The Ghostly Grounds: Vengeance and Dinner (A Canine Casper Cozy Mystery—Book 4)

CHAPTER ONE

“If this woman asks for cucumber water one more time, I may just drown her in it.”

The look on Posey’s face made it quite clear that she meant it. Since Posey had become Marie’s chef and right-hand woman, Marie had come to know all of Posey’s expressions very well. Marie winced at the comment as she looked out to the back yard from the patio, where Benjamin and his growing construction crew were currently at work.

“You don’t think you’re overexaggerating?” Marie asked.

“Not at all. Cucumber water…whoever heard of such? Oh, and did you know she’s deathly allergic to avocados?”

Marie couldn’t help but smile at this. Posey was talking about one of their newest guests, a sixty-year-old woman who was by far the pickiest and most high-maintenance guest June Manor had ever seen.

“Tell you what,” Marie said, looking away from Benjamin and his crew, hard at work on their latest project. “Fix up a pitcher and put it in the fridge. Take care of that and I’ll make sure you don’t have to hear from her anymore.”

“That’s a deal, lady,” Posey said, heading back inside.

Marie took a quick glance out to the ocean before heading back inside. It was cold and crisp this morning, the sort of weather she was starting to get used to. It was Marie’s first fall at the beach and it was somehow more beautiful than the summer. While there weren’t many trees to change color and the nip in the air could be brutal at times, there was something about the way the sun shone off of the water in the mornings, coming off of the cold water with its chilled cresting waves—there was something about the mostly undisturbed shore that was more pristine than Marie could ever have imagined.

It was too bad she did not get to experience much of it.

Things at June Manor were quite hectic. She was booked to capacity with no signs of slowing down. This was amazing in terms of business, but it made it very hard to find convenient times to allow Benjamin and his crew to work on the addition on the backside of the property. It had been a decision she’d made with the help of a loan officer and Posey’s sometimes brutally vocal opinions. Completely booked rooms meant there needed to be more rooms. And, according to Benjamin, the back side of June Manor, just off of the patio, would make it easy to add on an extension that should hold two more rooms. It was a tricky business, for sure, as she wanted him to keep the charming gothic qualities, which was something Benjamin admitted was very difficult to do without the help of an interior designer skilled in the niche.

It was currently November 10, and the hope was that the new construction would be rentable before Christmas. Aside from the tricky balance of new construction and keeping all of her guests happy, things had been going remarkably smooth for her. She was caught up on bills, had more money set aside in savings than she’d ever had in her life, and it looked as if she’d be able to pay off the loan for the new construction within just four or five months.

Additionally, it had been five weeks since her last awkward experience with Port Bliss PD. The only time she’d seen Sheriff Miles—given the promotion from deputy to sheriff at the beginning of November—was in town, on her way to the Red Reef Diner. And those five weeks, as sad as it seemed, had been the longest stretch yet without somehow getting entangled in a police investigation.

Marie walked back inside and grabbed her second cup of coffee of the morning. The sight of June Manor being alive with activity had come slowly, a gradual evolution of sorts. She had quickly grown accustomed to it, though; as she walked through the house, to her laptop behind the checkin desk, she took it all in with gratitude.

Two guests were in the sitting room, having a friendly argument over the fate of the post–Tom Brady Patriots. Posey was speaking to a guest who was checking out rather animatedly in the foyer. Behind this guest, Boo was subtly sniffing at their luggage. Behind the checkin counter, Rebeka was rummaging for something—probably another pack of index cards, as she had started taking notes about how to run the place and had been keeping them in her back pocket over the past few weeks.

As Marie took her position behind the desk, she glanced up the stairs and pictured the door to the first room off of the stairs—the room that had been occupied by a man named Atticus Winslow for nearly three months now. He’d been there so long that she was beginning to wonder if she might need to kick him out at some point. Three months…there was something sort of creepy about the way he’d lingered around for so long. But he paid regularly and the consistent pay was nice so she really couldn’t complain.

Seeing Marie come into the house, Posey frowned, seeming to remember that she was supposed to be making cucumber water for their particular guest—a woman whom Marie did not currently see. She was likely upstairs, waiting for things to quiet down before coming back down. It was 8:30 in the morning on a Friday and when the noise of the new construction was thrown in, the place was absolutely thrumming. Marie supposed pickier guests might also see it as being quite loud.

Marie checked out the guests as they gushed over the house and their stay. Better yet, they also went ahead and booked rooms for next summer. She escorted them to the door and stood in the doorway with Boo, waving them off. It was something she had started doing several weeks ago and she found that such a simple, small touch apparently went a very long way if the reviews of June Manor were any indication.

Marie went back to the checkin desk to start going over the list of incoming guests. It was almost overwhelming, keeping up with the ins and outs, the finances, the new construction, and then, of course, the mysteries within the house. It was one of the reasons she’d offered Rebeka more hours, responsibilities, and pay over the past few weeks.

She’d just penciled in a schedule for the order of rooms to be cleaned and linens to be stripped when Posey came back over. Somewhere along the line, the two men arguing over Tom Brady had left the sitting room and the house had fallen mostly quiet again. So when Posey sighed, it seemed a lot louder than it actually was.

“Something bothering you, Posey?”

“Katie Stillson and Shoreline Oaks.”

“Oh, Posey…are you still on this? I think it’s clear we’re doing perfectly fine despite their efforts.”

This was true. The fake reviews Posey had sniffed out had come to a stop, though there were still a few more floating around out there that they had not been able to get removed. And though it also seemed Shoreline Oaks was doing pretty well in the bed-and-breakfast game, Marie was perfectly fine to let bygones be bygones; things were going well at June Manor and she didn’t see the point in upsetting the balance of things.

“Well, I personally just hate the idea that such an awful woman got away with such a thing. I think it’s maybe time for some sort of revenge plan.”

“Posey, I’d really rather not. We made it through that entire ordeal without needing to confront her. So let’s leave it at that.”

Posey frowned and let out another heavy sigh. “You’re too kind for your own good, Marie Fortune.”

“Hey, if that’s the worst anyone can say about me, I consider that a win.”

Posey gave a defeated shrug and retreated elsewhere into the house. It left Marie wondering not for the first time if there might be some history between Posey and Katie Stillson. Either that or Katie Stillson was the sort of woman who simply didn’t like to see outsiders enter into her hometown and do well. Either way, Marie had all but put the entire situation out of her mind, aside from Posey bringing it up every now and then.

Hearing the sound of a saw outside, Marie wondered if Benjamin and his growing construction crew would like some lunch. She didn’t really

need

an excuse to go to the Red Reef, but having one looked a bit better. While she and Robbie were still nothing more than friends, she was reminded that she had options every time she saw him.

She turned to head back out onto the patio and nearly screamed when she saw the person standing in the hallway. It was a woman, dressed in a plain T-shirt and a pair of jeans. An older lady with a grin on her face, her gray hair was pulled back in an odd sort of messy bun.

Also, she was transparent.

Marie shook her head, her heart hammering, and smiled.

After all she’d been through it seemed an almost appropriate response to seeing a ghost right in front of her.

Especially when she knew the ghost rather well.