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

Having forgotten what she held, Ginny stopped waving her hand and looked at it a moment. Finally, she said, “It’s a paperweight. The museum sells them. I… I thought I might need to protect myself.”

“Are you saying you were going to throw that at Heather?” Brian asked.

Gritting her teeth and clutching the paperweight, she glared at Brian. “Only to protect myself.”

“I’m sure you don’t need protecting from Heather,” Brian insisted. “This is just a misunderstanding.”

She looked around the room again and back to Brian. “Did you put everything back?”

“Um… no… I’m not sure what you mean,” Brian lied.

“Heather threw things at me. They landed on the floor. Who picked them up?”

“I certainly didn’t.” This time Brian didn’t lie.

“I want to press charges against Heather Donovan,” Ginny said.

“Um… exactly on what grounds?”

“She came into the museum and attacked me. I think that should be sufficient,” Ginny said stubbornly.

“Do you have any proof?” Brian asked.

“Proof? I’m telling you, she came in here and attacked me!” Ginny shrieked.

“I don’t know what happened here,” Brian lied again. “But it will be your word against hers. And frankly, Heather is a respected member of the community.”

“Are you serious? She looks like a vampire,” Ginny snarked. “Are you suggesting they would take her word over mine?”

“Heather works for the Glandon Foundation, which is the museum’s principal benefactor.”

“And I’m sure the Glandon Foundation would like to know they have an unstable employee. When I’m done talking to them, I don’t imagine she’ll have a job for much longer.”

“Like I said, it will be your word against hers. I promise, you have nothing to fear from Heather. But I will have a talk with her.”

“Officer Henderson,” Ginny said curtly, “I would appreciate it if you would just leave now. It is obvious you’re not planning to do anything about this. Considering your recent experience with Ms. Donovan after they kidnapped you, you clearly have misplaced loyalty to her. I hope it’s worth your career. Please leave.”

Brian didn’t bother arguing. He gave Ginny a nod and then turned and headed for the front exit. Just as he reached it, Millie Samson walked in. Brian gave Millie a brief hello and continued on his way.

“Why was Officer Henderson here?” Millie asked when she walked into the exhibit area and found Ginny standing alone.

Relieved to see Millie, Ginny broke into tears and ran to her, throwing her arms around the startled woman.

Millie sat with Ginny in the museum gift shop, listening to Ginny recount the events with Heather. When she finished, Millie let out a sigh. “It’s true, Heather can be an odd one. But I have never known her to be violent.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe me?” Ginny asked.

“No, dear. But it seems out of character. Perhaps the poor girl snapped. You know, she had a rather traumatic experience just days ago. Drugged, kidnapped and taken to the mountains and left to die.”

“Are you suggesting Brian is protecting her because he feels she snapped?”

“Very possible. And he is right, it is your word against Heather’s. And like he told you, she works for the Glandon Foundation.”

“Yes, but I imagine it may not thrill the Glandon Foundation to keep someone unstable like her working for them.”

Millie chuckled and then leaned forward and gave Ginny a condescending pat on the knee. “Dear, you really have not been here very long, have you? She is Chris Johnson’s right-hand person.”

“Who is Chris Johnson?” Ginny asked.

“Let’s just say, he might as well be Chris Glandon. He runs the foundation, and he is well aware of all Heather’s quirks. That entire group is quite tight.”

“Group? What group?”

“That entire Beach Drive group,” Millie said. “The Marlows, Heather Donovan, Chris Johnson, the Bartleys. They all live on Beach Drive.”

“The Bartleys? Kelly’s brother?” Ginny asked.

Millie gave a nod. “Yes. All close friends. And I imagine the community of Frederickport would be quick to throw their support behind them, considering how much they have all donated to local charities.”

Brian sat alone with the chief in his office. He had just told him what had happened at the museum. After listening to the entire story, the chief let out a long low whistle while he reclined in his desk chair, the back of his head cradled in his palms with his fingers laced together.

“Now you see what I’ve had to deal with since Danielle moved to Frederickport,” the chief said only half in jest.

“I felt like I was gaslighting the poor woman.” Brian groaned.

The chief let out a sigh and sat up in the chair, propping his elbows on the desk. “I get it. But what else can we do? I don’t think either of us wants to arrest Heather for something a ghost did. Especially since Heather was trying to do the right thing.”

“I understand that. But you should have seen how Ginny was looking at me.”

“Yeah, I heard Kelly has been trying to hook you two up. I can’t see that happening now.” The chief snickered.

“It’s not that,” Brian scoffed.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I need to be prepared for Ginny Thomas.”

The chief’s desk phone rang. He picked it up and answered it. After a moment, he hung up the phone and looked at Brian. “And sooner than later.”

“What?” Brian frowned.

“Ginny Thomas is here. She wants to talk to me. You should probably get out of here. I told them to wait a minute before they send her back. But let’s stick with the story that if someone cleaned up the museum, Heather did it.”

“She did.”

“I meant before you got there,” the chief said.

Heather and Chris sat across from each other at a booth at Lucy’s Diner. After Heather had arrived at work and told Chris what had happened at the museum, he insisted he take her out for lunch so they could talk away from the office. There were more employees working at the Glandon Foundation offices these days, and he would rather they continue the discussion