A Ghost of a Clue Read online

  All of the kids wanted to set up in Rory’s bedroom, but she’d nixed that plan. They were too polite to complain after she’d refused their pleas, so with looks that told her they felt their hunt would be far less successful thanks to her, the kids compromised and decided to set up their equipment in the sitting room. Memories of the Ghost Hunters Society flitted through her mind as Rory watched the miniature versions of the adults she’d seen at the meeting display the same excitement and anticipation over the potential presence of a ghostly entity. Their standards didn’t sound too high, either. The thought of getting even a sound or a light on what Justin referred to as their full-spectrum camera seemed to be enough to satisfy them. Rory had to stifle more than one giggle as Justin and Michael argued with Amber over proper placement of the camera and the best location for what they called a “spirit box,” which looked to Rory like an old AM/FM radio. Michael explained to her with total seriousness that he and his dad had spent last evening modifying the old radio, and it would emit any frequencies the ghosts chose to use. They were so dedicated that Rory didn’t have the heart to tell them the ghost of the young boy she’d seen earlier watched them the whole time they were setting up. He looked as interested as his living counterparts. This was going to be a long evening.

  Travis helped her with the dishes as the kids finished their argument over equipment. He glanced at them one more time then rolled his eyes as he handed her another plate.

  “Come on.” Rory laughed. “You’ve got to give them an “A” now, even if just for the effort.”

  “Don’t encourage them.”

  “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That’s always been my motto.”

  “Not a good teaching technique. There are standards to meet, you know.”

  “You’re out of school, Teach. Relax and enjoy it.”

  He grinned down at her. “Now there’s a plan I could get behind.”

  Rory stepped away from him to put a plate away. “No demo tonight, remember.”

  “There are other ways to relax, my dear.” He gave her a leer as he raised an eyebrow.

  “A look like that doesn’t make me relax.”

  “Hey, we got it all set up.” Amber poked her head into the kitchen. “Want to come see?”

  “Guess we’ll have to continue this another time.” Rory handed Travis a towel to dry his hands.

  “You do know that this another time you keep putting things off to is going to come someday, don’t you?”

  And Goddess willing I’ll be ready for it, thought Rory as she ignored his comment to follow Amber out to the sitting room.

  The kids had turned off all the lights, and she and Travis were handed goggles as they came into the sitting room to, as Michael explained it, protect their eyes from any ghost flashes. Though she’d feared the time would drag, the evening went faster than Rory expected. Justin and Michael were hilarious as they jumped to adjust their equipment at every noise and spot that could be seen on their camera.

  It was hard to keep the giggles quiet as she watched them, but she and Travis had been carefully instructed in the protocol of ghost hunting. Noise was unacceptable. Travis earned more than his share of frowns for the occasional comments he couldn’t resist as they discussed what was happening in furtive whispers that had him rolling his eyes. Sitting beside him, Rory found herself grateful for the silence. It allowed her to enjoy looking at him and listening to his banter with the kids without the worry of her own inability to make conversation with them. He had an easy way with them that they seemed to respond too in spite of his clear disapproval of what they were doing. Genuine affection laced his teasing, and they took it as such. In spite of his own distaste for ghost hunting, he also encouraged them to think about the scientific method in their observations. At one point, he really seemed to get into the whole experiment. That was after there had been a strong reading on both the camera and the little spirit box. They had all, Travis included, grouped around the equipment to whisper about the meaning of the readings. As they did, Rory looked up to see the wavering ether of an older woman standing across the room with a disapproving look on her face. Seems their ghost didn’t approve of being hunted, she thought with a smile before turning back to listen to their chatter.

  “We should compare this to the flash from the cemetery.”

  Amber sounded quite business-like as she instructed the boys on how to record the time in their little log.

  “Good records are important.” Travis nodded. “Very scientific,” he added, tongue firmly in cheek.

