Between Worlds (Cemetery Tours Book 2)

by Smith, Jacqueline

  “Yeah... about that... my phone died and I kind of left my charger back in Dallas.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Kate asked him. “Why didn’t you ask to borrow mine?”

  “I didn’t think I needed to.”

  Meanwhile, Luke was giving Gail the lecture of the century.

  “... and after I specifically tell you not to let this guy distract you from your job, or his job! I don’t understand what’s wrong with you, Gail! What part of ‘You’re a damn professional so you need to act like one’ don’t you get?”

  “And I don’t understand why you’re being such an enormous pain in the ass about this! I already apologized for being late. As for me and Gavin, we weren’t off robbing a store or desecrating private property. We had lunch. You told us that we had some down time and that we could do whatever we wanted, so we went to a restaurant and we ate. Period.”

  “Oh, yeah right,” Luke snapped. “Don’t even try to act like I don’t know you, Gail. You know I don’t have a problem with what you do with your personal life, but this isn’t play time. We are on an investigation, and that means even when we have down time, we are still working. You need to get your act together.”

  Gail didn’t respond. She just glared at Luke like she would have given anything to be able to defy him, but Michael had a feeling she knew that he was right. Gavin and Kate, on the other hand, were flat out ignoring each other.

  Finally, after a painfully awkward silence, Luke suggested they all get in the vans and head back to Stanton Hall for some much needed rest and relaxation before the big night that they all had ahead of them.

  Once they were on their way, Gail glanced around to Michael and Kate and said, “Sorry we made you all miss the whales.”

  “It’s alright,” Michael told her.

  “Yeah. Besides, I’m not mad at you,” Kate replied.

  “I am,” Luke muttered from behind the wheel.

  “Well, you know, Luke, if you were a real professional, you’d build a bridge and get over it,” Gail retorted. “I said I was sorry. Now are you really going to let your petty little personal issues get in the way of what will hopefully be a very eventful investigation tonight?”

  “I won’t if you won’t,” Luke replied.

  “Good.”

  “Good.”

  Michael and Kate exchanged uneasy glances as the van descended into a strained silence. It let up a little once Luke turned on the radio, but not enough for anyone to speak until they’d once again pulled up to Stanton Hall Manor.

  Outside, Kate shuffled her feet through the leaves that had gathered around the front steps. Then, she looked up at Michael and said, “I don’t feel like being inside right now.”

  “What do you want to do?” Michael asked.

  “Want to go exploring?”

  “Sure.”

  For the next hour, they wandered the property. The mansion itself sat on nearly two acres of land, and Mrs. Drake had mentioned that the territory extended at least another three or four. Most of that space was occupied by a vast, autumn forest, far more vibrant and colorful than the trees back home. Michael was surprised to discover that, except for the mansion, the land had ultimately remained untouched. No statues, no fountains, not even a patio. Just a wide open space before the forest began.

  “You know, growing up, I always wanted to be part of something like this,” Kate said, gazing around at the trees.

  “A television show?” Michael asked.

  “Well, yeah, that. But I meant a story, an adventure. It’s like we’re sort of on a mission and there are still questions to be answered and mysteries to be solved. This forest we’re walking through right now could be enchanted, or there could be a secret passageway behind one of the paintings in the manor.”

  “I feel like you’re describing an episode of Scooby-Doo.”

  “Well, I did watch a lot of Scooby as a kid. Especially around Halloween,” Kate acknowledged with a quick grin.

  The sound of approaching footsteps through the dry, fallen leaves distracted them from their conversation and they turned to see Gavin trudging his way toward them.

  “Hey,” he greeted them a little apprehensively.

  “You have got to stop sneaking up on us like that,” Kate snapped.

  “Sorry,” Gavin said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Can I walk with you guys? There’s really not a whole lot to do inside.”

  Kate didn’t look like she was in any mood to have her brother join them, but she shrugged and said, “Do what you want.”

  Once Gavin fell into stride with them, he asked, “So, are you going to be pissed at me for the rest of the trip?”

