Haunted House Ghost E-Book

James J. Cudney

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

It's Halloween, and excitement is brewing in Braxton.

While others carve jack-o'-lanterns, go on haunted hayrides, and race through the spooky corn maze at the Fall Festival, Kellan is moving into a mysterious old house. When a ruthless ghost promises retribution, our fearless professor turns to the eccentric town historian and an eerie psychic to investigate.

Meanwhile, construction workers discover a skeleton after breaking ground on the new Memorial Library wing. While Kellan and April dance around the chemistry sparking between them, a suspicious accident occurs at the Fall Festival.

As the true true history and dastardly connections of the Grey family come to light, can Kellan capture the elusive killer - and placate the revenge-seeking ghost?

Leseprobe

Haunted House Ghost

Braxton Campus Mystery Book 5

James J. Cudney

Copyright (C) 2019 James J. Cudney

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2019 by Next Chapter

Published 2019 by Next Chapter

Cover art by Cover Mint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is not an achievement an individual person can accomplish on his or her own. There are always people who contribute in a multitude of ways, sometimes unwittingly, throughout the journey from discovering the idea to drafting the last word. Haunted House Ghost: Death at the Fall Festival, the fifth book in the Braxton Campus Mysteries, has had many supporters since its inception in May 2019, but before the concept even sparked in my mind, others nurtured my passion for writing.

First thanks go to my parents, Jim and Pat, for always believing in me as a writer and teaching me how to become the person I am today. Their unconditional love and support have been the primary reason I'm accomplishing my goals. Through the guidance of my extended family and friends, who consistently encouraged me to pursue my passion, I found the confidence to take chances in life. With Winston and Baxter by my side, I was granted the opportunity to make my dreams of publishing this novel come true. I'm grateful to everyone for pushing me each day to complete this seventh book.

Haunted House Ghost was cultivated through the interaction, feedback, and input of several talented beta readers. I'd like to share a special call-out to Shalini for supplying insight and perspective during the development of the story, setting, and character arcs. I am indebted to her for countless conversations helping me to fine-tune every aspect of this tale. There were also several amazing members of the team who found most of my proofreading misses, grammar mistakes, and awkward phrases; I couldn't have completed this wonderful story without Laura, Lisa, Anne, Tyler, Nina, Anne, Valerie, and Misty. A major thanks to everyone for encouraging me to be stronger in my word choice and providing several pages of suggestions to convert good language into fantastic language. Any mistakes are my own from misunderstanding our discussions.

Much gratitude to all my friends and mentors at Moravian College. Although no murders have ever taken place there, the setting of this series is loosely based on my former multi-campus school set in Pennsylvania. Most of the locations are completely fabricated, but the concept of Millionaire's Mile exists. I only made up the name, grand estates, and cable car system.

Thank you to Next Chapter for publishing Haunted House Ghost and paving the road for more books to come. I look forward to our continued partnership.

Welcome to Braxton, Wharton County (Map drawn by Timothy J. R. Rains, Cartographer)

Who's Who in the Braxton Campus Mysteries?

Ayrwick Family

Kellan: Main Character, Braxton professor, amateur sleuthWesley: Kellan's father, Braxton's retired PresidentViolet: Kellan's mother, Braxton's Admissions DirectorEmma: Kellan's daughter with FrancescaHampton: Kellan's older brother, attorneyEleanor: Kellan's younger sister, owns Pick-Me-Up DinerGabriel: Kellan's younger brotherNana D: Kellan's grandmother, also known as Mayor Seraphina DanbyUlan Danby: Kellan's cousin, Nana D's grandsonFrancesca Castigliano: Kellan's estranged wife

Braxton Campus

Ursula Power: President, Myriam's wifeMyriam Castle: Chair of Communications Dept., Ursula's wifeMaggie Roarke: Head Librarian, dating ConnorHope Lawson: Braxton professor, Raelynn's daughter

Wharton County Residents

Elijah O'Malley: Catholic priest, Ian's brotherMinnie O'Malley: Elijah's sister-in-law, Ian's wifeIan O'Malley: Elijah's brother, Minnie's husbandJane O'Malley: Minnie's granddaughter, Emma's summer teacherLloyd Nickels: Belinda's brother, Calliope's fatherCalliope Nickels: Lloyd's daughter, Pick-Me-Up Diner waitressBelinda Nickels Grey: Hiram's former wife, Damien's stepmotherDamien Grey: Imogene's father, Hiram's eldest sonXavier Grey: Carla's father, Hiram's sonImogene Grey: Hiram's granddaughter, Lara's and Damien's daughterCarla Grey: Hiram's granddaughter, Xavier's daughterPrudence Grey: Hiram's first wife, Damien's birthmotherRaelynn Lawson: Hope's mother

Wharton County Administration

April Montague: Current sheriffAugie Montague: April's brotherConnor Hawkins: Detective, Kellan's best friend, dating MaggieBartleby Grosvalet: Former mayor, town historianHiram Grey: Wharton County MagistrateFinnigan Masters: AttorneyLara Bouvier: Reporter, Imogene's motherBrad Shope: ER nurseOfficer Flatman: Police officerManny Salvado: Pick-Me-Up Diner manager and chef, dating EleanorChip: Haunted Hayride apprenticeMadam Zenya: Psychic mediumNicky Endicott: Contractor

Chapter 1

Hunkering behind a weathered, illegible headstone in Wellington Cemetery's oldest and scariest graveyard, I remained silent and stationary amidst a slew of exhumed corpses. Though surrounded by tall, slender white pines, a gnarly and knotty willow tree's sweeping canopy of dying branches furtively brushed my neck. After an onslaught of howling winds furiously whipped my quivering skin, I peered over the loosened tomb marker and gawked at the mounds of freshly flung dirt. Why had a ruthless monster dug up so many coffins near the Grey mausoleum?

