Night Hunters (A Jodie Shield Modern Gothic Mystery Book 3)

By Merabeth James

Built by eccentric Professor Theo Tremaine in the early 1900s, Tremaine house was described as a sprawling Victorian monstrosity sandwiched between the Atlantic shore and a salt marsh. Its reputation for being haunted was well known, so the present owner Ron...a childhood friend who had never set foot in the place... asked that Simon determine the validity of such claims. As things stood, a sale was highly unlikely unless the haunting was disproved or the house cleansed, and Ron was desperately in need of funds to save a failing business. Simon agreed to spend the night and do a full investigation. When Jodie failed to talk him out of it, she very reluctantly insisted she accompany him. She didn’t want him there without her after the horrors they had both experienced in the past. They were to get an early start the next day, but when Jodie awoke the next morning she found a note propped up against the toaster. It’s all down the ‘rabbit hole’ from there, as Jodie sets out to save Simon when his call from inside the mansion ends in a sudden, ominous silence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Merabeth James
• Release date: Jul 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005295097

Merabeth James

There are six things important to me...well, most important to me: To love unconditionally, to always keep a sense of 'wonder', to always be kind, to find joy in simple things, to never take myself too seriously, and to make sure I don't leave this earth with a list of "if only I hads".I've taken many 'leaps of faith' in my time and, so far, have landed on my feet or, in one case, on a dilapitated houseboat with my dog, and a lot of enthusiasm. I named her 'Sanctuary Annie' and hoped for the best. I knew nothing about boats, couldn't swim and wondered how long she would stay afloat. In the middle of the night, when my dog jumped up to join me on the antique Victorian bed I had moved on board, I would check to see if he was wet, knowing, if so, we were both in big trouble. But Sanctuary Annie hung in there, even surviving a hurricane, when others around her were not so fortunate.Living in the small marina, with the sea as my back yard, I found a profound sense of peace..and the love of my life....my Jim, captain of 'Wings', a beautiful racing sloop that flies across the water, when the wind fills her sails.I often think how much I would have missed out on, if I hadn't taken that leap of faith and followed my heart. Life is meant to be lived and I intend to keep on doing just that.

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This book is entirely a work of fiction. All characters are entirely fictitious and do not represent any persons living or dead. Product, business, location names used remain the property of any/all trademark holders and do not represent an endorsement or association of any kind, either expressed or implied.

(Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Repka all rights reserved)

We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow.

But now alone I lie and weep beside the tree.

Singing 'Oh willow waly' by the tree that weeps with me.

Singing 'Oh willow waly' till my lover return to me.

George Auric/Paul Dehan

NIGHT HUNTERS

PROLOGUE

Hey, Chip! Come on! Wake up! a persistent voice demanded from the darkness as an invisible hand tugged back the covers the sleeping boy had drawn up over his head. Get up! Me and Timmy want to play.

Chip groaned and opened his eyes a mere slit, Go ‘way. Leave me alone.

Don’t be such a spoil sport. Your ma’s asleep, and you can do whatever you want. You still ain’t scared of us, are you?

He answered by curling into the fetal position and pulling his pillow over his head.

The oldest boy with an abundance of red hair and freckles materialized first. Aww! Come on. Don’t be like that, he coaxed adding a poke to his ribs for emphasis. We got your ball. Let’s bounce it down the stairs or find your cat and scare the crap out of it again.

Pushing himself to a sitting position, Chip told them fiercely, You leave Chester alone! Now go away, or I’ll....

What? Call for your mama who’ll think you just had another nightmare? Your pa’s gone. We saw him leave, so he can’t do squat to us. ‘Sides we’re ghosts, and he can’t make us leave. Me and Timmy have as much right to be here as you do.

More, blond haired, blue-eyed Timmy added with a childish lisp. Me and Ollie came first. This was our room ‘fore you ever got here.

Okay. We won’t bother your precious Chester none if you come with us. Pinkie swear! Ollie told him.

With a doubtful frown, Chip reluctantly extended his hand then crawled out of bed. I’m coming, but I don’t want to bounce the ball inside and wake my mom, he replied as he slid into his sneakers. Let’s go back by that funny looking stone building where it’s open and flat.

"They call it a mahsoleem, and you don’t want to look inside. Come on. Hurry up! Ollie urged. The moon’s high, so we got plenty of light."

His two companions passed first through the closed door that Chip opened and shut quietly behind him. Following the two glowing figures in front of him, he crept down the hall past the rooms where his mother and sister slept. Past the stacked boxes still unopened from their recent move. He had just reached the top of the front staircase when both Ollie and Timmy vanished leaving him in near darkness. Only the moonlight that poured through the top of the twin outer doors lit the long sweep of stairs.

