Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man by Bobbi Holmes (great novels to read TXT) 📕

you found the treasure, it belongs to Caitlin. It’s hers,” Cory announced.

“What’s he talking about?” Bud and Brian asked at the same time.

“I suspect they’re talking about Bud’s gold mine,” Danielle explained.

“How did you know about that?” Bud demanded.

“What do you mean they?” Brian asked.

“The crazy teen ghost is here too,” Heather told Brian. “She showed up right after Cory did.”

Brian glanced around, looking for a ghost that he couldn’t see even if she stood inches in front of him. Heather rolled her eyes at his futile attempt and pointed to where Caitlin stood.

When hiding in the trees and watching, Cory had assumed they gathered around the treasure. But their backs had been to him, obscuring from his view the movement of the boulders. Ignoring their questions, Cory moved closer to what they had all been staring at, and in doing so, he stumbled mindlessly through Bud. The ghost let out a howl at the unexpected intrusion.

Oblivious to Bud’s presence, Cory stared into the partially exposed grave and asked, “Is that a skull?”

“You walked right through me!” Bud cursed. He gave Cory a punch, unnoticed by the young man staring down at the skull. Bud cursed again, and the next moment a rifle appeared in his hands. He took a shot at Cory, who remained unaware of the attack, still looking down at the skull.

“You can’t shoot my friend!” Caitlin ranted at Bud. She picked up a rock and hurled it at the other ghost. It flew through his body, landing next to Cory.

Cory jumped back and looked down at the rock. He turned abruptly and asked, “Who threw that?”

“Is she throwing things again?” Brian asked Heather.

“Yep,” Heather answered, her arms now crossed over her chest as she watched the ghosts.

Mesmerized by the unfolding drama, all the mediums watched, while Brian looked around nervously, waiting for another missile to fly by, and Cory waited for an answer to his question.

Nose to nose the two ghosts shouted at each other, Bud telling Caitlin he had never hit a girl before, but he had no problem turning her over his knee and giving her a good spanking, while Caitlin dared him to give it his best shot but warned she would kick him so hard he would roll up like a pill bug, and then she’d squish him like one.

“Who threw that rock?” Cory asked again. He turned to the others and started walking toward them, stepping right through the arguing ghosts. When he did, Bud and Caitlin stopped shouting at each other and looked incredulously at Cory, his back now to them.

“You walked through me!” Caitlin shouted at Cory.

“What’s going on?” Brian asked Heather.

Heather shushed Brian and told him to hold on a minute, her attention on the dueling ghosts.

“How do you think I feel?” Bud asked Caitlin. “He walked through me twice!”

Having seen enough, Chris whistled. The ghosts and Cory looked at Chris, while Danielle arched her brows at Chris and said, “Wow, impressive. I didn’t know you could whistle that loud.”

“Sometimes it comes in handy,” Chris said. He looked at Cory, pointed at the ghosts, and asked, “Can you see them?”

“Who?” Cory asked.

“Are you saying you can’t see Caitlin?” Danielle asked.

“That’s a silly question,” Caitlin snapped. “Of course he can!”

Cory frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You can’t see Caitlin, can you, Cory?” Walt asked.

Cory looked at Walt. “What are you talking about? Caitlin is dead.”

“No!” Caitlin wailed before disappearing.

“She was annoying,” Bud muttered.

“Well, you are sort of related.” Heather shrugged. “So there is that.”

“What do you mean we’re related? I’ve never seen her before,” Bud snapped.

“Who are you talking to?” Cory asked Heather.

Cory now stood with his back to Danielle, Walt and Bud, his attention on Heather. Seizing the opportunity, Danielle stepped closer to Bud and whispered softly, “He can’t see you. Please don’t leave; let us find out why he’s here.”

“I would like to find that out myself,” Bud said.

“Who are you talking to?” Cory again asked Heather.

“Cory,” Danielle called out. He turned and faced her. “Why did you follow us up here? You knew we were coming here today. Carla told you. Your uncle told Adam about what she said, and Adam told us.”

Cory looked around sheepishly, shuffling his feet as he glanced over to Officer Henderson. “Is this going to get me arrested?”

“I guess it depends how you answer the questions,” Brian said.

“When Carla told us you were coming up here today because of Uncle Bud’s treasure, I didn’t have a choice, because it’s rightfully Caitlin’s,” Cory explained.

“What does he mean, Uncle Bud’s treasure?” Bud asked.

“What is this treasure?” Danielle asked after hearing Bud’s question.

Cory frowned at Danielle. “Why are you asking me that? You just said it a minute ago. His gold mine.”

“But why do you keep calling it a treasure?” Danielle asked. “While a gold mine can be valuable like a treasure, it sounds funny calling it that.”

“All the gold he took out of the mine and never brought off the mountain.” Cory looked at Walt and said, “You obviously found it. Carla heard you talking about the treasure and coming up here to bring it back.”

“That’s what happens when someone eavesdrops and passes a story on,” Danielle said.

“Are you saying they didn’t find the treasure?” Cory asked.

Danielle nodded to the partially open grave. “Does that look like a treasure?”

Cory walked back closer to the grave. Bud quickly stepped to one side to avoid being walked through again. Cory looked down and frowned. “It looks like a skull.”

“How did he know about my gold mine?” Bud asked.

Danielle looked to Bud and asked, “Did you remove gold from the mine and hide it somewhere up here?”

Bud shrugged. “Maybe.”

Cory frowned. “Who are you talking to?”

“I like to think out loud,” Danielle lied. “Why did you think Bud had a treasure up here?”

“It was a story in Caitlin’s family, about some great-uncle Bud, a prospector who struck gold up here. He brought back a gold nugget. Caitlin showed it to me, but her mother gave it to