The Ghost of Marlow House (Haunting Danielle Book 1)

by Bobbi Holmes

  “You think he put it in one of the books?”

  “What are you looking for?” Walt demanded, frustrated that they couldn’t hear him.

  “It would be a good hiding place—good as any.”

  “Hell, you don’t really expect to go through all these books?” Bill’s gaze swept across both book shelves.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “But it will take forever!”

  “It will, if you keep standing there,” Adam snapped.

  “I thought we agreed the attic was the most likely place to look.”

  “If you hurry up and help me we can get to that.”

  “Fine,” Bill grumbled before moving to the far bookshelf.

  Silently Walt watched as the two men methodically searched through the books. What are they looking for? He wondered. Frustrated, he walked to Adam and tried snatching a book from the man’s grasp. Walt’s hand moved effortlessly through the book and Adam’s wrist. While Walt was unable to take hold of the object, Adam paused a moment, still clutching the book and looked around.

  “That was weird,” Adam said, looking around.

  “What was weird?” Bill looked over at Adam.

  “It felt like…” Adam shook his head.

  “Felt like what?” Bill asked.

  “I don’t know, like someone tried to grab my wrist.”

  “Ahhh ha! That’s more like it!” Feeling a sense of power, Walt tried grabbing Adam’s wrist. Once again his hand moved through Adam. Unfortunately, this time, Adam didn’t seem to notice the attempt. Instead, the burglar went back to checking the books, oblivious to the frustrated ghost who stood by his side, repeatedly snatching at his wrist and hand, to no avail.

  Adam and Bill made it about half way through the book shelves when they heard what sounded like an electric motor coming from the direction of the back yard. Bill tucked the book he was looking at back in the shelf and quickly went to the window and looked outside.

  “I thought you said no one was going to be here!” Bill hissed. Adam quickly stopped what he was doing and moved to the window next to Bill and looked out. A truck was now parked in the back yard while a man trimmed hedges on the far side of the yard.

  “Damn, she must have hired a gardener. What’s he doing working on a Saturday?”

  “What are we going to do now?”

  “Now you’re going to get arrested—just as soon as the gardener sees what you’ve done,” Walt said.

  “If we stay in here, he might notice us through the window. We should probably just go upstairs and look up there.”

  “What about the broken window?” Bill asked.

  “Yes, what about that window? Do you honestly think he’ll overlook a broken window?” Walt asked.

  “Hopefully he won’t notice the window—which is why I don’t want to draw his attention by moving around in this room.”

  “He may not know the house is supposed to be empty,” Bill said.

  “But maybe he does. Come on; let’s get the hell out of here and go up stairs, while we still have some time.”

  “You are not to go upstairs!” Walt said angrily, following the men out of the room and up the staircase to the second floor. The first room they entered was his bedroom—Danielle’s bedroom.

  Helplessly Walt watched as the two men entered the room and started inspecting the paneling. Angry, he willed the television to turn on. It did so at full volume.

  “Ahhh haa!” Walt said triumphantly.

  Startled, Bill jumped back from the unexpected sound and shouted, “Holy crap!” Both he and Adam stared at the television. It rapidly changed channels. “Hell, that thing is still broken. I can’t believe it just turns on by itself.”

  “Well I can fix that,” Adam said angrily as he walked to the set. Reaching down he grabbed its electric cord and jerked the plug from the wall. The television went silent. “See, now let’s hurry up.” Adam turned his back to Bill and opened a closet.

  Closing his eyes Walt focused on the television. Once again it turned on.

  “Not funny Bill,” Adam snapped turning to face the television. Bill stood wide eyed watching the television in stony silence. Adam failed to notice Bill’s odd expression. Reaching down, Adam pulled the plug from the wall a second time. “Stop fooling around!”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Bill stammered.

  Adam cursed under his breath and went back to searching the closet. The set turned on again.

