Haunting Hooligans

by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

  Charlie smiled, and before I could disagree, he vanished into thin air.

  I was not at all pleased with that whole leaving whenever they felt like it thing ghosts could do. And, I was a little jealous of it, also.

  I went to dial Jack first, but quickly stopped. What was I supposed to say, that three ghosts came to me, and two of them said Olivia’s in trouble so we’ve got to find her? Right. That would work.

  I dialed Thelma and Del instead, and immediately put them on a three-way call.

  “You mean we can all talk to each other at the same time from your cellular phone, too?” Thelma asked. “I got me that three-way calling on my house phone, and I can even see who’s calling now before I answer. I get a lot of them telemarketing calls. You know what I’m talking about? The ones that tell me they’re calling about the pain I’ve been having? How do they know about my pain?”

  Del mumbled something I couldn’t quite understand and was fairly certain I didn’t want to either. “They don’t know about your pain, woman. They’re trying to get you to buy their products.”

  “Then what about the barrister from London that found my long lost relative?”

  “Don’t tell me you—”

  I stopped Del before she had a chance to give herself a heart attack and so that I could move the conversation along before I lost my mind. “Those are scams too, Thelma. How about I sit down with you and go over the calls you’ve been getting and help you find a nice way to respond to them next week, okay?”

  “That would be nice,” she said.

  “In the meantime, don’t answer your phone unless you know who’s calling,” Del said.

  “How am I supposed to know who’s calling if I don’t answer the phone?”

  I imagined Del smacking herself on the forehead. “You don’t have caller ID?”

  “’Course I do, but it don’t always say who the person is attached to the number, and sometimes says unknown caller. Don’t know how the phone company doesn’t know the caller beause they pay a bill every month to have a phone don’t they? Or is there some sort of phone service you can get for free? I could use that. I’m on a tight budget. Maybe I’ll pick up the next one and ask where they get their service?”

  Del grunted, and as she spoke, I spoke over them, maybe a bit louder than I’d planned. “Ladies, this is important, so can we cut the chatter?”

  “Oh, lawd, someone’s testy this evening,” Thelma said.

  “I think something’s happened to Olivia, and we need to find her.”

  Thelma gasped. “What do you mean?”

  “There’s not a lot of time to talk about it now. Thelma, I’ll swing by and get you, and then we’ll go get Del, okay? Be ready in ten minutes.”

  “But I’m in my pajamas, and my hair—”

  “It’s Halloween. You’ll look like you’re in a costume,” Del said.

  “Now, that isn’t nice,” Thelma said.

  “Be ready. We’re hanging up now,” I said, and before I hit the end call icon on my phone, I heard one of them start to argue, but I did it anyway.

  Del climbed into the backseat of my car. “Where in the devil are we going, and why do I have to sit in the back? You know it makes me car sick. All that stopping and going and stopping and going. I might could throw up right on the back of your seat.”

  Thelma turned around. “Make it her seat. I just washed my hair in the shower this evening.”

  I pulled to the side of Del’s street and put the car in park. “Switch places please, and hurry.”

  Del climbed out of the back with a groan and a grunt, but Thelma waited. “You getting out or what?” Del asked as she opened the door.

  Thelma reached out her hand. “A lady needs help getting out of the car sometimes.”

  “I don’t need no help.”

  “That’s ‘cause you ain’t no lady.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Ladies, and I mean both of you, while I appreciate your ongoing banter, we need to go. If we’re going to help Olivia, we have to go now.”

  They switched seats, and I took off down the street. I filled them in on what I knew, which unfortunately, wasn’t much.

  “How do you know she’s in trouble?” Thelma asked.

  “I guess I don’t for sure, but two ghosts told me I needed to hurry, and she stopped answering my text messages, which she never does.”

  “So, where are we going?” Del asked.

  “To the place where the first spirit has been known to hang out. He’s not very good at making appearances.” I turned left and headed to the cemetery. “He said his energy doesn’t last long. I thought maybe if we go where he’s been seen before, he’ll have more energy there.”

