“He killed himself?” Sonja shuddered, feeling a sharp pang of sympathy for the young man, even if he had done something horrible.
“Yep, that’s how the story goes.”
“And Mrs. Hinkley thought she saw his ghost in the barn?”
“She did. And after the first time she mentioned it, she told that story to at least one person in every town we visited on that trip,” he laughed. “She always did like to get a rise out of people.”
“Yes, I suppose she did.”
Sonja remembered one time on Halloween that Mrs. Hinkley had hung a fake body, just an old scarecrow or something, in the barn to scare all the kids. She’d never known that it was related to an actual story. The sound of a car driving up the dirt road drew their attention. Sonja sighed, hoping that it wasn’t the Spook Crew again.
“Who could that be?” Mr. Hinkley said. “I don’t usually see a doggone soul out here.”
The car stopped and a door opened and closed. Sonja stood up and headed over to where the front door stood open and felt her pulse pound, upon seeing the now-familiar white van out front. Couldn’t they just leave well enough alone?
The young woman from the Spook Crew approached and knocked on the frame of the door.
“Who is it?” Mr. Hinkley barked.
“I’ll get this, don’t worry,” Sonja said in a low voice, approaching the screen door. “You were told that you couldn’t film here,” she called, not opening the screen.
“Sonja?” the woman asked.
“What do you need?”
“My name is Maddy—or Mystic, you can call me either one.”
“What do you need, Maddy?” she asked sharply.
“I just wanted to come and apologize for the way we’ve treated you and Mr. Hinkley today,” was the soft reply.
Sonja felt a hint of surprise at the comment. “Okay…” she said, still suspicious.
“Is it alright if I come in? I’d like to explain, you know, face to face?”
Sonja glanced back at Mr. Hinkley, who sighed, but nodded. “Let her in.”
She opened the screen door.
“Alright, come in. You can have a cup of coffee with us.”
* * *
“Thank you,” Maddy said as Mr. Hinkley set the cup of coffee in front of her. She picked it up and took a sip before continuing. “Mmm…good.”
Sonja wished she’d get to the point. While she appreciated Maddy coming to apologize, she’d had more than enough of the Spook Crew for one day.
Maddy set down her mug.
“I am really sorry about what happened today, both here and at the diner. We didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
Somehow, Sonja doubted that,at least from Spook, but she let the ‘mystic’ continue.
“You see; we all care about the show so much.”
“All of this for a television show?” Sonja raised a disapproving eyebrow.
“You don’t understand. This show is our lives. We’ve poured everything we have into it, and—so far—it has paid off,” the seemingly embarrassed girl took another sip of her coffee, trying to hide the flush that had risen on her cheeks.
“That’s not exactly a valid excuse for bulldozing people to get what you want,” Sonja pointed out.
Maddy set her coffee down. “Believe me, I know, but, Shelly . . . I mean Spook, has really let it all go to his head.
“Shelly? Is that his real name?” the corner of Sonja’s mouth twitched in amusement.
“Sheldon. We all have names we use on the show. Sheldon is Spook. Tanner who manages the ghost detection equipment—is Tech, and I’m Mystic.”
“Mystic?”
“Yes, because I can sense otherworldly forces—you know, I see ghosts.”
Sonja’s interest was piqued. While she still had her doubts about the truth of any content on a “reality” TV show, she was fascinated by and mildly frightened of the paranormal. She wondered if this young woman might have any insight that might help her understand the strange—potentially supernatural—experiences she’d had since her return to Haunted Falls.
“Ghosts? Hogwash,” the skeptical farmer grumbled.
Sonja felt a bit sensitive about his comment. Just a few days earlier she had experienced a string of strange and potentially supernatural events of her own—all connected to the murder of local tycoon Ronda Smith, whose body had been dumped in the freezer at the diner. While the experiences had felt so real at the time, she doubted her own senses—and sanity—now that it was all over.
Maddy, on the other hand, seemed to honestly believe in the supernatural, and if she truly had a spiritual connection of some sort, Sonja wanted to know about it. At least, she hoped that the ‘mystic’ could help her feel less insane about the whole situation.
Maddy ignored Mr. Hinkley’s disparaging comment and continued.
“I mean, only a few years ago Spook was a struggling film student, working as a grocery store bagger. Back then, we only had our dreams. We filmed our ghost hunts for the heck of it - for fun mostly. Tech and I just thought of it as a hobby.”
“How did you go from that to being the highest rated reality show on television?” Sonja was curious.
“We posted a few of our ghost hunts online. One of our videos went viral. In a matter of a few days over a million people had watched it. Then, next thing we knew, some big name producer was calling up Spook and discussing turning our little videos into full-fledged television episodes.”
Sonja nodded. “And the rest is history.”
“The rest is history,” Maddy affirmed, “but Spook has gone kind of crazy lately. He’s power and money hungry. All he wants is his next shot, but he doesn’t want to jump through the hoops to get there.”
“I see.”
“I’m really very sorry about all this. Spook had no right to act the way he did toward you.”
Or anyone, Sonja thought.
Maddy looked as if she might cry.