Skulking two rows away, the determined villain's soulless eyes glowed like burning coal. The chilling tone of St. Mary's somber church bells blasted—midnight's fortuitous arrival. Its ominous beckoning prompted my unsteady feet to falter, crunching a pile of decaying leaves and foolishly revealing my secret location. Suddenly enshrouded in fog and hovering near the nameless gravestone, the rogue's flowing black and gray robes resembled billowing smoke from an overworked chimney. “I hear you breathing, Ayrwick. Come out, come out wherever you are. I'm not finished with this game.”

“I don't know who you are, but your obsession with me has spiraled out of control.” As an aloof moon cast an eerie luminosity, I cursed my new modern, sporty aviator eyeglasses for clouding over. Apparition or figment of an overwrought imagination, I couldn't be certain; nor did I care at that moment. “You can't be real. My mind is playing tricks on me.”

The ethereal bogeyman glided inches above the churchyard's hallowed ground. The soles of its feet would vaporize upon stepping in the sacred dirt of the meandering pathways. “Are you ready to die?” the menacing, shrill voice taunted while hunting and cornering me in the darkness of my desolate hiding spot—the cold, melancholy resonance frightening all the bats, owls, and other nightlife creatures into hurried seclusion. The masked phantom narrowed a sinister gaze and brandished a mammoth-sized, razor-sharp scythe that cut swiftly through the crisp air and aimed with precision for my neck.

My arms floundered like gelatin as I struggled to push the heavy cement slab to the ground, then jumped feet first into a vacant grave with my hands and arms protecting my soon-to-be decapitated head. The stealthy tormentor cackled wildly and seized my forearm with an uncannily strong and bony grip, delivering a blast of pure ice that raced through my veins and barreled toward my erratically beating heart. My body froze as though a glacier engulfed and preserved me for all eternity.

It was then I heard myself bellow like a rabid coyote, feverishly rolling off the uncomfortable couch toward the wooden floor in the house I'd recently renovated. My petrified body trembled uncontrollably and sweated profusely. Only a nightmare, I reminded myself while rubbing sand from my weary eyes and concentrating on the conspicuously soundless room. Ever since undertaking the massive remodel, a recurring dream about a creepy grim reaper's intent to kill me had reared its ugly head.

The vacuous, gloomy memory of the previous night had mercifully disappeared. Hopeful rays of sunshine blasted through the living room's new bay windows and moored on the precipice of the foyer. Sparkling collections of construction dust and a pungent combination of mothballs and musty old clothes abruptly materialized in the stifled air. When a light breeze curiously swept across my startled skin, the hair on the back of my neck tingled. A willowy shadow lingered in the adjacent central hallway, confirming someone hid inside my home.

I blinked at what was hopefully a mirage, then startled again. An eerie squeak and pervasive thump echoed in the rafters of the foyer's vaulted ceiling. Had one of the nearby heavy wooden doors just opened and closed? I leapt to my feet and rushed through the hallway to catch the troublesome lurker, but the basement ingress was as permanently sealed as it'd been on my first tour of Judge Hiram Grey's former abode. For a multitude of reasons, we still hadn't located the key to the sub-level of my newly acquired, antiquated, and historic home.

The nightmare I'd just awoken from must've incited me to imagine the whole series of events. No one lurked inside the house, which unnerved me far worse than the half-dozen times someone had surreptitiously followed me to the new neighborhood. It was as if a stalker tracked my every move, always two steps behind me in the shadows yet never in clear sight. I never asked for this.

Three months ago, my impulsive uncle begged Nana D to raise his fifteen-year-old son, Ulan, for the foreseeable future. Uncle Zach had extended his year-long expedition to protect an African elephant species nearing extinction, but my grandmother was too preoccupied with winning Wharton County's mayoral election to acquiesce to his request. As an alternative solution, without my consent, they'd designated me Ulan's temporary guardian. This would force me to vacate the small cottage at Danby Landing, Nana D's organic orchard and farm, where my daughter Emma and I lived.

Due to my snarky yet generous grandmother's aid over the summer, I'd bought The Old Grey Place and partnered with a contractor to address the most crucial repairs and optimal redesign options. Residing on a two-acre lot, the charming Victorian home offered excellent bones but had been left in disrepair for far too long. A central hallway divided the dilapidated dwelling in half, with an imposing flight of steps leading upstairs and a basement door whose contents would apparently be a future surprise. Two large rooms anchored the left side, and two more of equal size flagged the right. The home's original owner had spread all the quarters requiring plumbing across the rear of the house, connecting them via a circular mudroom that presented exits to a detached three-car garage and well-proportioned yet overrun backyard.

Luckily, because of the condition of The Old Grey Place and lack of any other interest, we'd brokered an impressive deal; otherwise, I couldn't have afforded it. Throughout the last month, we implemented a major facelift to the first floor to ensure a short-term, livable place to call home—three temporary bedrooms, a functional bathroom, makeshift kitchen, and comfortable living room. Since I hadn't yet moved in my furniture, the grand relocation would occur next weekend. Over the forthcoming months, extensive renovations on the second floor would build modern bedrooms, a private home office with state-of-the-art filmmaking technology, and a traditional formal library.

