The Ghost and the Medium (Paperback)

The Ghost and the Medium

Chapter 1

Eden Langdon sat alone, waiting for her date to return from the restroom. They had given them a booth by the window, and while Pearl Cove offered an ocean view, the sun had set hours earlier. Yet, even at noon, there still would be nothing to see, because the foggy and dismal gray November weather of Frederickport would have obstructed the ocean view. She found it drafty by the window. Shivering, she pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders and cursed the cold, damp climate. If she had her way, she would have already moved somewhere sunny, like Arizona or Palm Desert. Shannon made it almost impossible to leave—an albatross Eden never wanted. Yet all of that was going to change, Eden vowed.

She glanced from the window to the dining room, wondering what was taking her date so long. Not that she particularly cared if he hurried back. The only reason she accepted the date, Pearl Cove served excellent food, and she was always up for a free meal. Her date was a nice enough guy, but she didn’t imagine she would see him after this evening. If things worked out, Eden planned to be packing up and moving after Thanksgiving.

Taking a sip from her cocktail, she lazily looked around the restaurant, observing the other diners. Her gaze set on a nearby table—a party of eight. Or was it nine, she asked herself before taking a quick head count. She wondered who was the odd one out.

Eden leaned back in the chair, cocktail still in hand, and studied the group. She knew who they were, yet she only knew one personally. An odd, mismatched collection of people, she thought before taking another sip of her drink.

She had immediately recognized the couple at the end of the table, Walt and Danielle Marlow. They lived in that big old Victorian house on Beach Drive. Well, it wasn’t a Victorian, exactly. From what she once read in a brochure, back when Marlow House first opened as a bed-and-breakfast, the house’s architecture was a Second Empire mansard house. The brochure discussed the house’s history and how the town’s founder, Frederick Marlow, built it in 1871. Frederick passed Marlow House down to his grandson, Walt Marlow, who then left his estate to his housekeeper, which was how Danielle Marlow inherited it—through some shirttail relative.

The Walt Marlow now sitting across the restaurant, a distant cousin of the original Walt Marlow, first visited Frederickport a few years back and stayed after hooking up with Danielle. Eden wondered about their story. She could understand Danielle’s attraction to Walt Marlow. Younger than Eden, in his mid-thirties, an attractive man with wavy dark hair and mesmerizing blue eyes, he carried himself with style. Walt always dressed like some character out of The Great Gatsby.

Of course, he was a successful author, so Eden assumed it might all be part of some persona he created for marketing purposes. As for the wife, Eden found her a reasonably attractive brunette. Danielle often wore her long hair in a fishtail braid. Of average height, she wasn’t slim, nor would Eden call her overweight. Danielle dressed alright—nothing particularly out of the ordinary, not like her husband. The local rumor mill claimed Danielle was expecting, but when Eden had watched her walk into the restaurant thirty minutes earlier, she didn’t look pregnant.

When Danielle Marlow—then Danielle Boatman—first moved to Frederickport, she’d turned Marlow House into a bed-and-breakfast but closed it down after she married Walt Marlow. Yet, from what Eden heard around town, the bed-and-breakfast recently reopened.

The attractive couple to Danielle’s right, Eden knew as Lily and Ian Bartley. Ian Bartley was also an author, even more famous than Walt Marlow. But he didn’t dress like Walt, more preppy. His wife, a petite redhead, had been a local schoolteacher before becoming a stay-at-home mom. From what Eden understood, Lily had moved to Frederickport with Danielle, where she had met her husband and stayed. There was also a story about Lily being involved with some scandal with the Gusarovs, but she hadn’t really followed that story, as it had been one of the rare times Eden managed to get away from Frederickport for a few weeks.

She turned her attention to Adam Nichols and Melony Carmichael. They had gone to the same high school as her cousin, Shannon, but were a few years younger. Adam owned a local property management company and sold real estate, and Melony had become some hotshot attorney, but she looked more like a high-priced call girl to Eden. Melony had left town years earlier and ended up in New York. But after her mother died, Melony had moved back to Frederickport, and she had recently become engaged to Adam. That’s if Eden’s hairdresser was to be believed.

Eden’s cousin once told her the two had dated in high school. The then young teenagers had run away, and after their parents found them and dragged them back to town—after causing a major scandal—Melony’s parents had shipped her off to a boarding school in Europe.

Eden’s gaze turned to the last couple at the table. They seemed totally out of place with the rest of the group and with each other. He was the only person at the table she knew personally. A local cop, Brian Henderson was a nice-looking man for his age, with gray hair and a husky physique. But he was a major jerk. Yet it was his date—and she assumed the woman was his date considering the way she sat close to him—Eden found so out of place. Young enough to be Brian’s daughter, the woman, an Elvira wannabe with braids, looked ready for a Halloween party. And Halloween was last month.

“Is it possible Brian has a daughter, and that’s her?” Eden muttered aloud.

The ninth person at the table was Chris Johnson. He worked for the Glandon Foundation—a philanthropic organization that had set up office in the old Gusarov estate. Chris was the only one at the table who didn’t have someone with him. Eden would love to ditch her date and volunteer to keep Chris company. Chris Johnson was gorgeous. He was probably one of the best-looking men she had ever seen. Sure, he was younger than her, but maybe he liked older women.

