06 Hauntin' After Midnight

by Rose Pressey

  Stars twinkled in the sky. It was a balmy night. It was odd that the couple was walking behind me now when they had been walking beside me. They were acting a bit strange and asking me questions about how long I had been doing the tour, which was completely normal, but then they switched to questions about if anything strange had happened lately. Also they asked what I thought about crime in town. I knew they knew about the murder and were trying to feel me out, but why I didn’t know.

  “Are you from around here?” I asked.

  They exchanged a look.

  “No, we’re just passing through,” the man said.

  Then how did they know about the murder? We walked past a newspaper stand and then I realized that the news of the murder was splashed across the front page. No doubt that was how they knew. Maybe if I could just keep the conversation away from the murder…

  “It seems like a quaint town,” the woman said.

  Now everything she said I took the wrong way. She could have said it was dark out and I would think she was giving me some kind of warning. I needed to get hold of myself. What was I saying? I always jumped to conclusions. This was nothing new and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop it. I just had to learn to deal with it.

  Thank goodness it was almost time for the tour to end and their questions would stop, with any luck. We just had one more restaurant on the stop, and it was a small place so it wouldn’t take as long to go through. I guided them to the building and upstairs. It was a small and narrow staircase that was steep and a bit dangerous.

  The man and woman walked extremely close behind me, a bit closer than I was comfortable with. The more time went on the more and more nervous with them I became. Everything seemed fine at first, but it had taken a turn for the creepy. Maybe I should tell them that they needed to step back a bit. That I felt claustrophobic with them standing so close. The woman kept staring at me. At the beginning of the night she’d seemed nice, but now she looked as if she wanted to hit me. What had changed? I needed to get out of this situation. More and more I felt it was time to end the tour. Now I was trapped in this small room with them.

  We were at the top of the stairs. The small space had been known to be extremely haunted. I was telling them the story about the woman who waited for her Civil War husband to return, but he never came back from the war. I felt a presence behind me. When I spun around, the man was standing so close to me I could feel his breath on my face. A wave of apprehension ran through me.

  “Could you step back, please? You’re standing too close,” I said.

  He reached out and grabbed my arms. He shook my whole body. I screamed and tried to get away from him, but I couldn’t break free. The guy pulled me across the tiny space. Now we were teetering at the top of the staircase. That was when he shoved me down the stairs. I tumbled to the bottom, hitting the walls on each side as I fell. Once at the bottom, I guessed I blacked out. I didn’t remember much after that.

  ***

  I woke up with a lot of activity around me. People were rushing to me and asking if I was okay. At first I was confused as to how I had gotten on the floor. Then it all came flooding back to me. I looked around for the man and woman. Where were they? Apparently they managed to slip out without anyone noticing. Someone yelled out that an ambulance was on the way.

  After just a few minutes Brannon rushed to my side. “Rip, what happened? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” I said as the emergency technicians rushed into the room.

  “You took quite a tumble,” the guy said as he wrapped the blood pressure cuff around my upper arm.

  Everyone in the space was staring at me. I would have stared too though if I’d seen someone fly down the stairs head first. I felt fine except for the fact that I was so confused by the man who had pushed me down the steps. Why had he done such a terrible thing? I didn’t even know him.

  They checked me out and everything seemed fine so they let me sit up. I explained to Brannon what had happened. Immediately he got on his radio and gave a description, telling the officers to be on the lookout for these people.

  “If they’re out there we’ll find them,” he said when he’d finished.

  Now my tour was in jeopardy. If my life was in danger could I continue? I didn’t know if this attack was related to the murder or if it was just random, but that was what I intended to find out. Once they’d finished checking me out I got to my feet. Thank goodness I hadn’t been seriously hurt and I hadn’t broken anything.

  “You could have been killed,” Brannon said.

  “Don’t remind me,” I said.

  We walked across the space and stepped outside. Thank goodness I got out into the fresh air. I was just glad to be away from the stares and whispers. I always tried to keep my tour from disturbing the patrons of the restaurant, but I hadn’t been able to avoid that tonight.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning I was walking to work. I wasn’t alone though. I was being escorted, and not by Brannon. He had something else he had to do, but he had asked one of the other officers to follow me around. I’d insisted that it wasn’t necessary, but Brannon had insisted that it was, so I hadn’t argued with him. Maybe he was right.

  After I’d been attacked last night I didn’t want a repeat of that. But how long would this have to go on? I supposed as long as this investigation was going on. Maybe eventually the person would give up and things would go back to normal. I hoped that they were caught before then though. Was the person who’d pushed me the killer? I hadn’t even contemplated that someone else could be a suspect. That made it even more important that I find out who these people from the tour were. Unfortunately, that seemed almost impossible.

  I waved to the officer and then headed inside the library. I hoped he didn’t have to hang around for long. I would be just fine now that I was in the building, and I wasn’t planning on leaving until tonight when the library closed. I’d take my lunch break inside the building too. Annie was at the reference desk when I walked inside. Tammy was already here too. She had opened.

