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Moving in did the trick. Once Carter set up residence, the house went quiet. There were still the normal sounds of an old house settling and birds screeching in the woods, but nothing that couldn’t be explained away. The furnace still thumped occasionally, but he hadn’t noticed any cold spots. The lack of activity made Callie happy—and ticked her off at the same time. It was like when you took your car to the shop, she’d told him, and it refused to act up for the mechanic. He had other opinions on the subject, like maybe having him in her bed was a deterrent for bad actors of the human type.
It had been days now, and he hadn’t seen or heard anything that would change his mind. It only made him more confident that he was right—that somebody had been messing with her head. Or intent on doing worse.
He turned up the heat in his cruiser and cocked the steering wheel to fight against the wind trying to blow him off the road. He’d had to drive across the state for a court appearance for Fleiss, the escapee he’d helped catch. Charges had been filed for the credit card the convict had stolen and the Winnebago he’d broken into and made his home for a few days. More charges were being considered, but Fleiss had yet to give up any information on Morton.
Carter was pretty sure he didn’t have any.
The more he heard, the more certain Carter was that Morton had broken off on his own. A smart move, considering his compatriots. The guy was good at covering his tracks, and he didn’t get sloppy. He didn’t stay in one place too long and changed up his routine.
His intelligence was the reason why he was still out there.
Carter rubbed the back of his neck. Callie was right. The search had gotten under his skin. His department needed to keep on top of things, but they weren’t the only ones responsible for finding Morton. Every cop in the state was hunting him down.
He glanced to the passenger seat of the car when his phone rang. He answered as soon as he saw Callie’s name. “Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey, yourself. Where are you?”
“About an hour out. Sorry, this took longer than I expected.”
“That’s okay. How did it go?”
Carter frowned as a semi passed him, drifting way too close to the center line. “They threw in an extra charge for the swing Fleiss took at me. I appreciated that.”
“Bastard,” she muttered.
He grinned at the outrage in her voice. He liked having her on his side.
“The FBI has also moved Morton up on its ten most wanted list.”
“FBI twit.”
His grin pulled wider. He probably shouldn’t have shared that, but he trusted her to keep his opinion between the two of them. “How did your pies turn out?” he asked.
She went quiet. “Mamie’s turned out okay.”
Meaning hers hadn’t.
At least the baking lesson had kept her busy. Things had been going well at the house, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten rule one. He’d asked Mamie to stay with her today while he’d made the trip. “I’ll have a slice of yours.”
“I left it out for Adelaide.”
As a lure. He sighed. She’d taken to pestering the spirit to try to get it to react. What a ghost was supposed to do with a pie, he had no clue.
“I’ll be at the café when you get here,” she said.
He frowned. It was late for Mamie’s to still be open, and he’d thought they were going to do the baking at her house. “Everything okay?”
“Mm-hm.”
Something wasn’t right. He could hear tension in her voice. “You sure?”
“I’m just working on my column.”
Now he knew something was off. She went into a cave when she wrote. He knew well enough from watching her do research on Adelaide.
Adelaide.
He pushed harder on the gas. “I’ll be there soon.”
“I’ve missed you today,” she said.
He shifted in his seat. Now he really wanted to get back home. “We’ll make up time tomorrow,” he promised. “No work.”
“No work,” she agreed.
The urge to turn on his lights and rev the engine was strong, but Carter made himself keep to the speed limit. They hadn’t gotten any precipitation yet, but the wind was whipping and the temperature had dropped. Snow was on its way.
He hunkered behind the wheel and tried not to keep looking at the clock. When he was within range, he turned up his police scanner to see if there was anything that warranted his attention, but it was quiet. The route finally began to twist and turn until it descended into Shadow Valley. He passed the spot where he’d pulled Callie over that first day and understood her need for speed, but he had to slow down even more. The wind could be tricky here, especially when it got like this. Sometimes the gusts swirled above the valley, while other times they scraped through like an ice cream scoop.
He was driving down Main Street when he spotted a silver car parked in front of Mamie’s. Callie’s.
The Mustang was halfway into an illegal parking zone.
For once, he was happy enough to see her that he just might not fine her.
