by Rose Pressey
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, the woman walked to the right, going into the room where Brannon had just been. We hurried across the hallway to catch up with her. I had no idea what she would do if she saw us. Would she speak to us or just disappear? She looked so real that I couldn’t believe that she was a ghost. Brannon and I moved into the room, but she was nowhere in sight.
“I think she might be playing tricks on us,” I said breathlessly.
“If that’s the case then she’s winning,” Brannon said.
We continued through the house. The only sound came from the occasional squeak of the hardwood floor under our feet. Dark wood paneling and closed window blinds made it hard to see in the room. A door at the back of the space led into the kitchen area. Brannon and I rushed through to the kitchen. There was no sign of her there either, but another door in the kitchen might just be where we’d find her.
I motioned to Brannon that I would check there. He nodded. After tiptoeing over to the door and wrapping my hand around the knob, I slowly opened it to see if she was on the other side. No face popped out at me. Wood stairs led down into the almost pitch-dark space.
“Looks like it might be the basement,” I said. “Do we dare go down there?”
“It’s dark and creepy. Why don’t you let me go check it out?” Brannon said.
“I’d rather go with you. I don’t want to stay up here alone. This is the creepiest place I’ve ever been.”
Brannon moved down a couple steps and I followed, holding on to his back. Soon we’d reached the bottom of the dark and creepy space. A few boxes and old chairs sat around the space. Spider webs decorated the rafters like Halloween decorations. A musty smell lingered in the air. Without warning, the door leading upstairs slammed shut. Now we were in complete darkness.
I rushed out my hands, fumbling to make contact with Brannon. “Please tell me we are not stuck in this room.”
“Okay, don’t panic,” Brannon said.
He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. To my chagrin, I was several feet away from him. I rushed over and held on to his shirt. A sliver of light came from his phone, illuminating the space just enough to make it even scarier. I hadn’t thought that possible.
“Follow me,” Brannon said.
I clutched his shirt tightly as we moved up the steps to the door. Brannon twisted the knob, but nothing happened.
“Don’t tell me it’s locked.” I banged on the door. “Let us out of here.”
Had a ghost really locked us in here?
“Step back, Rip,” he said. “I’m going to push the door open.”
I moved down a couple of steps. Brannon used his body weight to push on the door with his shoulder. At first it didn’t budge, but the second time he pushed harder and burst open. He tumbled forward. I raced up the steps to help him. Plus, I also wanted to get out of there before the door shut again. Thank goodness we were out now. I just needed to get out of the house.
“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling down to him.
“Yeah, I’m all right,” Brannon said, rubbing his arm.
Brannon pushed to his feet. I slammed shut the door.
“Should we look for her more?” I asked, hoping he’d say no.
“We can check, but I don’t think she’ll show up again,” Brannon said.
I moved across the kitchen toward the door so that Brannon would follow. “We need to find out what exactly is going on here.”
Brannon and I checked the rest of downstairs of the house and saw no sign of the woman again. I grabbed Brannon’s hand and practically dragged him out onto the front porch. It felt as if I’d been holding my breath the whole time I’d been in there. That wasn’t the case, but it sure felt that way.
“I’ll call Nancy,” Brannon said, pulling out his phone.
After Brannon called Nancy, she was back at the house within five minutes.
“How did it go?” she asked.
I shook my head. “You were right about not wanting to go in there. That’s the scariest place I’ve ever been.”
“I told you,” she said.
“We’ll let you know if we have any evidence of what’s going on, but we did see something in there,” Brannon said.
Her eyes widened. “Oh no. What happened?”
Brannon briefly explained what had happened inside the house.
“I’m in shock,” she said. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Do you know any reason why that would happen in there?” Brannon asked.
“No, I don’t. But if I happen to think of anything I’ll let you know.” Nancy stared at the house as if it might reach out and grab her.
“Thank you,” Brannon said. “We appreciate you letting us see the place.”
After saying goodbye Brannon and I got in the car. Nancy hurried out of there too. I looked back at the house as we pulled away. For a brief moment I thought I saw a face in the window. When I blinked, it was gone.
“That was one crazy place. It’s no wonder that something like this has happened there. With all those items in one location, it’s like the perfect storm just waiting to happen.”
“We need to find out more information about what went on while she was running it as a museum. Would any of the items in there cause something like this to happen?” Brannon made a left turn at the light.
“Do you think the doppelgänger has anything to do with her murder?” I asked.
Brannon glanced over at me. “Well, they say if you see it then you die.”
That wasn’t what I had wanted to hear. Brannon headed back to Devil’s Moon. His words kept playing in my mind. “They say if you see it then you die.”
Chapter 15
As I sat in the kitchen eating my leftover turkey sandwich, I thought about what had happened earlier today. I wished that I had asked Nancy more questions. I’d lost my chance. I supposed I could drive all the way back there. But it would be much easier if I could just call. Sadly, I didn’t have her number.
