That Thing You Do (Whispering Bay Romance Book 1) (Volume 1) (15 page)

“You think
destroying
his home will get the ghost to cooperate?” She cackled, causing an eerie tingle to run down Allie’s spine. “You have a lot to learn about the ghost business, missy. We’re not trying to start Armageddon here. Destroying his home could cause all sorts of nastiness that, personally,
I don’t think this backwater town is ready for.” Phoebe picked up her sign. “Now, out of my way, I have a protest to get on with.”

Great
. She’d summoned Attila the Ghost Hunter.

Allie raised the bullhorn to her mouth. “May I have your attention,” she said to the crowd.

“It’s the reporter!” shouted one of the Gray Flamingoes.

“Hello, everyone,” Allie said, trying to sound
authoritative, in a friendly kind of way. “I’m Allison Grant and I’m a journalist representing
Florida
! magazine. I circulated the letter from my anonymous source that many of you have read, and while I do appreciate the support you’ve shown this morning, I’m sorry to say that I’ve spent enough time in the building to conclude that I just don’t think there’s a ghost in there. Or…at least not one
who wants to make itself known.”

The crowd began fidgeting.

“And, so, here’s the thing. This protest is getting in the way of people’s jobs—”

“You’re giving up?” someone yelled. “Just like that?”

“Just because the ghost doesn’t like you doesn’t mean he’s not here!” came another voice.

“Look,” Allie said, “I’ll be more than happy to embrace this ghost, but without
some kind of proof I can’t support another delay in taking down the building.”

“You want proof?” yelled a familiar voice. Allie searched the crowd. It was Roger Van Cleave. “I’ll give you proof. I’ve seen the ghost!”

Everyone turned to stare at Roger.

Allie lowered the bullhorn. “What do you mean, you’ve seen the ghost?”

“I confess. I wrote the anonymous letter.” He reached
into his shirt pocket to produce a folded sheet of paper and waved it in the air. “I’m Concerned Citizen!”

T
he crowd began to
cheer. Roger Van Cleave was Concerned Citizen? Why didn’t he tell her that yesterday? Why all the secrecy? Especially if he planned to blurt it out in front of half the town. The protestors began deluging him with questions.

“I’ve seen the ghost, too!” said a woman with a Sunshine Ghost Society T-shirt. “He’s here right now!” She pointed to the building. “He’s on
the roof!”

Shouts filled the air.

“There he is!” someone cried.

Allie whipped around to look where everyone was pointing, but all she saw was a big fat
nothing
.

Tom came up to stand beside her. “It’s like the damn Salem witch hunts.”

“You don’t see anything, either?”

He shook his head in disgust.

The wail of a police siren drowned out Allie’s next thoughts.

“It’s the pigs!” Phoebe yelled.

Allie almost expected her to take off running, but Phoebe, like the rest of the protestors, stood their ground as the Whispering Bay police cruiser cautiously made its way through the parking lot. The door opened and Zeke emerged.

Allie had to admit, she was both happy and a little anxious to see her big brother. Happy, because surely he was going
to take care of this mess and anxious because he had his Allie-what-have-you-done-now face. Rusty had come along as well. He attempted to clear the crowd, but from what Allie could see, no one was bothering to listen to his orders.

Zeke came up and touched her arm in brotherly affection, a far cry from their usual kiss and hug, but there was a crowd present and he was here on official business
so she didn’t take it personally. He whipped off his cop sunglasses. “Got a call there was a disturbance going on. What are all these people doing here?”

“They’re here to protest the senior center demolition,” Allie said, “but I swear to you, Zeke, I had nothing to do with this. We woke up a few minutes ago to find…all this,” she waved her arm through the air, “in the parking lot.”

Zeke scratched his chin in a deceptively pensive move that Allie swore he must have learned from some cop movie. “We?” His gaze zeroed in on Tom.

“Tom and I spent the night in the senior center hoping to make contact with the ghost. My idea. Not his,” she added quickly.

“The
ghost
?” Zeke laughed incredulously. “Let me get this straight, Donalan. My sister bamboozled you into spending
the night here in the hopes of catching a ghost?”

“We weren’t trying to catch it, we were trying to make contact. I’m writing a story about it for
Florida
! magazine. Hasn’t Mimi told you any of this?”

To Allie’s surprise, Tom backed her up. “Allie’s just following up on a lead. It’s what any journalist would do. The building’s been vandalized a couple of times in the past month so
I couldn’t let her stay here alone.”

