Morgan’s house was a simple but inviting one-story cottage. Rafe was already there, leaning against his truck as though he’d been waiting for hours. She trudged up next to him, and they wordlessly took long strides to the door and Rafe rang the doorbell. For a while, it appeared as though no one would answer. But at last, the door opened and a young blonde woman with brown eyes returned the stares of her visitors.
“Can I help you?” the girl asked tentatively, almost as though she were afraid of the answer. Then she saw Rafe.
“You again,” she said tersely. “Are you back to insist I’m nuts?”
“I never once said you were nuts. Besides, this time I’ve got back-up.”
“Hi,” Kenzie began, “My name’s Kenzie, and I’m here to help you with your, ahem, ghost problem.”
“How? The cops can’t do anything, and apparently neither can this supposed ghost hunter. How do you expect to help?”
“Well, in order to get rid of this ghost that’s haunting you, I have to find evidence that it’s actually here.”
“Good luck with that. Every time I call and Rafe shows up, the thing vanishes. How do you plan to find it?”
“You could say I have a secret weapon.”
“And what would that be?”
Kenzie gestured to Sage standing next to her and elaborated, “I’m sure you know that dogs have keener senses than humans. Sage would be able to sniff out anything suspicious. Plus, she’s very intelligent compared to other dogs, so you could say she’s my sidekick or partner.”
“Yeah, and I still don’t know exactly who you are. Are you a ghost hunter or something?”
“No, actually I’m a detective. Or rather, I’m going to be a private investigator.”
“And the cops called you to help me?”
“Yeah, they did.”
Morgan sighed. “Well, no offense, but I don’t see how you can help me. I guess you can come in and snoop around, but don’t expect to find anything.”
Kenzie nodded understandingly and stepped inside with Sage when Morgan held the door open for them. Kenzie didn’t even know where to start. But Rafe apparently did.
“Morgan said the living room seems to get the most activity,” he said. “The furniture tends to float in there more than any other room in the house.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“My guess is that the ghost, for some reason, feels more connected to the living room. Or the room has a special significance to it.”
“And what exactly am I supposed to be looking for?”
“How would I know? That’s your job. You find the clues, I exterminate the ghost. It’s that simple.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes, and didn’t bother hiding it. Feeling absolutely preposterous, she kneeled down and examined the undersides of all the chairs and the sofa to see if there was some sort of trick that allowed the furniture to float. Unfortunately, and expectedly, she came up empty-handed. She surveyed the rest of the house, Morgan watching her every move, until she finally declared the place uninhabited by ghosts and with no evidence of one ever being present. Sage, with her trusty nose, didn’t turn up anything either.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you,” Kenzie told Morgan apologetically. “But the chief did tell me that ghosts don’t leave evidence. But I can try this at a different angle.”
“What do you mean?”
“You say you’ve never seen the ghost. How long have you lived in this house?”
“For about two years now. What does that matter?”
“I’m just trying to figure out why, after two years of living here without any problems, a ghost suddenly shows up and starts haunting it. Do you know who used to own this house?”
“Yeah, the other family moved out because the wife got pregnant with their third kid. This house wasn’t big enough so they got one that was. It was a good price, so I grabbed it. Now I guess I can see why it was so cheap.”
“Did the other family, or anyone else, ever mention a ghost in it?”
“No, nothing like that. This ghost just started showing up a week or so ago.”
“How about this?” Rafe cut in. “Do you have any old artifacts in here? Maybe something you disturbed to cause a vengeful spirit to hassle you?”
“No, everything I brought with me I’ve had for years. And no, this house isn’t on an old cemetery. I already checked that out.”
“Besides the floating furniture,” Kenzie asked, “has anything else happened that’s been weird?”
“Well…there is one thing. I didn’t think it mattered, because I figured I did it without realizing it.”
“What would that be?”
Morgan strolled into her bedroom and came back holding a picture. Kenzie saw Morgan in the picture, wrapped in the arms of a handsome young man with a shock of copper hair.
“This is my fiancé, Sean Plankinton,” she explained. “But he…he died two months ago.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“It was really weird, too. He was on his way to see me after he got off work at the diner. It wasn’t raining or anything, but somehow he lost control of his car and went off the road. He went right into the water. The paramedics said he drowned. I keep wondering, how could his car swerve like that? It wasn’t raining and there were no animals to avoid hitting, either.”
As Kenzie began to ponder this, Morgan continued. “After Sean died, I was constantly depressed. I still am and I still miss him. But when this weird ghost stuff started happening, Sean’s picture would always be floating. And the next day, it would always be somewhere different. I thought I just picked it up without thinking about it and then left it somewhere else. I miss him so much, so sometimes I carry the picture around with me. I could have even sleepwalked and moved it. But now, I don’t think so. For some reason, that picture is moving itself all over the house, and it’s always not far from where I am. Like it’s following me.”
Rafe snapped his fingers so fast that Kenzie jumped involuntarily. Sage’s ears perked up and she went into guard mode.
“That’s the answer then,” he declared, ignoring the reactions of the town’s newcomers. “Sean must be the one haunting this house.”
Kenzie snorted and covered her mouth. “Why would Morgan’s fiancé be haunting her house? That’s not exactly loving.”
Rafe shot her a grimace. “Not all ghosts haunt houses, or people, to torment them. A lot of them try to reach out to someone they left behind in their past life, but they don’t always succeed.”
“So you’re saying that Sean is the ghost, and he’s trying to reach out to his fiancé?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. But obviously it isn’t working if she can’t see him.”
Kenzie suppressed a groan. “Rafe, with all due respect, that doesn’t make sense. If Sean wants Morgan to be aware of his presence, why can’t she see him?”
Morgan inadvertently paced the room while Kenzie and Rafe followed her. “Do you think it really is Sean?” Her doe eyes lit up with a spark of hope and it filled Kenzie’s heart with guilt.
Rafe ignored this, however, and said, “Great, now we’ve got a lead. Morgan, all you have to do is, next time you see your furniture acting up, tell Sean to stay here with you. Don’t let on that you’re scared; that’s what runs him off. Call me and let me know he’s here, but use a safe word so he doesn’t run off. Then I’ll take care of him.”
“Take care of him?” Morgan’s eyes went from hopeful to distraught. “If it’s Sean, the last thing I want is for you to suck him up into your stupid ghost buster device and do the creator knows what with him!”
“Hey, you called me. I’ve got a job to do, and I’m going to do it.”
“Well, then consider your ass fired, because I won’t let you hurt Sean!”
Rafe scowled. Before he could retort, Kenzie cut in, “Hold on. If Sean died two months ago and he’s trying to reach out to you, why would he wait until now?”
“He probably waited until after the funeral,” Rafe said dryly. Kenzie ignored him.
Morgan thought this through, and then her eyes blazed with anger. “That bitch! I should have known!”
“What?” Kenzie inquired, alarmed.
“Audra Spellmeier. She can’t leave Sean alone even when he’s not here. She can’t let him rest in peace.”
“Who’s Audra Spellmeier?”
“Oh geez,” Rafe groaned as he rubbed his face disgustedly.
“I’ll tell you who Audra is,” Morgan hissed. “She’s the biggest bitch in the world, and she’s always had a thing for Sean. In fact, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if she killed him. She probably made his car go off the road! If she couldn’t have him, no one could! Maybe Sean came back to warn me about her!”
“Whoa, how could she make a car go off the road? And have you told any of this to the police?”
“I need to, and I’m going to. But I’m not going anywhere near Audra, not even to confront her, no matter how much she deserves it. She’s a witch.”
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