by Nathan Roden
I laughed.
“You could find her, I’ll bet.”
“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “I do. All the time. But the thing is—I haven’t moved an inch. I haven’t gone anywhere. So, what if I found her and she didn’t even remember me? Or what if I walked right up to her and we look into each other’s eyes, and then she says ‘Oh, hi Quentin! I’d like you to meet my boyfriend Brad, who has an awesome six-pack and is an underwear model and personal trainer. He has just returned from doing photo sessions for romance novels’.”
“Man, you have thought about it a lot, haven’t you?” I said.
“You might say,” he said.
“I bet Brad hasn’t bought her a castle, though.”
“Yeah, I do have that going for me,” he said.
“Brad can’t say, ‘Blair, I’d like you to meet my friends the McIntyres, from Scotland—and the sixteenth century,” I said.
“What I should do, in the interest of public safety, is drive both of us to the State Mental Hospital,” Q said. “Do you realize that we will never, ever have normal lives again?”
“There’s one more thing that’s kind of freaking me out,” I said.
Q shook his head violently.
“No,” he said. “No more. I’m full. Up to here,” he said, holding a hand across his forehead.
“When we were outside the garage, and Skyler grabbed my arm,” I said. “There was a guy—a ghost—standing at the corner. He was only there for a second, but I’m pretty sure that Skyler saw him. She acted like she did, anyway. When I made eye contact with him, he looked afraid.”
“Is that all?” Q asked. “Anything else you want to get off your chest today?”
“Q,” I said. “I hadn’t been around Holly for five days. We had two—maybe three hours together last night. Why am I still seeing them? And why am I still able to pass the sight to anyone else?”
“I guess we have one more thing to discuss when we get back,” Q said.
Thirty-One
The Ghost Detectives
Wellmore Village, Scotland/Branson, Missouri
Bruiser, Dougie, and Delbert met up outside of Wellmore Castle.
“Did it work?” Bruiser asked Dougie.
“Yeah,” Dougie said. “They could see me and hear me, and they have the gun. I thought we were in big trouble when Holly’s folks saw those monsters.”
Bruiser slapped Delbert on the back.
“Delbert held up real good,” Bruiser said. “We were able to keep that big old Devil busy.”
“Bert likes to hear himself talk,” Delbert said.
“Bert?” Dougie asked.
“That stands for Big Evil Red Troll,” Delbert said. “He don’t exactly care for the name, but we don’t care what he thinks. Right, Bruiser?”
“That’s right,” Bruiser said.
“Well, what do we do now?” Dougie asked.
“We have to follow Holly back to Branson—otherwise, we got nothin’ to do but stand back and watch,” Bruiser said.
“We’re goin’ back to Branson?” Dougie asked. “Now?”
“Yep,” Bruiser said.
“We don’t know how to get there!” Dougie said. “We could end up in Indonesia or Montana or somewhere like that.”
“Have you done any plane travelin’ Delbert?” Bruiser asked.
“Of course,” Delbert said. “I go up to Memphis about once a month.”
“Once a month?” Dougie said. “What for?”
Delbert scowled.
“To go to Graceland, Dummy,” Delbert said.
“Oh, yeah,” Dougie said, nodding. “That makes sense, I guess.”
“You still go up there?” Bruiser asked.
“Shoot, I go all the time, now,” Delbert said. “A bunch of us do. There are dozens of Elvis impersonators at Graceland every day—some alive and some…not so much.”
“But….he ain’t there, right?” Bruiser said.
Delbert shook his head sadly.
“Nope, but we all feel closer to him when we’re there,” Delbert said. “It’s a real brotherhood.”
“Okay,” Bruiser said. “We need to get back to Branson as quick as possible.”
“We just go backward from the way we got here,” Delbert said. “First, we gotta go to London on the train, and then fly to New York. From New York, we go to Atlanta.”
“Let’s get moving,” Bruiser said.
