We finally fell asleep, but were awakened about an hour later by a voice. At the foot of the bed stood a man, Jackie’s husband John, looking right at us. He laughed when we woke up and saw him. “I want you and your team out of here in the morning,” he said, “you have no business here. And if you stay, bad things will happen to all of you.”

“You know,” I said, “I really hate being disturbed when I am sleeping.” I did notice that he was holding a gun. “I do not care, we ghosts do not sleep,” he said. Then Kat got up and began to walk over to him. “Stay where you are lady,” he said, “or I will have to kill you.” “You are a fake ghost,” she said, “but I am a real ghost.

And as you told me before, you cannot kill someone that is already dead. I was killed a long time ago. So your gun does not scare me.” She kept walking until she was close enough, then with her usual lightning speed, she kicked the gun from his hand and it disappeared into the dark room somewhere. The ghost then disappeared.

I quickly turned on the light and went to retrieve the gun, but was unable to find it. “I did not hear it hit anything Steve,” said Kat. “True, neither did I,” I admitted, “that is odd, unless…” I looked up at the ceiling, then got my flashlight out and shone it on the ceiling with the light off. “Our ghost is not so ghostly after all,” said Kat.

“I did not think he was actually holding that gun,” I said, “his hand was not quite lined up with the gun, close, but not quite.” “Hey, you are getting better,” said Kat smiling. “Thank you my precious,” I said, “now, please be more careful from now on. Okay?” “Yes, okay,” she said, “that is new, you never called me precious before.”

“And I do not want to lose you again,” I said, “got that?” “Yep, got it,” she said smiling. The night passed quietly after that and all too soon morning arrived. We went down for breakfast with everyone where we had pancakes. Afterward we had a meeting before getting started with our day. Mac, Kat and I went to interview John’s old boss, who did not feel like cooperating, until I showed him my police ID.

However, he did not really tell us much, it actually sounded very much rehearsed. As we left, one of the workers walked past us and just said “Lily at Stan’s Diner” and kept on going. Kind of unusual, but we went down the street and found the place. Lily was a waitress in the restaurant and we sat down for coffee. I began asking her some questions about John.

She sat down briefly with us since no one else was there at the time. She was crying as she talked with us. Apparently she was John’s girlfriend and had been since before he married Jackie. She said he married her because she inherited a fortune and he wanted a share of it. He would then divorce her, take his share and marry Lily. She left right then because some other people showed up and we did not have any more opportunity to talk with her, so we went back to the mansion.

While we were gone Kyan discovered something, a small spray nozzle tucked behind the mirror that could reach up and over the top. She got some liquid out of it and analyzed it. She said it would fog the mirror and cause a temporary type of blindness. I would still see light, but nothing else. That is why I did not see my attacker. Husband John knows some tricks, but he is no ghost.

“Why did you not shoot that woman last night?” asked John. “I tried John,” he said, “but the gun would not work. If she is a ghost, they can do strange things.” “She is no ghost,” said John. Then he called his friend. “That woman is Kat, Steve’s prior wife,” he said, “I checked her out. Toledo killed her a year and a half ago, and confirmed she was still in the grave 3 days later.” “That makes no sense,” said John, “then how come she is here now?”

“Maybe she is a ghost,” he said, “that would explain the gun not working.” “Both of you are crazy,” he said, “and I will prove it today by killing her.” “You better be careful John,” he said, “or she will likely kill you instead.” “I just do not believe it is the same woman,” said John, “it just cannot be.” While we were in the living room, Jackie went pale again when she saw John at the top of the stairs once more.

He had a gun pointed at Kat. I pulled out my gun and shot, but it hit some kind of electrical shield. John laughed. He then tried to shoot his gun, but without success. Rock saw that and ran up the stairs, but there was a blinding flash of light, and our ghost was gone. “What happened John?” said the man. “The gun jammed!” he said. “She is a ghost!” said the man…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.