  “Dammit Bill, I said stop screwing around!” Adam swung around to face Bill. Instead of making another denial, Bill pointed to the television, shaking his head in disbelief. Annoyed, Adam looked to where Bill was pointing—to the set’s cord—which remained unplugged in spite of the fact the television continued to blare.

  “Well I’ll be damned,” Adam murmured, staring at the screen.

  “It isn’t plugged in…how is that possible?” Bill stammered. And how did it plug itself in the other time?

  “Must be some electrical glitch,” Adam suggested.

  “Electrical glitch?”

  “Yeah. I’ve heard it’s dangerous to work on computer monitors, because you can get electrocuted even if they’re unplugged. Somehow the power stays trapped in there. These new flat screens are sort of like computer monitors, maybe they’re the same way.”

  “You mean they can turn on even when they’re not plugged into the wall?”

  “I guess,” Adam shrugged. “I mean look, it’s still running and not plugged in. That must be what’s happening.”

  “I don’t know, Adam…”

  “Oh come on, let’s get out of here and check the rest of the house.” Adam hurried out of the room, unconcerned. Bill continued to stare at the television as he backed out of the room.

  Reluctantly, Walt left the bedroom and watched as the two men looked through the remaining rooms on the second floor. He then followed them upstairs to the attic. The men rummaged through boxes and tested the paneling for loose boards.

  “If you’re looking for what I think you are—you won’t find it.” Walt snapped, irritated that they couldn’t hear him.

  What had Danielle said, he asked himself. I can use my energy to move things...in the same way I turn the television channels, plug in the set and open doors. Glancing around the room, he watched as Adam searched one end of the attic while Bill searched the opposite end, their backs to each other.

  Walt’s eyes widened when he noticed Adam focusing his attention on a specific piece of paneling near the floor. Frantically he looked around the room, searching for something he might use when he spied a croquet set in the far corner. Walt stared at one of the balls, willing it to rise up. It just sat there. I was able to pick up the magazines and read them, why can’t I pick up the ball? He wondered. Why couldn’t I grab the book in the library?

  He considered the situation, thinking back to when he first discovered Lily’s stack of magazines. At the time it took no effort to lift the magazines. In fact, he hadn’t even thought about what he was doing, he just did it. Is that the key? he wondered. Do I just have to do it—know I can do it, without over-thinking the situation?

  Determined, he walked over to the croquet set and picked up one of the wooden balls. Instead of it passing through his hand as had the book in the library, the ball stayed put in his palm until he pitched it across the room and hit Adam in the back of the shoulder.

  Adam let out a cry of pain. Angrily he turned to Bill who seemed oblivious to what had just happened. Furious, Adam reached down, picked the wooden ball off the floor and heaved it at Bill, hitting him soundly on the side of his arm.

  “Damn!” Bill clutched his left arm and turned to face Adam. He was about to ask him why he had hit him when another ball flew in his direction—this one not thrown by Adam. Bill managed to avoid the missile, while Adam was not so lucky.

  Before they had time to register what was happening, another ball flew in Bill’s direction—and then one to Adam. When all the balls had been tossed a
croquet mallet flew across the room, followed by a second and then a third.

  The color drained from the men’s faces as they turned toward the door and flew from the attic, each shoving the other aside in an attempt to be the first one to escape.

  Walt could hear the sound of the men’s footsteps as they ran down the staircase. Laughing, he walked to the attic window and looked outside. He watched as Bill and Adam raced from the front door and down the walkway and through the gate, disappearing down the street.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  While walking from the Jackson’s front porch to the car, Danielle turned around and gave Emma and Mathew a final wave goodbye. The pair returned the wave from the porch.

  “That was interesting,” Lily said as she opened the door to the passenger side of the car.

  “Yes, it was.” Danielle pulled her cellphone from her back pocket and turned it on. Before she had a chance to return it to the pocket it started to ring.

  “Hello,” Danielle answered as she opened the car door and climbed into the driver’s seat, closing the door behind her.

