Danielle Marlow had a reputation for being an excellent cook and baker, which had helped build her bed-and-breakfast business. Heather had no desire to compete with Danielle’s culinary acumen. Heather’s baking expertise was limited to sourdough bread.
Early on she realized she proofed her bread too long, taking Lily’s original instructions of proofing for ten to twelve hours as set in stone, as opposed to a ballpark, and now Heather looked for her dough to double and pass the touch test she’d learned from other sourdough bakers on social media.
Heather had also learned new ways to use her sourdough discard, because the idea of throwing away discard when feeding her starter seemed ridiculously wasteful, and having a room full of glass jars filled with the starter wasn’t practical.
On Monday morning, Heather stood in her kitchen, wearing the clothes she had worn jogging, and measured two and a half cups of discard into a large bowl. She loved this waffle recipe, because it didn’t call for additional flour, just discard. Heather then added two tablespoons of real maple syrup, six tablespoons of melted butter, two eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla, a half a teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon of baking soda.
Before starting breakfast, Heather had taken her morning run while Brian slept in her bed. He had returned the previous night after going home to take a nap. They had intended to go out for a late dinner, but Brian ended up picking up Chinese takeout and bringing it to Heather’s house.
She had just finished mixing the batter and was about to heat the waffle maker when her phone rang. Fifteen minutes later, Brian joined Heather in the kitchen just as she was ending her phone call.
“Wow, you’ve been busy this morning,” Brian said as he watched Heather pour batter into the hot waffle maker. Already dressed for work, he asked, “How was your run?”
“It was good. I’m going to jump in the shower after breakfast. Chris is picking me up this morning. It’s his turn to drive.”
Brian peeked into the bowl of batter. “Looks like you’re making a lot of waffles. Anyone joining us?”
“No. I’m going to freeze what we don’t eat.”
Brian gave Heather a quick kiss on the cheek and a playful tug on her ponytail before walking over to the coffeepot. As he filled his mug, he said, “I’m picking up the chief this morning.”
Heather glanced over at Brian. “He’s going to work today?”
“He wants to come in for a couple of hours. He has another week before he can drive. I told him I’d pick him up.”
A few minutes later, Heather lifted the top of the waffle maker and removed the waffle. She set it on a plate and handed it to Brian. While pouring more batter into the waffle maker, she said, “I talked to Danielle this morning.” Heather told Brian what had gone on at Marlow House after she had left the night before and then said, “She and Walt slept in their bedroom last night with the twins. He moved the portable cribs up there. Marie and Eva stayed for the night, too.”
“Did anything happen?”
“Whatever it is, it likes to knock on walls.”
“That must make for a restful night’s sleep.”
Heather shrugged. “The weird thing, it always knocks when the twins are already waking up to be fed.”
“That’s the weird thing? This is all weird.”
“One of the weird things.”
Brian sat at the kitchen table and poured syrup on his waffle. “So they really feel this might be energy and not a ghost?”
“Eva says we’re all energy. Sometimes I like to surf for ghost hunters and look for the fake ones. Spoiler alert, most of them are fake. Anyway, one talked about objects being haunted. He said it wasn’t a ghost per se, nothing with a soul or spirit, but just the energy of some negative event, lingering and attached to the object.”
“Sounds like what Eva is saying.”
Heather shrugged. “I guess. But if that’s true for whatever’s going on over at Marlow House, I wasted a good rant after that bookend tried attacking me. It had no idea what I was saying.”
Brian chuckled and then said, “Since our experience at witch mountain, I’ve gone online and done some reading myself on the paranormal. I read about poltergeists and how some claim it’s a ghost, while others say it’s energy from a living person.”
Heather giggled. “Witch mountain?”
Brian shrugged and took a bite of waffle.
“Danielle also told me she talked to Lily this morning. I guess Ian went over to Kelly’s and told her Walt wasn’t responsible for what happened in the nursery.”
Brian looked up from his plate. “What did he say it was?”
“He told her they didn’t know.”
* * *
Brian helped the chief get into the passenger seat of the car. He then took the chief’s walker, folded it shut, and placed it in the back seat.
“Thanks for picking me up,” the chief told Brian after they were underway.
“No problem.”
“So, anything exciting going on?” the chief asked.
Brian laughed.
The chief turned to Brian and frowned. “What?”
“Have you talked to Walt or Danielle lately?”
“Not for a few days. Why?”
Brian then told the chief what had gone on at Marlow House over the weekend.
The chief leaned back in the seat, now looking out the front windshield. “None of the mediums could see who it was?”
“Not even Marie and Eva. But like I said, Eva wonders if it’s not a ghost, but energy from trauma.”
The chief shook his head. “June Bartley might be right when she says Beach Drive is cursed.”
“At the moment, she’s convinced Walt and Danielle are playing tricks on her. Not sure if Ian is going to talk to his mother like he did to Kelly.”
“I’m curious what Kelly is going to say to Joe,” the chief said.
“I’m considering saying something to Joe myself.”
