Chapter Twenty #3
Callie had watched some of those shows. Well, not this new haunted version, but she’d been a fan of the old Real World on MTV and she’d been watching Top Chef long enough to miss the early seasons where they showed the contestants enduring drama in the luxury accommodations where the show put them up.
The notion of something like that taking place in the library, where they were also hunting ghosts—or hiding from them—was kind of cool.
Until she considered what that kind of activity might do to the library itself.
But it was the mention of ghosts that really caught her attention. “What do you mean by ‘haunted,’ exactly?”
It couldn’t be a coincidence that someone had been trying to convince first Trey, then Trey and Callie both, that the library was haunted. Could it?
“Well, lots of us tried to convince the producer that the library wasn’t haunted,” Ruby said with a shrug.
“But she latched on to the idea that because the rest of the college buildings were gone, then all the ghosts from the old days must have nowhere to go. So, they had to have all gone to the library.”
“What did Khaki think about this?” Since she hadn’t heard anything about this haunted house reality show ever happening, she had a fair idea.
“Oh, she thought it was ridiculous,” Ruby said with a grin.
“Khaki didn’t have a woo-woo bone in her body.
Except for the church, of course. She was a good Catholic and the church has never been what you’d call open-minded about the spooky stuff.
I mean, there’s a reason why The Exorcist scares the pants off even the most lapsed among us.
And she didn’t want anything happening on any property of hers that might make the pope raise an eyebrow. ”
This squared with what Callie remembered of her friend. “I know she loved the island though. Did Khaki offer to let them use the library but without the haunted angle?”
“Yeah, she did.” Ruby gave Callie an approving nod.
“You knew her well. She was willing to let them use the library for just your regular ‘we all hate each other but we’ll all live together if you pay us enough money’ shows, but it was no dice.
The producer lady said it was the haunted version or nothing at all. ”
“When did all this happen?” Callie couldn’t imagine that Trey wouldn’t have put it together that this is why their pranksters had been trying to run them off.
“About three, maybe four years ago,” Ruby said, confirming that it had happened during Trey’s estrangement from his great-aunt.
“But apparently the producer still contacts some of the locals every year or so to see if anything has changed. From what I understand, several of the business owners were hoping Trey would consider it, but as soon as they learned you inherited the library instead of him, they gave up that hope.”
“Do you know which business owners were holding out hope?” Surely, that was a good place to start looking for their “ghost.”
Ruby leaned back in her chair and shook her head.
“I don’t. But I’ll bet you can find out if you take a look at the minutes of the city council meetings from that year.
It’s public record. Unfortunately, the island is still in the Dark Ages when it comes to digitizing stuff like that.
So you’d have to go look at them in person. ”
“It would have been too much to hope for,” Callie said with a smile. “But you’ve been so incredibly helpful, I’m not even mad.”
Suddenly, a clap of thunder made both of them jump in surprise.
“Oh no!” Callie glanced out the window and saw a dark cloud slowly making its way from the western horizon. “I’d better get on the road if I don’t want to get drenched.”
Ruby made a face. “There’s nothing more reliable around here than the certainty of an afternoon storm in the summertime.”
Determined to get on her way, Callie said her goodbyes and thanked the other librarian again before she hurried out. She was in the process of unfastening her bike lock when she looked up and saw a truck pull alongside her.
“Hi there, it’s Callie, isn’t it?” The window powered down and she saw Frank Barbier, the proprietor of the Sand Dollar Motel. “Looks like we’re about to get a storm. Can I give you a lift? The library’s on my way.”
Callie glanced at the sky, where the clouds that had seemed far enough away when she’d last looked up now seemed to be almost on top of them. Still, she didn’t like asking for help unless she absolutely had to. “That’s OK,” she said, not wanting to put him out.
“Oh, come on.” Frank gave her a rueful smile. “It’s the least I can do after we lost your reservation. You can tell me what you think of the island now that you’ve had some time to explore a little.”
She would like the chance to see if he knew any of the business owners who had been hurt by Khaki’s refusal to allow the haunted house reality show. And it would be churlish to deny the man the opportunity to make good on the lost reservation.
“Sure,” she said with a grateful smile. “Is it OK if I put my bike in the back?”
Frank put the truck in park. “Of course. Let me help you with that.”