Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man Bobbi Holmes (best pdf ebook reader for android .TXT) 📖

“Treasure?” Danielle asked.

“They were all looking for it,” Cory said in a conspiratorial voice.

“Oh, you’re here,” a new voice said from the doorway leading from the kitchen to the hallway. They all turned to the voice and found Ginny standing there.

“Cory, did you ever find that plunger?” Ginny asked.

“No, but I found an ax.”

Ginny laughed and said, “I’m afraid an ax won’t work, not unless I want to rip out the plumbing. Why don’t you go back down to the basement and see if you can find it, please?”

Cory gave her a nod and abruptly left the room.

Sixteen

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived,” Ginny said. “But we had a little plumbing problem.”

“That’s fine. Cory explained,” Danielle said.

“Cory mentioned something about your great-grandmother’s brother, Bud, searching for a treasure?” Walt asked.

Ginny arched her brows. “Did he?”

“Yes. It sounded like an interesting story,” Walt said.

“Walt’s always looking for story fodder to give him inspiration,” Danielle interjected.

“I suspect he got the story from Caitlin, my cousin’s daughter. Cory and Caitlin were friends, and as I recall, Caitlin was quite the imaginative storyteller. Unfortunately, she got into drugs and after that had a problem telling fact from fantasy. It was quite tragic. She died of an overdose.”

“Cory seemed to think Bud’s disappearance involved a treasure,” Danielle said.

“Yes, I suppose that’s as good an explanation as any. I guess he could have come up with alien abduction,” Ginny said with a snort.

“Do you have any idea what happened to Bud?” Walt asked.

Ginny shrugged. “No, not really. But back then, someone could move away and easily lose contact. He was my grandmother’s uncle, and she told me he wasn’t close to his sister. From what I know, there was a falling-out between him and his brother-in-law, my great-grandfather. But I never heard what it was about. I don’t think my grandmother knew.”

“So there was a falling-out, and that’s why he left?” Danielle asked.

Ginny shrugged. “It’s what I always assumed. But that’s only a guess. I just know he left sometime in 1904, and the family never heard from him again.”

“Cory’s version was more interesting,” Walt teased.

“Yes, it is.” Ginny grinned. “And Cory really has been helpful.” Ginny glanced around the kitchen, taking in its vintage pink and gray linoleum flooring, the worn cabinets, its white paint chipping off and stained. “This house just needs a lot of work. I’m afraid my cousin didn’t keep up on things after her husband died. And for all Cory’s quirks, he’s rather handy.”

“Older houses require a lot of work,” Danielle said.

Ginny flashed Danielle a smile. “You would know. I imagine you had your hands full when you inherited Marlow House.”

“I was fortunate. My great-aunt never lived in Marlow House, but she kept it well maintained. We had to replace the appliances, and there was some plumbing required before installing the washer and dryer, but I was lucky, it was in pretty good shape.”

“I read Marlow House was haunted,” Ginny said with a grin.

“Oh, that. The ghost wasn’t much trouble,” Danielle joked. “And I eventually got rid of him.”

Ginny laughed. “An exorcism?”

Danielle shrugged. “Something like that.”

“Fortunately, no ghosts here,” Ginny said.

Danielle started to respond but froze when the space behind Ginny swirled and changed colors, giving way to a bright light. Mesmerized by the sight, both Danielle and Walt stared while Ginny remained unaware of the apparition taking form behind her. She continued to prattle on, now talking of the improvements she planned for the property.

Danielle blinked her eyes several times and stared at the image of a young woman now standing behind Ginny, her long blond hair straight and falling past her shoulders. She glared unhappily at Walt and Danielle. “You stay away from my treasure. Do you understand?” she said before disappearing.

By the time Ginny stopped prattling on, Danielle and Walt had regained their composure and directed their attention to the boxes as Ginny began showing their contents.

As it turned out, there was nothing of special interest inside for Walt and Danielle, no more photographs of Walt’s father or clues as to why Bud had disappeared.

“Did your grandmother ever talk about the relationship between her uncle Bud and Alexander Marlow?” Danielle asked after they finished going through the last box.

“Just that they were good friends. She seemed rather proud that her uncle was so close to the son of Frederick Marlow. They had grown up together. After all, Frederick Marlow was the founder of Frederickport and an extremely wealthy businessman. So naturally, my grandmother enjoyed name-dropping.”

They chatted for another fifteen minutes before Danielle and Walt said their goodbyes and thanked Ginny for letting them look through the old photographs. Ginny walked them to the front door, watched them walk out, and then shut the door.

When Walt and Danielle reached the Packard, Cory seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Wow, I like your car,” Cory said.

“Thank you,” Walt said as he opened the passenger door for Danielle.

“I wasn’t making up stories about the treasure,” Cory whispered as he glanced back to the house, its front door now closed and Ginny nowhere in sight. He looked back to Walt and Danielle and said, “I heard what Ginny told you. But I probably shouldn’t have said anything about it. It’s Caitlin’s treasure anyway, and she wouldn’t be happy if someone else started looking for it and found it.”

Cory glanced up to the house and saw Ginny standing at a window, looking outside. “I gotta go,” he snapped and then dashed away, heading to his house next door.

After Walt and Danielle got into the car and shut the doors, they sat there a moment.

“First question, who is our ghost?” Danielle asked. “It’s obviously not the cousin, this ghost looks too young.”

“The daughter who died?” Walt suggested.

“That’s the obvious conclusion. Caitlin’s manner of death makes her a prime candidate for a spirit unable to move on without help. Yet Caitlin was in high school, and our ghost looks a little old