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  She waved off Perry's hand as she climbed to her feet. “I'm fine, just a little startled.” And pissed off, she didn't add. Aidan had always been a little aloof, but she had never guessed that he was capable of such hostility. He didn't seem mad at the situation, he seemed angry at McKenna personally. The anger was in every line of his body. His shoulders were tight and his arms seemed permanently flexed, as if he was one second away from throwing a punch. All in all, he was an imposing physical presence—and an attractive one, if only his attitude didn't sour the whole package.

  Josh and Julie followed close behind Perry. Their faces showed the concern that Aidan's lacked. “What happened?” Julie asked. Sweet Julie looked like she was the one who had taken a tumble. Her wispy blonde hair was askew and all of the color except the freckles that dotted her nose had left her face.

  "I just finished up in the blue guest room and I was coming down the stairs to pick up the video camera when I heard heavy footsteps,” McKenna began.

  "We've had guests hear those,” Perry said. “The workers heard them when they started stripping the old varnish off the wood."

  "I turned to see if one of you had come up behind me, but no one was there. Then I felt a hand in the middle of my back. Before I knew it, I was tumbling down the stairs."

  "It all sounds like a crock to me,” Aidan said. “It sounds like you were clumsy and are just trying to cover it up. Either that, or you fell on purpose to make it look like the Inn is haunted so you can charge us money to get rid of the bogey man."

  "McKenna never charges money!” Josh said. “We do this as a service, but usually people want us around. If we're not wanted, we can certainly leave and not come back."

  "Josh, calm down,” McKenna almost had to shout to be heard above Josh's indignant speech.

  "I want you here,” Perry said, “and I'm an equal partner."

  McKenna turned to Aidan and tried, for everyone's sake, to make nice. “Look, I know it's hard to believe things like this happen, especially when you're so invested in the outcome. You don't have to believe me, but the camera was on the whole time. It will take a few days, but you and Perry can come to The Book Shelf after hours and we'll show you what we found. I think you're going to want to see it."

  * * * *

  Josh turned the sign to “Closed” and retreated from the front of The Book Shelf to the back room where Julie and McKenna were waiting to go over the material they had gathered at the Inn. The three of them had avoided talking about the investigation all day. McKenna's fall had unnerved them all. They had been on several calls and had dealt with some nasty things, but none of them had been in physical danger before. They were entering into unfamiliar territory, and they all knew it.

  They each flipped through notebooks and fidgeted uncertainly until Julie finally spoke. “I guess we don't have to come to a consensus on whether there is something in the Inn."

  "I'm not so sure,” McKenna said. She was still rattled by her experience, but she was determined not to let it affect her judgment. “All I know is what happened to me. The two of you could have had completely different experiences. We should go over each piece of evidence like we always do. This case is no different from any other.” But even as she said the words, they rang hollow. “Julie, what did you find with the EMF meter?” Electromagnetic frequency testing was Julie's specialty.

  Julie gave McKenna and Josh each a sheet with EMF readings from each room upstairs at the Inn. “If you'll look at the Confederate Suite, you'll see that there was no significant change in the reading, and the same was true for Miss Laura's Room. The Union Suite and the Blue Room were both different stories. In each room, there was a spike of three and a half to four milligauss."

  "What about TVs or electrical outlets?” Josh asked. “Did the spikes occur where there would be a logical explanation?"

  Julie shook her head. “I took readings in different spots, and there was a spike of 9 milligauss next to one of the electrical outlets, but that's to be expected, you know that. If you'll look at the diagrams I gave you, I made maps of each room I tested and I marked each area of increased activity so you can see that the unexplainable spikes weren't anywhere close to an electric power source."

  "Great job, Julie.” McKenna was impressed. Julie had been a little apprehensive about joining Josh and McKenna on investigations, but she had thrown herself into learning everything she could about spirits and investigative techniques. She was not naturally gifted, but she made up for it with a meticulous attention to detail. “Other than EMF readings, did you hear or see anything unusual?"