  “That depends. Are you planning on being a stupid idiot for the rest of the trip?”

  “Come on, Kate. Look, I know you said to stay away from Gail, but I swear, nothing happened. She asked me if I wanted to have lunch, I was hungry, and so we ate. That’s it. And I’m sorry that you had to miss your whale watching cruise, but you know what? You’re almost twenty-five years old. Holding grudges over something like that is pretty immature.”

  “So, that’s what you think this is about?” Kate rounded on her brother. “You think I’m throwing a hissy fit because I didn’t get to go on a whale watch? Gavin, I’m not some spoiled little kid who runs around stamping her feet every time she doesn’t get her way. I’m mad at you because you did exactly what I asked you not to do, which was go behind Luke’s back after he agreed to let us come along on this investigation. This is about respect. That’s it.”

  “Okay, in my defense, when you were giving me that whole spiel last night, I did not think that having a casual lunch date counted as betraying Luke’s trust or whatever. If I had known, then I would not have gone,” he said. “But if I, you know, wanted to call her after all this is over...”

  “Fine. Go for it. Marry her, for all I care. Just please, for now, stay focused on the task at hand.”

  “Right. Ghost hunting. Serious business,” Gavin remarked. “So Michael, she seriously never nags you like this?”

  “Not yet,” Michael quipped, hoping for dear life that Kate knew he was being playful. She seemed to understand.

  “He hasn’t given me a reason to,” she replied, linking her arm through his. “Unlike you, he’s actually - ” Michael never got to hear what Kate had to say about him. One moment, he was walking next to her through the forest, the next, he’d tripped over something solid, buried underneath a pile of leaves. He fell forward onto the forest floor, his left ankle and knee taking the brunt of the fall. Kate shrieked. “Oh my God! Michael, are you alright?”

  “Fine. Just tripped,” he replied, wincing as he lifted himself off the ground and into an upright position. It was only then that he noticed the enormous rip in his jeans and the bloodied scrapes running all the way down his leg.

  “We need to get you to a first-aid kit,” Kate said, examining his injured knee. “Can you walk?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” he replied, accepting both her and Gavin’s assistance to his feet.

  “What the heck did you step on?” Gavin asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Michael replied, glancing back at the spot where he’d fallen. The disrupted leaves revealed what appeared to be the corner of something old, weathered, and made of stone.

  “I think I may know,” Kate said. She knelt down and brushed the leaves away from the surrounding area. Michael wasn’t sure what she thought she was on to. It looked like a piece of scrap concrete, probably left over from all the reconstruction and renovations. But then, Kate began to dig and tear away at the grass and earth that had been rendered dead and brown by the covering of leaves.

  “Wait a minute, what are you doing?” Michael asked.

  “Believe it or not, she’s always enjoyed getting dirty. She used to build castles in the mud when we were kids,” Gavin said.

  Kate ignored them and kept digging. As she did, bits of earth began to crumble around her, and more concrete broke throu
gh the surface of the dirt and grass. As Michael watched, he thought he noticed a design, sort of like a cross, carved into the concrete. Suddenly, something clicked and Michael realized exactly what Kate was expecting to unearth.

  “Kate, is that...?”

  Kate wiped her now sweaty brow with one of her dirt-covered hands and took a deep breath.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “It’s a grave.”

  Chapter 16

  To no one’s surprise, as soon as Kate, Michael, and Gavin announced that they’d found an old headstone behind the manor, Luke rallied up his crew and scampered out to take a look, filming all the way, of course.

  “Oh wow, look at that,” he marveled over the tiny portion of the grave that Kate had managed to dig up. “We need shovels. Gail, go see if Carolyn has any shovels or picks that we can borrow.”

  “I thought running errands was Peter’s job.”

  “Yeah. I don’t mind going,” Peter said.

  “Peter is still in my good graces. You are not. Go.” As Gail trudged her way back up the hill, muttering the entire way, Luke turned his attention to Kate. “So, how did you even see it down here?”

