Chapter Six.
Haunt
“They’ve fallen on some hard times and put the trunk up for auction.
But a couple came along and offered a private sale at double the auction price.
They took it because they needed the money.
There was some emotional manipulation involved.
The guy claimed that as it belonged to a little-known person, it wouldn’t fetch much at auction.
And there were no authentication papers, etc.
They did a number on the family,” Sunny continued.
“Chauncey and Gloria,” I said, and Callie and Sunny nodded.
“Bastards!” several of us exclaimed.
“Worried Chauncey might be right; they sold it to him,” Sunny finished.
“Let me guess, they brought it straight here?” I said.
Everyone glanced at Angela, who was pale. “Gloria stated she’d found the trunk at a car boot sale and believed it would be appropriate for the inn. I accepted the gift, believing it was genuinely meant.”
“Shit. What room is it in?” I asked, getting to my feet.
“Mrs Betts,” Angela replied.
“Angela, come on, show us which trunk it is,” I said, helping her up. Angela guided them toward Mrs Betts’ room, then opened its door. A frown crossed her face as she gazed around.
“It’s not here,” she murmured.
“Shit, I think I know what happened,” I ground out and left the room and headed for the Kingsmill suite. I opened the door, and it slammed back in my face.
I shoved back harder, and the door flew open. Tucked in a corner, a trunk sat with a lamp on it. It was ancient, easily dating back to the seventeenth century.
“Was that here before?” I asked Angela, pointing.
“That’s the trunk,” Angela confirmed.
“What an asshole. Chauncey stuck Jeremiah’s trunk in the room named after his murderer,” I murmured as I approached. I frowned at the heavy lock. “Was that there before?”
“Yes. Gloria said the family hadn’t ever removed it. I’ve no idea what’s locked inside.”
I swapped a glance with Ghoul, who was frowning at the trunk.
“Something dark is inside that, and Gloria knew it,” he said firmly.
“Guess we’ve gotta open it,” I muttered.
“No! I need to think about that first. There’s a reason it’s been locked for so long,” Angela interrupted.
While I really wanted to break that damn thing open, the trunk was Angela’s property, and I wouldn’t disrespect her. That led to us getting a bad reputation and having gigs cancelled.
“Okay.”
Angela turned to me. “It’s three hundred years old, Haunt. Breaking a lock on such an antique item is not an option.”
I understood this, but didn’t like it.
“What if I pick the lock?” Dive asked.
“You can do that?” Angela asked.
“Yeah.”
Angela paced back and forth for a few moments while we watched her before stopping to look at me.
“If this Jeremiah is linked to the box, then we need to open it,” she finally said. “The Mermaid Inn doesn’t deserve this.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed and nodded to Dive.
He yanked some picklocks out of his pocket and crouched down. My club and the GSI hunters crowded around to watch. It took Dive mere moments before we heard the rusty lock click and the padlock dropped off. Dive removed the lamp and stepped back.
“It’s your trunk,” he said to Angela. She stepped forward and then backed away.
“No. One of you can open it; there’s something bad in there.”
I nodded at Dive, and he bent and lifted the lid.
“Well, shit. We’re now aware of what happened to Jeremiah,” he muttered.
I stepped forward and winced. “Holy fuck!”
The trunk contained a man’s remains; he was mostly bone, but shreds of dried, mummified skin were still attached. The bottom of the trunk was stained with what I could only assume were body fluids. Scraps of clothing remained, and I knew we were looking at Jeremiah Bellowes.
“His head was caved in,” Callie said, approaching the trunk.
“Jeremiah was murdered, and probably by Thomas. It seems the family had the correct version of the truth. We’ll have to contact law enforcement,” Michelle declared.
“Yeah. Damn, this could cause problems,” I muttered.
“Will they shut down the Inn?” Angela asked, panicked.
“I doubt that. The bones look old, and the cops will remove them for testing,” I replied.
“Gloria found the family plus the trunk? What’s the betting she used clairvoyance to determine what was inside, then called his spirit?
Jeremiah’s probably haunted here and never had notice until Gloria discovered him, giving him a double boost. One from Gloria noticing him, which gave him strength to act up.
The second came from the sheer disrespect of his trunk and bones being placed in the room named after his murderer.
No wonder this escalated so fast,” Callie said.
“Yeah. I can’t believe they’d do this,” I ground out.
“They did, and we need to stop it,” Reaver stated grimly. “Jeremiah is only going to continue growing stronger. If we don’t stop him now, then he’ll be too strong.”