  "Nope,” Julie laughed. “You know me. A ghost could trip me and I still wouldn't know it was there. I can't see spirits, I can't hear spirits and I can't sense spirits—not like you and Josh can. And I like it that way.” McKenna and Josh laughed along with Julie. It was a running joke among the three that Julie was a ghost hunter who desperately wanted to avoid ghosts. Julie may not be sensitive to spirits, but she was smart and the evidence she collected was reliable. She had a reputation around town for being grounded and down to earth. She had lent McKenna an air of credibility just by being associated with her. People believed whatever Julie said, whereas they tended to dismiss anything McKenna said as witch rantings.

  "Josh, what did you get?” McKenna asked.

  Josh pressed a button on his laptop and a picture of the Inn's lobby took up the entire screen. “If you'll look, you'll see that there are a few small orbs floating around the lobby, but look closer to the top of the front staircase and you can see a large, bright orb. There is a lot of stuff going on at the Inn, but none of it looks malicious. I think these are the same types of results that we would get in any of the old buildings in town.” He pressed the enter key and another image appeared. “This is the hallway just outside the Union Suite. You can see a few orbs like in the lobby, and here,” he pointed to white smoke in the corner of the picture, “is ectoplasmic mist, so there looks to be some sort of presence in the hallway.” He scrolled to another picture, and his face lit with excitement. “This is where it gets interesting. This is inside the Union Suite's main room.” He pointed to a dark area next to the window. “Look at this dark shadow. Now, there was nothing in the room to cast that shadow. It definitely wasn't there. It only showed up when I took pictures."

  "It doesn't look like anything we've seen before,” Julie pointed out. “Are you sure it wasn't something outside the window that did it?"

  "Look,” Josh traced the outline of the shape with his finger. “It's in the shape of a man. Unless there are people in this town who can fly, which honestly wouldn't surprise me, there is no way a man could cast a shadow through a second floor window."

  "Good point,” Julie conceded. “But what is it?"

  "It looks like what pushed me down the stairs,” McKenna said. “Here, look at this.” She plugged the video camera into the laptop. “This is the video from the camera we had on the back staircase. I've watched the whole thing, and we had nothing until I got here.” She stopped the video when she reached the midpoint of the stairs. “You can see a shadow following me.” She restarted the video and watched as her image turned. “This is when I heard the footsteps. Then the push."

  Julie winced and covered her eyes as the video showed McKenna tumbling down. Josh swallowed hard. “That looks bad, Mac. What is in that place that would want to hurt someone? Most ghosts are content to just float around."

  "I'm not sure what it is, and I don't know how to get rid of it. I do know that no guests should stay in the Inn until we can figure it out."

  "Good luck with that,” Julie said. “I can't see Perry and Aidan kicking guests out because of this. Aidan doesn't even believe that there's a problem."

  "The video should convince him,” Josh said. “There's no way that McKenna just tripped."

  McKenna stopped the video and closed the laptop. It was too disturbing to look at an image of herself in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. “We're getting ahead of o
urselves. We still need to follow procedures. We've seen the evidence we gathered. I need an honest opinion from each of you. Is the Murphy's Corner Inn and Tavern haunted?"

  "Absolutely,” Josh said. “Without a doubt. I just can't say by what."

  "Okay,” McKenna said as she noted Josh's opinion in her log. “Julie?"

  Julie looked down at her hands and bit her lip before nodding slowly. “Yes,” she whispered. “There is something at the Inn that shouldn't be there.” McKenna's heart went out to Julie. As the group's resident skeptic, it was hard for her to admit.

  "And I, of course, agree with the two of you.” And she had the bruises to prove it. “Now, all that's left to do is tell Perry and Aidan what we've found."

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Three

  "Are you out of your mind?” Aidan jumped up from his chair and darted around the desk. It took every bit of his self-control not to snatch McKenna up from her chair and shake her senseless. “We can't shut down the Inn just because you think you found Casper!"