  “A ghost? We’re going to see a ghost?” Del fell into the back of the backseat. “You know I don’t like seeing ghosts.”

  “Then you don’t have to worry, because I’m the only one that can see them.”

  I turned into the small entrance to the private family cemetery.

  “Oh, no. No. No. No.” Del locked her door from the inside. “Ain’t no way you’re getting me out of the car to go to a cemetery on Halloween.”

  “Because why? You think ghosts come out on Halloween?”

  She nodded hesitantly.

  “Del, I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that ghosts don’t wait for Halloween to come out.”

  She flinched.

  Thelma nodded. “My Charlie didn’t come on Halloween.”

  Del shot her a look so intense I wanted to scream duck for fear flames would shoot out from Del’s eye sockets and set poor Thelma on fire.

  I climbed out of the car and opened both Thelma’s and Del’s doors. “We need to do this. Olivia could be in danger.”

  “But why here?” Del asked. “Can’t we call her or something?”

  “I’ve already called her, and she didn’t answer.”

  Thelma shut her door and stuffed the bottoms of her silk pajamas into her rubber rain boots. Del shook her head and stared into the small cemetery.

  I closed each door and gazed into it along with her. The Castleberry family cemetery was really old, and over the years, the tombstones had taken a beating from weather, teenagers, and animals. I’d come by a few times since taking the job with the historical society, and working to repair the stones was part of my master plan, but it would require volunteers, donations, and a lot of planning, so it wasn’t something I’d yet begun. Seeing the place at night, with the soft glow of my iPhone flashlight casting an eerie feel over the place made the need feel more urgent than before.

  I popped open my trunk and removed the flashlight from my emergency car repair kit. I’d tossed it in their last week because I had this strange feeling I might need it someday, and low and behold, I was right. I wasn’t sure if that was just women’s intuition or my bump on the head urging me to do that, but I was thankful either way. I scanned the area with the flashlight and watched as two cloudy forms drifted along the back end of the fenced area. I stiffened, but I didn’t mention it to my counterparts. “All right, let’s do this.”

  “What exactly are we doing? Thelma asked.

  “Not going fishing if that’s the reason you wore those rain boots.”

  “I wore these because they were by the door, and I didn’t have time to go back to my bedroom to get another pair of shoes. Besides, you got yourself a pair of white sneakers on. Who wears white after Labor Day? It’s not good fashion sense.”

  “Says the woman that thinks she’s Dolly Parton’s twin—minus the hefty set of knockers.”

  I blew out a breath—loudly.

  “What’re we doing here anyway?” Del asked.

  “We’re going to talk to Andrew Castleberry. Or at least, we’re going to try to talk to him.”

  A smile stretched across Thelma’s face. “Andrew Castleberry? The founder of town? Well, all be darned, I might could write about that in my blog.”

  “You still doing that thing? Del asked.

&n
bsp; “Of course, I am. Just because I don’t talk about it doesn’t mean I’m not doing it. Last week I had seventy-three visits to it, too.”

  “I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound like something I’d care about neither.”

  “I think that’s great, Thelma, but right now we’ve got to focus on figuring out what’s going on with Olivia.” I explained to them what little I knew as we walked toward the large monument and burial site for Andrew.

  “Oh, lawd, this is terrible.” Thelma held my arm as we maneuvered through the small, over grown cemetery.

  A woman dressed in an ankle length, floral print dress with a wide, white collar appeared on my other side. We made eye contact when I stared straight at her.

  Her eyes widened. “You can see me?”

  I nodded once. I didn’t want my friends to know there was a ghost with us. I was afraid I’d have to wrestle Del to the ground to keep her from running, and even though she was over twenty years older than me, the woman was tougher than a bull in the ring, and I didn’t want to risk either of us getting hurt.

