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After dinner, Eddie couldn’t get his coat on quick enough. “Everybody sure they don’t want to come?” he asked as he was struggling to get his arms into his sleeves. He was bent forward with his arms in weird positions, like broken antennas.
“Yes,” we said in unison.
Eddie turned to me. “I’m surprised you don’t want to go.”
“Why?”
“You write mysteries, and this is the biggest and probably only mystery this village has had in our lifetime. Don’t you want to check it out?”
“No. They’ll be filming stuff in the dark, and they’ll focus on spirits. They won’t actually check out the room where it happened.”
“Ah, I see what’s going on,” Eddie said as he moved forward, having succeeded in his mission to put on his coat. “You’re scared.”
“You know what? That is absolutely and completely so not false.”
He frowned. “What?”
“You’re right.” I hit him on the shoulder. “Don’t act surprised, we all know what a scaredy-cat I am.” Spiders, scary films, heights, people in masks, loud noises, snakes, commitment, confined spaces, and poorly written novels.
“It’s true,” Nancy nodded.
“Yes,” I said.
Eddie shrugged. “It’s less fun when you actually admit it.”
“I know. You’re welcome.”
“Fine, don’t come, but you’ll be missing out on a great adventure and potentially a great source of inspiration for novels to come.” He stepped towards the door. “I’m leaving now. Almost at the door.”
––––––––
“YOU ARE SUCH A BRAVE woman. I really admire your strength and perseverance,” Eddie said as we stood in front of the B&B. Brian was also there, he wore black-framed glasses and breathed heavily. He had asthma and it was probably an indication that he was getting excited.
I never spent any time with Brian. He was just Eddie’s weird friend in my book. Though it was possible that Brian felt that exact same way about me.
“Don’t mock me,” I said. “I have watched a lot of Jackie Chan films, and I’m not afraid to use that knowledge against you.” If I witnessed first-hand what those ghost hunters would find, I’d be even more credible when I told the book club and anybody else that there were no ghosts. It would also mean that Victor’s murder would be taken seriously by the villagers, and it could help the police. Besides that, I was also genuinely curious about how something like this would go.
The door opened, and Mrs Suzuki, the owner, stood in the doorway. She was wearing an apron with kittens depicted on it. She had straight long hair that she usually wore in a knot, like today.
“Hey guys, what a nice surprise.”
“We heard the ghost hunters were here,” Eddie said and bounced up and down as he tried to look past her.
Mrs Suzuki laughed a melodious laugh. “Come in. They are about to leave for the Pembroke Hotel. They’re in the front room.”
I followed Eddie inside. It had been a while since I’d been here, and I welcomed the cheerful colours and country-like style of the detached house.
In the front room were four people, only one of them a woman. They were packing two bags, one with equipment, and the other one with drinks and snacks.
Eddie didn’t waste any time. As soon as he was inside, he began talking. “Hi, guys. I’m Eddie Ellington, nice to meet you. This is my friend Brian and—” He looked up and saw he was pointing at me. He pulled Brian out from behind me. “This is Brian, and that is my friend Maggie.”
I waved.
The ghost hunters stood frozen for a second, their eyes on us, probably not sure if this was really happening. Maybe they thought we were ghosts. Ha.
The man closest to us showed the first signs of life and stood up straight. He had blond hair, half-long and curling at the nape of his neck. His eyes were moss green, and he projected a warm smile. He was about our age; they all seemed to be. It surprised me that they all seemed so normal, though I should know better than anyone to not judge a book by its cover.
“Hi, guys. I’m Nick,” he said in a Welsh accent. He stepped forward and shook Eddie’s hand first. Then he shook Brian’s hand, who began breathing more heavily. When he shook mine, he used both hands. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said and smiled.
“We’re locals, and we know a thing or two about ghost hunting. Not like you do, but still. We were hoping we could help you guys out. We also know about the ghost stories and you know, the recent event,” Eddie said.
“Sure, we wouldn’t mind some help, but we can’t lend out our equipment for insurance reasons,” Nick said without discussing it with the other members. He was clearly the leader.
“No problem, we have our own.” Eddie smiled proudly.
“Excellent, well, this is Fiona,” Nick pointed at the woman with the braid and she gave us a curt nod.
