Pleas of the Poltergeist

I tugged on his hand and pulled him toward the back room where I could keep an eye on things. I didn’t want to abandon Aunt Linda if there was a sudden rush of new customers.

Don touched my elbow. “It’s okay if you can’t stay long, but I just wanted to celebrate your first day back.” He chuckled and sat on one of the two folding chairs we kept in the back room. “So here I am.”

“If you need to go…” I began.

He shook his head. “I’ve been on patrol all day, thinking that we should have hired some county officers to help with traffic for today’s big opening.”

“We can’t help it if people are excited to try out our candles.” I winked at him, and we spent the next few minutes laughing.

The thing with Janice showing up was on my mind, and I wanted to tell Don, but I wasn’t sure what he would think about ghosts talking to me. In fact, I was almost certain I already knew how well handsome Deputy Don would take the news.

“Hey,” he interjected. “I’ve got to get out there on patrol again, but I’m so happy that we got to have lunch together.” He spoke softly, taking the decision to spill my secrets out of my hands.

“Thanks for lunch.” I waved as he walked out the door and I went to help the next customer.

3

As opening day was finally coming to a close, I surveyed our candle shop. We’d sold out of several new scents and had a lucrative re-opening. Aunt Linda had gone home and things had settled down enough for me to do a quick livestream on TikTok.

I set up the camera, cleared my throat, and dove in. “Today was an amazing success, and I’m so thankful for everyone that came over for it. We’ll be here tomorrow, opening during our normal business hours.” I continued on for a few minutes, answering viewers’ questions about our lovely town of Larkhaven.

Others had questions about some of the new lines we were bringing in. That was when I noticed a weird distortion on the video behind me, and I startled… Well, like I’d seen a ghost, because my video indicated I was about to.

I jerked around to see William standing there, and my heart kicked into overdrive. He wore his proper Victorian garb and tucked his hands into his pockets. He seemed expectant, so I guessed he had a message to give. Speaking from experience, it wouldn’t look like anything but squiggly lines to the watchers, so he was my signal to close it out.

I turned back to the camera with my best smile. “Well, my Wax Wonders, it’s been a wonderful day, but I’m exhausted and need to get things restocked for tomorrow. I’ll be back soon with a video about how the online orders work.”

With the live turned off, I faced William, my racing heart finally calming down.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Wes?” Wes had previously been my British viscount veterinary crush, and maybe he still was. I wasn’t certain where he fit into my life anymore. Not while he sorted out his own mess.

William peered at me. “I came to see you, and I would like to discuss my moving on.”

“You certainly have a thing for scaring me when I’m doing a video.”

He shrugged then frowned. “I have no idea what that means.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “It’s this thing where you use technology to speak to multiple people all at once. They live in many different places, but they can watch what you’re doing right now and ask questions about it.”

A blank stare met my words, and I realized there wasn’t really anything I could do to explain the concept to him. He had a hard enough time understanding phones. I could hardly blame him for not getting how a video worked.

“I can’t stay long. When I’m away from Wes, there’s a strain on me."

“What’s wrong? Is Wes okay?” Thoughts of Wes’s troubled brother Liam burst through my mind. Had Liam broken out of custody to bother Wes once more?

“Wes is fine, but I really want to move on. Is there any way you could meet with him and work on a way to help me move on?”

“Absolutely.” Then I winced. “Could I start next week, or does it have to be tonight?”

William sighed. “There’s not a sharp deadline. It’s not as though I can hire you to discover why I haven’t been able to move on. Additionally, I’d like to say goodbye to some family and of course Wes before I go,” William quickly responded. “Perhaps this is all I lack before I can move on.”

“You know your family can’t hear you, right?” I narrowed my eyes and fixed him with a probing look. “They can’t hear you say goodbye.”

“I’m well aware.” He sniffed in a huff. “I’ve been a ghost for hundreds of years longer than you’ve been alive.”

