The Ghost Maker

by Kara Lane Barstow

  “Yes, she’s originally from Germany. She was a top model when she met Dad.”

  “She’s so glamorous,” Pamela added. “I’ve seen pictures of your father and mother together and they’re so right together. You don’t look like your mother - you have some Native American in you, don’t you?”

  “I do. My grandmother on my father’s side was full-blooded Washoe, and I inherited quite a bit from her. My sister, Ariana, takes after our mother while Brandon, my brother, takes after our father who takes after his father.”

  “And now you and Chris are together, two families who helped build California together. How wonderful. You and Chris make a lovely couple. Your kids will be beautiful and will have so much history in their lives.”

  “Our kids?” Chris sputtered.

  “We’ve only been dating for a few months,” Daphne said. “Much too soon to be thinking about that.”

  “Oh,” Pamela looked confused. “I’m sorry, I thought your mother said you two were getting serious.”

  “What is it I’m supposed to have said?” Debbie asked, walking up to Pamela with Kevin, both of them holding plates filled with food.

  “I thought you said that Chris and Daphne were serious.” Pamela said.

  “No, no, just that I wondered if they were, since this is the first time Chris has brought someone home. That’s all.” Debbie beamed at us.

  “Oh, I wondered. Although I was glad to hear that Chris finally got over Stephanie.”

  Daphne could feel a sudden stillness cover the group. Chris tensed up beside her, Debbie’s hand jerked, dropping the sandwich she was about to bite into back onto her plate.

  “Sorry,” Pamela mumbled into the silence. “Oh!” She said more loudly. “He came. I didn’t think he would.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she stared at one of the open doors. Daphne looked to see who the woman was staring at, although she knew he wasn’t likely to be anyone she knew.

  Chapter Ten

  The man who swaggered into the auditorium reminded Daphne of a scarecrow. His hair, sticking out at odd angles, was the color of sand. He wore a green sweater over worn blue jeans. He glanced around the room until his eyes lit on Pamela, gave her a big grin which turned to a sneer when he saw the rest of the people around her. She thought she heard him snarl, but realized he was too far way. She realized the snarl had come from Chris. The look in his eyes as he stared at the newcomer sent a chill down Daphne’s spine. He speared the man with hate and anger.

  Chris stood next to her, his hands clasped at his side and his posture so rigid she knew she could topple him right over if she gave him a hard push. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t as she became aware of the absolute silence in the room. Everyone in the vast space had backed away, leaving their group and the man alone. The gazes of the crowd shifted between the two men who had locked eyes.

  The other man seemed oblivious to the crowd, but then Daphne saw him taking quick sidelong looks as he walked toward their group. No one tried to get between him and them. No one moved, and no one spoke. Daphne would have found it all fascinating if she had any idea of what was going on. She wanted to ask Chris, but she wasn’t sure he could hear her at the moment. She jumped when another figure stepped up next to her. She looked over and then up to see the very attractive cameraman, Eric. He too was watching the approaching figure.

  The man sauntered up Pamela and kissed her cheek. The quick peck and fast movement to maintain visual of Chris belied any casualness. He was nervous. As he stared at Chris, Daphne could see that his face was flushed and his eyes just a little too bright. Either he was hiding nerves or he had imbibed a few alcoholic drinks before coming,

  “Hello, Auntie, congratulations on your retirement.” He gave her a quick smile.

  “Hello, Russ. I wasn’t sure you would be able to make it. I’m glad to see you.” She stroked his arm while her eyes flitted over the others. She licked her lips and then asked. “Did Stephanie come back with you?”

  His smile dimmed, “Stephanie? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Stephane isn’t with me, why would you think she was?”

  “Because you were seen leaving with her,” said a man who stepped into the group. He was about six feet tall with broad shoulders. He wore a sheriff’s uniform but no hat. His brown eyes latched onto Russ’s.

  “What are you talking about? Stephanie didn’t leave with me. Why would you think that? I didn’t even see her the day I left.” His eyes flitted over the group around him as if searching for an ally.

  “But you were seen,” Pamela said. “Stephanie was seen, with you, when you drove out of town.”

  “No.” Russ said. “I left alone. Ask Mike at the gas station. I stopped there on my way out of town. He can tell you she wasn’t in the car.”

  The sheriff glared at him before shouting out. “Mike!” A man in his mid-twenties pushed his way toward the front of the circle that now surrounded the group. He had long, oily hair that was either slicked with gel or in desperate need of a wash. It was probably the former because his clothes were neat and pressed, even his black shoes held a shine. “Yeah, Sheriff Blaine.”

  “Is this true? Did you see Russ before he left town and was he alone?”

  The man nodded, but since he was standing behind the sheriff, he couldn’t see him, so the sheriff barked out. “Well?”

  “Yes sir, I did. He stopped for gas and said he was leaving town. I pumped his gas and there wasn’t anybody in the car with him. He had a duffle bag in the front seat and some luggage in the back. There wasn’t any room for anyone else.”

  “See?” Asked Russ, curling his lip at the sheriff. “Stephanie wasn’t with me.”

