by Rose Pressey
I moved my way across the yard, weaving around the stones of people I didn’t know. I thought I would recognize at least one name mentioned in the diary. Nothing seemed remotely familiar. I would look around just a little more and then get out of there. It was so peaceful and beautiful though that it would be hard to leave. It was nice to know that at least someone was keeping up the area too. Well, at least they were mowing inside the graveyard. It was still a little overgrown around the edges, but it was better than being abandoned. I hated to see that, as if everyone had forgotten the people buried there.
That was when I spotted the headstone at the back of the graveyard. The large stone stood much taller than the rest. It was slender and sphere-shaped with scroll patterns decorating the bottom section. Who had the large stone? There was only one way to find out.
When I neared, I realized that it wasn’t just for one, but for two people and I saw the names on it. I instantly felt as if I was meeting someone for the first time. ‘Sarah Tyler’ was etched on the bottom section. She shared the marker with her husband. A lovely angel was engraved under her name. He husband Stanley had died long after her. What had happened to her?
1891 to 1921. Sarah had only been thirty when she’d died. The date on the stone was the same year as the diary. That made my stomach turn and sorrow consumed me. She hadn’t lived much longer after she’d written the words. What had happened to her? Was it the stranger’s fault? Had Jacob killed her? I hoped that wasn’t the case, but how had she died? It was so tragic. She had left behind young children and her husband. It was good to know that he was with her now in eternity.
As I stood there, the wind started to pick up. My hair whipped around. The tree branches swayed wildly. Dark clouds rolled in and I knew it would rain soon. The dark feeling had returned. It wasn’t only in the library now. It was as if it was following me everywhere. I couldn’t shake the spookiness. The rolling dark clouds matched my current mood. Thunder rumbled in the distance. It was time for me to get out of here before the storm hit. I turned around to walk away, but it felt as if someone walked behind me.
That was when I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was moving—not exactly footsteps, more like a brush of clothing. I looked around, sure that I would see someone, but no one was there. Was someone hiding behind the trees? It wasn’t possible. I was here alone, right? As I stepped forward, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It definitely looked like a person. Maybe I wasn’t alone after all. The noise that I heard was someone.
The person had followed me here. I was going to confront this person. I wanted to find out why. Maybe that was a bad idea though. Yes, that was probably a bad idea. What if it was someone with bad intentions? I moved over a little bit to the edge of the cemetery to see if I could spot a person without actually confronting them. Perhaps I should just run to my car, lock the doors and take off. I heard that noise again and I wanted to know what it was.
When movement caught my attention again, I spun around quickly. It was a person leaving. Was it a living person or someone of the spiritual world? I didn’t know for sure, so I wasn’t going to take a chance. I would just have to go back to my car and get out of there before I was caught and something terrible happened. The person was trying to move away from me though, instead of coming after me. I couldn’t make that much about the person. They were wearing a hat and coat. It wasn’t even cold.
I hurried away from the graveyard, through the gate, and back over to my car. I jumped inside and locked the doors behind me. At least I felt a little safer now. I looked back to see if I spotted the person, but I didn’t notice anyone. Now more than ever I thought possibly it was a ghost. I wasn’t sure which was worse, a ghost, or a living person. Sometimes a ghost could be a bad spirit, but then sometimes a living person could be bad too. After the recent things that had happened in Devil’s Moon, I didn’t want to take a chance on either one of them being bad.
My phone dinged and I practically tossed it out of my hand. I never knew if it was going to be a spirit or a text from a real person. I looked down at the phone and realized that I had a message from Brannon.
The boyfriend was released. Not enough evidence. I don’t think he did it. The killer is still out there.
If Brannon was trying to scare me he was doing a great job of it. If it wasn’t the boyfriend, then who’d done it? Was it someone else from the tour?
Being out here alone certainly wasn’t helping my fears. I started the car, shoved it into drive, and took off. The road stretched out in front of me endlessly. I just needed to get back to Devil’s Moon. I needed to find out more about the murder victim. Maybe then I could track down who would have done this to her. Was she just a random target in the wrong place at the wrong time? But she had been in the antique shop. Had it been another person on the tour?
That was when I thought of Ruby. She had acted awfully strange that night and I hadn’t seen her at that moment. Would she have had time to kill someone and if so why had she done it? And to think I had almost given her a job.
Chapter 9
I’d made it back to Devil’s Moon in record time. I still had a bit before the tour started. Since the tavern was so busy I decided to go to the cemetery and hang out there until it was time. The storm had passed but the sky was still covered with dense clouds. I parked my car by my apartment and then headed toward the alleyway. Weaving around puddles of rain, I hurried across the street. My mind was still occupied by what I’d seen at the graveyard. The pressure was mounting to solve the mystery of who was haunting the library and find Ashley’s murderer.
Footfalls echoed behind me as I hurried down the alleyway. I whipped around to see who was following me. No one was there. I knew exactly what that meant. “Mrs. Clatterbuck, is that you?”