  I immediately put away my things and got right to work. I grabbed a stack of books and headed over to the shelves to put them away. Jane Austen followed me as I made my way across the library.

  “Good morning, Jane, it’s nice to have an escort,” I said.

  She meowed as she strolled beside me. I was almost sure she just wanted me to give her one of those tuna treats she loved. I started placing books on the shelf. It was nice to have my work to keep my mind off of things. Books always made me happy. It was therapeutic.

  I had just made it around the corner of the aisle when I stopped in my tracks. Someone was standing right there.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I almost bumped into you,” I said.

  The woman stared right at me. She didn’t say anything. This was kind of odd.

  “Is there something I can help you find?” I asked.

  She still stared without responding. I decided I was going to go around her and just get away from this strange person.

  Then she said, “I saw you at the house that night.”

  That definitely made me stop. I looked at her. “Excuse me?” I asked.

  She repeated herself. “I saw you at the house that night.”

  What exactly was she getting at?

  “What house?” I asked, pretending like I didn’t know exactly what she meant.

  “The house on Edman Street.”

  That was exactly what I’d thought she would say.

  “You did? And that was a bad thing?” I asked.

  I still didn’t know what she was getting at, but I had a feeling it wasn’t good. Was she going to tell me that I should stay away? Had she left the note?

  “The place is mysterious,” she said. “There are a lot of things that happened there.”

  Okay, was she trying to scare me? Well, it wasn’t going to work. I’d been to a lot of mysterious places before and this one was no different.

  “Did you k
now Katrina?” I asked.

  “I knew her,” she said.

  “Well, it’s terrible what happened to her,” I said, trying to get more information out of her. “Why do you say there are mysterious things there? Because of her murder? Do you know who murdered her?”

  Again the woman didn’t answer. She turned and walked around the aisle. That was so odd. Why wouldn’t she answer my questions? I moved to the end of the aisle and peered down the way. She was gone. How had she gotten away so quickly? I hurried down the aisle to the other end, looking to the left and then to right. Still I didn’t see her. There was no way she had gotten away that quickly. Cold chills covered my skin, rippling down my spine. Now I stood there confused and unable to move for a moment.

  “What’s going on?”

  I jumped and spun around to see Tammy standing behind me.

  “Oh, thank goodness it’s you.” I clutched my chest.

  “What happened? You look strange,” she said.

  “There was an odd woman talking to me. She said that she saw me at the house. She kind of appeared out of nowhere and then she just disappeared.”

  “That is strange. What did she look like?” Tammy asked.

  “She had dark shoulder-length hair and she was wearing a navy blue dress.”

  “I haven’t seen anyone matching that description,” Tammy said.

  “Can you scan that side of the library and look for her? I’ll look on the other side.” I gestured.

  We stood there, peering over the library.

  “I don’t see anyone with that description.”

  “I don’t see her either,” I said.

  Exactly where had she gone?

  I sniffed. “Do you smell roses?”

  Tammy wiggled her nose. “Actually, I do. Must be someone’s perfume.”

  “Yeah, I guess…”

  “You seem to attract strange things,” Tammy said.

  “Yes, so I’ve been told. Spooky and mysterious should be my middle name,” I said.

  “It does have a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?” Tammy gave me a pitying look.

  I was used to it.

  “If it isn’t a murder happening around me then there are ghosts everywhere,” I said.

  “This is getting entirely out of hand,” a woman’s voice said from over my shoulder.

  I spun around to find the board member standing behind me. This wasn’t good. The mere sight of Mrs. Agnew sent a shiver down my spine. As usual Mrs. Agnew’s chestnut hair was pulled back into a bun. Her skirt suit was a boring shade of brown.

  “Good morning,” I said with a big smile, hoping to change her demeanor.

  I knew that was wishful thinking.

  “Hello,” Tammy said. “I have to get back to work now.” She motioned and took off.

  How could she leave me like that? I’d have to get her for that later.

  “I want to talk to you in your office, please.” Mrs. Agnew gestured with a tilt of her head.

  I followed her down the hallway to my office. Was this when she would fire me? To be honest, I was surprised I hadn’t gotten a visit from her sooner. We stepped into my office and she sat behind my desk. In my leather chair. I didn’t say anything. I had to sit in one of the chairs in front of my desk. Normally they were reserved for guests.

  She tapped her fingers against the top of my desk and stared at me. Did she think she was going to intimidate me? Okay, maybe a little.

  “I came by to tell you that you really need to stop with all this scary stuff. The ghosts and everything. It needs to stop because I think you’re scaring the patrons.”

  My eyes probably bugged out. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I hoped she didn’t mean that I had to stop the tour because I couldn’t do that.

  “I can assure you that my outside activities have no effect on what happens at the library.”

  “Well, actually it does. Especially when you’re involved in a murder investigation,” she said.

