I threw my purse on a chair. “Don’t touch it and you won’t get a viral infection.”
“That’s not funny.” She placed a hand over the mouthpiece again.
“Why are you covering that? You’re only listening to messages. The messages can’t hear you.”
She forked her index and middle finger and pointed them at me.
“Now I’m scared.” I shrugged. “Look, I can’t help that it breathes. There’s nowhere else to keep it. It stays here until we know who’s trapped inside.”
Alice glanced up from her work. “Did you say the Hudsons who owned that old B and B?”
“I did.” Axel crossed to her and lifted a pair of booties between two fingers. “These are cute.”
“You need some?” Alice threw another pair at him.
“Um, no! No thanks. I don’t need any booties.”
I glanced at Pepper. The look of horror on her face almost made me bust a gut laughing.
She quickly recovered, though. The redhead tromped over to the booties and inspected them. “Oh, I don’t know. We might need some of these in a few years, don’t you think?”
Axel paled.
Pepper elbowed his ribs. “You know, because Hugo’s going to get bigger and he’ll need some.”
The blood rushed back into Axel’s features. “Right. Hugo.”
“Who’s Hugo?” Alice said.
“My dog,” Pepper snapped.
Axel spoke over her. “Her dog.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Ruth murmured.
“Didn’t the Hudsons have a niece?” Alice said.
I turned to her. “Did you say something about the Hudsons having a niece?”
Alice pressed the tip of her finger to her lips. “Hmm. Yes. That’s what I was thinking.” She paused and blinked at me. “Do you know her?”
My lips peeled back in a tight smile. “No, I don’t know her. I didn’t even realize they had a relative in town until you mentioned it.”
“Yes, now that I think about it, I do believe there was a niece.”
Ruth slowly folded her arms. “And what made you just now remember this?”
“I think it was the booties.” She raised her latest project into the air. “Crochet helps me think clearly. It’s like what all those hippies talk about with zen, or things being far out. I get all my far-out stuff from working a needle and yarn.”
Alice returned to her work. I shot Ruth a frustrated look. I don’t think Alice meant to drop a gemstone of information and then make us scramble for more pieces, but she wasn’t exactly offering them, either. “Does this great feeling of peace also provide names and locations of people?”
“Now let me see if I remember correctly.” Alice snipped the yarn with scissors and knotted it, tucking the stubby end back into the bootie. “I think the niece had a very distinct name. Very distinct. Not the sort you hear every day. Let me think about it for a while. It’ll come to me.”
“In the meantime I’ll search for information on what happened to the Hudsons. See if I can find anything.” Axel moved toward the door. “I’ll see if anyone can help with the strange name of the niece, too.” The words slung from his mouth with a bite. He sounded as annoyed with Alice as I was. I couldn’t blame him. Alice offered a sliver of information that wasn’t exactly what I’d call helpful.
“I’ll go with Axel,” Pepper said.
“Hey, what’re y’all doing for supper tonight?”
Pepper’s flickering glance at Axel suggested they didn’t know.
Axel shrugged. “No plans.”
“You’re welcome to have supper with me and my boyfriend. He owns Haunted’s B and B—it’s a pretty original name. It’s called the Haunted Hollow Bed and Breakfast. You can’t miss it.”
Before Axel could reply, Pepper answered enthusiastically. “We’d love to come. What time?”
“Seven.”
“Perfect. That gives us time to look around town.” She hugged her purse to her and grinned. She was so darling. I wanted to pinch her cheeks and put her in my pocket.
No, I wasn’t being sarcastic. Sometimes I actually liked people.
After they left, I turned to remind Ruth and Alice of the dangers of the Spiritus when Ruth interrupted me.
“What in the world?”
She nodded toward the door. Fannie Sullivan practically straddled it. With her arms crossed and her legs wide, the old woman barred any entry or exit.
“What’s going on here?” I said.
Alice pointed a crochet needle at the figure. “She looks like something’s wrong.” Alice’s mouth worked into a quivering line of worry. “Do you think she’s dehydrated or delusional? Maybe she’s on drugs.” She gasped. “Blissful, do you think she’s on drugs? Quick! Hide the money.”
“She’s not on drugs,” I scoffed. “Probably just Johnny Walker.”
“Oh.” Alice returned to furiously crocheting another set of booties no one would purchase. She stopped and twisted her head over her shoulder toward me. “What’s Johnny Walker?”
“Whiskey.” Ruth rubbed her face. “Honestly, Alice. How long have you been alive?”
“It’s not polite to ask a woman that question,” she whimpered. “Besides, you know the answer.”
Fannie made no move to enter. Maybe she’d been overcome with a stroke.
