Page 56 of Ghost Walk
Morris made a considering face, conceding the point. “She is --like--wayold.”
“Old? She’s probably still on fucking MySpace! Screw that ancient hag.” Emmett held up his phone. “If we get a few good shots of something supernatural, we can spend the rest of the summer at the beach, drinking PBR and talking to hot chicks.”
Jamie admired the boys’ goals, but enough was enough. He didn’t want potentially dangerous men alone with Grace, he didn’t want her worried about getting caught trespassing in the maze, and he certainly didn’t want that harridan Anita showing up to harass her.
“Grace, my love?” He shouted. “Remember when you said you could yell “Boo!” and scare the boys away? That might not be such a terrible idea. They want to see a ghost, so perhaps we should give them one.”
She understood what he meant without asking for further details. It was one of the reasons he loved her. Leaves began to rustle in an eerie wave and Grace gave a low moan of ghostly torment that was really quite impressive. Whether she liked it or not, spending her childhood in a haunted house had definitely rubbed off on the girl. It was quite a creepy little show.
Emmett and Morris froze. All thoughts of finding fortune and glory on the internet faded in the face of a possibleactualghost. In unison, they edged backwards, towards the exit.
“Did you hear that?” Emmett demanded.
Morris frantically bobbed his head.
“Little more, lass.” Jamie called, grinning widely.
She obliged by screaming the most bloodcurdling scream ever screamed. It sounded like she was being attacked by a herd of rapid porcupines… while simultaneously being burned alive with a million blowtorches… at the dentist… in hell. Even Jamie cringed at the god-awful noise. It was bloody brilliant!
Emmett and Morris took off running. They tripped all over each other, dashing out of the maze, never to return. Noteven the promise of work/study credits was going to lure them back to their jobs after Grace’s performance. No real ghost could have done half as good a job.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, how had he lasted two and a half centuries without this beautiful, odd-duck of a woman?
“That did the trick.” He was still laughing uproariously as he moved back to her side. She’d found her way into a new row of the maze, which had to have been the work of pure luck. Ned’s map really was leading them in circles. “Those lads are quite scarred for life. You should be proud.”
“My great-great grandmother had an affair with Bela Lugosi.” Grace shrugged uncomfortably and photographed a bench. “It’s probably in my DNA.” Her picture came up empty again. “Crap.” She kept moving. “We need to stay focused on the investigation.” Being anything other than white-bread-and-tap-water ordinary still made her uneasy, so it was obvious she’d rather not discuss her acting skills.
But from the sparkle in her eyes, it was also pretty damn clear she’d enjoyed the prank.
He gave her a knowing smile. “You donea have to pretend to be normal with me, you know. You can be just as magical as you truly are.”
Grace cleared her throat, ignoring that. “Like I was saying, if Anabel had a connection to Lucinda’s mystery man, a boyfriend would give us a place to start investigating. Especially if we could tie him to Clara, too.”
Jamie was willing to play along with the subject change. “You’re still thinking about that H.C. from Lucinda’s diary?”
“He’s our best suspect.” She gave a pointed paused. “Except for a certain spurned lover with a bad reputation, obviously.”
“Anabel was no lover of mine. Setting aside her family’s lamentable IQs, her wig was quite off-putting.”
“Everyoneback then wore wigs.”
“Just because a book told you that, doesn’t make it true. Take, for instance, that libelous tome Gregory Maxwellallegedlywrote about me being a killer.”
She sent him an amused glance. “For real, it’s okay to tell me if that’s not your real hair. Even if you were bald, I’d still let you do naughty things to my naked body.”
“I’m not wearing a wig, woman. How many times do I have to bloody say it?”
She snickered, clearly wanting to tease him some more. As she turned a corner, though, something caught her attention. She stopped short and consulted Ned’s godawful map, again. Using that piece of rubbish, they were probably headed for the Mississippi River by way of the Himalayas, so it was no wonder she seemed confused. They’d have better luck searching for the North West Passage. “Okay, hold on. This part seems different.”
“No doubt.” It would be a wonder if they could escape the maze before nightfall using all the random lines Ned drew. Jamie fully anticipated having to navigate their course home by the stars.
“No, I mean I think there was once a wall here. See? Right there.” Grace pointed to some brickwork lining the edge of the path. “This used to be a little sitting area.”
Jamie frowned and actually remembered that feature. He looked around, seeing the old arrangement of hedges in his mind. Plants had died and re-grown over the years, altering the landscape slightly, but it was all familiar to him. “The wall curved this way.” He made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “There was a gazebo, too. Couples used to stop here to steal a quick kiss.”
…Sometimes more than a kiss.
Grace sent him a suspicious frown and he smiled innocently at her. Not surprisingly, she wasn’t fooled. “You were kind of a pizza-tramp back then, weren’t you?”
