Cadaver Lab 2, page 7
“No. Not really. But there’s a limit to what they know. Even the older ones. And it’s not like there’s a ghost manual. Or a ghost library. Or even a living library with a ghost librarian. You know?”
“Yeah, I get it. Could you just try?”
“Yes, Nat. I’ll try. And why do we think this crow is a messenger from beyond?”
Ignoring the attitude in his question, she answered, “He seems desperate to get my attention. Staring at me through the window. Screaming from the roof above the door.”
“Just be glad he didn’t bring a murder with him.” Gabe grinned, looking pleased with himself. “Get it? A murder of crows. That’s what a group of crows is called—”
“I know. Yes, I get it.” She rolled her eyes. “Very clever. However, given the bone in the yard, murder is a bit of a touchy subject around here right now. Don’t you think?”
Natalie’s plate was more than full thanks to that damn bone.
The holes from the crew still digging up the yard were getting bigger and more numerous. In an effort to not panic, she had become obsessed with garden designs on Pinterest. That was when she wasn’t searching the internet for the best species of shrubs and ornamental trees for this region.
Not that she had a whole lot of spare time for garden plans. Jules called in sick after the doctor confirmed she’d succumbed to mononucleosis at college. That meant Natalie had lost her only relief at the shop for the next week.
Even though the teenager was only part time, even if she relieved Natalie for just a few hours it was an enormous help. Especially on book club nights. Jules coming in for a couple of hours meant the difference between Natalie getting to pee and eat a meal versus her having to work ten straight hours with no breaks at all.
And Natalie had to make time for Liam. She wanted to spend time with him. Of course, she did. Just sometimes it was hard given her schedule.
Then there was dealing with Gabe and the rest of the ghosts, which took up a considerable amount of mental energy.
She’d gotten to the shop early just to grab some time alone with Gabe and catch up before people started arriving. Obviously that had backfired because Harper was now standing outside the locked glass door.
“Looks like our little chat is over,” Gabe commented. “Guess I’ll go start on my crow homework.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled, trying not to move her mouth as she approached the door and Harper.
“I live to serve… or… you know what I mean,” the ghost joked as Harper blew in through the door Natalie pulled open.
“I heard it again. The ghost. Last night,” Harper announced, eyes wide with panic.
“Uh, oh.” Gabe had begun backing out of the building when Natalie’s glare stopped him.
Any doubt that it had been Gabe that Harper heard was dispelled by his guilty expression.
“What did you hear?” Natalie asked Harper while trying to maintain a soothing tone.
“Footsteps again. Voices. Two this time. One sounded female, although I couldn’t make out any words—especially after I ran out of there. I spent the night downstairs in the guest bedroom. Not that I could actually sleep. Stone thinks I’m ridiculous. He slept through the whole thing and then stayed upstairs in bed without me. So there goes your theory that the other night was a one-time thing.”
“Yeah. I guess I was wrong.” She shot one more glare at Gabe for being careless.
Now that it seemed he had the strange ability for at least Harper to hear him, he was supposed to try to get ghost girl to talk while no one was home. Not while Harper was right there.
“But I wasn’t wrong that it’s harmless, right? Stone was fine upstairs. And it didn’t hurt you,” Natalie added.
“No, but…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure I can live like this. I’m ready to buy a camper and move to the back yard. A nice new RV so there’s no chance of it being haunted.”
Natalie kept to herself that she didn’t think Harper’s idea for ghost-free living would work. She was pretty sure Gabe could just as easily walk into a new camper as an old house.
She was just thinking of what to say to reassure Harper, while trying to figure out how to get alone again so she could interrogate Gabe, when Harper’s cell phone rang.
Harper glanced down at the screen. “Ooo. I have to take this.”
As she moved toward the meeting room to take the call, Natalie spun to Gabe.
“What the hell?” she mouthed.
He spread his hands wide. “I’m sorry, Nat. When I finally got her to stop running away from me I didn’t want to leave. She actually talked to me.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Natalie whispered after a quick glance at Harper to make sure she was still distracted by the call.
“I was going to…”
Natalie crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “At least tell me what she said.”
“I’m trying to gain her trust. She’s started to talk to me—a bit—but the moment I bring up her death, she clams up and runs away again. It’s been slow going but I haven’t given up.”
Natalie drew in a breath and nodded. “Okay, b—”
“Oh, sorry. Are you on the phone?” Harper asked, surprising Natalie from behind before she could reiterate to Gabe that he had to be careful.
She turned to face her friend as she searched for an excuse as to why she was speaking to seemingly no one. “Uh. Nope. Just talking to myself. Little pep talk before I start the day. Okay. Be great today.”
Harper’s dark brows rose. “Good plan. I could use a little pep talk today too after getting no sleep last night. Or the night before. But hopefully this will all be over soon.”
Interest piqued, Natalie asked, “How? What’s your plan?”
Was she serious about that camper she’d mentioned?
“That’s what the phone call was about. I’ve done a lot of research and I know what I need to do. It doesn’t matter whether Agnes or Stone believe me or not, because the person on the phone does. And they’ve agreed to help.”