The chief turned again to look at Brian. “Really?”
“Thinking about it. So, anything new with you? Maybe a good-looking physical therapist?”
The chief leaned back in the seat again. “I suppose some would call my physical therapist good looking. But he’s not my type.”
Brian laughed.
“Fred Lyons called me on Friday. He was checking up on things.”
“I wonder how he’s enjoying having Bowman’s wife and kids living with him. When I think about Bowman, I still can’t wrap my head around the fact he not only had an affair with my wife, he killed her.” Brian shook his head at the idea as he steered the car down the road.
“I’m sorry, Brian. Especially because I didn’t put my foot down and tell Fred I didn’t want to hire his brother-in-law. I wasn’t thrilled with Bowman ten years ago. But it all happened so fast.”
“I don’t blame you. I imagine Fred regrets it too.”
“Oh, he does. Especially since it doesn’t look as if his sister-in-law and nephews plan to leave.”
“And the fact Bowman took off with his coin collection. That must hurt. And didn’t he put up the bail money?”
“Yes. And to make it even worse, from what Fred told me, Bowman’s wife believes her husband is innocent. Her sons think their father is going to come back after he proves his innocence.”
“And that’s why he disappeared and stole from family?” Brian gave a snort.
“Until Bowman took off, Fred seemed to believe he was innocent, too. They need to be in therapy. The whole family needs therapy.” The chief let out a sigh and shifted in the seat to give his healing leg more room.
* * *
“Good morning,” Brian greeted Joe when he walked into the Frederickport police station break room on Monday morning.
Joe, who stood at the counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee, turned to Brian. “Morning.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here this early. Didn’t you get off late last night?” Brian walked to the coffeepot.
“Yes. Our schedules are so messed up right now. By the time I got home last night, Kelly was sound asleep. She was still sleeping when I left this morning.”
“Speaking of schedules, or the reason they’re messed up right now, the chief’s here. I gave him a ride to the station this morning.”
Coffee cup in hand, Joe turned to face Brian, who poured himself a cup of coffee. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure. What?” Now holding a full cup of coffee, Brian turned to Joe.
“Did you know Walt was going to pull that trick? You said nothing yesterday.”
“Well, you didn’t really give anyone a chance to respond. You just took off.” Brian cupped the warm mug of coffee between his hands.
“Kelly was really upset.”
“Yeah, I saw that.” Brian sipped his coffee.
“She felt like everyone was making fun of her. I just sort of figured it was a practical joke. But Kelly’s pretty sensitive when it comes to her brother and his relationship with his friends. She feels excluded. That’s why I wondered if you and Heather knew Walt planned to do that.”
“Walt did nothing.” Watching for Joe’s reaction, Brian took another sip of coffee.
“What do you mean?”
“Walt didn’t make the chair rock. He didn’t throw the stuffed animals. They have no clue what the hell is going on in the nursery. That’s why they were downstairs with the babies. Strange things started happening in the nursery on Saturday.”
“Oh please. No way.” Joe rolled his eyes. “You’re saying Marlow House is haunted?”
“Not sure what to think. No one does. None of us knows what is going on.”
The sound of a walker being pushed down the hallway toward the break room interrupted their conversation. Both officers looked to the open doorway and watched as the chief shuffled into the room.
“Hey, Chief, how are you doing?” Joe greeted him.
“Hanging in there. Any more coffee?”
“Sit down, and I’ll pour you some.” Brian set his cup on the table and went to get a mug for the chief.
“So what’s going on?” the chief asked as he sat down at the table.
“Brian’s trying to convince me ghosts haunt Marlow House,” Joe said with a snort.
“I said nothing about ghosts. I said we don’t know what’s going on.” Brian carried a cup of coffee to the chief.
“Yeah, Brian told me what happened at Marlow House this weekend. Can’t imagine dealing with something like that.”
Joe looked at the chief. “They know what happened. Walt and his magic tricks.”
The chief accepted the cup of coffee Brian handed him. He then looked at Joe. “While that would be a nice, neat explanation, I just got off the phone with Danielle. It wasn’t Walt. While Walt might have some impressive magic tricks, what you saw in the nursery wasn’t a magic show. They don’t know what it was. In fact, both Ian and Walt are busy researching poltergeists and other paranormal phenomena.”
“Ghosts aren’t real,” Joe scoffed.
“No one said it was a ghost,” Brian said. “Perhaps it’s some strange magnetic force caused by the weather. Who knows?”
Joe frowned at Brian. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I am.” Brian took another drink of coffee.
Joe stared at Brian for a moment. Finally, he said, “There is only one problem with what you say.”
Brian arched his brows. “What’s that?”
“No way would a new mother stay in a house where things start flying and rocking on their own. Danielle would pack up those two babies and be out of that house so fast.”
Brian exchanged a silent glance with the chief before answering. He looked back at Joe and said, “As you know, Danielle claimed to have experiences with the supernatural when she was a child. She won’t react how you might expect Kelly to react in a similar situation.”