Haunted Hamlet (Zoe Donovan Mystery) (7 page)

“I won’t bore you with the details
, but the end result was that my tests indicate that I have less than a ten-percent chance of becoming pregnant by any means. Ever.”

“Oh
, El.” I got up from my chair, knelt down in front of her, and hugged her. “I’m so sorry.”

“I cannot accept,” she sobbed,
“the fact that I may never have children of my own.”

“I know.” I hugged her tighter, my own tears streaming down my face.

“I’ve spent the past week trying to gain some perspective, but it’s been so hard to let go of everything I’ve dreamed of.”

I have many fine qualities
, but I’m afraid one of them isn’t the ability to find the right thing to say at critical times like this. Ellie is a born comforter. If our roles were reversed, she’d know exactly what to say to make things better, but I’m not Ellie, and I know that the likelihood of saying something that will make things worse is actually pretty high, so I kept quiet and hugged her as tight as I could as my best friend and I wept out her pain.

After her tears had subsided
, I went into the house in search of a tissue. “Is there anything you can do?” I asked after I’d returned to the deck and she’d pulled herself together.

“There are treatments, all expensive, none covered by insurance. None are guaranteed and most provide only a slightly better chance at a successful pregnancy than I already have. I thought about looking into surgical options
, which give me the best chance I’m likely to have, but given the fact that I’m unmarried, I don’t present a high priority as far as most doctors are concerned. The few doctors I spoke to encouraged me to wait. They said that new treatments are being developed every day, and perhaps by the time I’m ready . . .”

“But you feel ready now.”

“I did.” Ellie looked at me. “But, like I mentioned, I’ve agonized over this since I first found out and I think I’m beginning to get a little perspective. I don’t want to go through all of that alone. If and when I fall in love and get married, then maybe.”

I hugged Ellie
one final time and then sat back down next to her.

She bent over to scr
atch Charlie behind the ears. “I think I might be ready to consider a puppy, as you suggested earlier. A puppy isn’t a baby, and I’m sure a puppy won’t fix everything, but now that you and Charlie are living with Zak, I find that I do get lonely at times. It would be nice to have someone to come home to.”

“Now would be a good time,” I affirmed. “Things have slowed down at the Beach Hut and are likely to remain slow over the winter. Puppies need a lot of attention the first few months
, so it’s important that you’re around to provide the guidance the little guy or gal will need.”

“I don’t suppose you know of a slightly older dog that wouldn’t need as much attention? I’d like a young dog
, but perhaps not a brand-new puppy.”

“Let me look around. I promise I
’ll find you the perfect dog.”

Ellie smiled. “T
hanks. And Zoe, can we keep my medical issues just between us for the time being? I don’t really want Levi to know. At least not yet.”

“It’
ll be our secret,” I promised.

“I need a well-behaved older puppy for Ellie,” I said to Jeremy the moment I walked through the front door of the log structure that houses Zoe’s Zoo.

“Ellie
’s getting a puppy?” Jeremy asked. He was holding two of the kittens that had been brought in the previous week.

“Ellie
needs
a puppy,” I emphasized as I reached for one of the little fuzz balls Jeremy was cuddling. “She’s decided to give up her quest for a baby, at least for the time being, and she needs a dog to keep her company.”

“I think
it’s best that she decided to wait. How old a puppy are you thinking?” Jeremy asked as he placed the kitten he was holding back into its cage.

“Ideally
, we’re looking for a dog that’s still young enough to be fun and playful but is also house-trained, socialized, and has gone through basic obedience training.”

“Does size or breed matter?”

I paused to consider what type of dog Ellie would like. She’d never owned a dog before
, but she seemed to enjoy the various canines who had passed through my life and had never shown much of a preference toward one breed over another.

“No
, I don’t think so,” I answered. “Ellie likes to hike, so perhaps a medium or large breed would be best. Not too big, though. She’s living in the boathouse, so I’m not sure that a Saint Bernard or mastiff would be the best choice. Maybe a dog the size of a lab or retriever.”

“I know a guy who breed
s and trains German shepherds for police work. He usually starts off with four or five pups a year but eliminates puppies as he assesses their natural abilities. By the end of the year, he’s usually down to one. He places the dogs he eliminates in qualified homes. The dogs he rejects are better bred and trained than any you’re likely to find anywhere else. I can contact him if you want.”

“That would be perfect
.” I placed the kitten I was holding back into the cage next to his brother. “Let me know what you find out. I want to get just the right pup, but it would be wonderful to find something right away.”

“I’ll call Peter after
we discuss Gimp.”

Gimp was the name we’d given
the mountain lion who had come in with a broken leg.

“What’s up with
him?” I asked as I walked down the hall to my office with Jeremy tagging along behind.

“He’s restless. Very restless. He’s making the other animals nervous. I thought maybe we should talk to Scott about a sedative.”

Normally, I hate to sedate animals unless we have to, but Gimp was a wild animal who was very efficient about letting everyone know that he wasn’t happy about being caged. He tended to spend most of the day pacing and roaring.

“How long do we have him?”

“Just a few weeks. Once the cast comes off, they’ll return him to the spot where they found him. His leg is healing great, but I do worry about him reinjuring it if we can’t keep him quiet.”

“Okay, call Scott. Maybe he can give him something to take the edge off. Anything else?”
I asked as I picked up a pile of mail.