Hey! Where’d yah go? he called softly as he started down them. I’m going back to bed if I don’t see you by the time I count to three. One...two.....

Three! Ollie whispered close to his ear then shoved him hard sending him tumbling down the stairs to the very bottom where he lay in a puddle of moonlight and blood on the black and white tiled floor.

Come on! Get up and outta here before you see what happens next, Ollie told him as he reached down and jerked his spirit free from his near lifeless body. Your scream prob’ly woke your ma. You don’t want to see how upset she’ll get when she sees you like this. Ours went all crazy like when they fished us out of the water.

A dazed Chip looked down at his crumpled body. What...how...? Am I a ghost like you two?

Just about. Might be a moment or two yet ‘fore you’re dead as you’re goin’ to get, Timmy replied. Now you can play all the time with us, and won’t be...

But Chip wasn’t listening as he struggled to break Ollie’s grasp. If I’m still alive, maybe I can go back. Maybe it’s not too late!

Nope. You’re a goner by now. Time to get movin’, Ollie told him. You probably don’t feel like playin’ right now being just dead and all, so we’ll head up to the attic. That’s where we often hangout and make noises to scare them that’s here. The living ones that move in like you did. You should be glad that...

Glad that I’m dead? an incredulous Chip broke in.

Glad you won’t be turned into their kind, Ollie replied as he grabbed him by both shoulders and gave him a hard shake. You don’t know nothin’! We’re not the ones you should be scairt of. They’ve been watchin’ all of you since you moved in. Watchin’ while you slept. Watchin’ when your pa took off on his trip. Luther enjoys the ‘savoring’ as he calls it, but not as much as She does. Now you’ve escaped, and they’ll all be really pissed off.

Who is this Luther? a horrified Chip somehow managed to whisper.

He’s....

Stop! Timmy urged as tears filled his blue eyes. You should never have told him about Luther or mentioned Her. They’ll know and hurt us. You know they can.

Ollie’s glowing light dimmed as a look of pure terror crossed his impish, freckled face briefly before he dredged up a smile. They already left, so they won’t even know, he replied with a flash of bravado he somehow managed to summon.

Timmy’s voice shook and tears filled his eyes when he told hin, "Maybe they didn’t all leave. Sometimes Luther or one of the others stays behind. Maybe they’re listening to us right now."

You’re just being a crybaby. Nobody knows squat. I got a better idea than the attic. Let’s go hang out down by the swamp and see what happens.

I’m not going anywhere with you! I need to warn my family! Chip shouted as he struggled once again to break free from Ollie’s relentless hold.

We’ll come back when it’s daylight. The others are usually asleep once the sun comes up. You can warn them then if they’ll even listen. Most can’t hear us, Timmy told him as he brushed away his tears with a grimy fist.

Enough talkin’. Let’s go have some fun, Ollie told them both as he pulled the struggling boy through the door into the moonlit night.

Chip shivered violently as he looked behind him. Someone wanted him back. He could feel the pull. It had to be his mom who had heard his cry and found him. Tears welled up in his dark eyes and spilled down his cheeks. He had joined the ghosts she didn’t believe in. Was Timmy right? Would she listen to his warning when he came back? Would she even hear him at all before it was too late?

CHAPTER ONE

It was a cold blustery day, and my walk with Bella the beagle had left me in desperate need of a mug of hot chocolate...the mini marshmallow kind, so I headed to the cupboard and pulled out the box while Bella headed to her bed. While I prepped it, I wondered when Simon would be home. He’d been a bit vague about his plans. Apparently, he had had a call from an old friend who would be on a stopover between planes long enough for them to catch up on the years they’d missed. I’d asked for more info, but he diverted me with a kiss...grabbed his keys and left.

Since the horrors of Blackthorne Island, he had been with me for six months. I had said ‘yes’ to the Mrs. North thing. He had brought roses, and champagne on the night he slipped Edith’s diamond ring on my finger telling me, She gave it to me on my twentieth birthday. Said I would know when I found the one meant to wear it. I hope it fits. It’s not the biggest diamond and....

I had shushed him. Told him it was the most perfect ring in the whole world because it was hers then kissed him knocking over the champagne bottle in the process. Neither one of us seemed to notice. I smiled as I remembered the rest of the night spent in his arms.

The time that followed had its challenges. I thought of it as a proving ground to see if we could share the same space forever without killing each other. The last time it hadn’t gone so well. Simon would always be Simon, and I would always be me, so we tiptoed around each other...tried to compromise...that sort of thing. He would tidy things at night, and I would undo them the next day. Neither of us said a word about it. I only knew I loved and trusted him...totally...completely. That we would make it work no matter what it took. That I had not known a moment of loneliness since I fell into his arms that day at Greystone.