“Sorry I took so long.” A voice interrupted Eden’s mental rambling. She looked up to see her date taking his seat at the table. “I ran into someone on the way back, and I just couldn’t get away from them.”

“That’s okay.” Eden glanced briefly at Chris, gave a wistful sigh, and then reluctantly looked back to her date.

* * *
Had it been summer, they might have each parked their cars at their respective homes and then walked to Chris’s, except for Melony and Adam, who didn’t live on Beach Drive. But it was raining, so they drove to Chris’s house after leaving Pearl Cove.

The plan was to have dessert at Chris’s. Thirty minutes after arriving at his house, they had already finished their dessert and now sat comfortably in his living room. Had it not been dark out, they could have enjoyed a spectacular ocean view from his west-facing sliding glass doors.

“Are you sure you’re up to having us over for Thanksgiving dinner?” Chris asked Danielle. He sat on a recliner in his living room, a glass of brandy in hand.

“Do you mean because I’m pregnant?” Danielle gave her stomach a pat. She could still wear her slacks, providing she left the top button unfastened and wore a long sweater to cover the zipper. Next to her on the oversized recliner sat Walt, who, like Chris, sipped on brandy.

“That and the fact you’ll be reopening the B and B. I’m surprised you’re willing to have all of us over that weekend,” Chris said.

“I think Danielle wants us as a buffer,” Lily teased. “She doesn’t want to be alone with the ex-mother-in-law for Thanksgiving.”

“Is she really an ex since you didn’t divorce her son?” Adam asked. Instead of brandy, he sipped a beer.

Melony turned to Adam. “She’s considered Danielle’s former mother-in-law.”

“Because Danielle remarried Walt?” Heather asked.

Melony shook her head. “No. When your spouse dies, their parents become your former in-laws.”

“Spending Thanksgiving weekend with a former mother-in-law sounds awkward. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend one with either of mine.” Brian cringed at the thought. He, Heather, Ian, Lily, Adam, and Melony sat on Chris’s large living room sectional sofa.

Danielle snuggled closer to Walt, who wrapped one arm around her.

Melony looked at Danielle. “Are we buffers?”

Danielle shrugged. “Sorta. But not entirely. You know I love to entertain, and I’m excited to reopen the B and B. But I understand in a few months I’ll be curtailing my entertaining for a while, and when it gets closer to the arrival of our new family member, we’ll be closing the B and B again—but just until we’re ready to reopen.”

Brian set his drink on the coffee table and looked at Walt and Danielle. “Joe thinks you’re crazy to reopen.”

Danielle chuckled. “No surprise there. Joe never understood the B and B.”

“I have to agree with Joe. We are crazy.” Walt laughed.

Danielle frowned at her husband. “Walt?”

Walt laughed again, kissed Danielle’s forehead, and said, “I didn’t say I don’t want to reopen the B and B. But I do question our sanity.” Walt refrained from saying more, as Adam and Melony, unlike the rest of their friends in the room, did not know of Walt’s past life—or death. The ghost Walt Marlow, whom Danielle had first met when moving into Marlow House, had been against turning his home into what he termed an inn.

“Back to Thanksgiving. How many are going to be there?” Chris asked.

Danielle took a mental count. “I think fifteen. All of us here, plus Ian’s parents and Kelly and Joe.”

“Your parents are coming?” Heather felt Ian’s parents disliked her.

“They are,” Lily answered for her husband.

“What about Joe’s family?” Heather asked. “Joe and Kelly aren’t spending it with them?”

“Joe’s family is going to Portland to spend Thanksgiving with some cousins,” Lily explained. “Joe can’t go because he’s working that morning. So he and Kelly will be there.”

Melony looked at Danielle. “What about your former mother-in-law and her gentleman friend? They’ll be joining us, right?”

“Yes… her gentleman friend,” Danielle murmured.

“They’ll be the only guests at Marlow House for the weekend,” Heather told Melony.

“Your former mother-in-law’s boyfriend is really Finn Walsh?” Adam asked

“We don’t know their relationship,” Walt answered for Danielle. “We know they’re coming together, because Danielle’s former mother-in-law booked the reservation, but they have separate rooms.”

“Are you sure it’s the Finn Walsh?” Brian asked.

“It’s him,” Danielle said. “I didn’t recognize the name at first. Lily did. And then I figured it was probably just someone with the same name.”

“Dani is such an excellent spy,” Lily said. “She did a Google search on the email they left with his reservation. It took her to his website.”

“I’m excited to meet him,” Melony said. “I almost went to one of his shows.”

“He’s just a con man,” Danielle scoffed.

Melony frowned at Danielle. “How can you say that? Come on, I know you believe in the possibility of mediums.”

“You mean ghosts,” Adam grumbled.

“It doesn’t mean I believe in every charlatan who claims he can talk to spirits—while emptying his sucker’s pockets.”

“Wow, that’s pretty harsh.” Adam laughed. “I’m surprised you feel that way. After we found out he was going to be one of your first guests, Mel and I watched some of his YouTube videos. I admit, I usually think those guys are fakes, but he seemed pretty spot on in those readings. Almost got me to believe all that stuff.”

“Because he’s good at his job. Not because he’s a medium,” Danielle insisted.