“He burned the house down himself,” Pearl said as she picked up her fork.
“You certainly aren’t suggesting he intentionally burned his house down?” Carla asked.
“I don’t know if it was intentional or not. Although it’s not unusual for someone to use arson to scam the insurance company. I heard he was rebuilding, so perhaps he figured a fire would be an easy way to pay for a new house,” Pearl said as she dug her fork in the ice cream atop the slice of pie.
Carla frowned at Pearl. “I don’t see Chris doing something like that.”
While Carla was not known for her discretion and had been the source of many rumors that had circulated in Frederickport, there was one bit of news she had mostly kept to herself—and it was a doozy. She had discovered Chris Johnson was, in fact, the philanthropist and billionaire Chris Glandon. While it would have been a delicious story to spread, even Carla understood it was to her advantage to do someone like Chris a favor in keeping the secret, as opposed to spreading it around for her five minutes of fame.
Instead of pointing out to Pearl that someone like Chris did not need to commit arson to raise money to build a new house, she left the sour woman to her pie. Fortunately for her, a new customer had just walked into the diner, giving Carla an excuse to cut short their conversation.
The new customer who had entered the diner was art teacher Elizabeth Sparks. She took a table by the door, some distance from the counter where Pearl sat.
“Afternoon, Elizabeth,” Carla greeted her.
“Oh, hi, Carla,” Elizabeth said absently as she glanced through the menu she had picked up from the end of the table.
Carla noted Elizabeth did not seem her normal cheerful self.
“Is everything okay?” Carla asked as she took a seat across from the young woman.
Elizabeth glanced up at Carla, who now sat at her table. She closed her menu. “I’ve been Christmas shopping all day.”
“What’s wrong, couldn’t find what you wanted?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No. It’s not that. It’s just…well…I’ve had the weirdest feeling the last couple of days. Like I’m being followed. Stalked even.”
“Stalked?” Carla asked. “By who? Have you talked to the police?”
“I don’t know who. And no, I haven’t talked to anyone about it. In fact, you’re the first person I’ve mentioned it to.”
Resting her elbows on the tabletop, Carla leaned forward and said, “Tell me all about it.”
“Friday, when I got up in the morning and opened my front blinds, there was a car parked in front of my house. I didn’t recognize it. There was a man sitting inside the car. When he looked up and saw me at the window, he just stared for a moment, and then he drove away real quick.”
“Not that unusual to get nosey tourists who like to check out houses,” Carla said. “Or one who is lost and looking for an address.”
“That’s kind of what I thought at first. But then, I kept running into him around town. I even noticed his reflection in a store window, and I swear he was watching me.”
“And you don’t know who he is?” Carla asked.
Elizabeth shook her head. “No. He wasn’t familiar. The whole thing is creeping me out.”
“You need to talk to the police about this,” Carla insisted.
After finishing her pie and ice cream, Pearl walked home from the pier. Just as she reached her front gate, she noticed a taxi driving slowly up the street. It passed her house and then slowed down in front of Marlow House and parked. The driver and a passenger got out of the car. Curious, Pearl kept walking. She reached the back of the taxi just as the driver was opening the trunk of the car. The passenger, an older gentleman, stood on the sidewalk, waiting for his suitcase.
“I think you may be at the wrong place,” Pearl said as she approached the taxi.
The driver looked up at her and frowned. “Excuse me?”
Pearl looked at the passenger, who continued to stand on the nearby sidewalk, cane in hand.
“You aren’t family or friend of the Marlows, are you? I am sure you’re not family, since I heard they don’t have any,” Pearl asked.
The passenger cocked his head slightly and smiled at Pearl. “No, no relation. At least, none that I am aware of. And we haven’t been formally introduced. But I do believe I am at the right place.”
The taxi driver set the suitcase on the sidewalk and shut the trunk lid. “I’ll carry it up for you.”
“No need. It has wheels. I will be fine, and a little exercise does me good,” the older man said cheerfully.
“But you are not at the right place,” Pearl argued.
“Ma’am,” the taxi driver interrupted, “I was told I was to bring him to Marlow House. And Marlow House B and B is the only Marlow House I know of in Frederickport.”
“But it is no longer a B and B!” she argued.
The taxi driver shrugged and got back in his car after wishing his passenger a goodbye. He drove off before Pearl could continue her argument. She looked back to the elderly passenger and saw he had already gone through Marlow House’s gate and was almost to the front door.
She would have followed him to see what was going on, when a second car pulled up and parked in front of Marlow House—that made three cars parked along the street in front of her neighbor’s house. A bearded young man wearing sunglasses climbed out of the vehicle and walked to his trunk to retrieve his suitcases.
“Certainly you aren’t staying here too?” Pearl demanded when she spied him taking suitcases from the trunk.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
“Yes, there is a problem. Who are you?”
“I’m not sure it is any of your business. But I am a guest of Marlow House B and B, and you are?”
“I live next door, and Marlow House is no longer a B and B!”
The man shrugged. “Whatever.” He picked up his suitcases and walked up to the front gate.
