“What are you doing?” Charlie cried, as we almost crashed into the embankment and the trees beyond.
Chapter Three
Greer was shaken up a bit, but with some care she managed to open the back door and step out onto the pavement. I followed quickly and asked my friends if they were all right. I felt fine, just a little shaken up, and once they confirmed that they were okay, I looked around for the ghost that had dashed in front of my Beetle. No one had ever run in front of me like that before. In fact, I rarely saw any ghosts near the lake except for the occasional fish, which swam away if they caught sight of Paws.
I raced back toward the shimmering water, only now realizing how close we were to Jasper’s barn. I hoped he wasn’t working late, since he had already caught me trespassing on his property once, and I didn’t want it to happen again.
I skidded to a halt on the perfectly mowed grass and stared in shock at the transformed structure before me. The barn had been repainted and was shimmering a beautiful red in the moonlight. Charlie and Greer caught up and stood next to me in awe. Jasper had originally told me that the place was barely salvageable, but from the look of it, he had saved quite a bit.
“Jasper’s done so much work! This looks amazing!” squealed Charlie.
“If you say so,” said Greer. “Personally, I didn’t mind the falling-down look.”
Ignoring my friends’ banter, I kept moving. “I have to find a ghost,” I said, and raced toward the water in the direction where I thought it had gone.
I looked around at the peaceful trees, the slope, and the road for a few minutes and saw nothing. Then something sparkling along an outcropping of stone caught my eye, and I raced that way. My friends were still busy examining Jasper’s work and didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me. There was yellow tape up to keep people out of the construction site, but Greer never let a little thing like laws about trespassing stop her. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to see the ghost I was talking to, so why should they bother?
“Excuse me?” I called out. “Are you all right?”
For a few moments, nothing happened. I waited patiently, remembering my grandmother telling me with a huff that some ghosts were very shy, not really understanding the realm they were in or how to exist in it, or kind of exist, or whatever it was exactly that ghosts were doing these days.
In short, maybe this car-spooking ghost was just bashful.
“Excuse me?” I tried again.
This time it worked, and the ghost came around the stone outcropping looking at me timidly.
“Oh, hello,” she said. She blinked several times and looked around as if she wasn’t sure she was in the right place. “I didn’t know anyone could see me. This is very confusing.” Her voice was low and she peered at me as if I might disappear.
I introduced myself and told her I was a witch, and that I could in fact see ghosts, including her. Her eyes brightened at my explanation.
“Do you think you could help me?” she asked. “If I had known you existed I would’ve come to find you a long time ago, but it’s been ever so long since I had a real conversation. Like I said, I didn’t know there were witches who could see ghosts. I am in ever such need of help, though.” She looked at me hopefully, and my stomach twisted.
“I can certainly try,” I said. “What’s the trouble?”
Her eyes filled with concern. In her small hands she held a handkerchief that she kept twisting nervously. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and her clothes looked like they were from a different time. She was in stocking feet, and she wore a dress with a high button collar and frills around the neck. “My name is Kayla Caldwell,” she said. Her eyes searched my face for any sign of recognition, and I had the distinct impression that she was disappointed when her name didn’t elicit a bigger reaction.
Something about the name did sound familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it so I didn’t make any pretense of recognition.
“I know you’re a witch and all, but I really don’t know if I should burden you with my story,” she said. “It’s a doozy, and so much time has passed that I don’t know if bringing everything that happened back into the open is worth it. I’m fine here at the lake, after all. It’s pretty most of the year, and now that I don’t feel the cold, I can’t even say that I mind the winters.”
Kayla was right, of course. The barn was situated in a beautiful spot.
“Oh, no! Now that I’ve met you,” I said, “you must tell me! You can’t go about flitting in front of cars like that. What if you cause an accident?”
Looking very sad, she shook her head. “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I never meant to cause any harm. There are rarely any cars out here late at night, so I try to venture a bit further once it gets dark. I’m the only ghost in the lake, you see, and it does get lonely.”
“How did you end up in the lake?” I asked. I had been to the Babbling Brook Barn at night once before, and I knew for a fact that the property, including the waterfront, was not crawling with ghosts. Now even the two who had lived in the barn, Morris and Morton, had moved away.
Kayla shook her head despairingly. “It’s such a wretched story,” she said.
I glanced over my shoulder and up the slope at my friends, who were pointing up at the high windows of the barn and looking completely entertained.
“I have time,” I assured Kayla.
The ghost sighed. “Oh, very well,” she began. “I’ve been here for a while longer than you might expect. I ended up here during unusual circumstances. Specifically, I was driving home one night from my job, much later than usual. Usually I got home right at five to fix dinner, but I was late that night because of the town meeting, and it was almost eight-thirty before I started for home. As far as I knew it was otherwise a normal night. I was busy thinking about what I was going to make for breakfast the next morning – porridge with oranges and a cup of coffee, or maybe tea. Usually I took the direct route home because it saved three minutes, but since there wasn’t much traffic that late in the evening, I thought I’d take the scenic route. It was always so very pretty around the lake, especially on a moonlit night! But now I think it’s not really pretty enough to justify spending twenty-four years looking at it.”
