The Ghost and the Doppelganger

by Anna J. McIntyre

Remembering Lily telling her to be more positive, she reached out and took the man’s hand in hers. It felt cool. Pressing her finger along his wrist, she felt a pulse. Again holding his hand, she squeezed it tightly.

  “Walt, please come back to me. Wake up,” she whispered.

  Stephanie Mountifield’s mother had died when she was just fifteen, leaving her father, Barry Mountifield, to raise his emotional and challenging teenage daughter. Since she was an only child, he tended to spoil her, and she relished her position as a daddy’s girl.

  However, when Stephanie went off to college and Barry began dating again, the daddy’s girl was not thrilled when her father introduced her to the woman he intended to marry. Stephanie did not make his courtship a smooth ride. In spite of her selfish antics, she found herself with a stepmother she resented. Stephanie retaliated by moving from Texas to California, where she met Clint Marlow. Like her father had once spoiled her, Clint was willing to step up and fill the gap left by her once doting dad. Once again she was someone’s princess, a role she savored.

  Barry Mountifield loved his daughter in spite of her self-absorbed ways. He blamed himself for her faults, understanding in retrospect that he had been overcompensating after losing his first wife, and he hadn’t done Stephanie any favors by spoiling her.

  Since she had moved to California, he had only seen her once or twice a year—something he now deeply regretted. One thing he was grateful for was Clint Marlow. While he didn’t know the man well, he knew he had loved his daughter, and she had adored him.

  A parent should never outlive a child, he told himself for the hundredth time. He hadn’t received the news of her death until the day before. It had taken the authorities that long to track him down. Much to his current wife’s protest, he insisted on making this trip alone. Stephanie had been his little girl, and while he loved his wife, he knew his daughter had hated the woman he had married. Barry didn’t want her by his side when seeing his beloved daughter for the last time.

  He knew Stephanie and Clint had been engaged, and he knew if they had gone through with the marriage before the accident, it would be Clint’s place to make Stephanie’s final arrangements, not his. What he hadn’t known prior to learning of her death was his daughter’s plans to go to France with her fiancé. According to the police, they had found one-way tickets to Paris in Stephanie’s purse. It hurt knowing she had not told him of her plans.

  After making arrangements for Stephanie to be cremated—her urn would be buried at her mother’s cemetery plot in Texas—Barry headed for the hospital to see Clint. He knew his almost son-in-law had no family, and he knew how much his daughter had loved him. Barry vowed his final act for his daughter would be to look out for the man she loved, since Clint had no one else to look out for him.

  “I’m here to see Clint Marlow,” Barry told the nurse at the ICU.

  “Are you a family member?” the nurse asked.

  “My name is Barry Mountifield. Clint would have been my son-in-law.”

  The nurse gasped. “Oh dear, it was your daughter who was killed in the accident?”

  Barry nodded. “Yes. The police told me Clint was in some sort of coma. I was hoping there has been an improvement.”

  The nurse shook her head. “No. I’m afraid there hasn’t been any change. His vitals are good, but he hasn’t come to yet.”

  “Can I see him?”

  “Yes. He’s in room C. His sister is in with him now, but once she leaves, you can go in,” the nurse explained.

  Barry frowned. “Who?”

  “Mr. Marlow’s sister.” The nurse smiled.

  “Mr. Marlow doesn’t have a sister,” Barry snapped. He looked over the nurse to the doors leading to the patient rooms in the ICU, trying to figure out which one was room C.

  “I’m sure he does,” the nurse stammered. “She’s visited him several times and seems very concerned.”

  “I don’t know who she is, but she is not his sister, and I don’t care how concerned she might be. Do you always let strangers in to see your vulnerable patients?” Not waiting for the nurse to answer, Barry marched past the nurses’ station and headed to the open doorway of room C. The now frazzled nurse got up from her desk and hurried after him.

  When Barry charged into the room, he found an attractive young brunette sitting beside Clint, holding his hand. Startled by the intrusion, the woman looked up at Barry while still clutching the unconscious man’s hand.