  “May I speak to Ms. Boatman, please?” came a male voice.

  “This is Ms. Boatman.”

  “Ms. Boatman, this is Craig Simmons…”

  “Is everything okay?” Danielle immediately recognized the name. He was the one she had hired to clean the grounds around Marlow House.

  “Well, I’m not sure…”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It looks like someone broke into your house,” Craig told her.

  “Broke in? What do you mean?”

  “When I was trimming the hedges in the back yard I noticed one of the windows appeared to be broken. I took a closer look and sure enough, the glass was not only broken, but the window was wide open. It appears someone broke the glass then unlatched and opened the window. It’s the one to the library.”

  “Oh my god…”Danielle said.

  “What’s wrong?” Lily asked with a frown. Danielle lifted her hand briefly, silencing Lily.

  “I walked around the house, and when I came to the front door it was wide open.”

  “The door was open?” Danielle echoed.

  “Did someone break in, what was taken?” Lily asked excitedly. Once again Danielle silently hushed her friend while listening to the gardener on the phone.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I called my brother-in-law.”

  “Your brother-in-law?” Danielle asked.

  “He’s a cop, works for the local police department. I didn’t want to just go into your house, and I tried calling you first.”

  “I’m afraid I turned off my cellphone earlier. I just turned it back on, right before you called,” Danielle explained.

  “Joe showed up and he looked through the house. No one was there. Can’t really tell if anything is missing, but the only damage was the window. We locked up the front door and I boarded the window for you, until you can get it fixed. Didn’t think you’d want to have it wide open.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Simmons, I really appreciate that.”

  When Danielle finally got off the phone, Lily anxiously listened as Danielle recounted the phone conversation.

  “Nothing’s missing?” Lily asked while Danielle pulled away from the Jackson house, steering the car down the road.

  “Not that he could tell. Of course he has no idea what we had.”

  “I wonder if they were there when he first drove up. They probably ran out the front door in a hurry, leaving it wide open.”

  “I don’t know. Hard to tell. It’s impossible to see the front door from the street, so it may have been wide open when he got there.” But I can always ask Walt what happened.

  “I wonder if Ian saw anything,” Lily said. She opened her purse and took out her cellphone.

  “What are you doing?” Danielle asked.

  “I’m going to see if Ian saw anything suspicious.” Lily quickly dialed Ian’s number.

  “Lily? Where are you?” Ian answered the phone.

  “We’re just leaving Astoria. I was wondering if you saw anything suspicious at Marlow House while we were gone.”

  “Suspicious? Some guy is working in the back yard. But I assume that’s the gardener you told me about.”

  “Yes he is. But someone broke into the house, and I wondered if you saw anything.”

  “Someone broke into Marlow House?”

  “The back window was broken, the one that goes into the library. And the front door was wide open.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “The gardener did. They looked through the house, couldn’t tell if anything was missing. I was just wondering if you saw anything suspicious.”

  “Sorry, I just got back about fifteen minutes ago myself. Noticed some guy cleaning up the back yard over at your place, but other than that, I didn’t see anything unusual. Sorry.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “Is Danielle going to be okay staying there alone tonight?”

  “Alone?” Lily asked.

  “When we go out to dinner. Remember? We are still going out aren’t we, unless you’d rather not because of the break in?”

  “Let me talk to Danielle about it. I’ll call you when we get back to Frederickport.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

  “I gather he didn’t see anything suspicious,” Danielle said when Lily got off the phone.

  “No, he was gone all morning. Danielle, do you want me to stay home tonight?”

  “Why? Aren’t you going out to dinner with Ian?”

  “I was supposed to. But if you feel funny about staying there alone…”

  “Don’t be silly, I’ll be fine.” Walt can keep me company.

  “Maybe you should have the locks changed,” Lily suggested.

  “Why? Sounds like whoever broke in literally broke in—through the window. Doesn’t sound like they used a key to get in.”

