The Guest House Hauntings Boxset

by Hazel Holmes

  Ezra was trapped in this situation with her, which did make her feel less alone. Yet this house also felt like a pressure cooker of emotions sometimes. Without anyone on the outside aware of what was going on, experiencing the things they were experiencing, it sometimes felt like none of this was real. It sometimes felt like they were going crazy.

  Besides, Brittany’s input could be helpful. She knew Richard, Lyla, and even Billy to some extent. If they told her what was going on, it was possible that she might be able to help them make sense of it. Perhaps she could provide some context, knowing how her friends felt and reacted to things.

  Would she believe them though? That was the real question. Clara feared she would think they were crazy. Sure, Brittany had initially brought up the idea of ghosts in the house, but did she truly believe they were there? Or was it something she brushed off as a silly, unfounded fear?

  “I appreciate that,” Clara replied. “But I’m okay, honestly. It’s just this house sometimes is… a lot. You know? There’s a lot of history that weighs you down a bit.”

  “I understand that to some extent,” Brittany admitted. “There is a certain energy about the house that more sensitive people can pick up on. It must be tough to work with. But you are doing a great job with the transformation. You’re shifting that energy, so hopefully you’ll feel a bit more cheerful soon.”

  Clara wanted to tell her it was so much more than the energy of the house. She wanted to tell her about the spirits living there. Perhaps Brittany would’ve even been happy knowing her friend was still close by in a way. Maybe she could get Lyla to come back and give them more information.

  “Yeah,” Clara replied. “I hope so too.”

  They all settled down at the table together to enjoy the delicious meal Ezra had made. Topics went the more casual route at first. They caught up on life, as they hadn’t seen each other much since the day they went snowshoeing together. Everything was rather lighthearted and typical for a dinner shared with friends.

  Ezra and Clara thought they were doing well hiding their secret stresses, but their nervous glances, tired eyes, slumped postures, and overall worn-out look betrayed them. They tried to keep up those masks, but their guards were down under all the pressure and the truth was slipping out.

  “So,” Sam said, leaning back in his chair, “you must tell us what’s going on.”

  “What do you mean?” Ezra asked, suddenly on guard. Since they were already defensive, hearing anything that was confusing immediately put them on edge.

  Clara’s mind went to the diary. Did they know about it somehow? Did they know about Billy? Did they know about the ghosts?

  “The way your posture tensed right there,” Sam answered, followed by a chuckle. “That’s what I mean. You’re both obviously tense over something. You’ve seemed on edge ever since we got here. Stressed. Worried.

  “I do understand opening night is coming up. But this seems like more than just opening day jitters. I’ve never seen new business owners this stressed over opening a business alone. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems everything is on the right track anyway. You’re doing better than most, looks like everything is falling into place. It doesn’t seem like you have a whole lot to worry about. Yet you look like everything is falling apart. You look exhausted.”

  Maybe it was the exhaustion, but the confidence Sam had in his assumption made Clara suspicious. It was like he knew exactly what was going on, but how? Was it really that clear? Had other people dealt with similar experiences in the house? Did they just assume it would happen to them?

  “We’ve been stressed,” Ezra admitted as he looked over at Clara. Neither knew how much they should share with their new friends. They hadn’t told anyone aside from each other what was really going on in their house lately. They didn’t think anyone else would believe them.

  Yet Brittany was the one who brought up ghosts in the first place, and they were being persistent in their inquiry into what was going on. Having been stressed and isolated for so long, it was becoming more difficult for Ezra and Clara not to confide in them.

  “Over what?” Brittany asked, once Ezra didn’t continue.

  “A lot of things,” Clara admitted. Then she realized that though they couldn’t tell them about the ghosts, perhaps they could share what she found in the diary. She looked at Ezra who shrugged. Neither of them knew the best way to navigate this.

  “I found a diary while going through some things in the attic,” she said. “Lyla’s diary.”

  Brittany and Sam looked at each other, then back at Clara. Both looked surprised. She worried about how they would react. What if they thought she was intruding on Lyla’s privacy by reading the diary? Perhaps she was. However, she didn’t regret it. She already learned some information she suspected could be vital in the quest to clear their names. That was more important right now than a dead woman’s privacy.

  “That’s surprising,” Brittany said, in a tone that suggested she was understating her feelings towards it. She sipped her wine, then reverted to her normal, composed self. “I didn’t even know she kept a diary. Did you read it?”

  “I did,” Clara admitted. “I was hoping it’d give us a better idea as to what was going on leading up to their deaths. In some ways, it did.”

  Brittany looked a little concerned about this. Clara was confused at first, then she remembered the slight tension between Brittany and Lyla leading up to her death. She figured Brittany didn’t want anyone else knowing about their disagreements. Clara didn’t judge her for that though. She wasn’t sure what exactly was going on with Brittany and Lyla, but friends fought sometimes. It wasn’t as important as figuring out who murdered the family.

