The Ghoul Next Door

  Gil nodded. “And you know what else is weird? In the murders of both Bethany Sullivan and Amy Montgomery, the knife used to kill them was also never found.”

  “Whoa,” I said. Then I had another thought. “Does anyone think it might’ve been the same weapon?”

  “That’d be a little bit of a leap,” Heath said, but I could tell the idea had intrigued him.

  “The more pressing thing is that at some point the police are gonna search out Luke’s former residence, looking for it. The minute they open up that closet door, Luke will be toast.”

  “He’s already toast,” I grumbled. But then something else occurred to me. “Still, when they do open up that closet, they’ll find five other names. Names that could all cast doubt on Luke’s guilt.”

  “Six other names,” Gil said, swiveling the screen of his computer around to show us the paused image of Walker talking to me with those sinister eyes. “Walker gave you a total of seven possible killers.”

  “Wait . . . what?” I asked, getting out of the chair to go sit by Gilley again.

  We listened to the tape again and Gil turned up the sound while he counted off the names on his fingers. “I’m Gut-you-Guy and Killer Ken. I’m Butcher Bill and Murdering Mike. I’m Deadly Dan, Mary, and Lethal Luke. But always, I’m Sly Sy the Slayer,” Guy Walker said, or rather the spook controlling Guy said.

  “That last line,” I said. “‘But always, I’m Sly Sy the Slayer,’ could that actually be part of the name of our spook?”

  Gil jotted some notes on a pad by his computer. “I’ll plug a few searches into the Interwebs and see what comes up for Sly Sy the Slayer. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “And what about these other names?” I asked. “Killer Ken, Butcher Bill, Murdering Mike. Who could they be?”

  Gil added a few more notes. “We know this spook likes to kill women,” he said. “I’ll look into it.”

  “And see if there’s any correlation between these names and maybe a left-handed killer, Gilley. Also, maybe we should look into Brook Astor’s history a little bit too.”

  “Anything else you want to add to my list?” Gil said, and I could detect a note of irritation in his voice. I might’ve been pushing him a little hard with all this searching.

  “You’re right, honey. Sorry. Listen, while you’re working to find out more about these other men, Heath and I can look into the house on Stoughton. It seems to be the key here. Something about that house connects all of these men.”

  “I already traced the owner,” Gil said. “It’s a dead end.”

  “Ray?”

  “No. Ray seems to be just the manager. The house is in a trust called the LSRLA Trust. What that stands for or who the members of it are is the real mystery.”

  “Is there any way to find that out?” I asked.

  Gil shrugged. “Not one I can come up with online. You’ll need the help of an investigator with a little more know-how about these things.”

  I sat up straight. “I may know exactly the kind of investigator who could help us find that out,” I said. When they both looked at me quizzically, I said, “Kendra Knight. She seems like a top-notch reporter. I’m pretty sure she’s already digging for the history on that house. Maybe she came up with something that will help us.”

  Gil and Heath both eyed me like I’d just said something crazy. “You sure?”

  “Yes. And there’s another call that I’m going to make, but I’m on the fence about telling you two about it because knowing what I’m about to do could get you guys in trouble.”

  Gil immediately put his fingers in his ears. “I don’t want to know! I don’t want to know!”

  Heath took Gil by the arm and pulled him up and out of the way as he scooted down the couch to sit next to me. “You’re thinking of calling Sable,” he said flatly.

  “We have to, don’t you think? Luke’s lawyer needs to know about the other names in the closet before he gets blindsided by the ‘Lethal Luke’ signature, which the police are sure to find sooner or later, especially if the murder weapon is still missing. And his lawyer may even be able to use it as reasonable doubt.”

  Heath nodded. “Okay. But, Em, tread carefully, okay? You put your own freedom at risk every time you talk to him.”

  “Well, don’t do it on the phone,” Gil said, his fingers still stuck in his ears. “The police could be tapping his cell.”

