Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls

"Even though he"d conveniently left it off the copy of the blueprint he made for us."

"Again, I"ve no idea what you two are rambling on about," Bertie snapped, all pretense of the kindly older gentleman gone.

I let go of the act and got deadly serious with him. "Struggling to keep up with us, Bertie?" I snarled. "Well, then. Let me spell it out for you. We know you were the one that gave Bouvet this talisman and encouraged him to uncork the stopper.

"The phantom went after him with a vengeance, didn"t it? And he never stood a chance. And then you worked out where the gold was, from the letter that Josephine had written to her friend about her husband"s deathbed confession. I figure that either Bouvet did actually tell you what she"d said, or you lifted the letter off him one night while he was asleep here in your home.

"Bouvet had it wrong, though, didn"t he? Being a romantic, the Frenchman would have naturally a.s.sumed the treasure was buried in the tomb of the first wife. But it wasn"t, Bertie, was it? No, you found it exactly where we did. In the tomb of his firstborn son.

"And I"m figuring that you discovered it shortly after Bouvet was pushed over the cliffs and the phantom began hunting for poor Jeffrey. You then stuffed your pockets with all the gold you could carry, which is how you eventually managed to pay for this place, and went back to Dunlow the day after Gaston was killed to retrieve the rest of the gold."

"But the phantom caught you," Gilley supplied. "And it chased you to the stairs, where you tripped over the rope you"d brought along with you."

Mulholland"s face registered the truth.

"It never attacked you on on the stairs, Bertie," I said to him. "Because it couldn"t. It was bound by the talisman, hidden in a tomb it couldn"t get to. And you tortured it for twenty years by keeping it from its house. No wonder it went after Jordan and that poor coast guard officer with a vengeance." the stairs, Bertie," I said to him. "Because it couldn"t. It was bound by the talisman, hidden in a tomb it couldn"t get to. And you tortured it for twenty years by keeping it from its house. No wonder it went after Jordan and that poor coast guard officer with a vengeance."

"They never stood a chance," Gil said with a tsk tsk.

"And after the money started running out, you came up with a new plan, didn"t you, Bertie? You knew that if Jordan would risk his life to find the gold, others might follow, and you couldn"t let that happen, because someday, someone might get lucky. So you tried to buy the castle back from the government, but they wanted more than you could pay."

"We found your bid online," Gil told him. "You had until the end of next week to come up with the money."

I smiled sweetly at Mulholland. "And as long as there"s a bid in for the purchase of the property, you could have laid claim to any treasure on it as long as the sale eventually happened. You must have thought after reading about our success in Scotland that we were the perfect team to tackle the phantom."

"And we were," Gilley reminded me.

"And we were," I agreed. "But we weren"t moving fast enough, were we, Bertie? You were running out of time, and you needed some a.s.surance that we would stay until the phantom had been taken care of. So that night when Gopher found his way back across the causeway, and he was so traumatized by what had happened to him, you lured him here, and somehow managed to imprison him. And you sent us letters letting us know that we had to get rid of the phantom, or else. But I figure that you were thinking that if we did get the phantom back in its disk, and started taking the gold for ourselves, then you"d ransom Gopher for all of it. It was win-win any way you looked at it, right, Bertie?"

Bertie"s lips were pressed tightly together. "You Americans," he snarled. "Always making up such tall tales."

Gilley and I exchanged a mock look of surprise. "Tall tales?" I said.

"Really," Gilley sneered. "As if we"re capable of having any imagination at all. Clearly, M. J., the man is completely underestimating your intuitive abilities."

"I think what Mr. Mulholland needs is a little demonstration," I said, getting up and turning on my sixth sense. Closing my eyes for a moment, I focused and was rewarded with a feeling of Gopher"s presence at the back of the house in a cold, damp s.p.a.ce.

Opening my eyes, I regarded Bertie and asked, "Which way to the garage, sir?"

"Get out of my house!" he shouted.

"Not without Gopher," I replied evenly. I then began to move in the direction I had felt the subtle waves of Gopher"s energy coming from. "The door to the garage is down that hall, isn"t it?" I asked, moving to pa.s.s Mulholland.

