To Love A Ghost || ONC 2023 Shortlist

Chapter Six

An hour later, I was downstairs in the dank, mildewy basement walking the perimeter of the space as best I could. I hadn't cleaned up down here much at all yet, and there was junk scattered all over. Dodging boxes of old glass vases and floral arranging foam, an ancient wringer-style washing machine, bolts of musty, moth-eaten fabric, and boxes of what looked like handwritten financial records stuck in brown accordion file holders, I studied the outer walls with a flashlight clutched in my hand, I paid particular attention to the western side since Roselawn Manor lay in that direction.

Nothing. No interruption in the stone, no distinct indentation or protrusion to give a sign that someone had filled in any part of it.

"This is bullshit," I grumbled at last. What was I even doing? I had a million other things I could be working on, that needed to be worked on, and here I was looking for a tunnel that might not even exist. And if it had, it didn't any longer. What did it matter, anyway? I had better things to do.

"Hello! Anyone here?"

I jumped about a foot off the ground at the female voice calling down the basement stairs. Whirling around, I spotted the silhouette of someone standing at the top of the stairs in the basement doorway. The shadow elongated down the middle of the dust-moted beam of daylight. The figure looked abstract and a little bit creepy, given my state of mind.

"Hello," I called back when my heart decided to continue beating. "I'll be right up." I had no idea who my visitor was. It didn't sound like Beth, the only female in town that I imagined would visit. I hurried to the stairs and peered up. The girl looked around my age, slender, with long dark hair. Definitely not Beth. "Can I help you?" I said as I ascended the stairs. "How did you get in?"

"The front door was unlocked," my visitor answered with a shrug, and I winced. I was sure I'd locked it behind Seth and Brad, but maybe I'd been too preoccupied with getting down to the basement and searching for the alleged tunnel that I'd forgotten.

"Oh." I tucked my flashlight in my back pocket and ran my fingers through my hair. "Uh, can I help you?"

The girl smiled brightly. She was petite, her dark brown hair swirling in waves around an elfin face and spilling over the back of her red hoodie. She stuck her hands in her jeans pockets as her cocoa-brown eyes assessed me head to toe. "Actually, Mr. Palmer, I'm here to help you." Before I could open my mouth and let the girl know I wasn't interested, she removed one hand from her pocket and thrust it out. "I'm Gina Spencer. Ollie Christiansen's girlfriend. He said he told you about me?"

"Oh," I said again, as relief flooded me. Shit, I felt like a dumbass. Gina hadn't been flirting with me at all as I'd first assumed. "Uh, yeah, he did."

"So, you're gonna open a coffeehouse and bookstore, huh?" Gina glanced around the shop. "It looks great so far."

"Thanks. It's definitely coming together."

Gina turned back to me and glanced over my shoulder at the basement doorway. "So. I bet you were down there trying to find the tunnel to Roselawn Manor, huh?"

Startled speechless, I could only stare at Gina wordlessly. How the hell had she known what I was doing in the basement?

"Yep," she said, popping the p. "You were." She peered up at me from her diminutive height. "What do you plan to do when you find it?"

I smiled faintly. "Nothing, I guess. I just want to know if it's there."

Gina smirked. "Oh, it's there, Mr. Palmer. Would you like me to show you?"

"Please, call me Jace," I responded, still on edge. At closer inspection, Gina couldn't be any older than her early twenties, if that, but she gave off the kind of authority and confidence that usually came with the life experiences of someone much older. Plus there was something else about her, something I couldn't quite pinpoint, a vibe or an aura or whatever that somehow reminded me of Aunt Lorraine. "Lead the way, I guess."