The Pine Hill Inn Read online

  “Okay. It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it now. We can leave it for another time,” Ella used a comforting tone of voice.

  The chair settled and went quiet.

  Liam was about to whisper something to Ella, when the bed squeaked and the depression in the mattress rose as the ghost must have stood up.

  A wailing howl filled the room like the screech of a banshee, and Liam pinned his back against the wall in terror. He would have run from the guest suite if the door wasn’t so far away.

  Ella shook her head and glanced all around the room.

  The desk chair rose into the air, then smashed its legs against the ground, over and over. The shade on the window that looked out over the gardens rose with a snap, then came down, then shot up again, then repeated the up and down movement over and over.

  “Ella.” Liam’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

  Ella didn’t look at him. She simply held out her hand in a gesture that told him to stay where he was and not to move.

  The flashlight on the far right shot its beam across the room and then went off, on-off, on-off.

  A loud screech of the word Nooo was like an air-raid siren going off.

  Then everything was quiet and still.

  “What was that all about?” Liam whispered. Beads of perspiration showed on his forehead.

  Ella held up her index finger to shush the man while she looked at every corner of the room until her eyes settled on Raisin. The black cat lay down on the bed and sniffed the air.

  “She’s gone,” Ella announced.

  “Thanks be to everything that is great in the world.” Liam ran his arm over his forehead and practically slumped against the wall.

  “It wasn’t as bad as some other times.” Ella went around the room collecting her items and packing them back in the case. “Although….” She looked towards the chair and then at the window. “It was certainly an unusual visit.”

  “So you don’t do anything more? When the ghost is gone, it’s over?” Liam tried to collect himself.

  “Pretty much. Rebekah was more distant than she often is, but the behavior with the chair and the window shade was unlike her.”

  “Could you see her?”

  “I could only see some of her atoms glowing when she was sitting on the bed next to Raisin. Rebekah likes her. Raisin seems to be able to calm her.”

  “What makes her stay here?”

  Ella’s gaze met Liam’s. “I don’t know exactly. I’ve done some research on the Cooper family, and although I’ve found Rebekah’s grave, I haven’t found anything helpful about her death. I believe she died in the gardens next to the house, but I don’t know how or why.”

  Suddenly, Ella’s eyebrows shot up her forehead and she whipped around to look at the window shade. Raisin jumped up and howled.

  Snapping the metal case closed, she lifted it and jogged from the room. “Follow me, Liam.”

  The two people and the cat charged down the stairs, ran out the front door with Lucy calling to Ella, and then they raced around the side of the Colonial to the gardens.

  Ella slowed to a walk, looking quickly from side to side as she moved through the garden paths under the glow of the lamplights.

  “What’s going on?” Liam’s heart was racing. “Why are we out here?”

  Letting out a gasp, Ella came to an abrupt stop, and Liam bumped into her.

  “That’s why.” Ella pointed to a spot on the path ahead of them.

  “What is it?” Liam looked over the young woman’s shoulder into the dark, and he had to stifle a scream.

  A young man wearing jeans and a work shirt was on his back in the middle of the path, his mouth loose … his eyes open, glazed and seeing nothing.

  3

  “Did you know there was a dead man in the garden?” Liam asked. “Is that why we raced down to the gardens?” He, Ella, and Raisin were sitting inside the inn by the fireplace of one of the small dining rooms that was not in use that evening.

  “I didn’t know there was a dead man.” Ella shook her head. “But I knew something was wrong.”

  The police had been called and were now outside in the garden investigating the situation. Lucy, the innkeeper, identified the dead man as Leo Martin who had only been working for the establishment for about six months as an assistant chef.

  “How did you know something was wrong?” Liam looked tired and worn-out.

  Ella sighed. “Things were different when we were in the room with Rebekah. She’d never done anything with the window blinds before and she never let out a screeching howl like she did tonight. It took me too long to realize Rebekah was trying to alert us to something that was happening outside. If I’d been quicker, maybe….” She let her voice trail off.

  “I doubt we could have stopped what happened,” Liam told her. “If we went outside during the attack, the murderer might have killed us, too.”

  Raisin let out a low growl.

  Liam lowered his voice. “What are you going to tell the police when they come back in here to talk to us?” Two police officers had already taken a statement from Ella and Liam, but they asked the two people to stay inside the inn and wait to speak with them further.

  “I’ll tell them we went out to the garden and we found the body.” The glow from the fire made Ella’s eyes sparkle.

  “Why were we out there? What’s the reason we were out in the garden in the dark?”

  “Raisin had to pee.”

  The black cat gave Ella a withering look.

  “And what were we doing here before we went out to the garden?” Liam asked. “Do the police know you hunt for ghosts?”

  A frown formed on Ella’s face. “I don’t hunt for ghosts. I help them with why they haven’t crossed over and with understanding their new spirit form. I don’t hunt anything. The family business is called Green Hill Investigations, not Green Hill Ghost Hunters. No one can make a ghost do something they don’t want to do. I help them understand what’s going on and I try to gently coax them to cross, but if they prefer to stay on this side, then I work to make their stay here amicable to the ghost and to the people living near or with the ghost. It’s kind of like being a counselor.”

