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“Where do we go from here?” I mused. Because there was one glaring problem: how the hell did I police a ghost?

Inglorious

Demon and Asgard were acting strangely. They both appeared on edge, and I wondered if something had happened. Both kept looking toward the theatre as we headed to the clubhouse together. Finally, I stopped dead and turned to face them.

“What on earth is going on?” I demanded.

“Nothing,” they responded instantly.

“Seriously? That wasn’t suspicious at all.”

Demon exchanged a glance with Asgard, who shrugged. “You might as well tell him,” Asgard replied to Demon’s unspoken question. “He’s only going to call us insane, anyway.”

Now I really wanted to discover what they were hiding. Just as Demon began to speak, I peered over his shoulder and blinked in disbelief. I glanced away and then looked back. Demon followed my line of sight.

“Yeah, don’t have to explain anything. Now you’re seeing it too,” Demon stated smugly.

The ghost, because that’s what it was, stared straight at me, freaking me the fuck out. A ghostly chuckle drifted in the wind as the figure slowly faded.

I turned to my brothers, opened my mouth, and then closed it again. I repeated the action several times as I tried to gather my thoughts. Finally, I spoke. “I don’t care how you do it, but get rid of it,” I ordered, then walked away without another word. I refused point blank to handle ghosts.

“Deal with it, Prez says. Who the fuck does he think we are? Ghostbusters?” Asgard complained.

“Nope, but don’t we have a line to some?” Demon asked. I shook my head as I left them.

I paused at the clubhouse entrance and threw a comment over my shoulder. “Call Chance in Hellfire MC and explain everything to him. Tell him we need Callie and Sunny from Ghost Seekers Inc.”

I didn’t wait to hear anything else and headed inside for a coffee.

Nanci

The gossip spread like wildfire. Demon, Asgard, Bow, Nightmare, and Inglorious had all seen the ghost of a former Merritt resident. Worse, he was allegedly hanged in town for murder. I wondered whether this was one of Phoe’s little tricks. However, Law had an entire file and wanted posters on Merritt Mike. That begged the question: why were we seeing him now? Things had been unsettled lately, with the air crash and Meadow and Chills kidnapping; had those events riled things up? Or had Merritt Mike been here the whole time, and we hadn’t noticed him?

I texted Phoe to ask if she’d created a ghost. I received crying-laughing emojis, and Phoe asked if I thought she was God. Guess that was my answer then. As I sat in my office, there was a knock, and Meadow walked in.

“Hey, I’m just going through the menu for two weeks. Do you want to make any changes?” She handed it to me, and I scanned it before approving.

“Meadow, you’re here most of the time; have you ever witnessed anything weird?”

Meadow looked at me oddly before shaking her head. “Is this about what they claim to have seen outside the theatre?”

I shrugged before nodding. “I asked Phoe to do something for the town’s Halloween. But she says this ghost isn’t hers.”

“Why does that have you worried?”

“Because we are twenty days away from Halloween, and we have a team coming in to decorate the town for it. On top of that, we have several events planned. I don’t want all of our hard work being ruined,” I remarked.

Meadow looked puzzled. “Why would a ghost ruin anything? Surely it would draw in more people, not fewer?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I’ve got,” I said, tapping my pen agitatedly on my desk.

“Could it be you’re worried because this is the first year you’re doing a Halloween extravaganza for the public?” Meadow shrewdly asked.

“You might be right. I could be reacting to the pressure. A lot is riding on this.”

Inglorious and I had worked hard over the past few months to create an event that would run two weeks before and one week after Halloween. We’d created events like pumpkin carving, best costume contest, and a corn maze with actors who popped out at guests.

The theatre was playing a Halloween stage show. There were cocktail nights, themed food nights, a haunted tour of Merritt every night, and many other events aimed at children and adults both.