  Though of course, she’d probably be much more careful when working with Brittany in the future. Clara wondered if perhaps that was part of it. Brittany might’ve been aware of her friend’s frustration, once she noticed Lyla was more hesitant to work on projects with her. Maybe she was worried that if Clara read about them, she wouldn’t want to work with her anymore. Which wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t entirely wrong either.

  After reading about Lyla’s experiences, Clara wasn’t so eager to jump into projects with Brittany without considering them first and making sure she knew every detail of what was going to be done, how much was spent, and what it was spent on.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Brittany per se. She didn’t think she was malicious. But Brittany did live an extravagant lifestyle and after reading Lyla’s journal, Clara had a different perspective on it. It seemed Brittany spent money she probably didn’t have, or at least was careless with it. Perhaps she simply had a lot more to spend, but Clara wasn’t that kind of person. She didn’t want to get trapped in the cycle Lyla found herself in.

  “There was a lot of turmoil in Lyla’s life leading up to her death,” Brittany said slowly. “Did you come across anything that might be helpful in finding them?”

  “Possibly,” Clara replied. “But I don’t want to share anything that could get someone in trouble if they weren’t involved. Though I suppose since everyone who could’ve been involved has already passed away, it would do less damage than if they were alive.”

  “Definitely,” Sam said. “You can tell us. We won’t jump to conclusions or anything. We’re simply here to listen.”

  “I just…” Clara looked to Ezra again, but he was letting her take the lead. She was the one who found the diary after all. She also looked over the police report. She knew more about this than he did. “We don’t think Lyla and Richard killed their children.”

  “You don’t?” Brittany asked, a bit of worry scattering across her face, playing with curiosity. “Who do you think killed them then?”’

  “I suspect Billy did,” Clara confessed. Their eyebrows rose as they looked on in shock.

  47

  “Billy?” Brittany asked.

  “I mean it does make sense,” Sam said as some of the tension eased a little. “They weren
’t getting along so great near the end, and he was close to the family.”

  “Exactly,” Clara replied. She thought about mentioning what she saw on the police report, but she worried that would be taking things a step too far. She didn’t want them to judge her for prying so much into things, so she decided to stick with the diary for now.

  “Lyla mentioned their fight,” Clara explained. “Apparently Billy asked for a raise that Lyla refused to give him. After that, things were tense between them. They apologized, but like you mentioned before, there were some small disagreements. Things weren’t the same ever again.

  “Furthermore, Lyla mentioned keeping the children home as soon as they got sick. That meant the only people who were around them during this time were Lyla, Richard, and Billy. That’s why it was assumed Lyla and Richard killed them, but I honestly don’t understand why Billy was never charged with the crime. He had easy access to the children too, and he seems like the most likely suspect to me.”

  Clara continued, sharing the details of what she read and why she thought Billy was the killer. She laid out the motives he’d have, piled with his parents’ past.

  “I can see that,” Brittany admitted. “It would be a relief to know Billy killed them since he’s no longer alive to hurt anyone. But if he killed the children, what does that mean for Lyla and Richard? They’d have no reason to flee.”

  Ezra and Clara looked to each other. After meeting the ghosts, they knew exactly what happened to the couple. They still weren’t ready to share that with them though.

  “We think Billy killed them,” Ezra said quietly. “We think that’s how he covered it up. He used their disappearance to frame them. Meanwhile their bodies are likely hidden somewhere.”

  Sam shook his head. “It’s awful to think about someone that close to the family betraying them. It’s good you found that diary though and have been piecing everything together. It must give you some peace of mind to know their killer is dead. Hopefully now you can move on from this and continue with your own bed and breakfast, since you really have been making it your own. With all the hard work you’re doing, I’m sure the murders will be forgotten and replaced by the good memories you bring in.”

  “I hope so,” Ezra said.

  “Though we can’t fully move on yet,” Clara lamented. “Now we have at least some proof that Billy had reason to want the family dead, we’ll have to go to the police station with it. We have to find a way to convince them to reopen the case and continue with the investigation.”

  “You’re planning on going to the police with this?” Brittany asked, looking a little uneasy.

  “We must,” Clara replied. “We’ve put a lot of thought into it and decided it would be best. We want to ensure Richard and Lyla’s names are cleared of any wrongdoing. We don’t want them to be blamed for something they didn’t even do.

  “Furthermore, I hate to bring this up, but Nathaniel is still alive. He was old enough at the time that it’s possible he knows what his father did. It’s possible he…”

  Clara wasn’t sure how much to share. It didn’t seem like Brittany and Sam were close to Nathaniel. In fact, they seemed suspicious of him too, but she couldn’t know how they’d react if she suggested he could possibly have something to do with all this. People in small towns often try to protect their own.

  “You can tell us,” Brittany assured her. “We want to hear everything you have to say. We’re on your side.”

  Clara nodded. “Well, I guess it’s possible he was part of it. At the very least, it’s possible he wants to finish what his father started. We can’t know for sure; I’m not accusing him of anything. But I do worry that he could be a threat to us. Hopefully, if we can bring out the truth of what happened, Nathaniel will be questioned, and we can rest assured that at least he was looked at and cleared of any wrongdoing. I just want everything taken care of, so we never have to deal with this again.”