  I scowled at him. “Aren’t you a tiny bit paranoid?”

  Gil took one finger out to point to his computer. “You forget that I hack into people’s conversations and thoughts and stuff on a regular basis.”

  “Good point. Okay, I’ll have him paged at the hospital and ask to meet in a public place.” I then eyed Heath with trepidation. “Would you mind if I went alone?”

  “Yes,” he said, but he was smiling. “But go alone anyway. I want to look into Ray’s background a little bit.”

  “The landlord?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I wonder if he knows about the evil in that house. I can understand that he may be just the manager and not the owner, but he’s gotta know something or be connected to someone.”

  I tapped my chin. “You think he could be a relative or something?”

  Heath grinned. “Don’t know. That’s why I want to look.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Got it.”

  “I’ll also call Kendra and set up a meeting,” he promised.

  “Okay,” I said, heading toward the door. “I shouldn’t be long.”

  “If you are, then Heath will start getting the wrong idea,” Gil called wickedly.

  Oh, if only looks could kill . . .

  Chapter 10

  After struggling to find a parking space and finally settling for the nursing home across the street, I hustled into the hospital anxious to meet with my ex. I’d checked my rearview mirror constantly, hoping that I wasn’t being tailed, and couldn’t find any sign of anybody following me, but it made me nervous to take such a risk.

  Still, I knew it was the right thing to do. I met Steven in the hospital cafeteria. I asked to see him alone, but he brought Courtney, and it felt super awkward because I knew he was firmly establishing his loyalty and commitment to her even though the display wasn’t necessary—my heart belonged to Heath. I tried to hide my irritation and impatience with the unspoken message, but it was tough. “There’s something you should know,” I said, trying to get right to the point. “Actually, there’re two things you should know, but if I tell them to you, then I put myself at risk, so I’m a bit hesitant to speak about it because of that.” I watched Steven and Courtney absorb that, and then my ex cupped his fiancée’s hand and leaned just a touch closer to her. “That’s why I wanted to meet you alone, Steven,” I said, the ice in my voice surfacing despite my best efforts.

  “I understand,” he said, perhaps a bit defensively.

  I squared my shoulders and decided to quit quibbling and just say what I had to say. “I don’t believe Luke is a murderer.”

  “Of course he’s not,” Courtney said, and I could see how much she loved her brother as her eyes watered. “He could never do anything so horrible.”

  I pressed on. “A few days ago, I went to the crime scene and felt around in the ether for some impressions. I wasn’t able to connect with Brook’s spirit, but I did get a pretty good feel for how the murder took place. I’m convinced someone other than Luke murdered Brook Astor.”

  “Did you see the killer?” Steven asked me, his eyes searching my face for any hint that I might be able to give him a name that would help clear Luke.

  “No. I didn’t see the killer. But I felt him, or rather, I felt the ether which absorbed the attack. The killer was right-handed.”

  Steven blinked. “Why is that important?”

  “Luke is left-handed,” Courtney whispered.

  “Yes, but th
ere’s a little bit of a wrinkle here. Luke is left-handed, and so is the spook that got inside his head.”

  Steven and Courtney adopted identical expressions of confusion. “I don’t understand,” Steven said.

  I shifted in my seat, trying to find a way to tell them as little as possible while revealing the parts they’d need to take to Luke’s lawyer. “Heath and I are still working on Luke’s behalf, even though we can’t formally claim that we are. We’ve managed to track down another man with a connection to Luke’s old rental house who’s currently serving time in a prison up in New Hampshire. His name is Guy Walker and he murdered a girl named Amy Montgomery in the mid-seventies. Amy was stabbed repeatedly and she died just six doors down from you, Courtney.”

  Steven’s fiancée covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Walker got life in prison, but the freaky thing is that he used to live in the same house where Luke claims the shadow started haunting him, and Walker is also haunted by this same spook.”

  “How do you know?” Steven asked.

