by K. M. Waller
Lex gave him a quick shake of the hand and then pretended to receive a text message. He glanced at the empty phone screen and tapped. “Yes, she mentioned it.”
Tim didn’t take the hint. “You probably wouldn’t know this, but I helped work on the construction site when this house went up. I’m really good with my hands. Sort of like Ty Pennington, but better looking in a younger, early thirties way.”
Lex glanced up from his phone, but not before hitting the record button for the notes app in case the other man said something useful. “You’re looking for a job on the proposed show?”
“I have my resume and headshot right here.”
Of course he did. “What experience do you have with ghosts?”
His eyes shifted to the side, and then he ducked his head forward. “Ghosts aren’t real. It’s all smoke and mirrors for the viewers.”
“How do you explain what’s happening in the B&B?” Lex asked.
Tim shrugged. “Mr. Chase is losing his show and the attention of everyone around him.”
Lex admitted the other man had a solid theory. He pressed him further. “You think he’s creating the ghost stories for attention?”
“It worked, didn’t it? You’re here ready to offer him a brand new ghost hunting show.”
Ramona cleared her throat from the top of the stairs. “Tim, what are you doing in the main house?”
Tim hid the headshot and resume behind his back. “On my way out, Ms. Locksley.”
“He wasn’t bothering you, was he?” Ramona asked, descending the stairs in a black wisp of a dress.
Lex rubbed a hand across the front of his shirt. “I feel a tad underdressed.”
She wiped her hand across his shoulder. “You look delicious, darling. Why don’t you escort me into the dining room? We can wait on Samuel while we discuss the proposed shooting schedule.”
Ramona looped her arm through his, giving him no choice but to be her escort. He’d need to find a reason to excuse himself during the dinner to get back to Samuel’s room. With the serpent wrapped around his arm tighter than a boa constrictor, he didn’t have a plan on how to accomplish his goal. Yet.
In the main dining room, Ramona offered Lex a glass of champagne. “To celebrate our union.”
Lex accepted the flute, but tilted the glass toward the ceiling. “I think celebrating would be a little premature. Samuel doesn’t appear to have the same charisma as he exhibited on Ghost Getters. Maybe this isn’t the right project for him.”
He watched Ramona’s grip tighten on her glass. “He’ll get his act together. I’ll make sure of it.”
Ramona walked over to the door adjoining the dining room to the kitchen. “Dee! Get in here.”
Dee came through the doors, her smile tight and one hand toying with a locket dangling from a short chain. “Yes, Ramona?”
“Please find Samuel and tell him we’re waiting.”
She dropped her hand and balled it into a fist at her side. “I think Samuel may need the night off.”
A yell and subsequent crash erupted from outside the dining room. Lex rushed through the door to find Samuel at the bottom of the stairs in a heap.
Dee shrieked and ran forward. “Not again.”
Lex nudged her aside, and Amira appeared from the kitchen area and squatted on the opposite side of Chase’s body.
The man groaned and his eyes fluttered open.
Lex grabbed Dee’s arm. “Call for an ambulance.”
“No. I’m okay,” Samuel said, shaking his head a few times.
Amira laid her hands on his shoulders. “Don’t try to get up, Samuel. You should be examined by a medical professional. A paramedic at least.”
“Help me up. Really, I just slipped on the last few steps. I’m fine.”
Against his better judgment, Lex stood and offered the man a hand. If he were the one at the bottom of the stairs in a heap, he’d want to stand on his own two feet too.
Dee patted his arms and collarbones. “Are you sure nothing’s broken?”
“Nothing but my pride.” He nodded to Lex. “Perhaps you could help me back up to my room so I can lie down.”
While he felt bad about Samuel’s fall, at least now he had a great excuse to get in the room and plant the camera.
Ramona began dialing her cell phone. “I’m calling Dr. Shuman.”
“A psychiatrist can’t help him,” Dee snapped. “He needs a real medical professional.”
Samuel pushed away from everyone. “I said I’m fine,” he barked at the two women fussing over him. “Go back to your dinner and leave me alone.”
Dee stalked past everyone back to the kitchen.
Ramona huffed, the phone still pressed against her ear. “I need a cigarette.”
Lex motioned to Amira. “Help me get him upstairs.”
Both he and Amira allowed Samuel to loop his arms around their shoulders. They walked him up the stairs to his room.
Lex held out his hand. “Key?”
Samuel fished it out of his pocket. Lex handed the key to Amira, who in turn unlocked the door.
They eased Samuel onto the edge of the bed. “Thanks.”
Lex pulled Amira into the hallway. “I’m going to stay with Samuel a few minutes and see if I can get anything out of him.”
She glanced up and down the hallway and leaned close. “Do you think the ghost pushed him down the stairs?”
He moved closer, inhaling the sweet scent of her lavender shampoo. All the whispering gave him the perfect reason to get close. “I still don’t know what to think. Dee mentioned something about ‘not again.’ I need you to find out what she’s talking about.”
Lex cleared his throat to announce his arrival back in the room but Samuel kept his face buried in his hands.
“I just wanted to go over some details about the show if you’re up for it.” He sat down in a desk chair near the bed. “I know it isn’t the best time, but I’m only here for the weekend.”
