Brownie stepped away from the door. “Absolutely, y’all. Come on in. Please don’t mind the mess.”
When we were seated with cups of coffee and shortbread, I asked Brownie how the past few days had been.
“Oh, utterly terrible. We had to stay in a hotel and didn’t have half our clothes or toys for Maisie.” Brownie’s head whipped right and left. “Where is that girl? Maisie?”
On cue a little girl walked in, dragging her feet behind her. She wore a corduroy jumper, turtleneck and held a doll in each hand.
“Say hello, Maisie.”
“Hello.” She kept her eyes on the ground. I studied the girl, making sure my initial impression of her wasn’t wrong. After several seconds a halo of light shone around her head.
Shewasclairvoyant. She shone. It was a telltale sign that a person could see spirits. They literally shone. I flashed the girl an encouraging smile and turned to her mother.
“Have you ever noticed if Maisie has any special talents?”
Brownie finished sipping her coffee. “Like what?”
“Did she ever speak to the spirits here or seem overly afraid?”
“Heavens, no,” Brownie said. She splayed a hand over her chest. “I would never have let my child stay if she was being tortured by spirits. Not that I think that’s possible,” she quickly added. “I want my child to be safe.”
I nodded. The girl may have shared her ability to speak to spirits with her parents and they paid her no attention. It was a familiar tale. Or maybe Maisie had relayed information about a spirit and they told her to stop making up stories. So rather than be scolded, the girl zipped her lips when it came to ghosts.
Wouldn’t be the first time a child had been accused of lying when it came to otherworldly beings. Wouldn’t be the last.
I was looking for a good way to ask Brownie about the Hudsons when Alice blurted out, “Do you think the Hudsons killed those people and buried them?”
Brownie shivered. “I hope not. But I tell you, as soon as we can, we’re selling the house and moving. We never should’ve bought it.” She stared up at the ceiling. “In fact, I don’t even know if we’ll stay the night.”
She reached over and clasped my hand. “Thank you for your help. The place feels lighter, somehow. Better. I can’t put my finger on it, but it does.”
“You’re welcome.”
Ruth rolled her eyes. “Enough with all this nice business. The big bad spirit that was in here is trapped. We’ve got him in a can, but he’s still being a big butthole. Or at least has the potential to do so.” She pointed a finger at Brownie. “We know you were related to the Hudsons. We think the big bad was Mr. Hudson, but we can’t be sure. Where’s Mrs. Hudson? We need to talk to her.”
“Way to be subtle, Ruth,” Alice murmured.
I agreed.Thank you for blowing our cover.We were enjoying a nice snack until Ruth opened her mouth.
Brownie went rigid. “I, um. You knowwhatabout me exactly?”
I leveled my gaze on her. “Brownie, we know your aunt and uncle were the Hudsons who ran the inn here.”
“Great-aunt and uncle.”
“Okay, great. I stand corrected. We need to know what happened to them. Why they up and left. It’s important. I have several spirits I’ve got to lay to rest.”
Brownie shook her head. “I don’t know what happened to them. I believe Mrs. Hudson is dead.”
Her gaze flickered to the other side of the room.
She was lying. There were certain things I didn’t like to do when I searched for answers. One of which was fib. I didn’t like to fib. I thought it was beneath me. Let’s face it, I was short enough so that if I considered something below my standards, you know it had to be low.
The other thing was that I didn’t like to pull children into the mix. I also thought that was a shady tactic, and I didn’t like shade—throwing it or standing beneath it. At least, not when it was cold outside. Summer, okay. Winter, no thanks.
But it looked like I had no choice.
“Brownie.” I kept my tone even and patient.