“He works hard, but his personality and his temper just seem to rub everyone we meet the wrong way.”
“And your team?”
Maddy nodded. “I honestly don’t know how much more I can take.”
A lightbulb went on in Sonja’s head, connecting two and two. She sighed. “Are you romantically involved with Spook?”
Maddy looked ashamed and nodded again. “Since before the show was picked up.”
This girl seemed so sweet compared to Spook. Sonja didn’t understand why Maddy would date a man like that, and if he treated her the way he treated everyone else—well, there was really no reason for her to stay involved with him, but she immediately decided that that was none of her business.
“Look,” she sighed, coming to a decision, “if Spook is willing to go through the proper channels and get a permit, I’ll allow him to film at the diner.”
Maddy’s eyes instantly lit up. “You will?”
Sonja nodded, while Mr. Hinkley looked at her like she was crazy.
“Oh, thank you, Sonja,” she breathed.
“You’re welcome.”
The eager young woman looked at Hinkley, probably hoping he would give a similar offer, but the farmer remained stone silent and stared at her. Maddy understood.
“Thank you, again,” she said, rising to go. “I’d better head out. Spook doesn’t know that I’m gone or that I borrowed the van.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Sonja offered.
Mr. Hinkley remained at the table while the two women walked out the front door to the van.
“Do you think you could talk to him?” Maddy asked once they were far enough away from the farmhouse. “He seems to like you.”
“Who? Mr. Hinkley?”
“Yeah, if we could shoot at the diner and here at the barn that would make things just perfect.”
Sonja shook her head and folded her arms. “You have to understand, Maddy. Mr. Hinkley is an old man. He really just wants to be left alone. I doubt he’d budge on letting anyone film on his prope
rty.”
“But it wouldn’t hurt to at least talk to him, right?” she pleaded.
Sonja paused for a moment, giving the ‘mystic’ a long stare.
“Alright, I’ll talk to him, but don’t get your hopes up. I can tell you right now that he probably won’t agree to it.”
“Well, thank you for trying, anyway,” Maddy smiled, opening the van door. “Oh, I had one more question. Do you think you could cater the shoot at the diner—and here if things work out?”
“I’ve never catered an event before,” Sonja admitted. “The Waffle just opened today, but I’ll certainly give it a try. Why not?”
“Thanks,” Maddy sighed, giving the diner owner a hug before getting in the van.
“Can I ask you a question?” Sonja said.
“Sure, shoot.”
“Can you really see and sense ghosts?”
Maddy smiled down at her.
“I sure can.” She closed the door, started her engine, and pulled out of the drive.
Sonja looked up at the gray sky. It looked like a storm was coming.
CHAPTER 5
“Well, I’d better head back to the diner,” Sonja told Mr. Hinkley, gathering her purse.
It was already around noon, and she needed to get back to The Waffle and help out. She could just imagine Vic and Alison drowning in customers and food orders.
“Something isn’t right with that girl,” Mr. Hinkley observed tartly. “No one in their right mind should be involved romantically with that rapscallion.”
“It sounds like he wasn’t always that way,” Sonja tried to be optimistic.
“Folks tend to show their true colors the longer you know ‘em.”
Part of her wanted to agree with the old man.
“Either way, they’re not going to film here. No way, no how. Not after the way that fella treated me—and you.”
“He definitely seems to have difficulties interacting with people.”
“He’s downright crazy, if you ask me. I’m surprised you told that girl you would allow them to film at your diner.”
“Well,” she shrugged, “sometimes we just need to show a little charity, even if we don’t want to.”
The farmer looked at her skeptically but said nothing.
“Maddy deserves a chance even if Spook doesn’t.”
“I guess we’ll see about that,” he muttered.
“Why not let them film here?” she asked. “After all, they’d only be filming in the barn.”
“Nope, I already said no,” the answer was instant.
“I’d be here to cater the shoot. I’d make sure that none of them came near the farmhouse.”
“Not a chance,” Mr. Hinkley insisted, stabbing his cane onto the wood floor.
“Would it really be that hard to just let them film for a couple of hours?” Sonja asked.
“Yes, it would, and I don’t appreciate you asking on behalf of that young upstart,” he frowned, his eyes filled with accusation. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some chores to do around the house.” The old man grabbed the coffee cups from the table and put them none-too-gently in the sink. “You can show yourself out.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Hinkley,” Sonja felt badly about having upset him.
“Go on now,” he waved her off, his mouth pursed in a hard line.
“Sorry,” she said again, kicking herself for ruining what had been a perfectly nice visit.
* * *
Sonja was back at the diner after the lunch rush had come and gone. She slipped in the back door and let out a long sigh.
“There you are,” Alison exclaimed. “If only you’d been here thirty minutes ago.”
“I’m so sorry,” she replied, taking her apron off the hook and putting it on. “Things got a little hectic out at Hinkley’s.”
“What happened? Did Mr. Hinkley fill one of the Spook Crew full of rock salt?” her friend teased.
Sonja reached up and pulled the next order off the turnstile so that Vic could take a break. “That’s not funny, Ally.”