She didn’t appear. Usually she liked to make her presence known right away. I continued toward the graveyard. After a couple seconds the footsteps sounded behind me again. I glanced back this time, not stopping to see who was there. Once again, no one was there. “Go away,” I said. “I don’t want you here.” Maybe these were footsteps from a ghost who now lived at the graveyard. I couldn’t expect them to leave if that was the case.
Once I reached the graveyard I wasn’t sure what to do. The footsteps had stopped, but I knew I wasn’t alone. This was the same thing that had been with me at the other graveyard I’d just left. I didn’t know how I knew, but I just knew.
The wind picked up. Just a little at first, but then it became stronger. The storm had passed and I didn’t think there was supposed to be another one tonight. If it was going to storm then I would have to cancel the tour tonight.
That was when the shadow zipped by me.
It had caught me so off guard that I stumbled back and almost fell. I grabbed the gate and managed to stop myself from hitting the ground. The shadow wasn’t there, but I still felt the presence. I took a couple of deep breaths and released them. I’d dealt with a lot of ghosts, but this time felt different. I wasn’t sure how to handle this one. As long as it left me alone I felt I would make it through this, but how long would it follow me? The calm didn’t last long though. The wind whipped even stronger now.
The shadow returned and came right at me. I stumbled, but was unable to catch myself this time. The air was thick and I struggled to breathe. Maybe it was just a panic attack. I tried to remain calm. The spirit would feed on my fear.
Once I got to my feet again he appeared. I knew he wasn’t real because I could see right through him. He wore a black suit and had dark hair. His eyes were solid black. He was staring at me. I sensed that he was going to attack me soon.
Telling him to get lost wasn’t going to work. I’d never seen this man in the graveyard before so I didn’t think he was one of the permanent residents. He moved toward me and I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I was stunned speechless. That had never happened.
“Leave now.” A loud female voice boomed and echoed through the night. The spirit stopp
ed.
I glanced to my left and spotted Mrs. Clatterbuck. She was pointing at the spirit. He wouldn’t listen to me, and I figured he wouldn’t listen to her either. Though Mrs. Clatterbuck could be scary.
The wind had died down again, but after she told him to leave it picked up again. It was like hurricane force now and I could barely stand up. Apparently the more she told him to leave the madder this entity got. My hair whipped around, smacking me in the face, and I couldn’t see for a couple seconds. What would happen if the entity attacked Mrs. Clatterbuck? She was probably strong enough to make this evil thing cry. The thing seemed stronger than ever though, so I wasn’t sure how this would end. I needed help. I couldn’t deal with this on my own.
The spirit stared in Mrs. Clatterbuck’s direction, but she still wouldn’t back down. He moved toward her again and then she disappeared. The spirit turned around to look at me, but at that moment Mrs. Clatterbuck appeared in front of me. I still could see through her though, from her tight brown bun all the way down to her brown skirt suit. The entity lunged forward and I prepared myself for the worst. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. It never came. When I opened my eyes, he was still in front of us.
For a moment he continued to stare, but then he faded away. I couldn’t believe she had done that. I couldn’t believe that it had worked. Mrs. Clatterbuck turned to me. The look on her face wasn’t a happy one.
“Thank you, Mrs. Clatterbuck. I owe you one.”
“You can start by staying out of the graveyard.”
Hmm. I didn’t think I could do that. “Anything else?”
She glared at me. “See, this is what happens. This is why I tell you to stay out of here and leave things alone.” She placed her hands on her hips. The pocketbook still dangled from her arm.
She could fight off evil spirits and still not lose her handbag. This was why I knew Mrs. Clatterbuck was tough. “I promise I will do better,” I said. That wasn’t promising that I would stay out of the cemetery though.
“See to it that you do,” she said. The next thing I knew she had faded away too.
Would that evil spirit return now that she was gone? I hoped not. I looked at the time. The group would be here any minute. I had to calm down. I didn’t want them to sense that I was upset about anything. I couldn’t believe that I was alone again.
I stood at the gate for the cemetery, waiting for my group to gather for the night tour. Gray clouds were rolling in quickly, so I hoped that it wasn’t canceled. I tapped my foot against the ground and checked the time repeatedly. A drizzle of rain fell from the sky now. Thirty minutes had passed. Nobody was showing up. This was beginning to be concerning. I hoped that Lee didn’t show up again. If he’d bought up all of the tickets I didn’t know what I’d do. That guy was just creepy and strange. There was no way I could keep quiet if he did that again. Should I call the police? What could Brannon do other than threaten him with jail? That might actually make Lee stop though.
Perhaps I should put a limit on how many tickets one person could buy. That had never been an issue in the past.
Finally, after looking at the time once more, I decided to see if anyone had bought tickets. Was it possible that people were losing interest in my tour? Maybe I wasn’t doing a good job anymore or maybe they had heard about all the bad things that happened to people on the tour. That was more likely the case. I headed down the alleyway and hurried away from the graveyard over towardthe tavern.
