Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (16 page)

“
He likes hurting people. He
makes agitation creep through your body, every muscle is affected
and in pain. It’s very uncomfortable in here.” I stepped closer to
the door.

Maybe we should get out of here. I
didn’t think that often, but when I did, it was usually best to
follow my instincts.

“
I just saw a shadow zip
down the hallway,” Cooper said as he neared the door.

“
What did it look like?” I
peered out the door.

When I looked out into the hallway,
all I saw was Mindy leaning against the wall as if a monster had
nearly taken her life.

I rushed to her side. “Are you
okay?”

Mindy clutched my arm. “Did you see
that?” she asked breathlessly.

“
Cooper saw it. It was a
shadow? What did it look like?”

Cooper hurried down the hall looking
for the shadow person.

“
Like a shadow.” She
scrunched her brow.

“
Well, they can be different
colors. So enlighten me,” I snapped.

Why had I snapped at her? That wasn’t
like me. That strange feeling invading my body was increasing. The
air seemed hot and oppressive. Mindy looked at me as if I’d just
smacked her in the face.

I attempted a smile. “Sorry. I think
the house must be getting to me.”

She stared for a second, then said,
“It was a black blob… darker than the darkest dark.”

That was exactly what I was afraid
she’d say. Shadow people were pure evil and always appeared in
black. I tried to avoid them at all costs.

“
Is it with us now?” I asked
when Cooper returned.

My voice was barely a
whisper.

“
I don’t see anything. It
was very dark, Larue.”

Cooper knew that that meant bad news
for all of us.

“
Where is it?” Mindy
whispered. Panic was settling into her voice.

“
All around us. I’ve never
experienced anything like this. Plus, the spirit in that room is
still trying to communicate with me.”

Why wouldn’t this man come out and
stop playing hide and seek with me? It was as if he had a peekaboo
fetish.

“
What’s he saying?” Cooper
asked.

“
He says he’ll do whatever
he wants. This is his house and we should get out.”

Cooper closed his eyes and rubbed his
temples. “I hear him too now.”

Mindy looked completely confused and
terrified. She twisted her hands and I thought she’d developed a
facial tic.

“
He wants us out of here…”
Cooper looked at me. “Except for you. He says the reason the evil
is here is because of Larue.” Cooper pointed at me and Mindy let
out a little gasp. “The demon is tormenting this family because of
you, Larue. He’s playing a game of cat-and-mouse.”

My heart rate increased and sweat
beaded on my forehead. I couldn’t show fear. “I’m better at the
game than him,” I said.

I thought I heard the cameraman
audibly gulp. He might throw the camera down and run at any
moment.

Cooper continued. “He says the evil
came to this family because it knew it could get you here. This is
the demon’s entertainment. It wants to take this family to hell…
and you too.”

If Cooper was going for the creep
factor, he’d just succeeded.

Mindy pulled on my arm. “Larue, you
have to get out of here.” Panic ran amok through her
voice.

Cooper didn’t pay attention to Mindy’s
fear. He continued relaying the message. “This demon sure likes to
brag. The male spirit says the demon brags about what it’ll do to
your family and friends.”

My head swam and my stomach turned. I
couldn’t think about whether or not this demon really had anything
to do with me or the things I’d seen at my home. I wouldn’t let
this monster take anything from me. I had to banish him back to
hell and finish the job I’d been called in to do.

We continued through the house going
from room to room, but luckily, things seemed to have calmed down.
One thing was for certain, it had drained the energy from all of
us. My movements had slowed to a crawl and I needed rest. And food.
Maybe an entire pizza.

Matt called over the walkie-talkie.
“Why don’t we wrap this up for the day?”

Finally. The call I’d been waiting
for. Putting an end to this for the day was fine with me. I needed
a break from the place. I was psychically ill, but I still hated to
leave Jennie there with that thing.

***

After filming ended, I needed to check
on the bookstore. I wasn’t used to being away from it for this
long. The crew had dropped me off at home and I needed to head
straight for Book Nook. But before that, there was one thing that
had been eating at me. The letter.

The letter was in an elegant
cream-colored envelope. It looked so pretty compared to the other
plain, boring envelopes. Even the handwriting was elegant. I
grabbed the envelope. It was as if it was calling my name. Well, it
did have my name right there on the front in big, black fancy
letters. But I digressed. One odd thing though, it had no return
address. Who could have sent it? There was only one way to find
out.

I pulled out my silver letter-opener
and sliced the top of the envelope. I almost hated to ruin the
pretty letter, but my curiosity won out. I pulled the contents from
the envelope. The scent of roses tickled my nose. A matching
cream-colored piece of paper was inside. I unfolded the paper,
anxious to find out what it said.

I read the letter.

Dear Ms.
Donavan,

You don’t know me, but
unfortunately, I know you. Frankly, I am sick of hearing about you.
But I’ve finally remedied that situation. You don’t know it, but
you are losing your boyfriend. Well, you never had a firm grip on
him anyway, so this can’t come as a big surprise to you. Callahan
and I dated for several years and we are soul-mates. I will do
whatever it takes to make sure you are out of the picture. Oh, and
if you know what’s good for you, you won’t mention this to
Callahan. I love him and he is all mine. I will eliminate you from
this equation.

Such fancy writing for such
ugly words. Call me crazy, but I really didn’t like the tone of
this letter. I thought the word
eliminate
was a little too much. I
was picky like that.

“
Oh, you have fan mail,”
Candy Cherry said smarmily.

Mr. Fine laughed.

