Spooky Hijinks (4 page)

Martha’s mouth was askew. “What? Oh, you’re just pulling my leg now.”

“Eleanor, I never did get the chance to tell my daughter how I can see ghosts now, and that there’s been one attached to me ever since that car accident I had.”

“Oh, like a Siamese twin.” Martha laughed with a snort. “Stop with your tall tales now. I have more important things to do, like sweep the steps off.”

“Go ahead, but I’m not making anything up. Good luck with your stay here. Guests don’t come to the lighthouse now, so you’re just doing repairs?”

“Painting mostly, and just keeping everything tidy. You should see the sunrises from the top. There’s only eighty-five steps to get up there.”

“I’m so not feeling up to climbing that many steps,” I said. “At least not today. I just came here to see if it was really true that you were here, working for a change. I mean
working
.”

“Actually, the lightkeeper program is not a job. I had to pay for the privilege.”

“She’s right. You have to pay them and submit a form before you’re approved,” Eleanor said.

“Oh, and where did you get your money from, Martha? You have barely worked since you’ve been here in town.”

“I’ll have you know that I sell jewelry online, and I bought space at just about every craft show and bazaar near here. My hippie jewelry sells like hotcakes.”

“Who’s making it, you?”

“I have a few people who help me. I’m not lazy. I just don’t like the constraints of working a real job with a boss and co-workers to deal with.”

“You did well selling real estate,” I reminded her.

“Yes, but the paperwork was killer. Besides, I’m more of a free spirit, and you know that.”

“One free bird that is caged for a week?”

Martha’s hands went to her hips. “Like you care. I had the idea that you much preferred me to stay out of your hair so you can investigate crimes.”

“I do, but actually, we have hit a dry spell. Not that it’s a bad thing,” I admitted.

Andrew folded his arms across his broad chest. “I wonder.”

“Honest injun” Eleanor said, her face animated.

Mr. Wilson shook his head with a scowl on his face. “Humph, that’s hard to believe,” he said with a crackle in his voice. “How about you, Andrew? Do you believe that line of malarkey?”

“Not any more than you do, Wilson. I know Agnes and Eleanor too well for that.”

I whisked aside a strand of my hair that had gotten in my eyes. “Believe what you want, Andrew, but I’m not here to talk about cases and such. I’m here to visit my daughter, Martha.”

I stared off behind Andrew at the ghostly apparition of the same woman I’d already seen, covering her mouth with a hand, a disembodied laugh echoing throughout the lighthouse. Eleanor’s face paled, and she bit a fist while Martha jumped toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Wh-What was that?”

I pushed Martha off me. “Please, you’re choking me. Th—”

“Th-That was a gh-ghost,” Mr. Wilson said, his knees knocking together as his entire body went to trembling. “I d-didn’t s-see it, but I-I heard it. Didn’t you, Martha?”

Martha’s bottom lip protruded. “I-I didn’t sign up for this, working all by myself in a haunted lighthouse.”

“Didn’t you hear the rumors about the lighthouse being haunted before you paid to stay here?” I asked.

“Yes, but I thought they were all made up.”

“You can’t make up a ghostly laugh like that,” Eleanor countered. “This place is haunted, all right. And as it happens, Agnes’s tag-along ghost is absent, like always. Caroline, where are you, anyway?”

Caroline surfaced through a wall, and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that we saw another ghost, and you weren’t here again.”

“I-I well, I, um, was busy back at the mansion.” She straightened her hat on her head. “It seems that Malcolm found out I brought Niles back with me from Nevada, and that just didn’t sit too well with him. So they’ve had a terrible fight, I’m afraid, and your guests were a little upset when picture frames began falling off the walls.”

“Who’s she talking to?” Martha asked Eleanor.

“Caroline. She’s the ghost your mother has attached to her most of the time.”

“I don’t see any ghost.”

“That’s because she doesn’t allow too many people to see her.”

“So they’re fighting and flying through walls?” I asked Caroline, trying not to get distracted by what Martha and Eleanor were talking about.

“You got it.”

“Run along, then, and calm them the heck down. We can’t have the guests asking for a refund.”

Caroline nodded and disappeared just as a woman glided down the steps, her hands on her hips. Apparently, the ghost of the lighthouse wasn’t ready to stay gone, just yet. “Who was that woman?” the ghost asked with her head held high.

“Caroline.”