  “You pumped the gas?” The sheriff asked Mike, ignoring Russ. “Why didn’t he do it himself?”

  The man shrugged. “He said he felt sick so he asked to use the bathroom. I offered to pump the gas while he used the facilities. He thanked me and took the duffle bag with him.” He added.

  “What was in the bag?” Sheriff Blaine asked Russ.

  “None of your business.” Russ said, crossing his arms.

  “I suggest you answer the question.” The sheriff said in a voice that promised retribution if he didn’t.

  Russ shrugged. “Fine,” he said. “It was money, the money my dad left me.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  “It’s true!” he pouted. “I found it in Aunt Pam’s shed. Dad used to store his stuff in there. I found it and took it.”

  The sheriff looked at Pamela. “Is that true?” Daphne saw Debbie tighten her grip on the other woman, helping her to stay upright. She glared at her friend’s nephew, unhappy with how he had spoiled the party.

  Pamela shrugged. “I don’t know, he did used to store stuff in my shed, but he wasn’t the only one who did. I didn’t know about any money though. That doesn’t seem right. He never had any money as far as I knew.”

  “How much money?” The sheriff asked Russ.

  Russ started to look even more nervous. He glanced around like he was hoping someone would answer for him. “A few thousand.” He said.

  “How many thousands?”

  “Over a hundred,” he finally whispered.

  “You’re saying you found over a hundred thousand in my shed?” Pamela asked, stunned.

  “I figured it was dad’s, so it belonged to me.” Russ said stubbornly.

  “This money — was it wrapped or marked in any way?”

  “It was bundled up, and marked with Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco,” he admitted, his shoulders slagging.

  “So it was stolen?”

  “I don’t know, do I?” He countered.

  “Do you have any of it left?”

  “Some.”

  “Bring it to the station in the morning. I want to see it and the duffle bag if you still have it.”


  Russ ducked his head in agreement.

  “Excuse me!” Shouted Chris. “But what about Stephanie? Where is she?”

  Sheriff Blaine shook his head. “If she didn’t leave with Russ, then I don’t know. We all believed she had gone with him.”

  “We have to do something. We have to find her!” Chris shouted at the sheriff.

  “Why don’t you just tell us what you did with her.” Russ demanded of Chris.

  With a snarl Chris broke free and jumped on Russ and started punching him. Russ lay on the ground covering himself from the blows with his arms. The Sheriff and Deputy Becky stepped in to pull the two men apart. Russ jumped up and yelled at Chris. “You got tired of her and you killed her, now you’re trying to blame it on me.”

  “I would never hurt Stephanie, I love her,” Chris yelled back. “She disappeared the same day you left town. That can’t be a coincidence. You did something to her, didn’t you?”

  The auditorium was silent. The only sounds came from Russ and Chris as they stood panting and glaring at each other. Russ was the first one to break it.

  “I didn’t do anything to Stephanie. All I did was leave town. If she’s missing, then you did something to her.” He locked eyes with Daphne. “You got tired of her and disposed of her so you could find a better replacement.” He jutted his chin toward Daphne. “Stephanie was just a play thing to you wasn’t she? Just someone you wanted because she belonged to someone else, once you had her, you used her until you grew tired of her.”

  Murmurs rippled from the center of the room out, growing louder and more intense as everyone talked amongst themselves. Daphne wondered where most of the rage was pointed. For her part, she was trying to stifle her own anger. When Chris had told her about Stephanie, he had passed her off as a girl he once dated, not the love of his life.

  Chris spoke, his words dripping with venom. “I love Stephanie. I never wanted anyone but her. We had plans, we were going to get married, have a family. Don’t you dare accuse me of hurting her. You were the one who was jealous of us, who tried to get her back even though she left you to be with me. If anyone had a motive for killing her, it was you.”

  Russ lunged at Chris, but the sheriff and his deputy got in his way. The Deputy along with Craig grabbed hold of Russ and maneuvered him toward the main door. The Sheriff called out before they had gone too far, “I want you in my office by nine tomorrow morning. With the duffle bag and the money. Plan on being there for awhile, you have a lot of questions to answer.”

  Russ sneered at the sheriff, but it lost some of the impact as they frog-marched him out of the auditorium.

  The Sheriff pointed a finger at Chris, “you stay away from him. It’s my job to figure out what happened and I will be talking to him.”

  Chris glared at the sheriff, but didn’t say anything, instead he turned and stalked out through the opposite door without a word to Daphne or anyone else.

  Daphne watched Kevin and Debbie consoling Pamela, Debbie stepped away, telling Pamela she would get her some tea.

  Daphne was at a loss as to what to do. She felt like she had been dumped into the middle of a reality television show. She glanced to where Chris had exited, but decided against following him. She looked around the room and saw only strangers, most of who were avoiding eye contact.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Want to take a walk?” Eric whispered to her, providing her an out.

  “Yes, please.” She answered.

  Avoiding Chris and Russ’s exits, he led her to a side door. It opened into a hallway filled with lockers and lined with classrooms. It was quiet, empty, and perfect.

  “Are you alright?” he asked her as they walked.

