The Ghost and Christmas Magic (eBook)

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Chapter 1

Walt and Danielle Marlow sat across from Adam and Melony Nichols at Pier Café. Two pieces of carry-on luggage sat at the end of their booth, each partially wheeled under the table.

The two couples had sat down moments earlier, and Adam had just finished grabbing menus from the end of the table and handing them to his wife and friends when Carla appeared, coffeepot in hand, her hair now pastel green and recently cut and styled shoulder length.

“Where’s my little buddies?” Carla meant the twins. She began flipping coffee cups right side up and filling them without asking if anyone wanted coffee.

“They’re having a playdate with Heather and Brian,” Danielle said with a chuckle. She slid the cup of coffee Carla had filled closer to her.

Carla paused a moment and looked at Danielle, arching her brow slightly. “Brian too?”

Danielle grinned up at Carla. “Heather announced this weekend that she was giving Walt and me our Christmas gift early. She said since we can buy ourselves whatever we want, her gift to us is eating out once a week for the next year. Oh, she’s not paying for our food, but she’s providing childcare.”

“And she dragged Brian along this morning,” Walt finished for his wife, without adding that Marie was also helping with the twins. That wouldn’t be something Carla, Adam, and Melony would understand, considering Marie, Adam’s grandmother, had passed away four years earlier.

Carla bumped into the protruding luggage at the end of the table and glanced down, her right hand still clutching the coffeepot. “I was going to ask about the luggage. Does Heather know you two are running away?”

Adam laughed and said, “The luggage is ours.”

Setting the pot on the table, and placing one hand on a hip, Carla looked to Adam. “Yeah, I know. I saw you guys bringing them in. Where you two going? And why didn’t you leave them in the car? Cars rarely get broken into in this neighborhood.” Just people getting murdered, Carla added silently.

“Adam and I are flying to San Francisco for a couple of days, and our Uber is picking us up here and driving us to the airport. Walt was kind enough to pick us up this morning, so we can all have breakfast first,” Melony explained.

Carla’s eyes widened. “Oh, nice. San Francisco. A little fun getaway?”

Melony shrugged. “Not exactly; it’s a legal conference.”

“I’m tagging along because my brilliant wife is the keynote speaker. And I want to be there to show her off,” Adam bragged.

They chatted for a few more minutes before Carla took their order and left their table. When she walked away, Danielle noticed Joe Morelli sitting on the other side of the diner with a man wearing a police uniform like Joe’s.

Danielle nodded toward Joe’s table. “The guy with Joe must be the new officer the chief recently hired.” Everyone else at the table turned to look briefly at where Danielle had nodded.
“Brian mentioned he was starting today,” Walt added before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Mark Summers,” Adam said. “I rented him a house.”
A few minutes later, the subjects of their conversation left their table and started toward the exit yet stopped abruptly at their booth when Joe noticed them.

“Morning.” Joe glanced briefly at the suitcases, then looked back at his friends. “Someone taking a trip?”

Melony quickly explained where she and Adam were going.
After she finished, Joe said, “I’d like you all to meet Mark Summers. This is his first day. Mark, this is Adam and Melony Nichols.” Joe motioned briefly to the couple.

Sipping his coffee, Adam gave the new officer a nod and then said, “I’ve already met Mark.” Adam explained how he had met Mark before Joe finished the introductions.

As they all exchanged brief greetings, Danielle studied Mark Summers. She guessed he was in his mid-twenties, just under six feet, with short-cropped sandy-colored hair and boyish features. He didn’t look as intimidating as the police department’s last hire, Clay Bowman, who turned out to be a murderer.

Still standing by the table with Mark, Joe looked at Danielle. “I’d ask you where the twins are, but Brian mentioned he was going over to your house with Heather this morning to babysit.”

“Not sure if that’s how he wanted to spend his morning off,” Walt said with a chuckle, “but he’s a good sport.”

Joe glanced briefly at Mark. “Walt and Danielle have twins. Brian, I mentioned him to you, he helped deliver the babies.”

Mark cringed. “You guys deliver babies?”

Melony laughed. “I think you’re scaring him. I suspect the idea of helping deliver a baby might be more intimidating than dealing with criminals.”

Mark visibly blushed. Joe looked back at Walt and Danielle and asked, “How old are they now?”

“They’ll be eight months right after Christmas,” Danielle said. “We put the Christmas tree up on Saturday. So that has been fun, keeping them from pulling down the ornaments and toppling the tree.”

They chatted a few more minutes before Walt asked, “Mark, do you have family in Frederickport?” Brian had already told Walt and Danielle that morning that the new hire was from Portland and had moved to town that weekend so he could start his new job on Monday. But Walt wondered if he chose Frederickport because he had family here.

Mark shook his head. “I’m not from the area.”

“Welcome to Frederickport,” Danielle said.

They exchanged a few more words before Carla brought food to the table. Joe and Mark said their goodbyes, Carla finished delivering all the food, and a few minutes later the four prepared to eat their breakfast.