  He expected her to cower away, but her sapphire eyes met his glare evenly. Even in the middle of his anger, he had to admire her pluck and the way her irritation caused her full breasts to heave. He forced himself to keep his eyes on her face, not on her chest. Since McKenna and her crew packed up their gear and left the Inn, she had been on his mind more than he cared to admit. It took all of his focus to remain committed to work.

  "If all we found was an innocuous ghost, I wouldn't recommend such drastic action, but we've found something that I can't identify, and I don't think it has even the slightest resemblance to Casper.” Her voice was calm and even, but Aidan could detect a note of fear. He could never remember a time when McKenna was afraid of anything. Her fear spooked him.

  "What do you mean you can't identify it? Isn't this your area of expertise? Can't you ask your mother or grandmother? Don't all of you mess with this stuff?"

  "All of the women in my family have their gifts, but the only one gifted with spirits was my great-great-grandma Alice McKenna. I was named after her. Mother can see the future. Granny is a healer. And before you go thinking we're the town freaks, you should know that we're not the only family in town with special gifts. We're just the only ones not ashamed of them."

  Aidan fell silent. He knew what she said was true. There had always been whispers that this person or that person was a witch or could read minds or had a “special gift” with animals. He had even heard the rumors about his own grandmother, but because no one had ever made a spectacle of themselves, he had dismissed it as small-town chatter. But McKenna had never been ashamed of what she was. Instead of hiding her gift, she used it to help people—the very same people who had teased and taunted her throughout high school. He wished he could go back in time and befriend her the way he had always wanted to. And because he hadn't been kind to her then, he softened his tone. “I never said you were a freak.” He tucked a stray lock of red hair behind her ear. He watched with wonder as a pink flush crept up her cheek. “So you don't know what is haunting my hotel? How do you know anything is?"

  "Um,” McKenna stammered as Aidan's thumb traced her jaw. “V-v-video. We have video of a black shadow following me down the back stairs and of it pushing me. The same shape showed up in pictures that Josh took."

  Aidan dropped his hand and eyed McKenna skeptically. “You're telling me that you have whatever it is on video?"

  "Why did you think we set up the camera? The most compelling evidence for a haunting is undoctored photos and video. I've seen orbs, mists and even white figures, but nothing like this. It scared me, and I'm pretty much unflappable."

  "Can I see the video, or would that break some kind of ghost buster rule?” Seeing the video wouldn't change his mind, but he would take any opportunity to be alone with McKenna. He dropped a quick glance over her small body. Her faded jeans clung to the gentle swell of her hips, showing her curves to maximum advantage. He wondered if McKenna knew what her hot little body did to men. Probably not, he thought. She had never been the type to try and draw male attention.

  "Oh, God,” McKenna groaned. “Please don't call us ghost busters in front of Josh. It sets him off. But no, it doesn't break any rules. As a matter fact, we usually make a presentation of evidence to the owners of any property we investigate."

  "You do this a lot?” Aidan couldn't imagine that there would be a big demand for ghost busters. Investigators, he corrected himself with a smile.

  "I can see you're a skeptic, but there is more activity around here than you would think. If you and Perry would like to go over the evidence, I'll be at the shop tomorrow night after closing. I can take a few minutes to show you what we have."

  His eyes took on a devilish gleam. “I'm looking forward to it,” he smiled.

  * * * *

  McKenna double-checked the computer, making sure that the video hook-up was secure. She had made copies of Julie's EMF charts and Josh's pictures for Aidan and Perry. She wanted everything to go perfectly. She told herself that she was being extra careful with this presentation because whatever entity they were dealing with was potentially dangerous, but no matter how much she might lie to herself, she knew she was trying to impress Aidan Campbell.