  “I’m not really sure what I am right now, but I definitely know that ‘alright’ doesn’t cover it,” Daphne admitted. “I feel like this is a joke, but I don’t understand the punchline. Chris and I haven’t been dating for very long, but that Chris in there was a complete stranger. Is this going to end up on the news?”

  Eric grinned at her. “I’m on vacation.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him, but then remembered who she was talking to. “Stephanie is your sister.”

  “Yes, she was.” He admitted.

  “You think she’s dead?”

  He shrugged. “I think it’s likely. My mother goes back and forth on it. Some days she’s convinced that she hasn’t heard from Stephanie because she’s dead, but then she thinks the reason is because Russ wouldn’t let her call. I’m not sure what she’ll think now that Russ is back in town and claiming she didn’t leave with him.”

  “Why did everyone believe she left town?”

  “Supposedly she was seen in his car that day— I don’t know who saw them together, though. It sounds like it was mistake to believe it. It made sense at the time because they were both gone.”

  “But you believe she is dead.”

  “I do. Regardless of what mom wants to believe, there is no way Stephanie wouldn’t have called her. My sister and I were never really close, but she was best friends with our mother. She wouldn’t have been able to go this long without talking to her.”

  “When did she disappear?”

  “About four and a half years ago. Just before Chis graduated from high school. Stephanie was a year behind him. I’m not sure what happened exactly, except that Chris wasn’t around that day and when he returned he discovered she had left.” He paused before continuing. “You haven’t seen her ghost, have you?”

  “No. At least I don’t think I have. I haven’t seen a ghost since I’ve arrived.”

  “Yeah. I was just wondering if maybe you had seen her.”

  “You believe I can see ghosts?”

  “Of course.” He said it so easily and so simply that Daphne stopped walking and just stared at him. “What?” he asked, turning to look at her.

  “That’s not the response I was expecting.”

  “There are two reasons why I believe you can do what you say you can do. The first is I saw what those workers had to say about you and Miguel’s ghost. The way they described your channeling of him made a big impression on them. They were terrified of you and in total awe of you. None of them would allow us to film their description though; they were afraid that your brother would fire them if he found out.”

  “He wouldn’t have done that.” Daphne said with confidence.

  “Maybe, maybe not, but he wouldn’t have been happy and they are loyal to him and to your family.”

  “It didn’t stop your reporter friend from broadcasting the story,” Daphne said with some bitterness.

  “She doesn’t work for your brother,” he said with a smile. “Deanna is ok, very eager and driven, but that’s what makes her a good reporter. She isn’t afraid of confrontation or going against someone with more power or influence. But she’s a pretty descent person and promised the workers that she wouldn’t mention their names. She really just wanted to hear the story of how Miguel’s body was found.”

  “And they told her?”

  “Several of them described it in great detail. How you appeared out of the vineyard with your close dirty and torn. How you told your brother about seeing Miguel’s ghost. However, it was the description of how you suddenly went into a trance and started speaking with Miguel’s voice that really freaked them out. Just that alone was enough to convince them.”

  “They said I spoke in his voice?”

  “They said that you sounded exactly like him. It was pretty eerie.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t mention it during the broadcast. Is that why she wanted to interview me afterwards?”

  “No,” Eric said. “I’m the one who asked her to set that up.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to meet you. I wanted to see if you really could see and communicate with ghosts. Because I
was going to ask you to come here and see if you could find out what happened to my sister.”

  Daphne was surprised by his statement. “But you didn’t say anything that day.”

  Eric shook his head. “No, I couldn’t, not in front of Chris. I was surprised to see Chris there with you. It was why I mentioned this retirement party to him. I was hoping he’d choose to come and that he might bring you with him.”

  “That seems like a pretty big gamble.”

  “If it hadn’t worked, I was planning on reaching out to you and asking you to come here myself. I was even thinking of hiring you.”

  “Hiring me?” Daphne asked. “Hiring me. You know, my father suggested that I hire myself out to help those who have loved ones who might be dead. I didn’t really consider it a viable option.”

  “There are other things you can do with your gift,” Eric said. “Because what you can do is a gift. There are people who truly believe in ghosts and people who spend their lives trying to make contact with them. Something you can do without even trying.”

  They walked a bit in silence, they reached the end of the hallway and turned left, the classrooms formed a square around the auditorium. Daphne considered his words, but then remembered something Eric had said. “You said there were two reasons why you believe me. What’s the other?”

  Eric didn’t answer immediately. Finally he stopped walking and turned to face her. “Do you really want to know?”

  “I do.”

  “I’ve seen a ghost before, so I know they’re real.”

  “You can see ghosts?” Daphne asked surprised. “I’ve never met anyone else who can see them.”

  “Just the one. My father.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  His smile held sadness. “I was ten, so even though it was several years ago, I still get angry when I think about it, think about him.”

  “What happened?”

  “He was shot, by poachers who were illegally hunting in the woods outside town. Most of the woods belong to the Dunning Family, even though they don’t run the mill any longer. Someone reported that they heard gun shots in the woods, so my dad checked it out, and he was shot.”