I saw in his eyes that he was remembering the story of the dead priest. I nodded grimly and pulled out my phone.
The police took their sweet time coming. Darkness set in before they arrived. Two uniformed officers entered the Mermaid Inn during our meal.
“We received word regarding some discovered bones?” the first asked directly.
His gaze shifted to my brothers and me in our cuts, and I understood his train of thought. Angela did too and stiffened indignantly. Ignoring the first, she turned to the second officer, PC Welsh. He met Angela’s eyes with a warm smile.
“Please explain what has happened.”
Angela did, although when she explained about the ghosts, the first cop rolled his eyes. PC Jenners was annoying. Welsh continued listening and paying attention, asking questions until he and Jenners accompanied Angela to the trunk.
“Asshole,” Sunny complained, nodding after Jenners.
I was still smiling when they returned fifteen minutes later.
“We’ve called the Inspector. The bones are clearly old, but I don’t know if we need a crime scene out. It’s a probable no, considering the trunk’s been moved twice. We’ll likely be told to load it up and take it to a lab,” Welsh said.
“No!” the word boomed around the Inn and echoed several times.
Everyone stiffened while Jenners looked around. “What was that?” he demanded.
“That’s the damn spirit you were informed about. These bones need to be moved now!” Callie snapped.
“Not without permission,” Jenner retorted.
“Did you not notice the angry ghost?” Michelle snapped. She and Lucky had already moved toward their equipment.
“That’s one of you lot playing a prank. Cut it out,” Jenners warned.
“Think what you want. Angela, get the hell out of here,” I said.
Angela began heading for the door.
“Stay there. The forms need signing off to move the trunk,” Jenners ordered.
“No!” the word boomed out again, and Jenner sent us all a suspicious look.
“Angela, get out now!” I yelled. Angela began hurrying towards the lounge door and screamed as it slammed shut in front of her. Throughout the Inn, we all heard doors slamming shut.
Angela was hauled back by Dive, who stood in front of her, as Sunny did likewise with Callie.
“What’s going on?” Jenners demanded.
“You told the ghost of those bones you’re removing them. He’s drawing power from them, and if they are taken, Jeremiah’ll lose his power base. Jeremiah isn’t about to let that happen,” I explained.
“Here,” Lucky handed me a cross. “Michelle and I did reinforced blessings over these today. There’s enough for one each.”
I took the cross and slid it over Angela’s head. As the owner, she would be a high target for Jeremiah.
Lucky shook his head. “I had one for Angela too, Prez. I wasn’t about to leave her unprotected.”
“Got one for me?” Welsh asked, pale. He and Jenners had tried to open the door but failed.
“You’re falling for this crap?” Jenners demanded.
“You do you,” Welsh replied and accepted a cross from Lucky.
“Here.” Michelle was handing out incense balls. “These contain herbs, blessings, and a dot of holy water. They’ll work together to prevent Jeremiah from causing physical harm. And keep these bottles of holy water on you.”
“Can a protective blessing be performed?” Callie asked. Michelle nodded and pulled out a larger bottle.
“Bend your head,” she ordered Callie, who obeyed. Michelle made the sign of the cross on her forehead and then whispered a protection prayer. All of us stepped up for the same treatment, except for Jenners.
The door flew open, and we all looked toward it. Jenners carefully moved towards the entrance and peered out.
“Is there someone here messing with us?” he demanded.
“No, everyone is here,” Angela said.
“If this is some prank for candid…”
“Grow up, Jenners!” Welsh snapped, looking disgruntled. “Why would they play such a wicked prank? Let’s get the trunk in the boot.”
“Fine,” Jenners snapped.
They went to head upstairs, but Jenners was shoved backwards. He flew into an armchair and landed with a bang. Shocked, Jenners stared at the door.
“I’ll take a cross and blessing,” he muttered.
Yeah, somehow I thought he might.
Ghoul
Jeremiah was amping up. I could sense him strongly. Angela and the two cops’ fear was overloading him. There was nothing I could do to stop him.
“Jeremiah,” I called and felt his attention turn to me. “None of us mean you harm.”
A cackle of dark laughter burst throughout the inn.
“Harm. Not.”
“Yeah, we don’t want to.”
“I. Do.”
“That’s unfair, as we had nothing to do with your murder.”
“Ignored.”
“No. You weren’t ignored; however, nobody knew you were here. They do now; we can acknowledge your ghost and tell everyone what Kingsmill did to you. I’m sure Angela will rename his room now she knows how vile he was. She can call it after you,” I said calmly. Inside, I was shaking.