As I went by him, however, I heard a gasp and Gilley cry, "M. J., watch out!"

Something very hard whacked me across the back, and I stumbled forward to crash into one of the bookcases. The disk I"d been carrying flew out of my hands to land with a hard thud on the floor near Mulholland"s wheelchair, and I saw then that he held a walking stick gripped in his hands.

I was in complete shock that he"d hit me, and at first didn"t notice that the gold coin I"d placed in the center of the disk was rolling around on the floor. At least, I didn"t take note of it until the hole in the middle of the disk began to ooze inky black smoke.

"Ahhhhhh!" Mulholland screamed as he tried to back away from the disk at his feet. Mulholland screamed as he tried to back away from the disk at his feet.

Gilley also whirled away from the talisman as its terrible genie poured out of the bottle.

My head had hit the bookcase hard and it began to throb, and for a moment I had a difficult time putting the scene together-that is, until the phantom formed fully in the middle of the room, angry at having been disturbed.

I froze and couldn"t even take a breath as it turned to consider first me, then Gilley, and finally Mulholland.

Gilley was wearing his sweatshirt, and I"d come to the house with Alex"s magnetic belt secured around my waist. We were taking no chances with the disk while we carried it.

But Mulholland was defenseless, and the phantom seemed to know it. "Help me!" "Help me!" he screamed. he screamed.

I crawled over to the gold coin, but I was a little late, because in the next instant the phantom launched itself at Mulholland.

Bertie was pushed back several feet by the force of the energy hitting him, and his terrified screams cut me to the quick. Grabbing the gold coin, I staggered to my feet and stumbled over to the disk. "Here!" I shouted at the phantom, holding the gold coin right above the hole in the center of the talisman. "I"ve got your gold stopper right here!"

The dark ma.s.s attacking Mulholland seemed to pause, and I had the distinct feeling it was now considering me as I waved the gold coin above the hole. "Back inside!" I ordered. "NOW!"

But the phantom didn"t seem to want to take orders from me, and it continued to attack Mulholland.

With desperation I looked around for anything I could use to threaten the phantom and encourage it to get back inside the disk. "M. J.!" Gilley screamed while Mulholland"s anguished cries went on and on. "Do something!"

The edges of my mind began to cloud with horrible images, and I knew that the phantom"s effect was taking hold now of both Gilley and me. It was proving difficult to see, but in that moment my eyes lit on something on the desk right next to me.

I lunged for the mother-of-pearl letter opener and moved to stand over the disk. Holding the cross aloft, I yelled, "Phantom! Get back in this disk or I swear to G.o.d I"m going to drive this symbol of divine light right into the heart of your talisman!"

The ether seemed to crackle with energy and I knew that I"d caught the phantom"s attention. It snarled and spat at me as it left Mulholland to inch forward threateningly. Inside my head I reached out to Samuel Whitefeather. Please, Sam! Give me one last huge dose of courage! Please, Sam! Give me one last huge dose of courage!

To the side of the phantom there was a bright flash of light, and the phantom backed away from me. In the next instant warmth and courage flowed strongly through my veins, and I honestly felt like I could climb a mountain and kick some serious spectral a.s.s along the way. I puffed out my chest, tilted my chin up, and yelled, "Get in that disk now, you filthy spook!"

The phantom hesitated, and I had the distinct feeling it was attempting to take over my thoughts, but the impenetrable wall of courage Sam had helped me create wouldn"t allow it to control me.

I snarled at the beastly thing and lifted the cross even higher. "What do you want to bet that if I drive this cross into the heart of your disk, it"ll destroy both of you?" I shouted. And then I began to bring the cross down. A nanosecond later, just before my weapon would have made contact with the heart of the disk, there was a tremendous BOOM BOOM as the phantom dived into its talisman and I was knocked right off my feet to fly backward through the air and slam into the bookcase for a second time. as the phantom dived into its talisman and I was knocked right off my feet to fly backward through the air and slam into the bookcase for a second time.

