Danielle absently rubbed her fingertips with a tissue, attempting to wipe off the black dye that had gotten on her when applying the makeup to Max’s ears. Although the cat had sat perfectly still while she covered his white fur, he immediately dashed from the room and headed outside when she had finished. She wondered if he was going across the street to show Sadie his new look—or perhaps to Heather’s to show her calico, Bella, or perhaps down to see Hunny. She hoped it wasn’t to see Hunny. The poor pitty didn’t need another thing to be scared of—like a new black cat in the neighborhood.
Just as she tossed the tissue into the trash, she heard the doorbell ring. Looking up, she called, “I’ll get it.” Walt, Chris and Heather were busy hanging spiderwebs, with Walt attaching the webbing to the higher points of the ceiling. Unlike Heather and Chris, Walt could reach those areas without a ladder—and without actually using his hands.
“Hello,” Danielle greeted a few minutes later after she opened her front door. Standing on her porch were two extremely large thirtysomething men. It wasn’t as if either was overweight, just tall, even taller than Walt, with physical frames matching their height. They were dressed similarly with new blue jeans and crisp white long-sleeve linen shirts over broad shoulders. Each had prematurely gray hair, and if she was to guess, she would say they were brothers considering their remarkable resemblance to each other.
“Hello,” one greeted her. “Is Mr. Marlow available?”
“Mr. Marlow is currently busy. We’re decorating for the haunted house, and I’m afraid my husband is in the middle of hanging spiderwebs. I’m Mrs. Marlow. Can I help you?” Danielle asked politely.
The other man pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. “Hello, Mrs. Marlow. My name is Cecil Bellemore, and this is my brother, Chester.”
Danielle looked down at the business card and read it aloud. “Bellemore Construction?”
Chester nodded. “Yes. We specialize in Victorian house renovation.”
“We are new in Frederickport,” Cecil explained. “And we wanted to introduce ourselves. Your house is beautiful, and we understand it is one of the oldest houses in town.”
“It’s nice to meet you both…” Danielle said, looking down a bit confused at the business card. She looked back up and said, “But as you can see, Marlow House doesn’t really need renovating.”
Cecil smiled. “You are right; your house is lovely. But old houses like this often need repairs—I noticed some shingles on your mansard roofline look as if they could use some attention.”
“You are a roofer?” Danielle asked.
“When it comes to this style of house, we do it all,” Cecil explained. “And when the time comes that Marlow House needs some attention, we hope you think of us.”
Danielle looked at the card again. “That is nice to know.” She looked back up to the men. “Umm, I see on the card your business is in Frederickport. Do we really have that many Victorian houses around here to keep you busy?”
“We are general contractors,” Chester explained. “We don’t just work on Victorians. But they are our specialty, and we’re going around today, introducing ourselves to homeowners—like yourself.”
“Well, I’ll certainly keep your card and show it to my husband. And if we ever need some work, we will definitely keep you in mind. But right now, I really need to get back to decorating.”
“Keeping us in mind is not what I wanted to hear,” Cecil grumbled after he got back into the driver’s seat of their truck.
“What did you expect? ‘Come right in, gentlemen, and get to work?’” Chester snarked.
“I figured she might at least offer to take us on a tour of the house. But she seemed awful anxious to get rid of us.”
“She did say they were in the middle of decorating for the haunted house and had to get back to it. Our timing was off.” Chester, now in the passenger seat, hooked his seatbelt.
“I suppose.” Cecil shoved the key into the ignition.
“I still think we should have told her who our grandfather was,” Chester said.
Cecil furrowed his brows at his brother. “Absolutely not. You don’t know how much she knows.”
“There is no way she knows about all that. You read her website. She’s posted all that historical stuff on it, and nothing about it or our grandfather. We should tell her about him,” Chester insisted. “It could prove to be our pass into Marlow House.”
“Or get the door slammed on us forever.”
Six
It had been about five years since Frederickport Police Chief Edward MacDonald’s wife had died from cancer—five years raising their two small sons alone. He glanced in the rearview mirror at his youngest boy, Evan, who sat alone in the back seat, absently playing with a pair of wax vampire teeth.
The eight-year-old boy so resembled his late wife it sometimes made Edward ache to look at him—especially when the sunlight hit Evan’s face at just the right angle, brushing over the tip of his delicate nose, the large brown eyes and those long, long lashes.
People often told him his oldest son, Eddy Junior, was his mini-me, with his blue-gray eyes and smile. But Eddy’s laugh, that was his mother’s. It made Edward smile, a gentle reminder that his wife had left behind something tangible of herself in both sons before moving on. And she had moved on—it was something he understood more now than he had five years ago.
Five years ago he had questioned it all. What was the meaning of life? When we died, was it just over? Was there a heaven or simply a long sleep? Why did his wife have to die so young?
But then he met Danielle Boatman, and everything changed. Danielle proved to him that death was simply a doorway into the next step of our voyage. Why his wife had to leave so soon, he still didn’t understand, but it was comforting to know—really know—that her death did not mean the end for her.