  Finally nine-thirty rolled around. Rory hated to break up the party, but she knew it would take them a bit to round up all the equipment.

  “Guys,” she interrupted. “Time to pack it up.”

  “Aww.” Three faces turned to her with disappointing frowns.

  “Sorry, but she’s right.” Travis stood and stretched. “Your parents will be waiting back at the school. Let’s get all this packed up. And by us, I mean you guys.”

  They rolled their eyes but started to shut everything down, carefully storing their equipment back in the bags. Rory walked around the room picking up cups and leftover granola bar wrappers. In spite of consuming everything she’d had for dinner, the kids had apparently decided more nutrition was needed. Ghost hunting was apparently a strenuous activity. They had brought their own snacks. Rory wondered if it had been in case they hadn’t liked her dinner, but Travis informed her the trio never went anywhere without food of some sort.

  “Here.” Travis took the trash from her hand. “Let me help you with that.”

  She glanced around the room. The ghost had left over an hour ago, leaving behind a few flashes and what the kids thought was a moan, but Rory was certain a laugh erupted out of the old woman.

  “Well, that was fun.” She grinned up at Travis as she walked with him to the kitchen.

  Travis groaned. “They won’t stop talking about it for a week. Every little flash, every tiny sound is going to have come straight from a ghost as far as they’re concerned. I’ll never get them talked out of it now.”

  “Would it help if I told you there were ghosts in the room?”

  He snorted. “You’re just messing with me now.”

  Rory gave him an innocent stare, and he frowned.

  “Aren’t you?”

  She wanted to laugh at the consternation on his face. “Yes.” The answer came out of her mouth too easily, and she thought about her promise to herself. “No.”

  “Yes and no?”

  Rory blew out a breath. “If I tell you yes, I’m messing with you when I say there were ghosts here tonight then you’re okay with that. You’re comfortable with it. If I tell you no, that there really was a ghost, two in fact, here tonight, then the train derails and you run for the hills.”

  He stared at her for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face. “Tell me what you believe you saw.”

  “The truth?”

  Travis nodded. “The truth of what you believe you saw.”

  “That’s a very guarded way of putting it.”

  “No. It’s a very scientific way of putting it. I can’t know what to think if I don’t have all the evidence.”

  “Fair enough. I saw two ghosts.”

  “Whole images?”

  “One fairly solid, a little boy and one kind of wavering, an older woman.”

  He watched her face as she said it, and Rory held her breath, waiting for the sneer that had always accompanied any talk of her gift in the past. She would be sorry to see him walk away. Even though it had only been a few weeks, she realized she’d come to enjoy his company. Part of her knew she’d been hoping for something more, no matter how much she told herself she wasn’t going to do another relationship. Still, it would hurt, and she steeled herself for the good-bye. At last he nodded.

  “Okay, you saw two ghosts.”

  “You’re not headed for the door.”

  “The kids aren’t packed up yet.” He grinned. “And t
he train is still on the tracks, Ms. DuMont. Nothing’s derailed yet.”

  “Willing to take a chance on a crazy lady, is that it?”

  Rory found she didn’t like the words even as she said them. Something about the idea that he would stick around to find out how crazy she was didn’t feel any better than the idea he would walk away because he thought her crazy.

  He stepped up to her, and before she could blink, he’d planted a hard kiss on her lips. As he moved back, she could only stare at him, not certain what to say or if she should say anything at all. He shook his head.

  “Willing to take the time to find out about a beautiful and very interesting lady that I’ve become attracted to.”

  “Wow. That makes me sound worth the effort.”

  “Because you are. And I believe if you spend some time with me, you’ll find I am worth the effort, too. I believe in the scientific method, Rory.”

  “Was that what that kiss was?”

  He smiled. “Not exactly. What it was was me investigating. See, that’s how it works. I put out my hypothesis, and then I look at all the evidence.”

  “Including the fact that I see ghosts.”

  “Including the fact that you think you see ghosts.”