  “Michael’s actually the one who found it,” she said.

  “Correction. It found me,” Michael remarked. His untreated wound was still exposed by the huge rip in his jeans, and it was beginning to sting. He thought about running inside for a band-aid, but decided to wait it out. He was too curious about the grave and who was buried beneath it.

  Once Gail returned with two shovels, Luke assigned Peter and Gavin to the cameras while he and JT each took a shovel. Gail, apparently, was still being punished.

  After they’d managed to dig up most of the tombstone, Luke turned to the camera.

  “We’re here again at Stanton Hall Manor, where our crew has just discovered a private cemetery right here in the back acres of the property. Now, we’re not sure who this grave belongs to just yet, but I’d say it’s a safe bet that it’s that of either Sterling or Joanna Hall.”

  “This is kind of exciting,” Peter said.

  “Yeah, we’ve never uncovered a tombstone before,” JT joked.

  Finally, after several minutes of digging, scraping, and cursing (which would certainly be censored to ensure the show remained suitable for families and young paranormal enthusiasts), Luke finally knelt down to inspect the engraving on the stone.

  “It’s Sterling,” he announced.

  Michael leaned to read over his shoulder.

  Here Lies the Body of Sterling Samuel Hall

  Dearly Departed

  Husband of Joanna

  March 13, 1817 - October 23, 1865

  “He died young,” Kate observed.

  “It’s sad that that’s all they wrote on his tombstone,” Gail remarked. “Loving Joanna was all that mattered to him in his life. She was obviously his world. And she was taken from him so soon... It’s sort of romantic.”

  “It’s not romantic, it’s tragic,” Luke said, standing up and brushing his hands off on his jeans. “Gavin, make sure you get a close-up of the inscription. I want viewers to be able to see this for themselves.”

  “If you ask me, this guy was a little creepy,” Peter suddenly remarked. All eyes shifted toward him.

  “Why do you say that?” Kate asked.

  “Think about it. This guy, all alone in the world, falls so deeply in love with this girl that he builds her this mansion that looks like Gomez and Morticia’s summer home, then she dies, so he becomes this lonely hermit who never loved again, even though he was still young and rich, and then the only thing he wants to be remembered for is being her husband?” Peter raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I don’t know. It all just seems a little fishy to me.”

  “No one ever said love was rational,” Gail commented.

  “But this guy went beyond love. From what I can tell, he was obsessed to the point where, I don’t know, it was a little unhealthy. Maybe even dangerous.”

  “Yeah, but remember what Marian said? Joanna’s family all loved Sterling,” Kate reminded him.

  “Yeah, I’d love my son-in-law too if he had all that money,” Peter remarked.

  “It wasn’t just for the money,” Gail told him.

  “Oh yeah? Did you know them? Were you there?” Peter asked. Neither Gail nor Kate responded. “Look, I don’t want to be a downer here, I’m just saying that money talks. And I think there’s a lot more to this supposedly beautiful love story than we’re getting. For example, where’s Joanna’s grave? Huh?”

  “She died at least two decades before Sterling. She could be buried anywhere,” JT said.

  “I don’t think so. I think that if Sterling’s love for her was as pure and true as he claimed it was, then he would have insisted they be buried side by side. I don’t know, man. Something’s just not right.”

  For a brief moment, no one spoke. Michael figured they were all in shock that Peter - jovial, fun-loving, easy-going Peter - was the one expressing doubts about the authenticity of Sterling and Joanna’s love story. But he made valid arguments. Sterling didn’t just love Joanna. He’d worshipped her, and Stanton Hall Manor was her shrine. Michael had never thought to question that maybe his incentives weren’t entirely pure. Maybe there was a darker side to their historic romance.

  In an apparent attempt to break the tension, Luke cleared his throat and said, “We should probably head back up to the manor and get cleaned up for tonight.”

  Everyone agreed and began to make their way back to the house. Michael took a few steps before he noticed that Kate wasn’t next to him. She still lingered behind, staring at the grave. The breeze toyed with strands of her long blonde hair as Michael walked back to her.