Nana D had volunteered to let Ulan and Emma sleep at her farmhouse the previous night, enabling me to tick off an entire page on the extensive to-do list gnawing at my sanity inch by inch. I'd stayed behind to paint all the remaining bedrooms, then crashed on an old couch in my provisional living room. While I wasn't as skilled in carpentry as my younger brother Gabriel, I insisted that I could roll a brush on the walls with the best of them. Other than the tight schedule, my most terrifying concern was identifying the mischievous devil who'd snuck in and out of the house when no one else was around, attempting to frighten us with childish pranks. Thankfully, the shenanigans amounted to nothing more than harmless inconvenience.

Shaking the distress off my dampened body, I searched for my cell phone. It was nine in the morning, and a critical town meeting required my humble presence on what should've been a relaxing Saturday. After a text demanding status on my progress, Nana D informed me that Ulan was studying for his upcoming history exam on the Salem witch trials and Emma was helping to prepare brunch.

My mother verified she was en route to chauffeur me to our planning meeting for Wharton County's annual Fall Festival. I say our because Nana D had announced to the entire population in her first Notes from the Mayor newsletter that my mother and I would chair the much-anticipated autumn spectacular. Again, she achieved this task sans any input or agreement from us beforehand. With only days under her belt as the county's new mayor at the time of the proclamation, we couldn't exactly decline Little Napoleon's flattering nomination. My barely five-foot-tall spitfire nana, known as Mayor Seraphina Danby to everyone else, had energetically earned the nickname after seeking control over every majestic or infinitesimal item within our north-central Pennsylvania county's jurisdiction.

I located my overnight bag and fled to the bathroom to determine the extent of the damage. Noticeable splatters of red paint marbled my wavy dirty-blond hair and narrow forehead, reminiscent of pig's blood dripping on Carrie's unsuspecting body at the prom in the infamous Stephen King thriller. A piece of masking tape awkwardly clung to the side of my face, hiding one half of my normally well-defined, high cheekbones and irresistible, roguish dimples. I screeched as several facial hairs adhered to the tape like ants on a sugar cube when I tore it off in one rapid, painful motion. “Ouch! How the devil did that get there?”

From my sleepy and distraught body, I stripped off a pair of worn low-rise jeans, snug striped boxer briefs, and my favorite hunter-green t-shirt emblazoned with a sarcastic quote I always preached: I'm not done recovering from perfection. Though painstaking, last month's workouts had generously chiseled out the flawless V-shape I'd sought; and if I kept at it, those six-pack abs would become a respectable eight-pack again. Staying in shape was important to me, and not just because I was a mite vain like my mother. I also wanted to live forever like Nana D.

A quick shower scrubbed off the stains and the embarrassment over my foolish appearance, enabling me to greet my mother in the driveway. She sprung for what turned out to be the most fantastic three-bean blend of morning joe that either of us had ever tasted. She also gallantly whisked us off to the downtown civic center to verify the Fall Festival was in tip-top shape. Several arguments and compromises—concerning the overly ridiculous rules for the haunted hayrides and jack-o'-lantern carving contests—detained us longer than expected. After relenting to an exceedingly caustic fellow team member and addressing a budget deficiency, we hightailed it to Danby Landing for brunch.

“I'll bet Nana D is baking a traditional apple pie, complete with a crispy lattice crust and gooey cinnamon sugar filling. Impeccably uniform slices, no misshapen fruit chunks either,” I repeated for the third time, salivating on par with Baxter, my daughter's always-hungry and constantly-begging-for-food six-month-old puppy. “The loser pays for lunch next week. That is, you'll be buying me an enormous, expensive meal, Mom. And we're heading off campus this time.” I laughed raucously, praying Violet Ayrwick didn't accidentally steer us into a ditch on the drive home.

“You're on, Kellan. I know your grandmother better than you do. When the weather cools down, she always ushers in autumn with a caramel and chocolate pecan pie.” My mother brushed a clump of flyaway auburn hair from her eyes so she could see the road. A torrential thunderstorm had swept through Braxton the night before, littering the slick blacktop with dangerous wet leaves and branches. A fine mist still sprinkled from the clouds, carrying an earthy scent and foreshadowing my glib future.

“I love you to pieces, but you're wrong.” I rolled my piercing baby-blue eyes—at least that's what others frequently deemed them—shook my head emphatically and raced into Nana D's main farmhouse. Only two weeks shy of my thirty-third birthday and with the well-primed body of an avid runner, I'd easily beat my enthusiastic mother into the kitchen to certify my pie-guessing talent.

“I gave you life. I can take it away, my son,” she melodramatically and affectionately chastised while clambering up the path in five-inch pink pumps. Despite sinking a heel in a puddle of thick gray mud and flopping around like a drunken, one-legged pelican, she trailed behind by only seconds.

As a tried-and-true gentleman, I waited on the classically decorated rustic porch and held the fake-spider-covered door for her. Nana D had gone all out with cinnamon and pinecone aromas. I might hold a penchant for teasing my mother, but she was entirely too special not to demonstrate the loving respect she deserved. Wispy bales of yellow-brown straw and overgrown green and orange gourds adorned both sides of the entryway. “Hey, look, it's The Hampster,” I quipped, showing one of the oddly shaped, ridged, and warty freaks of nature to my mother. She cast a disapproving glower in my direction over the wisecrack about my older brother Hampton, who'd just moved back to Braxton. Don't ask how he earned that nickname. As if it weren't obvious, I tended to be a tad sarcastic, but only in a clever way.

