“Or we can go,” I said. “I’m not really sure what you want me to do.”
“Can’t you do like a séance or something?” Nora asked. “Make her appear up here in the safety of a protection circle. I could help you cast it. And then you can get rid of her from there.”
Dad and I exchanged glances.
“That would be a lot of work to manifest a spirit that’s already here and trying to show us what it wants,” I said. “And if it’s a demon, it might reveal its weakness. We just have to watch it carefully.”
A shiver ran through me when I looked down the basement stairs. The ghost stood at the bottom looking up at me. I hadn’t turned the light on yet, so she peered up at me from the inky blackness.
My hand searched the wall and found the switch. When I turned it on, the ghost turned too and began to drift into the basement.
I held the rail and made my way down the steps quickly. They were carpeted in plush gray that was soft underfoot and muffled any sound of our descent.
When I got to the bottom, I looked around. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Nora had been afraid to come down to the basement. Once you had the lights on, it wasn’t some creepy dark hole in the ground with a concrete or dirt floor. The basement was just as nice as the rest of the house. It even had several egress windows in the bedrooms that let in some natural light once you got past the main room.
But the ghost drifted past all of that. She made her way to the door that led to the unfinished utility area of the basement.
We went inside and followed her past the furnace and sump pump. On the other side, we found another door.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It leads to an unfinished part of the basement,” Nora said.
“We’re in the unfinished part of the basement,” I shot back.
“I guess it’s more of a crawlspace,” she said. “I don’t know. I don’t really go in there.”
“Why did you need a crawlspace under your house if you’ve got both finished and unfinished basement?” I asked.
“It was in the plans for the house, and I didn’t really mind it,” Nora said. “I think it’s because the basement isn’t quite as big as the house above.”
I turned the knob and pushed the door open. Light flooded into the crawlspace from the basement, and it illuminated the room enough for me to see a bulb and chain in the middle. I walked into the room and pulled the chain.
The crawlspace was just another section of unfinished basement with a dirt floor. Its presence made zero sense, and I had to wonder if the builder had just done it to cut corners and costs.
“What about the ghost?” Dad asked as I stood there contemplating the crawlspace.
“Right. The reason we’re here. Why are we here?” I asked the specter.
I didn’t want to speak to her in case she was a demon. Acknowledging them was a sure way to let them into your world, but we’d already followed her down to the basement. That ship had sailed already.
The ghost just remained in the same spot staring at me. Finally, a soft, scratchy whisper came from her direction. “Here,” she said. And then she vanished. The ghost had used up every bit of energy she could draw from to utter that word, and I was sure she wasn’t coming back anytime soon. I’d thought she would have been spent from the night before, but at that point, I was sure there was nothing else she could do. Anger, and perhaps I’d seen a hint of fear too, would only get her so far.
“What does she mean?” Nora asked. “What did she mean by here?”
“I don’t know,” I said, but I walked over to the spot where she’d vanished.
Meri joined me, and we stood there studying the floor for a moment. “The dirt’s different here,” I finally said.
“What do you mean?” Dad asked. He and Thorn joined me at the spot. They both stood there staring at the dirt floor beneath our feet.
“She’s right,” Thorn finally said. “See, it’s raised up just a little higher than the dirt around it. Step back,” he said taking on his authoritative sheriff voice.
“Do you have a shovel?” I asked Nora.
“Out in the garage,” she said.
“Could you go get it?” I asked.
“I should... I don’t know. Should I call for backup?” Thorn asked.
“For what?” I asked. “We don’t know what’s down there yet.”
“Can’t be anything good,” Meri snarked since Nora was out of the room grabbing a shovel.
“I’m going to call it in,” Thorn said.
“Call in what?” I asked. “I don’t know. Something isn’t right, though. I can feel it.”
“We can all feel it,” Dad said. “Just give it a few minutes, son.”
Nora returned shortly after that with the shovel. At that point, Thorn stood off to my side suspiciously watching the hole. He wasn’t a witch, but I didn’t for a second doubt his intuition. He’d always been able to see through the veil that covered Coventry, and that meant Thorn could see things others could not.
My father had wandered out to the bigger unfinished area of the basement, but he returned with Nora. She stood there for a moment looking between us, but it didn’t take long for Thorn to reach out and take the shovel.
“I can do that,” Dad said.
“So can I,” I added.
“Let me,” Thorn said calmly. “It will let me feel like I’m contributing.”
Nora looked puzzled by his statement, but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she started to play host. “Does anybody need a drink? It will help me feel like I’m contributing something.”