Eddie immediately dashed forward to shake her hand. Subtlety was not his thing.
“Steve.” A firm man with a bald head stepped forward to shake Eddie’s hand.
“And Eric.” A young man with dreadlocks gave Eddie a fist bump.
Nick turned to me. “So you’re a ghost hunter, too?”
“No, I’m a writer. I actually write detective stories, and my friend suggested I might come along and help solve a mystery. Gain some inspiration at the same time.” I shrugged. “I don’t really think there’s a curse. Sorry.”
Nick smiled. “That’s okay. We keep an open mind ourselves. We’re after the truth.”
“Good, me too.” I returned his smile.
He held my gaze for a moment, then turned around. “Alright, guys. Let’s get moving. We have a big van. You guys can join us.” He winked at me.
Ten minutes later we were in a black van. Luckily, it could hold eight people, so there was no squishing involved. I sat next to the woman, Fiona. She was listening to music and stared out the window, so she wasn’t exactly a source of bubbly conversation.
Eddie was in front of me, right between Brian and Steve. He had better luck at striking up a conversation, though their talk of equipment was a little lost on me.
Nick was driving with Eric in the passenger’s seat.
I thought about texting Nancy to tell her that parents were right, it’s never a good idea to get into a van with strangers, but figured I’d just stick it out. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Nick seemed nice. Still, I felt kind of silly going along with this. Filming stuff in the dark and trying to talk to dead people, all the while being in a place where people died. In bathtubs. Well, let’s just say that if I had to do this in a film, I’d get a stunt woman to do it.
When we arrived at the hotel, we parked near the entrance. Mr Field, who seemed even more mousy-looking than when I saw him in the pub, was already waiting for us at the double doors. How did he feel about this? Did he want it to be ghosts or an actual murderer? Which would be better for business?
Mr Field showed us to the reception room which was a large, beautiful room with a fireplace that wasn’t burning and antique sofas. Wall lights and a chandelier provided ample light. I hadn’t noticed this the last time because of the shock.
“Thank you so much for coming,” Mr Field said and indicated we should sit down.
Eddie and I were about to sit down, but everybody else remained upright so just as our behinds were hovering over the seat, we managed to push ourselves up in an awkward way. Nobody noticed.
“I’ve informed our current guests that you would be here, so I’ve convinced them that for the next hour they should be out or stay in their rooms. Most of them have gone out to eat, so you should be free to walk around and do what you need to do. The rooms where earlier incidents have occurred are still empty. The doors are open so feel free to walk in. There will be a constable in front of Mr Woodbury’s room.” His voice was calm and heavy.
“Right,” Nick said. “Like I said on the phone, we’ll visit each room in the downstairs area and then make our way through the corridor upstairs. We’ll review our footage tonight and get back to you tomorrow.”
Mr Field nodded. He looked surprisingly calm under these circumstances. His wife was nowhere to be seen.
“Other than the mysterious way in which those cheating men died, is there any sign of a haunting?” Nick asked.
“No, nothing. Just during construction, you know, some misplaced things and accidents. That’s why we had the local...” He searched for words.
“Witch?” I said.
“Yes, she came here to do a cleansing.”
“Well, let’s go find out if she did it right,” Nick said and put down his bag with the equipment.
Eddie and I glanced at each other.
They split up in two groups. Nick, Fiona and Eddie were in one, while Steve, Eric and Brian were in the other. They took their equipment and went in opposite directions as they explored the ground floor first.
Nick gave me a walkie-talkie so I could listen in and communicate with them as well. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Nick asked.
“Nope, I’ll just wait here until you guys head upstairs.”
He nodded and off they went with their torches and weird equipment.
“I’ll be in the back room,” Mr Field said. “Thank you for coming.”
“Sure,” I said. “Bye.” I watched him walk away.
“The lights are going to be turned off now,” Nick’s voice said over the walkie-talkie.
Oh, boy.
As soon as he said this, the lights turned off.
Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.
I turned on my small, pink torch that glowed in the dark and was about the size of my middle finger and let the spot of light glide over the furniture around me. It looked bleak in the light of the torch. A tingling sensation spread throughout my body like I was pricked by hundreds of needles as I stood frozen in the spacious room. What was I trying to prove? I really shouldn’t have come here. Fear isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign that something is wrong.