  “Damn, I hope they didn’t take my iPad!” Lily suddenly remembered she had left her iPad sitting on the dresser in her room.

  “I know, I was thinking about my laptop. I have so much stuff on there. It has a password, but damn, I hope they didn’t take it.”

  “Most of my stuff is in the Cloud, and I use a password too. But crap…there is no way they didn’t see it. It would be so easy for them to just pick it up and take it.”

  “Nothing we can do about it right now,” Danielle said. “All we can do is wait until we get back to Frederickport and assess the damage.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Lily sighed and leaned back in the car seat. “I hate thieves.”

  “Me too. But maybe it was just some kids screwing around.”

  “I hope so.” Lily looked out the side window and silently watched the coastal scenery roll by, wondering if her iPad would still be at Marlow House when they got back to Frederickport.

  “I can’t believe how sharp Emma Jackson was,” Danielle said after a few moments of silence.

  “She really was, wasn’t she? You know, Ian should be interviewing someone like her.”

  “What do you mean?” Danielle glanced over at Lily and then looked back down the highway.

  “The woman is 106 years old—the things she’s seen in her lifetime—like she said, she lived it.”

  “I can’t imagine what it was like for a black woman back then.” Danielle continued to look down the highway, her hands firmly on the steering wheel.

  “I know. I often wonder what it was like for women back in the early 1900s—you know, not having the vote until 1920. Second-class citizens. Birth control was illegal. But then I meet someone like Emma Jackson and I realize it was even worse for women of color. To think there were laws saying you weren’t allowed to live in the state because of the color of your skin!” Lily shook her head.

  “We don’t know what Ian is working on, but I think you have a good point about Emma. Not only has she lived more than a hundred years, she’s seems to have a pretty good me
mory. I bet she could tell some fascinating stories.”

  “So what are you going to do now?” Lily asked, glancing over at Danielle.

  “What do you mean?”

  “About Walt Marlow’s death.”

  “I imagine I’ve found all that I can about what happened back then. I’ll put together something, reference the old newspaper articles and what Emma remembers. Maybe I can get the newspaper to run a feature article on Marlow House and the death, in conjunction with the ad I intend to place for the B and B.”

  “Pretty smart marketing,” Lily said with a grin.

  Smart marketing—if only Lily knew, Danielle thought. None of this was about promoting her new business, but Lily was right, it could benefit the Bed and Breakfast. But would it also benefit Walt Marlow? She wondered.

  “It’s too bad you can’t get ahold of his autopsy,” Lily said.

  “Funny you should say that. I thought about that myself. But I don’t even know if he had one—especially considering someone on the police department back then seemed bent on covering it up. And even if they did one, would they still have it? And if so, what would I do with it? It would mean nothing to me.”

  “You could find someone qualified to look at it—see if there was something that was missed. A lot has changed in forensic medicine in the past century.”

  “Did they even have forensic medicine back then?” Danielle asked with a laugh.

  “You have a point. Maybe not.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Lily stood on the side porch entry leading to the kitchen, anxiously waiting for Danielle to unlock the door so she could rush inside and go upstairs to her room and see if anything was missing.

  “Hold on Lily, it’s not like a few minutes is going to make a difference,” Danielle chided as she fumbled with the key.

  “I know…I know…but I need to see if they took anything. Just hurry up!”

  “I’m trying, but this darn lock sticks and you jumping up and down like a kid that needs to use the bathroom is distracting!”

  The moment Danielle opened the door Lily pushed past her and ran inside. Instead of following Lily into the kitchen, Danielle stood on the porch and surveyed the back yard. Craig Simmons had trimmed most of the hedges, but there was still a great deal of work left to do. His truck was no where in sight but she noticed some of his tools on the other side of the yard and suspected he’d left for lunch, considering the time. After taking a final look, she went in the house and closed the door behind her. Tossing her purse and keys on the counter, she made her way to the library to check out the broken window.