The Ghosts of Misty Hollow by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Author:Sue Ann Jaffarian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-10-14T15:12:57+00:00

• CHAPTER TWELVE •

EMMA held her warm mug with her right hand and cupped the bottom of it with her left. She glanced at Gino and Phil in turn, but before she could say anything, Gino answered. “I asked Phil and Emma to help me research a crime novel with a ghostly side plot. Our daughters are best buds, so they agreed to help me with the research. None of us knew anything about the history of Misty Hollow before now.”

Heddy stared at Gino a long time before finally saying, “But you yourself don’t believe in spirits, do you, Gino?” He chuckled nervously and shifted in his seat. He’d taken a large armchair next to the sofa Phil and Emma occupied. “I don’t have the gift that Emma and Fran share,” Heddy continued, “but I can tell a nonbeliever when I see one.” She said it with a sly smile.

“Let’s just say,” Gino said with a wink in her direction, “that I’m here with an open mind and a powerful curiosity.”

“That’s a start,” Heddy said. “When we lose our curiosity, our mind dies, open or closed.”

Emma brought Fran and Heddy up-to-date on the Browns and their request. When she finished, Fran said with wide-eyed wonder, “Wow, Emma, you are the real deal. I’ve been to Misty Hollow many times, but I’ve only been able to see and speak to Blaine, and that hasn’t always been the best connection. I grew up here and the haunting of that property has always been local legend, especially the old farmhouse.”

“I’ve only seen and spoken to Blaine and Abigail myself,” Emma told her. “The other spirits just appear like hazy outlines.”

“Yes, that’s kind of what I see of them, too,” Fran confirmed. “They’re like shadows that you catch out of the corner of your eye as they pass.”

“So you’re from here?” Phil asked Fran.

“Not originally,” Fran said. “But my family moved here from Vermont when I was only five so it’s like I was born in the area.”

“Did Blaine tell you about the missing children?” Emma asked before taking another sip of her delicious chocolate, feeling its warmth down to her toes.

“Yes, he did,” Fran said.

She set her mug down on a nearby small table and got up, going to a short bookcase crammed with old books. Bending down, she ran a finger across the faded spines of the books until she located the one she wanted. She plucked it from the shelf and retook her seat.

“The missing Brown children have been part of the local color as long as I can remember. Every child growing up here in the last hundred years is sure they’ve seen Chester and Clarissa Brown. At Halloween, groups of teens go into the woods trying to conjure them up. Of course, they are all sure they do.” She winked at Emma. “Some parents use Chester and Clarissa as cautionary tales for their children. You know, things like don’t talk to strangers or you might end up like the Brown twins.

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