  “Who are you?” Barry demanded.

  The woman blinked in confusion and looked from Barry to the nurse, who had just entered the room.

  “Excuse me,” the nurse said nervously, walking past Barry and to the bedside, where she quickly checked the monitors, as if worried the mystery woman might have done something malicious to the unconscious man.

  “Yes?” the brunette asked.

  “I was under the impression you were Mr. Marlow’s sister. But it seems…you aren’t?”

  The woman smiled sheepishly and then gently set Clint’s hand onto the bed. She stood up and faced Barry and the nurse.

  “I’m not his sister, exactly.” She smiled.

  “Who in the hell are you?” Barry roared.

  She blinked her eyes in response and then asked, “Who are you?”

  “I’m Barry Mountifield. Clint was to be my son-in-law.”

  The woman cringed and then walked forward and extended her hand. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mr. Mountifield. My name is Danielle Boatman. Your daughter and Clint were guests at my bed and breakfast.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re lying about being Clint’s sister.”

  When Barry refused to accept Danielle’s hand, she drew it back to her side. She looked from Barry to the nurse trying not to cringe. “I’m sorry about that. But Mr. Marlow didn’t seem to have anyone here. And since he was a guest of ours—and he is the distant cousin of Walt Marlow…”

  “Walt who?” Barry frowned.

  “I’m sorry, you really need to leave,” the nurse told Danielle.

  With a sigh, Danielle turned from the pair and headed out of the room, yet not before giving a parting look to the unconscious man in the hospital bed.

  When Danielle stepped out into the hospital hallway, she heard a man call, “Wait!”

  Pausing, she turned and watched as Barry Mountifield rushed in her direction.

  “You never said, who is Walt Marlow?” Barry asked.

  “My bed and breakfast is Marlow House; it was built by Walt Marlow’s grandfather. Walt inherited the house, and when he died, he left it to my great-aunt’s mother, and my great-aunt left the property to me. Walt and Clint are distant cousins. Clint and your daughter checked out of Marlow House before their accident. When I heard he was here and didn’t seem to have any family to look in on him, well, I just figured I needed to. In some way, I felt we were family, but explaining all that to the nursing staff was a little complicated, so I lied…and said I was his sister.” It was mostly true, Danielle thought.

  Barry digested what Danielle had told her. He seemed to relax slightly. With a nod he said, “Okay, Ms…Boatman, is it?”

  “Yes, but you can call me Danielle.” She smiled sweetly.

  “Ms. Boatman, thank you for your concern, but I’m here now, and I will take care of Clint’s needs. There is no reason to concern yourself further.”

  Barry turned abruptly from Danielle and headed back to the ICU, not waiting for her response.

  Thirty-Seven

  Danielle didn’t head home after leaving the hospital; the only one there was Max, and he wasn’t a great listener. She was reluctant to stop at Lily and Ian’s, not wanting to hear Lily give her another be-optimistic pep talk. For a brief moment she considered stopping at Chris’s, but she knew how he still felt about her, and it didn’t seem particularly cool crying on some guy’s shoulder about another guy—especially when the one loaning you a shoulder had feelings for you.

  Heather was an option, but knowing her, Daniel
le figured Heather would start throwing together a mixture of essential oils and insisting they make the nurses diffuse it in the ICU. Danielle didn’t think that was going to happen considering the nurse at the ICU had told her it was best if she didn’t come back.

  The only person she could talk to about the current situation—and who might actually be able to help—was Police Chief MacDonald. She remembered him saying he was working today in spite of the fact it was Saturday. Remembering that, she drove to the police station.

  “He hasn’t come to,” Danielle announced when she walked into Chief MacDonald’s office later that morning. The chief looked up from his desk and gestured for her to come in and close the door. The previous night she had called him to let him know Walt had left Marlow House and why.

  “I know. I spoke to the ICU a few minutes ago. I understand your little deception was uncovered.” He picked up the cup of coffee from his desk and took a sip.

