The Girls of Supernatural (Sequel to Warping to Destiny)

Chapter 9 - Where isThat Friendly Ghost?

In the morning at breakfast, they went over what they had found out the previous night. "Here's what we know," Sam started. "or at least think is probable. "There is a ghost, but it isn't haunting the property, at least not anymore. It is most likely one of the family who was killed in 1926. But since we don't know yet if anyone ever lived there afterward, there's a slight possibility it's someone else."

"But that's the most reasonable place to start," Dean added.

"Yes," Sam agreed. "Now, what we know about the family from 1926 that died there is this: There were five people, two parents and three children, ages 14, 12 and 7. We do not know the children's names or sex. The parents were James and Kathleen Foster, 38 and 35. All of them were found in their beds with their throats slit. They thought the father may have woken up when his wife was killed, based on his position, but they couldn't say for sure. None of the kids woke up, thankfully. Also, the father had additional cuts on his face and arms, leading them to suspect it might have been a revenge killing against the father. But they could find nothing to sustain that theory. The case was never solved."

Dean took up the narrative. "Because no one has ever been hurt during these episodes, it seems likely that the ghost is trying to get our attention, maybe trying to send us a message. Murdered people often want to know who their murderers were, or want justice. If the ghost had already gone vengeful, it wouldn't have been so nice. Someone would have gotten hurt."

"Whatever the object is," Sam continued, "it has moved from place to place. The most likely place for it to be now is in the third house, since there has been no activity around any of your family when they were out of the house."

Dean swallowed a bite of  ham. "Which is why we're going there first. There should be evidence of additional activity if that's where it is. Clarice, this breakfast is awesome!"

Maggie spoke up then. "So you want us to talk to the two kids that are here about the things they took from the original house?"

Dean frowned in thought. "I'm rethinking that," he said. "If it's in the third house, like I think, then there's no point in getting the kids all worked up. The third house is the place to start. If that doesn't solve it, or point us in a direction, then we'll go from there."

"Then we wanna come too," Katie said. "After all, this can be a great learning experience for us."

Sam smiled indulgently. "Take them with you, Dean, I can hold down the fort here. I'll do some more digging into the historical stuff, see if I can find out if anyone else ever lived in the house."

"Okay then, that's a plan. Let's get on the road. We'll be back late enough as it is."

"Dad and I are going to go get the kids," Marcia said then. "We should be back before dinner."

After they all left, Sam sat down at the dining room table like he did the night before and spread out his things.

"Is there anything I can do?" Maria asked, taking a seat across from him.

"Not at the moment, but thank you," Sam replied.

Maria watched Sam in awe as he called libraries, police departments, property records offices, and newspaper archives, switching from one identity to another with ease. Within two hours he had discovered that another family, the Foxworth Harrisons, had indeed moved into the house shortly after the murders, but had stayed only a few months, and that they had received a refund for their down payment after threatening litigation.

After the murders, the house had passed to Melvin Foster, James' brother, who lived across the country and wasn't able to come and take care of it, so he put it into the hands of a real estate agent, presumably the one who had sold the house to the Harrisons. Some time later Melvin Foster died without heirs, and the property was claimed by the city for back taxes. Finally, it was sold to Victor Manning for taxes owed, and that brought them up to date.