Meeting Danielle also meant he was not alone in regard to raising his sons. While his sister, Sissy, and her husband, Bruce, had always been there to help, as had his wife’s parents, who made a concerted effort to be a part of their grandsons’ lives—Danielle and her friends helped him understand and deal with Evan’s unique gift—a gift that his sister, grandparents and Eddy Jr. were not aware of. Evan, like Danielle, could see ghosts. Had it not been for them, Edward shuddered to think what might have been the fate of his youngest. Children who seemingly spoke to imaginary people often ended up labeled as mentally ill.
Now driving up Beach Drive, the chief pulled over to the sidewalk in front of Marlow House and parked his car. Evan looked up at his father and smiled.
“I understand Chris is buying pizza when you’re finished decorating,” MacDonald said as he turned off his ignition and unhooked his seatbelt.
“You going to stay?” Evan asked.
The chief shook his head. “Sorry. I have to get back to work and later pick up your brother from his scout meeting. Danielle said she would get you home.”
“I could spend the night,” Evan suggested with a hopeful grin.
The chief laughed and opened his car door. “What, you wouldn’t be scared spending the night in a haunted house?”
Evan shook his head. Still holding his wax vampire teeth, he fumbled with his seatbelt, unlatching it. “Nahh. I’m not scared of no ghost.”
With a grin Edward stepped out of the car and muttered, “No, you aren’t.”
After Edward walked Evan up to the front door of Marlow House and chatted for a few minutes with Danielle, he left his son to help finish decorating for the haunted house.
They put Evan in charge of spider detail, which meant he was to place plastic spiders in the spiderweb tunnel they had created in the living room. Walt stayed to help him reach the high spots.
In the kitchen Heather busily transformed the room into a witch’s workshop while Eva offered suggestions. The onetime silent screen star viewed the area as a movie set and enthusiastically threw herself into the project, which Heather found somewhat amusing.
In the downstairs bedroom Chris arranged the wooden casket he had brought over, Marie helping him move the heavy object. Before starting on the spiderweb tunnel, Evan had found the ghoulish box fascinating and had even climbed in for a moment, wanting to see what it felt like.
But now he was busy in the living room, and Danielle stood for a moment at the open bedroom doorway looking in. Hands on her hips, she shook her head.
“Seriously, Chris, don’t you feel a little guilty having a ninety-one-year-old woman move that thing?” Danielle teased.
Chris paused a moment and looked over to Danielle, flashing her his crooked grin. “No, not particularly.”
Marie laughed. “Death does have its perks.”
Danielle walked into the room and looked down at the casket. “Where did you get that thing, anyway?”
“I had Norman order it for me,” Chris said.
“Umm…what do you plan to do with it after Halloween?” Danielle asked.
“I figure if this goes well, you might want to make it an annual tradition,” Chris explained. “So next year you’ll already have the casket.”
Danielle groaned. “Certainly you aren’t going to leave it here?”
“Don’t worry, dear,” Marie said, now stretched out in the casket, trying it out. “I’ll move it to the basement for you.” To prove her point, the casket lifted into the air, Marie still inside. She giggled.
Danielle shook her head in amusement and walked into the entry hall. She made her way back to the living room to check on the progress of the spider tunnel. When she got there, she found Evan floating in the air and laughing as he placed plastic spiders up near the ceiling.
“Walt, what is he doing up there?” Danielle asked. “I thought you were going to put the spiders in the high places?”
“This is more fun,” Walt told her.
“Oh yeah!” Evan stretched out his arms, clutching a few plastic spiders in one hand. “I can fly!”
Danielle glanced to the window and noticed the shades were closed. At least he had the presence of mind to shut the front blinds, Danielle thought.
Later that afternoon, after the completion of the spiderweb tunnel, Walt reopened the blinds in the living room. The others returned to the room to discuss what kind of pizzas to order. Evan stood at the front window, looking outside and listening to the conversation, when he noticed a girl standing out on the sidewalk, looking up to the house.
“I bet she’s waiting for the haunted house to open,” Evan said, still looking out at the girl.
Chris glanced outside. “That’s my new neighbor.”
“She looks about your age,” Danielle said after looking out the window.
“You should go introduce yourself,” Walt suggested.
Evan shrugged and turned from the window and then plopped down on a chair. “She’s a girl.”
Chris chuckled and then rustled Evan’s hair good-naturedly. “Trust me, kid, that is not a bad thing.”
“You should go say hello,” Heather said. “Nothing worse than moving to a new neighborhood where you don’t know anyone.”
“Heather has a point,” Walt said.
“It would be the nice thing to do,” Marie chimed in.
Eva nodded. “Yes, it would.”
“Aw, come on, Evan. You have no problem hanging out with a couple of ghosts, climbing in a casket, and flying around the room, but you are afraid of a girl?” Chris teased.
Evan frowned. “I’m not afraid.”
Chris cocked a brow at the boy, silently challenging him.