The trio of ghosts arrived in Branson late in the afternoon. They ran into Butch and Ernest Atkins on their way to the castle.
“Well, if’n the world travelers ain’t back from their big European adventure!” Butch said.
“Bonjour, fellers!” Ernest said.
“That weren’t exactly a vacation, boys,” Bruiser said. “We got to find Miss Holly, pronto!”
“You best be on the lookout for Arabella,” Butch said. “She’s lookin’ to take a chunk out of you fellers’ hides.”
“We can take care of Miss Arabella,” Bruiser said.
“I’m gonna put my money on the little lady, myself,” Ernest said. “She ain’t let up tellin’ anybody who’ll listen about what she’s gonna do when she get a-hold of you boys.”
“We got more important fish to fry right now,” Delbert said.
“Been nice knowin’ you fellas,” Butch said. He and Ernest laughed.
Holly was a few minutes into a castle tour when Bruiser, Dougie, and Delbert arrived. It was only seconds before Arabella found them and the screaming began. The trio tried their best to draw Arabella away from the tour, but it was still a distraction to Holly. She stopped speaking several times to glare in their direction. Bruiser finally gave up and led them all outside.
Arabella was relentless in her scolding. She chased the group from one side of the grounds to another until Dougie screamed.
“That’s enough!”
This startled everyone enough that they fell silent.
“Miss Arabella,” Dougie said in a normal tone of voice. “I know you’re mad. And maybe you have every right to be. But in case you haven’t noticed, Bruiser and Delbert are both sweet on you, and—”
“Dangit, Dougie!” Bruiser yelled. Delbert turned a crimson red.
“I’m gonna say my piece because otherwise this screaming feud is gonna go on forever,” Dougie said. “Bruiser and Delbert are sweet on you, and it’s a Southern Gentleman’s place to take care of their women. Maybe that don’t sit well with you, Miss Arabella, but that’s the way we was raised, and there ain’t nothin’ gonna change that. It is what it is.”
Arabella looked back and forth between the men. Her face flushed and her nostrils flaring as her breathing slowed.
“Well,” she said. “Let’s just see that it doesn’t happen again.”
“No, Ma’am,” Bruiser said.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Delbert said.
“Still friends?” Bruiser asked.
“Friends,” Arabella said. “Though I will be keeping a close watch on you.”
Bruiser patted Dougie on top of his head.
“We have to tell Holly,” Delbert said. “We found—”
“There you are!” Elizabeth McIntyre said as she rounded the corner of the building. “Mary! Frederick! Come and meet our other friends.”
Mary and Frederick Montgomery joined Elizabeth. Elizabeth made introductions all around.
“Sorry about all the yellin’, Ma’am,” Bruiser said. “We had a little difference of opinion with Miss Arabella.”
“Oh, I assure you that we have heard all about it, Mr. Brady,” Mary said. “In fact, you might say that the subject has dominated all conversation of late.”
“So, you’re the folks that are taking all the McIntyres to…wherever it is that we go?” Delbert asked.
“Yes, Mr. Scoggins,” Mary said. “It has been far too long in coming.”
“We’re sure gonna miss ‘em,” Delbert said, his voice cracking a little.
“T
hey’re all such good people,” Dougie said. “But if’n it’s their time, we wish them all the best.”
Bruiser shifted his weight between his feet, blinked his eyes, and sniffed.
“So when will you all be—?” Dougie said.
“How come we’re losing our friends?” Bruiser blurted out. “Why do they have to leave now?”
No one knew what to say.
“I’ve been mad my whole life and I was plenty mad after I blew up my myself and my truck,” Bruiser said. “I’m not mad anymore, and it has everything to do with these folks. And now I’m gonna lose them. What about us? Ain’t we been through enough?”
Mary put a hand on Bruiser’s arm. He flinched for a moment and then bit his lip. He looked to be fighting back tears.