“
If you weren’t dead I’d
make you eat that letter.” I glared at her.

She wiggled her hands. “Oh, look at me
shake. I’m scared.”

After tossing the letter down, I
picked up my cell phone because my first thought was to call the
police immediately. But right before I found the last one in 911, I
thought better of it. She’d told me not to tell Callahan. If I told
the police, they would question Callahan. What if this crazy woman
harmed Callahan because I’d gone to the police? But then, I didn’t
want to risk my life over this crazy woman either. Was the letter
the real reason Callahan had cancelled our dinner? No. I trusted
him more than that. I’d push that thought from my mind. One thing
was for certain, I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to call
Mindy right away.

Since Mindy didn’t answer her cell, I
left a voice mail, jumped straight into my car and headed for the
store. The agitated feeling grew within me. Either I was going
crazy or something more sinister was at work. My ghosts had
returned for the ride. Of course Mr. Fine and Candy Cherry had been
scarce when the going got tough during the
investigation.

“
I wouldn’t let that letter
worry you too much. She’s probably just trying to scare you,” Elvis
offered his encouraging words.

Unfortunately, they did little to
comfort me.

When I walked through the door of Book
Nook, I was somewhat relieved to see Beth had things under control.
The store was still standing and she was working… all good signs.
Although her appearance seemed a little out of sorts. Her normally
tight brown ponytail had loosened and several strands of hair fell
on her face. Her green cardigan sweater was twisted as if someone
had thrown it on her and her khaki pants were wrinkled like a
discarded, crumpled-up piece of paper.

As I approached the counter, she
attempted a half-hearted smile. “Someone keeps calling and asking
for you. When I ask who’s calling they just hang up.”

I shrugged. “I get a lot of that.
There are people who only want to talk to me about the books. I’m
sure they’ll call back.”

The letter popped into my head. Had
Callahan’s ex-girlfriend been the caller?

“
I hardly think you’re an
expert on books. They must be desperate for help if they ask you
for advice.” Candy Cherry sat on top of the counter with her legs
crossed and examined her bright-red fingernails.

“
Get down from there,” I
yelled.

Beth jumped back, clutching her chest.
Her eyes widened and she said, “Did I do something
wrong?”

Oh, great. The nasty ghost had finally
made me snap. Beth thought I was one chocolate short of a whole box
of truffles. What possible explanation would I have for my
outburst?

“
I’m sorry. I was singing a
new song I heard on the radio. ‘Get down from there’ was the
chorus.”

She looked at me as if I’d just
announced that I had just returned from the planet Altair, where my
brain had been scoped for top-secret government information. In
other words, like I was a raving lunatic.

“
You have a nice voice,
Larue,” Elvis winked.

Candy Cherry cackled. “You are
completely wackadoodle.” She held her stomach.

It wasn’t that funny.

Elvis shook his head. “Don’t worry,
Larue. You’re not wackadoodle, as Candy calls it.”

What the heck? Whatever. She had a lot
of room to talk.

Beth’s hands shook. “I don’t know how
to say this, but a lot of the books over there were destroyed.” She
pointed toward the front of the store.

“
What are you talking
about?” I whirled around and looked out across the bookstore.
Everything seemed normal from my vantage point.

Mr. Fine stood beside Beth and was
trying to whisper in her ear. I resisted the urge to tell him to
knock it off or I’d kick his ghost butt.

She shook her head and swatted at her
ear as if a fly buzzed around. “I don’t know. A customer must have
done it. Are you going to fire me?”

I couldn’t afford to fire her. But I
didn’t tell her that. Could I afford to keep her though if she was
going to allow something like this to happen?

“
Where are they?” I asked
looking around.

“
In the paranormal romance
section.” She pointed again.

I hurried over, confused as to what
I’d find. When I reached the section, I spotted the books tossed
haphazardly around the floor right away.

“
Oh, what a mess. You really
are a slob.” Candy Cherry shook her head.

I couldn’t answer her at the moment. I
was too angry. Plus, Beth would see me and Miss Candy Cherry knew
that. She was just harassing me at this point.

“
She’s the devil in
disguise. Oh yes, she is,” Elvis sang as he moved past.

“
I really don’t think this
is the time for singing, Elvis,” I said.

Beth stared in astonishment. I’d
slipped again. But what was the point of hiding anymore? Everyone
would know soon enough that I talked to spirits. As soon as the
show aired my secret would be out. No wonder I felt like an
outcast. I’d always been holding on to a secret. Maybe it was time
that I let it all out.

I must have been in a stunned daze
because I didn’t hear Cooper’s new employee, Jane Howe, walk up and
stand beside me. She was staring down at the pile of
books.

She tsked. “Wow. What happened
here?”

Her overpowering rose-scented perfume
made my nose itch and I fended off a sneeze. I didn’t want to talk
about the current situation, but by her intent focus on my face, it
didn’t look as if she’d let me drop the subject.

“
Apparently a vandal was in
the store,” I said around a sigh.

“
In the middle of the day?
Where was your employee?” she asked mockingly.

I studied her face. I knew exactly
what she meant by that comment. She was implying that if I’d hired
her, this wouldn’t have happened. Had she been the one who did
this? I was already suspicious of the woman. Had the black magic
returned to Magnolia? I wanted her out of my store. But I couldn’t
accuse her of doing this without any proof.

“
Do you remember me?” she
asked around a sly smile.

She knew that I remembered her. What
was her game? “Yes, you applied for a job here, right?”

“
Yes. How are you?” she
asked, but the tone of her voice let me know she really didn’t
care.