Kate glanced over at Michael, who was listening intently. She had been wondering the answer to that question too.
“To be honest, I didn’t insist that he come along with you. My daughter did,” Carolyn said.
“You have a daughter?” Gail asked.
“Emily. She just turned fifteen.”
“Okay. So why did she insist on having Mikey come with us?” Luke asked.
Carolyn remained silent for a moment while she considered her answer.
“Emily is a wonderful, very bright girl, but I’m afraid that all the stories about this place that people have told her over the years have had a very negative impact on her. From the moment she set foot in this house, she’s wanted nothing to do with it. Most of the time, she keeps herself locked in her room. I told her if it would make her feel better, I’d call someone to come and inspect the house. She read about your story on some website, and she asked for you.”
Kate looked at Michael to see how he was reacting to all of this. She wasn’t surprised to see him looking nervous and unsure of the woman’s confidence that he would be able to provide her with the answer she so obviously sought. If there was a ghost there in the mansion, he would see it.
“So you’ve brought us here, not to prove that Stanton Hall is haunted, but actually to prove that it’s not,” Luke translated.
“That’s exactly right,” Carolyn replied.
“That’s very honorable of you,” Gail told her. “To go to such great lengths for your daughter.”
Honorable, Kate thought, but all too familiar.
“Thank you. And thank you all for taking the time to do this,” Carolyn said.
“Oh, it’s our pleasure,” Luke assured her. “But I do have to warn you, Carolyn, we might not be able to give you the answer you’re hoping for. If there is a haunting here, we’re going to find it.”
“Understood.”
“I also can’t guarantee that we can do anything about it if there is a haunting. We try to help these spirits move on as much as we can, but ultimately, it’s up to them. They have to make the decision to leave on their own,” Luke explained. “I can’t promise you either that the activity won’t get worse when we leave. You know, we always try to help wherever we investigate, but sometimes, if a spirit doesn’t like us or if it feels like we’re intruding, we make it angry...”
Kate could see by the assured look in Carolyn’s eyes that she wasn’t the least bit concerned or frightened. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
“Thank you for the warning, Mr. Rainer, but I think I’ll take the chance.”
Chapter 9
After the first interview, Carolyn Drake led the entire group on a tour of the mansion. While the others marveled at the stained glass, the gold and silver adorning every doorway, and the swirling patterns of reds and purples and yellows and greens on the walls, Michael found himself distracted. Stanton Hall was everything Luke had described and more, but it was noticeably lacking one thing.
Ghosts.
For a building that was supposed to be so notoriously haunted, Michael was beginning to suspect that perhaps Mrs. Drake was right. Maybe everyone who had heard the story had just expected the house to be haunted and had mistaken the inevitable creaks and moans of an old building for something paranormal.
Well, there was one ghost, but he’d come with the crew.
“This place is kind of creepy, isn’t it? You know, for a house that was supposed to be built for the woman he loved, this guy could have made it a little more romantic and a little less mystical-funhouse-where-all-the-psychos-lurk,” Brink remarked.
Michael thought he was exaggerating just a little. Stanton Hall was fantastic. A little spooky, sure, but it wasn’t something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It was a true work of art, crafted from the mind of a lovelorn genius.
“So Mikey, you think you’d ever build Kate here a house like this?” Luke asked him.
“Um...” The question would have been awkward enough without the added bonus of being captured on camera. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed by his relationship with Kate, or that there was anything he wouldn’t do for her. It was just that the idea of talking about his personal life in front of an international audience didn’t exactly thrill him.
He finally responded with, “I’m not sure I could afford it.”
Kate and Luke both laughed. Michael took that as a good sign. He’d always liked the idea of being funny, but somehow, he’d never been able to master the art.
“That’s okay,” Kate assured him as Mrs. Drake led them into one of the many, many bedrooms. “Oh my God...”
“Every bedroom in the manor has a theme. This is the Starlight Room,” Mrs. Drake explained.
Fitting name, Michael thought, glancing around the magnificent room. Dark blue velvet drapes adorned with silver thread and glittering gemstones surrounded the four-poster bed. The silver chandelier hanging in the center of the room dripped and glistened with star-shaped crystals. Paintings of stars and constellations danced across the ceiling. Even the cerulean carpet seemed to shimmer.
Next to him, Kate was about to hyperventilate.
“Oh my God, this is the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen in my entire life! How much did it cost for you to do this? Would you mind if I took pictures to show my boss? I’m an interior decorator and this is just amazing!”
“Well, thank you, and yes, feel free to take as many pictures as you like. However, if you post them online, be sure to mention Stanton Hall,” Mrs. Drake told her. “As for the design, I didn’t come up with it. Every room in this house was designed by Sterling Hall. In our renovations, of course, we’ve modernized a little, but for the most part, this is how the house was originally decorated.”
“That’s incredible,” Kate marveled.
“So Carolyn, of all of these rooms, which of them would you say gets the most activity? Ghost activity, I mean? I know you say you don’t believe the building is haunted, but you must have a lot of people report some kind of crazy stuff, given this house’s reputation and everything,” Luke said.