“Not to throw kerosene on the fire,” Rusty interrupted, his face pale. “But I could have sworn I just saw something on top of that building.”

The three of them turned in unison. “Like what?” Zeke demanded.

“Like a vapor,” Rusty said. “A dancing vapor!”

Zeke shook his head like what the hell, but it was Rusty, right?

Phoebe Van
Cleave, who was close enough to hear Rusty’s words, didn’t waste time capitalizing on them. “See!” she cried. “Even the fuzz sees the ghost!”

Excitement hummed through the parking lot as word spread. Was it possible there was really a ghost on top of the building and Allie just couldn’t see it? Or was the power of suggestion causing some kind of mass hysteria?

Zeke ignored the pumped
up crowd and walked inside the building. Tom and Allie followed. It took her brother exactly two seconds to hone in on the lone mattress.

“Looks pretty damn cozy here.” Zeke turned his scary cop stare on Tom. “Do I need to ask what your intentions are toward my sister? Or should I save time and just beat the shit out of you instead?”

Allie punched her brother on the shoulder. Just
enough to get his attention. “Oh for the love of—nothing happened, Zeke.”

Tom nudged her out of the way until both men stood eye to eye. “Look, Grant, whatever happened between Allie and me is none of your business. I need the premises cleared. So, I’d appreciate it if you did your job so I can do mine.”

It was like watching one of those old time westerns where the two gunslingers
faced each other in the final showdown. Each of them waiting for the other to draw first.

 Rusty came running in from the parking lot, his face flushed and his forehead covered in sweat. “Those Gray Flamingos say they ain’t leavin’ till the ghost tells them what they want to know. Something about the world coming to an end.”

Allie moaned.

Rusty took a handkerchief from his back
pocket and mopped his brow. “Yeah, and that Van Cleave woman? Piece of work, that one. Says she’s gonna call a judge friend of hers from Panama City to keep the building from coming down until her Friendly Ghost Society can do a proper investigation.”

“That’s Sunshine Ghost Society,” Allie corrected.

Zeke broke out of his bad-ass sheriff routine to deal with this newest development.
“Rusty, get Bruce Bailey on the line.” Bruce Bailey was Whispering Bay’s mayor and the way Zeke said his name didn’t bode well.

 “I’m on it, Chief.” Rusty exited the building like he was on a mission.

“That’s my cue to give Steve Pappas an update,” Tom said. He glanced between Allie and Zeke, then left to make his call.

“What’s going on between you and that guy?” Zeke asked once
they were alone.

“I already told you. Nothing’s going on.”

“Don’t bullshit me. I saw the way he looked at you.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like you were breakfast and he hadn’t eaten in days.”

That certainly described what she’d woken up to this morning. Only to be fair, she’d been just as hungry as Tom. She tried for a blank expression. “French toast or scrambled eggs?”

“Allie,” Zeke said in a warning tone.

“No worries, big brother. It’s all good. Tom has actually been…kind of cooperative here.”

“I don’t care if he did a rain dance trying to call this ghost of yours out.” Zeke ran an agitated hand through his cropped dark hair. “Are you getting back together with that guy?”

“What? No!”

 “Good, because that asshole broke your heart.
You cried for days, hell, it was more like weeks. Think I’ve forgotten about that?”

That asshole, as Zeke put it, walked back into the building the exact moment her brother uttered those words. No sense hoping he hadn’t heard it. It was clear from the look on Tom’s face that he’d caught Zeke’s entire tirade.

Captain Crunch
. Leave it to Zeke’s big mouth to make things even worse than
they were before. Now Tom Donalan felt
sorry
for her. This was totally unacceptable. It had been twelve years. She got why
she
might feel bitter, but why did Zeke still harbor so much animosity toward Tom?

“For the record, no one broke my heart. Okay?” she announced. “And while I appreciate the big brother routine,” she said to Zeke, “I’m thirty years-old and I can take care of myself, thank
you very much.”

Neither of them said anything and somehow that made it all worse. Like they didn’t believe her. She could barely look Tom in the eye. If her license wasn’t suspended she’d get in her car and drive back to Tampa this instant. 

Rusty walked back in the building with a long face. “Bad news, Chief. Mayor Bailey says he can’t interfere with what’s going on here. Something
about not wanting to take sides.”

“More like not wanting to lose votes,” Zeke muttered.

Allie glanced over to find Tom staring at her hard. “I think I have a solution,” he said. “Follow me.”             

