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Granny came down from upstairs, her mules clacking against the bottom of her feet, as she put on her rhinestone-encrusted, pumpkin-shaped earrings. "You want to come with me?" she asked. "The hardware store is on the way to your cottage."
"Isn't Richard coming?" I asked
"He's on the mainland talking with the loan officer about the sale," she said, and then joked. "I'm pretty sure he is hiding out so he doesn't have to deal with Ralph and this mess."
I had told Granny about the boys' desire to look at all the stuff discovered in the hardware shop. She was headed over now to see what was there and figure out next steps with Ralph, and whether or not that should include allowing two strangers to crawl around his storage room. I felt like she shouldn't have to go into that battlefield alone. I took off my apron and flipped the sign over to "Back at 5:00 PM" as Granny and I stepped outside.
Being a Monday, most people had gone back to work, but there were still a few tourists who decided to come enjoy the fall colors of our island in the daylight.
We walked down the Main Street and headed around the corner toward the hardware shop. We opened up the old wooden door and Ralph was sitting quietly on his stool, waiting for customers.
"Ralph!" Granny said, putting on the charm. "I hear you found a stack of stuff in your storage area."
Suddenly the door opened behind us and Tango walked in.
"Customers first," Ralph said to me and Granny as he turned to Tango. "What can I do you for?"
"I hear you might have a ghost," Tango stated.
It was totally the wrong thing to say, and I could see Ralph's face fall. "Of all the cockamamie..." he muttered. He asked Granny, "What can I do for you, Cindy?"
But then the door opened again and Echo came in. I could see Ralph get a little excited until Echo said, "Oh. It's you, Tango. Are you here about the poltergeist, too?"
"For the last time, there isn't a poltergeist!" Ralph practically exploded, waving his knobbly fists in frustration.
Tango stepped forward like he was taking control of a hostage situation. "Now listen, I know you are selling this property, but how about making yourself a tidy profit between now and then," Tango offered.
The mention of money seemed to have grabbed Ralph's attention. He rubbed his lower lip with his forefinger.
"What do you have in mind?" Ralph replied.
Tango presented the pitch like it was as easy as pie. "You let me bring my tour group into your space, maybe let me construct a couple of special effects upstairs, and you get a cut of all my ticket receipts."
Ralph squinted. "Special effects?"
Echo suddenly stepped forward. "Or you allow ME to bring in my groups and I respectfully leave your property the way it is and I give you a cut."
Tango countered. "I'll have to buy tools and supplies to build my special effects, which I will, of course, do from your shop."
It was music to Ralph's ears. "Tools, you say?"
"AND supplies."
"No chance you'd need a hand?" he said. "I've always wanted to build a haunted house."
I could see that Ralph was reliving some glory days in the dreams Tango was spinning. The thought of having something to bang on with a hammer was like a siren's call.
"I'd need all the help building these things that you'd be willing to give."
"I like this guy..." mused Ralph, nodding approvingly.
"You could have both," Echo offered, his voice pitching up into the range of a kid about to complain that this wasn't fair, which I could see was a big turn off for Ralph.
Laying down the law, Tango stated, "I'm not going to do all that work for the benefit of a rival operation. Mine is an exclusive deal."
The two offers hung in the air for just a moment.
"I'm going with the showman," Ralph announced, putting out his hand. "Sold!"
Echo was so angry, if looks could kill, Tango would be dead. But Tango was grinning to beat the band. And, gotta say, Ralph's smile was almost as big.
"What do you want to buy first?" Ralph asked as excited as a five-year-old on Christmas morning. "What are you building?"
Granny cleared her throat, interrupting the men and bringing them back to earth. "Sorry to bother you all, but I do actually have something I need to discuss."
"Apologies, Cindy," said Ralph, gruffly. "Business and all."
"Of course," she said, putting on the charm like there was nothing she liked better than to be ignored by the person she was trying to buy a building from. "I am just here to clear out those items that were left in your storeroom so you don't have to deal with them. They'll be welcome treasures for the historical society."
"I want to buy all the artifacts, too," piped up Tango, shooting his hand up.
Granny was shocked. "Excuse me?"