“She had better not show up here again. This lighthouse belongs to me,” she said, and revealed a monstrous face now, with rows of jagged teeth, disappearing from sight.

I shuddered. “It wasn’t such a great idea to call Caroline here, Eleanor. The lighthouse ghost isn’t too happy about it.”

“Did she say that?” Eleanor asked.

“She said this lighthouse belongs to her.”

“Oh, my.” Martha shivered. “It’s so cold in here.” She exhaled, seeing her breath. “I’m making a call. There’s no way I’m staying here another moment.”

“Did you see any ghosts?” I asked, wanting to know if she had from the way she was acting.

“No, but I heard that horrible laughter,” Martha whispered. “I’m calling and telling Loretta Kirkpatrick that I’m not staying here for an entire week, not at a haunted lighthouse.”

“You can’t do that,” I said. “You signed a contract to stay for a week, and that’s just what you’ll do.”

“No, I’m not. I’m calling Loretta right now.”

Martha stomped up the steps, and we followed her to the lightkeeper’s quarters, where she was on the phone, blabbing to whoever was on the other end.

“This is nice,” Eleanor said as she sat down at the table. “I wouldn’t mind staying here for a week.”

“Except that you’d have to actually work, you mean?”

“Oh, I suppose I could push a paintbrush if I
had
to.”

“You’re not that much in shape, Eleanor, certainly not able enough to climb the eighty-five steps to the top of the lighthouse tower.”

“I don’t really need to go all the way up there, do I?”

“You’d have to dust and clean the windows, but I’d sure love to see the view from up there.” I turned around and saw that Andrew hadn’t joined us. “Even Andrew didn’t come up here, and he’s in better shape than us.”

“Oh, he probably didn’t want to leave Mr. Wilson all alone, since he can’t get up here with his walker. It’s not like Andrew wouldn’t be able to come up to the lightkeeper’s quarters. There aren’t eighty-five steps to get up here.”

Martha slammed down the phone. “Of all the nerve! Loretta told me I can’t leave until my week is up. Whatever am I going to do? I can’t be here all by myself. What if that ghost decides to get nasty and push me down the stairs?”

“I’m sure she won’t. I personally think she just wanted to let you know she was here is all.”

“Why now and not before?” Martha narrowed her eyes. “It’s all your fault, Mother. You’re some kind of ghost conjurer. You even brought that ghost of yours with you here, and it stirred up all kinds of trouble. Now that ghost, whoever she is, is madder than a wet hen.”

I chuckled at that. I couldn’t help it, but before I could say anything, Eleanor exclaimed, “Actually, we heard the disembodied laugh before Caroline showed up.”

“Oh, but wh-what did she look like?”

“I didn’t see her. Agnes, Martha wants to know—”

“I know,” I interjected. “I could hear Martha, you know. The ghost wore all white Victorian clothing. She wasn’t all that happy that Caroline was here, and she proclaimed that this lighthouse belongs to her.”

“Well, she can have it,” Martha said, sitting next to Eleanor. “Whatever am I going to do, now?”

“Who did you bring along with you to help, anyway?”

“Cliff Bradford, but he’s long gone now, and he won’t be coming back. He’s probably at his Aunt Elsie’s house.”

“Oh, as it happens, we’re going there for her card party tonight. We’ll be sure to ask him to come back to the lighthouse with you.”

“Can I come along with you? I mean, there’s no rule that says I have to be here all the time. This is the off-season, and I’m allowed to leave since there aren’t any tours this time of year.”

“Fine, but don’t you have work to do still?”

“I’m finished painting for the day. I just have to sweep off the stairs. Can you please wait for me?”

“Oh, why not, but we’ll be heading downstairs. I don’t want to leave Andrew and Mr. Wilson all alone down there.”

Martha nodded, and we carefully went back down to join the guys, but I did take a glance at the stairs that led to the top of the tower, wishing that I had nerve enough to go all the way up there. I sighed. Today was so not the day. I was awfully afraid of heights, but I wouldn’t let it stop me from going up there … another day. I’d love to see the view.

As we joined the men, Andrew said, “Oh, there you are. So what’s the verdict?”

“Martha is finishing up, and we’re going to wait until she’s done. She wants to come with us to Elsie’s card party. It seems that Elsie’s nephew Cliff was the one who was supposed to be with Martha for the duration of the week.”

“I imagine if she can get him to come back here and fulfill his commitment, she might just calm the heck down,” Eleanor said.