“I’m probably going to need some water,” Thorn said as he scooped up another shovelful of the dirt.
“Some water would be good,” I said.
“You guys don’t think that ghost is going to come back when I’m away from you, do you?” Nora asked. “I felt a bit creeped out when I was in the garage, but I hadn’t turned the light on, so I’m pretty sure that’s why.”
“I don’t think she’s coming back any time soon… if ever,” Dad said. “But I’ll go up with you to get the water if it will make you feel safer.”
Nora nodded to Dad, and they left to get the water. I turned my attention back to Thorn’s digging. Meri sat right at the edge of the hole peering down into it. You’d have thought he was in Thorn’s way, but he’d somehow managed to position himself in just the right spot.
Thorn didn’t have to dig much farther. Nora walked into the room with two bottles of Fiji water, and she gasped. She also dropped the bottles, and Dad caught them.
My husband stepped away from the hole he’d just dug and took out his phone. “I can’t get any reception in here. I’ll need to go upstairs. You guys should come with me.”
“Are you okay?” I asked as we trudged up the basement stairs. He had a look on his face. Thorn’s jaw was set and his eyes narrowed.
“I told you I should have called it in,” he said. “We should have had a forensics crew come out here and dig that hole. None of us should have been in there. We’ve completely trounced all over a crime scene.”
“Do you think they would have come?” I asked. “Do you think the forensics people would have come here and dug that hole based on just our gut feelings?”
“You’re right,” Thorn relented.
“What do I do?” Nora asked. “They’re going to come in here and dig up my basement. Am I a suspect?”
“I’m not entirely sure what to make of that,” Thorn said. “How long have you lived here?”
“Just a few months,” Nora said.
“So even if you killed someone and buried them when you moved in, I’m not entirely sure that’s enough time for them to skeletonize,” Thorn said. “I’m not an expert, though.”
“Someone brought the skeleton into the house and buried it in my crawlspace?” Nora asked.
“Probably when the house was being built,” Thorn said. “Someone snuck onto the construction site
and buried it here.”
“But then why did the ghost just start bothering her?” I asked. “If the skeleton has been here since she moved in, then why did this start recently?”
Thorn thought about it for a minute. “I’m going to need a list of everyone who has been in your house recently,” Thorn said. “I especially need to know if you had anyone in here around the time the activity started. Were you having any work done on the house? Any upgrades?”
“I’ve had people in and out,” Nora said. “There have been a lot of problems with this house even starting back during construction. I’ve had contractors in frequently.”
“I’m going to need a list of their names, and if not, at least who they worked for,” Thorn said.
“I have receipts and work orders for everything,” Nora said. “The builder is responsible for paying me back for all of it, so I’ve kept meticulous records.”
“Why don’t you gather that up?” Thorn said to Nora. “Remy, can you take Kinsley home?”
“I’m not going home,” I said.
“It would be best,” Thorn said. “For the investigation. Please.”
“What if she comes back?” Nora whispered so anyone around us didn’t hear her. “I can’t be here alone.”
“She’s not coming back,” Dad said. “She wanted you to find those bones, and you did. Can you feel the difference in the house? I can. It’s like there was a darkness around the edges… a heaviness… that I didn’t notice until it was gone, but it is gone.”
“He’s right,” I said. “But you can always go stay with someone if you’re not sure. You could rent a room at the motel or the bed and breakfast near the square.”
Nora looked around as if noticing the house for the first time. “You’re right. It does feel different in here. It feels lighter. I’d swear the lights are even brighter.”
“Nothing’s sucking the energy out of the place,” I said.
Just then, a couple of deputies came through the front door. They propped it open. I assumed that was in anticipation of the forensics team arriving with their equipment.
“I’ll go with Dad,” I said. “Nora, you can call me if you need to talk. And please, stop into the shop anytime. I’m sure we’ve got some stuff that will make you feel safer at home and will accentuate the positive energy in here.”
“Was that a sales pitch?” Dad asked as we walked out to his car.
“Too much?” I asked.
“I think it was just right,” Dad replied.
Chapter Four
Laney was sleeping when I called Mom to tell her that Dad was bringing me to pick her up. She wasn’t quite ready to let her granddaughter go either, so we decided I would go home and they’d bring Laney to me later. Or, Thorn could pick her up when he was done working.
So, I was free. I had at least a few hours to do whatever I wanted.
I looked around the house and saw that it was already spotless. I spent so much of my time when Laney was napping cleaning that I didn’t have a thing to do as far as chores.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“What are you on about?” Meri asked. He’d jumped up on the coffee table and was watching me pace in the living room.