I picked up my phone and did a quick search. Luckily, I found a number and I hoped it was the right one. What would Brannon say about my snooping around? Oh, well, he was used to it by now. After what we’d experienced at the museum, he probably wouldn’t like if I drove all the way back there by myself. But it wasn’t like I would actually go back in the museum. Well, maybe I wouldn’t go back inside. As scared as I had been, I had to admit I was a bit intrigued by the place too.
“Nancy? This is Ripley Van Raden,” I said. “We met earlier.”
“Yes, Ripley. Nice to hear from you so soon. How are you?” she asked. “Is everything all right? Is it about the museum?”
“Well, it’s just that I wanted to talk to you if you have the time. I realized that there were some questions I didn’t ask.”
I hoped she was willing to talk. I hadn’t thought about the fact that maybe she didn’t want to give me any more information. Though the fact that she had allowed us into the museum made me think she would be willing to discuss more.
“What would you like to know?” she asked.
“It would really help me a lot if you could tell me more about your friend,” I said.
“What kind of questions do you have about Meredith?” she asked with a bit of hesitation in her voice.
She seemed even more anxious than she had been earlier. Had she gone back into the museum? That was doubtful, since she said she would never go in there alone. Maybe something had followed her home.
“I suppose I wanted to know more about Meredith and why she came to Devil’s Moon? Was it just to look for antiques or was she looking for something else haunted?”
“Probably a bit of both. She was always on the lookout for either one. You do know she owned a house in Devil’s Moon, right?” Nancy asked.
“I had no idea.”
“Yes. I’m not sure about the exact address though.”
“Is there any way you can find out the information for me?” I asked.
<
br /> “I can certainly try,” she said.
“Do you know why she had this house?”
“She was always finding places that she thought were interesting. I suspect that was the case with this place.”
“So it was a historic home?” I asked.
“Yes, I know it was Victorian. Probably built sometime around the turn of the twentieth century,” she said.
“That’s when my house was built.”
“Oh, I don’t know much about Devil’s Moon,” she said. “Of course, her niece now has everything. She left her everything in the will.”
“What’s her niece’s name?” I asked.
“Stacy Tucker.”
“Do you know if she lives in Nashville?” I asked.
“I’m not sure where she is now, but yes, she did live here. I’ll see if I can find her number if you would like to talk to her.”
“That would be fantastic,” I said. “Anything we can do to try to find out who did this to your friend would be helpful.”
“I want to make sure that the person goes to prison for life. My friend didn’t deserve that. I just can’t understand why it happened.”
“I’m going to try my best to figure out why,” I said.
“I can’t thank you enough,” she said.
“Well, don’t thank me just yet—we haven’t figured it out, but I know we will.”
“What do you and Brannon think about the museum? I know you left in a hurry after what you saw.”
“I still haven’t decided what I think about it. I just feel like maybe there is some kind of connection between the murder and what I saw in the museum. I know that sounds crazy, but the paranormal can come through to this world and have a great effect on it.”
“I suppose I’ve never thought about it, but I guess it’s possible. I’ll call you as soon as I have Stacy’s number or if I think of anything else,” Nancy said.
“I appreciate that. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I supposed that had turned out to be a pretty good phone call. I’d received more information than I had anticipated. But that was the whole reason for the call. It sounded as if Meredith had come to Devil’s Moon looking for more items to display at the museum. Maybe that was the reason for collecting in the first place. I’d thought she had an interest in antiques, but it was really the haunted items.
Now I was interested in speaking with her niece, Stacy Tucker. If I wanted to gain information about the case, then I needed to speak to as many people as possible. Had the police already talked to Stacy Tucker? I would think so since she had inherited all her aunt’s belongings. People had been known to kill for that reason alone. I would know more after talking to her for sure. But it might be hard to track her down.
Nevertheless, I typed the name into my phone. I found nothing, unfortunately. I would have to try harder. Maybe I could do a search at the library and have better luck. At least now I was making progress and that made me feel better. I finished my sandwich and placed the plate in the sink.
I was just about to leave the kitchen when I got an alert on my phone. Nervousness set in every time that happened as I wondered if there was something bad. A shaky feeling rushed through my stomach as I opened the app to check the library’s cameras. Sure enough, there was something on the camera.
I almost dropped my phone when I saw it. Meredith. Now I was seeing her doppelgänger in the library. What was she doing there? Had she somehow followed us? Was she looking for me and had found the wrong location? Would she show up at my house next? That sent a shiver down my spine. Wait until Brannon saw this. I sent Brannon a text message and told him to look at the clip that I’d just sent. In the meantime, I had to get ready for bed.
Brannon and I agreed to do an investigation at the library in the morning before I started work. But for right now, I crawled under the covers and fell asleep pretty fast. After the long day, I was exhausted. What seemed like just a short time later, I woke up feeling someone pulling on the cover. I wasn’t sure what time it was or how long I had been asleep. It took a while for me to realize what was actually happening.
