These Haunts Are Made For Walking (Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Book 1) (17 page)

Annie was still pacing beside us as Brannon played back the recording. “That is one hell of an EVP,” Trent said.

“Have you seen anything in here recently?” Brannon asked.

I would tell him. Just not right now in front of the other men. “No, not recently,” I said.

“Thanks for letting us come here tonight,” Brannon said as he stood by the front door.

“Think nothing of it.” Maybe he’d remember my hospitality when the chief of police was looking at me like I was a murderer.

“Nice to meet you,” Trent and Adam said.

Brannon paused at the door. He turned to look at me and then mouthed thank you. When I smiled he winked. He really knew how to make a girl weak in the knees.

Annie was pacing beside me when the men exited the library, so I knew that I had to turn my phone back on.

You need one of those recorders.

I shook my head and waved my hand. “I know. You want to say a lot. I’ll get one.”

I didn’t like messing with the things though because I was worried that I would bring in a spirit that I didn’t want to talk to. But at this point, how much worse could it be? Okay, it could always be worse, but I wouldn’t think about that. Annie really wanted to talk and I didn’t have the heart not to listen.

I closed up the library in a hurry after the men left. I wanted to get out of there before someone really did catch me. I waved goodbye to Annie and Jane, promising to buy a recorder thingy, as Annie called it.

That night as I walked home from the library, trying to wrap my mind around the murder, footsteps echoed behind me again. I was almost afraid to turn around.

I spun around and screamed out. “What the hell are you doing?”

Brannon held his hands up. “Sorry.”

“You should know better as a law officer than to sneak up on anyone.”

“I didn’t think I was being that quiet. Are you okay?” he asked.

I released a deep breath. “I’ll be fine now.”

“I saw you and thought maybe I should walk you home. I was talking with the guys by their cars for a while.”

Brannon probably thought I was thinking that he had waited around for me.

I nodded. “Okay.” There were far worse things than having Brannon walk me home. “I could use the company.”

I wondered if I would have enough nerve to tell him about Annie now. Brannon smelled too good to hang around for too long though. I didn’t want to be interested in anyone right now. So why was I having those thoughts?

“What are you thinking? he asked.

Well, I couldn’t tell him the truth, so I said, “I was thinking about the voice you caught tonight.”

“I was thinking about that too,” he said.

Just then my phone sent an alert.

“You sure do get a lot of text messages,” he said with a frown.

I chuckled. “My friend is having a crisis right now.”

That wasn’t entirely a lie. Could Annie the ghost be considered my friend? I suppose if Casper was the friendly ghost than Annie could be too. I pulled the phone from my pocket. Of course it was a text from Annie. I had just left. Couldn’t what she had to say wait until tomorrow? When I looked at the phone I realized she was adding her two cents. I looked back at the library window and saw her watching us.

Kiss him,
was all the message said.

I stuffed the phone back in my pocket.

“Is everything okay?” Brannon asked.

“You know I am worried about Marion’s death and how that will affect my job,” I said.

I had to tell Brannon about the dilemma with work—but I would leave out the ghost part.

“Please don’t worry about the chief. I will help you any way that I can.”

I nodded. “Thank you.” I could use all the help that I could get.

When we reached my apartment we stopped once again at the front door. Brannon looked as if he wanted to reach out and touch my hand or, even worse, kiss me. Definitely not what I needed right now. But I wondered what his mouth would feel like against mine. And he smelled so good.

“Try to get some sleep, okay?” he said softly.

Brannon had stepped closer to me and I didn’t back away. My phone dinged again, ruining the moment. I sighed and pulled it from my pocket. I should have ignored it, or thrown it away. How had Annie sent me a text from so far away? She’d only been able to send them when she was near.

I looked around, but didn’t see anything. Then again, it was dark and it would be hard to see any spirit lingering around, including George Wise.

Annie’s text was full of advice.
The young man should court you at your home in front of your family.

Not exactly modern advice and technically Brannon
was
at my home. There was no courting going on though. My dysfunctional family would surely chase Brannon away if he’d met them. Annie should stick with haunting the library and leave my love life alone.

Brannon smiled. “Don’t forget I am here if you need anything.”

“What I need to know is who murdered Marion so that the chief won’t be suspicious of me. I need to look into a few things myself.”

“I don’t think that is such a great idea,” Brannon said with a frown.

Okay, I just wouldn’t tell him about what I was doing and then he wouldn’t have to think about whether it was a bad idea or not.

“Thank you again for letting us investigate the library. I’m not sure why you changed your mind, but I’m glad you did.”

I wouldn’t tell him that one of the reasons was because I wanted to be nice so that the chief wouldn’t ask me any more questions.

“That EVP was amazing,” he said.

“Yes, it certainly was.” I touched the phone in my pocket. At least Annie hadn’t sent another text. “Well, I guess I’d better go.”

He stared for a long moment and then stepped off the porch. Unfortunately, I liked his personality and his looks weren’t too shabby either. A tall glass of water, as Tammy would say.

The next morning I dressed in brown pants and a white sweater. I stopped off and grabbed a coffee and bagel on my way to work. It was early and the crisp fall air woke me up. I passed by the building where I’d seen the ghost, but he wasn’t there this morning. Maybe he was a ghost that only came out at night. Annie didn’t have that problem.

I paused for a moment when I reached the graveyard in front of the library. I’d have to ask Annie what the inscription on her tombstone meant. It was the same one that I’d read on a stone at the Devil’s Moon Cemetery.
Once your eyes have been opened, you can’t un-know or un-see.