“Trenton
Field called. He said he was returning your call. He tried your cell, but I guess you didn’t answer. I told him that you often turned it off when you were in a meeting but would get back to him today.”

“Okay
, thanks. I’ll call him back.”

“Any news about the dead ghost hunter
?” Jeremy asked. “Everyone is talking about him.”

I tossed the mail back on the desk.
“Not really. To be honest, I haven’t even spoken to Salinger about the investigation. I’m really curious about what might have happened, but I’ve been busy, and I know Zak would prefer that I stay out of it. He thinks I’m going to put myself in danger by snooping around.”

“
Zak has a point. You do seem to have a knack for putting yourself in danger. I just figured you called Trenton because he’d spent time with the ghost hunter before he died. Everyone is talking about that too.”

I walked across the room and opened the window. It really was a nice day. “Yeah,” I answered. “That was the reason I called Trenton
in the first place. Ethan mentioned that the men dined together, and I was curious. I don’t suppose it would hurt to talk to him. No danger in that.”

“
If you do happen across anything interesting, fill me in. Adam Davenport’s death is the talk of the town and it’s nice to have a leg up on the local gossip.”

I laughed. “If I hear anything juicy
, you’ll be the second one to know.”

“I appreciate that. Before I forget
, a reporter form the newspaper in Bryton Lake called. She wants to do a feature on you for a column she writes called ‘Women Power.’”

“She wants to do a feature on me?”

“One of her good friends adopted a puppy from us last month. The woman came in looking for one type of dog and left with a different breed entirely. She’s thrilled. The reporter indicated that the column would focus on your matchmaking superpower. She even referred to you as the ‘pet matchmaker of our generation.’”

I smiled. “Really? I think I like that
: Zoe Donovan, Pet Matchmaker.”

“So should
I set it up?”

“Give me her number and I’ll call her. Maybe we can work in some publicity for the Zoo. It would be great to have all our charges adopted into cozy homes before the holidays.”

“I’ll look up her number and text it to you.” Jeremy turned to leave.

“
Let me know what you find out after talking to your friend about a pup for Ellie,” I reminded him.

“I’ll call him right now.”

“Thanks.” I headed back over to my desk to call Trenton. Jeremy had a point about being a step ahead of the local gossip. Even though I wasn’t investigating the death, I supposed it couldn’t hurt to hear what he had to say.

“Trenton, it
’s Zoe. I’m sorry I missed your call,” I began after he answered on his end.

“
Are you interested in parapsychology?”

“Only as far as it pertains to the dead ghost hunter
who was found in the Henderson house.”

“Ah, I should have known. What would you like to know?”
Trenton asked.

“First of all
, do you believe in ghosts?”

“So did
he
believe in ghosts?” Zak asked later that evening, as I was filling him in on my conversation with Trenton.

“He said that while he was open to the possibility of altered states of consciousness
, and has seen some amazing research in the area, he wasn’t willing to go so far as to say that he absolutely believed in the actual presence of ghosts as we were referring to them. He did say that it seemed Professor Davenport might have been on to something with his research, although, again, he was unwilling to state that a poltergeist might have frightened the man enough to cause his tumble down the stairs.”

“I want to hear the whole story
, but I’m going to grab a beer. Would you like some wine?” Zak asked.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll take half a glass.”

We were sitting outside on the deck overlooking the lake next to a roaring fire that was keeping us toasty warm. It really had be
en a beautiful autumn this year, and Zak and I were committed to taking advantage of every last minute of the awesome weather. I leaned back in my chair and looked out at the moon shining on the lake. The orange glow from Zak’s lights from the front of the house gave an eerie feel to the otherwise dark night. I’d convinced him that the firelight was all that was needed in the back on this particular evening. I tossed another log on the fire and watched as the sap that hid in the crevices of the freshly cut pine snapped and sparked as it was exposed and ignited. Luckily, the fire pit had been built on the edge of the seating area, where the deck met the sandy beach, which separated the lake from the forest.

“Okay, so Trenton talked to Davenport,” Zak
said, picking up the conversation where we’d left off as he handed me my wine.

“Trenton said Adam Davenport ha
d been doing research on the Henderson house for quite some time. He’d gathered as much information as he could by pulling old newspaper articles, obtaining copies of police reports, and digging into everything he could find concerning the history of the house. After taking into consideration everything he’d uncovered, he decided there was enough evidence to justify a trip to Ashton Falls. It seems he’d been hanging out at the Henderson house for the past two weeks. No one realized he was there because few people, other than the occasional drifter or the high-school party crowd, dared to venture out to the property.”

“
How did Trenton know he was in the area?” Zak wondered.

“Davenport contacted Trenton and asked if he’d be willing to meet and provide some background information about the
house. Trenton agreed since they had a similar background.”

“Similar background?” Zak asked as he stirred the coals and tossed another log on the fire.

“Although Davenport ventured into the field of parapsychology later in his career, his undergraduate work was in psychology, as was Trenton’s. According to Trenton, they’d actually attended some of the same seminars in their early academic careers.”

I took a sip of my wine as I gathered my thoughts. Zak really did buy the best wines. Prior to my relationship with
him, I’d usually purchased whatever was on sale at the grocery store, but Zak had wine sent to the house from vineyards all over the world.

“So the men met for lunch
. . .” Zak prompted.

I set my wine on the table next to my chair and tucked my legs up under
my body. The temperature had dropped and in spite of the fire, my feet were getting cold.