“Help how? By doing what?” Natalie asked.
“An exorcism,” Harper announced.
Chapter Twelve
At hearing that one word—exorcism—Gabe’s gasp matched Natalie’s.
He swayed and reached for the doorframe to steady himself…and fell halfway through the door.
After he righted himself, he locked his gaze on Natalie. “Nat. Do something.”
She could see the fear in his eyes. Hear it in his words. She couldn’t blame him.
What would an exorcism do? To the ghost girl in the house. To the spirits in the surrounding area. To Gabe…
Or maybe it would do nothing at all.
Latching onto that hope, Natalie asked, “Do you think exorcisms work?”
Unless she could talk Harper out of it, she supposed they were all going to find out.
Harper pursed her lips and bobbed her head to the side. “There are some compelling writings to support that they do. Particularly about the man who was the Chief Exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. All I know is I have to do something if I ever want to step foot in Agnes’s house again without shaking with fear.”
Loyalties torn, Natalie stood, speechless, her head spinning.
Poor Harper appeared genuinely frightened. But she needn’t be. The ghosts—so far, anyway—had proven themselves to be harmless. Annoying, yes, but not violent or malevolent.
Gabe looked as frightened as Harper. Scared to death—so to speak. But he’d brought this situation on himself. He’d returned to the house after it was clear he shouldn’t.
Meanwhile Natalie had a slew of questions. Who in the world had Harper gotten to agree to perform an exorcism? How had she found them?
More, how the hell much did a home exorcism cost?
This area seemed ripe for exploitation by scammers who charged a fortune for a job that had no proof of completion. Natalie would be able to tell if the ghosts were gone but who else could? No one as far as she knew.
That brought up another consideration. Was this person also able to see and hear ghosts like her? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She was torn between wanting to speak to a kindred spirit about the challenges of her new ability versus not trusting another human enough—aside from Liam—to even start that conversation.
There were so many questions but no answers as Harper shoved her cell into her pocket and said, “I have to get home and convince Agnes to let me do this at her house. Otherwise, and I hate to even say this, I might have to do it during the next book club meeting when she’s here with you so she doesn’t know. I’m sorry to bring you into my possible deception, but I’m desperate.”
Natalie didn’t know what to say, so she nodded. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“Thank you. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
After Harper strode out of the shop, Natalie spun to Gabe. “Now look what you did.”
“I know. I know. It was stupid. I just didn’t think she’d hear. I was so careful. I literally tiptoed so she wouldn’t hear me walking. I didn’t bump into anything this time. I didn’t talk to her in the bedroom. We were in the damn closet and I was whispering. I don’t know how she heard—” His eyes widened. “Hey, wait a minute. How can she hear me there and not here? I was talking to you with her in the shop.”
Natalie frowned. “You’re right. You did talk to me and Harper didn’t seem to hear you at all, but she obviously hears you there in the house. Why is that?”
“It could be location specific.”
Natalie jumped at the sound of Liam’s voice behind her. “Jeez. You scared me.”
“Sorry. I used my key and came in the back door.”
“Why? The front door is open.”
“I ran out of coffee at my place. I thought I could sneak in, grab some and leave.” He cringed. “Sorry. I’ll replace it. I just didn’t want to take the time to run to the store this morning.”
“Don’t worry about it. I get mine auto delivered every month.”
“Of course you do.” He rolled his eyes over her aversion to grocery shopping. “But back to this Harper thing…”
“Yeah. What he said,” Gabe agreed.
“I suppose we need more experimentation,” Liam continued.
“Such as?” she prompted.
“Such as can other living people hear Gabe in Agnes’s house or just Harper? Is it the entire house or just Harper’s bedroom or the attic or wherever? Location specificity is an extremely interesting concept. That there might be something in that exact location—electromagnetic fields, mineral deposits—that make ghosts able to be heard is a fascinating theory.”
Gabe let out a grunt. “He’s getting all science-sy again.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s annoying when he talks science but also kind of sexy, right?” she asked.
At that, Gabe groaned and Liam rolled his eyes.
“So what do we do?” Natalie asked bringing them back to her and Gabe’s main concern. She realized Liam wasn’t up on all that was happening and added, “Harper is planning an exorcism at Agnes’s house.”
Liam lifted his brows at that. “What will that do to them?”
“That’s what we don’t know. Do you?” she asked Liam.
“No. This isn’t exactly my field of study.”
“Great.” Gabe scowled. “Where’s all his sexy science now that we need it?”
Natalie didn’t pass on the comment as Liam got a familiar look on his face. A slight frown crossed his brow and his eyes seemed to lose focus as he stared past her at nothing while stroking the stubble on his chin.
She knew Liam well enough to know what this posture meant.
“Hang on. He’s thinking,” she told Gabe.
“You think? I thought maybe he was posing for a portrait.” Gabe scoffed.
“There’s no need to get snarky. We’re trying to help you.”
“Oh, you can help me. You just refuse to.”
“How can I help you? And when did I ever refuse to do anything you asked? Anything reasonable, that is?”