About to take a bite of her waffle, Danielle glanced across the table and noticed Adam staring at his food, making no attempt to pick up his silverware, his complexion noticeably paler than minutes earlier. “Adam, are you okay?” Everyone stopped eating and looked at Adam.

Instead of answering Danielle’s question, Adam stood abruptly and bolted from the table, his hand now covering his mouth as he ran towards the restrooms. Melony dropped her fork on the table and started to stand up, but Walt stopped her.
“He went into the men’s room. Let me go.”

Ten minutes later, Walt returned to the table with Adam, who looked worse than he had when Danielle had asked her question.

“What’s wrong?” Melony asked as Adam silently slumped back in his seat.

“I think we need to take Adam home,” Walt said. “It’s food poisoning, or he’s coming down with the flu.”
Melony placed her palm on Adam’s forehead. “It’s cool. Did you throw up?”

Adam nodded. “I’m sorry. But Walt’s right. It just hit me.” Adam pushed his plate of food to the center of the table. “I smelled the…” Adam was about to say sausage, but even saying the word turned his stomach.

“I’m sorry. I’ll call the Uber and cancel,” Melony said, “if Walt and Danielle don’t mind driving us back to the house.”
Adam shook his head and looked at his wife. “No, Mel. You need to go. You have friends there you’ve been looking forward to seeing. And you’re giving the keynote speech. I’ll be okay. I just want to lie down…and barf some more.” Adam’s right hand flew to his mouth, and once again he stood up.
Melony, Walt, and Danielle watched Adam rush toward the bathroom again. Danielle looked back at Melony. “He’s right. You need to go. We’ll make sure he gets home okay. We’ll check on him while you’re gone. And if he needs to see the doctor, we’ll make sure he gets there.”

Melony let out a sigh. “I’m pretty sure it’s food poisoning. Last night when we were watching a movie, Adam decided he was hungry and started scavenging through the refrigerator. There were some leftovers I meant to throw out, and Adam got to them before I could stop him. He insisted they tasted okay, and he seemed fine after he ate them.”

“It can take six hours or more before food poisoning kicks in,” Danielle said.

“This sort of killed my appetite.” Melony pushed her plate away from her.

Danielle nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“If you guys want to take Adam home, I’ll pay for the breakfast and wait for the Uber.”

Taking the napkin from her lap, Danielle nodded and tossed it onto the table. She and Walt stood.

Danielle glanced down at the suitcases. “Which one is Adam’s?”

“The black one. I’ll walk you to the door. I want to say goodbye to Adam.” Melony paused and then looked back at the table and then at Walt and Danielle. “You guys want to take your food home? You didn’t even touch it.”

“No, we’re okay. I’ll go tell Adam we’re taking him home,” Walt said before heading to the restrooms.

Danielle grabbed hold of Adam’s suitcase while Melony took her own.
* * *
Danielle had insisted Adam sit in the front passenger seat while she sat in the back seat of the Flex, and Walt drove them back over to Adam and Melony’s house. When Walt pulled up in front of the house, he didn’t turn off the engine but left it running while Adam got out of the car and thanked them again. Danielle quickly got out of the back seat, walked to the rear of the vehicle, and opened the hatch before removing Adam’s suitcase.

“You call us if you need anything.” Danielle handed Adam his suitcase. “And if you decide you need to go to the doctor, one of us can drive you.”

Adam grabbed hold of the handle of his suitcase. “Thanks. But I’m pretty sure it’s food poisoning. It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have eaten those leftovers last night. Just glad Mel didn’t eat them.”
* * *
Adam stood briefly on the porch, his hand holding the handle on his suitcase as he watched Walt and Danielle drive away. He gave them a final wave before turning back to the front door, unlocking it, and walking inside, pulling his suitcase in behind him.

After shutting the door, he left the suitcase by the front door and walked down the hall but stopped abruptly when he came face-to-face with two men he had never seen before. One held a gun, and the next minute, said gun pointed in his direction.

“Where is your wife?” the armed man demanded.
Adam stared at the gun’s muzzle, momentarily paralyzed. The man repeated the question, this time shaking the gun at Adam.

“She’s on her way to the Portland airport.”

“Why aren’t you with her?” the other man demanded.
Instead of answering, Adam vomited in the hallway.

* * *
Adam sat in one of the dining room armchairs, his wrists bound with rope to the armrests and his ankles secured to the front two legs of the chair with the same long piece of rope. After being brought to the dining room, the armed man had told him to sit down in the chair while his partner rummaged through their cabinets, searching for rope. He found one in the broom closet.

“What are we going to do now?” the man asked his partner after tying Adam to the chair.
The man with the gun considered the question as he glared at Adam, his shaking hand still holding the gun pointing in Adam’s direction.

“I think we wasted some good rope.”

His partner frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s seen us. His wife is on her way to the airport. We have time to do what we need. I don’t want to risk him getting away while we look. We’re going to kill him anyway.”

Adam’s eyes widened as the man who had tied him to the chair yelled, “What do you mean? Killing someone wasn’t part of the plan.”

“It is now.” The man raised the gun slightly, aiming it at Adam’s forehead as he prepared to fire.