Haunted Fixer-Upper, The (17 page)

“Don’
t get any ideas,” I warned.

“I’m just
sayin’.” She raised her hands up in surrender.

“You’
re just like my mother now. You two have been hanging out too much.”

“Hey, I resent that.”

“I resent it too,” I quipped.

“You apologize right now.”
Mama waved her finger in my direction.

“I’m sorry, M
ama,” I said through gritted teeth.

After finally arriving back at the cabin and my partners in crime leaving, I crawled into bed next to Reed. He wrapped his arms around me.
For now he was oblivious that I’d been anywhere. But soon enough Melody would tell him what I’d done.

The window was open and a breeze floated through, blowing the sheer curtains like sails in the wind.
After a few minutes, Reed woke. I was wrapped in Reed’s arms and we both stared at the ceiling in silence.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I was talking with Lacey and Mama.”

I hated not being completely truthful with him.

“I figured that was what you were doing.” He softly kissed the back of my neck.

We lay
in the quiet. I relished being in his warm arms. I didn’t want him to be angry with me, although I was used to fighting with him. We both said exactly what was on our minds and that could make for a lot of heated exchanges.

Finally, after a few seconds, I broke the silence. “Who do you think killed him?” I asked softly.

He let out a soft sigh. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. Maybe it was someone we know nothing about. It could have been someone else he’d screwed over. Maybe he did sell someone a real lemon.”

“Maybe,” I whispered as I fell into dreamland.

Chapter Twenty

The paranormal activity at the house was no
t worse, but definitely not better. The ghost had to want something. She wasn’t haunting the place for no reason. There was always something a ghost wanted to say or some message that the ghost wanted to relay. I was going to make it my job to find out what.

I’
d only seen the woman in the house, but it seemed odd that the footsteps seemed a lot louder than a woman’s footsteps would make. Sure, I guessed she could have some heavy footsteps, but it still seemed odd. My curiosity was getting the better of me and I wanted answers. Wanting answers to the unexplained was why I’d started investigating the paranormal in the first place. I wanted to know what the heck ghosts really were—spirits or just figments of our imagination?

Actually,
with all my experiences with the paranormal I knew without a doubt that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. But what it really was I didn’t know. I wondered if I could get the ghost to come out and talk to me? So far I hadn’t had any luck with that, but that didn't mean I wouldn’t keep trying. Maybe she was just scared. A stranger was in her house and that had to be terrifying. I would continue to try and speak to her every time I was in the house until I got answers. Of course if Reed heard me he'd think I was nuts. I’d only do it when he wasn’t around. There was one thing I couldn’t keep from him though, the paranormal team that would arrive at McKeeley Plantation at any moment. He’d been around when I investigated the last house, but he was still clinging to his skeptic mentality. I’d break him of that eventually.

The cars pulled up in front of the house as I waited on the front porch. Two women and two men stepped out from the cars. They grabbed several bags of equipment and approached me.

“Are you Alabama Hargrove?” the man with the curly blond hair asked.

I nodded and motioned for them to move closer. “Come on in.
I’m glad you’re here.”

They paused and looked up at the house
, craning their necks to take in the full view of her majestic beauty. Based on their expressions, I didn’t know if they were scared or in awe. The group exchanged looks, then finally made it up the path to the porch.

“I’m Harper Bishop,
we spoke on the phone. This is Danielle Stone, Shawna Evans, and Dan O’Boyle.”

They were all dressed casual
ly and ready for some serious investigating. Danielle had short chestnut hair and she wore white open-toed sandals, an olive-green tank top, and brown capri pants. Dan and Harper both wore well-worn jeans with white T-shirts with their team’s logo. Shawna had chin-length blonde hair and wore long pink shorts, a white shirt, and crisp white sneakers.

I shook their hands. “I’m so glad you all could make it out. I’d really like to get some answers to what’s going on in the house.”

I opened the large wood door and motioned for them to enter.

“
What’s been going on in the house?” Harper asked as he scanned the space.

“Like I said, I saw a female ghost,” I offered.

“You’ve seen a full-bodied apparition?” Harper asked with eyes wide.

“Yeah,” I said nonchalantly.

“That’s the holy grail of ghost-hunting,” Dan said.

I shrugged like it was no big deal, but I had to admit I was a little excited that the ghost had showed herself to me.

“I’ve seen fleeting shadows in my peripheral vision, heard disembodied voices, and felt cold spots. You know, the usual stuff,” I added.

The paranormal crew exchanged glances. Their faces lit up as if they’d hit the paranormal lottery.

Harper picked up a piece of equipment. “I guess we should get started.”

“This is where she appeared,” I said as I pointed out the spot.

“What did she look like?” Danielle asked.

“She wore a white dress with delicate little flowers. She was so vivid. She wore her hair up with loose strands dangling down.”

“What era do you think she was from?” she asked.

I paused. “Actually, she looked like she was from the early nineties.”

Did they know about Amber Gaines? Would they put two and two together?

They all stopped in their track
s and exchanged looks again. Yep. I guessed they knew about Amber. Apparently they were thinking the same thing I’d been thinking.

“Do you know what happened here in the house?” Harper asked.

I shook my head. “I heard a woman was murdered here.”

Harper
pulled out a digital recorder from his pocket. “That’s what they say.”

“
Can you show us where the rest of the paranormal activity has occurred?” Shawna asked.

