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

Maddie. If he intended to kill them, I think he would have killed me first instead of letting me return here. But whatever went wrong at Teddy’s house that day, he obviously worried that because of our conversation that morning, I could incriminate him in your parents’ and Maddie’s deaths, so he came up here looking for me.”

“He obviously took Walt’s father’s coat and hat, which he wore up here,” Danielle mused.

“I imagine he wanted Bud to think it was my father riding up,” Walt said.

“Yes. Not that I would have assumed he was going to shoot me, but Teddy rarely came up here,” Bud said.

“While Walt and I will always wonder what really happened the day of the fire, I imagine once you move on, you’ll find out,” Danielle said.

“Will I see them again?” Bud asked.

“I’d be surprised if you don’t. Not sure about Teddy, but I imagine you’ll see Walt’s parents and Maddie,” Danielle said.

“I don’t want to see Ted,” Bud grumbled.

“I don’t blame you,” Danielle said.

“Can I ask you one question?” Walt asked.

“What’s that?” Bud asked.

“Where exactly is this gold mine of yours? And where is the gold you’ve already removed?”

When they were about twenty feet from Cory’s car, Heather saw her, Caitlin. The teenage ghost sat in the passenger seat, waiting for Cory. Heather stopped abruptly and turned to Brian. She whispered something in his ear. Afterwards, Brian nodded and looked to Cory and said, “We’re going to walk down there and wait for the responders by the van while you and I have a little talk.” Brian pointed down the dirt road in the opposite direction from Cory’s car.

Cory gave Brian a nod and started down the road with him. They had walked just six feet when Chris let out a whistle while shoving his hand in one pocket. When Brian stopped and turned to Chris, Chris pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Brian while saying, “Here’s the keys, if you want to wait in the van until they arrive.”

Brian caught the keys in midair and gave Chris a nod before turning with Cory and heading down the dirt road.

“Do you want to do this alone?” Chris asked Heather as they stood in the middle of the dirt road, looking at Cory’s car and its ghostly occupant.

“No. If she sees you, she might stick around long enough to understand she’s dead,” Heather said.

Together Heather and Chris approached the car.

“Caitlin, we would like to talk to you,” Heather called out.

“Go away. I don’t want to talk to you.” Caitlin wrapped her arms around her chest and slumped down in the car seat.

“We just want to help you,” Chris called out, now by the hood of the car.

Caitlin looked up at Chris. “Who are you?”

“I’m Chris. I just want to help you.” Chris smiled, showing off his straight white teeth.

She turned to Heather and glared. “I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t like her!”

Heather stopped in her tracks and looked from Caitlin to Chris.

“Will you talk to me?” Chris practically cooed.

Sticking her lower lip out in a pout, Caitlin looked at Chris and gave a nod.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh, brother. I’m going back to Walt and Danielle. Good luck, pretty boy.”

Caitlin no longer sat in the passenger seat of Cory’s car. Instead, she sat with Chris in the back seat.

“Am I really dead?” Caitlin asked.

“You sort of already knew, didn’t you?” Chris asked.

Caitlin nodded. “I guess. But sometimes I could get Cory to talk to me, and I figured I couldn’t be dead. I mean, Cory can’t see ghosts, can he?” She looked eagerly at Chris, waiting for an answer.

“I suspect Cory talked to you in his dreams,” Chris suggested.

“Is that what I am, a ghost?” Caitlin asked.

“You are now until you move on. I’m sure your mother is eager to see you,” Chris said.

Caitlin shook her head. “No. She’s mad at me. I told her I didn’t take drugs anymore. I promised. But I lied.”

“I don’t think she’s mad at you. Heartbroken, maybe,” Chris said.

“She’s mad. She gave away my gold nugget,” Caitlin said.

“You were gone, Caitlin. When people die, people left behind often give away some of their belongings. It’s how it works. If your mom had died first, you would have probably given away some of your mother’s things.”

“I suppose.” Caitlin let out a sigh. “I really don’t want to be dead.”

“So you didn’t mean to kill yourself?” Chris asked.

Caitlin frowned at Chris. “Gosh, no. Why would you say that?”

“You took a lot of drugs that last time,” Chris said.

Caitlin shook her head and looked out the window, staring at nothing in particular. “I regret everything.”

“Time to forgive yourself, Caitlin. Time to move on. Your mother is waiting.”

Caitlin looked at Chris. “Promise?”

Chris smiled softly. “Promise.”

The next moment Caitlin vanished.

Thirty-Nine

It had been almost a week since they brought Bud’s remains down from the mountains. Because of the personal effects buried with the body that had survived all those years, authorities were fairly confident of his identity. Danielle discovered she didn’t need to buy a cemetery plot for Bud to keep her promise. They learned through Ginny that Bud’s sister had purchased a plot for him, and it remained empty.

To quell some skeptics, they ordered a DNA test of the remains. Chris paid to put a rush on the order, knowing Bud would not move on until they laid his remains to rest near his sister. Danielle understood the DNA results might not prove his identity, since they relied on his family’s DNA already on file. Fortunately, the results showed the remains likely belonged to Bud, and on the last Saturday in August, a group stood in the Frederickport cemetery for a gravesite service.

“Why are there so many people here?” Bud asked Danielle as he looked around. “I’m flattered, but I’ve been dead for a hundred and fourteen years.”

“The museum decided to move the official opening for the gold nugget exhibit