I tipped my head. “Though, there is a way for that to happen, actually. I could always write goodbye letters from you to your family?” It was a weird offer, but I felt that anything that would help William be able to move on would be worth it.

“No, thank you. I believe I’ll just do my own thing, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll ask for help. See you this weekend.” He faded from view.

My mind wandered as I worked. Maybe the ghosts should’ve bothered me, but I’d gotten used to having them around. William had shown up not long before I’d helped my long-dead ancestor, Maggie, who needed to move on to the next place. I put my hands on my hips and frowned. Janice was new, but she was the most modern of the three ghosts I’d met. With any luck, Janice’s arrival was a fluke. Time would tell.

Restocking for the next day took a little longer than I’d planned, because many of the shelves were nearly empty, and I made some videos to upload later. We needed a list of what was getting low and any ideas I had for new seasonal scent creations.

I printed several orders to be packaged the following day. A part of me thought I should stay to pack everything up so I could mail it on my way into the shop the next morning, but the day had taken a toll, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I checked to make sure the online orders system was working properly before finally locking up. The door chimed as I exited, and the lock clicked as I covered a yawn.

Shadow waited on the sidewalk in front of our shop and rubbed up against my legs in greeting. With a flick of her tail, she followed me to my car in a protective manner.

I didn’t even question it anymore because I knew that Shadow was just looking out for me. She was my feline bodyguard, and I had a suspicion it was her fault I could see the departed.

I climbed into my vehicle, and the door had barely shut when my phone screen lit up with a twinkling sound.

Wes.

“Hey, how did the grand opening go?” His chipper tones and cheery British voice made me feel happy. “I’m super sorry I didn’t get to come by. There was a toddler day at the petting zoo, and it turned out really crazy. It was insane.”

A laugh slipped out of my mouth at the images that came to mind. I wanted to ask if the animals were harder to deal with… or the toddlers.

Instead, I went with something else. “Sounds like it. I was just about to call you, actually.” I started the car, and the phone switched to Bluetooth as I pulled away from our shop. “William came by for a visit today.”

“Ah, I had the feeling he might have.” Wes’ tone held a bit of worry. “It felt like there was someone watching me all day. Is he okay, or is he trying to warn us about something?”

“He’s ready to move on and wants to know if we can start trying to help him make it happen.” I didn’t want to make Wes get together with me if he didn’t want to. I wasn’t desperate to be a part of a couple, but William was ready to move on.

Wes sighed. “Well, it appears it’s up to us to try. It wasn’t exactly the type of date I was hoping to plan with you this week, but it will work.”

My heart jumped at Wes’s words, and it was such a different feeling than the buzz Deputy Don gave me. I wasn’t exclusively dating either of them. But why did each guy give me a different type of reaction? How could I make a decision when they both kept pursuing me? And why couldn’t I make up my own mind? I liked them both well, but for different reasons. At least Wes already knew about my ghostly visitors.

I smiled so Wes would hear the warmth of it tickle his ear. “Once William is on his way, we can still have a date afterward when it’s just us left behind in this world. We'll have to make a plan to work on it.”

“Great. How does Saturday afternoon work for you?” He was trying to pin me down with a date. “We can head out to the house and see if we can find William’s remains. Maybe that will help us help him.”

“I think that works. I asked William if he was in a hurry because I’m exhausted after all the customers and well-wishers today. He said there wasn’t a huge rush. He mentioned he’d like to say goodbye to a few people before he moves on.”

“He’s acting like he has a fan base that will miss him when he’s gone.” Wes chuckled. “I think you’re the only one who can see or hear him.”

“Well, I’ll miss him. He tried to protect us.”

“Quite true. I didn’t mean to act like he wasn’t important to us. It’s just he’s not a blogger with tons of fans or something like that.” Wes paused. Then it sounded as though the phone shifted. “William, I will miss you when you move on,” he called out away from the phone microphone.