“I have free time,” I said. “To myself. I haven’t had that in forever, and I have no idea what to do with it.”
“Maybe you should work on your magic,” Meri suggested. “You could use the practice.”
“I think I’m going to go see Dorian,” I said.
“Of course you are,” Meri snarked.
“You can stay here if you want,” I said.
“I could use a nap,” Meri said and stretched.
“‘Kay. See you later,” I said and headed for the front door.
“I’m coming with you,” Meri said and jumped down off the coffee table.
On my way over to Dorian and Isaac’s house, I sent him a text that I was coming, but he didn’t answer. I didn’t let that deter me, though.
I pulled into his driveway and got out of the car. Meri hopped out of the driver’s side behind me before I shut the door.
After making my way up his front walk and ringing the bell, I waited on the front porch for him to answer. It took a minute for him to get to the door, and had it not been for his car in the driveway ahead of mine, I might have thought he wasn’t there.
“Maybe’s he’s out on a walk,” I whispered to Meri as we waited.
Eventually, Dorian answered. His hair was partially sticking up like he’d been running his hands through it over and over, and his eyes were rimmed in red.
“What’s the matter,” I asked. “Dorian, what’s wrong? Is it Isaac?”
“No,” he said and began to sob. “It’s Buffy. Oh, gawd, Buffy…”
I was thoroughly confused.
“Who is Buffy?” I asked.
“Come in,” Dorian said and motioned for me to come through the door. “I need to be watching my phone.”
As soon as I was inside, Dorian shut the door and hurried over to his coffee table. He picked up his phone and studied it intensely.
“What’s going on?” I asked again since I still hadn’t gotten an answer from him.
“Buffy is Isaac’s dog,” Dorian said. “Well, I guess she’s my dog too, but she was his idea. Plus, the dog likes him way more than she likes me. Turns out it was for a good reason.” At that, he let out a strangled sob and fresh streams of tears released from his eyes. “Isaac is going to kill me. He’s going to be devastated.”
“Where is Buffy?” I asked as calmly as possible.
“I don’t know,” Dorian wailed.
“Dorian, you have to pull yourself together. You are a journalist. You’ve handled far worse things than a missing dog. Tell me what happened, and we’ll fix this,” I said. “But get it together, dude.”
“I don’t know,” Meri said. “This is pretty amusing.”
“Ugh. Sometimes I forget you have a talking cat,” Dorian said.
But the effect was immediate. Meri and his snarky butt had gotten Dorian to stop crying. Thank goodness Dorian had been a werewolf at one time and could handle the whole witch thing. I tried not to think about how exhausting it would have been to have had to keep it hidden from him for our entire lives.
“I do have a talking cat,” I said. “And I think we’d both really like it if you’d tell us more about Buffy.”
“I lost her on a walk today,” Dorian said. “I thought Isaac would be so happy that I took her out for a long walk at the new dog park, but when we were getting back into the car, she pulled away from me and ran into the woods.”
“The woods by the dog park?” I asked. “Sorry, I know that sounds like dumb question, but I’m thinking out loud.”
“Yes, she shot off like a woman on a mission,” Dorian said with a sad chuckle.
“What kind of dog is she?” I asked.
“She’s a little white cairn terrier,” Dorian said and ran his hands down his face. “Cute little thing, but high energy. When you had the baby, Isaac started to get… I don’t know… restless? For a couple of days there, I really thought he was going to suggest we adopt a baby. But then he found the ad for this litter of little puppies. I couldn’t tell him no. Buffy is so smart. I don’t understand why she’d do this.”
“The cairn terrier part explains everything,” I said.
“It does?”
“I’m surprised a journalist like you didn’t do any research into the dog breed before you got her,” I said.
“I didn’t,” Dorian responded. “I should have. But you’re here now, so tell me.”
“Cairn terriers have a high prey drive. They love to hunt. She might have focused in on a squirrel or something. Or there’s a campground on the other side of those woods. Maybe she heard people and smelled cooking food,” I said.
“Well, I’ve got to try again,” Dorian said. “You’re lucky you caught me when you did. I just came back here to get more of her favorite treats and anot
her of her toys. I looked for hours. We left for the walk right after Isaac left to help Viv in the coffee shop. It was supposed to be his day off, but once he was up, Buffy was up. I thought maybe after a long walk, she’d let me take a nap. Oh, well. I gotta go. I have to find her before something happens…”
“I’ll go with you,” I said. “We’ll look together.”
“Is there anything you can do?” Dorian asked as he picked up a stuffed llama from the floor. “You know… with magic?”
Black Arts & Bones (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 11) Page 4