  Half the town thought she was more than a little off. Some were polite about it. Some weren't. McKenna had learned early to deal with it. She had watched her mother and her grandmother snubbed at the post office and PTA meetings by the same people who tapped on their door at midnight begging for help. Help was never refused, and neither woman ever became bitter. McKenna had been so impressed with their patience and goodness that she pledged to live her life the same way. She never allowed herself to be bothered by the skeptics. People believed or they didn't. But Aidan was different. She wanted to make him believe, and in spite of his vehement objections, she knew he wanted to believe. He was desperate to believe in something.

  As a rule, McKenna didn't go out looking for love. The women in her family had notoriously bad taste in men—her Great-Great-Grandma Alice was an excellent example—and men involved in her investigations were strictly off-limits. She could tell herself that, but it didn't stop her from admiring his thick black hair and square jaw or his wide shoulders and slim hips. Her heart hammered in her chest when she thought about the way he had touched her hair and stroked her face with his hand. McKenna didn't know what shocked her more, the tenderness in his touch or her reaction to it. Even the memory of it sent a jolt through her that threatened to soak her panties.

  "Anybody home?” Aidan's voice called from the front of the shop. “I brought pizza!"

  McKenna emerged from the back room to find Aidan standing just inside the door. Her shop had been designed with floor to ceiling shelves, warm lighting and well-cushioned sofas and chairs to make customers feel like they were browsing books at a personal library. The effect was close and cozy, but with Aidan standing in the middle of stacks of books, the shop felt cramped.

  He had changed out of his workday slacks and button-down into a white t-shirt and faded jeans that emphasized the substantial bulge between his well-muscled thighs. His hair was damp and curled at the neck and she caught the scent of Ivory soap when she got close to him. He looked and smelled good enough to eat.

  "I hope I'm not too casual. We had a spill at the Inn, and I got stuck helping to clean up the mess."

  McKenna was so caught up in the sight of him in the soft denim that she barely caught his words, but when they finally sank in, her first thought was of the spirit that had pushed her down the stairs. “What kind of accident? Was anyone hurt? Was anything out of the ordinary?"

  Aidan smiled, the first time that she had seen him do so. It took her breath away and for a moment she forgot about orbs, ghosts and strange black shadows. “It was nothing like that. Our head chef in the tavern was carrying a tureen of soup and hit a slick spot on the floor. He took a hard fall and he has a pretty nasty burn on his arm. Perry took him to the hospital
as a precaution, but he's going to be fine. I was left to clean the soup off the floor."

  McKenna felt foolish for automatically assuming the worst. Sometimes it was easy to forget that most things had completely mundane explanations. “Well, I'm glad no one was hurt and that it seems like it was really just an accident.” She peered out the front window as she turned the sign to Closed. “When will Perry get here?"

  "He's not coming. He was at the emergency room most of the afternoon, so I told him I would handle this.” His tone was light but dismissive. It was obvious that he was humoring her, but he was friendly and flirtatious, a completely different person from the Aidan who glowered at her at the Inn. “Where should I put the pizza?"

  "Just bring it back here and put it on the table,” McKenna said over her shoulder as she walked into the stock room. “I have to be honest, though. I usually like presenting my findings to everyone involved in a case. I can always reschedule for a time when Perry is available."

  "No,” Aidan said as he slid the pizza on the end of the table. “Just give it to me straight, and I can tell Perry what was said.” He stopped and gave McKenna a crooked smile. “Or are you afraid that you can't convince me and I'll tell Perry that you didn't find anything?"

  "The thought crossed my mind.” McKenna found herself a little discomfited. With the exception of one kind moment in his office, Aidan had been adversarial at best and downright hostile at worst. Now he was in her back room, being charming and friendly. She didn't quite know how to act.

  "I know how seriously you take this, and even though I don't necessarily agree with everything you believe in, I would never belittle you or your work.” McKenna waited for him to spring the punchline on her, but she was surprised to see that he was sincere.

  "I'm glad to hear that,” McKenna said. “I'm not used to going into an investigation where the owners don't want me there.” She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Coke. “Want one?"