3 The Ghoul Next Door Read online

  When I looked down at the floor, I saw my footprints, but that wasn’t all. My prints weren’t the only ones. I recognized the others as the demons that had visited me in the past. My stomach turned. Apparently, I’d taken a jog with a demon. I had to do something. This was the last straw. I wouldn’t put myself in danger like this ever again. I had to get rid of whatever was invading my life. I hadn’t invited it and I wouldn’t allow it to stay.

  I looked around the room but saw nothing else out of place. Where were the ghosts anyway? Where was Elvis? Had they seen me leave in the middle of the night? I stepped out into the foyer, but didn’t see anyone or anything. Of all times for the ghosts to disappear. It figured. When I needed them, they were nowhere in sight. I stepped back into the bathroom and hurried into the shower. I had to get the mud off my feet. I didn’t want to see the reminder of what had happened during the night.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  It was the last day of filming and I was thankful for small favors. Thinking about what might happen didn’t give me the warm fuzzies. My behavior had been growing stranger by the minute. I feared the worst. I just wanted it to be finished so that I could get back to my normal life. Even dealing with the ghosts on a daily basis sounded like a welcome reprieve. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that something was definitely affecting me. I just had to figure out what it was. A demon? Black magic? Or both? I felt as if something was pulling at me, willing me to do things that I would have never dreamed about before. Everyone had to notice that I was acting strange.

  Now every time the mailman showed up a dread took over and my stomach tumbled. Today was no different. As soon as I watched him approach my house, I spotted the envelope in his hand. It looked different from the regular mail and I’d learned to recognize it right away.

  When I stepped out the door onto the porch, he greeted me with a smile. “Good morning, Larue. How are you today?”

  I wanted to say lousy, but I wouldn’t burden him with my problems. He knew my mother and I didn’t want any of this to get back to her.

  “I’m doing great, Arthur.” I offered a big smile.

  “Wonderful, so good to hear. You have a nice day,” he said as he placed the mail in my hand.

  Staring back at me was the letter—another letter from her. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Finally, I remembered to acknowledge Arthur.

  “Thank you. You have a great day too.” I waved.

  He was so going to tell my mother that something was bothering me. I could expect a call later. I stared at the envelope, and for a split second contemplated not opening it, but realized that I had to know what it said. What more could she say? Why was she still writing to me? But until I knew her motives, I had to continue opening the letters. I didn’t believe that she was just having fun. What if I didn’t open the letter and this was the one time when she finally told me what exactly she wanted from me? I would always wonder if I didn’t read it. She couldn’t keep playing this cat-and-mouse game with me forever. Eventually she’d get sick of it.

  I ripped the linen envelope open and, with that, the same rose scent floated up from the letter. I knew for sure that it was from her. My stomach flipped as I pulled the paper from the envelope, unfolded it, and took in a deep breath—the floral smell made my stomach turn.

  I was sure the message would be more of the same that I’d come to expect from this woman. Why didn’t she show herself to me and stop being a chicken? If she had something to say, then she could say it to my face instead of sending letters as if it was 1898.

  By now you should have received plenty of correspondence from me, so I hope I’ve made my point clear. No hard feelings. I’m sure you’ll find someone else eventually. Sorry if I came off harsh, but you have to know I am serious when I say stay away from Callahan. As long as you stay clear, this is the last letter you will receive from me. If I find out you are still harassing him, you’ll get a visit from me in person.

  Best regards,

  Ginger

  Okay, she had officially arrived in the stalker category. Somebody needed to call the guys with the little nets to come and collect her.

  The car horn honked, so I stuffed the letter in my bag and trudged my way down the porch. Only one more time, I reminded myself, and then I could put this investigation behind me.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  As soon as we arrived at Jennie Blake’s home we began the final day of our investigation. As far as I was concerned, I’d seen enough. What more evidence did they need? But I supposed Matt had his own ideas of how he wanted to do the show. Far be it from me to interject my opinion.

  Cooper and I made our way through the house. We’d become quite the investigative team and he was better than I’d expected. Mindy had stayed downstairs to help Matt. That was probably for the best. We eased into the bedroom where we’d originally met Heath, the old guy who used to live in the house. He still wouldn’t talk directly to me. I glanced around the room but saw nothing and felt no presence.

  “Where does this door lead?” I asked as I twisted the doorknob.

  Cooper stepped behind me, then followed as I stepped into the dark space. As soon as he’d joined me, the door slammed.

  “What the hell?” I said as I pounded on my flashlight, but nothing happened. “My stupid light won’t work. I can’t see anything.”

  Cooper fumbled with the doorknob. “The door is stuck.”

  “Oh, great. Just what I need. I already can’t breathe. We’re going to die in here, then we can haunt this place. This is exactly what this evil spirit wanted, to kill me. Well, mission accomplished.”

  “Larue, you need to calm down before you have a full-fledged panic attack.”

  A scream pierced the air, bouncing off the old walls.

  “Sounds as if someone is being murdered down there,” Cooper said nonchalantly.