I gasped.
Kayla looked at me severely. “Yes,” she said, “it is rather serious, and it has been a very long time, as it turns out. Like, I was driving home and there was no one else on the road, but then suddenly there were lights in my rearview mirror and they were coming up fast on my bumper. They had their brights on, and I remember thinking how silly that was, because I was in front of them and you’re supposed to turn your high beams off when you’re following someone. But this driver didn’t do that, and the car just got bigger and closer, and they were going very fast. I’ve never wanted to drive fast, and I figured I’d just give them some space. Foolishly – I see it now – I pulled off the road in the direction of the lake. But instead of going past and on his way, the driver behind me slowed down right along with me and then drove right up onto my bumper and started pushing. Not expecting such outrageous behavior, I lost control – not that I could have done much about it at that point anyhow – and almost before I could react, my car was in the lake, and me along with it.
“You might guess what happened next . . . I died.”
Overcome with emotion, Kayla shook and trembled as she told her story. I could hardly blame her.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to tell my story to anyone,” she said at last.
“I’m so very sorry,” I told her.
She smiled weakly. “Thank you! It was traumatic, to say the least. My car is still down there, and sometimes I go down just to look at my handbag. I liked that handbag! I still like it to this day! My boss gave it to me to mark my first year on the job, so I had just gotten it the week before I died. I had even gotten a raise! And I never did get to make that porridge. Do you like porridge?”
“Yes,” I s
aid, getting whiplash from her sudden changes in topic. “Who doesn’t?”
“Exactly,” she said, beaming at me as if I had finally said something trustworthy.
“Are you sure the other car intentionally ran you into the lake? They didn’t stop or try to help you or anything?” I asked.
Kayla shook her head mournfully. “I’m sure it was intentional, and they most certainly did not stop to see what had become of me. I’ve been here ever since.”
“Has anyone come to visit the spot that you’ve seen? Even other ghosts?” I asked.
“I’ve run into a couple of ghosts over the years, but they don’t often come this way. I know I’m the first one to die in the lake, and I’ve been stuck here for the past twenty-four years.”
“I’d like to help,” I said, “and the first thing we should do, now that I know where your car is, is to give you a proper burial. No one searched for you right after you went missing?”
Kayla shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know where they searched, but certainly nobody dredged the lake, if that’s what you’re asking. The car is still there. It’s a very deep lake, you know.”
I bit my lower lip, wondering how I could draw attention to a car submerged in a lake for so many years without mentioning that I had learned about it from a ghost. Maybe I could come back the next day and look for something that I could then say had made me think of it. It would be difficult, but not impossible. Not coming up with anything concrete at the moment, I was left to hope that Charlie or Greer might have a good idea.
“My roommate keeps all sorts of folders filled with newspaper articles, so I’ll read them first thing tomorrow and find out what happened after you disappeared. I’ll come back as soon as I can, maybe with my ghost cat, Paws.”
Kayla’s face brightened. “You’ll come back with a cat? That would be lovely. I love cats! Sometimes strays go running around here, but they never stay for long.”
I smiled and nodded and started to turn away. Greer and Charlie had waited long enough.
“Just one more thing,” she said, raising her ghost hand in a silent gesture that told me to wait. “Next week I will have been here for twenty-five years. If I make it to the twenty-five-year mark I’ll never be able to leave the lake, so if you wouldn’t mind finding out what happened by next week, I’d greatly appreciate it. I have a sister, so maybe you should talk to her. Mary and I were sharing a cute apartment together at the time of my death.”
“I’ll find your sister,” I promised, my mind racing. Next week didn’t leave me much time to solve an almost twenty-five-year-old murder.
“Where did you work?” I asked, thinking that between the sister, the articles, and her place of employment I was going to have a busy few days.
“I worked in the Caedmon town office as a secretary,” she said proudly. “It was the only job I ever wanted, and I got it. I worked very hard and I thought I did very well. I’m sure my replacement wasn’t anywhere near as good.”
She looked at me hard as if for confirmation, and I nodded. If I didn’t find out what had happened to her by next week, it was likely that neither of us would ever know. But who would want a nice secretary in a small town’s town hall dead? Was there any chance the murderer had really meant to kill someone else?
I’d better get working on it.
When I looked back toward the barn I could see Greer and Charlie waiting patiently. They knew I was speaking to a ghost that they wouldn’t be able to see (they could only see ghosts on my property, and only because I had given them permission). They had been nice enough to give us space to talk, but I didn’t want to abuse their good will any further, so I hurried over and we got in the car and headed home. Part of me was relieved that Jasper wasn’t there, but another part was a little disappointed.
On the drive home I told my friends everything that the ghost and I had said to each other.