  “Oh, well, isn’t this wonderful. Are you here to clean up the cemetery? My tombstone is cracked, and frankly, I never liked it much anyway. I don’t know why my children put that on it. Blessed mother, beloved wife, cherished daughter. My pa didn’t cherish me none, and my husband’s, they both up and died before me, so why mention them? I’ve wandered around this place for a long time now, and I think there’s a lot more could be said.” She moved ahead of me, then turned around and crooked her finger for me to follow. “This way. I’ll show you.”

  I shook my head slightly.

  Del stopped. “I saw that. You got one here with us, don’t you?”

  I pulled my shoulders up toward my head. “What? No, of course not. It’s just us.” I couldn’t make eye contact with her.

  “You’re lying like a dog, and I know it.”

  I sighed. “Fine, yes. There is a woman here. She’s asking for help with her tombstone.”

  “Oh, then we should help her,” Thelma said.

  “Thelma, yes, that would be lovely, but we don’t have time. Olivia, remember?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry.” She gazed toward her left. “Hello, spirit? Yes, well, at the moment we have to help our friend Olivia. We’re looking for her. Do you know where she is?” Thelma spoke in the exact opposite direction of the spirit.

  I shrugged. “I’ll handle this, Thelma.” I smiled at the spirit. “What’s your name?”

  “Aurora Castleberry. I’m the great-great—”

  I stopped her. “Aurora. I’ll remember that. Listen, we’re trying to find out if something’s happened to our friend, Olivia, so I can’t help you with your stone at the moment, but I promise I’ll come back soon, and we can discuss it, okay?”

  “I don’t believe there is an Olivia here.”

  “No, no. I know that, but I think she’s in danger, and we’re trying to find her. Andrew Castleberry came to me, and so did Nellie Clementine. Both said I needed to hurry. Do you know anything?” I knew it was a long shot, but I figured I’d at least give it a try.

  “I know that Nellie Clementine shouldn’t show her face in this cemetery. Rebecca Thurman is here, and those two are like oil and water. You do know what happened, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but Nellie isn’t here. I need to—”

  “Best you keep her away.”

  Before I could say anything more, she disappeared. “Great. Thanks for the help,” I said.

  “What’d she say?” Thelma asked.

  Del kept herself latched onto me. “Is she gone?”

  I nodded. “And she didn’t say anything.”

  We finished the short walk to Andrew Castleberry’s plot. I shined the flashlight on it. “This really is a beautiful memorial to our town’s founding father, isn’t it?”

  Del nodded.

  Thelma bent down and picked some weeds from near his stone. “We might could get a group of people to come out here and clean the place up a bit. It’s in need of a good cleaning, that’s for sure.”

  “You got the boots on to do it, too,” Del said.

  I nudged her with my shoulder. “Be nice.”

  Thelma picked a few more weeds. “I’m going to ask around, see if I can get some people here. It’s a darn shame, lettin’ this place go like this. We should be paying more attention to the Castleberry’s. Without them, we’d be living some place like Fulton County.”

  Del flinched. “That’s too much city life for me.”

  I had to agree with her on that.

  I stepped closer to Andrew’s stone and crouched down to pluck a few weeds along with Thelma. “Andrew? Are you here?”

  A light fluttered behind his stone.

  Thelma grabbed my shoulder. “Oh, heavens, did you see that?”

  Del stepped backwards, tripped on a small rock, but caught herself by grabbing a hold of Thelma’s waist. The two of them nearly tumbled over in a mess of old bones and sore joints.

  “Why’d you grab onto me? You could have broken my hip, and you know what happens when someone our age breaks our hip,” Thelma said.

  Before Del could say anything, Andrew Castleberry appeared, and I hushed her. “Andrew, we need help in finding Olivia. I thought if we came here, your energy would last longer, and you could help me. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t get in touch with her.”

  “It’s too late. What’s done is done.”

  My heart sank into the pit of my stomach, and I stood there, slack jawed and unable to move. “No, wait, what does—”

  His energy light flickered. “I told you she didn’t have much time.”