I dropped to the floor, and it was a full minute before I could collect myself. When I felt I could breathe again, I sat up and looked around. The phantom was nowhere to be seen, and Gilley was moaning against the far wall. Mulholland lay limp and pale and gasping for air in his chair, but otherwise, the room was still.

Until a series of loud thumps sounded at the back of the house, and Gopher"s m.u.f.fled cries echoed softly from down the long hallway.

Trembling from head to toe, I reached again for the gold coin still lying on the floor and placed it in the center of the disk before struggling to get up. Moving as quickly as my legs would allow, I staggered down a long corridor and found the door to the garage. The door was latched and a padlock at waist level told me Gopher was on the other side.

I found the key on the table next to a bottle of sleeping pills and a stun gun, and it only took me three tries to get the key into the keyhole. In the other room I heard the commotion as Heath and Constable O"Grady burst into the front hall.

When I opened the garage door to find Gopher chained to a bed in the dark, looking pale, very thin, and much worse for wear, all he said was "Whatever happened in there, I hope to h.e.l.l you got it on film!"

Chapter 15.

"Is he really across?" Alex said as we stood side by side on the edge of the cliffs at Dunlow Castle.

I smiled. I"d seen Jordan so clearly in my mind"s eye, stepping into the bright ball of light that would carry him to the other side. "Yes."

"And Bouvet too?"

"And Bouvet too. And the coast guard officer. They have all made it and they never again have to relive those terrible moments."

Alex wound her arm through mine. "Thank you," she said hoa.r.s.ely.

"My pleasure."

"M. J.!" I heard someone yell.

I turned around and saw Heath jogging toward me. You"d never know he had a serious back injury. When he reached us, he pointed to the castle and said, "We got some great footage in there."

I laughed. "Spooks putting on a good show?"

Heath chuckled. "Yeah, it"s ghouls, ghouls, ghouls in there! Your friendship with Lord Dunnyvale has really come in handy. Carrack and Keevan are even putting on a joust for us! Gopher says we definitely have enough terrific footage to take our show to A&E or the Travel Channel."

After the c.r.a.p that our old network bosses had pulled, Gopher wanted nothing to do with them ever again, and he was currently in strong negotiations with two competing networks.

"Awesome," I said. "At least I think that"s awesome."

"And as soon as Gopher finishes giving his deposition to the court in the kidnapping case against Mulholland, we can move on to the next shoot."

I shook my head. "I can"t believe they"re still going to prosecute him," I said. "I mean, it"s almost sad."

But Heath shrugged. He had little sympathy for Bertie Mulholland, even after the stroke he"d suffered during the phantom"s attack that had left him unable to speak and barely able to move. "I guess people are pretty mad about what Bertie did."

"At least O"Grady"s kept his part of the bargain," I said. The former constable had made sure to provide as much evidence as was needed to bring Mulholland to justice. He"d also resigned his post as town constable.

The wind began to pick up and I shivered. "We should go," I said.

Heath smiled at me oddly just then and said, "Hold on. You"ve got something in your hair again."

Reaching up, his fingers brushed the side of my face and I felt a tingle of electricity shoot through me. We hadn"t been able to get physical with each other since his back injury, which was driving both of us a bit crazy, as we had definitely decided to take Alex"s advice and dive in already.

Heath pulled his hand away and held a small white feather, which made me smile, and I was flooded with warmth. "Your grandfather," I said with a laugh, taking the feather and tucking it into my coat pocket for safe-keeping. "At this rate I"ll have a enough for a full head-dress in no time."

As the three of us walked back to the castle, Gilley came out and hurried up to me. "You got anything to eat?" he asked, his eyebrows bouncing.

"I thought you weren"t eating," I told him with a smile.

"I"m eating," he said. "I"m just eating less."

I laughed again. "Yeah," I told him, digging around in my messenger bag. "I"ve got a granola bar in here somewhere."

Something clinked against my fingers and I paused at the unfamiliar object, wondering what I"d put in there that could make that kind of noise. Handing Gilley the granola bar, I reached back in and pulled out a long gold chain with one beautiful Spanish gold coin attached.