“There are always more questions than answers, Mr. Brady,” Mary said. “Until the right time comes. And that time will come for you as it comes for us all.”
Frederick placed a hand on Bruiser’s shoulder.
“We have felt an emptiness for hundreds of years, Mr. Brady,” Frederick said. “There is nothing that can fill the void when you are separated from your loved ones. But we did not experience actual grief. Grief is something that belongs to this world. We had faith that our family would join us when it was the right time. And I assure you, time will not always mean as much to you as it does now.”
“Faith will always be a part of us, Bruiser,” Mary said. “I still marvel at Elizabeth’s story of how your anger and bitterness found release at the sound of Arabella’s voice.”
“She sings like an angel,” Bruiser whispered.
“Help can come to us in many forms, Mr. Brady,” Mary said. “And in ways that we least suspect. Why, Lizzie tells us that Arabella used to have the demeanor of an alligator with a toothache.”
“What?” Arabella said.
“Mary!” Elizabeth scolded.
“Isn’t that what you said?” Mary asked. The other ghosts fought to keep from laughing out loud.
“People!” Delbert yelled. Everyone fell silent.
“When are we gonna get around to telling them that we found Holly’s parents!”
Arabella grabbed Delbert by his lapels.
“You found them?” she screamed. Delbert froze.
“They are being held prisoner—in the dungeon of the Wellmore Castle,” Bruiser said.
“Wellmore?” Elizabeth gasped.
“Dallas!” she screamed.
Dallas McIntyre ran in seconds later. Nora and Charlotte followed behind.
“Dallas,” Elizabeth said, “Oliver and Gwendoline are being held captive at Wellmore Castle!”
Dallas balled his fists.
“I was sure there was something evil in that place—since the first time I set foot on the grounds.”
“I knew it as well,” Elizabeth said.
“You’ve been there?” Arabella asked.
“Twice, only,” Dallas said. “We attended two weddings there.”
Dallas shuddered.
“Baron Wellmore was a most disturbing man.”
“He was a stark raving madman,” Elizabeth said. “You could see it on the faces of the other guests as well. No one wanted to be near him. And there was such an eerie feeling about the entire grounds.”
“Aye,” Dallas said. “That particular generation of madman was but one in a long and storied history. The Castle Wellmore was four hundred-years-old when we made our visits. The portraits of dead Wellmores on those walls were enough to cause sleepless nights. You could taste the evil on your tongue. We were most anxious to leave that place.”
“Yeah, we can vouch for that,” Dougie said. “There is some powerfully wicked undead in that basement.”
“This does not surprise me,” Dallas said. “We heard many tales of unspeakable events that took place in those depths. No one was permitted to visit the dungeon—they said that it was unsafe.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s unsafe, all right,” Bruiser said. “The leader down there is one big, powerful, nasty critter. He has plans to team up with this guy named Sebastian. Sebastian Wellmore.”
“Holly left some of her stuff with the Finnegans—the hired investigators,” Dougie said. “They thought that her stuff would let them talk to us, but it didn’t work. It worked better on Holly’s folks, though.”
“You spoke to them?” Elizabeth said.
“Yes Ma’am,” Bruiser said. “And we left them a pistol. But that’s all we know. There was nothin’ left for us to do there. We got back here fast as we could to tell Holly and Mr. Lynchburg.”
“Let’s go,” Dallas said.
They found Quentin in his office.
“We know where Holly’s parents are,” Bruiser said. “They’re alive, but they’re in a whole mess of trouble.”
“That’s great news,” Quentin said. He picked up his phone.
“I’m going to alert the Finnegans,” he said. “Then we’ll tell Holly.”
The Finnegans were excited by the news, but they were not happy that it involved a prominent family.
