Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (17 page)

I turned off the ignition and sat
there staring blankly into the darkness. A chill ran down my spine
letting me know something wasn't right. It was part of my psychic
sensitivities. Like a little bell chiming when danger was
near.

My cell rang. I fumbled around in my
huge bag, then finally yanked it out. Please let it be Callahan or
Mindy. Maybe Callahan had realized that I wasn't dating a hundred
guys. All right, how he'd realized that when I left a lame
explanation, I didn't know. But I digress. What if this was the
call to cancel our date? Dateless but not ghost-less. No, I’d stick
with the positive thought. Perhaps it was Mindy calling to tell me
she wasn’t spellbound by Cooper, or possessed by a demon, after
all.

“
I just wanted to check on
you,” Mark said when I answered.

My face probably sagged to the ground
from disappointment. I hoped he wasn’t calling with another
investigation right now. I had so much going on that I didn't have
time to help. Okay, I didn’t have anything really going on, but
with Karyn in the hospital, Mindy acting weird, and Callahan
possibly hating me, I didn’t want to leave Magnolia. Although, if
he needed me I knew I couldn't tell him no. After all, I’d taken my
date with me when Mark had called, for heaven's sake.

“
No investigation problems
then?” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“
No, nothing right now. It
seems as if you did the trick, although maybe it’s too soon to know
for sure. But as bad as things were, I don't think it’s a
coincidence that they ended when you came.” He paused. “I can’t
seem to get the investigation out of my head. A nagging sensation
in the back of my mind tells me that something is off. So I wanted
to warn you, or remind you rather, that maybe the spirits in the
house aren't as nice as we think they are. I know I said it before,
but I’ve just got this bad feeling, Larue. I can’t seem to shake
it. I couldn’t sleep last night for worrying about it. I think the
ghosts are still in the house.” He let out a deep breath.
“Remember, the devil can disguise itself as someone sweet and nice.
It’ll fool you.”

As I contemplated his words, I glanced
in my rearview mirror at Seth and Mae. They smiled. Then I looked
over at Anthony. He gave me a huge smile and winked. Hmmm. I
suppose it was possible, but I didn't think so. No, these spirits
were innocent—I felt it. Even if they did like to bicker and listen
to music too loud, I didn't think anything sinister was going on
with the spirits in my backseat. Was it? But the mysterious dark
shadow I’d been seeing was an entirely different story. I could
guarantee Mark the spirits were definitely not in the house
anymore.

“
I know you worry, but
you’ve just let this stuff get to you. Maybe you need to take a
little break.” There was no need to worry him with the dark shadow
business. I’d figure out what was going on and take care of it
myself. “I got rid of the spirits in the house, remember?” By
bringing them with me.

“
Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
He let out a deep breath.

I glanced around through the darkness
and moved closer to my front porch. “I know the spirits can follow
me home.” Did I ever know. No need to embarrass myself by telling
him the spirits were sitting in my car while we talked. I had a
professional image to uphold. “I feel everything’s all right. Don’t
worry about me, okay? I'll let you know if I have any problems.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.

“
Please do, Larue. You know
I'm here for you, just as you've always been there for me. I'll
help at the drop of a hat. Just say the word.”

“
You know I will.” Okay, I
was stubborn and wanted to take care of things on my own. “I'll
check in soon. Oh, and I hope the homeowners are happy with the
peace and quiet.”

“
Oh, they’re elated. They
can't thank you enough. Don't be surprised if you receive a fruit
basket in the near future.”

A fruit basket, huh? Get rid of
ghosts…get a fruit basket. Not bad.

“
I always did like those
orange candies they add into those baskets,” I said.

Mark laughed. “Me too. Anyway, I'll
see ya later.”

Anthony fake coughed from the
backseat. “Who was that?” he asked when I hung up.

“
Well, not that it’s any of
your business, but I guess you’re bored to death, and not just
nosy, huh? Get it? Bored to death.” I chuckled.