I laughed. “You do realize you just apologized to a ghost and are worried about his feelings, right? A couple weeks ago, you weren’t even sure that you believed there were ghosts.”

“You’re right, I did. Obviously, I need some sleep. I’ll message you when my brain is functioning again,” Wes promised. “Do you think he heard me?”

I snickered. “Your guess is as good as mine. William isn’t here with me, and that’s about all I currently know.”

It was Wes’s turn to chuckle. “Well, I hope he heard.”

“We still planning on heading out there on Saturday?” I ventured.

“Sure. I already have it in my calendar.”

“I’m glad. Now get some rest. Talk to you later,” I urged. “Maybe you’re still healing from the mess with your brother.”

Wes sighed. “Could be.”

“Now go rest.” The line clicked as we hung up.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I frowned as I checked all my mirrors. No trailing headlights showed in any of them, but the sensation made me feel paranoid. So I took the next four right turns like a few of my TikTok fans had recommended to see if someone was following and then took the scenic route home to confuse anyone trying to follow me.

Paranoid or not, Kim had broken my trust and it was going to take a while for it to return. Not to mention Liam, Wes’s brother.

I shook my head. An arsonist employee and a would-be murdering brother weren’t easy to overcome, and I hoped those would be the least of my future worries. Though, as my skin prickled, I had a sneaking suspicion Kim and Liam wouldn’t be our last run-in with enemies, determined to destroy us.

4

The sound of my alarm going off was accompanied by a loud, annoying voice. I shuddered as the screeching registered, and it wasn’t my phone alarm. For the second morning in a row, I had a visitor.

“Why won’t it shut off? That thing hurts my ears,” Janice complained, standing over the digital clock on my dresser. The alarm on it had never worked, but I liked to be able to see what time it was if I woke up in the middle of the night. The sun streamed in behind her.

“What is that thing?” She frowned, putting her hands over her ears to block out the sound. “What is making that noise?”

“It’s the alarm on my phone.” I hit the button as I pointed at it. The sound cut out. Shadow sat on the end of my bed with her ears pressed back. I didn’t think she liked the visits either.

Janice dropped her hands and peered at my phone. “Well, in my day, phones didn’t have alarms on them. They didn’t look like that either,” she proclaimed in distaste.

I sighed and sat up. “I’m going to guess, based on your hair and clothing style, that you lived in the fifties.” It was more of an audible mutter, but she answered anyway.

“That’s when I died, I think. I was born in the twenties.” She crossed her arms, and her expression turned sour.

“Do you know how you died?”

Janice’s lip curled in anger. “My husband was a scoundrel. It clearly runs in the family since my granddaughter is sitting in jail.”

I scowled. My brain started working hard and doing so without any caffeine yet. I didn’t know anyone in lockup. “Who is your granddaughter?”

“That’s not important.” Janice waved my question away.

“Who is your granddaughter?” I asked again, with frustration. Talking to a ghost wasn’t an easy task, especially when they didn’t want to tell you something. “It might help to know who she was,” I murmured, still not altogether awake.

Janice ignored my question. Instead, she asked, “Aren’t there any good salons around here because your hair is awful and flat?”

Self-conscious, I ran my hand over my hair. “I just woke up.” I felt a little defensive, and maybe her husband wasn’t the only unkind one in her family. Though, I wasn’t about to get a fifties beehive to appease my daily morning pop-in.

She nodded as if accepting my answer. “I have to go.”

“Okay…” I drew out the word.

Then she quickly disappeared, leaving me alone in my bedroom once again.

Janice was something else, and I wasn’t sure how I could help her. But, shrugging it off, I strolled into my bathroom and Shadow followed me inside. She jumped up onto the counter, observing as I turned the shower on.

“I’ll get your food while the water heats up,” I assured her.

Shadow answered with a soft meow, and she followed me away from the bathroom.

