Blackvine Manor Mystery by Wendy Meadows Page A

investigator? Between a P. I. and my grandfather’s connections, I’m sure she’ll turn up.”
    Alexis spins to face him. “Did Otto suggest that? Did it ever occur to you that he wants her found because she’s the only witness to what he did? Maybe I have these abilities just so I can find her without his help. Maybe I don’t need your help either!”
    She storms off, clicking off her flashlight and easily losing him among the tall headstones. Five hundred feet away from where she left him, Alexis regrets her rash decision. A young man stumbles out from behind a black granite headstone and reaches his hands out to her.
    “Have you seen Chloe? You have to help me find Chloe.”
    The cold slide up the back of her neck tells Alexis this isn’t just a teenager lost in the cemetery. His clothes are torn, bloodied, and faded. In fact, his image is completely faded.
    She faces the ghost and stammers, “I think you’ve been in an accident. You need to really look at where you are.”
    He blinks around slowly, taking in the uneven grass, the occasional bunch of flowers, the undulating rows of headstones, “Oh yeah, I know.”
    Alexis sees the forlorn slump of his shoulders. “Who’s Chloe?”
    “She was with me in the car. She died too, at least I think she did.”
    “Where were you heading?”
    The boy smiles sadly. “Spring break road trip, back to see her mother in New Mexico.”
    Alexis has an idea. “Was Chloe from New Mexico? Would she be buried there?”
    His smile widens and he’s gone in a smear of misty light.
    She lets herself sink to the grass and takes a few minutes to pull all her energy back in. She concentrates on the gold chain of her necklace as a wall between her and the spirits. Just as she feels the black onyx working as a pulsing deflector, she stifles a scream.
    Striding out from the headstone behind her, Maxwell says, “Psychic or not, this place is not friendly at night. Let’s find Willow and get this over with. You okay?”
    Alexis lets him pull her to her feet, glad for his strength and size. She allows herself to lean into him for a few seconds, breathing his aftershave, “You’re still here.”
    Maxwell smiles and gives her a squeeze. “Yeah, I must be the crazy one.”
    She laughs and pushes him away before heading toward the oldest section of the cemetery. “So, does that mean you’re ready to hear my theory?”
    “You think Otto caught my grandmother and that jewel thief, Collin Fenton, meeting here. Fenton told Delia to meet him under the willow tree, where he let her know the location of his hidden jewel stash. And you think that stash is in the grave marked with the Willow headstone.”
    Alexis steps into the darker shadows of the oaks that grow in the oldest section of Lakeview Cemetery. As her eyes adjust, she stops, frozen by what she sees ahead.
    “What I don’t get is how you think this will lead you to your mother.” Maxwell bumps into her.
    “Because she’s here.” Alexis points with a shaky finger.
    She inches forward, her eyes riveted to the woman kneeling in front of the Willow headstone. “Amelia? Mom?”
    “I’m sorry, Al,” Amelia says and suddenly she is gone.
    “Alexis”—Maxwell takes her arm—“there’s no one here.”

Chapter Twenty-Four
    “ L EAVE ME ALONE , MAXWELL!” ALEXIS kneels down in front of the headstone marked Willow.
    He kneels down behind her, pulling her into his arms. “Maybe it wasn’t your mother.”
    “Come on, you don’t believe I saw anything.”
    “No,” he says gently, “I didn’t see anything except you. What happened?”
    She fights the urge to bury her face in his chest. “I saw my mother. What if she’s already dead?”
    Maxwell is at a loss. “If you saw her ghost then she’s gone?”
    Alexis straightens her back, taking a deep breath, “Or it could have been her wraith. Either way it means I might never find her.”
    He has to let her go as she starts to claw at the grave in front of her. “No,