“That would have to be the master bedroom. It’s the room where Sterling and Joanna slept. It’s the room where they probably consummated their marriage. It’s also the room where she is believed to have died.”
“And are you going to have guests stay in that room?” JT asked.
“Yes, eventually. It’s in the part of the house that’s still undergoing a few renovations, but eventually it will be the Honeymoon Suite.”
“You know, this is just a hunch here, but I’m willing to bet that a guy who loved his wife as much as Sterling did is probably not going to like a bunch of workers coming in and tearing up the room he shared with her. I know if I was still hanging around, waiting for my lost love, I wouldn’t be happy. Especially if I was still waiting for her,” Luke said.
“How do you know it’s him?” Kate asked. “What if she’s the one who’s still waiting?”
“I guess I don’t know. That’s an excellent point,” Luke acknowledged.
“I’m not sure,” Gail chimed in. “After doing this for as long as we have, and after seeing this kind of haunting before, it would make more sense for him to be the one who stays behind. After all, he was the one who experienced heartbreak. He was the one who was driven mad. I think in the end, he suffered a lot more than she did.”
“But don’t you think it pains the ones who’ve died just as much to be separated from their loved ones as it pains those who are still living?” Kate asked.
At that moment, Michael knew she was thinking not only about Trevor, and how much he’d suffered being cut off from her, but about her own time spent in the afterlife. Gail was silent for a moment.
“I guess I’ve never really thought about it,” she confessed.
Luke, meanwhile, stared at Kate with the kind of admiration that a teacher might show for his favorite student.
“Carolyn, you should spend some tim
e talking with Kate. She might be able to change your mind about ghosts,” he said. “And if her experience isn’t enough, then I guess we’ll just have to capture some damn good EVPs.”
EVP, Michael had learned from his first ghost-hunting excursion, stood for Electronic Voice Phenomena. Basically, it was a spirit’s voice captured on a digital recorder.
“Well, you can try,” Mrs. Drake told him.
“Wow. You know, you might just be the most stubborn skeptic I’ve ever met.” Luke actually sounded impressed.
“Tell her about me,” Brink said loudly. Of course, Michael was the only one who could hear him, so he wasn’t quite sure why he was almost shouting. “I’m real. We could do one of those tests to prove I’m here. You know, maybe you could have her tell me a secret and make sure no one else is around to hear, and then I could tell you and it would prove that I was there.”
“You do know that once the investigation starts, you can’t talk at all,” Michael hissed to Brink once Carolyn had led the rest of the group down the hall. Only Kate lingered, waiting for him to catch up.
“How come? They want to catch a ghost on tape, right?”
“They want to catch Sterling Hall or Joanna Stanton on tape. Not you.”
“Ouch.”
“So I’m guessing Brink is still here,” Kate grinned, making her way back to them.
“You know, if she had stayed dead, then she could be my girlfriend instead of yours,” Brink quipped. Michael glared at him.
“What’s he saying?” Kate asked.
“Oh, just that he has a lot of respect for you and for me. You know, the usual,” Michael answered.
Kate laughed.
“Have you seen any other ghosts yet?” she asked.
Michael shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”
“I guess we just haven’t found them yet.”
“That, or Mrs. Drake is right, and there are no ghosts here.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t really know,” Michael confessed. “I think a building with a history like this definitely has the potential for a haunting. And with so many people reporting activity, I’d think we’d at least find something. Then again, if someone is here, he’s apparently not very bent on making his presence known.”
“That’s weird, isn’t it?” Kate asked. “I remember when I had my experience, all I wanted was for someone to acknowledge me. I probably would have been screaming at the top of my lungs if you hadn’t asked me if I was okay. Then again, whoever’s here has had a lot longer to get used to not being seen or heard.”
Michael was about to reply when the faint sound of footsteps trudging down the hall distracted him. Kate must have heard them too, because her head turned immediately to the door and she took an automatic step towards Michael.
Just then, Gavin poked his head inside the room and said, “Luke sent me back to make sure you two hadn’t gotten lost.”
“Gavin,” Kate groaned. “Oh my God, you just about scared me to death.”
“What? Did you think I was a ghost? Wooooo...” Gavin waggled his fingers in her face.
“Careful who you taunt, Gav. The last time you pissed off a spirit, you wound up in the emergency room,” Kate reminded him.
“Don’t worry, I learned my lesson. From now on, there will be no pissing off the spirits. But Luke did want to know what was taking so long.”
“We were just talking,” Kate assured him. Gavin raised an eyebrow. “We were,” Kate insisted. “If I was going to try something, I’d at least have the decency to close the door.”
“Whatever you say, Sis,” Gavin smirked and headed back down the hall.
“He is such a pain,” Kate griped.
“Is it just me, or is he starting to act like Luke?” Michael asked.
“What? No way. Luke is way cooler than Gavin.”