  “No, no. Please, tell me where she is. I need to find her.” I refused to believe it was too late. Tears streamed down my face. Thelma and Del stared at me, both speechless. I had no idea if they’d heard what Andrew Castleberry had said, but I couldn’t focus on them. “Please, what’s happened?”

  “Best call the night watch. They’ll know what to do,” Andrew said, and then he disappeared.

  “No, no. No!” I screamed as I dropped to my knees and cried. “Olivia, oh no. I’m so sorry.”

  Del and Thelma bent down and wrapped their arms around me.

  “What’s going on?” Del asked.

  “It’s too late. I’m too late. I couldn’t save her.”

  “What? No. That ain’t right,” Del said.

  “Oh, dear, that’s not good,” Thelma said. “Tell us what he said, Chantilly. Word for word.”

  I did through sobs.

  “Where did she say she was again?” Del asked. “We can find her.”

  I explained it all again, but that time with failure and regret bleeding out of my words.

  “It’s not too late,” Thelma said.

  Del agreed. “Call her.”

  I dialed her cell, but it went straight to voicemail. “Nothing.”

  “If that girl were dead, she’d come to you. You’re kin to her, Chantilly.” Del held my arm and dragged me from the ground. “You know she’d come to you. Now come on, let’s get on the phone and call Jack. We’ll tell him we can’t find her, that we’re worried, and he’ll do something. He’ll find her.”

  My entire body shook, but Del was right. It was time to call Jack. I dialed his cell, and when he didn’t answer, I dialed again. He picked up that time.

  “Chantilly? Everything okay?”

  “No, Jack. It’s not. Listen, I think something’s happened to Olivia. She called me and told me their little pub crawl thing was a bust, and they were going to a barn for a party, but I haven’t heard from her. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m worried. She’s not answering her calls or her text messages, and she always does. Something’s wrong, I know it.” I didn’t mention the fact that two dead people told me something was going on, and I had no intention of saying anything of the sort. Jack didn’t believe in ghosts, and I wasn’t about to try and convince him then.

  “Maybe
she’s out of reach? We’re in the mountains. It happens a lot here. You know that.”

  “I know, but I don’t think that’s it. I don’t know how to explain it. I just have this feeling. Please, can you do something?”

  He sighed. “I can’t officially do anything, but I can have the guys look out, maybe check around, see if they can find any parties at any of the barns in the area, but I’m sure she’s fine, Chantilly.”

  “Can you let me know what you find out? Please? I’m going to look for her, but I have no idea where she could be.”

  “I’ll be in touch. You be careful, you hear me?”

  I disconnected the call. “He’s going to have his guys check the barns around the area, but that’s it. I’ve got to do something. I only know of a few barns near here. Do you know of others?”

  We walked back to the car as fast as the two of them could, and I ignored the two spirits following behind us. They tried talking to me, but I wasn’t about to stop and listen, so I just brushed them off. Until one of them stood in front of my car.

  “Don’t go west. She’s east, but you’ve got to hurry.”

  I froze. “You…you know where she is?”

  The man shook his head. “Not exactly, but I know she’s not at a barn.”

  “Is she okay?”

  He stared at me and then disappeared. I wanted to scream again. “East. We need to go east.” I unlocked the doors with my keyless entry system and helped them both into the car. “And she’s not at a barn. Whatever that means.”

  Thelma put on her seatbelt. “Put the pedal to the metal and let’s get our girl.”

  Del smiled. “That’s my Thelma.”

  I did as instructed.

  We drove everywhere east we could think of, with no sight of Olivia anywhere. We even stopped at two barns, but neither showed any signs of a pending, previous, or current party. “I don’t know what to do.” I pulled from the second barn and headed east again.

  The road winded and curved up and down the hills through the outskirts of town. It was dark, except for the light of the moon, which didn’t do much to help me see the road. I couldn’t go much over forty miles an hour, and my two look outs couldn’t see much in the dark anyway.