I unlocked the door and stepped into the building. It was early and the others weren’t there yet. I looked for Annie as I stepped behind the front desk. She had to be here somewhere. I fed the cat and turned on the computer, but there was still no sign of Annie. After last night and the EVP I’d figured she would be waiting for me by the door this morning. She was the most unpredictable ghost I’d ever seen. Not that I’d seen many ghosts, but I knew she had to be just the same.

Annie would be upset with me for not bringing a recorder. She’d have to settle for the voice recorder on my cell phone. I tapped my fingers against the counter and thought about what to do first. I had plenty of work I could get started on, but I figured it would be best to take advantage of the alone time in the library. There was no one around to wonder what I was doing or ask questions. And by no one I meant Leslie. She always kept a watchful eye on me. Probably just waiting for me to make a mistake.

I moved over to the aisle for the mystery books. I needed to check out Ted Alistair’s other books while Annie wasn’t around too. I knew she would pop up at any moment, so I needed to hurry. After locating the rest of the books, I paused, trying to decide which one to look at first. I decided on the one that I hadn’t seen yet.

When I pulled the book from the shelf, a letter fell from the second book of the series. I looked around to see if I was still alone. So far it was still just me.

I reached down and picked up the letter. The white sheet of paper had been folded several times. It was probably nothing. People left the strangest things in books sometimes. I wouldn’t even begin to list some of the odd things I’d found. I placed the book back on the shelf for the moment so that I could focus on the letter. I unfolded the paper, looking around again to see if anyone had slipped up behind me. I felt as if I was reading someone’s diary. It was probably just someone’s grocery list.

Words written in black ink covered the front of the paper. I glanced over my shoulder and then started to read the page. After reading just a couple words I knew that this letter had to be from the killer.

I decided the method used in this book would be the perfect way to kill Marion. I was right—it worked out perfectly. Now she is gone. Good riddance.

The letter was confessing to offing Marion. It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It sent shivers down my spine.

I continued to read, even though it was making me sick. The killer was confident that no one would discover who did it.

It was the perfect crime. The police won’t figure it out and no one at the library is smart enough either. 

I wasn’t surprised to get an insult from the killer. Someone who would commit murder wouldn’t exactly have manners. I just worried that the killer was still around, watching us when we didn’t even know it. Would the killer move on to another victim? I had to find out who this was before that happened.

Reading over the note, I realized that it was as if the killer got some kind of sick enjoyment from bragging about the murder. I’d read about things like that in the past. The killers usually did like to brag about what they’d done. If the person kept talking enough it wouldn’t be long before the police would find out who it was. Maybe even I would figure it out. I pulled the other books from the shelves, but there were no other notes. I even looked at other authors’ books that were shelved nearby.

I studied the paper again. The handwriting was elegant and not at all what I thought a deranged killer’s penmanship would look like. I would expect scribbling and messy words. This looked like a woman’s handwriting, but I couldn’t be sure. I supposed that would be something for the experts to figure out. I had to call Brannon and tell him about what I’d found. At least maybe now the chief wouldn’t look at me as a possible killer. Unless he thought I wanted to play a game with police and was turning over a letter that I’d written.  

No, I wouldn’t even consider that possibility. There was a third book in the series, but so far I hadn’t found it on the shelf. I searched the entire aisle for the third book. I wanted to see if there was another note, but the book was nowhere to be found. Someone had to have checked out. Heading back to the computer, I decided to see where the book was. After typing a few keystrokes I discovered that I was correct, it had been checked out. Just when I wanted to look at it. Did the killer have the book? That was a scary thought, but a distinct possibility.

I tapped the keys again and soon located the person who had checked out the book. Dorothy Blanton was the name listed. I didn’t know her, but I jotted down the address from the library system. I wasn’t supposed to, but I was desperate. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I would have to visit Dorothy and ask about the book. Plus, I’d see if she knew Marion. I should probably tell Brannon about the note, but I wanted to see Dorothy first. I needed to get a headstart if I wanted to solve this murder myself. Everyone in town would be most impressed if I did that.

Leslie had arrived late today. She didn’t look up when I walked over to the desk area. She acted as if she didn’t see me. Since she was there I decided to head to my office. When I entered the room I discovered Annie sitting at my desk. My phone dinged as soon as I stepped into the space.

Did you bring recorder?

This would be a touchy subject.

“My phone has a recorder,” I said with a smile.

Use it!
was her response.

“First I have work to do and then I have to visit the person who left the note in the book.”

Glad you are finally taking this seriously.

“Me too.”

As soon as lunch time arrived, I grabbed my purse and headed out the door. I had to go to Dorothy’s home right away.

Good luck,
was the message from Annie. Leslie had nothing to say as usual.

I pulled up to Dorothy’s house. It was a brick ranch with a black fence around the outer edge of the property. I’d dated a guy back in high school who had lived on this street. Last I heard he’d moved to Alaska.

After climbing out of the car, I walked up to the door and it hit me that I had no idea what I would say to her. Would I ask for the library book back? No, I couldn’t do that. I knocked on the door and waited, but after a minute no one had answered. I rang the bell again, but I heard nothing from inside the house.

Apparently, she wasn’t home. The short, gray-haired woman next door was looking at me. She didn’t take her eyes off me. Finally, she motioned for me to come over to where she stood. Maybe this was Dorothy.