 They all marched outside. Allie was curious to discover what sort of solution Tom had come up with. He positioned himself at the edge of the crowd. The protestors, sensing something
was up, quieted down to listen. “I’ve just spoken to my boss at Pappas-Hernandez Construction. We don’t want anyone to get hurt here, so the company is willing to compromise.”

The crowd began chanting, “Séance-Séance-Séance!”

“You have forty-eight hours. And that’s it,” Tom said sternly. “Forty-eight hours and this building comes down. No matter what.”

A cheer went up among the
protestors.

Forty-eight hours? Steve Pappas was willing to give them another forty-eight hours! Only this time, Allie wouldn’t be going solo. She’d have Phoebe and the rest of the Sunshine Ghost Society to back her up.

“That doesn’t sound like Steve Pappas,” Zeke muttered.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Pappas is all about the bottom line. He’s a nice guy, but he’s a businessman
first and he’s doing this project pro-bono, so he doesn’t need any more PR. Bruce Bailey already wants to give him the key to the city.”

Allie used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and searched Tom out. He appeared busy talking to a group of his workmen. She thought about what Zeke had just said, but what reason would Tom have to lie about the demolition extension?  

Allie’s
thoughts were interrupted by a familiar gravelly voice that she was beginning to dread. “Forty-eight hours isn’t nearly enough time to prepare for a proper séance, but I suppose we’ll just have to make do.”

Phoebe kept popping back up some like some evil jack-in-the-box. Still, if she could get this séance off the ground, Allie would personally buy her a year’s supply of her favorite cigarettes.
Allie frowned. That seemed a little…uncharitable of her. She’d get Phoebe a year’s supply of nicotine patches, instead.

“Do you really think you can make contact with the ghost through a séance?” Allie asked. “I mean, are those for real?”

“Of course they’re for real. This being, whoever he may have been in life, has made contact for a reason and we need to get to the bottom of it.
From what my brother tells me the ghost has only recently made himself known, which means something’s got his tighty whities twisted in a wad.” Phoebe glared at the large Demolition in Progress sign in front of the senior center door. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that something is.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Phoebe said. “In case you weren’t
aware,
I am
the area’s leading ghost expert.”

“Then why didn’t your brother go to you directly with this? Why send me an anonymous email signed Concerned Citizen?”

Phoebe’s face clouded over. “Who knows why Roger does anything these days? Maybe he’s off his meds.”

Allie wasn’t sure what that meant, but despite her mixed emotions at the morning’s events, she began to feel hopeful.
A séance. An honest to God séance. Whatever else happened, ghost or no ghost,
this
was a story she could run with.

*~*~*

T
he crowd had thinned
down by the time Allie made it back inside the senior center. She watched as Tom deflated the air mattress, folded it into a square then punched it back inside the bag to make it fit. He glanced up to see Allie standing over him.

“What
made Steve Pappas give us the extension? I mean, is everything going to be okay with your job?”

“Sure, everything’s fine.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense to go ahead with the demolition if we’re going to have to fight half the town to do it. Steve Pappas knows it’s good PR to hold off for a couple days. That way, everyone ends up happy.” He sounded convincing enough, but there was that
twitchy thing he did with his mouth that made Allie think he wasn’t being one hundred percent honest with her.

“Look, I want you to know I appreciate everything you’ve done trying to help me with this ghost story, even though you’re not a believer and you have your own agenda here. So I was thinking, maybe we can start over? If this ghost exists, then I want to flush him out so I can write
my story. And obviously, that’s in your best interest, too, because once we do that then there can’t be any more objections to the building coming down.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I don’t see why we can’t be on friendlier terms.”

“Friendlier?”

“Not like this morning friendly, which for the record, I did
not
initiate. I just think we should be partners.”

“So now we’re the two musketeers? Did you really buy that little show out there? A ghost on top of the building? C’mon, Allie, you’re smarter than that.”

“Just because I didn’t see what everyone else saw doesn’t mean there wasn’t something there.” She bit her bottom lip. “I admit, I’m not sure what to think about Concerned Citizen.”

“Roger Van Cleave? You know his wife died last
year.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Roger doesn’t know what to do with himself and now this ghost thing has fallen right into his lap. I’m sure he thinks he saw a ghost. He probably even believes he wrote that letter, and maybe he did, but this is all just something to tick away the hours for a lonely old man.”

“How do you know all this?”

“He’s a member of
Dad’s parish. Calls him three, four times a week with some suggestion or other for Sunday’s sermon. I helped patch his roof a few weeks ago. Kept me there all day plying me with iced tea and stories about the good old days.”