Feeling uneasy, Carter did a U-turn at the empty intersection and parked next to her. Wind pummeled him as he opened the door, and he pulled his bomber jacket up higher around his neck. It was one of those nights where the wind was dipping low, strafing the town square. The howl was at a low roar, and the café sign creaked and swayed. The tips of his ears were numb when he finally made it inside the diner.
All but one of the booths were empty, and the lights in the kitchen were off.
“Oh, Carter,” Mamie said. “You finally made it. Were the roads bad?”
“It kept things interesting.” He narrowed his eyes as he took in the two of them. They were huddled together in the booth. Mamie had a cup of tea in front of her, while Callie had her laptop open. “Why is the place still open?” he asked. “I thought you had the day off.”
Mamie looked up at him, and he could see the strain around her eyes. “We’re not really open. We were just waiting for you.”
“Why?”
She glanced across the table at Callie.
It was then that he noticed the bag on the seat beside her. “What happened?” he asked.
Mamie bit her lip and stirred her tea.
“Callie?” he asked.
She didn’t answer. There it was again, the tension.
“Don’t make me ticket you for the way you’re parked outside.”
She straightened in her seat and looked out the plate-glass windows. “What’s wrong with the way I parked? I’m not in front of the fire hydrant.”
He’d interrogated enough people to know when to back off. He also knew when it was best to approach from a different angle. “It’s halfway into a no-parking zone.”
“But there’s nobody else on the street.”
“Which makes me question why you didn’t choose any of the legal spots.” He moved the overnight bag from the seat to the floor and slid into the booth beside her. “That Mustang isn’t suited for winter, especially in these parts. You should start driving my truck.”
“But I like my car.”
“You can like it just as much if it’s sitting in the garage.”
She shivered. “You brought the cold in with you.”
He hooked a finger under her chin and made her look at him. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Callie?”
“She missed you,” she finally said.
He glanced across the table at Mamie, who blushed and quickly shook her head. “Not me, dear. Although you’re certainly one of my favorite people.”
“You know darn well who I’m talking about,” Callie said, her voice catching. “Adelaide missed you.”
“Now, wait—”
She poked him in the shoulder. “Rule three.”
“All right.” He raked a hand through his hair and was surprised to find it damp. Something was coming down outside. He took off his coat and tossed it over a chair at the next table. “I’m listening.”
She looked at Mamie again, who reached over and squeezed her hand.
“I thought our visit to Adelaide’s grave had changed things,” Callie said in a small voice. “I thought that we had come to an understanding, especially after I read her letters. Things had been good all week. The moment you left, though, she started acting up.”
Which meant that somebody had been watching them closely enough to know when he was out of town. The back of Carter’s neck prickled, and he started mentally ticking through the list of people who had that kind of access. “What do you mean, ‘acting up’?”
“She knows you. I think she likes having you in her house.” Callie closed her laptop and ran her hands through her hair. It didn’t look like the first time she’d done that. “She’s been restless ever since I moved into her space. Looking back, I can remember things that happened—the squeaky shutters, the thump in the basement, Halloween. It’s worst when I’m alone. She’s quiet as a mouse whenever you’re around, though, and she got upset when you left.”
“How could you tell? Did you hear footsteps again? The rocker in the attic?”
“She slammed the kitchen cabinet doors,” Mamie said in a rush.
Carter frowned. Mamie had seen it too?
He wrapped his arm around Callie’s shoulders. She was stiff as a board. “When did it happen? Any idea why?”
She leaned into him and let out a shaky breath. “We’d just pulled our pies out of the oven. We were talking and cleaning up. We started to put things away, but suddenly the room went cold.”
Mamie tapped the table. “After the furnace made that noise in the basement.”
Callie nodded tiredly. “Right. It thumped, and then it got cold. Before we could check the thermostat or do anything else, Adelaide let us know that the baking lesson was over.”
Mamie’s eyes went big. “Those doors slammed one right after the other, Carter, just like Adelaide had run down the room. And it was so cold in there! Cold as it is outside right now, mark my words.”
One of them had probably bumped a door by accident, and things had grown in their minds from there. But he could see that neither of them would be open to that logical explanation. They were feeding off each other’s fear even now. “I’m glad you decided to come here.”
“Not before the television turned on.”
He swung his head toward Callie.
“We left the kitchen in a hurry, but then the television turned on in the living room. It freaked me out because the newscaster was right in the middle of a report on Morton. It felt like Adelaide was telling me that she knew you weren’t there.”