We did talk about setting a date for the wedding, but nothing had been finalized. I did know neither one of us wanted a big formal wedding. On my part, it was largely because there would be next to no one sitting on my side of the church except Bobbie Collingwood who would RSVP if I asked her. I had been an angry, hostile kid until Allison took me away from the group home where I had been returned after running away from another foster family that had proved to be a nightmare. She had taught me to love and trust...broke through the wall I had built to protect myself from hurt and disappointment. It hadn’t been easy. Until Allison, no one had stayed long in my life. The few friends I made were sent to other fosters or adopted. Someone was always leaving me, so I became a loner until she rescued me and then Simon came along. Simon whom I loved more than life itself. My best friend. My soul mate...something I had never had before or ever thought I would.

My thoughts continued along that line as I scooped out the marshmallows with a spoon before they melted then ate them one by one as I headed to my loft’s long windows that overlooked the harbor. The water was gray and choppy under an equally dark sky. The only boats still moving out there were workboats...fishing boats...that were coming in with their catch. The water would be rough beyond the harbor entrance. The wind fierce beyond its protection, and I shivered reflexively remembering my time with Simon in his ill-fated sailboat.

Bella ‘woofed’ in her sleep, and I looked her way. Her muzzle was turning white now, and I felt tears gather in my eyes. Henry and Edith would be coming for her before too long. She would go into the Light with them and be free of her aging body and....

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I couldn’t go there. Not now. Probably not ever. Losing Cinda had broken my heart even though she had appeared to me when I needed her. One precious black cat that had once belonged to my Allison and been possessed by her from time to time when I was in danger. The kind I didn’t want to ever end up in again. Yet another bone of contention between Simon and me. He still wanted to go ghost releasing, and I was perfectly content not to. By mutual agreement, we decided not to mention it any more, which meant it lay beneath the surface quietly undermining my sense of peace. Some day something would force it to the top. It seemed inevitable.

After the film he had shot on Blackthorne Island that proved the existence of life after death as well as other disturbing aspects of the paranormal, he had been asked to lecture all over the world. I didn’t want to think about any of it ever again though my dreams seemed to be fair game. Simon often woke me from one of these nightmares and held me till the after shocks passed. Sometimes they were so frightening it took hours and a new day to make that happen.

Enough procrastinating. Time to focus on more writing and less remembering, I muttered to myself as I headed to the office I now shared with Simon. I had to smile. My desk had been tidied during the night. Now I would have to hunt for everything since his idea of order was vastly different from mine. In the midst of what he considered chaos, I knew where everything was. As a joke, I had bought him a label maker thinking I was making a point. To both my horror and surprise, proprietary labels had appeared on everything I had thought was mutually shared right down to the coffee mugs.

I looked at his desk and wandered that way. Perhaps his meticulously kept day planner will have some notation of this mysterious meeting, I muttered to myself.

Sure enough, I found R.P. Airport 2 PM Tremaine House. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. Was he thinking about another paranormal adventure when he knew what I thought about that? Was the inevitable about to happen?

I didn’t have long to mull that over as Bella headed for the front door with her tail wagging furiously. It could only mean one thing. Simon was coming. A moment later, the door was flung open and he shouted, Honey, I’m home! It was habitual with him and always made me smile even at a moment like this when a ‘smile’ didn’t seem possible.

I tried to be casual and not pounce on him with a barrage of questions, so I asked, How was your friend you knew from somewhere and haven’t mentioned before? True, that sounded more like a grilling than a simple question, so I amended it with, Sorry. No need to answer. I didn’t mean to pry.

He grinned boyishly and pushed his glasses up on his nose. Sure you did. The name is Ron Parker, and we were childhood friends right through high school then undergraduates together. Had lost touch over the years, so I was very surprised to get a call and a request to meet up. Trouble was, Ron grabbed a vacant seat on an earlier plane when it became available. Some kind of emergency business meeting in New York, so we missed each other. Called to apologize while I was stuck in traffic on the way back here, and I learned more about why I was needed.

Which has something to do with ‘Tremaine House’, right?

Simon sighed. So you’ve been checking my day planner that was clearly labeled.

It didn’t read ‘hands off’. Would you believe I was actually dusting off your desk in a sudden cleaning frenzy and happened to see your entry?

No. Hell would have to freeze over twice and turn into a glacier before I’d believe that.

Stranger things have happened, I murmured with a smile.