Going from room to room, I pointed out any strange occurrence I’d experienced
. As they began to set up their equipment, a bang sounded on the door, then the front door flew wide open as we all stared, frozen on the spot.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mama burst through the door with Lacey close behind.

“Are we late?” she bellowed.

Oh dear heaven’s
, she had on a long black skirt, a black lace blouse, and a black hat. She looked like she was going to a funeral.

“What are you wearing, M
ama?” I asked.

The paranormal team had momentarily abandoned their fascination with the paranormal to stare in amazement at my mother.

Mama snorted. “I dressed for the paranormal. You know, all black and mysterious.”

Lacey snickered.

“Of course. How silly of me. I should have noticed.”

“Everyone,
this is my mother, Sylvia Hargrove.”

“
Enchanté!” My mother did a little weird curtsy thing.

“And this is my best friend, Lacey. She’s a psychic medium.”
I gestured toward Lacey.

Lacey smiled.
“Nice to meet you.”

“Well, let’s get this started, shall we?” I said, trying to change the subject back to the topic at hand.

Harper took the bait because he asked, “
Do you know how to use the K2 meter?”

I took it from his
outstretched hand. “Give me that. Do I know how to use it? I’m a pro.” I winked.

H
e laughed. “Well, Daniel and I can head upstairs if you ladies would like to investigate down here.”

“
No problem, but be careful up there. The floor is uneven in some spots.”

I had no idea what my mother was going to do during this investigation. The best that I could hope for was she wouldn’t get scared and take off out the front door and forget to open it on the way out.

We made a little small talk with Danielle and Shawna as we moved through the bottom half of the house, but the women were mostly quiet and focused on the job at hand. That was a good thing though. At least I knew they took their jobs seriously. I wasn’t sure how they could concentrate with my mother’s constant chatter.

When we reached the kitchen, the
K2 meter went crazy. It buzzed and beeped like mad.

The
women looked at me with wide eyes. I had warned them that this was one of the hot spots. Would the ghost appear? I hoped she would. Even though I knew they believed in the paranormal, I wanted someone to witness it and back me up. It would feel good to have everyone see her too.

We asked questions in hopes of capturing a disembodied voice on the r
ecorders. We wouldn’t know if we’d caught anything until the team analyzed the evidence, which would take days.

The meter continued to beep in my hand. When I moved to certain areas
in the room, it would stop, only to start again when I moved in a different direction. I decided to follow the activity. Maybe the sound would lead me to the ghost.

“
It’s almost as if the ghost is trying to take me somewhere,” I said as I moved from the kitchen into the dining room.

“She’s here, but she still doesn’t want to speak to us,” Lacey said.

“Do I need my rosary?” Mama asked.

“Let her take you wherever
,” Shawna said. “We’ll see where she takes us.”

I prayed it didn’t take us to the basement. I really wasn’t ready to deal with that today. We moved through the dining room, parlor and into the foyer.
My mother held the back of my shirt as if I was her lifejacket. Shawna and Danielle had forgotten about the equipment in their hands and focused all their attention on me. They all followed me like a shadow.

Once we made it to the parlor, I allowed the
device to guide me to the staircase. I paused and glanced over my shoulder at the women.

“
We’ll have to disturb the men and go upstairs,” I said.

“We can’t stop now,”
Danielle said.

“
This ghost is trying to tell us something, but she doesn’t want to tell me. She wants us to figure it out,” Lacey said.

They nodded, but didn’t utter a
nother word. The experience had left them speechless. We slowly inched our way up the stairs. My anxiety increased with each step. My heart thumped and my hands became clammy, making it hard to hold the meter. I looked down every chance I got to make sure I didn’t miss a step or hit one of the uneven spots. The last thing I needed was to tumble to the bottom of the stairs.

“Be careful,
everyone, the floor is tricky,” I said.

We made it to the top of th
e stairs and the meter kept up its steady beeping. The lights flickered in a rhythm with the noise. If I moved the device to the left or right, it would stop immediately. But as long as I held it out in front of my body, the thing lit up like a Christmas tree. The spirit really was leading us somewhere. I hoped it wasn’t somewhere bad. A demonic entity trying to do us harm? Pretending to be someone that it wasn’t?

The sound of the men walking aro
und with their equipment came from the back bedroom. They’d probably hear us soon and come out to investigate. I moved along with my ghostly guide letting the way. She let me into the bedroom on the right. The women were right on my heels. Once we’d entered the empty bedroom, I stopped in the middle of the hardwood floor. The meter had stopped its insistent beeping. The lights didn’t blink and the room fell silent. I exchanged glances with the women. Mama’s eyes were as wide as saucers, but she didn’t take off running, so that was a surprise.

“
What do you think is going on?” Shawna asked.

I shrugged.
“I have no idea. Are you picking up anything, Lacey?”

She rubbed her temples. “No, she won’t talk and I’m getting a headache.”

Obviously the ghost wa
nted us in this room, but why? My stomach turned. What if it really was a bad spirit? Had it lured us to a trap? I scanned the space around us, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Cobwebs filled the corners of the room and dust covered the floor. There was no furniture and the windows had a layer of dirt, making it difficult to see outside and causing the room to be dim.

On the right wall was a closet. I stepped closer and placed my hand on the knob.
Of course I was alone in my movements. Heavy breathing sounded from behind me as all the women gathered around. I glanced over my shoulder at them. The look in their eyes let me know that it was better me than them opening that door. I’d be brave though. What was the worst that I could find? A dead body? With my luck, that was a real possibility.