Several wooden barrels, strategically bursting with hearty goldenrod, burgundy, and burnt umber mums, dazzled our eyes as we strolled into the farmhouse. My seven-year-old daughter, dressed in a silk cape and wearing plastic vampire teeth, soared into the living room to greet us. Long, curly dark hair framed her slightly chubby cheeks and bounced feverishly on her shoulders. “I've been baking up a storm all morning, Daddy. Nana D insisted we couldn't eat brunch until we finished the pies.” Although my height had reached an unimpressive five-nine, not considered remarkably tall by any measure, Emma would surpass me. Her mother's family, easily cast as giants by most normal-sized folk, had blessed her with the imposing stature. “Monster Mash” blasted through the background speakers.

“Tell me, sweetheart. What kind of pies are you treating us to today?” After kissing Emma's cheek, I turned to my mother. “You're so going down.” I giggled like an immature teenager and rushed into the kitchen, dragging Emma at my side despite my nose suggesting a loss in the latest wager. Given my commitment to round-the-clock renovations, I'd recklessly forgotten Nana's true autumn welcome. At least I had an excuse; my defenseless mother had racked up way more years of experience than me.

“Everyone knows Nana D bakes a pumpkin pie this weekend, silly,” Emma cooed, kneeling in front of the oven and grinning widely at a golden, bubbling concoction that oozed with deliciousness.

My mother sighed loudly, then impatiently snatched a knife and scurried toward the opposite counter, where two steaming dishes cooled on wire racks. “I guess we both lost, huh?”

“Don't touch those pumpkin pies, Violet. You might be over fifty—” Nana D headily warned but was speedily silenced before revealing my mother's true age.

“You better put a lid on it, Mom, or I'll convince Dr. Betscha to sedate you for your own good. Don't you dare say how old I am in front of those two.” My mother flashed a wicked smile, then flicked a hand in Emma's and my direction. “They'll tell the rest of the family, and you'll be in big trouble.”

Nana D tapped her foot and scowled. “If you do that, I'll ask the hooligan running the festival's spooky corn maze to lock you in that coffin he installed near the north pumpkin patch.”

“Grab some popcorn, Emma. We're about to watch a hilarious show.” Waffling over which diva would win today's sparring match, I rubbed my hands together as if I were starting a fire from kindling. An intoxicating and picture-perfect cranberry, apple, and chestnut salad tantalized me as Emma now whirled a lazy Susan on the table like a pro. Would the ghost stop haunting me if we shared our food?

Baxter flew through the doggie door with a half-eaten purple aster, breaking the tension and altering the tone of the slapstick conversation. Emma locked our black-and-tan shiba in his crate when Nana D yelled about him pawing at her freshly baked desserts. “He's ruined my poor flower garden.”

“Saved again by the adorable family pet,” my mother gloated, dropping the knife and tracing a thumb across a perfectly set pumpkin pie. “Delicious, but none for you,” she whispered behind Nana D's back, after licking her finger clean.

“I guess I'll bake a fresh batch for Father Elijah,” Nana D asserted, her eyes pointedly staring at my mother's reflection in the upper cabinet's glass pane. Foiled again. “I planned on delivering them after Mass, but you'll need to bring new ones when you arrange Emma's First Communion lessons.”

My parents would accompany me next week to our local parish priest to prepare for Emma's enrollment in religious classes and official rite of passage into the church. Although she'd been baptized as a baby, this was the first time she'd receive the Eucharist. While I didn't want to force my beliefs on Emma, most of our family was Catholic, so I would raise her in the same regard. Once she was old enough to decide for herself, we could explore alternative options.

“Where's Ulan?” I checked all the nooks and crannies inside Nana D's retro-style den, but he wasn't around. The kid had a habit of easily camouflaging himself with his surroundings.

“I dropped him off at the library an hour ago to study.” Nana D indicated I should collect him at six that evening. “The vanishing magician is escaping from his shell.”

Ulan had lived with me for two months yet was still tremendously shy. I'd encouraged him to join the high school's social clubs, but he preferred his own ideas. Uncle Zach had verified cocooning was normal behavior for Ulan, so I contained my worries. “Thanks. He'll be glad to have his own room soon.”

Emma clapped repeatedly. “I can't wait to move in. Ulan promised to build a treehouse with me the first week. He's gonna show me what it's like to live in the jungle.”

My father, who'd engineered an out-of-town weekend fishing trip with buddies, wouldn't join us for brunch. Eleanor, my younger sister, was partnering with Manny, whom she'd promoted as the manager of the Pick-Me-Up Diner, to train their latest chef. Our brother Gabriel was visiting his boyfriend for an extended getaway. After six months together, Sam had enrolled in a Dallas graduate school, torturing them with the complications of a long-distance relationship.

My mother scooped a heap of aromatic fruit salad into one of Nana D's cherished Halloween-patterned dishes—orange-glazed china with floating white ghouls—then passed the serving bowl to me. “I didn't scope out your new place this morning, Kellan. Are you leaving those ghoulish turrets in place? If it were my house, I'd focus on fixing that exterior, so it doesn't resemble a scary monstrosity.”