Cupping my shoulders in both hands, he met my eyes squarely then said, Tremaine House is supposedly haunted. Ron inherited it from some great uncle several times removed and asked if I could check it out. Maybe find a way to release the ghosts there, so it can be sold with a clear conscience.

It took a moment for me to find my voice. So what did you say?

He sighed. I said I would need to discuss it with you which we will do once I get out of this coat and have something to warm me up. From that frosty look you’re giving me right now, I don’t think that will be you.

Too right! I shouted as I shoved free. I don’t want you to go, and I’m not going. After what happened at Greystone and Blackthorne Island I never want to see another ghost unless it’s a family member. I thought that was clear?

Abundantly, but I owe Ron and always pay my debts. Let’s just table this for now. I’m going to put on the coffee pot and get some work finished up.

Before you leave....

He didn’t answer, so I let it drop for now. The tension built as the hours passed. We had just crawled into bed with Bella between us when I had to ask, You’re doing this, aren’t you?

Yep. I kinda have to. Ron’s company is in trouble and the money from the house sale could help save it. I wish you would go with me. You have a natural knack with ghosts.

I groaned. I can’t go. I won’t go, but I don’t want you to go to some house of horrors on your own.

Look. I’m sorry, but that’s your dilemma, and one you need to resolve on your own. I’m leaving in the morning. It’s a four hour trip there, and I’ll be back the next day.

So you’re staying overnight?

Yep. Fully dressed and close to the door if things go bad. I’ll take an EVP recorder, EMF meter, and an infrared camera plus a few other gizmos. Just enough to get a feel for the place.

I sighed deeply. I’ll go. I don’t want you there alone.

"Look. You’ve made it abundantly clear yet again how you feel, and I respect that. I’ll be fine. I’ll have you on the other end of my cell phone and...."

Which won’t do you any good if something grabs you. No, I’m coming which means Bella is coming, too, since the only neighbor who will watch her is in Cancun on vacation.

Simon sighed and pulled me into his arms, which disturbed a sleeping Bella and forced her to move. Thank you for your offer. I know how hard that was for you. We’ll be leaving right after an early breakfast and quick packing. Now try to get some sleep.

Where is this place? I murmured drowsily.

Off the east coast. It was built in the late 1800s on the Atlantic shore. The builder was one Dr. Rupert Tremaine a well-known ecologist in his time when that particular science was in its infancy with Darwin and Haeckel’s findings leading the way. He loved and studied the flora and fauna of the marshes along the Atlantic coast, so he had Tremaine House built there. Both the seen and the unseen. It seemed he had a penchant for secret rooms and hidden passageways. Compulsively, he kept adding to it over the years for no known reason until it became a sprawling Victorian monstrosity, which is how Ron described it. Apparently, his father had made a fortune in the Gold Rush of 1848, and he had ample funds to do whatever he wanted. Enough about him. How about a good night kiss...that was more of a peck. Let’s try that again.

So we did. Several minutes passed. Now close your eyes and dream about something wonderful like me for instance, he told me with a grin as he pushed a strand of stray hair back from my forehead and planted a third kiss in its place. I love you.

I love you, too, I murmured back as I buried my head against his shoulder. Promise me there are just ghosts who need help there and not some other worldlies like we ran into on the island.

As far as I know, that’s all there is.

Promise?

Can’t promise since I’ve never been there. Now let’s get some sleep.

I’m too wired to sleep, I replied but dozed off in moments not minutes.

***

I woke up to sunlight pouring through the windows, a whimpering, impatient Bella, and an empty space next to me. A sudden horrible suspicion washed over me. Simon! I called. No answer, so I jumped out of bed and began my search. A quick check of his closet revealed his overnight bag was gone, his equipment room had been rummaged through and there were empty spaces that had contained labeled cases. A note propped against the toaster removed any lingering doubt he had done the unthinkable. Deliberately lied to me...tricked me.

The note was brief: I love you too much to have you come with me when you are so set against it and with good cause. I promise to keep in touch after I get there and will be back tomorrow. Simon

Okay, Simon North, you won’t get away with this, I muttered as I searched for and found my cell phone. My call went straight to his voice mail. Ohhhhhh! I could cheerfully strangle you right about now, I told it. Call me as soon as you get this or everything you own will be sitting outside in the hall.

I tried to get some work done, but it was next to impossible. Every half hour, I placed another call and left another message. Okay. This is getting you nowhere, I told myself with a sigh of pure exasperation just as my cell phone rang. It was Simon.

Look. I know how pissed you are. Knew it before I got your string of messages. I’m all right. Almost there. Just stopped to grab something to eat at a place called the Crow’s Nest where I can ask a few questions about what I’m about to get into.

"You lied to me. You sneaked out