“She might need medical attention,” Ruth pointed out. “Blissful, you need to see what’s going on.”
“On it.” I stopped directly in Fannie's line of sight. A vacant stare filled her dark eyes. I waved my hand. She blinked quickly and shivered. After another moment she stepped to the side.
I opened the door. “You okay, Mrs. Sullivan? We were all worried about you.”
She shook her head. “I was walking by and noticed…” Her voice trailed off to silence.
“You noticed? What?”
Fannie rubbed her withered hand over her no
se and mouth. “Oh, it was nothing. I thought I saw something.”
Had she come to give us information? “If there’s anything you remember about the Hudsons, we’re all ears. Mr. Menzel said the Hudsons were great people.”
Her eyes popped wide. “Oh, you spoke to him. Nice man. Good people.”
I nodded. “He is.” I stepped aside, allowing her room to pass me. “But if you’d like to come in, please do. We’re just talking about booties and ghosts.” I snapped my fingers. “Alice here says she remembers the Hudsons have a niece in town.”
Fannie's gaze darted to mine. “A niece? I wouldn’t know her.”
“She has a unique name,” Alice shot out. “You might remember her that way.”
“Can’t say I do.” Fannie's gaze froze on something in the room. It was several seconds before she blinked away. “I don’t want to disturb y’all. I’ve got laundry and a bottle at home calling my name. Y’all have a good day.”
Fannie slipped out of sight. Something about the way she acted bothered me. I pressed a finger to the crease forming between my eyes.
The last thing I needed was wrinkles. I didn’t want to admit in my old age that the town of Haunted Hollow had given me worry lines. How embarrassing would that be? I’d rather have a bullet scar from a gun-toting old lady with no aim than a worry line from a town full of spirits.
“She was staring at that.”
I followed Ruth’s finger to the Spiritus.
My gaze flickered to Ruth. “At the containment unit?”
“She sure was.” Ruth pulled a pinch of tobacco from a can and folded it between her lip and gums. “Couldn’t take her eyes off it.”
I frowned. “I wonder why.”
“I don’t know.” Ruth brushed the tobacco from her hands. “But you, Blissful Breneaux, need to find out.”
I nodded. “So I do.”
FIFTEEN
“Let me get this straight—you invited people to have dinner with us and decided to tell me about it, oh”—Roan glanced at his watch—“two hours before.”
I cringed. When he put it that way, it did sound like I’d taken advantage of Roan’s position as innkeeper. “But there’s always food left over after the guests have eaten. I just figured we’d have that. It’s nothing fancy, Roan. I promise.”
He glared at me.
“A little vein in your temple is beating. It’s really cute.”
His mouth quirked. I’d almost won him over. Or so I thought.
“Don’t try to sucker your way past this.”
“You’re acting like a woman.”
Roan threw his head back and laughed. He swiped a finger under his lashes. “Okay, I guess I deserved that.”
“So can they come? Please? They’re helping me figure out who the spirit is.”
We stood in Roan’s kitchen. I’d dropped by with bottles of white and red. He’d been excited to see me, wrapping me in a hug. That was when I’d taken the opportunity to mention our double date.
Which was when his arms opened and I slid down his leg onto the floor. I’d managed not to lose my balance, and luckily I hadn’t dropped either one of the wine bottles.
“I’ll take those.” Roan whisked them from my hands and settled them on the counter. His dark gaze speared me. “And yes, they can come.”
“Thank you.” I slid my hands into my back pockets and tipped my face to him. His eyes widened and I smiled. “Tell you what. I’ll spend the next couple of hours keeping you busy.”
“In the kitchen,” he said.
I nodded. “In the kitchen.”
“You’re not going to try any funny business, are you? Because I might have to kick you out.”
I wound my hands behind his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “Do you mean that kind of funny business?”
He moaned. “Yes. That’s what I mean.”
Before I could protest, Roan hooked an arm under my knees and yanked me up.
The room raced by. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping you from distracting me.”
“How’s that?”
Roan settled me gently on a stool some ways from the counter. He rested his strong hands on his hips and leaned over. “You will stay here until I say you can get up. Otherwise there will be no dinner.”
I quirked a brow. “Why’s that?”
He pointed to the bedroom. “You know why and no, I’m not trying to rush anything, but a little exploration before dinner never hurt anyone—except when people are relying on the meal, that is.”
I laughed.
“No, it’s not going to happen. You promise to stay there?”
“For you?” I batted my lashes at him. Roan clutched his heart in a mock swoon. “I will.”
“Great.” He crossed to the counter and rubbed his hands together. “Now time to get cooking.”
