ENTANGLED by Jennifer Estep, Cynthia Eden, Allison Brennan, Dale Mayer, Lori Brighton, Liz Kreger, Michelle Miles, Misty Evans Edie Ramer, Nancy Haddock, Michelle Diener
Authors: Jennifer Estep, Cynthia Eden, Allison Brennan, Dale Mayer, Lori Brighton, Liz Kreger, Michelle Miles, Misty Evans Edie Ramer, Nancy Haddock, Michelle Diener
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Medium?”
“Don’t call me that. I do not conduct séances, and how do you know I’ll do anything about this issue at all?”
“Because you want to help. It’s what you do.”
He had me there, but I shrugged. “In the first place, I don’t know if it’s possible to summon a spirit that’s crossed over. It’s not something I’ve done or ever wanted to do. Plus, what am I going to say without knowing her name? ‘Hey, child who haunted Searle. We need you to come back and get rid of him again.’ That’ll go over big.”
He looked away, over my shoulder. “We might be able to assist you with research. Deidre is willing to do it. See if she can get a name.”
I blinked up at him. “Why?”
“In spite of what you think, when we find real ghost presences, we want to help, too. Help the people whose lives are in upheaval from the haunting, and help the spirits themselves.”
A blast of cold spook air hit my back, and I spun to face the street to find ghosts lining the sidewalk and mouthing two words. Help us .
Great gator gunk.
I took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh. Okay, so St. Augustine would certainly be an empty place without our non-corporeal residents, and they didn’t deserve to have their souls stolen. I also had a selfish reason to attempt this major intervention. Da might not be worried about Searle, but what if Da’s soul was as vulnerable as any other?
I looked over my shoulder where Brick watched and waited.
“All right. Tell Deidre to do the research. We’ll make a plan from there.”
o0o
“Guillelmina.”
“Say what?”
Brick walked through my office door at three in the afternoon, fifteen minutes after I’d returned from an impossible consultation with a new client and the out of control ghost that haunted the garden of his bed and breakfast. A little gentle hair pulling, acceptable. Tripping guests, so not okay. The visit left me determined to do all in my power to thwart the specter of Robert Searle so the city spooks would settle down.
As long as I kept thinking of the exercise as a large-scale intervention, I had hopes of pulling it off.
“Who is Guillelmina?” I asked from behind my desk as Brick lowered his tall, handsome self into a client chair.
“The child killed during the Searle raid.”
“Deidre is certain?”
“As much as she can be. Obviously, there’s no mention of the kid haunting the pirate. The historical society library records say he set sail on June 5, 1668 with his booty and a sizable group he’d captured that he considered not to be of pure Spanish blood.”
“Why did he leave with captives?”
“Apparently he sold them into slavery.” Brick grinned. “This dude deserves to go down.”
“All we have to do is figure out how.”
“You don’t have a plan?”
“Do you?” I countered.
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “You’re the medium. I planned to follow your lead.”
“Will you please,” I said through gritted teeth, “stop calling me a medium?”
“Why does that term bother you?”
“Aside from you yourself branding mediums as charlatans?”
“Hey, I apologized for that.”
“During the spiritualism movement of the 1800s and other eras, mediums were often exposed as fakes.”
“So you don’t like the association? Fine. We still need a plan for tonight.”
“We?” I echoed.
“The team and I want to be there. Is that a problem?”
I grimaced. “I’ll feel like an idiot working with an audience rather than alone.”
“I won’t judge you, Colleen. I learned my lesson. Now what do you have in mind for tonight?”
I drummed my fingers on my desk, but no new inspiration struck. Unless a scathingly brilliant idea smacked me upside the head in the next nine hours, I’d have to go with my seat-of-the-pants plan.
“All right, here’s my thinking. Ghosts tend
“Don’t call me that. I do not conduct séances, and how do you know I’ll do anything about this issue at all?”
“Because you want to help. It’s what you do.”
He had me there, but I shrugged. “In the first place, I don’t know if it’s possible to summon a spirit that’s crossed over. It’s not something I’ve done or ever wanted to do. Plus, what am I going to say without knowing her name? ‘Hey, child who haunted Searle. We need you to come back and get rid of him again.’ That’ll go over big.”
He looked away, over my shoulder. “We might be able to assist you with research. Deidre is willing to do it. See if she can get a name.”
I blinked up at him. “Why?”
“In spite of what you think, when we find real ghost presences, we want to help, too. Help the people whose lives are in upheaval from the haunting, and help the spirits themselves.”
A blast of cold spook air hit my back, and I spun to face the street to find ghosts lining the sidewalk and mouthing two words. Help us .
Great gator gunk.
I took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh. Okay, so St. Augustine would certainly be an empty place without our non-corporeal residents, and they didn’t deserve to have their souls stolen. I also had a selfish reason to attempt this major intervention. Da might not be worried about Searle, but what if Da’s soul was as vulnerable as any other?
I looked over my shoulder where Brick watched and waited.
“All right. Tell Deidre to do the research. We’ll make a plan from there.”
o0o
“Guillelmina.”
“Say what?”
Brick walked through my office door at three in the afternoon, fifteen minutes after I’d returned from an impossible consultation with a new client and the out of control ghost that haunted the garden of his bed and breakfast. A little gentle hair pulling, acceptable. Tripping guests, so not okay. The visit left me determined to do all in my power to thwart the specter of Robert Searle so the city spooks would settle down.
As long as I kept thinking of the exercise as a large-scale intervention, I had hopes of pulling it off.
“Who is Guillelmina?” I asked from behind my desk as Brick lowered his tall, handsome self into a client chair.
“The child killed during the Searle raid.”
“Deidre is certain?”
“As much as she can be. Obviously, there’s no mention of the kid haunting the pirate. The historical society library records say he set sail on June 5, 1668 with his booty and a sizable group he’d captured that he considered not to be of pure Spanish blood.”
“Why did he leave with captives?”
“Apparently he sold them into slavery.” Brick grinned. “This dude deserves to go down.”
“All we have to do is figure out how.”
“You don’t have a plan?”
“Do you?” I countered.
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “You’re the medium. I planned to follow your lead.”
“Will you please,” I said through gritted teeth, “stop calling me a medium?”
“Why does that term bother you?”
“Aside from you yourself branding mediums as charlatans?”
“Hey, I apologized for that.”
“During the spiritualism movement of the 1800s and other eras, mediums were often exposed as fakes.”
“So you don’t like the association? Fine. We still need a plan for tonight.”
“We?” I echoed.
“The team and I want to be there. Is that a problem?”
I grimaced. “I’ll feel like an idiot working with an audience rather than alone.”
“I won’t judge you, Colleen. I learned my lesson. Now what do you have in mind for tonight?”
I drummed my fingers on my desk, but no new inspiration struck. Unless a scathingly brilliant idea smacked me upside the head in the next nine hours, I’d have to go with my seat-of-the-pants plan.
“All right, here’s my thinking. Ghosts tend
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