I wasn’t sure what to do. Did he know I lived at the house up ahead? Was he there on purpose to see me? Maybe I should hide somewhere so that he wouldn’t see me. Did he know that I lived there? Brannon always told me he didn’t like me walking home at night alone, but this was Devil’s Moon. Despite everything, I figured I was safe. I should know better than that by now.
The only problem was I didn’t see a place to hide. Several pines, magnolia, and oak trees edged the perimeter of my home, but getting to them would mean walking past this stranger. Perhaps I should just walk past him, not speak to him and pretend I’d never seen him in my life. What if he had bad intentions?
Okay, I was just being too paranoid. Of course, after discovering a murder victim was there such a thing as being too paranoid? I decided I had no choice but to just walk past the man. I had to be brave. I pushed my shoulders back and kept walking, trying to calm the anxiety that coursed through my veins.
When I walked past him, he never even looked my way. He didn’t say hello or anything. Why was I mad that he hadn’t said hello? Just a few seconds ago I hadn’t wanted him to talk to me. Now I was upset that he hadn’t said hello. Obviously he didn’t have bad intentions.
Therefore, I figured why hadn’t he said hello? That was neither here nor there now. I was home and safe. That was all that mattered. I headed up the path toward my old Victorian house. A rustling noise in the nearby bushes made me quickened my steps to the front door.
Glancing back, I realized it was just the neighbor’s cat. I rushed in, closed, and locked the door behind me. Leaning against the door, I released a deep breath. It felt good to be home. I just wanted to get a snack and go to bed. Maybe some of those delicious chocolate mint cookies that I’d made the other day.
After grabbing the cookies and milk, I headed for bed. Yes, milk and cookies before bed. I started through the foyer to the staircase and stopped in my tracks, almost tumbling and dropping the milk from my hand. The ghost stood on my staircase. The one from the library and the mansion. Now she’d followed me home. Momentarily, the wind was sucked for my lungs. I didn’t know what to do. Should I say something to her?
Before she gave me a chance to speak, she disappeared. Right before my eyes. I stood at the edge of the foyer for the longest time, staring at the spot where she’d been, wondering what to do next. I eased up the staircase. When I reached the spot where she had been, I moved faster, hoping that she wouldn’t pop up in front of me. How would I sleep tonight for worrying if she would make another appearance?
I couldn’t live in fear though and I had to stay at my house, so I just had to deal with her visit. After rushing to my room, I sat on the bed, nibbling on my cookies while staring at the door. Would the ghost just walk in? As if I expected her to open the door and stroll on in and say hi, introducing yourself? I really wished she would introduce herself. Maybe then I’d know more about her. I really had to get down to business and research her more. Find some information on who she could be and why she was stuck at the mansion.
At some point, I finally drifted off to sleep. Then the sun streaming through the window woke me up. Seconds later when my alarm sounded, I jumped out of bed. I needed to hurry and get ready for work. A busy day awaited me. I wanted to research the ghost, find out more information about Tabatha, and on top of that, I had all my regular duties at the library.
As I headed out the door, I sent messages to Brannon and Tammy. Brannon was worried about me for some unknown reason. He said he didn’t know why he felt anxious. Which was uncharacteristic of him. Tammy was still confused about the wedding planning and I wanted to let her know that I was ready to take on any help she needed today.
Good morning, handsome!
Hi, babe. Can I stop by and see you at the library later this morning?
Sure. Stop by anytime. Love you.
Love you too.
Brannon must have something important for me. had they found the killer? I wished he’d just tell me that information instead of making me wait. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions. His visit might have nothing to do with the murder investigation.
It was on beautiful days like this one in Devil’s Moon when I loved the fact that I walked to my job at the library. I was able to breathe in the fresh air and soak up the sunshine. Yes, it was a bit crisp, but I knew that would only last for a short time until the middle of the day would bring the heat.
As I neared the antique shop, I stopped. I moved to the side so that I could hide behind the lamppost. Yeah, like that was really going to conceal me, but nevertheless, I didn’t want him to see me. Last night and now the antique shop? I suppose it wasn’t odd to see him today. He was probably just window shopping, but he seemed to linger for quite a while. Then he looked to the left and the right as if looking for someone.
I ducked behind lamppost again, hoping that he hadn’t seen me watching him. That would be an awkward thing to explain. Having him know that I was creeping around town like I was some kind of spy would be embarrassing. I peeked out from around the lamppost again, but he was gone. Where had he gone so quickly? Had there been a car parked nearby?
Yeah, I suppose that had to be the case. He must have driven in the opposite direction. I continued my walk toward the library, but I couldn’t get the fact that I’d seen this guy again out of my head. There was just something about him that seemed so familiar. I couldn’t place why.
Of course, I had a to-do list today for the library. The first thing, the top one on my list was checking for more information about the mansion. I thought it would be a good way to possibly discover the ghost’s identity. I immediately wanted to look up the deeds and find out all the owners. All the way back to the beginning when the house had been built.
Imagine my surprise when I looked at the current deed and discovered that Judy didn’t own the house. The home had recently been bought by Tabatha. That was an interesting twist. Why hadn’t Judy mentioned this to me? What did this mean in regard to her murder?
Chapter 19
The wind picked up, whistling through the branches of the giant oak trees surrounding the stone angels and granite headstones. I stood in Devil’s Moon Cemetery. This time it wasn’t for a haunted tour. And it wasn’t at night. It was the middle of the day. I was here for Tabatha’s funeral. I wanted to pay my respects, but I also thought it might be a good place to find out more information about her. Plus, possibly find out why she owned the mansion. Someone had to provide answers for me, right?
It was risky being here. I knew the police would be here looking around for possibly the murderer. As a matter of fact, Brannon stood beside me. If he was looking for the murderer, then he knew not to look at me. I mean, if I couldn’t trust my own fiancé, then who could I trust? The other officers might be looking my way though.
I scanned the crowd of people, hoping that I’d spot the killer. So far no one looked suspicious though. Well, maybe one person had caught my attention. I had a list of suspects. Judy the mansion owner, of course. Well, the former owner. And Penelope, the mansion employee, were both in attendance.
Penelope stood stoically over by the old oak tree. Everyone wore black except for Penelope. She wore a red dress. Like something she might wear to a cocktail party. Was she trying to make a statement with that dress? If so, it was working. I had honed my attention on her.