“I suppose,” I replied wryly, ignoring her accidental insult. Should I mention the weird, unnerving incidents the contractors had witnessed? I'd given little credence to their jokes about tools moving around while no one was home, but after my latest disturbing dream and the supernatural presence this morning, I second-guessed my decision. “Nicky Endicott offered me a good deal on the price of the reno, and he's been handling most of the work. They even hired extra guys this week to complete the initial phase on schedule.”

“Are you still worried it's haunted by ghosts?” Nana D drizzled syrup on her voluminous stack of fluffy pancakes—I suddenly recalled that everything was pumpkin-flavored for her in October—and ravenously swallowed a forkful. Between her tiny button nose and the lengthy, henna-rinsed braid she'd soon trip over, Nana D was an undeniably humorous vision. When she put on her tailored green twill suit, I'd call her my lucky charm. It usually resulted in a painful pinch on the underside of my arm, but the utter shock and frustration on her face was worth the temporary discomfort.

“There's no such thing as ghosts,” Emma stated with the assurance of a much wiser girl. When raspberry jelly unexpectedly dripped to her chin, she snorted. “It's just magic fairies.”

“Whatever it is, I don't like it. Nicky separately chatted with the new workers this week. The crew claims someone in a white lace gown was floating on the second floor when they arrived to begin construction.” I'd thought at the time they must've drunk too much the night before, but after my own frightening and hair-raising experience, a cavernous dollop of fear stirred inexorably.

“What else happened? Maybe Eleanor can solve this hocus pocus nonsense.” My mother, already stuffed from a nonfat yogurt parfait and the miniscule morsel of pie filling she'd snuck earlier, aimlessly pushed fruit around her plate. No pancakes for her, mostly since her vanity echoed that of the queen from Snow White. Despite being ten years younger than my father and looking at least ten years younger than her true age, she constantly fretted about her weight and fading youth.

“Tools moved when no one was in the room. A minor overnight flood when Nicky supposedly turned off the water. Scratching noises inside the walls.” I swallowed the remaining food on my plate and pushed back my chair with a flourish. I wanted to unhook my belt to gain some breathing room but refused to admit defeat. I'd increase my upcoming workouts to counter the impulsive overeating. The stress of construction delays was wearing me down. “Eleanor threw angelica root around the house and volunteered to sing a freakish chant about poltergeists. She claims it'll protect me against evil spirits.”

“I'm confident your prankster is the ghost of Prudence Grey. We're approaching the fiftieth anniversary of her disappearance. She lived there with Hiram and is probably rolling in her grave, seething that he sold it.” Nana D unexpectedly shivered with excitement, then directed Emma to check on Baxter. “Little ears shouldn't hear what I'm about to tell you.”

“Don't even think about embellishing the story, Mom. We've heard you complain interminably about Hiram Grey's past.” My mother was adamant about controlling Nana D's gossipy nature. Though often careful with her words, someday, loose lips would bite Nana D in the you-know-where.

“Pish! Last time, I only told Kellan that Prudence disappeared. The truth would've scared him from buying the house, despite Ulan's imminent arrival in Pennsylvania.” Nana D smiled sanctimoniously as she shared the troubled history of the infamous Greys.

Prudence was Hiram's first wife. Hiram, four years older, had just finished his senior year at Braxton College and enrolled in law school, obsessed with becoming a judge. Although Prudence had once been a stunning ingénue, she entered a rough period after giving birth to their son, Damien, and surviving independently while Hiram focused on his studies. Her parents had also died in a tragic accident, leaving her an emotional wreck. No one realized she'd suffered from postpartum depression.

“On Halloween in 1968, a gigantic organized protest against the Vietnam War erupted on campus. Everyone, professors and students alike, participated. Some were for it, others against it. It was a difficult time,” Nana D explained while scraping our plates into the trash compactor. “Hiram insists he'd left Prudence at home with Damien because he had to attend a vital class, but the professor recorded him as absent that day. When a bunch of students turned violent, the protest escalated, and the college library caught fire.”

Construction of a new wing on the building had been in process. Workers had finished early and already left the site. The protest was most volatile directly outside the oldest part of the library, but the Chief of the Fire Department was never sure how the blaze had started. Multiple people had witnessed Prudence enter the library during the demonstration, yet they never saw her exit.

“Your father was there, Kellan. He was only a teenager but remembers all the commotion. It was awful, and although no one actually died,” my mother began, casting a warning glance at Nana D, “it caused widespread damage and delayed the library's renovation plans. By the time everything sorted itself out, the temperature had grown too frigid to break ground again.”

“What does this have to do with Prudence Grey haunting my new house?” I sighed, unable to decipher the connection between the two events. Time to further reel in the busybody yentas.

“Patience, brilliant one. I'm getting there,” Nana D rebuked, waggling a finger in my direction. “Prudence vanished. Hiram never spoke with her after he'd left the house that morning. The last place he saw his wife was allegedly carting a box into your basement. She loved that home so much… at least she's not stuck haunting someone else.” Nana D wearily glanced downward, fanning herself.

“It's possible that Prudence got trapped in the library and died in the fire. The winds were gusty that day and made the whole tragedy hard to contain. The firemen checked as soon as the opportunity presented itself but never found a body. All hearsay, since I was hardly out of diapers,” my mother added with a wink, eyeing the second round of fragrant pumpkin pies Nana D retrieved from the oven.

“Hiram claims Prudence suffered from a severe depression that prevented her from being a proper mother to Damien.” Nana D grew lost in the heartbreaking tale, eyes deep with remorse and regret. “I didn't know her well, but Prudence was an innocent young lady before she'd married that fool and suffered his folly. Men suck. Don't they, Violet, dear?”