  “They told me not to come back.” Danielle sat down on a chair facing the desk and dropped her purse to the floor. “So I need you to keep checking on him for me.”

  As he set the cup back on the desk, he asked, “You want some coffee?”

  Danielle shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m jumpy enough without more caffeine.”

  He noticed her flushed complexion and the way she nervously jiggled her right leg. She wasn’t kidding about being jumpy. “Take a deep breath, Danielle. Relax. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “Is it? Do you know who was there to see Clint this morning?” she asked.

  “Stephanie’s father,” he answered.

  Danielle frowned. “How did you know?”

  “He stopped in the office this morning.”

  “You could have warned me,” Danielle grumbled.

  “Sorry. I was going to call you. I wasn’t even sure he was going to stop at the hospital. From what he told me, he barely knows Clint, and he knew he was still unconscious.”

  “I feel sorry for the man, he lost his daughter. But sheesh, he was pretty snotty to me about visiting Clint.” Danielle slumped back in the chair.

  The chief arched his brow. “Clint or Walt?”

  Danielle shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see any spirits at the hospital this morning. So I have no clue who the man in the bed really is.”

  “If it is Walt, then it may be a little awkward if Mr. Mountifield sticks around to see him,” the chief told her.

  Danielle shrugged. “I’m starting to wonder if this was all a crazy idea. Maybe listening to a glitter-happy ghost was our first mistake.”

  The chief frowned. “Glitter happy?”

  “You know, Eva.”

  The chief continued to frown.

  Danielle laughed. “Sorry. I guess you don’t know. Unless Evan told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  “Eva Thorndike. Let’s just say, her spirit-self is rather dramatic, which is not surprising considering who she was when she was alive. When she makes her appearance, she has a tendency to toss glitter around.”

  “Glitter?”

  Danielle chuckled. “It’s not actually glitter. Thank god. I’d hate to clean up that mess. But it looks like glitter.” Danielle shrugged. “Anyway, Eva convinced Walt this was all meant to be.”

  “And you don’t think it was?”

  “I don’t know. I just know Marlow House feels so empty right now. Oh, trust me, I really want this second chance for Walt.” I also want it for me, Danielle silently told herself. “But now, with Walt gone, I’m wondering if it was an insane idea. It all happened so fast. And if it does work, will there be problems, like with Stephanie’s father?”

  “I imagine he’s going home in a few days. He told me he was from Texas.”

  “Will there be more Mr. Mountifields?”

  “Danielle, we already went over all this when Walt was deciding. There isn’t anything you can do now but wait. Getting all worked up isn’t going to help anyone, least of all you.”

  Danielle let out a sigh and leaned back in the chair. “You’re right.”

  A knock came at the office door. Danielle sat back up straight and glanced over her shoulder as the chief told whoever it was to come in. The door opened. In walked Officer Brian Henderson.

  “I just wanted to let you know I was going home…” Brian said to the chief before noticing Danielle sitting in the chair. He looked to her and smiled. “Hey, Danielle, out goofing around now that you don’t have guests for a few weeks?”

  “How did you know that?” she asked.

  Brian walked into the office and sat down in the chair next to Danielle. “I ran into Joanne the other day. She told me you were taking a break from guests for a few weeks. Terrible what happened to Marlow and his girlfriend. I understand he’s still in a coma?”

  Danielle nodded. “Yes.”

  “Having a party?” Joe Morelli asked from the now open doorway.

  Danielle glanced to Joe. Unlike Brian, he was not wearing his uniform.

  “What are you doing here?” Brian asked when Joe walked into the office. “I didn’t think you were working today?”

  “I’m not. But I think I left my jacket in the lunch room. Came to pick it up.” He glanced over to the chief and nodded a hello before looking back to Danielle. “How are you doing, Danielle?”

  “We were just talking about what she’s going to do now that she has all this time on her hands,” Brian told him.

  Joe arched his brows at her. “Time?”

  “Yeah, she’s taken a break from the B and B business,” Brian told him.

