Chapter Three
By the look of her brother’s face when he entered the café Star knew he had seen something to have changed his mind. He was as white as milk and he threw himself down into the wooden chair. “What will it be Sam?” Nancy the waitress asked popping her trade mark bubble gum.
“Coffee…strong!”
“Sure thing daddy-o.” Star watched Nancy strut away.
“Whatever did you see in her?” She pondered out loud.
“What?” Sam barked flicking his eyes back and forth between the two girls as he stripped off his jacket.
“Nancy!” Star elaborated. “She’s been round town more times than the train.” Sam stared at her with irritation before saying.
“She’s a good lay, that’s all. It wasn’t love at first sight.” Star pulled a disgusted face; Nancy came back with Sam’s black coffee and made sure he got an eyeful before slinking back off to whatever hole she had crept out of.
“So…what happened?”
“It was the damnedest thing Star. We’ve hunted a lot of ghosts in the past but this…it’s like nothing I’ve ever encountered before. She just appeared right in front of me, no warning, no coldness…nothing!”
“And she just fell into the lake?” Sam nodded sipping his hot coffee.
“I waited an hour she never resurfaced or appeared, and no one in the house knows of a woman drowning in the lake.” Star sat back and looked out the window thoughtfully. The bright day had given way to dark rain clouds and shoppers dashed past with umbrellas and hoods wrapped around their heads.
“I have to admit.” She finally said, “I hadn’t heard anything about anyone dying up there till this morning, drowned or otherwise.” Sam shook his head, his mind still reeling from the phantom.
“Maybe she didn’t drown.” He said finally. Star arched her eyebrows at him. “The way she did it…she didn’t go head first like she had fallen in, or was pushed. She faced me and spread her arms…like she was doing it of her own free will…”
“You mean it looked like suicide?” Sam nodded.
“This is definitely our thing Star, but Lucy’s right, something bad is going on up there…I can feel it.”
“Lucy?” He realized he’d said too much.
“Lucy Backwater, the Lord’s daughter she thinks her Grandfather was murdered, and I have to say I’m starting to think the same.”
“Yeah but it was a man who appeared last night, not a woman.”
“Then we have two ghosts up there to contend with. I better get back.” Sam got to his feet and pulled on his jacket.
“I’ll search the library; see if I can find out who this woman and man is.” Star paid and followed her brother out into the rain.
“Star.” Sam turned to her with concern festering in his dark eyes. “Are you okay?” She looked at him like he’d grown two heads.
“I’m fine.” She laughed nervously. “We’ll meet up before dark. Bye.” With one wave she marched off down the soaked High street. Sam wasn’t a touchy feely kind of guy but he knew in his gut something was really wrong…