“I'm not sure I understand. What precisely are you suggesting happened to Prudence? Is she buried under the library and moonlighting as a vengeful spirit in my new digs?”

“That's the fifty-year-old mystery. Hiram moved out the next day and into the Grey estate with his family. No one's ever heard from Prudence since then, and everyone who's dared to live there flees within a week after complaining about peculiar noises and unexplained apparitions.”

“Didn't you think to tell me that part before I bought the place?” I shot an emphatic gander of frustration and shock at my nana for her borderline treachery. Exhaustion had made me irritable.

Upon finishing her coffee, my mother placed the cup and saucer in the sink. “I don't believe in all that hooey phooey. Hiram waited the necessary time to declare her legally dead, then he remarried. For all intents and purposes, Prudence is long gone. You shouldn't worry.”

“But you think she's haunting me because I bought her house?” I growled at Nana D.

“I assume Hiram got away with killing her. Prudence's spirit must be restless, stuck inside the last place she lived before dying so dreadfully. I doubt she'll hurt you,” Nana D suggested impishly while patting my hand. “Just be considerate of sharing her space, and I'm sure it'll turn out fine.”

My mother tut-tutted. “Hiram can be ruthless, but no one suspects the judge of murder.”

Were they for real? At the very least, I deserved to know this tidbit of history before Nana D had convinced me to buy the place. My mind theorized outlandish scenarios about what could've happened to Prudence Grey. I'd been known to investigate suspicious deaths ever since moving home to Braxton earlier that year, but I had zero time to explore a fifty-year-old cold case.

“How'd the Fall Festival meeting go?” Nana D interrupted, her brow wrinkled and mouth hanging slightly open, ardently waiting for a response.

“Belinda Grey was obstinate and ferocious. I think you underestimated how angry she'd be when you declared us the head of the planning committee.” My mother ruffled through her gargantuan purse for the car keys. Did she hide an entire cornucopia of useless clutter in there?

“Belinda was derogatory all morning long.” I recalled how Hiram Grey's second wife had also refused to congratulate us on securing Madam Zenya as the upcoming spectacular's resident psychic.

“Hiram and Belinda Grey were perfect for each other. I could tell you stories about that churlish woman. Too bad that cantankerous old judge feels the need to find a new spouse every few years. Five sons with six wives makes him a menace to society.” Nana D reminded us that our local magistrate was a modern-day Henry VIII, only instead of beheading his wives, he compelled them to disappear. “Some were probably murdered like Prudence. He tortured the others until each caved in to escape his tyranny.” She chuckled aloud, then lifted her old-fashioned, canary-yellow phone from the wall.

“He just divorced number six last year, right?” my mother nonchalantly questioned.

Nana D counted the judge's wives by using the fingers on one hand, running out of digits after the fifth. “Yup. They seem to get younger each time. Now, skedaddle. I've got calls to make.”

Once my mother left, Emma, Baxter, and I visited our new house. Although it was the weekend, Nicky had paid his team overtime to tile the bathroom and install the kitchen plumbing. I parked the car and suggested Emma lead Baxter into the enclosed side yard to play fetch. A bulky, hairy spider had woven a fresh maze of silky webs across the front porch, swaying in the gentle breeze from my hasty approach. It cautiously sat in the center and bundled its most recent prey in a sticky clump of white threads, staring and mocking me to swat it, if I dared. As soon as I ducked and strode through the door, Nicky anxiously approached me with his grease-stained palm glued to his forehead.

“Kellan, I've called for hours. Didn't you get my messages?” Exasperation clung to the young contractor's words. His awkward body language denoted something disastrous had occurred.

Grabbing the phone from my pocket, I realized I had accidentally turned it off. “No, I'm sorry. What's going on? Is there an issue with construction?”

Nicky repeatedly shook his head and pursed his tense, thin lips. “No, you better see this for yourself. Follow me.” While dragging me through the main hallway toward the basement entrance, my impassioned contractor agitatedly explained how he and his crew had shown up at ten o'clock. “We let ourselves in using the only key to the front door. Look at what awaited us.”

My heart immediately raced like a bustling train as I absorbed the pungent scent of shock hovering stiffly in the room. In the same red paint I'd rolled on the walls in Ulan's bedroom, someone had written a scraggly message on the locked basement door.

Stay away or suffer a gruesome death!

Chapter 2

“Obviously, it's retribution for something terrible you did,” Eleanor teased, running both hands through her curly, dirty-blonde hair. A fulsome sage and rosemary aroma wafted from the kitchen into the Pick-Me-Up Diner's tiny back office, enticing my desire for upcoming feasts of roasted turkey and homemade gravy. “The ghost of Prudence Grey returned from the Great Beyond to teach you a valuable lesson.”

“I have always been an angel,” I reminded my sister, confident there was nothing in my past to account for the alarming warning message on my basement door. “Didn't I protect you in school? I never tortured you like Hampton and Penelope.” As the oldest of the five Ayrwick siblings, they'd barraged the rest of us at every spare moment. I was the middle child, then Eleanor, and lastly Gabriel, the baby of the family. We were all about two years apart, despite it feeling like so much more when we were children. “Stop trying to make me believe your nutty superstitions about reincarnation.”