“I remember that case,” said Charlie, bouncing with excitement. Count on the reporter to know a lot about it. “I’ve read about it, and even done some research on it. But like everyone who looked for Kayla when she went missing, I ran into nothing but dead ends.
“The girl had up and disappeared! There were crazy headlines for a few weeks afterwards. First they thought she had run away, but her sister was sure she hadn’t. Her sister said she would never do such a thing as to leave her post at the town hall, which she loved. The sister did endless interviews, and in every one she insisted that there was something wrong, that her sister was a responsible adult who would never have left town voluntarily, and could someone please find her.
“No one ever did. I honestly don’t think they ever looked very hard, because her car was missing and they assumed she had just driven to Vegas and never come back. Small town girl, big dreams, that sort of thing. And now you’re telling me that you just ran into her, and that all this time she’s been a ghost who lives at the lake? And she got run off the road? Why would anyone want to run her off the road?”
I shook my head. I had no idea, and I didn’t have much time to find out.
Chapter Four
Greer and Charlie were very impressed with the work Jasper had done on the barn since the day he and I talked over lunch at The Daily Brew. It looked like most of the structure was in fact salvageable, but I did wonder just how much it had all cost.
I knew that Jasper would figure out a way to save the best part of the barn, which was of course the massive post and beam frame that held the whole thing up. He had gutted the rotting floor and sold the windows, replacing them with new, sturdier glass that would keep the heat in better. Luckily, he had preserved the old glass intact and found collectors who adored it and were willing to pay for it. He was going to build the centerpiece of his new apartment complex around the reimagined barn. The barn itself and most of the apartments would have big windows facing the stunning view of the lake.
Jasper’s efforts were more than enough to satisfy me and the other Mintwood protesters. I was happy knowing that even though not all of the old building could be preserved after a couple hundred years and long periods of neglect, Jasper was doing his best. I thought the new barn would be beautiful, and in fact it already was. It was going to bring a lot to the town in the way of entertainment and pleasure.
“It’s a beautiful space,” Charlie beamed. “I wonder if he’ll have dances there, and fancy dinners. That’s what it looks perfect for to me! I’m very excited!”
“You’re always excited,” said Greer.
“It’s one of my best qualities,” said Charlie.
The three of us gathering in the living room after dinner was becoming a habit, usually involving tea and often with Paws looking in at the window. In the summer we’d be out on the porch, but with fall in full swing, we wanted to be somewhere warmer.
Before we went to bed that night I returned to the problem of the car lying at the bottom of the lake. I could think of no plausible excuse for knowing it was there, but since it was the key to solving a twenty-four-year-old missing person case, I had to think of one. If the car was found, Kayla would also be found, and at least her sister would have closure. She deserved that much after all these years.
At first, both my friends were as stumped as I was.
“We have to figure out a way to prove the car is there,” I said.
It was a testament to their loyalty that Charlie and Greer took me seriously, lapsing into silence as they tried to think of a way to help Kayla.
“Got it! Let’s go swimming tomorrow,” said Charlie.
“It’s fall,” I said, shocked at the very idea. “It’s way too cold for swimming.” Fall in Maine was pleasant if you wore long sleeves, but it wasn’t balmy enough to take dips in the lake.
“That’s true,” said Charlie, biting her lower lip.
“We’d probably need scuba gear anyway,” said Greer.
“I’m sure we could find somebody who has some,” said Charlie.
“Great, but let’s no
t try,” said Greer.
After several minutes of silence, during which we all tried to come up with a solution, Greer gave a triumphant hoot.
“What about canoeing?” she said.
“My grandmother has a canoe in the back shed that would probably still float,” I said.
Now it was Charlie’s turn to look skeptical.
“That doesn’t exactly give me confidence,” she said. “I wasn’t born a seafaring creature.”
“If the canoe fills up you can just jump out and swim, which was your brilliant idea in the first place,” said Greer.
“We could tie it to the roof of the car,” I said with excitement, ignoring the banter. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“Not a bad idea doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” Charlie pointed out, insisting on banter.
“If you can come up with a better one by tomorrow morning, I’m all ears,” said Greer. “If not, it looks like we’re going to get some practice paddling.”
All I could think about was how Paws was going to feel about a canoe ride on the lake. But I kept that thought to myself.
“Well, at least it will give Lemmi more of an opportunity to run into Jasper while she trespasses on his property again,” said Charlie, looking amused.
“Oh, you’re so funny, I said. “I’ll just send him a text and let him know we’re going to use his lakefront as a pushing-off place. He doesn’t own the actual lake, anyhow.”
“Not yet,” said Greer.
I woke up in a rush the next morning, but still took the time to glance at the Mintwood Gazette. I should have known the paper would be touting the window display competition, and that’s exactly what they had done. In fact, they had splashed it across the front page. Maybe I shouldn’t have looked, but come on, of course I was going to look.
Witch Some Win Some (Witch of Mintwood Book 2) Page 2