  “Good for you.” Joe smiled. “I can understand that. Your last guest was a major jerk.”

  “Joe, one of those guests is now dead,” Danielle scolded.

  “I didn’t say she was a jerk. And it’s tragic what happened to her. But you have to admit, I bet you were relieved when they left. That guy was a creep.”

  “He’s now in a coma in the hospital, with a broken leg, and when he comes to, he’s going to have to deal with the loss of his fiancée,” Danielle snapped.

  “Or not,” the chief muttered to himself, thinking that if it was Walt now in the body, he doubted he would spend much time thinking of Stephanie.

  “I spoke to one of my friends in the ICU. I was curious to see how he was doing,” Brian said as he looked at Danielle. “She told me his only visitor was his sister.”

  “Sister?” Joe asked.

  Brian nodded. “I happen to know Clint Marlow doesn’t have any siblings.” He chuckled, still watching Danielle, who shifted nervously in her chair.

  Joe frowned. “I don’t get it?”

  “It was you, Danielle? Wasn’t it? I didn’t tell my friend Marlow doesn’t have a sister, but I did ask her to describe her. Sounded a lot like you.”

  Joe turned to Danielle and frowned. “Did you tell them you were his sister?”

  Danielle shrugged. “They only let family in ICU. I wanted to check on him; what’s the big deal?”

  “You don’t really want to get involved with this guy,” Joe told her.

  “Who’s to say I’m getting involved with him?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, Danielle glanced over to the chief. They were both thinking the same thing: just wait for Joe’s reaction if it is Walt who wakes up in the hospital and then goes back to Marlow House with Danielle.

  “It’s just that the guy is obviously going to need some place to recuperate after he finally gets out of the coma and leaves the hospital. He doesn’t have any place to go. I could see him looking to you, expecting you to put him up since he’s a Marlow,” Joe told her.

  “You see, Danielle,” Brian explained, “after the accident, we tried to locate a relative—a next of kin. What I found out was that he doesn’t seem to have any family, and he had just sold his condo and quit his job before coming up to Oregon. By the plane tickets we found in his fiancée’s purse, we have to assume they were planning to go to France for an extended trip. So Joe is rig
ht. He really doesn’t have anywhere to go when he eventually gets out of the hospital.”

  “And you need to promise not to let yourself get involved,” Joe told her.

  Danielle frowned at Joe. “Excuse me?”

  With a stern expression, Joe continued. “It’s one thing to take Lily in and nurse her back to health; she is your best friend. But you barely know this guy other than knowing he’s a distant cousin to Walt Marlow and a rude jerk. You don’t need to get involved. And the fact you’re telling the hospital you’re his sister…well…that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  Danielle leaned down and grabbed her purse off the floor and then stood up abruptly. She glared at Joe. “I didn’t realize it was my job to make you feel better. And if I decide to offer Clint Marlow a place to stay while he recuperates, then that is my business!”

  Without another word, Danielle turned from Joe and marched from the office, ignoring Joe’s plea for her to return.

  “Are you okay?” Chief MacDonald asked Danielle when he called her on the phone ten minutes later. She had just pulled into the side driveway of Marlow House and had parked her car when she answered the phone.

  “Are you alone?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes. Brian and Joe left a few minutes ago. Joe’s kicking himself, believing you will probably invite Clint to stay with you just to spite him.”

  Danielle began to laugh. “I know, isn’t it wonderful?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Danielle’s laugh simmered to a chuckle. “This kind of works out perfectly. I kept wondering what I was going to tell people like Brian and Joe—or Adam—or even Kelly—if—when—Walt comes home. This is kind of perfect.” She giggled.

  “Perfect?”

  “Yep. Think about it, Chief. I won’t have to say anything. I’ll let Joe tell everyone how it’s all his fault and how I’m doing this to spite him.”

  “You have a point.”

  Danielle let out a sigh and then grabbed her keys from the ignition while holding her phone to her ear with her other hand. “There is just one problem.”

  “What’s that?”