“Not a previous life. You pissed off someone in this life. If Prudence died under mysterious circumstances, she might be trapped between worlds and taking it out on you.” Using both palms, Eleanor flattened the pockets of her pants, so they'd stop accentuating her rounded hips. While she'd become more comfortable with her body lately, instinct often kicked in and made her hyper-focused on certain traits. Ever since she'd started dating again, I noticed the minor changes or reversions to past behaviors: additional makeup, frequent trips to the beauty salon, and an obvious cheerier disposition.

“So, you think she's bored and getting out her jollies on me? How do I make the woman flitter away?” I'd temporarily entertained my sister's foolish notions. A curious part of me recognized weird and inexplicable things happened periodically. Whether they traced back to alien visitation, paranormal obscurities, or humankind's severe paranoia, I couldn't be certain. Despite a tentative and open mind, I mostly believed someone of flesh and blood had issued the death threat. I just didn't know the reason or the fool's identity.

When Eleanor adjusted a sleeve on her blouse, the scar she'd suffered in a kitchen fire appeared, though it seemed to be quickly fading. “I'm a novice in this realm. Madam Zenya is savvy enough to negotiate a compromise with the woman's spirit. Maybe if you fix up a private room for her, Prudence won't bother you anymore. It is her house, after all.” Eleanor had followed the kooky medium for years and ultimately suggested we invite her to headline our beloved event.

“Listen up! I'm moving out of one house where a crazy seventy-five-year-old woman tries to rule my life. I'm not living with another cranky one of similar age and attitude. I bought this place fair and square.” My heavy fist pounded against her desk to prove the point and hide my gurgling stomach.

“I'm so telling Nana D you called her crazy,” Eleanor sassed, waving in Manny when her diner's lithe, brown-eyed manager stood at the doorway. “The sale might not be on the up-and-up. If Hiram killed Prudence fifty years ago, then he couldn't inherit the house. Isn't there a rule about preventing a murderer from getting rich off his victims?”

Manny had emigrated from El Salvador fifteen years ago and been lucky enough to obtain his citizenship before we'd tightly locked our doors. Speaking better English than most people who'd grown up in the country, he explained, “It's called the Slayer Law. If you bought the house from someone who killed his wife, then Eleanor has a point. Unless, of course, your troublesome visitor is a celestial ghost, in which case, Madam Zenya might be your best bet to vanquish Prudence.”

“Are you really siding with my sister about the nutjob who's threatening me if I don't leave?” I rolled my eyes in dire frustration. “I'm totally outnumbered here. I've never heard the name Prudence before, and now, everyone is convinced her spirit haunts me from the Great Beyond.”

Emma followed Manny into the office, her head tilted to the side in deep thought. “Maybe she's not a ghost. We thought Mommy was dead, but she came back to life.”

My heart sank to the depths of the Titanic. No child should suffer through what Francesca's family had just done to Emma. “People don't really come back to life, honey. Mommy's disappearance was a special circumstance. Remember, we talked about this when we visited her in Los Angeles.”

“I know, Daddy. It could be possible, but it's probably not.” Emma traced her finger on the perimeter chair rail molding of the walls before excitedly jumping into my sister's lap. “Can I have a snack, Auntie Eleanor? Lunch was hours ago. Daddy forgot to feed me. He's been distracted all day.”

My mouth hung agape. Ulan had cooked a full breakfast—biscuits, eggs, and sausages—while I'd gone running with my best friend, Connor. I'd also heated two frozen pizzas at lunch for them. Then again, I was starving too, and she was my daughter. I'd only admit to a negligible case of preoccupation, brought on when Nicky had shown me the message on the basement door the previous day. Once Nicky and I had searched the house for the message's author, he'd confirmed a mere ten-minute gap between his arrival and my departure with my mother that morning. No one else had been inside, but he reminded me the mudroom's doorknob was practically falling off. He'd meant to replace the lock yet never found the time. Nicky had suggested it was a prankster inspired by the essence of Halloween, or a homeless person who'd slept in the house before I'd bought it. Could an itinerant be trying to scare me into departing? While I didn't discount his theories, I wasn't ready to accept them as facts either.

“How about spicy werewolf meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes to keep away the vicious vampires?” Manny suggested to Emma, looping her hand inside his and pointing toward the kitchen.

Emma squinted with brewing apprehension over the decision and reached out to touch the skull earring in his left ear. Normally, she found his cleft chin fascinating, but his thick beard had fully covered it for the upcoming winter season. “Will they prevent a zombie attack too?”

I tousled her hair and glanced at Manny. “Just a salad with a few slices of ham?” After visiting other local farms where Emma had learned about filthy chicken coops and slaughterhouses, something destined my precocious daughter to become a vegetarian. She'd decided to be kinder to her animal friends, but I pushed as much protein as possible while I still could. “And thanks for supporting Eleanor on the ghost theory, man. Retribution will be mine one day.”

“Manny knows where his bread is buttered,” Eleanor coyly jested. Not only was she Manny's boss, but they'd begun dating that summer after my sister abandoned her unremitting crush on my best friend. She had little choice once Connor Hawkins focused on his relationship with Maggie Roarke, Braxton's head librarian. “Figuratively, of course. We're equal in every countable way.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Manny pecked Eleanor's cheek and exited with Emma.

“You two are moving kinda quickly, huh?” I recalled how someone had tricked Manny into a fake marriage the previous spring. He was initially hesitant to jump into anything serious with Eleanor.

“We've worked together for three years in this diner. We tried to take it slow, but fate had other plans,” she beamed, her smile so large it couldn't fit inside the office without cracking the plaster.