He uncovered his face. “She doesn’t want me to do another show. She wants me here.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
“Didn’t your mother pass away a few months ago? Why would her ghost show up to haunt you now?”
“Because you’re here.”
Lex tilted his head. “But you’ve been like this…” He used his hand to refer to Samuel’s state of dress. “…for longer than this weekend.”
Samuel’s gaze sharpened considerably. “All of this has been an act to stop Ramona from scheming to get me back on television. I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time, but I’m done with that life.”
Lex sat up straight. “You’re faking the deep depression to get rid of your girlfriend? Can’t you just tell her the truth?”
“Most women are unreasonable by nature. Ramona is ten times that of a normal woman. We have a business contract, and if I break the partnership, half of the B&B goes to her. Mother would never forgive me for that. I thought Ramona would be gone by now and initiate the separation.” He curled up on his side on the bed. “At some point, it stopped being so much of act and more of my current state of mind. And now that you’re here, she’s further from leaving than she’s ever been.”
“And you think it’s possible your mother pushed you down the stairs because she’s mad you can’t get rid of Ramona?” He’d heard of ghosts acting out for lesser reasons. At least now, they had a starting point. “Do you happen to have anything in your room that was of great importance to your mother?”
He nodded toward a mauve vase with green vines and leaves painted on the outside. “I brought her back that vase from Italy. She adored it and kept it on her dresser.”
Lex crossed the room and picked up the vase. He waited for the amulet to heat up. When it didn’t, he set the vase down and released a pent-up breath.
That would’ve been too easy.
∞∞∞
Amira pushed through the kitchen door and found Dee sitting in front of a cup of coffee. T
he dishes from the staff’s dinner had been cleared.
“That was scary,” Amira said, “but I think Samuel is going to be fine. We can always convince him to go to the doctor in the morning.” She fed the K-cup machine a caramel flavored coffee and pressed the button. “Where’s Cookie?”
“In the dining room serving Ramona.” Dee glanced up, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She toyed with the charm on her necklace, swinging it back and forth along the chain. “How can she eat? I can’t stomach that woman.”
“Earlier you mentioned something about this having happened before. Has Samuel been having accidents?”
“Not Samuel.” Dee blew out a hard breath. “During the grand opening of the B&B, Samuel’s mother fell down the stairs. It’s how she died.”
“She died here… in the house?”
“Yes. It was a shock for everyone. The coroner ruled the official cause of death as a heart attack, which probably caused the fall down the stairs.”
Amira sat on a stool opposite Dee. She’d been certain the ghost was the teenager she’d seen in the window, not an older woman. Could his mom be the assignment? Why would his mom hang around? “What kind of woman was Samuel’s mother?”
“Mrs. Chase? Harsh. Demanding. Smothering. But Samuel adored her and he built this B&B for her. After he made a name for himself on television, he gave her whatever she wanted.”
“What did his mom think of the ghost hunting?”
“After the B&B went up, he wanted to leave her here to run it, but she wanted him to retire and run it with her. They argued about it a lot.”
“Did they argue about it the night she died?” She could see how that kind of guilt would cling to Samuel and cause the personality shift she’d seen in him. Especially if he thought his mom haunted him.
“On the phone maybe, but like I said he was on location when it happened.” Dee shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.
Cookie ambled into the room. “That woman,” she muttered. She set a serving tray on the counter between them. “And what are you two hens pecking on about?”
“Ghosts,” offered Amira.
Cookie put a hand over her large bosom. “Ah, the prizrak haunting our dear Samuel.”
“But why Samuel? Wouldn’t Ramona be a better target?” Amira didn’t think a single person in the house liked the woman.
“Prizrak haunt the believers.”
Dee groaned. “It’s been a very long day. I’m going to check on Samuel and go to bed.”
Amira narrowed her eyes at Cookie as Dee left the room. Where had she been during Samuel’s fall? She’d left shortly before to take dinner to Tim, but she could’ve come back in through the front door. Amira wanted to see what they’d captured on the surveillance video. And why hadn’t Tim joined the staff for dinner in the kitchen?
She tapped her fingers on the counter. This was the first time she’d caught Cookie alone.
“What other strange things have occurred since Lex and Ramona have taken up residence here?”
Cookie ran a hand through her shoulder-length brown hair and then wiped the counter with a wet rag from the sink. Her frown stayed in place as her hand swirled in circles. “At first they are things you don’t notice as odd. A vase knocked over when Samuel walks into the room blamed on the open window. Soft crying heard in the upstairs hallway blamed on water running through pipes.”
“Have you seen the ghost?”
“Not me, but a guest did. A young girl who encountered our prizrak in the hallway. The girl screamed for an hour until her parents promised to take her home.”
“Did the ghost hurt her?”
“That girl had an overactive imagination,” Ramona butted in, strutting into the room with an unlit cigarette dangling from between her lips. She removed it long enough to cast them both a glare. “And her hysterics have almost single-handedly ruined this establishment.”
“Humph,” Cookie responded.