Fuming, Pearl turned around and stomped back to her house, planning to call the business licensing department and let them know Danielle Marlow was once again operating an illegal boardinghouse. Just as she reached her side gate, she remembered it was Sunday and the licensing department was closed.
When Danielle opened the door for Colin Bari, she immediately noted his cane. While the elderly man looked fairly spry, considering he seemed to be managing his suitcase without a problem, she worried about the stairs. After brief introductions were made, she said, “I had planned to put you upstairs. We only have one bedroom on the first floor…”
“Upstairs will be fine,” he said.
“I’m sure Chris—that’s who is in the downstairs bedroom—will switch rooms with you.”
Colin reached out and patted Danielle’s arm. “Honestly, Mrs. Marlow, I have no problem with stairs. In fact, the extra exercise is good for me. Keeps me going.”
“If you are sure?” she asked.
Walt, who had been standing in the background listening, stepped forward and introduced himself.
“I’ll show Mr. Bari to his room,” Walt said, taking the older man’s suitcase from him. “I believe another one of our guests just pulled up.”
A few minutes later, as Danielle watched Walt carry the suitcase up the stairs, Mr. Bari trailing behind him, the front doorbell rang. When she answered it a moment later, she found a bearded man in sunglasses standing on her porch, suitcases in hand.
“You must be Mr. Gardener?” Danielle asked.
“And you are Mrs. Marlow?” he asked with a smile.
Danielle opened the door wider and said, “Please call me Danielle.”
“And you have to call me Owen,” he said as he stepped inside the house and glanced around.
As Danielle closed the door behind him, he said, “You have a nosey neighbor out there trying to screen all your visitors.”
“Thin, gray-haired woman?” she asked.
“I think that’s the one.” Owen set his suitcases on the f
loor.
Danielle let out a sigh. “That’s our next-door neighbor, Pearl Huckabee. Marlow House used to be a B and B, which Mrs. Huckabee was never happy about. She didn’t like living next door to a bed and breakfast.”
Owen cringed as he removed his sunglasses. “I’m sorry. I might have referred to this place as a B and B. Mrs. Crabtree did explain that you were no longer a business, but that you had graciously agreed to put us up for the holidays. I’m really sorry if I caused more problems with your neighbor.”
Danielle chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it. I rather think she enjoys her outrage.”
Owen slipped his glasses into his shirt pocket and smiled at Danielle.
Danielle looked into Owen’s eyes and returned the smile. Just as she did, something caught her attention, and she paused a moment, still looking into Owen’s face.
“Have we met before?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Your name is not familiar. But there is something about you. So familiar. You aren’t on TV or something, are you?” she asked.
He laughed. “Hardly.”
“Have you been to Frederickport before? Maybe I saw you then? I’ve lived here since 2014.”
He shook his head. “No. I can practically guarantee this is the first time you have ever seen me in Frederickport.”
Walt and Danielle sat with Chris and Noah in the living room on Sunday evening, with Hunny sleeping by Chris’s feet and Max dozing under the Christmas tree. Owen had left to get something for dinner, while Colin had retired to his room, telling them it had been a long day and he was turning in for the night.
“I was rather hoping Mr. Bari would join us this evening,” Noah said. “I’m still trying to place him, and it is driving me crazy.”
“Place him?” Danielle asked. “You think you know him?”
“Noah was telling me earlier he thought there was something familiar about him—and I was about to say the same thing,” Walt said.
Danielle looked to Walt. “You think you’ve met him before?”
Walt shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t recognize his name. But there is something so familiar about him. And then Noah said the same thing.”
“It’s going to come to me,” Noah said, taking a sip of his wine.
“Odd, I was about to say one of our guests looked familiar to me too,” Danielle said.
“You think you’ve seen Mr. Bari too?” Chris asked. “Maybe he’s an actor.”
Danielle shook her head. “No. Not Mr. Bari. Owen. He looks super familiar to me. Something about his eyes.”
Sixteen
On Monday morning Marie’s first stop was Marlow House to see how the guests had settled in. She found them gathered at the dining room table, enjoying breakfast and chatting. Growing bored with the conversation—since she could only listen—she headed across the street to check in on baby Connor.
Outside, rain fell in a drizzle, but it no longer bothered Marie now that she was a ghost. Moving through the outside wall to Connor’s nursery, she found him nestled in his mother’s arms as he greedily nursed at her breast. Marie smiled at the sweet sight, thinking how angelic Lily looked with her wisps of red hair gently framing her delicate features and the adoring look she gave her son—a ginger Madonna. With a sigh, Marie watched, understanding that Lily had no idea she had entered the room.
“We’ll wait a little bit before we get you dressed,” Lily whispered down to her son. “We’re going to Pier Café this afternoon to have lunch with Walt and Danielle, and I need to find something warm and snuggly for you to wear.”
“No!” Marie gasped. “You can’t take him out in this weather! He will catch his death of cold.”
Lily continued to talk to her son, oblivious to the ghost in the room.
“You need to do something for me,” Marie announced when she popped into Heather’s kitchen after leaving Lily and Connor.
Heather, who stood at her stove filling a cup with hot water for tea, made a jerking motion at the sudden appearance of the ghost, splashing hot water all over the stovetop.