“
Please, don’t quit your
day job,” he retorted.

“
What? You don’t like my
jokes?” I grinned.

Silence from my ghost audience. Tough
crowd. I'd be bored too if all I had to do was follow some random
woman around all day long. I had my share of issues, but my life
was boring with a capital B.

“
Okay, if you must know, it
was the guy from the house you were haunting. The house where you
kept draining the batteries out of every electrical device? Turning
lights on and off, and opening and closing doors? Remember
harassing the homeowners? Or did you conveniently
forget?”

“
Hey, that wasn't me. That
was Mae.” He pointed over his shoulder.

“
Excuse me?” she asked. “It
was all your idea.”

“
Never mind,” I said. I
didn't need those two arguing. I had peace for the time being, and
I wanted to keep it that way. Mae and Seth could continue their
cozy little chat, ignoring Anthony.

Chapter Twenty-Six

As I stood on the little pathway that
led up to my porch, I stared at the house. That strange feeling had
grown stronger. Was it the dark shadow? Or maybe the person who’d
broken into Book Nook had found my house, too? All the rooms in the
house were covered in darkness. I wondered if I should really go in
there alone. Sure, I had ghosts with me, but they were ghosts. What
could they do? Scare the intruders, I guess, but that was about it.
I inched my way toward the house. It was quiet, no noise other than
a few crickets. I stepped onto the porch, pausing before finally
opening the door. I eased my purse onto the floor and put my cell
phone and car keys on the table next to the door.

After fumbling for the lamp, I flipped
on the switch, illuminating the area around the table with the dim
glow. There wasn’t enough light to see anything else. If something
was going to jump out at me, I wanted to see it coming, but if
someone was outside watching me, I didn't want to give them light
to see me. When I looked to my right, something seemed amiss. I
scanned the area.

When would the strange feeling go
away? The living room seemed off. As soon as that vibe hit me, I
noticed several books had fallen over on the shelf. Walking into
the room, I reached up and stacked them back into their correct
positions. When I turned around, my gaze immediately went to the
floor. A footprint was on the hardwood floor. Then I spotted more
prints…dirty footprints trailing across my floor. Some were partial
prints, and others the full footprint. Running back to the front
door, I looked down at the floor, but nothing was there. Where had
the prints come from, and was the person still in my
house?

“
Wow. This house gives me
the heebie-jeebies,” Mae said.

I flicked her a look of exasperation,
opened my mouth to speak, but closed it before saying anything. I
didn't know what to say. Whatever I might have said, it would have
sounded panicked, so I said nothing. I needed to hold on to an
ounce of professionalism in front of them.

“
We need to be quiet. Wait.
I need to be quiet. The person can’t hear you. Why am I talking out
loud still?” I asked, looking at the three of them.

“
This is not good.” Seth
leaned against the table and shook his head.

“
No, it's not. I'm going
back to the car and calling the police.” I grabbed the
doorknob.

“
Do you think it's safe to
stay outside in the car? Whoever did this may be outside waiting
for you.”

“
Well, whoever did it may
still be in the house, too,” I whispered. Of course, if they were
still in the house, by now they surely thought I was crazy for
talking to myself.

Maybe having the person think I was
nuts wasn’t a bad thing, then maybe they would leave me alone. I
didn't want to find out, though. I grabbed my keys and cell phone
and hurried back toward the car. I was in a state of panic. I
looked around, waiting for someone or something to step out from
the darkness and attack me. If this demon was going to do
something, I wish it would get it over with so I could banish the
sucker back to hell.

Demon footprints looked like animal
prints, not human, so who would break into my house? And why? Were
they looking for something? Were they looking for me? I swallowed
hard at the thought. I didn't know if they'd stolen anything from
my house or not. I hadn't noticed anything missing, but then I
hadn't moved much past the front door to notice. I punched in the
numbers on my cell phone as I moved toward my car. My hand shook as
I tried my best to shove the keys in the car door. Not an easy feat
while in a state of panic. Finally, I opened the door and jumped
in.

