A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories (22 page)

“Grace—Grace Ainsworth?” Logan asked.

“Yes, she was the young lady who married Brent McNamara. She ‘languished’ to death soon after he was killed. It was a very sad situation,” Kelsey said.

“How does Trinity relate to all this?”

“Oh, Grace had a brother who had settled into New Orleans before the war. He was barely making ends meet in New Orleans—when everything fell apart, he stayed away. Home was too painful for him,” Kelsey explained. “But … you know, it was a mortuary for a long time, too. People see all kinds of ghosts.”

“Why would ghosts want to haunt the place they were embalmed?” Logan asked.

“I doubt they would. I’m just telling you who people think they’ve seen over the years,” Kelsey told him.

Trinity came back into the room, looking at them a little awed.

“That call was from Martin Crypton of
Awakened by Night
—that ghost show! He’s coming tonight with his crew. They’re going to pay me nicely to set up in the house!”

“Wonderful,” Logan said, looking at Kelsey.

“They’re going to bring a medium to free the ghosts!” Trinity said.

“Great. Nothing like a medium freeing ghosts at Christmas,” Logan said dryly. “What about the young lady who was supposedly attacked?”

“Oh, she’s at the chain hotel on Avila,” Trinity said. “It’s brand new and by all known records, there never was a graveyard of any kind where it was built. She’s actually a lovely person; I’m sure she’ll speak with you. But, now … I’m so grateful to you two, but do you think the medium can get rid of the ghosts?”

“Don’t worry; we’ll be here, too,” Kelsey assured her.

“I’ll call her. Actually, she’s only a few blocks away; you might want to just walk.”

Nina Danbury was an attractive brunette and her boyfriend, Matt Douglas, was tall and lean and appeared to be intelligent and reasonable. Logan and Kelsey met up with them at a coffee shop that looked over the massive structure of the Castillo San Marcos.

“The Ainsworth House is gorgeous! I loved it,” Nina said. “But … he touched me, and then I saw him. There was a bullet hole right dead center in his forehead! And blood … all over his chest. I was—terrified. Well, I wasn’t terrified at first. I was terrified when I saw him.”

“Matt, you didn’t see the apparition at all?” Kelsey asked.

Matt shook his head. “No, I didn’t see anyone. But I did see Nina’s face.”

“I have to ask this,” Logan said. “We’re you drinking a lot? We’re you on any kind of a—substance?”

“No!” Nina said indignantly.

“Oh, please, we weren’t suggesting you were—it’s just something you have to ask about, you know?” Kelsey said. “Please, don’t be offended. Try to tell us about the whole thing—beginning to end.”

“We’ll, there’s a great whirlpool tub in that room. Matt was lying on the bed—we were pretty wiped out—trying to see so much in a day. So I was just lying there—my eyes closed. And I felt hands, the coolest, most amazing erotic and wonderful sensual touch on my legs.…”

“Amazing that we left,” Matt said, sounding just a little bit irritated.

“Oh! Well, that’s why I thought at first that you’d come in, baby!” Nina said quickly.

“Great. A ghost is a better lover,” Matt muttered.

Nina spoke quickly to Kelsey, “Well! I opened my eyes to tell
Matt
to come in and join me—and then I saw
him!
It was horrible!”

“Horrible because you thought he intended to hurt you—be mean and cruel?” Logan asked.

Nina paused at that, confused. “Well, he was—not real! And he had that hole in his forehead and the blood … I was terrified!”

“So great—the ghost didn’t want to hurt us—just get it on with my girl?” Matt demanded indignantly.

“I’m just curious. The house has a reputation of some bad things happening,” Logan said.

“Oh, Buggety-Boo, you mean!” Nina said.

Logan looked at Kelsey. “Buggety-Boo?” he repeated.

“He was a one hit wonder—you know that song,
Tell It Like It Is!”
Nina said. “He was found lying on one of the old tables in the embalming room.” She shivered. “Total creep. He held parties down there where he had people drinking blood and all kinds of weird stuff. Well, I heard that the last of the Fogarty family of morticians was found down there, too. Totally eerie. And through the years … during the Civil War it was often used for injured soldiers—and after the battle of Olustee there were a lot of soldiers who had to be somewhere to recoup. I love the house—I just can’t go back.”

“Well, thank you,” Kelsey told her, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand. “We understand.”