  Liam stared at the young woman sitting with him. “If I wasn’t in that room with you tonight, I honestly would think you were making all of this up.”

  “And now?” Ella was wary of strangers when dealing with the paranormal. She could never be sure of their motivations when they showed interest in what she and her family were doing. She didn’t trust them at first, and she kept people at arms-length until she could figure out what their true intentions were. Spirits who didn’t cross were sensitive and had to be treated gently, and Ella would not allow anyone to behave in a way that would disturb the ghost.

  “And now, I’m astonished, amazed, overwhelmed, and befuddled,” Liam told her.

  Ella couldn’t keep a smile from forming. “Are you going to put that in your article?”

  Liam ran his hand through his hair and took in a long breath. “I probably should.”

  The door to the room opened, and a tall man in his mid-thirties with sandy blond hair entered the room, flashed his badge, and introduced himself as Detective Jonas Damon.

  “Thanks for waiting to talk with me.” When Damon pulled a chair to the table where Ella and Liam were sitting, he noticed the feline resting on one of the seats. “Oh, a cat.”

  “Her name is Raisin,” Ella said.

  “Is she friendly?” Damon asked.

  “Sometimes.”

  Damon let the cat sniff his fingers and then he scratched her behind her ears before turning back to the two people. “I’m told you found the body.”

  Ella nodded. She wasn’t going to provide any information other than answers to the detective’s questions.

  “Why were you outside in the dark?”

  “Raisin had to relieve herself so we took her into the garden,” Ella explained.

  “I see.” The det
ective wrote some notes and then looked up. “And where do you live?”

  “I live in Green Hill,” Ella said.

  “I live just outside of Boston,” Liam told the law enforcement officer.

  “And why were you here?”

  Liam turned to Ella so she was the one who would reply.

  “We were on a drive and passed the inn. I’ve been here before and thought Liam might enjoy seeing the place.” Ella smiled at Liam. “Liam has a curious mind. He likes learning about new things and places.”

  “What do you do for work?” Detective Damon asked.

  “I’m a professor at Green Hill University,” Ella told the man.

  “I’m a freelance journalist.”

  “Were you inside the inn before you took the cat outside?”

  “We were, yes. We looked around and went into the gift shop,” Ella said.

  “Lucy, the innkeeper, told me you were here in a professional capacity,” the detective said.

  Ella looked straight into the man’s eyes. “What sort of professional capacity did she mean?”

  “She didn’t say.”

  “Well, maybe she told you that because I’m a professor of American history,” Ella suggested. “I’m interested in buildings and dwellings from the time of the early settling of the country. And since Liam is a writer, Lucy may have thought we were doing research of some kind.” Ella smiled sweetly at the detective.

  “I see,” Damon said. “Did you know the dead man?”

  Liam straightened in his chair. “No, we certainly didn’t.”

  “I believe I’d seen him once or twice when I’ve been here for dinner,” Ella said.

  “Did you have any interactions with him?”

  “No, none. We hadn’t spoken with one another. I saw him only in passing.”

  “You must have a very good memory,” the detective said eyeing the woman.

  Ella didn’t like the man’s tone. “As a matter-of-fact, I do, yes. I usually remember faces very well.”

  “Do you know what the dead man did here at the inn?”

  “He looked like he was a cook or a chef. When I’d seen him previously, he was wearing one of those white chef’s shirt-jackets.”

  “Are the two of you together?” the detective asked.

  Ella questioned, “Together how? What do you mean?”

  “Are you dating?”

  “We aren’t, no,” Liam said.

  “How do you know each other?”

  “We’re acquaintances,” Ella said, and then fibbed, “We have a mutual friend. Liam’s thinking of moving out this way so I was showing him around.”

  “Do you always take your cat with you wherever you go?” Damon asked with the hint of a smile on his face.

  Raisin stood up, narrowed her eyes, and hissed low and deep.

  “Sorry, kitty. It’s just a question,” the detective said leaning back in his chair to increase the distance between him and the cat.

  “Raisin comes along pretty frequently,” Ella told the man.

  “Do you know who killed the man?” Liam asked. “Has the killer been caught?”

  “We don’t have any suspects at this time,” Damon said. “Did you happen to notice anyone suspicious while you were here at the inn?”

  Ella shook her head.

  “No, we didn’t,” Liam said.

  “Was there anyone who was alone? Did anyone seem to be in a bad mood? Anyone who seemed to be lurking without reason?” Damon asked.

  Ella and Liam exchanged looks.

  “No, we didn’t notice anyone like that,” Ella said. “We weren’t here that long. We could hear people in the dining room, but no one passed us while we were talking to Lucy or when we were walking around. I’m sorry we’re not more help.”

  The detective wrote their names and contact information in his notebook, then glanced down at what was at Ella’s feet and looked up at her. “What’s in your case?”

  Liam’s face dropped.

  “A camera, a voice recorder, a temperature gauge, a few flashlights,” Ella said calmly. “It’s expensive equipment and I don’t like leaving the case in the car.”