Gabe leveled a stare on her. “You could tell Harper everything. How you can see us since you got electrocuted. How we’re friends. How I was only in that damn house to get information for you.”
He was right. On all counts. Including the fact this was the one thing she could do for him that she couldn’t bring herself to.
“That might not even work. Even if Harper knew everything, it doesn’t mean she’d change her plans.”
“You don’t know that. I think she would. In fact, I think she’d be all over it and probably write a book about it,” Gabe said.
“Oh my God, you’re right. She totally would write a book about it.”
And that right there made Natalie’s decision even more firm. She could never tell Harper about her ability or the whole world would know.
Natalie shook her head. “No. I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Gabe. We’ll come up with another solution. I promise. I won’t let Harper banish you or any of the others to… wherever.”
Where would they go? Heaven? Hell? Some sort of purgatory on another celestial plane? She swallowed hard at the thought.
“We’ll figure it out. You can convince Twenties Girl to leave the house. She can hide out here or somewhere else. Wherever she’s comfortable. I really don’t think exorcisms have the power to clear a whole town, if they work at all. I’ll research that, okay?”
“Okay.” Gabe blew out a breath.
As they’d discussed the situation and possible solutions—anything aside from her telling Harper—Liam had taken out his cell phone and was busy tapping and scrolling on the screen.
“It looks like Casanova has an idea. How about you ask him?”
She nodded. It was the least she could do for Gabe. She cleared her throat. “Um, babe. Do you have an idea?”
He nodded, slowly at first and then more excitedly. “Yeah. I do. Can you get me inside Harper’s house?”
“Uh, yeah. I don’t see why not.”
Harper was so desperate about this haunting situation that she wouldn’t say no to a scientist wanting to help.
Liam nodded again. “Good. I’ll need Gabe there too.”
“Not a problem,” she answered with a quick glance at Gabe who agreed with a tip of his head. “What are you going to do?”
“Live out at least one of my childhood fantasies.”
Baffled and more than a little curious, Natalie asked, “And, um, what is that?”
“Becoming a ghostbuster.” Liam grinned. “I gotta go. I might need to buy some equipment. Ask Harper!” he shouted at her over his shoulder as he disappeared into the back.
Natalie shot Gabe a concerned glance.
Had they just jumped from the frying pan and into the fire?
Chapter Thirteen
Loaded down with numerous unidentifiable devices hanging on him by various straps and bags worn over his normal clothes, Liam looked less like the Ghostbusters from the Bill Murray/Dan Ackroyd movie and more like all those supposedly real ghost hunters on television.
“If there are any ghosts with us here today, can you say something?” Liam asked. Then he waited while diligently staring at the device in his hand.
When nothing happened, Liam raised his gaze to shoot Natalie a wide-eyed glance.
She in turn delivered a similar glare at Gabe, who sighed but complied by saying, “Testing, testing, one, two. Houston, we have a problem. Today is a day that will live in infamy. Elvis has left the building.”
Gabe was such a smart ass. They were doing this for him as well as for Twenties Girl, who had yet to make an appearance, yet he was making jokes. Not a surprise, really. Gabe may have won her trust on some level but Natalie and Liam were strangers to her.
Liam’s frown deepened before he glanced up at Natalie again. “Nothing.”
“Well, maybe one of them is here and talking and your device just isn’t picking it up,” she said, hoping he got the message that the breakdown wasn’t on Gabe’s end. She turned to her friend. “Harper? Anything?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t know if I’m happy or not about that. It would be reassuring if someone else could hear them too.”
Natalie could relate to that.
“But I never heard anything down here,” Harper continued. “It’s always upstairs in the attic.”
“I had wondered if it might be the exact location that enables you to hear him—uh, them.” Liam corrected quickly.
Ha! Maybe now he would understand how hard it was to not slip up and stop judging her for how often she did.
“Can we go upstairs and try?” Natalie asked after enjoying her victory for a moment.
“Of course,” Harper answered and turned for the stairs. “Anything to help. Agnes wasn’t too keen on the exorcism idea but said she’d allow it if it would make me happy. Stone just shook his head and walked away. So I’m open to any solutions before I become a complete outcast around here.”
After a backward glance to make sure Gabe was following the procession, Natalie kept her eyes peeled for the girl ghost, without luck.
Finally they were in the attic, accessible by a back staircase.
The top floor was as long as the house and had amazingly high vaulted ceilings and big windows at each end. It was nothing like the low unfinished attic with the pull-down ladder in the ranch style house where Natalie had grown up.
The space was amazing on its own, but even more so since it had been renovated to be a kind of apartment for Harper. She could have used any one of the many bedrooms on the second floor of Agnes’s house but given that Stone had pretty much moved in to be with Harper, Natalie supposed they wanted the privacy that having a whole floor to themselves afforded.
To themselves except for Gabe and Twenties Girl… and Natalie really did have to ask him if he’d gotten her name.
Another glance around the space told Natalie the resident spirit was still hiding. At least from her view.
“Harper, you said there were noises in the closets. Maybe we should try taking some readings in there?” Natalie suggested.