“Who are you exactly?” Matt asked.

“Trinity Ainsworth and I are old friends,” Kelsey said.

“But you’re some kind of law enforcement, right?”

“FBI,” Logan told him.

“You’re going to arrest a ghost?” Matt asked.

“We’re actually on vacation—headed to my home in Key West,” Kelsey said.

“But, you’re staying at the Ainsworth House?” Matt asked.

“For a few nights,” Kelsey said. “Excuse me, I’ll just go and get our check—and thank you so much for your time.”

Kelsey rose to head to the counter.

“Kelsey, wait—if you all find out something, you’ll let us know, right?” Nina asked, hurrying after her.

With both women gone, Matt looked directly at Logan. “Well, a word of warning—watch it. If the guy hadn’t had a bullet hole in his forehead, I’m not sure Nina would have screamed.”

Logan lowered his head, trying not to smile. He looked back at Matt with a straight face. “She seems like a lovely girl—and it really is a compliment to you, you know? She thought it was you.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s what galls me. It wasn’t. Still, ghost or no, watch out for that guy!”

By the time they returned to the Ainsworth House, Martin Crypton and his crew had arrived.

The “santa” side of the house had opened as well; employees dressed as elves moved about the parlor or salon and adults and children were here and there—stuffing and creating their own reindeer and playing with toy trains and coloring. Trinity was smiling as she welcomed them. “Thank God! I mean there are so many things in the world to worry about, but if I don’t make all the mortgage payments, well … I’m out. And I owe people for helping me—and all these people working!”

“I’m glad to see that things are going so well,” Kelsey told her.

Logan was silent. On the one hand, he wanted to say, wow, all was good—he and Kelsey could head on to Key West. On the other hand.…

He just felt uneasy. There was nothing like TV ghost hunters to really piss off a ghost.

He saw Kelsey looking at him. She felt the same—and there was a “please” in her eyes.

“I guess we should meet Martin Crypton,” Logan said.

Before they could, however, there was a loud, panicked scream from just up the stairs; it had such a blood-curdling quality that every child in the room went silent and one of the “elf” employees let out a shriek as well.

Logan started toward the stairs but before he could reach the steps, Santa—his beard half on and half off—came tearing down them. He was followed by two sexy little elves, one a blonde, and one a brunette.

“Sir!” Logan called to Santa, but Santa wasn’t stopping. Logan hurried after him as he headed out the door, tripping on the stairs and landing on his butt at the bottom, hair and hat and beard all askew.

One of the elves tripped over him, the other gasped and kept running down the street.

He saw that Kelsey already had her cell phone out to call a paramedic; Santa was obviously hurting, groaning as he gripped a knee and rolled.

Trinity and most of the people in the house were outside as well, having followed them. While Kelsey helped up the fallen elf and tried to get everyone to give Santa air, Logan knelt down by Santa.

“Sir, stay still. Paramedics are on the way. What happened in there—what went on?”

Santa groaned and closed his eyes, gasping. “My knee—my knee!”

“I saw her—it was horrible!” A woman cried from the crowd.

“Ma’am, please, what happened?” Kelsey asked.

“It was Timmy’s turn to see Santa—but she was there, sitting on his lap!” the woman said.

“She who?” Kelsey asked.

“She—the corpse! She was horrible, rotting and stinking and … oh, my God!”

As Logan tried to get Santa to stay stabilized and still, Martin Crypton and his two co “ghost-hunters” and a cameraman and a sound man came out, trying to interview people and get it all on tape. “Get over there, Gary, get the shot of Santa!” Crypton called.

Then the man hurried toward Logan and Santa just as they heard the sound of sirens. “This is it, people, the real thing as gruesome ghosts invade this haunted bed and breakfast and attraction for Christmas!” Crypton said, sliding down on his knees by Santa.

As he did so, he had to catch himself by bracing against Santa’s shoulder—he had come with such an impetus that he nearly careened into the downed man.

“Mr. Crypton, please get that microphone out of Santa’s face,” Logan said firmly.

“Santa, tell us—who is the ghost? Who did you see?” Crypton demanded.

Santa groaned; he’d shattered a kneecap, Logan thought.

“Sir, I insist you get away from Santa,” Logan said, trying to contain his anger.