When I reached the sidewalk, I noticed a man standing by the door to his shop. It was located next to the tavern. He noticed me and waved me over. Albert Clark ran the furniture store. I’d never seen him open this late. Albert was in his sixties with a thick head of gray hair. He wore black pants with a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up on his forearms.
“I was just looking for you,” Albert said.
“Well, I’m usually at the graveyard or library,” I said with a laugh.
“This lady just went by and I heard that she was giving a ghost tour. I thought maybe you had stopped doing it. I hope you don’t because I know a lot of people really like what you do here in Devil’s Moon.”
“What do you mean another lady was doing the tour?”
He pointed down the sidewalk. “That group right there. There’s a lady that’s giving a tour.”
When I looked in the direction of his pointing finger, I spotted the group. They weren’t getting a self-guided tour. It was her. Ruby had taken on my tour. I guessed she figured if I hadn’t given her the job she would just take it. Was she doing this for free or had she taken money for my ticket sales? I was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Thank you, Mr. Clark.”
“Good luck,” he said as I hurried away.
I rushed down the sidewalk, trying to catch up to the group. I figured I would surprise her. I didn’t want her to even know that I was back there. That would give me a chance to listen in and see what she was telling them. Ruby probably thought she could get away with this. Of course I probably couldn’t stop her from opening a separate tour, but she wasn’t going to take over mine without my permission. I certainly wasn’t going to give her my blessing. I didn’t want her working for me at all now.
I rushed up behind the group and listened for just a few minutes.
“This building has experienced shadow people, flying objects, and other scary stuff,” Ruby said with a wave of her hand.
She was terrible. Though as she continued, I realized she was using my words. Ruby had taken over my tour. Now she was telling them everything that I did on the tour. Had she recorded what I’d said? She had memorized what I said almost word for word. It was like she had practiced this whole thing. That was more than a little creepy.
No way would I let her get away with this. I was going to let her know that I was here. Seeing her expression when she spotted me would be priceless. So far she hadn’t even noticed that I was standing back there. I trailed along behind the group.
When we got to the antique store, Ruby paused and started reciting the story. She wasn’t going into any of the stores though. I supposed she hadn’t gotten permission to do that. I would have to thank everyone for at least stopping her that way.
I raised my hand and asked, “Excuse me, but aren’t we going to go into any of the shops?”
The look on her face when she realized it was me was priceless. It looked as if she was going to crawl under a rock, which I wanted her to do.
“We won’t be going into any of the buildings tonight.” Her tone was snippy.
“And why not?” I tapped my foot against the sidewalk.
Ruby looked confused for a moment, and then finally said, “Just because we’re not. Okay, so I guess that wraps up the tour for tonight. Thanks for coming, everyone.”
The group looked at each other, awkward and confused.
“I thought we still had more of the tour,” the man said.
“No, not tonight. This is the short version, so thanks again, everyone, and make sure to tell your friends.” She practically shooed them away.
“Tell your friends? What? That you have a lousy tour and that you stole that from someone else?” I asked.
Everyone looked around. You could have heard a pin drop. She didn’t know what to say. Her mouth dropped open and she was speechless.
“That’s what I thought,” I said, placing my hands on my hips.
That was when the group decided they weren’t going to stick around for any more of this weird confrontation. They walked away. I felt sorry that they had spent their money for the tour and I wanted them to come to the right one. But right now, I was too mad to even think about fixing this situation. I hoped they realized what had happened and came back.
“So you want to tell me why you did this?” I asked.
I stepped close to her. I was so angry.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said.
“Oh, don’t give me that.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
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Without saying another word, Ruby turned around and walked away. I was so furious that I thought about chasing her, even perhaps tackling her and knocking her down, but what good would that do? I doubted she would stop this type of behavior. I wondered if there was anything legally I could do to her so that she’d never do this again. Could I go to court? Maybe put some sort of restraining order on her? Sue her for stealing my tour?
“Excuse me,” a man’s voice said from behind me.
I whipped around. I was sure my face showed my fury and was still red. It was John who had yelled out to me. I was shocked to see him here.
“Sorry if I startled you,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind if I talk to you for a second.”
I was still little angry from what I had experienced, so I probably seemed hostile toward him.
“Sure,” I said, trying to sound nicer.
I wouldn’t normally have talked to him. I would have been too scared, thinking he was the killer, but Brannon seemed so sure that he wasn’t the murderer. I was curious to see what he wanted, although I felt a little anxious standing in front of the antique shop where his girlfriend had been murdered.
I was surprised to see him back at the scene of the crime.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I wondered if I could get your help. I want to find the person who murdered my girlfriend.”
“Well, I know the police are looking into that. Why would you need my help?” I asked.
“I heard that you were really good at solving mysteries, so I thought I would give it a shot. Plus, you were there when this happened, along with the other people. Maybe you would remember something.”
“I tried to think back, but I just don’t remember anything. I don’t know what happened to her, but I’m really sorry,” I said.
“So I guess you won’t help me?” he asked.
“Oh, no, I’ll help you,” I said with a smile.
I could never turn down a mystery. I wanted to know what had happened too.