"Whoa!" Gilley gasped.

"Where"d that come from?" Heath asked.

"M.J.!" Alex exclaimed. "You took that from Ra.n.a.ld"s tomb?"

I shook my head vehemently. I"d no idea how it"d ended up in the bottom of my bag. "I didn"t!"

"It"s a present," said a very distinct disembodied voice, and we all stopped to look around in shock. "A gift for setting my castle to rights and something to remember me by, my lovely Miss Holliday."

And as we all gazed at one another in stunned silence, strong, confident footfalls could be heard walking away toward the keep.

Read on for a sneak peek at Victoria Laurie"s next Ghost Hunter Mystery, GHOUL INTERRUPTEDComing soon from Obsidian.

I"ve always believed in ghosts. Actually, I had no choice in the matter. My childhood had been full of encounters with disembodied voices, strange blue flashes, flickering shadows at the edge of my peripheral vision, and odd-looking orbs appearing right over my head.

And then, of course, my mother died and her ghost came to see me.

I was eleven going on twelve when her cancer finally won the war it"d raged so savagely against her. I knew the instant that she had pa.s.sed, even though every adult in my world had tried to shield me from the knowledge that it was coming. I remember playing with my new best friend, Gilley Gillespie, on the back porch of his house in beautiful Valdosta, Georgia, like it was yesterday.

Even back then his mother had indulged his rather effeminate tastes. Gil had one of the best collections of Barbie and Ken dolls you"ve ever seen, and we played with those dolls almost constantly.

In fact, on that bright and sunny early-fall morning, that was exactly what we"d been doing. While Gilley was setting up Ken on a blind date with G.I. Joe, I"d been happily working Barbie into a new pair of gold disco pants and just like that, I knew my mother was gone.

I remember dropping the Barbie and getting to my feet, the shock from the certainty of Mamma"s pa.s.sing crushing something fragile inside of me. I couldn"t breathe, couldn"t move, and couldn"t really even think.

My vision had clouded, and stars had begun to dance in front of my eyes, and I felt myself sway on wobbly knees. I could sense that, somewhere nearby, Gilley had noticed my strange posture and he was calling my name, but I was unable to reply or even acknowledge him. I felt like I was dying, and I didn"t know how I would ever be able to live in a world without my mother. My only thought was to pray that she"d somehow find a way to stay with me.

And then, as if by some miracle, my silent prayer had been answered and my mother appeared, standing in the doorway right in front of me.

"Breathe, Mary Jane," she said softly, coming quickly to my side. "It"s okay, dumplin". Just breathe."

I"d managed to take a very ragged breath then, and with it, my vision had cleared. I"d blinked and she hadn"t vanished, and that crushing feeling inside me had lessened a bit. Maybe I"d gotten it wrong. Maybe she hadn"t died after all.

"I have to go away for a spell, puddin"," she said, that Southern lilt in her voice so sweet and caring.

"Mamma?" I said as she knelt down in front of me and placed her warm hands on the sides of my cheeks.

"I"m so sorry I couldn"t stay with you, Mary Jane," she whispered tenderly, bending in to kiss my forehead. And then she looked me right in the eyes and added, "I know what you can see, and I know what you can hear. I also know that your daddy and your nanny, Miss Tallulah, don"t want to believe that you"re special like that and not just imaginin" things. But you are special, dumplin". I"ve known it from the day you were born. And during this whole time I been fightin" the cancer, I"ve known in my heart that if I lost my fight, that you"d still be able to hear me when I come round to visit with you. I"ll never really leave you, puddin"," she a.s.sured me as I started to cry. "Anytime you need me, you just call out to your mamma and I"ll come, so don"t be scared and don"t be sad. You hear?"

I nodded with a loud sniffle, trying hard to be brave for her, and she let go of me and stood up. I noticed then how beautiful she looked. How radiant and gloriously healthy she seemed. Such a far cry from the bone-thin, pale woman who"d occupied her bed for the last year.