  Rory rolled her eyes. “So what comes after I tell you I see ghosts?”

  “Then I explore the evidence. We explore it together. We can start our experiment by you coming with me to the Harvest of the Sea.”

  “The festival in town?”

  “Yep. It’s downtown, a week from tomorrow so I’ll have time to persuade you. You’ll love it. I can pick you up that Saturday at ten.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “You’ll be advancing the cause of science. That’s the best way to uncover the truth of my hypothesis. I have to find out all the evidence, go beyond the surface. That’s how science works. I’ll probably have to do some other experiments, too.”

  “Other experiments?

  “Yeah. Kind of check things out in a more private setting, get some personal responses for my notes.”

  “Personal responses? What kind of responses?”

  “Well, let’s see.”

  This time she knew the kiss was coming, but it didn’t change any of her response. The moment his lips touched hers, she felt the room spin, and everything inside her heat up. She decided then and there Travis was really good at this. Better than good. He pushed the kiss past the limits of attraction and into the realm of hot enough to burn. Rory thought she might be having an out-of-body experience until she heard a loud gagging noise.

  “Eww!”

  She looked over at the door to find all three kids staring at them. Justin and Michael looked horrified, and Amber looked mad. A bit of a crush, Rory thought. Travis hadn’t looked over. He just leaned his forehead on hers. She felt his shoulders shaking and realized he was laughing.

  “I think your experiment just got contaminated,” she whispered.

  He looked up at her with a twinkle in his eye. “No, not completely. The data is good but incomplete. We’ll have to try this again another time, you know. You can’t stop things now. Think of the blow to the scientific community.”

  Rory smacked him on the shoulder as she hissed at him. “They’re listening!”

  He laughed. “Okay, guys, I take it you got all the stuff packed up.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Justin looked from him to Rory and back. “Yeah. We’re ready to go. Thanks for everything, Ms. DuMont.”

  “You’re welcome, Justin.” Rory looked over at Travis. “Looks like science class is over for tonight.”

  “Nuh-uh. It’s only recess.” Travis winked at her before he turned to the three in the doorway. “Okay, guys, into the truck.”

  As they waved goodbye to Rory and headed out the door, Travis turned back to her. “Class isn’t over by a longshot. Keep that in mind, Ms. DuMont.”

  She was going to have a lot on her mind until the bell rang again, Rory thought. A whole lot.

  Chapter Five

  “Perfect fit.” Travis adjusted the cap on Rory’s head. “And the perfect souvenir of your first Harvest of the Sea festival.”

  Rory reached up and tugged at her new lobster-red headgear. The claws hung out over her forehead, and the floppy tail at the end bopped up and down against her neck.

  “I don’t think it’s the look I’m going for.”

  “Oh, sure it is. You’re a hit already. Just look at everybody staring at you.”

  Rory groaned. “You mean just look at everybody pointing and laughing.”

  “Maine folk are too polite to laugh to your face. They’ll save it up for when they get home.”

  “I’m trying to fit in here, not remain the talk of the town.”

  Travis took her hand as they headed down the pier. “Honey, you’ll be the talk of the town until someone else new moves in. That’s the way gossip works. Talk will die down when a better topic comes along. Unless you provide that better topic, you should be okay in a few years.”

  “It’s always so encouraging to talk to you about things.”

  He smiled. “Always happy to make you feel better. Now aren’t you glad I encouraged you to come with me today?”

  “I’m not sure encouraged is the right word. There’s got to be one that fits better, say, oh, let me think…blackmailed, browbeat…badgered…”

  “I simply reminded you we needed to finish our experiment. The cause of science is ever at the forefront of my mind.”

  “Uh-huh. I thought scientists valued accurate observation. You and I must have been observing a very different conversation if you think reminded even comes close to the way you got me out here today.”

