The Realm of the Shadows (Tropical Breeze Cozy Mystery Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

ghost-hunters think ghosts are electric? People aren’t. Why would a ghost be?”
    “I don’t know. Listen, Flo –“
    “But apparently they are. Anyway, Edson did a thorough investigation, and not only did little Nettie stay away from him, but he couldn’t find any trace of her, electrical or otherwise. Until winter, of course.”
    Suddenly it dawned on me that I did know about this investigation. I felt a smile spreading across my face. I’d read about it in The Beach Buzz , then forgotten about it.
    “ Then Ed heard Nettie.” Florence was smiling now, too. “It turned out that Frank and Lula almost never used the air conditioning. They were here during unusually cool summers, and the one summer they were away for three months taking a ‘round the world cruise. But every winter, when they turned the heat on –“
    “Little Nettie began to rattle around,” I said.
    “Yes she did, the poor soul. Edson had apparently run into that kind of thing before, construction workers being what they are. The boys who put the ductwork in had been throwing their empty beer cans down the ducts to keep their boss from seeing that they were drinking on the job. And whenever the heat was turned on –“
    “The beer cans began to blow around and make weird noises, and everybody thought the house was haunted.” I broke into a grin, sidetracked in spite of myself. “Bravo, Ed. Any other ghost-hunter would’ve found an entire ghost family and a ghost dog too, and done a book and a documentary film about it.”
    “Yes. That’s why I say it was such a good idea to hire Ed. You can’t fool him. He’s an honest ghost-hunter.”
    I laughed. “I’m glad you reminded me of that story. I didn’t hire Ed for the Halloween Haunted House until a few years afterwards. I’d just asked Bernie who to hire who wouldn’t charge us an arm and a leg. Thanks for reminding me, Flo. It gives me a little more confidence. Frankly, he’s kind of an odd duck.”
    “Of course he is,” she said complacently. “He’s a ghost-hunter. So – has he found anything yet?”
    I thought about the cemetery, and decided I didn’t want to get even more gossip started. “Maybe. I only hired him yesterday. Give him time. Listen, how are things going here in the shop?”
    We spent a few minutes talking shop (ha), and then Florence said, “Bernie was in a little while ago. She wants to interview you.”
    I heaved a sigh. I should have expected that. What was I going to do about Bernie? Whether I gave her an interview or not, she was bound to do an article on the haunting, if it was all over town already. This was going to be tricky. Bernie had given us all the coverage we wanted when Vesta’s family had donated her things to the resale shop after her death. Really stoked up business. I supposed I owed it to her, though I wasn’t happy about it getting into print that our barn was haunted. Everybody from ghost groupies to animal rights activists might come down on our heads trying to keep us from putting the shelter there. One group would be babbling about Spirit Rights (“They were there first!”) and the other would want to protect the animals from being tormented by ghosts. I decided to give her an interview, just to try to get out in front of the story instead of letting rumors run wild. But not today.
    “If you hear from Bernie again, just tell her I’ll call her.”
    “Okay, but you know Bernie. She doesn’t keep The Beach Buzz going by sleeping on the job.” We heard the tinkle of the bell over the shop’s door. “See you later, Taylor. Don’t be such a stranger.”
    As she parted the curtains, she took a look in and immediately turned back.
    “It’s Bernie,” she whispered. “Want to come up front or duck out the back?”
    I heaved a sigh. Bernie had probably already seen my car in the alley, and I was going to have to get this over with sooner or later. “Oh, well, go ahead and send her back.”
    She nodded and let the curtain