Tango whipped a wad of cash out of his pocket and peeled off a one-hundred dollar bill. He handed it over to Ralph. "I want to buy it off of you."
Ralph slowly took it, and then apologized to Granny. "He's paying me, Cindy..."
Granny blinked, but didn't make a counter offer. "Whatever you think is best, Ralph. I hope you will treat those objects with respect," Granny chided Tango.
He held up his hands. "These are valuable artifacts. We think they may be related to the ghost and want to have a chance to sift through them before they are carted away. After we get what we need, I'll make sure to donate them to the historical society." He squinted. "I assume it will be tax deductable..."
"Well... thank you," she said, softening just a little. She leaned over conspiringly. "Do you really think the hardware store is haunted?"
"I dunno," said Tango, turning to Ralph. "But I'm thinking now would be a great time to see the space and feel if there are any vibrations!"
"Could I at least see the site so that if someone asks a question, I can answer it?" whined Echo.
"Sure," Ralph sighed, hauling his bony frame off his stool.
"I said exclusive," Tango reminded him.
Ralph shook his head. "I don't do any exclusivity until I see that first group come through. You might be all smoke and mirrors. Especially since you're talking a lot about smoke and mirrors," Ralph informed him. He then pointed at his aisles filled with tools and supplies. "But no upstairs tours without purchase."
Tango exclaimed, "But I just paid you for the stuff!"
"And it is going to take a lot more than $100 if I have to hire someone to haul it down!"
Granny tactfully decided not to volunteer.
"FINE!" Tango stated, stalking over and picking up a hammer. "I'll take one of these."
"And I'll take one of these!" Echo stated, picking up a saw.
Ralph rang them both up. I noted a little hint of a smile. "Anything for you, Cindy?" he asked casually.
"I'm buying the place, so I think I'm set."
"Fair enough." He got his bony body off his stool and started shuffling toward the wooden staircase. "Up there. I'll flip the lights on for you." He unclipped the chain blocking off the staircase, which seemed to take years to do.
We all trooped upstairs. Everything seemed exactly the way it had been before.
Tango shivered with excitement and then turned to me. "Okay, Paige. Tell me exactly what you saw."
I pointed toward the window by the fire escape. "Ralph had just wound the wire around the latch, but then when I was standing here, the wire came undone and popped open."
The two boys went rushing over. Granny leaned over to me. "Who's going to tell them this is an old building and probably just shifted?"
But the guys were too involved to notice us. Echo had pulled the ghost box out of his messenger bag. He had it pointed at the window and all the green lights were flashing. "There is DEFINITELY something here," he said as all the green lights change to red. "A vortex or something."
"Or something is right. Probably a box of magnets on one of those shelves," Granny muttered.
She walked over to the pile of stuff and picked up one of the albums.
"Don't touch it!" Tango said, snatching Echo's ghost box and coming over.
"Hey!" Echo called.
"There is definitely paranormal activity around this pile..." Tango mused. He shoved the ghost box back at Echo, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and started taking pictures. He stared closer at whatever he had just photographed. "Oh man... Orbs!" he called to Echo.
Echo peered at the screen, unable to contain the thrill of this moment beneath any sort of professional exterior. "I think you're right..."
"That's just a bunch of dust motes I kicked up," Granny muttered at me. She pulled out the photo album and then smiled as she wiped the cover. "Oh! It's the Tierneys!"
"Did any of them die in a tragic accident?" Tango asked, forgetting his phone to get closer to the objects.
Granny waved him away. "No. And don't go looking to capitalize on people's pain. It ain't right."
It was like he hadn't even heard her. "I should hold a séance," Tango mused.
Echo was fit to be tied, although more because he hadn't called out dibs first than professional outrage. "Well, if you hold a séance in here, I'll just find these Tierney's old house and hold a séance there, calling the ghost home instead of to a hardware store."
Tango looked at him like Echo had slapped him. "How dare you!" Tango exclaimed.
"Watch me!" Echo replied.
"You'll scare away the spirits."
"You'll scare away the vortex!"
Suddenly, Ralph's voice called from below. "I don't care what you do, just stop scaring away my customers!"