  I grimaced. “Because we met Walker and saw it firsthand. We got it on film too, but it isn’t anything that could be introduced as evidence in a court of law.”

  Steven rubbed his temples. He looked very stressed and even more fatigued. “How does that help clear Luke?”

  “Well, it doesn’t except that when Walker was taken over by this spook, he switched from being right-handed to left-handed. That means that if the spook had inhabited Luke’s body and forced him to murder Brook Astor, then there would’ve been no need to switch to a right-handed approach. So, my current working theory is that this spook tried to get Luke to do something, but he was too strong-willed to be completely taken over, and while Luke was battling to get back into his right mind, someone else entirely murdered Brook, and Luke was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “His lawyer told me that Luke doesn’t remember anything before waking up on the ground next to Brook,” Courtney whispered so softly that I barely heard her.

  “I was afraid it was something like that,” I told her. “He tried to revive her, didn’t he?”

  She nodded vigorously. “He knows CPR, but she was already gone. He’s terrified that he’s responsible.”

  “I’m sure he’s scared, but I really think someone else committed this crime.”

  “Which means there’s a violent killer on the loose,” Steven said.

  “Yes, and I’m not sure right now if there’s any connection to Brook’s murder and this spook, but something is telling me that there is. I’ll just have to dig deeper.”

  “What else can you tell us?” Steven asked.

  I cleared my throat. “This next part has to do with the house Luke rented. Guy Walker lived there in the seventies, and something else that’s even creepier—Dan Foster once called that place home too.”

  Steven and Courtney both looked taken aback. “Dan Foster?” Courtney said. “The man on the news who murdered that Sullivan woman?”

  I nodded. “The very same. And I’m inclined to believe that that can’t be a coincidence. Heath and I have been to the house, and while we couldn’t sense any evil ghost haunting it, we did discover something that could be useful to Luke’s lawyer. He’ll need to go to the rental house and look in the bedroom closet. Tell him to make sure the light is on, and if I were him, I wouldn’t waste another minute. I’d get over to that house before the police do.”

  “What’s in the closet?” Courtney asked as I stood up and looked around, suddenly nervous about being spotted talking to Steven and Courtney.

  “Go along with him and you’ll see. In the meantime, know that we’re still working on helping Luke.”

  “What else should we do?” Steven asked, reaching out to put a hand on my arm before I turned away.

  I looked down at his hand and offered him a small smile. “Keep the lawyer from looking at me and my crew as the masterminds behind the crime, Steven. He’ll want to point the finger at me, Heath, and maybe even Gil. You’re paying his bill. Tell him we’re off-limits. Hopefully what’s in the closet will help that argument, and as we get more info, we’ll pass it on to you to pass to him.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Steven promised, releasing me.

  I left them with a slight wave and hustled out of there.

  Heath texted me as I was getting back into my car. He’d made a date to meet with Kendra at the Starbucks just down from the hospital. I smirked when I read the text. I’d been gone a good hour and a half, and he was probably getting anxious thinking that I was meeting with Steven alone. I got back out of the car and decided to hoof it down to the coffee shop. As I was walking away from the car, however, something really eerie happened. I swore I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. Now, I often see shadows like this, quick little flutters of black at the edge of my peripheral vision, and often these are just the regular grounded spirits who’re trying to get my attention because I seem to give off the vibe that I can hear them. I usually ignore them because there’re just so many spooks in and around Boston. Seriously, tons and tons, and I’m only one girl and how much time do I have to try to cross each one over? Unless they’re in pain or anguished, I typically keep walking.

  But this was different. This was a flash of shadow and a cold shiver that ran up my spine. Immediately I knew this was no ordinary grounded spirit. In fact, deep in my gut I knew what the shadow was and it frightened me that the spook from the prison had somehow found me here.

  I stopped and looked around warily, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Still, I could feel something in the ether. Something menacing, lurking somewhere close, but not close enough for me to identify where it might be coming from. Mentally I called out to my spirit guide—Sam Whitefeather, who also happens to be Heath’s grandfather—and asked for his protection.