  Though she didn’t plan on letting Travis off the hook that easily, Rory had to admit the day had been more fun than she expected. She had spent all last week working on new designs and getting inventory printed up to take to The Shucker’s Booktique. Willa had offered to have a reception to showcase her work at the store. It was a wonderful offer, but it also left Rory with a serious case of butterflies in her stomach.

  When Travis called, she’d thought to put him off. Her plan had been to polish the new work a bit more. The Harvest of the Sea festival, an annual October event in Lobster Cove, had sounded a bit like a school carnival when he mentioned it. He reminded her it was Saturday, and that it could be an opportunity for some new shots. Rory had brought her camera and had gotten a few photos but mostly she had played. The day had been a blast, and she was glad she’d accepted Travis’ invitation, in spite of the lobster hat now balanced on her head. And in spite of the copious amounts of food she’d inhaled since arriving in town. Many of the local restaurants had set up booths to sell samples of their specialties. Rory had tried lobster rolls, clam and lobster chowder, and even a lobster-shaped cookie. It had all been delicious.

  “You’re grateful I dragged you out of the house, and you know it.”

  “I’m not going to be grateful when I can’t fit into any of my clothes anymore.”

  “You know, I could think of a few activities that wouldn’t require you to wear any clothes. If things don’t fit after today you wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

  “Haha. I don’t think I would ever stop being the talk of the town if I decided to stroll around Lobster Cove skyclad.”

  “True, but—” he looked her up and down with a mock leer “—the gossip would be very favorable.”

  Rory rolled her eyes. “Just steer me away from anymore food booths, and I think I’ll be okay.”

  “If you insist. Course, Sweet Bea’s should have a booth out here somewhere, too. We haven’t passed it yet.”

  Rory groaned. “We aren’t going to either. I can’t hold another thing. If I’d have known there was going to be this much food here, I’d have insisted we walk into town.”

  “Then how could we have carried all your important stuff home?” Travis pointed at the bag in his hand. Sticking out of the top was a huge stuffed lobster wearing a st
upid grin and a pair of sunglasses.

  “What is it with putting sunglasses on lobsters?” Rory mused. “I don’t get the connection.”

  “The connection is the company that makes the lobsters also makes the sunglasses.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Two birds, one stone.”

  “Hey, Ms. Dumont, Mr. Reed.”

  Coming down the pier toward them were Justin, Michael, and Amber. The Paranormal Posse, as Travis had dubbed them, had clearly made the rounds of the food vendors, although from the looks of their faces and the assorted wrappings in their hands, their choices had steered more to the sweet side than the seafood one. Michael was still munching on a lobster-shaped cookie.

  “Hi guys.” Travis waved them over. “Checking out the vendors, I see.”

  “We’ve been putting together the stuff we got at your house, Ms. DuMont.” Justin seemed very excited so Rory gave him her best listening look. “It’s awesome, the best we’ve ever gotten. We thought we could…well, we hoped that….”

  “Can we do it again?”

  Justin frowned at Amber for the interruption. “That’s sort of what I was getting to.”

  “Slowly.” Amber rolled her eyes at him. “Geez, she doesn’t want to stand here all day.”

  Michael shook his head at both of them. “Well, Ms. DuMont, could we?”

  “Could you…?” Rory looked from the eager young faces to Travis.

  “I think they’re trying to ask if you would let them come back to your house for another night of ghost-hunting.”

  “Umm…”

  “Please?”

  Rory could tell the trio was torn between looking cool and pleading. It would take a harder heart than hers to disappoint them, she thought. Giving up another Friday night didn’t seem like such a bad thing, she guessed. Then she had an idea.

  “I suppose we could arrange something. But I have a little different idea in mind than the set-up you had before.”

  “Different?”

  She could tell she had their attention now. Travis’ too. He was giving her a look that told her he wondered what she was up to. Chances were if she extended the invitation she had in mind to him as well, it just might send their romance train off the tracks after all. But what the hell, she thought. If it was going to happen better to get it done and over with before she headed back out west.