“The only dangers in this house are those stairs. Have Tim look at them again in the morning.” Ramona’s mauve lips formed a creepy smile and she sashayed out the same way she’d come in.
“I think I’ll head up,” Amira said.
Already moved on to the next chore and mumbling under her breath in Russian, Cookie didn’t appear to hear her.
Amira heard Ramona having a one-sided conversation in the dining room and surmised she was on her cell phone again. The rest of the house didn’t make so much as a creak as she climbed the stairs. As her hand hovered to knock on Lex’s door, a whoosh of a breeze pushed past her and down to the end of the hall, rattling the picture frames.
The hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood tall. This is it. My first real ghost encounter.
A wispy, elongated shape formed at the end of the hallway. After several moments, the teenaged girl Amira’d seen in the window appeared. She wore jeans and black riding boots. Her dark, braided hair hung over her shoulder. The ghost opened her mouth to speak but there wasn’t any sound. She pointed to the room adjacent to Amira’s at the end of the hallway.
Afraid the girl would disappear, she walked with agonizingly slow steps toward her. The girl passed through the door into the room. Since Dee had said there weren’t any other guests in the B&B, it hadn’t occurred to Amira to check out any of the other rooms. The sign beside the door said Mother’s Room. A chill ran over Amira’s skin.
She hesitated. Lex would burst a vein in his head when he found out she planned to follow the ghost inside alone. She tucked away that worry for later. They had until the end of Sunday night to get the ghost to the other side before the assignment turned into a predicted bigger problem. The doorknob felt frigid to her hand, but she twisted it and entered the room anyway.
The sun had set so there wasn’t any light to shine through the window. Amira flipped the light switch twice. Great, no light. The bulb must’ve blown. Her heart raced as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The ghost stood near the bed, her transparent body leaned against the nightstand. She rolled her eyes and waved Amira forward with impatient jerks.
Mother of goddesses, don’t slime me.
With her index finger, the ghost wrote a message in the thick layer of dust. Amira inched closer to read the note. Two words—help me.
The girl then pointed to a horse figurine beside a lamp. The white carousel horse trimmed with gold sat on a round base. The object owned by the ghost? Thank Mother Earth!
“You want me to help you?” Amira asked, scooping up the horse.
The girl nodded.
“Great.” Relief washed over her. “That’s what we’re here for. My partner and I are from an agency that can send you over to the other side. I’ll go get him.”
The girl shook her head no and waved her arms.
“No, you don’t want to cross over?” Unfinished business? Lex wouldn’t like that.
The girl shook her head no again.
“Is someone keeping you here?”
A solid nod was followed by pointing at the carousel horse again. Frustration built in Amira’s chest. She hadn’t read anything about ghosts being unable to communicate. And she didn’t have the patience for charades ghost edition.
Rustling outside the door caught their attention. A whoosh of air ruffled Amira’s hair and when she turned back, the ghost had disappeared.
She rushed into the hallway and found it empty. She tapped on Lex’s door with three quick knocks, excitement bubbling up from her core.
He opened and beckoned her inside.
“I just met the ghost.”
“What?” His handsome face twisted with concern.
“She came to me in the hallway and she needs our help.”
“You spoke to her just now?”
“I tried and she tried, but she can’t speak or something’s stopping her from speaking. Anyway, she wrote ‘help me’ in the dust in the room at the end of the hall and kept pointing to this figurine.” She held out the statue of the horse, no more than three inches ta
ll.
Lex took the horse, and after a moment sighed in frustration. “It’s not the object. The amulet isn’t heating up.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. Was she glad it hadn’t been that easy? The girl had indicated someone controlled her or that was what Amira had pulled from their one-sided conversation. “It’s a clue, even if we don’t know what it means. I think someone is controlling her and forcing her to make all the mischief.”
He set the horse on the table beside his laptop. “That would narrow it down. It means that one of the occupants has an object of hers in their possession.”
“There are five possible suspects. That’s a lot of ground to cover before tomorrow night.” Amira had included Samuel in the count even though, according to Cookie, he seemed to be the target of the ghost’s attention. “How was Samuel when you left him?”
“I think a permanent residence at the nearest treatment center might be a good idea.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s talking to his dead mother.”
“Like in Psycho?”
“Is there a movie or television show you haven’t seen?”
“Need I remind you of how many years I’ve spent my Friday nights alone?” She sniffed. “Plus, if you haven’t watched a third of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, then you haven’t truly lived.”
One side of his mouth curled into a half-smile. “He thinks the ghost is his mom.”
“Unless she’s de-aged sixty years, the ghost I just met is not his mom.”
Lex hit a few keys on his laptop and a media player opened in the middle of the screen. “We’ll see what happened in a minute. The hall’s security footage is loading.” He fast-forwarded until Samuel walked out of his room. Amira leaned in close, shoulder to shoulder with Lex.
“Wait, stop it right there,” she said.
A white form moved in behind Samuel in the hallway.
“That’s the girl,” she said.
The wisp of white rushed through Samuel and after the sudden contact, he lost his footing and fell forward.
Amira grabbed Lex by the arm. “I don’t think the ghost meant for him to fall.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve confirmed she’s real and now it’s time for step two. Send her to the other side.”