Michael wasn’t sure he agreed with her on that one. In fact, he could have listed all the reasons why Gavin was considerably cooler than Luke, beginning with his wardrobe and leading all the way up to the fact that Gavin had never tried to manipulate him, blackmail him, or screw with any aspect of his life in order to get something he wanted. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure none of that would change her mind.
Together, Michael and Kate (and Brink) followed Gavin down the hall and into the majestic dining hall, where Mrs. Drake was introducing the rest of the crew to a girl sitting at the head of the grand dining room table, her young face illuminated by the glow of her laptop screen.
“I am going to ask that for her sake, you do not film her, but she did want to meet all of you,” Mrs. Drake said.
“Of course, we understand,” Luke told her before turning his attention to the girl. “Hi there, Emily. I’m Luke. It’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, but she didn’t take it.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she mumbled quietly and averted her eyes. Being at the center of everyone’s attention must have embarrassed her. Or maybe she had a crush on Luke. Michael wouldn’t have been surprised.
There was a momentary silence amidst the group as Emily’s timid brown eyes flitted across the faces of everyone in the room before they finally met Michael’s. It was only then that he remembered that he was the reason they’d been allowed to come in the first place. Emily had asked for him.
He wondered if maybe he should say something, formally introduce himself when, without warning, Emily leapt up and bolted out of the room. Suddenly, everyone’s eyes were fixated on him.
“Were you making faces at her, Mikey?” Luke asked.
“No! I was just looking! I didn’t know if maybe I should say something or... I don’t know...” Michael said, feeling confused and a little guilty.
“Don’t worry about it, dear,” Mrs. Drake assured him, sounding weary. “Emily has always been skittish, especially when it comes to meeting new people.”
“Carolyn, did Emily ever tell you why she wanted Mikey to come with us? She must have had a reason.”
“She didn’t have to tell me. Emily truly believes this building is haunted and she thought that if she could get the young man who supposedly sees spirits up here, then he could get rid of them.”
Oh, great. I’ve gone from psychic medium to exorcist, Michael thought. Seriously, was it really too much to ask for a nice normal life? Why couldn’t he have a pleasant calling like a gardener? He could totally see himself as a gardener.
“Well, um, I can try but... Um...”
“Oh, dear, don’t worry, you don’t have to try. You don’t have to do anything except assure her that there are no ghosts in this house,” Carolyn told him.
Michael thought about telling her that he was really bad at lying, but decided against it. Maybe he wouldn’t have to lie. Granted, there was a ghost in the house, and he was standing right behind him, but he wasn’t going to stick around. He’d be heading back to Dallas with the rest of them once the investigation was over.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.
“Good. Now, I’ll get you your room assignments. You’ll all be on the east side of either the first or second floor. The west is still undergoing a few renovations,” Mrs. Drake explained.
“Will we be allowed to investigate there?” Gail asked.
“You’ll all have to sign a liability form stating that you understand the risks involved and that you hold the workers of Stanton Hall in no way accountable for any injury sustained.”
“It won’t be the first time,” Luke said.
Michael wasn’t so eager to agree, but he had a feeling he didn’t have much of a choice. Kate, however, was another matter entirely.
“Luke.” Michael pulled him aside as the others ventured back out to the vans to unpack their luggage. “You’re not going to make Kate and Gavin sign those forms, are you?”
“If they want to go on the west side, I think they’ll probably have to,” Luke replied.
“I mean, they didn’t sign on for anything dangerous.”
&n
bsp; “Mikey, you need to understand something about the society we live in. Everyone is afraid of getting sued. That means if there is the slightest little chance that someone might trip and sprain their toe on a screwdriver, they have to make you sign a release form, because guess what? There are lawyers out there who will take that toe sprain and turn it into a million-dollar lawsuit.”
“So you don’t think there’s any real danger?” Michael asked.
“Of course not. But if there was, do you really think that would stop Kate?”
Unfortunately, no. And he knew how she felt about people trying to protect her. It didn’t matter what he said or thought. There was no way he’d be able to keep her away from experiencing a paranormal investigation to its fullest, especially in the creepiest part of the house.
Luke took a step toward Michael and clapped a brotherly hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about her. We’re all here. We look out for each other. I would promise you that I won’t let anything happen to her, but I don’t think I need to.”
“Why?” Michael asked.
Luke’s eyes flitted for a half a second down to Michael’s chest, to the spot where Chastity Cannon’s bullet had almost torn through his heart.
“Because she’s got you.”
Chapter 10
Kate was assigned to the Emerald Room. After spending time in the Starlight Room, she had been afraid that any other bed chamber might pale in comparison, but the Emerald Room was yet another interior masterpiece.
As the name suggested, everything in the entire room was some shade of the color of an emerald, with hints of the color of the sun and the color of grapes. A circular mirror hung above the queen-sized bed, also adorned in emerald. The room didn’t have a chandelier, but there was a light fixture, framed by swirling shades of sunlight. The construction of the room was also unique. Instead of a rectangle or a square, the Emerald Room had eight walls, forming the shape of an octagon, just like a gem.
Between Worlds (Cemetery Tours Book 2) Page 7