“Yes. My event this afternoon is at Hamilton Hall. Is that walking distance from the Inn?” she asked, hoping to not have the horror of driving amid the dead again today.
“Definitely. It’s about a five-minute walk. Ten if you take your time to see the sights along the way. Let me give you a map. I can mark the most direct route.” He took out a yellow highlighter and drew on the paper map. “I’ll also mark the Old Burying Ground. Lots of visitors enjoy walking through there and it’s right on your way.”
“Great,” Natalie mumbled beneath her breath earning her a sideways glance from Harper who looked far less excited about the existence of ghosts today.
The desk clerk continued, “Hamilton Hall is right on Chestnut Street. I circled it. Here you go. And could you please fill this out?” The clerk slid a pen and paper across the desk to her.
After Natalie filled out the paperwork, and somehow remembered the license plate number on her car, the clerk accepted the form and slid the keys across the desk. “You’re in room 22. That’s on the second floor. The elevator is just to your right. I’ve given you two keys.”
“Thank you,” Natalie said, turning to hand one of the keys to Harper.
When she turned from the desk, what she saw frightened a yelp out of her as she spotted a child standing next to Harper.
She would have liked to believe he was a living boy but the pale skin, the sunken eyes, the bones visible beneath the skin under the tattered rags he wore told her otherwise.
He moved closer. Uncomfortably close. Putting himself in the already small space between her and Harper. Ghost children had no concept of personal space. She’d learned that with Clara, the vaudeville performer at the Stanley Theater in Utica who’d died much too young.
“Can I have some space, please?” she grit out between her teeth.
Looking shocked, Harper took a step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize?—”
“No, Harper. Not you.” Natalie shook her head.
Harper’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
“Yes.”
“Here?”
“Everywhere.”
Harper went completely still. As if that would make her invisible to the dead? “I’m starting to think we shouldn’t have come,” she whispered.
Natalie couldn’t have agreed more, then she saw Harper’s concerned expression and dismissed her fears for her friend’s sake. “I’m just twitchy from the long drive. I’ll do the panel. Then we’ll have an amazing dinner.”
“Dinner with lots of drinks since we’re walking, not driving,” Harper added.
“Definitely. Then tomorrow we’ll be home. It’ll all be fine. I’m fine.”
Fine… once she got away from the ghost child.
Natalie averted her eyes and pretended they weren’t there. Not the child. Not the woman who’d come up to stand near the child. And not the ghost of a black cat weaving its way in and out of their feet and through the solid front desk.
“Nat?”
When she glanced up and saw Harper’s eyes wide as she stared at her face, Natalie realized she must not have done a good job of pretending.
“What’s happening?” Harper mouthed.
Natalie pressed her lips tight and shook her head. Taking a big step away from the child, she asked with fake cheer, “Ready to head to the room?”
“Yeah, sure,” Harper said slowly.
“Good.” She could only hope their room would be a ghost free zone. Although when she saw the faces pressed against the front windows staring at her from outside, she figured her odds were not looking good.
Chapter Four
Professor Lionel Graves spoke not from his seat behind the table where the rest of the panel participants sat, but instead while standing in front of it.
