The Ghost of Coldwater Creek

By Mark Chartrand

Is there such a thing as ghosts? Well, if you grew up in the town of Wabash, there is no shortage of the urban legend of the ghost of Coldwater Creek. Join Jessica Carrolton as she tells the tales of her older brother Brian and his two best friends Sean and Kevin as they find themselves in the middle of a mystery that may just prove the legend to be true!

When a robbery at one of the town churches occurs, Brian, Sean, and Kevin take it upon themselves to find out who did it. What the junior sleuths don't realize is they are not the only ones on the lookout for the stolen church donation box.

Little do they know that their search for the church bandits will lead them into an unexpected encounter. Is the ghost of Coldwater Creek for real? You decide as Jessica Carrolton relives the story of The Ghost of Coldwater Creek!

10% of all book sales are donated to Care STL, an organization committed to the protection and rehabilitation of animals who have fallen victim to abuse and neglect; and the Nine Line Foundation, whose goal is to "rebuild, strengthen and enrich the quality of life of wounded veterans."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639858798

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The Ghost of Coldwater Creek

Mark Chartrand

Copyright © 2022 Mark Chartrand

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

ISBN 979-8-88731-242-2 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63985-225-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63985-879-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

About the Author

In memory of my childhood best friend, Michael Sean McCrary. Not a day goes by that I don't miss you. See you again one day!

Acknowledgments

I want to thank the following people:

The city of Ferguson, Missouri. Couldn't have grown up in a better place. I know you've taken some hits over the years. Will always call you my hometown!

My son, Cohl, for making me strive to be a better person.

The lion queen, Jamie L.

My friends at MSPD Bradford Coleman—Annie Legomsky, Matt Mahaffey, and Erika Wurst—for taking a chance on me!

To my fellow writer and PIC, Jennifer Spurgeon, #AGIRLNAMEDCOCO. For Tina, Thanks for giving me hope again.

Of course my best buddy my dog, Chilli.

And last but not least, my mother, Debbie, for being the most patient person on the planet!

Chapter 1

Growing up in a small suburban city in the Midwest in the 1980s was more eventful than it sounds. The reason for that was my older brother Brian and his two best friends, Sean and Kevin. I'm three years younger than my older brother. Given the circumstances of our parental situation, my brother was often in charge of my well-being. Meaning, I cramped his style. If he wanted to do anything with his friends, he had to take me with him.

As you can imagine being a little girl running around with three older boys, I had to endure many things. Some good, some not so good. Looking back at all the things I got to do with my brother and his friends, it's no wonder they turned out the way they did.

Before I get too far along, let me introduce myself to you formally. My name is Jessica Carrolton. I recently became the owner of the local pizzeria in our town. Papa Joe's has always been a part of my life. I got my first job here during my junior year of high school at the age of sixteen. When I went away to college, the owner, Joe Manzella, always made sure I had shifts to work when I came home for the holidays and during summer break.

A year ago, Papa Joe decided he wanted to retire. His oldest son wanted to move the business out to an area that was closer to where he lived and, in his words, a more thriving community. I couldn't allow that to happen.

Papa Joe's Pizza is a huge part of the fabric of Wabash. It is definitely a huge part of my history. My brother left for the air force after he graduated from Wabash Senior High. He had just retired after serving twenty years as a pararescue.

I told him about Papa Joe wanting to retire and his son wanting to take the business elsewhere. He said, Sis, let's have a talk with Joe. We'll make him an offer he can't refuse!

My brother Brian is a movie buff. He was quoting the line from the movie The Godfather. Brian, as he often did, laughed at his own jokes; however, his offer to help me buy Papa Joe's wasn't a joke. So we sat down with Joe Manzella and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Joe had two stipulations before he would close the deal. First, we had to keep the name. Second, we could never change the recipe for his sauce for any reason. Both requests were not a problem as I wanted Papa Joe's to always be the way I loved it.

When the deal was done, my brother said, It's your place to run, Jess, I'll be a silent partner. I have other things I want to do with my life now that I'm out of the air force. I told him that was okay with me, but I wanted to know what those other things were.

He told me his time away from Wabash with all the deployments all over the world and the things he saw, good and bad, made him miss the simple things that Wabash held for him. He said he was going to become a firefighter and EMT for the Wabash County District 3 Fire House. He wanted to raise a family here with his wife Christy whom he met while he was stationed in Spain. He also wanted to reconnect with his two childhood best friends Sean McNaulty and Kevin Haberstroh.

When they were boys, Brian, Sean, and Kevin were the Three Musketeers of the town of Wabash. You could always find them together. Being able to watch my brother and his friends grow up, it was easy to see why they turned out the way they did. Let me explain. I'll start with my brother.