Evan glanced over to the window for a moment and then let out a sigh. He stood up. “Okay, I’ll go say hello.”
“Hi,” Evan greeted her, walking down the front walkway toward the street.
Untidy blond curls fell to the girl’s shoulders, while large blue eyes looked questioning at Evan. She seemed startled at his greeting, and for a brief moment, it looked as if she was about to bolt. Instead, she blinked her eyes several times and asked, “Do you live here?” She looked back up at Marlow House briefly and then to Evan.
Evan shook his head. “No. My friends do. I’m helping them decorate for the haunted house.”
She nodded to the sign on the fence. “I just read that. A haunted house for Halloween?”
“Yes. It’s going to be really cool. Are you going to come?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Evan stepped out onto the sidewalk. “My name’s Evan MacDonald. My friend Chris said you moved into the house next door to him.” He pointed up the street toward Chris’s house.
“My name’s Ginny,” she told him.
Evan glanced over Ginny, noting the ragged dress she wore and oversized sweater. “Do you know what class you’re going to be in?”
She frowned. “Class?”
“At school.”
“I don’t know.” She dug her hands deep in her pockets. “My father always said it was a waste to send a girl to school.”
Evan looked confused. “Uhh…why is that?”
She shrugged. “But my father died. So I went to live with my aunt and uncle. I don’t think they were very happy about it.”
“Where’s your mother?” Evan asked.
She shrugged again. “She’s dead too.”
“Oh, I’m really sorry. My mom died too,” he explained.
Instead of commenting on Evan’s mother, she asked, “Do you like to climb trees?”
“Well, sure. Do you?” He frowned.
She nodded. “I like getting up really high in a tree—where no one can see me.”
“I didn’t know girls like to climb trees.”
Ginny flashed him a scowl. “Why wouldn’t a girl like to climb trees? That is just silly.”
“What else do you like to do?” he asked.
“I don’t really like playing with dolls,” she confessed. “I know some girls do, but I just don’t understand why. I’d rather play hide-and-seek or build a sand castle on the beach or climb a tree. Or go fishing.”
“You like to fish?”
“Yeah. Do you?”
Evan nodded.
She looked back up to the house. “I think I would like to go to the haunted house. It sounds like fun.”
“It doesn’t start until tomorrow,” Evan said.
“Oh.” She stuck her hands deep in her sweater pockets and looked around, as if trying to figure out what to say next.
Finally Evan asked, “What do you want to be for Halloween?”
Ginny studied Evan a minute and then said, “A ghost.”
Evan grinned. “That’s what I’m going to be. Danielle said she would help me make a ghost costume tomorrow. I’m going to work in the haunted house and be a ghost.”
“How do you make a ghost costume?” she asked.
“From an old sheet, of course,” he explained. “How are you going to make your costume?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I really haven’t thought about it. I’ve never dressed up for Halloween before.”
Evan’s eyes widened in surprise. “Never?”
Ginny shook her head.
“If you want, I bet Danielle would help you make a ghost costume when she helps me. And if your aunt and uncle will let you, you could help me at the haunted house. I’m going to be jumping out at people, wearing my costume. We could have two ghosts jumping out if you wanted to help.”
“You think she would let me?” Ginny asked excitedly.
He nodded. “Danielle is really nice. She and Walt own
Marlow House.”
“I heard Marlow House is really haunted,” Ginny whispered.
Evan nibbled his lower lip and glanced behind him at Marlow House. “Some people say that.”
“Have you ever seen a ghost there?” she asked in a whisper, her eyes wide in anticipation of his answer.
“Umm…” Evan shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” Ginny asked.
Seven
Danielle decided to run errands alone on Friday morning, leaving Walt at home to oversee the final touches for the haunted house. According to the online calendar Danielle had referenced, sunset would fall about six fifteen that evening, which was why they planned to open the haunted house at 7:00 p.m. The fundraiser would run through Halloween evening.
Her first stop was the police station to see Police Chief MacDonald. Her next stop would be the museum. They had been selling advance tickets, and she wanted to pick them up and deposit the money in the bank account she had set up for the event.
When Danielle arrived at the police station that morning, she found Officers Joe Morelli and Brian Henderson having coffee in the front waiting area.
“Morning, gentlemen,” Danielle greeted them cheerfully when she joined them.
“Morning, Danielle, you all ready for your haunted house?” Joe asked.
“Just about.” Danielle grinned.
“The chief tells us Evan has been helping you decorate,” Brian said.
Danielle nodded. “Yes, and both boys are going to be helping this weekend. It should be fun.”
“There is one nice thing about Halloween these days,” Brian said after taking a sip of coffee.
“What’s that?” Danielle asked.
“We don’t have to deal with Presley House anymore.”
Joe let out a gruff laugh. “You are right there. What a pain that used to be.”
“I almost got killed in that fire,” Danielle reminded them.
Brian shrugged. “But you didn’t. I’ve always said you’re like a cat. Land on your feet.”
The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt Page 4