  “What do you use the things for?” Detective Damon asked.

  “Research.”

  “May I see?”

  Ella rested the case on its side, unclicked the latches, and lifted the cover back.

  Damon let his eyes rove over the items neatly stored inside the case. “What do you research?”

  “Early American ways of life, architecture, textiles, community, religion, the life of women.” Ella was hoping she wouldn’t have to explain every item in her case, but there was nothing illegal about investigating ghosts so if he asked, she would tell him.

  “Okay. That’s all for now. I’ll be in touch. Thanks.” Damon left the dining room.

  Liam shook his head. “He made me a nervous wreck.”

  “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

  “But what if he asked about some of your equipment?”

  “Then I would have told him what the items are and what I do with them.”

  Liam gave her a skeptical look. “Then he would have thrown us in prison.”

  Ella smiled. “On what grounds?”

  “Being insane?”

  “Looking for and talking with ghosts doesn’t violate any laws,” Ella explained. “We can’t be arrested for having a hobby.”

  “Maybe not, but if we seemed odd, the detective might suspect us of having another motive for being here,” Liam said.

  “It worked out okay.”

  “You are amazingly unflappable,” Liam observed. “I wouldn’t have been able to answer some of those questions so calmly.”

  “I’ve had a lot of experience,” Ella said, standing and reaching for the case.

  Liam stayed in his seat and gave the young woman a look. “Do you have other unique abilities besides being able to see and interact with ghosts?”

  Before Ella could reply, an attractive woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length black hair and bright blue eyes rushed into the room. “You’re under arrest for your suspicious activities here at the inn.”

  Liam’s mouth dropped open and he looked like he was about to faint.

  Ella shook her head and smiled. “Ignore her. This is my much older sister, Livvy.”

  “Much older, huh?” Livvy asked. “Maybe I’ll leave and you can bail yourselves out of jail.”

  “We’re okay,” Ella told her sister. “We aren’t under any suspicion.”

  Raisin jumped down from the chair and wound herself around Livvy’s legs.

  “Hi, Cutie Cat.” Livvy reached down to pat the feline, and then told her sister, “I’ll text Mike and tell him you aren’t in any trouble. Yet.”

  Livvy sent a message to her lawyer husband. “Which is too bad because I was looking forward to some excitement.”

  “This is Liam Turner. He’s doing a story on our family business.” Ella turned to Liam. “This is my crazy sister, Olivia Daniels Smith. I’m sure you’ll want to hang out with her sometime.”

  Livvy said, “I’ll be honest, I’m a lot more interesting than Ella.”

  Liam couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “He laughed at my joke,” Livvy pointed out. “I like him. Oh, wait, it wasn’t a joke. I am more interesting than you.”

  “How did you know we were here?” Liam asked.

  “Ella sent out a distress signal,” Livvy told the man.

  With one eyebrow raised, Liam looked oddly at Ella wondering what paranormal skill she might have used to contact her sister.

  Ella noticed the slightly nervous look on the journalist’s face. “I used special radio waves to communicate with her.” Teasing the man, she fluttered her fingers on both sides of her head like she’d sent mental signals to Livvy, and then she said with a smile, “I sent her a text.”

  4

  “What was up with Rebekah this evening?” Livvy asked as the three people and the cat walke
d out to the gravel parking lot.

  Ella gave her sister a summary of what happened in room 11.

  “She knew something was happening out in the garden.” Livvy’s face was serious. “That’s interesting since we think Rebekah might have died in the garden, too. I wonder if she was more sensitive to the man’s distress because she took her own last breaths in the garden.”

  “It’s possible,” Ella agreed and took out a homemade stick of rosemary and white sage tied together in a little bundle.

  “What’s that?” Liam asked.

  Livvy said, “It’s something we use to cleanse ourselves of any negative energy we might have come in contact with.”

  “It restores harmonious balance.” Ella took a match, lit the end of the herbs, and quickly blew it out. She waved the gentle swirls of smoke around Liam, Livvy, Raisin, and herself, and then she used a container of sand to snuff it out.

  “All set.” Livvy shook hands with Liam. “It was nice to meet you. I’ll probably be seeing you soon.” She opened her car door and then turned back. “We’re having a family dinner tonight. Why don’t you come and meet the other members of the family?”

  Ella gave her sister a look that communicated her displeasure.

  Liam blinked in surprise. “Really? Are you sure it would be okay? I don’t want to intrude.”

  Livvy ignored Ella’s disapproving expression. “The more, the merrier, and it would give you a chance to do an interview with everyone at the same time.”

  “That would be great.”

  “Okay. Dinner’s at my house. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.” Livvy got into her car and drove away.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” Liam asked Ella.

  “It’s fine.” She climbed into the passenger seat after letting Raisin into the back.

  Liam was quiet for most of the ride back to the city of Quinsigamond which was located in the center of the state of Massachusetts. Ella thought he must be processing everything that had happened over the past couple of hours.

  “Take the next right,” Ella directed Liam to Livvy’s house. The family members lived within five blocks of one another in the same tree-lined, quiet neighborhood of Green Hill, one of the suburbs of Quinsigamond.