  “Maybe they are and we’re stuck up here in a closet. We look like idiots. Where’s the camera man? Excuse me, camera guy. Do you want to let us out?”

  Shuffling noises sounded from the other side of the door, then finally we were released. “Ugh. Thank you. I couldn’t breathe in there.”

  The camera man covered a laugh with his hand. I knew this part of the footage wouldn’t get cut out of the scene. See, I knew I’d end up making an ass out of myself on TV. At least Cooper had been involved too. I didn’t want to be the only idiot.

  I tried to catch my breath after almost being suffocated. “What was that scream?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  “You didn’t hear a scream?” Cooper asked.

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  I grabbed my camera. “Come on. Let’s head back downstairs and make sure everything is okay.”

  After hurrying down the stairs, we found everyone accounted for in the living room. Cooper and I exchanged a glance. There was no point asking if someone had screamed. We knew the spirits had only been playing a trick on us. By the snickering fest Candy Cherry and Mr. Fine were involved in, I had my suspicions that they’d somehow been involved.

  “I’m glad you all came back down. We’ll take a break, okay?”

  I nodded. That was fine by me. We could call it a day for all I cared. Mindy grabbed my arm and pulled me outside.

  “Let’s sit for a while,” she said.

  On the front lawn to the left of the stone path was a small bench. Mindy and I sat in silence for a minute, enjoying the brightly colored leaves and the crisp fall air. The leaves on the branches above us rustled as if letting me know I was being watched by an unseen presence. I was never completely alone.

  I knew something was on Mindy’s mind, something heavy on her shoulders. I had put too much strain on our relationship. I wouldn’t blame Mindy if she wanted to put distance between us for a while.

  Mindy didn’t have the same bounce in her step. Her hair was flat to her head and the rosy glow from her cheeks had vanished. I couldn’t let her continue to go into
the house with me.

  “Mindy?” I touched her arm catching her attention. “I’m worried about you. I wouldn’t be upset if you didn’t go back in there with me. It takes its toll, I know. Believe me, I know.”

  She stared at me. “That’s why I have to go in there. I don’t want you to deal with this alone.”

  “I’m not alone in there. Cooper is with me. He can see and talk to the spirits. He knows when they’re there. You don’t.”

  “But we are a team. I don’t quit the team,” Mindy said.

  She always knew how to make me smile. “I know you don’t.”

  That was the reason why I knew I could always count on Mindy.

  I looked at her. “There comes a time when you have to quit. Players who have injuries quit the team. I don’t want you to be injured beyond repair.”

  She shook her head. “I won’t let that happen.”

  “You aren’t going to take no for an answer, are you?” I asked.

  “Would you?” She met my gaze.

  I paused, then answered, “No, I guess I wouldn’t.”

  Mindy pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I won’t lie. I am afraid of this thing attaching to me like it has Jennie, but I like to think I’m a strong person, so all I can do is continue to try and fight it off.”

  “You are a strong person.” I hugged her.

  “I can say that this has been an adventure. It is incredibly creepy. The scratches appearing on her body, the things moving around the room with no one even remotely near, and the sounds—all the banging is enough to drive anyone crazy. Even from the look in Jennie’s eyes you can tell that something is trying to take over her body and spirit.” She stared at me. “Do you think the same thing is happening to you?”

  I contemplated her question. But giving her an honest answer wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. But honestly, I knew that this thing was affecting me. To what extent, I didn’t know. I hoped I could be strong like Mindy said and fight the thing off.

  Finally, I said, “No, I don’t. If I thought it was getting to me, then I wouldn’t do the show. I’d quit and get as far away as I possibly could.”

  Did she see through my lie? Probably. Mindy knew me well. I had never been good at keeping secrets from her. Would I be able to keep up the fight? There was no other option, I had to.

  “Well, I guess we should get back in there.”

  Mindy stood and stared up at the house. “Yeah, I guess we should.”

  “It would be much more fun to head to Dad’s Doughnuts, huh?”

  She laughed. “We are so having a margarita night when all this is over.”

  I hoped that was true. What would happen if something went wrong? I couldn’t imagine never having another margarita night. No more cheese? No more tequila? No way.

  Mindy and I moved toward the house, but our steps were slow. We were in no hurry to get back in there.

  “If the thing talks to you, then just ignore it,” I said as we made our way up the path.

  “It can talk to me?” Her eyes widened.

  “Sometimes it can get into your head. One time a spirit told one of the investigators who went with me on an investigation to jump out the window. Luckily, she stepped away from the window and told the thing to get out of her head. You do the same thing if anything like this happens, okay? And make sure to tell me if it happens.”

  I hated scaring her, but that was one bit of information she needed to know.

  She nodded. “Got it. This thing is in for a fight if it thinks it can get through to me. I’ll kick its ass.”

  I looped my arm through hers as we walked up the steps toward the house. “I know you will. I know you will.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  After our investigation, we met with the homeowner one last time. We’d make our recommendations on what she should do from this point forward. After that, Jennie would be on her own again.

  “Did you know who lived here before?” Cooper asked after we’d settled around the kitchen table.