“Sure it is. I think it would be hilarious watching one of those smug jerks limp around with a butt full of rock salt.”
“Well, Mr. Hinkley was really mad, but I kind of stepped in to handle things so that drastic measures like rock salt weren’t necessary.” She opened one of the refrigerators, pulled out a burger patty and threw it on the grill.
“What happened?”
“He told them to leave and they left, basically. It really wasn’t a big deal.”
“That’s it?” she shook her head.
“He asked me to come in for some coffee afterwards.”
Ally put her hands on her hips. “And you decided to do that instead of coming back to help with the lunch rush on opening day?” she challenged.
“Well, the girl from the crew came back.”
“Maddy the Mystic?”
“Yep, she asked if I would talk to Mr. Hinkley and convince him to let them film there.”
“And did you?”
“I tried,” Sonja nodded. She still felt ashamed about having upset him.
“What did he say?”
“Well, Maddy apologized to him, and he seemed fairly content with the apology. He didn’t say ‘I accept’ or ‘you’re forgiven’ or anything, but he seemed content.”
“That’s about as good as can be expected from the cantankerous old guy,” Ally pointed out.
“It wasn’t until I came in and asked him to reconsider that he sort of went off the handle.” Sonja flipped the sizzling burger. “He kicked me out.”
Alison sighed. “Well, what did you expect?”
“I know, I just hate having contributed to him being upset. Hey, are there any fries on, Vic?” she called across the kitchen.
Vic nodded and dumped a tray of freshly chopped fries into the fryer. “Just started another batch.”
“Anyways, she also asked if I could cater for them,” Sonja remarked.
“She did?”
“And I told her I could do it.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “And,” Sonja smiled and looked her friend in the eye, “I said they could film here,”
“Ha, I knew it,” Alison clapped her hands. “That’s so exciting. Your diner will be on television all over the world.”
“Our diner will be on television all over the world,” Sonja reminded her.
“And we’ll probably be on television too. They always interview the owners,” Ally’s eyes sparkled.
Sonja nodded. She had to admit, she was surprised to find herself becoming more excited about the whole thing.
“You can’t get better advertising than that,” Ally exclaimed.
Sonja had to agree.
* * *
It was around eight thirty when Sonja was finally getting ready to close up. The last customer left around eight and she locked the door behind them. She decided to make a few Cinnamon Attack Waffles before she left, figuring that she’d take the waffles as a peace offering to Mr. Hinkley. They were probably one of the unhealthiest—and yet most dangerously delicious—items served at the diner.
She poured the batter into the waffle iron, letting it cook until it had a perfect nutmeg-brown exterior, and when it was done, she took it out of the iron and brushed it with melted butter, dipping the decadent waffle in a bowl of cinnamon sugar, turning it over and over until it was coated on all sides.
When she topped that luscious creation with ice cream and a decorative chocolate drizzle, she’d have customers drooling with anticipation.
Grabbing a tub of ice cream and the chocolate sauce on her way out the door, Sonja headed for the car. She couldn’t bring herself to just let the ice cream melt and ruin the waffles before she got there. She drove away from the diner, and had a jarring moment when she realized it might be too late in the evening for Mr. Hinkley, and he might already be in bed. If the lights were on when she arrived, she would knock, if not, she would just take the waffles ho
me to her mother—she’d love them.
As Sonja drove toward the farm, it had just barely started to rain, sprinkling her windshield with silvery droplets. By the time she reached the canal bridge, the storm was in full force. Rain came down in torrents, blurring her windshield. Even with the wipers turned up to full speed, it was difficult to see. The canal was swelling, almost touching the underside of the bridge, and for a moment, Sonja considered turning back and just heading home, but she was almost to her destination anyway, so she pushed on toward the farmhouse.
As the car crested the drive and the farmhouse and barn came into view she felt her heart drop. There, parked behind the barn, was the white van. It was just out of sight so that it wouldn’t be seen from the farmhouse, but she could see it clearly from the road. Sonja couldn’t believe it. She had given Maddy the benefit of the doubt and her kindness had been met with dishonesty.
Sonja parked her car right next to the van, blocking it in, and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed the police station and informed Sheriff Thompson of the situation. He told her to stay put and to not do anything until he got there, but Sonja couldn’t just sit by, not after they had betrayed her trust. She got out of her car, the rain quickly soaking her to the skin, and headed for the barn.
CHAPTER 6
Sonja wished she still had the emergency poncho or an umbrella in the car as she walked through the downpour to the rear entrance of the barn. She stopped just outside the door and listened. It was difficult to hear over the thunder and torrents of rain, but she could partially make out Spook’s voice as he narrated what was happening around them. Not waiting another moment, she opened the doors and stepped in. There was a gasp. The bright light of the camera turned and shone in her eyes.
“Get that light out of my face,” she ordered.
“It looks like we have an unexpected guest,” Spook narrated stepping closer. “The local diner owner, most likely sensitive to supernatural happenings herself, has just arrived.”
Battered and Buttered Waffle: Book 2 in The Diner of the Dead Series Page 4