  “It’s strange,” she said.

  “What is?”

  “When we’re up there in the house, talking about spirits, trying to communicate with them, I still kind of think of these people as alive. You know, they’re there with us, we just can’t see them. Seeing this though... It’s a little spooky.” She shivered. “Even when I go visit Trevor at the cemetery back home, it doesn’t feel like this.”

  “Maybe because you know Trevor’s at peace,” Michael told her.

  Kate turned to look at him. “What do you think about everything Peter was saying?”

  “I’m not sure,” Michael replied honestly. “I never thought there was anything wrong. It’s a beautiful love story. It’s tragic, but if you think about it, all love stories eventually end with one of the lovers dying.”

  Kate offered him a grim smile. “If I go first, I’ll be sure to hang around. That way, neither one of us will be alone.”

  “I don’t even want to think about that,” Michael said, pulling her into his embrace. They stood in silence for a long time, just holding each other. Then Michael pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “I love you, Kate.”

  Her arms tightened around his slender torso. “I love you, too.”

  She turned lovely hazel eyes up at him as she rose up on her toes to kiss him. Michael savored the soft and gentle touch of her lips, all the while trying not to think about the silent and haunting figure that had appeared mere meters away, less than a fleeting second before he closed his eyes to accept her kiss.

  ~*~

  At dinner, Luke announced that Marian planned to stop by with the necklace around eight or so. That gave them two and a half hours to prepare. As Michael saw it, that gave him two and a half hours to take a nap.

  After scarfing down three giant pieces of Domino’s pizza (not exactly the kind of dining experience he’d expected to have at a haunted manor), he retreated into his room for some much-needed shut-eye.

  “So, what’s the buzz, Cuz?” Brink asked, appearing as soon as Michael had locked the door.

  “Get out. I want to sleep,” Michael muttered.

  “What? You abandon me all day and now you want me to leave you alone so you can sleep? Some friend you are.” Michael didn’t have the energy for Brink’s ridiculo
us baiting. Instead of defending himself or whatever Brink wanted him to do, he kicked off his shoes and fell into bed. “So that’s it? You’re not even going to tell me about your day?”

  “Nope,” Michael replied, his voice muffled by his pillow.

  “Well, can you at least tell me why you and Kate picked the least romantic place in the known universe to host a make-out session?”

  Michael’s eyes flew open. He sat straight up and pointed an accusatory finger at Brink.

  “You were the one spying on us in the woods!”

  “Okay, okay, hold on.” Brink held up his hands in defense. “First of all, no, I was not spying on you down in the woods. I overheard Gavin make a snarky remark about it while you and Kate were still down there. Second of all, if I wanted to spy on you, I am not stupid enough to do so in plain sight.”

  “Good,” Michael murmured and settled back down onto the pillow. Unfortunately, his mind was suddenly swimming with questions, all thanks to Brink and his big mouth.

  If Brink hadn’t been the one spying on them, then it must have been either Sterling or Joanna. But why? Had the ghost just been passing through and just happened upon them? Or had they been there all along and Michael just hadn’t noticed? Maybe it had been Joanna, visiting the grave of her love. Or maybe Sterling wanted to keep an eye on the investigation. Either way, Michael prayed that the ghost had been checking up on the headstone and not on them.

  He must have fallen asleep then, because the next thing he knew, someone was pounding loudly on his door. “Mikey! Come on, rise and shine!” Luke’s irritating voice rang loud and clear from the other side.

  Still sleepy, but feeling a little more refreshed, Michael dragged himself out of bed for the second time that day. Brink had disappeared, which meant that he was more than likely loose somewhere in the manor. Probably preparing to eavesdrop on the entire investigation.

  Luke had vanished by the time Michael emerged from his bedroom, so he followed the sound of laughter back into the kitchen.

  “There you are.” Kate grinned when she saw him. “Look, Carolyn made us cupcakes.” Sure enough, a platter of fresh cupcakes, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, sat waiting on one of the counters.