  Jennie had added splashes of cheerful red around the otherwise white room—probably trying desperately to elevate the negative feeling. The bright color of the towels, mixer, and blender popped against the white cabinets.

  “A man lived in the home for a long time before I bought the house,” Jennie said.

  “What kind of man was he?” Cooper asked.

  “Grouchy. He yelled at the kids around the neighborhood. But no one ever reported anything strange with the house before when he lived here.”

  I shifted in the chair. It was time for me to tell her everything that I knew. “Someone in this house is very open to the paranormal, attracting the dead from miles away.”

  Jennie stared, wide-eyed.

  I continued, “The man who lived here was named Heath. He mostly likes to stay upstairs in the bedroom. When Heath died, he put himself here because he wanted to be here. He lived here in the house at some point and he simply doesn’t want to leave now.”

  “He doesn’t like anyone who lives here now. It’s his space… his house and people annoy him,” Cooper added.

  Mindy shifted in her seat, then absentmindedly tapped her fingers against the table. I felt her apprehension from where I was sitting.

  Matt pulled out a file. “Apparently, there was a gun battle here on the property. This man and the neighbor didn’t like each other. One was jealous of the other. So the neighbor pulled out his gun and shot this man.”

  Everyone just stared at Matt, waiting to hear what he would reveal next.

  “There’s another woman. She’s a teenager. I think she died near the house. Someone attacked her. I can see the blood on her head and face. Unfortunately, you feel what these ghosts are experiencing. She was in a lot of pain, so you probably feel some of her pain. Her name was Elizabeth, but that’s all I know,” I said.

  Matt shared more of his findings. “Like I said, there was a gun fight on the property.” He glanced at me and continued, “There was also a young girl murdered and found on the property. Her murderer was never found. The person had dug a shallow grave and left her there.”

  I held my face. The teenager was showing her pain to me again. Jennie grimaced. She must have felt it too.

  “The girl’s face was bashed in. According to her, they just left her there. She’s grateful people searched the property for her though. She doesn’t know how long she would have been there if they hadn’t.”

  “Is there a connection between the two?” Jennie asked.

  “No. They are separate. I don’t think they even speak to each other, although they both stay in the home. What are you feeling?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “I encountered several entities. The old man is the most powerful. He has an oval face and a long nose and deep brown, almond-shaped eyes.”

  “Is this the man you saw?” Matt pulled out a photo.

  I nodded as I stared at the picture, then handed it to Cooper.

  “Let me share more of my findings with you,” Matt said. “His name is Heath Nelson. He used to own this home and farm the land, but died during the confrontation in the back of the home.”

  Silence fell over the room as we contemplated what Matt had revealed.

  Finally, I said, “The minute I walked in your home I knew someone had abilities.” I pointed to Jennie. “You have psychic abilities and you attract these kinds of things.”

  She stared, but didn’t respond.

  “I don’t mean to scare you, but it’s just one of those things. I’ve had strange visions in this house. Now I know it’s because there are too many psychics here.” I attempted a chuckle to lift the mood. “With you, me, and Cooper… it’s causing the energy to be crazy.”

  Jennie looked at me like she was confused and unsure of what to say.

  I tried to explain more of what I’d seen. “I don’t usually see the spirits like this. I mean, they usually com
e through as clear as day. Anyway, I saw the girl being thrown into shallow grave and I saw the battle on this land between the two men.”

  “What else did you see?” Matt asked.

  “The back room… the dining area has a lot of dead people coming through. They just walk in a straight line through the room. It’s not good for them to be here. It’s not good for the dead or the living. It’s having a negative effect on you.” I pointed at Jennie. “It’ll give you a upset stomach, ulcers, and fatigue.” Everyone stared in silence as I continued, “I encountered Heath. He’s the elderly man who got psychical with us. He isn’t bad per se, but he can use the body and make it very painful for the person he decides to attach to.”

  “I’m angry that he’s here. He’s not nice and I want him to leave,” Jennie said.

  I nodded. “He likes the back bedroom. Initially he wasn’t very happy, but I think he’ll be okay with you now. Sometimes he can actually be endearing, he just hasn’t shown that to you yet. When he figured out we were here to get rid of him, he promised to be good. He’s attracted to this house, so he really doesn’t want to leave.”

  Ben looked to Jennie.

  “One more question about your dreams. You said they are vivid?” I asked.

  “Always. I always remember them too.” She nodded.

  I nodded. “Just as I suspected. Listen, no matter where you go, you’re going to open doorways.”

  “You mean it’s Jennie?” Ben asked.

  “She comes with a door. The dead are looking for help,” I said.

  I started feeling guilty. Maybe I shouldn’t have shared so much information with them, but they needed to know the truth.

  Jennie straightened in her chair. “I had a sad feeling when you were coming. I guess it was the spirits making me feel that way.”

  I nodded. “The dead move in and form relationships with you. They don’t want to leave. Sometimes they’ll do jumping. That’s when they try to get inside your body. Good or bad spirits… it’s not good for the body, so don’t allow it.”

  Jennie’s eyes widened even more.