  Silence followed and she worried she’d gone too far. This was all a lot, and she wondered if she should’ve kept some of it to herself.

  “I understand,” Sam said. “But I know Nathaniel. I don’t think he knows what happened to Lyla and Richard. If Billy killed them, I doubt he was in on it, and I don’t think he’s a threat to anyone. Might be best just to let it go.”

  That caught Ezra’s attention. He still hadn’t told Clara about what Sam told him at the coffee shop, and he didn’t want her to think he had been hiding something from her. At the time, he simply didn’t want to worry her, and he didn’t see the point of mentioning since then, since Nathaniel was already gone. Yet Sam’s response confused him.

  “You sure?” Ezra asked as he looked Sam. “I don’t mean to step on any toes, but you’re the one who warned me about Nathaniel in the first place. What made you change your mind now?”

  Clara’s eyebrows rose. Brittany didn’t look surprised, but she did look frustrated. Clara waited for Sam’s response, irritated Ezra hadn’t told her about this.

  “Yes well… I did warn you, I just… after thinking about it further, I can’t bring myself to believe he would be caught up in something like this,” Sam explained. “And even being accused of such a thing, even being suspected of it, could have serious repercussions for him. I wouldn’t want him to go through something like that if he’s innocent, you know?”

  “Besides, the town’s already been through a lot,” Brittany added. “We’re all emotionally drained by this case. Bringing it up again could cause further uproar. No one wants that.

  “I worry about the bed and breakfast too. You’re working so hard to change the narrative, and enough time has passed since their deaths that I think people will be open to seeing the bed and breakfast in a new light. I think people have moved on, and seeing the renovations will help them look past the murders and towards the future. You have a great chance at starting over with this place. You have a great foundation to build on.

  “If the police reopen the investigation, more attention will be brought to the crime once again. News of it will be on everyone’s lips. They’ll associate this property with the murders again, and it’ll take a while before it settles down. With your opening coming up so soon, it could be detrimental. It could overshadow all the work you’ve done so far.”

  Clara and Ezra hadn’t considered that. They looked to each other, unsure. She had a point. They had done a lot of work to try to shift the focus. They put their all into this property and it would crush them if everything didn’t go well, especially after everything they already went through.

  They gave it some thought as they continued eating, leaving Brittany’s words hanging in the air.

  “It will be tough,” Ezra finally admitted. “You have a great point and it’s not ideal. It’s not ideal that people were murdered here, the timing is awful, and it is likely to damper some of our efforts. That will be incredibly frustrating.

  “But we also can’t be selfish when it comes to something so serious. Four people were killed here, we can’t ignore that fact just because it’s inconvenient. Lyla and Richard are now known for murdering their own children, and no one wants to be remembered like that. The truth must come out.

  “Yes, it’s unfortunate. I don’t want to have to deal with it. But we can’t turn a blind eye to it either. We’ve got to go to the police with what we have. It might not be enough to even reopen the investigation anyway. They might already know all about this. Perhaps they have proof Billy wasn’t the killer, and that’s why they didn’t arrest him before he died.

  “We can’t possibly know how they’ll react. But we do know we have something that might help them. I can’t sleep at night knowing I have something like that but kept it from them because I wanted my business to do better. That’s selfishness on another level, and I can’t be part of it.”

  Clara took Ezra’s hand under the table. It would be difficult, not the ideal path, but she was proud of her husband. Lyla and Richard were victims, and they continued to be victimized b
y having their names smeared after their deaths.

  She hoped that the investigation being reopened wouldn’t affect their business too much, but this was the right thing to do. They couldn’t lose sight of their morals in all this. No matter what lay ahead.

  48

  The subject was mostly dropped after Ezra’s statement, which really left no room for discussion. Brittany and Sam admitted that they didn’t agree with the couple’s decision, but that they did respect it. The topic of conversation turned to upcoming plans and excitement over the opening.

  “Hope everyone left room for dessert,” Ezra said, surprising Clara. She didn’t think he could’ve possibly had time to make dessert, and judging by the look on his face, he was proud he did.

  “I’m always ready for dessert,” Sam said as he leaned back in his chair. “Especially after the food you brought us. You’re an amazing cook.”

  “Why, thank you,” Ezra replied, his pride was clear in his voice. “Clara, do you mind grabbing a bottle of sweet Moscato to go with it?”

  “Of course not,” she replied, then turned to Brittany and Sam. “Are you okay with another bottle of wine? You’re welcome to spend the night here. We have most of the guest rooms ready.”

  “We’d love that,” Brittany replied. “It’s been so long since I stayed here. I’m sure it’s a completely different experience now. But only if you’ll stay with us someday too.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Clara smiled, already looking forward to spending the night at their beautiful property. “We’ll be right back.”

  Clara and Ezra grabbed the dishes and empty platters before going into the kitchen together. They put the dirty dishes into the sink and turned to each other.