“Fine. This is going to be a real interesting card party with you two showing up when you weren’t invited, and Martha along for the ride,” Andrew said.

“I know, but hopefully, I can find out just why Elsie didn’t invite us firsthand. I’m also sore about not being part of the phone tree.”

Mr. Wilson just shook his head. “You know, I really like this old lighthouse.”

I was okay with the change of subject since I was more upset about being slighted by Elsie. “Oh, really? How so?”

“Did you know that there are two shipwrecks nearby?” Mr. Wilson said. “You used to be able to see both of them from up top of the lighthouse, but now the lake levels have risen, and you can’t.”

“That’s eighty-five treacherous steps,” I muttered. “But I’d really like to take a peek from up there.”

“Agnes Barton, you’re afraid of heights and get the shakes when you go up in an elevator if it’s over two floors,” Eleanor reminded me.

“Course, you could wade out to see them firsthand, but you can’t touch them or remove anything. The
May Queen
wrecked during a snowstorm in 1859 and
Table Rock
ran aground on a sandbar in 1872,” Mr. Wilson went on to say, as if Eleanor and I weren’t talking about something altogether different.

“I never knew that. I guess there’s more to the Tawas area than I thought. Too cold to wade out to look at shipwrecks in December, though,” I pointed out.

“Of course, this old lighthouse is the second one built. The first one was built in 1852 and had to be rebuilt since the winds caused a mile of sand between the lighthouse and the point.”

Who knew Mr. Wilson was such a Tawas area history buff? “Thanks, Wilson. That’s sure interesting.”

“This sure would be a nice place to get married, too,” Wilson replied nonchalantly.

I straightened up in a hurry, my neck cracking slightly. “What?”

“You heard him, Agnes. It’s about time we plan for our wedding on Christmas Day, don’t you think?” Andrew added.

“Funny,” I laughed nervously, “I-I thought we’d planned to get married on Valentine’s Day?”

“Enough stalling, old girl. Call it now, are we getting married on Christmas or not?” Andrew asked.

Eleanor ran to Mr. Wilson and gave him a tight hug. “I’m willing and ready, if you are, Wilson.”

Andrew gave me a look, and I felt faint. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry my Andrew ... it was just that I hadn’t thought about getting married ever again after my Tom passed away, all those years ago. I had only been forty at the time, but as I stared into Andrew’s honey eyes, how could I say no? I certainly had accepted his marriage proposal, so what did I really have to lose? I’d be giving up my privacy and space, but yet—

Chapter Three

“Are you okay, Agnes?” Eleanor asked me.

“You don’t have to marry me now if you don’t really want to,” Andrew said with a notable frown.

“S-Sorry. I want to.” Tears welled in my old eyes. “I really want to.”

“Honestly?” Andrew asked, his eyes hopeful, and yet still uncertain.

“Yes, really, really. I’d be the happiest woman on the planet and so honored that you’d choose me to be your wife, Andrew. I know this is going to sound so strange, but I’ve loved you for much longer than you’ll ever know. Back in Saginaw, when I worked for you as an investigator, back when you were so unavailable and quite married.” Happy tears trailed down my cheeks. I’d been holding all of these emotions in for so many years, and finally, at last, I wanted to shout to the world that I loved Andrew with everything in me.

Andrew nodded. “I wasn’t unaware that you felt that way, Agnes, but I was very happily married back then. I quite looked forward to seeing you at the office and drinking the coffee you made just for me, though … cinnamon something.” He smiled. “The day you walked away from me was the day I truly knew that my life would never be the same without you.”

Happy tears just wouldn’t stop now, and Andrew crushed me under his embrace, his lips seeking mine in the softest of kisses that had my heart and body soaring out of this old lighthouse. It reminded me what an out-of-body experience would feel like if that could happen, and this was only a kiss.

“Ahem,” Martha said. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, but are we ready to go or what?”

Andrew let me go, and I announced, “We’re getting married on Christmas Day. If we can find someone willing to do the ceremony, that is.”

“Knowing some of the pastors in town, I can well imagine someone would be happy to perform the ceremony,” Martha said with a wink, and she came over, crushing me with a hug now, too. “I’m so happy for you, Mother. Ever since Dad died, I hoped that one day you’d move on and give someone a chance to really love you like you deserve. I totally approve of this impending marriage is all I can say.”