I swear never in my life have I babbled so much to one man. I told Roan everything that had happened that day, including Alice’s lightning-bolt realization that the Hudsons may have a niece in town with a unique name.
“Helpful,” he said.
I popped a walnut into my mouth. Roan had been kind enough to offer me sustenance while I watched him slave over the meal. “It’s not helpful at all.”
He adjusted the knobs on the oven. “And I thought you lived and breathed sarcasm.”
“What do you mean?”
“To recognize it,” he murmured. His gaze flickered to me. “I was being sarcastic. What Alice said didn’t help anyone.”
“Much less a blind mouse.”
“You know”—he flipped a towel over his shoulder—“helping blind mice is always at the top of my list.”
I laughed. “Oh, and the couple you’re going to meet…they might be a little different.”
He rolled dough into individual balls and settled them in muffin tins. “How so?”
“They’re witches.”
He stopped rolling. Roan stared at the counter.
“Are you okay?”
“Sure. Just that this week’s been a doozy. Saw my first ghost, not to mention I somehow banished a spirit. Is banished the right word? For some reason it doesn’t feel right on my tongue.”
“I’m not sure what the word is. We’d need another demonologist to help us there.”
He wagged finger. “Right. I’m a demonologist. Now. Full-fledged. I hoped the power would skip me and I’d coast on through, living in this inn making sure whatever is trapped remains exactly where it is.”
I eased back on the stool, lifted one knee and hooked an arm over it. “Who is this talking? The Roan Storm I know is always ready for battle.”
“Not if it means putting you in danger. But wait—you put yourself in enough danger.” Roan didn’t bother containing the bitterness in them as the words bit into me.
“Roan, I’m a ghost hunter. I track ghosts. This is the first time”—he shot me a dark look—“okay, maybe not exactly the first time that I’ve had a spirit threaten to destroy me. But this is the first time I haven’t had the Ghost Team behind me and haven’t been able to access their help.” Before he could say anything, I quickly added, “We captured him, Roan. You and me.”
“But he’s still active. Until you have a name.”
I scraped my fingers over my scalp. “I know. We need a name. We’re working on it.” I snapped my fingers. “Axel had an idea for that. We might give it a shot. We’ll discuss it tonight.”
Roan opened his mouth to say something, but the doorbell cut him off. He popped the rolls in the oven and washed his hands. “Looks like the guests have arrived.”
I hopped from the stool. “Think you can be nice?”
“Think you’re incapable of sarcasm?”
“My answer is no.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “You’d better be nice.”
“Or what? You’re going to spank me?” The dark look in his eyes challenged me.
I sniffed. “No. I won’t ever spank you.”
Roan threw b
ack his head and laughed. He draped an arm over my shoulder, tugged me to him and kissed my temple. “You smell delicious.”
“Does that mean you’re going to be nice?”
He murmured as we crossed through the kitchen, “For you, I’ll be anything.”
Roan hurdled way past nice and ventured into super nice. Never in my life had I watched a host exhibit such care and attention to his guests. He entertained Axel and Pepper with jokes about growing up in a haunted town. He relayed stories I’d never heard—about how an old crab apple of a woman, Mrs. Simpleton, had left her clothes to dry on a line. When she returned, the clothing had assembled itself into an entire person and spooked the devil out of her. Mrs. Simpleton had been so frightened she’d tripped and fallen back into the clot of clothes, which caught her up and twirled her around before setting her back on the ground.
“And that,” Roan punctuated the words, “was the last time anyone was able to buy moonshine from Mrs. Simpleton. She gave it up after that, claiming the spirit of someone she’d wronged had been in those clothes.”
Pepper giggled behind her hand. “Oh, poor Mrs. Simpleton.”
“Not poor Mrs. Simpleton,” Roan said, “poor Haunted Hollow. Because of her, this town lost its best moonshiner. My grandfather had to start making his own. Almost blew the roof off the inn.”
Axel chuckled. “That reminds me of the time—” He shot Pepper a knowing look. “Let’s just say it reminds me of about every other week where we’re from.”
“Where’s that?” Roan rose and refilled everyone’s wineglasses. I placed a hand over mine, signaling I was okay.
“Magnolia Cove,” Pepper said.
“Never heard of it.” Roan sat and stretched an arm over the back of my chair. I smiled at him, and he replied by brushing a strand of hair from my cheek.
We were definitely getting cozy with each other, y’all.
“This looks like fun.”
My gaze shot left. Susan Whitby and Artie had both arrived.
Artie eyed the food. “Got any grits?”
“Oh, great.” I rolled my eyes.
Roan pointed a finger at me. “And now’s the time when ghosts appear and talk to Blissful.”