  Start walking, I felt Sam say. Don’t look back, just get going.

  I did as I was told, breaking into a trot and keeping it up all the way to Starbucks. Once I stopped, I checked the ether and couldn’t feel that dark presence anymore, so I thought maybe Sam had intervened nicely. All the same I couldn’t hold back the shudder that traveled along my shoulders.

  I found Heath waiting in the coffee shop with a tall latte for me and a regular coffee for him. I hugged him gratefully and may have squeezed a bit enthusiastically because he said, “Hey, you okay, Em?”

  I held on a little longer and replied, “Yeah. Just glad to see you and even more glad that we’re together.”

  Heath chuckled. “Hanging out with your ex wasn’t the dream date you expected, huh?”

  I smiled and stepped back. “It was a working meeting,” I said, tugging on his shirt. “Strictly business.”

  “Uh-huh. And how did this strictly business meeting go?”

  “Well, Courtney was there—”

  “The fiancée came? That’s a mood killer.”

  “And I kept it pretty brief, but I think they understand that we’re trying to help. I gave them the info to share with Luke’s attorney, and also I told them about my impressions of a right-handed killer. Did you have any luck with the landlord?”

  “I actually talked to him on the phone. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming. He told me he’d been managing that house for about a year or so, but he wouldn’t tell me who owns it. In fact, the more I pressed, the more he clammed up. He also shrugged off the idea that the place could be haunted. He laughed when I asked him about that. Other than that, I didn’t get much on him. Gil’s right. There’s nothing online about Ray, although I did manage to find out his last name is Eades. The only other weird thing is that he lives about two blocks over from Courtney’s place. According to the background check I ran on him through that program Gil designed, Eades has lived there for the past twenty years. How he came to manage the house on Stoughton Street I have no idea.”

  I sighed. “Damn. A
ll we’re getting here are dead ends.”

  Heath nodded, but then his eyes shifted over my shoulder and I turned to see Kendra come into the shop and look around. I waved to her and she juggled her bag, her phone, and what looked like a ream of paper over to us. Sitting down with a whoosh, she blushed slightly and said, “Sorry I’m late. It’s been a crazy morning.”

  “Can I get you a coffee?” Heath asked.

  Kendra’s blush deepened. “That’s okay,” she said, unloading her stuff onto the table while also swinging her purse around. “I can get it.”

  Heath stood up. “You have your hands full, Kendra. Let me get you a cup of coffee.”

  She started to protest, then must’ve thought better of it because she said, “That would be really nice, thank you. I’ll take a tall coffee of the day with room for cream, please.”

  Heath headed off to get her beverage and I thought I should wait until she got herself settled to say anything, but she beat me to the punch. “I was super surprised to get your call. Well, your boyfriend’s call. Oh, wait. He is your boyfriend, right?”

  “He is,” I said.

  “But you also dated Dr. Steven Sable, correct?” Kendra asked, all sweetness and smiles. “I found an article about you two from a couple of years ago. Sable’s now engaged to the sister of Luke Decker, right? Dr. Courtney Decker, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Kendra subtly placed her phone in the middle of the table and I saw that it was recording our conversation. Without saying a word, I reached for the phone and handed it to her. “None of this is on the record, Kendra. None of it.”

  Kendra blinked rapidly. “Why not?”

  “Because that’s the deal for right now. We have information to share, but we’re not willing to go on the record about it, so either turn that thing off or Heath and I are out of here.”

  “So, I can’t do a story on you . . . ever?”

  “Nope.”

  Kendra’s charm disappeared in a flash. “I think you’re wrong,” she said. “I can do a story about you without your permission, M.J. I just can’t quote you. But I’m pretty sure I have enough even without your cooperation to do an amazing story on you. I’ve been digging around and I’ve learned some things. I’d rather have your cooperation, but even without it, I’m still going to air your story.”