Watch for the Dead (Relatively Dead Book 4) (29 page)

Abby scrolled down to the picture that Ellie had sent. She was not surprised to recognize the Littleton cemetery, within walking distance of Ellie’s house. Her mother had forbidden her to go back there, but Abby could understand why Ellie had gone. And the picture justified it.

“Ned? You awake?” she called out.

“Sort of,” he replied from upstairs. “Why?”

“I want you to look at something.”

“Hang on. I should put on something.”

A minute later he ambled down the stairs barefoot, wearing baggy sweatpants. “What?”

“Ellie sent me an email. With a picture.” Abby pushed her chair away from the table so Ned could look. “Tell me what you see.”

“A cemetery?”

“That’s all?”

He leaned closer. “Yes, I think so. What should I see?”

Abby reached out and took his hand and clasped it firmly. “Now?”

“Oh,” he said. “Who is that?”

“Hannah Perry. Ellie’s friend in the Littleton cemetery, the one we’re both related to. The camera caught her, and Ellie knows that, which is why she sent the picture to me—after getting Leslie’s permission to use the computer. And I can see Hannah. But you can’t, without a boost from me. Right?”

“I think so,” he said uncertainly. “What do you see?”

“I see a young girl, and I can sort of see through her, I guess. I mean, she’s not solid. But I can recognize her well enough. Just as I could recognize Olivia on the porch.”

Ned let go of her hand. “Yes, and just then she disappeared to me. Wow. You know, we’ve got to start recording what we see and under what circumstances. And we’ve got to start designing some experiments. Maybe different lenses for the camera. Or different kinds of sensors.”

“Slow down, love—we’ve got time. Let me thank Ellie for the picture, and we can talk. Coffee’s made.”

When Ned left for the kitchen, Abby hit
Reply
. “Dear Ellie, it was nice to get your email and the picture you sent. I’m glad your friend is okay. Give Olivia a pat for me. Talk soon.” Then she clicked on
Send
. If Leslie was monitoring Ellie’s emails—which she had every right to do—Abby hoped she hadn’t given too much away, but she wanted to make sure that Ellie understood. With a sigh, Abby stood up and headed for the kitchen.

Ned was eating at the kitchen table, so Abby sat down opposite him. “I think there’s something else I have to do.” She pulled out her cell phone and hit a button.

“Mom? I know I just saw you, but can I come visit? You need to hear the story of the painting and how we ended up with it. I think it will take more than just a phone call.”

The Relatively Dead Series

Look for all the books

in the Relatively Dead Series!

Relatively Dead

Abby Kimball has just moved to New England with her boyfriend and is trying to settle in, but the experience is proving to be quite
unsettling
, to say the least. While on a tour of local historic homes, Abby witnesses a family scene that leaves her gasping for breath—because the family has been dead for nearly a century. Another haunting episode follows, and another, until it seems to Abby that everything she touches is drawing her in, calling to her from the past.

Abby would doubt her sanity if it weren’t for Ned Newhall, the kind and knowledgeable guide on that disturbing house tour. Rather than telling her she’s hallucinating, Ned takes an interest in Abby’s strange encounters and encourages her to figure out what’s going on, starting with investigating the story of the family she saw . . . and exploring her own past.

But as Abby begins to piece together a history that’s as moving as it is shocking and unravels a long-ago mystery that nearly tore her family apart, she also begins to suspect that Ned’s got secrets of his own, and that his interest may be driven as much by a taste for romance as a love for history.

Seeing the Dead

Ever since her first ghostly sighting, Abby Kimball has been trying to unravel the mystery of her newly discovered ability. So when she sees the apparition of a Revolutionary War soldier in the middle of the town green—just days before the annual Patriot’s Day celebration, no less—she’s determined to figure out her connection to the man.

The ethereal soldier is not the only mystery in Abby’s life. She’s also trying to sort out her connection to Ned Newhall, the man who shares her ability and is playing a more serious romantic role in her life every day. But with plans for the celebration ramping up and her job becoming more chaotic by the minute, Abby’s finding it hard to catch her breath, much less come to grips with all the new turns her life has taken.