“We’ll have to think on this for a while, Mr. Lynchburg,” Ian Finnegan said into the phone. “You must understand that we’re talking about one of the country’s oldest families—a family that once played host to Royalty. We cannot very well go to the authorities telling tales of demons and ghosts. We will need substantial proof, or we’ll lose our licenses. With no more to go on than we have, we’d be fortunate to avoid bein’ arrested ourselves.”
Quentin paced back and forth and ran a hand through his hair as he heard this. He knew that Ian made perfect sense, but he felt the frustration of knowing a truth that he could not use.
“The McFaddens have a pistol now, Ian,” Quentin said. “At least, get someone to watch the castle. If this Wellmore moves them out of the castle, we’ll be starting all over again. This is critical.”
“Look, Mr. Lynchburg,” Ian said. “We don’t doubt what your….your people found out. It’s just that we have nothing that we can take to the police. They would laugh us right out of the county, Mr. Lynchburg. We’ll have someone watch the Wellmore place, for sure. We need to speak with Mr. Brady and the others, straight away. Are you coming back soon?”
“As soon as we possibly can, Ian,” Quentin said. “A day or two, at the most.”
“Make it sooner rather than later, Mr. Lynchburg,” Ian said. “There may not be much time to lose. We need Holly and those ghosts back over here. This is completely beyond our abilities.”
“I assure you, this is our number one priority, Ian,” Quentin said. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Don’t hesitate to call, Quentin,” Ian said. “Anytime. Night or day.”
“You got it,” Quentin said.
Thirty-Two
Wylie Westerhouse
Branson, Missouri
Quentin dropped me off when we got back to Branson. It wasn’t all that late, but I knew that Holly would be tired and jet-lagged. I didn’t want to get in the way while she spent her last days with the McIntyres.
Nate babysat Toby while Quentin and I were in St. Louis. I found both of them sitting on my front porch.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” Nate said.
“Thanks again for staying with him,” I said.
“Sure,” Nate said. “Anytime. Fur-Face is good company.”
“Duncan’s not here?” I said.
Nate shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think so, but I’m just going by the way that Toby’s acting.”
“I appreciate you staying with him,” I said. “I feel so guilty all the time—”
“Glad to help out, Wyles,” Nate said. “How did it go up there?”
“Well, it looks like it’s really going to happen,” I said. “Even if some people don’t like it—like Skyler’s mother.”
Nate grunted. He swiped at his phone. He handed it to me.
There, in living color, was a picture of Skyler kissing me on
the cheek. In the photo I looked semi-relaxed. Inside my head, a full-blown fireworks display was bouncing around my skull.
“Where did you find this?” I asked.
“I didn’t have to find it,” Nate said. “It’s everywhere. It’s official, Dude. You are now—a Viral Sensation.”
“I have to have a personal trainer,” I said. “And learn choreography.”
Nate laughed.
“Have they seen you walk?” he asked.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
He was still laughing.
“You sort of pull to the left, Wyles,” he said, “Like you need a front-end alignment.”
“That makes me unique,” I said, although I couldn’t say it with a straight face. “Who wants to be just like everybody else, anyway?”
“Yeah!” Nate said. “Who wants to walk like they’re listening to a click track?”
“Ow!” Touché!” I said.
“It’s a crazy world, ain’t it?” Nate said. “A few weeks ago, I had a girlfriend. Now Duncan has a girlfriend. And you have two of them.”
I blew out a long breath. I started to hand Nate’s phone back to him, but I pulled it back to look at the photo one more time. I shook my head.
“There is waaay too much stuff happening at the same time,” I said. “We find out that Holly’s parents didn’t die in a boating accident; Duncan and all of the McIntyres are leaving, and one of the biggest stars on the planet wants to adopt me. I can’t be everywhere. What am I supposed to do?”
“I can’t help you there,” Nate said. “You’re in love with a one-of-a-kind girl who sees dead people. And you have this huge opportunity, which is attached to one of the richest and most famous young ladies in the world. And neither girl knows anything about the other, do they?”
“No,” I said. “Everything has happened so fast—”