Brian was the risk-taker in the group. My brother is fearless. He wasn't afraid of anything. He would always push things to the limit growing up, whether it was climbing to the top of the oldest white oak tree in all of Wabash eighty feet in the air or disobeying our grandfather and playing on the railroad tracks. It came as no surprise when Brian made the decision to join the air force and became a pararescueman.

Jumping out of planes and dodging bullets to bring back downed pilots and wounded soldiers made sense to all of us who knew Brian. It drove our mother crazy with worry when she finally understood what Brian did in the service of our country. Mom and I enjoyed our trips to visit my brother when he was stationed in Florida.

Sean McNaulty became the youngest chief of police in the history of the township of Wabash. That also made sense to us because, as kids, Sean was always the problem solver in the group. Sean's curiosity about everything and anything that happened in Wabash got the three of them into more situations than I care to remember. Of course, I was there to witness most of it.

After Sean graduated from Wabash High, he went to college and majored in criminal justice. We all knew he wanted to be a policeman. My brother would tell me stories of when they would spend the night at Sean's house and how they would sneak out at night to roam the neighborhood. Sean's backyard butted up to the Wabash Police Station. My brother and his friends would let Sean talk them into sneaking into the back parking lot of the police station so Sean could see who the police were bringing in for booking. It often led to the three of them being chased off by one of the officers.

Kevin Haberstroh was the brains of the group. He was the class valedictorian the year they all graduated from Wabash High. Kevin went on to medical school. We all saw that coming long before he made his choice to become a doctor. Whenever anyone of us got hurt while we were outside playing, it was Kevin that would always be the first to try and help.

Kevin made the local newspaper when he was in eighth grade by saving a fellow student who was choking to death on a french fry. He gave her the Heimlich maneuver, something he, as well as Brian and Sean, learned in the Boy Scout.

As I said before, all the things I witnessed in my years as my brother's shadow, I got to see Brian, Sean, and Kevin grow up to be the men they are today. The best thing about being the owner of Papa Joe's Pizzeria, besides getting to eat pizza whenever I want, is when my brother and his friends stop by for a pizza and tell stories of their youth.

I brought out a pizza and pulled up a seat and listened to the tales of the days that I will always recall as some of the best days of my life. I think back now to those days when we were young. Money was tight. Brian and my parents married when they were young. By the time my brother was in third grade, and I was in kindergarten, our parents were divorced. Our mom worked two and sometimes three jobs to make sure we had what we needed.

Because of this, Brian was in charge of getting breakfast for the two of us. It was usually cold cereal. Sometimes he'd get fancy and make toast with apple butter. We learned to love grilled cheese and tomato soup, but it was on Fridays that made our week. Mom would always take us to Papa Joe's for pizza unless we didn't do well in school or got in trouble.

In those days, neighbors looked out for one another. In the street we grew up on, our neighbors knew that our mother was a struggling single parent. She couldn't really afford a babysitter, so the entire neighborhood pitched in. My brother and his friends hung out at our house because of the freedom we had as kids; this was good and bad.

The good was that we pretty much did what we wanted, especially in the summertime. The bad was that anytime we did something wrong, the whole neighborhood had free reign to tell on us. This usually meant a visit from one of our grandfathers to dole out the punishments. For the most part, it didn't happen very often, but when it did, it wasn't pleasant.

I heard the bell above the door ring, letting me know a new customer has arrived. When I looked up, I saw a familiar face.

Hey, Kevin! Are you meeting the guys here?

Kevin nodded. Yeah, I had a patient cancel on me last minute, so I'm getting a head start. Did you see the construction going on over the Coldwater Creek Bridge?

I poured Kevin a cold drink and replied, I heard they were going to start that. Hey, do you remember the time you guys got caught down there trying to find the so-called ghost of Coldwater Creek?

Kevin laughed. I do. It was all Sean's fault.

The bell dinged again as Sean came through the door. I heard my name. What did I do this time?

Kevin and I looked over at Sean as Kevin said, Hey, Chief! Jess and I were just talking about the Coldwater Creek Bridge construction site. Jess reminded me of the time you almost got Brian killed looking for the so-called ghost.

Sean laughed as he sat his chief of police hat on the bar. It's not my fault, Jess, that your brother was such a daredevil!

Before I could reply to Sean, Brian walked in. My three favorite people laughing, has to be about me!

Kevin shouted back, You could say that. Your sister here was talking about the time you almost got yourself killed. That time we were down there messing around that old bridge.

Brian shot back, Yeah, well, if Sean wouldn't have insisted there was a ghost down there, I wouldn't have gotten this cool scar under my left eye!

This is what I love about the visits that these guys would make. The stories never got old, and the laughs were always a part of them. Listening to my brother and his friends go on about this adventure of theirs brought me back to that time, a time when things that were mysterious and unknown turned into truth and legend.

I went back into the kitchen to get their pizza order ready. When I got the pies in the oven, I went back to join the guys. I took the seat at the end of the