“Marie, don’t sneak up on me like that!” Heather snapped. Setting the teapot back on the stove, she grabbed a towel and began wiping up the spill.
“I’m sorry, dear. But the others are all having breakfast at Marlow House, and I can’t just barge in there, not with the guests.”
“What do you need?” Heather asked.
“I want you to tell Lily that I will happily babysit Connor this afternoon while she and Ian meet Walt and Danielle for lunch at Pier Café. It is miserable cold outside. Not fit for a baby.”
Heather arched her brow. “How do you know it’s miserable cold? You’re a ghost. You don’t have a real body. You can’t feel heat or cold.”
“Don’t be snotty, young lady. I am perfectly aware of the weather without actually feeling it,” Marie said primly.
“Okay. But do you honestly think Lily and Ian are going to leave you alone with Connor? Seriously? To babysit? What happens if someone stops by the house and finds the baby alone?”
“He won’t be alone!”
“Uhh…yeah…tell that to the police…Well, not to Police Chief MacDonald, but if anyone else happens to stop by.”
“Then you have to stay too. Don’t you have the week off? It’s not like you have to go to work,” Marie insisted.
“But I planned to stay in my PJs all day and read a book,” Heather fairly whined.
“And you can do that at Lily and Ian’s house. I’ll watch Connor. You won’t have to do anything, just be there with me. Come on now, wouldn’t it be nice for Lily and Ian to have some adult time?”
The morning drizzle had stopped, yet it remained damp and chilly outside, with gray skies overhead. The weather did not keep Walt and Danielle from walking down to the pier to meet Lily and Ian for lunch. Each wearing a warm jacket, gloves and a hat, they walked hand in hand down the street, discussing the guests currently staying at Marlow House.
Just as they walked by Pearl’s front gate, Danielle paused a moment, tugging Walt to a stop as she looked up to the house. She noticed the Christmas lights decorating the eaves of Pearl’s house were still on, and Danielle figured her neighbor had forgotten to turn them off the night before. She glanced over to Pearl’s front door and noticed a pinecone Christmas wreath embellished with a large red bow. In the downstairs window she could see a large poinsettia sitting on a table.
Danielle looked to the second floor. The blinds to Pearl’s bedroom window were open, and just as Danielle was going to turn and start down the street again, her neighbor appeared at the window. The older woman glared down at them. Without thought Danielle gave Pearl a quick wave and smile. Pearl responded by shutting her blinds.
“I think she likes you,” Walt teased. The two started down the street again.
“You know what surprises me?” Danielle asked.
“No, what?”
“That she put up Christmas lights. I didn’t expect her to decorate for Christmas. Maybe put up a black wreath on the front door.”
“A wreath of mourning?” Walt asked with a chuckle.
Danielle shrugged. “A black wreath would seem more in character.”
A moment later they noticed a police car driving up the street. Just as it reached them, it pulled over and stopped. Down went the passenger window. Brian Henderson sat in the driver’s seat. He leaned over to the now open car window.
“Hello, Brian,” Danielle greeted him, now standing with Walt on the sidewalk by the police car.
“I have you to blame for this,” Brian grumbled.
“What did I do now?” Danielle asked.
“Your neighbor has been calling me since last night, complaining about you.”
“Why is she calling you?” Walt asked.
“Because I foolishly gave her my card once, and since then she thinks I’m her personal cop. Please tell me you aren’t renting rooms out.”
“
No, we’re not renting rooms out,” Danielle said with a laugh. “But we do have guests.” She went on to explain about the favor they were doing Ruby.
“At first I thought she was still trying to make something out of Chris and his brother staying with you. But then she said cars were arriving all day yesterday delivering guests to your door.”
Danielle chuckled. “A slight exaggeration.”
“Okay. I will go explain to her—again—that you are within your legal rights to take in nonpaying holiday guests,” Brian said with a sigh.
When Walt and Danielle arrived at Pier Café, they found Lily and Ian already sitting at a booth. They were surprised to discover the baby was not with them.
“Where is Connor? Is Kelly babysitting?” Danielle asked as she took a seat across from Lily.
“No. Marie is babysitting,” Lily told her.
“Marie?” Danielle asked in surprised.
“More accurately, Marie and Heather,” Ian told them. “But I think Marie is doing the actual babysitting, and Heather is just there so we don’t get nailed by child protective services.” They went on to tell them how Heather had come over that morning to speak for Marie—who, of course, they could not see or hear. Marie wanted to watch Connor while they went to lunch, and Heather had agreed to stay too, yet confessed she would probably spend her time reading her book and raiding their refrigerator.
“It kind of sucks you can’t always use Marie to sit with Connor,” Danielle said. “She would love that, and there is no way anything bad would happen to him under her watch.”
“He also adores her,” Lily added.
“But as Heather pointed out, leaving Marie alone with Connor could end up causing us real problems. Can you imagine if my sister stopped by and found her nephew alone?” Ian asked.
“Or stopped by with her boyfriend—the cop,” Lily added.
“I’m actually a little surprised Heather has exhibited such common sense,” Walt observed.
The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit Page 10