And when another eerie episode is followed by the appearance of a very curious young girl who seems wise beyond her years, Abby discovers she and Ned may have only scratched the surface of their special ability, and that Ned may hold the biggest surprise yet.

Defending the Dead

Abby Kimball has slowly accepted her recently discovered ability to see the dead, but none of the harmless sightings she’s experienced could have prepared her for the startling apparition of a centuries-old courtroom scene—where she locks eyes with a wicked and gleeful accuser. Thrown back more than three hundred years, Abby realizes she’s been plunged into a mystery that has fascinated people throughout American history: the Salem witch trials.

With her boyfriend Ned at her side, Abby digs into the history of the events, researching the people and possible causes of that terrible time and her own connection to them—all the while going more deeply into her connection to Ned, both extraordinary and romantic.

As Abby witnesses more fragments from the events in Salem and struggles with the question of how such a nightmare could have come about, she’s suddenly confronted with a pressing personal question: Were one or more of her ancestors among the accused? Unraveling the puzzling clues behind that question just might give Abby and Ned the answer to a very modern mystery of their own.

Keep reading for an excerpt

from the new Orchard Mystery

by Sheila Connolly,

A Gala Event
,

available now!

The fall harvest may be just about over, but orchard owner Meg Corey is busier than ever planning her wedding to Seth Chapin. Who knew picking apples would be less work than picking out rings and a dress? And even though the happy couple has invited most of Granford, Massachusetts, to the ceremony, they might have to make room for one more guest . . .

Ex-con Aaron Eastman has unexpectedly reappeared in his hometown, searching for answers to the tragic fire in his family’s past that put him behind bars twenty-five years ago. Moved by his sincerity, Meg vows to do everything she can to help him solve the cold case. As she cobbles together the clues, it becomes increasingly clear that Aaron may have been considered the bad seed of the family, but someone else was one bad apple . . .

1

“Hey, ladies, how’re you doing?” Meg Corey leaned on the fence that surrounded the goat pen outside her house and watched her two goats, Dorcas and Isabel, munching on their hay. They stared back with their weird eyes, then returned to pulling out clumps of hay from the bale.

“I know, food is more interesting than I am,” Meg said. Still, she kept watching, mostly because she could: for the first time in the past few months, she had the leisure to pursue unimportant things, like goat-watching. The harvest from her orchard was almost complete, with only a few apples lingering on the trees now in November. She’d put in plenty of hours picking apples alongside her hired pickers and her orchard manager, Bree, and now she gave herself the right to take a break. She was management, wasn’t she? Not that the goats seemed to care, as long as their food showed up on time.

But after a few more minutes, she was feeling the chill in the autumn air. A cup of coffee sounded good. Meg turned around to head for her kitchen door—and came face-to-face with an unfamiliar creature. Its head was about five feet off the ground, and it was covered with fuzzy wool. Not a sheep—she would recognize that, and besides, its neck was too long. Short ears, doe-like eyes. It regarded her steadily, checking her out much as she was checking it out.

“Seth?” she called out. The last time she’d seen her fiancé, Seth Chapin, he’d gone up the stairs to his office over the shed at the back end of the driveway. Of course, if the windows were shut he probably couldn’t hear her. At the sound of her voice, the animal had taken a startled step backward, but it was still starting at her. “Seth?” she called a bit more loudly.

She heard a window opening, and Seth stuck his head out. “You want something?”

“Uh, we have company?” she told him, waving her hand at Large Fuzzy Creature. Creature had turned its head toward Seth at the sound of his voice, but now returned to its steady contemplation of Meg.

She could have sworn that Seth smiled, but all he said was, “Be right down.” She heard the window shut again. The goats had come over to the fence line and were now doing their own checking out of the newcomer, who showed no particular interest in them. He—or she?—seemed to prefer Meg. She thought briefly about trying to shoo it away, but it didn’t look hostile, or afraid of humans, and she wasn’t sure where it belonged or which way it would go.

Seth came up behind her, now definitely smiling. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—we have new neighbors. This is one of them.”