Crypton was in his mid-thirties or early forties, a big guy with a pretty face who could have used more time in a gym. He looked at Logan and lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “What are you? Some kind of a half-breed mystic trying to hone in? This is my gig tonight and you are not calling the shots and ruining the best show I might have all season!”

All the training in the world didn’t stop Logan from wanting to clock the man. Somehow, he managed not to. Maybe because the paramedics chose that minute to arrive and asked that they both step aside.

And Logan saw Kelsey looking at him. He was lucky, he knew. Damned lucky. He’d lost his first wife under horrible circumstances, and when he’d first met Kelsey as a professional associate, he’d thought they’d never make it. But he’d learned that she was amazing and competent—and still so filled with heart and soul that she could change the world. She looked at him with beautiful sea-colored eyes he’d long ago gotten lost in and arched a brow with a smirk toward Crypton.

She’d heard. And she knew that he was making an effort not to explode.

She sauntered over to Crypton. “Kelsey O’Brien, Mr. Crypton. I’m here with the director of my unit, Logan Raintree. We’re Federal officers. We’re not the least interested in your show, so, please, you needn’t feel threatened in any way.”

“Feds?” Crypton said, confused.

By then, Logan was standing. He was glad at that moment that he was nearly six-four. He towered over Crypton.

“Uh, sorry for the half-breed crack, Agent,” he said. “It’s just that—these are bona fide ghost sightings! A whole mass of people
saw
this creepy woman. This is—this is mammoth!”

“People are hurt,” Logan said. “Their welfare comes before a camera.”

The cops had arrived along with the ambulance. Trinity Ainsworth—nearly in tears now—had pointed Logan out to the officer in charge.

He walked by Kelsey on his way to speak with the policeman. She touched his fingers and briefly squeezed his hand.

“I owe you big time when we get to the beach,” she whispered.

His temper cooled; she had that power.

He walked on over to speak with the officer.

Ainsworth House was shut down while the incident was investigated. Logan wasn’t sure just who Crypton knew to get his way, but he and his crew were going to stay in the house that night to investigate. The police had already gone through the place by the time night fell.

Crypton had his cameras and recorders and screens set up across the house. Their own Krewe of Hunters units often used the same equipment—except that they were capable of going a lot further. Apparently, Crypton hadn’t read much about the Krewe of Hunters and Logan was glad.

He wanted to observe.

He and Kelsey were keeping the “Spa Room,”—which was where Nina and Matt had been staying when she’d had her ghostly visitation in the whirlpool. They’d watched a great deal of Crypton’s set-up, and they’d stayed out of the way. But when midnight rolled around and Crypton’s assistant knocked against a wall and Crypton turned with wide eyes to say, “What was that?” it became too much for Logan.

“Let’s leave them,” he told Kelsey softly.

“What if we re-create what happened?” Kelsey asked him. “I could use a lovely soak in the tub with all that nice whirling going on.”

“Sure,” he said. He held her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “But lonely lascivious ghost or no, I don’t want the jerk fooling around with you.”

Kelsey laughed. “Let’s just see if we can lure him out.”

He agreed. He turned on the television just as Matt had done. Kelsey teased him, grinning, and doing a mock striptease on her way into the bathroom.

“Quit that—or the ghost won’t have a chance!” he told her.

She grinned at him and headed in and in a second he heard the water running.

Five minutes later he heard Kelsey call out, “Ahha! Got you!”

Leaping out of bed he walked into the bathroom. And there he was—the man Nina had described to them.

He saw Logan and began to fade away. “No, no, please!” Kelsey said.

“We’re here to help.”

The ghost appeared confused for a moment. He looked at Kelsey.

“Hey, my wife, if you don’t mind!” Logan said, reaching for a towel and handing it to Kelsey as she stepped from the tub.

“You both—see me?” the ghost asked.

“Easily,” Logan assured him.

“You’re—
sights,”
the ghost said.

Logan arched a brow—he hadn’t heard the term before.

“
Sights
—the living who see the dead,” the ghost said.

“Yes, we both are,” Kelsey told him gently.

“But no one can help me,” he said. And as he stood there, the bullet hole disappeared and the blood stain left his white cotton shirt.

“Try us—maybe we can,” Logan said. “Who are you, for starters?”

“Brent McNamara,” he said.

“Brent, of course,” Kelsey said softly. “But … why…?”