“
Nine-one-one. How may I
help you?”

“
Someone has broken into my
home.”

“
What's your
address?”

I gave the address and hunkered down
in the seat, waiting for the police. Maybe if someone or something
were around, they wouldn’t notice me. So much for my tough
paranormal investigator act, but if this was a real person, I
didn’t want to be an easy target.

Could Cooper break into my home and
Book Nook? His cousin was capable of doing the same type of evil
stunts, so surely he was, too. Dealing with the dead was so much
easier than dealing with the living. I prayed it didn't take the
police too long. I lived kind of far out of town. It would be
several minutes before they made it to my neck of the woods. I
would have to sit there in a panic for ten whole minutes or more.
That seemed like a long time in crime time. At least I had ghosts
to keep me company. What would I do without them? I didn’t even
have Mindy anymore. How sad. Maybe my ghost friends weren't so bad,
after all.

Time seemed to drag by. When I looked
at the green digits on my cell phone, it had actually only been
nine minutes, but instead seemed like an eternity. Seth and Mae
chitchatted in the backseat. She told him all about her days in
Hollywood, which was something I’d wanted to ask about since she
first came into my life, but I hadn’t found the time. All the
movies and glamour. It was so much fun to think about her
fascinating life. Of course, you know who sat in the passenger seat
with a huge grin on his face. He decided that now was the perfect
time to pay me more compliments. That record was getting old. But
talking with someone would make the time go faster and take my mind
off my problems, so...I let him talk.

I studied Anthony for a minute, then
said, “Tell me about yourself, Anthony. And don't talk about my
eyes, or my hair, or my skin. Let me know about you.”

Cooper, Mark, and Becky had all warned
me recently that demons could take on disguises. If Anthony were a
demon, I'd find out now, right? He couldn’t hide it much longer. A
demon couldn't come up with an entire history of a person’s life,
or could they?

“
Not much to tell.” He
shrugged his shoulders.

“
Oh, come on. Tell me what
you did when you were alive. I know nothing about you.”

“
Seriously, there's not a
lot to tell, really. I lived a boring life.” He looked straight
ahead. “I let it slip through my hands and now I'm stuck here. No
one could see me except for the ghosts until you came along. Now I
have hope once again.”

“
You know, you don't have
to stay here. You can move on. Go to the other world. Be with your
family. You did have family? Parents?”

“
Yes, I had parents. Two
brothers and a sister. Nieces and nephews. I watched my parents die
and a brother. The rest I visit from time to time, of course they
don't know I'm around. It's nice seeing the ones that are
alive.”

“
I’m sorry about your
parents and brother.” I paused. “If you move on, you can interact
with the ones that are gone. You can talk to your parents
again.”

He shook his head. “No, they’d just
tell me what a disappointment I was to them, like when they were
alive. I was never good enough. I didn't become a doctor like my
brother so, in their eyes, I was a disappointment.”

“
So what did you do? What
was the career that you chose that your parents didn't
like?”

“
I was a car salesman. They
hated that. They thought I’d have no money and no future. Maybe
they were right. I was drifting and alone when I died.”

“
I hope you don't mind me
asking, but how did you die?”

“
It was a car accident. Out
on Highway Twenty-Six. Another car crossed the centerline and hit
me head on. Apparently, I died instantly, so that’s a plus. At
least something went right for me, even if it did result in death.”
He shook his head. “That was such a long time ago.”

“
Things have changed a lot
since then, huh?”

“
Yes, they sure have. It
makes me sad in a way. The Fifties was a great time…a serene time
in my eyes. The thing that bothers me the most, though, is the
music. They don't make it good like that anymore. No Elvis. We lost
the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. No more Chuck Berry or Fats
Domino.”