I’d barely gotten into the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. I opened it, finding no one there, but an envelope had been wedged under the edge of the doormat to keep it from flying away. I scowled at the rectangle, trying to sort out what it could be.

I hadn’t ordered anything lately. Nothing thin or envelope-sized. It might have been Aunt Linda’s though, since she’d been staying with me off and on since Kim had tried to burn down Aunt Linda’s house and Liam had tried to burn the hidden tunnels underneath it. With all the issues surrounding our lives, sometimes Aunt Linda stayed with me so neither of us had to be alone. When Aunt Linda wasn’t at my home, she stayed at the shop or a hotel or with some of her friends in town.

I bent over to study the envelope. It had our last name on the front. Yet it hadn’t been addressed to either of us specifically. Picking it up, I carried it inside before opening it to see who sent it to us.

There was an aged set of documents in the envelope. They crinkled as I handled them, so I tried to be extra careful.

Flipping through the papers carefully, I found what looked like a birth certificate. I didn’t see a date at first glance, so I would need to find one later. There wasn’t anything else on it that I recognized except for the name of the hospital which seemed familiar.

With opening week in full swing and needing to get to the shop, I didn’t have time to worry about it right now, but it was more than creepy that it had been left at my door.

Making sure to put the paperwork in the fire safe box we’d recently purchased, I scurried to feed Shadow, cracking open a can of wet food and grabbing a handful of dry to sprinkle over it. She buried her face in the bowl, and I rushed off toward the shower. I could check out the address of the hospital once I got to work. Google should make short work of it.

Thirty minutes later, my hair still wet, I walked into the shop before Aunt Linda had even come in. So I decided to try Google. I knew it wasn’t an active hospital listed on the birth certificate. I pulled up the name on the computer, and while it was no longer standing, it had been on the land where the vet’s office was now located, and I recalled the story from listening to the older folks in the area.

Huh. The vet’s offices. That meant Wes worked in the same area where this hospital had once stood. It had to mean something, didn’t it? It would be too coincidental otherwise.

Trying to keep my mind off the documents, I began to do some videos, and I used some of the packing lists I’d printed the night before to show our procedures for packaging orders. Of course I’d have to blur the personal information, and I made sure to highlight the bubble wrap and the care we put in to protecting our waxy goodness so it arrived at its destination in good shape.

Then, switching to a live, I was more quiet, less enthusiastic than normal because there weren’t many people awake and online. My mind kept drifting back to the letters, so I didn’t stay online very long.

I was really regretting not bringing them with me. I might have been able to find out more information or found a date somewhere on them. There had to be one. Birth certificates always had dates on them. I’d probably only missed it since I hadn’t had coffee yet.

Maybe Aunt Linda could pick them up since she should be getting ready to leave about now. She’d probably gone home to get ready after she’d stayed with the fire chief again last night. I grinned. Aunt Linda didn’t like to talk about it, but those two made quite the couple.

I dialed her cell, and she answered on the second ring.

“Mags?”

“Hey Auntie, I was hoping you could do me a favor.” I wanted to catch her before she got too far into town. I explained about the mysterious papers and how I wanted to look at them further. “Have you left yet?”

“I’m on my way now. Do you want them to grab them for you?” she offered.

“Thanks. I put them in the fire safe box in my bedroom.”

“Where are the keys?”

“Same place,” I said. “Fruit bowl.” Which never had fruit in it but remained on the counter as a catch-all spot until we intermittently cleaned it out.

“Sure thing,” she promised. “See you in a bit.” Then she ended the call.

After all the stuff with Kim, I’d taken to putting things in the fire safe box that only Aunt Linda and I had access to. I was more paranoid these days. Understandably so, I thought. Though, it didn’t hurt to keep things out of plain sight.

Aunt Linda arrived shortly before we opened, and she handed the papers to me before she rushed into the back. “Do you know what they are?” she called.

I shook my head, surprised to see people collecting on the sidewalk out front. “Not yet,” I answered. “You ready to open?”