  Okay, she had me there.

  “I’ll try to make sure to stay out of trouble,” I said.

  Her dark eyes narrowed as she stared at me.

  “I’ll make sure to stay out of trouble,” I said.

  “Just make sure that you do. I can’t guarantee how much longer the board members will put up with this.”

  “I do a really good job at the library. I think you can safely say that, right?”

  She stared at me a moment longer without saying anything. Then she pushed to her feet. Okay, maybe she did intimidate me just a little bit.

  As she walked by she said, “Let this be a warning to you. If I have to come back again and tell you then you’re fired.”

  I said nothing. What could I say? If she wanted to fire me then she would fire me. I thought that I had a good record working here, and that my tour shouldn’t have anything to do with what I did at the library. I turned and watched as she walked out of the room. At least she was gone now.

  I released a deep breath. My shoulders were tense and my stomach had been in knots the whole time she’d been here. I moved around my desk and plopped down in my chair. She was nothing more than a bully, coming in here and acting that way. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, trying to relax and get what had just happened off my mind.

  “What happened?”

  I fell back in the chair, almost tipping over.

  “Oh, my gosh. Are you okay?” Tammy ran over to me.

  “I’m just being a complete klutz today,” I said as I straightened in the chair.

  At least I hadn’t tumbled out of it.

  “Well, what did she say?” Tammy asked as she plopped down in the chair in front of me.

  “Basically she said if I didn’t quit doing the ghost stuff that I would be fired.”

  “She can’t do that,” Tammy said.

  I sighed. “I don’t know if she can, but I’m not going to quit the tour.”

  Tammy had a strange look on her face, as if she thought they would fire me. I wanted to do both things. I loved books and the tour. I didn’t want to give up either one. And I wouldn’t without a fight.

  “I guess it didn’t help that she heard us talking about the ghosts and stuff,” Tammy said.

  “You’re right, that probably didn’t help my cause,” I said.

  “Hey, another reason I came back here. I think I saw that woman you were talking about. We should go look for her,” Tammy said.

  “Good idea.” I hurried around the desk. “Maybe we can catch her before she leaves.”

  We took off across the library, going up and down the aisles, but we still couldn’t find her.

  “She could be upstairs,” I said.

  “I’ll go take a look,” Tammy said. “You continue searching down here.”

  Tammy went upstairs and I went up and down every aisle of the library. Annie sent a text.

  What are you doing?

  “I’m looking for the woman I talked to earlier. Tammy saw her again in the library just a minute ago. Did you see her?” I asked.

  Annie shook her head.

  I didn’t see you speaking with anyone.

  “We were kind of hidden back there behind the stacks,” I said.

  I’ll look for her.

  When Tammy returned, I asked, “Did you have any luck?”

  She shook her head. “No, there was no one up there matching that description. I wish I knew exactly what the woman looked like.”

  That was when I realized we should check the video for the woman.

  “I can show you what she looks like,” I said.

  Tammy and I hurried back to my office to get my computer so that we could check the security footage. I went to the right location on the recording and looked for the woman. All we saw on the video was me walking around.

  “She’s not there,” I said.

  “How could that be? We would have to see her enter or leave the library.”

  “Unless she had been there for a long time.”


  “I guess she’s still here,” Tammy said.

  “I’m so confused.”

  “Well, there has to be an explanation,” Tammy said.

  I closed the computer. “I just don’t know how. I know I didn’t imagine the conversation with her.”

  “So this mystery woman went unnoticed on the video and so did whoever left the note.”

  “Yeah, we still don’t know that Erin didn’t leave it.”

  “She would have to be awfully sneaky to do it,” Tammy said.

  “I don’t know that she isn’t sneaky,” I said. “So much for checking the video to find evidence.”

  “Come on, we’ll figure this out later.”

  “Yeah, we need to go back up to the front,” I said.

  “I know you’re worried about this, but things will work out. And if they don’t work out, well, then you always have the haunted tour.” Tammy winked.

  “Thanks a lot,” I said.

  Chapter 11

  It was time for another tour. I wasn’t alone. I was basically being escorted by the police everywhere I went. Brannon couldn’t make it tonight because of work, but he had someone else with me at all times. Tonight it was Officer Ellison. He wore the navy blue Devil’s Moon Police Department uniform. With short dark hair, brown eyes, and chiseled features, I thought he was a handsome man. Officer Ellison was slightly shorter than Brannon, maybe five foot eleven. His air of confidence added an aura of mystery. He stood beside me at the gate to the cemetery entrance, waiting for the group to arrive. It was kind of awkward because I didn’t know exactly what to say, and I didn’t think he did either.

  “Have you been doing the haunted tour long?” he asked.

  “Oh, it’s been about a year now. Things are going well, all things considered.”

  He smiled. “Yes, I suppose so.”

  I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I spun around to look, the officer put his hand on his gun. He turned as well, ready to shoot if someone attacked us.