“I'm thrilled for you, sis. It's about time a good man realized how fantastic you are.” Eleanor had been single for most of her life. While she'd clung to a glimmer of hope that things might work out with Connor, I'd known my best friend's heart pined for my ex-girlfriend. Maggie and I had once dated during college but broke up at graduation. When I'd returned to Braxton the previous spring, Connor announced his decision to pursue Maggie. It almost prevented us from rebuilding our friendship. Luckily, we sorted it all out during several grueling workouts at the gym.

“Speaking of someone realizing how fantastic the Ayrwicks are, what's up with your little sheriff girlfriend?” Eleanor was never adept at the art of smoothly transitioning a conversation forward.

Sheriff April Montague and I had met six months ago, imperiously fighting worse than two political candidates slinging mud at each other in the bowels of a cutthroat election. I thought she was narcissistic and stubborn. She deemed me an interfering know-it-all who existed purely to torture her. I couldn't help finding several dead bodies and discovering their killers before she had; however, April felt differently and considered arresting me on a variety of occasions. Then, while we were working together to flush out my estranged wife's kidnapper, all those intense emotions we'd been harboring somehow converted into explosive sexual chemistry. We'd gone on a single pseudo date before things veered off in multiple different directions.

I'd spent the last few months flying to Los Angeles to attend executive meetings with the producer of my former television show, Dark Reality, and to address the sudden reappearance of my supposedly deceased wife, Francesca. When Las Vargas, a rival mafia family, had threatened to kill my erstwhile beloved three years ago, Francesca's parents faked her death to save her life. Did my in-laws consider telling me in advance? No. Apparently, I didn't rank high enough in the Castigliano family. Instead, after two years trying to recover from her death, I relocated back home to Pennsylvania to raise Emma around my family. That's when Francesca returned to the living and Cristiano Vargas subsequently kidnapped her. During the ensuing warfare to rescue her over the summer, Francesca's father was killed. Now, she and her mother were embroiled in a ton of legal messes regarding the faked death, complicated resurrection, and former associations with the mob.

As for April, once her father's cirrhosis had taken a turn for the worse, she'd coordinated hospice care and his funeral back in Buffalo. April had no other family besides her seventeen-year-old brother, Augie, whom she'd been raising for the last five years. Their alcoholic father had blamed Augie for his wife's death, often taking his anguish out in the form of physical and mental abuse. April had filed for custody of her brother the first time she found him beaten and bloodied.

“April returns home tonight. She closed on her father's house this past Friday and spent the weekend getting everything moved into storage.” After putting Emma to bed last evening, I'd called to ask for April's opinion on the incident at the house. She'd updated me about her trip home and planned to drop by to discuss the problem with the ghost or vagrant or prankster or my wacky imagination.

“Did you ever find out why April wouldn't respond to your question about being previously married?” Eleanor motioned for me to follow as she left her office. Her staff had transformed the diner into a Halloween Spooktacular with crafty cardboard pumpkins, freaky floating ghosts, and a plethora of cornucopia hanging from the ceiling. The Witches played on an endless loop on the television screens.

“Nope. She wouldn't answer me at Aunt Deirdre's wedding, and we've never been able to have a private discussion. On the few occasions when we were in the same place together, Augie, Ulan, or Emma were also present. I never felt comfortable enough to mention it.” On the positive side, Augie and Ulan had instantly bonded and become close friends in those first get-togethers. Augie was two years older, but Ulan's year-long stint in Africa gave the boys something to discuss, since Augie had already decided he wanted to become a veterinarian.

When the hostess waved to Eleanor, my sister stopped at the front counter. She turned and smiled like the Cheshire cat after their brief discussion. “Take your own advice. Don't rush it. Now that you'll both be in Braxton for a while, let things blossom at the right pace.”

“Advice from the newest town relationship expert?” I shrugged when she gave me the bird.

“I know you need to leave, but Hampton is here. Nana D told him you'd come to see me.” Eleanor pointed to the booth where our older brother sat, chatting expressively on his cell phone.

“Oh, what a joy it'll be.” I needed to catch up with him anyway, and April and I weren't meeting for another two hours. “Augie will pick up Emma when his volunteer shift at the animal shelter ends. He'll also collect Ulan from the SAT prep course and meet April and me at the new house. We're all having dinner together to catch up on what happened while she was away this week.” It seemed I needed to find a name for my abode, rather than the new house. Great, another task!

Eleanor attempted, but failed miserably, to temper a smug expression. “Insta-family?”

“Don't start with me. Augie and Ulan are friends. April and I are friends. We might explore something, but there are lots of other steps that need to happen before she and I can even consider—”

“None of my business. Go, talk to Hampton. I'll ask Madam Zenya to contact your visiting apparition.” Eleanor dashed off, preventing me from elbowing her in the ribs or flicking her earlobe.

I took a deep breath and casually drifted toward Hampton's table. He and his wife, Natasha, had arrived from Tulsa on Labor Day weekend with their three older children, whom they'd previously shipped to an elite boarding school in Connecticut. They'd just had their fourth child last month and hired a live-in nanny for the new mini mansion near Millionaire's Mile, hence I considered them the perfect hoity-toity couple we all loved to hate. Natasha's father was an international oil tycoon who'd opened a new well in Pennsylvania by the Betscha mines. He'd beseeched my enigmatic, derisive sibling to oversee the operation, hoping Hampton might eventually assume full responsibility for the company.