When I realized that someone was tugging on the cover, I jumped up and scooted back in the bed, looking around the room. That was when I realized I wasn’t alone. Both the doppelgängers were at the foot of my bed staring at me. The sight almost sucked the air right out of my lungs, making me speechless. It wasn’t as if I would have a conversation with them anyway. However, I wanted to ask them why they were here.
Nevertheless, I remained silent. My body shook as I stared at the spirits. After a few seconds, they walked over to the bedroom door and then floated right through it. I jumped out of bed and raced over to the door. I had to find out where they were going. With a shaky hand, I opened the door and peeked out the hallway. They maneuvered around the staircase and headed downstairs.
After a couple steps, they paused for just a moment and looked up at me. Was this an invitation to continue to follow them? I took it as that and I eased out into the hallway. Next, I moved down the steps, hurrying after them.
Peeking over the banister, I spotted them at the foot of the stairs now, moving into the hallway. I turned the corner and hurried down the steps to catch up. I had to be prepared to run in case they came after me. I couldn’t believe that I had followed them downstairs. Maybe I should’ve gone the other direction. Considering I’d been upstairs, that would have been hard. Maybe I could have hid inside the closet. I had to be brave.
They stood side by side in front of the door. I paused before reaching the bottom step. I didn’t want to get too close. They stared at me before finally moving their arms. In unison they pointed to the left. Were they trying to tell me something? How would I possibly decipher that message? Were they telling me to get out of the house?
“I live here,” I said. “What do you want?”
Of course, they didn’t answer. This was frustrating. They just continued to point in that direction. I moved a couple more steps down and peeked into the room. Nothing was in there. Nonetheless, I felt like they were definitely trying to give me a message. Even if they were only pointing. It was as if they had come in my bedroom to deliver the message, and maybe not in a bad way.
After a few more seconds, they turned and floated right through the front door. I stood there in shock for a moment, unable to move. I couldn’t believe what was happening. What would I do now? I raced into the living room and peeked out the front window. There was no sign of them. Had they just disappeared? Maybe they thought they I had gotten their message. That wasn’t the case though, because I still didn’t know what they wanted. I stood there for a moment, staring out the window, wondering if they would appear again.
Something else caught my eye. A car drove down the road slowly in front of my house. I recognized it right away. It was the one that I had seen earlier. The man who had asked for directions. Were the doppelgängers warning me about the man?
***
The next morning came and I’d had a hard time going to sleep. I’d messaged Brannon and told him what had happened. I kept waiting for the women to appear again. After the brief call with Brannon I’d dozed off again. When my phone rang, I recognized the number. Nancy was calling me back. Did she have the address? I picked up right away.
“I’m sorry to call you this early,” she said.
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I was just getting ready for work,” I said.
“I won’t take much of your time.”
I didn’t want to make her feel bad and let her know that she really had woken me, but I needed to get up anyway. Normally I wouldn’t have fallen asleep again, but the late-night paranormal activities had gotten me all out of whack.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“I told you I’d call back if I got any information,” she said.
“Oh, what did you find out?”
Good news would be a great way to start the morning.
“I have the address of that house
that Meredith owns in Devil’s Moon.”
“Oh, fantastic. What’s the address?” I asked.
When she told me the address I almost dropped the phone. I knew exactly where that house was because I’d been there before. It was Abigail’s place.
“I bet you know where it is since Devil’s Moon is a small town.”
“I know exactly where it is. Was Meredith renting the place to anyone?”
“Not that I’m aware of. The house was empty. Meredith had just finished doing some work to the house.”
Was Abigail a squatter?
“Did you know that someone is living there now?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “Who is living there?”
“Her name is Abigail Potter. Do you know her?”
“I’ve never heard the name,” she said. “That’s concerning. Maybe somebody just broke in Meredith’s house.”
“I’ll have Brannon look into it for you and I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you so much,” she said.
This had certainly been a busy twenty-four hours. I jumped out of bed so that I could dress and head over there right away. I wasn’t sure what I would do once I got there, but I had to find out what was going on with Abigail. Plus, I needed to tell Brannon too.
I tried to ignore the heavy feeling in my house. It lingered in the air like a heavy fog. I didn’t have time to deal with spirits here right now. Were the doppelgängers back again? I saw no sign of them. They would just have to wait if they wanted to give me another message. Actually, I was a bit shocked that they hadn’t returned yet. I halfway expected to see them outside in the hallway when I stepped out of the bedroom.
Chapter 16
I could have driven to Abigail’s house because it was faster, although I didn’t want her to see my car or hear me pull up. Therefore, I decided I might as well walk. That way I could sneak up. Sure, parking down the street was an option, but what if there was no place to park? I’d waste my time circling around forever looking for a spot. Plus, perhaps I would make a stop at the coffee shop after.