“Ah, honey.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’ve had problems with that thing before, though, haven’t you?”
“Once. When David was there.” She pointed at him fast. “Don’t even say it.”
He didn’t have to.
He rubbed her arm again. As sorry as he was that she’d been scared, he liked that her fighting spirit was coming back. “Did you see anyone else in the house? Did you notice any unfamiliar cars outside? Were the doors unlocked?”
“It was Adelaide, Carter. It’s always Adelaide.”
He didn’t know what to say to help her. He’d searched that house countless times, and he’d yet to find any evidence he could follow to ease her mind. The second set of fingerprints hadn’t yielded any better results than the first. What could he do? He’d told her once he couldn’t fight a ghost, but he really, really needed something he could get his hands on.
Across the table, Mamie cleared her throat. “Well, since you’re here now, I think I’ll just head off upstairs to bed. It’s been quite the day for this little old lady.”
Callie straightened. “I’m sorry to get you caught up in this.”
Mamie smiled and brushed off the apology. “They say that life is slow in small towns. Now I can prove them wrong.”
The windows rattled when another gust of wind came through, and Mamie bobbled her tea. Callie reached over to steady the cup, and Carter scooted out of the booth. He offered Mamie his hand. “Thank you for being with her today. You go get some rest. We’ll make sure to close up when we leave.”
“You’re good kids.” Mamie moved more carefully than normal as Carter helped her up from her seat. She smiled down at Callie. “I’m so happy you found one another, especially since I won the pool.”
Callie blushed and began straightening up. “Help her upstairs, Carter. I’ve got this.”
Carter led Mamie to the back staircase and helped her up to her apartment above the diner. He took her key from her shaky hand and helped her open the door.
She bit her lip. “You won’t tell anyone if I hide under the covers?”
“Your secret is safe with me. But don’t worry. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She patted him on the shoulder. “We already know what’s causing this, Carter. Just listen to Callie. That’s what she needs.”
He dipped his head as the door closed. The wisdom of elders.
By the time he got back downstairs, Callie had cleaned up the table, packed up her computer, and put on her coat.
“Come here,” he said.
She moved into his arms quickly, tucking her face into his chest.
“Tell me the rest,” he said against her ear.
“It’s Adelaide, Carter. I don’t know what she wants, but I think she’s getting frustrated. She’s becoming more and more powerful, and it’s starting to scare me.”
That much was obvious. Shudders were running through her body. When he’d left town, she’d been more confident. She’d thought that they’d figured out the key to Adelaide’s unrest. She’d had a plan, and things weren’t bothering her. “She didn’t try to hurt you, did she?”
“No. I was just happy she didn’t lock me in my room again.” She paused for a moment and pulled back to look at him. “Wait a minute. Did you just say ‘she’? I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
He sighed. Mamie’s words were ringing in his ears. Callie didn’t need him to fight with her; she needed him to help her. In whatever way he could. “It’s not important what I believe. Right now, I care more about what you think. We’ve done things my way—maybe it’s time we choose yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t there people who look into this kind of thing? You know, with gadgets and night cameras?”
Her eyes went wide, and a silly smile settled on her lips. That alone was worth the concession. “Are you serious? You want to call in the Ghostbusters?”
He winced. He was never going to live this down, not in Shadow Valley, that was for sure. “It wouldn’t hurt to consult professionals who might be able to see something we’re missing.”
Like scams.
It went against every grain of logic inside him, but he was willing to do just about anything to take the fear out of her eyes. It had been there for too long. He was still going to call an electrician about the TV and drag Ernie’s cousin back for another look at the furnace, but he’d play along for her sake. “We can make some phone calls and see if anyone is interested in studying the place. It’s got some historical merit with the connection to Adelaide Calhoun. We should be able to get someone with some decent credentials, I’d think.”
The worry lines vanished from her face. “I’d like that.”
“Okay, I’ll get on it tomorrow.” It was at least something he could do for her. He brushed his lips over hers. God, he’d missed her today. “My place?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
He swung her bag over his shoulder and tucked her up against his side as they headed for the door. “I’m going to need you to do one thing for me before that happens, miz.”
A corner of her mouth twitched. “Move my car?”
“It’s killing me.”