John Decker Thriller 11-A Ghost of Christmas Past by Strong Anthony M

Author:Strong, Anthony M [Strong, Anthony M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, American Suspense, Paranormal Suspense, Paranormal Police Procedural, Crime Thriller, Murder Investigation, Christmas, London, England, 1911
Publisher: West Street Publishing
Published: 2022-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

AS DAISY and Decker stepped out from under the manor house’s porte-cochère, the snow crunched under their feet. The strange footprints that had been left the previous night were gone now, covered by a fresh layer of snow. The first thing that struck Decker was the lack of any other footprints except for their own. No new snow had fallen since dawn, which led him to believe that Eric had not left the house. Regardless, he decided it would be prudent to make sure and set off parallel to the building, letting his gaze roam over the landscape ahead all the way to a line of trees that marked the edge of woodlands that circled the property.

Daisy kept pace beside him; her movements clumsy in the deep snow that came up almost to her knees at times.

“I think we should talk about what we saw last night,” she said in a breathy voice. “That boy who visited the children in their room is real, isn’t he?”

“I’m beginning to suspect as much,” Decker admitted. “Although most of the other guests don’t appear to be aware of his presence. Apart from the children, only me and you have seen him.”

“Lucky us.” Daisy shielded her eyes against the sun, which hung low on the horizon surrounded by a pale blue winter sky without a hint of the clouds that had brought a blizzard down upon them. She squinted and looked out over the freshly fallen snow. “Have you ever seen a ghost before?”

“I have,” Decker replied. He had seen many other things, too, but he kept quiet about those. “Not very long ago, in fact.”

“What do you think this one wants?”

“Until we know why it’s appearing to us, that’s a hard question to answer. Maybe Lord Percy’s renovations disturbed the ghost, and he’s angry.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would a ghost be angry that the house it haunts is being maintained? After all, if the place falls down, the ghost has nowhere to live.”

Decker shrugged. “Beats me. I’m just speculating. Maybe it’s antisocial and doesn’t like all these people being around.”

“Then why would it want to play with Eric and his sister?”

“I suspect that when we find Eric, we’ll get our answer,” Decker said. They reached the corner of the building and turned to go down the side. Decker figured there was probably a path somewhere under the snow, but it would be impossible to find. For all he knew, they were trudging through flowerbeds. He glanced sideways at Daisy. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“How many ghosts have you seen?”

“A few. I’m pretty sure my dormitory at the boarding school is haunted. Of course, there are always ghost stories about places like that. Most of them are probably made up by the older pupils to scare the younger kids. But there are times when I can feel a presence there. I saw it once, too. I woke up to see a black shape gliding down the middle of the hall before it vanished into the wall.

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