Page 8 of Spark
She’d treated herself to a couple of his luscious chocolate-dipped strawberries with breakfast this morning.
The idea that he’d prepared and decorated them especially for her had made her smile. She had to remind herself not to read too much into it. After all, making special dessertswashis job at the restaurant.
"I've heard lots of rumors about a haunting over the years," Caitlyn said, leaning forward with an eager expression. "But none of the Bearpaw Spring Resort staff would ever talk to me. They were all too worried about losing their jobs if Mr. Ornelas found out that they'd been talking to me about ghosts at his hotel."
Eduardo “Eddy” Ornelas was the longtime owner of the Bearpaw Springs Resort, with its historic landmark 130-year-old hotel and a number of outlying cabins located right at the main entrance to Bearpaw Springs National Park. He was also notorious for vehemently denying the existence of any hauntings at his hotel.
Daniel chuckled. "Well, I'm not afraid of Eddy, and he's not likely to fire me anytime soon, not with Calidus being so successful and all. Besides, this isn't the only incident we’ve had."
"Oh yeah?" Caitlyn perked up at this. "Like what?"
Daniel frowned thoughtfully, as if trying to decide where to begin.
"Well, I never used to believe in haunts orrevenants," he said finally. "Those were just stories that my grandparents told, back when I was a boy and we still lived in Baton Rouge. But ever since I opened Calidus, my staff have reported all kinds of weird things happening. Things like glimpsing someone walking past them out of the corner of their eyes, but when they turn to look, no one’s there.”
Caitlyn’s fingers were flying over her keyboard as Daniel spoke.
“That’s a fairly common story for supposed hauntings,” she commented. “Anything else?”
“Well.” Daniel paused and Sophie saw a deeply uncomfortable, almost embarrassed look creep over his rugged features. “We’ve had a lot of broken items. At first, I thought that maybe my staff were just bein' careless when they were putting things away, but they swore that those broken plates or pans actually flew off the storage racks by themselves." He shook his head. "I didn't believe them, until one morning this past spring, when my assistant executive chef Rafael and I were in the kitchen by ourselves, before the rest of the staff arrived. We were tinkering with a new recipe when something suddenly walloped Rafael’s back. It fell to the floor with a clatter that just about made me jump clear out of my clogs.”
Caitlyn’s furious spate of typing slowed, then stopped. “You've seen the ghost for yourself?”
Daniel shook his head. “Nope. But when I looked to see what had hit him, it was a lid that I know for sure had been sitting on a shelf on the other side of the kitchen." His voice lowered, as if he was worried that someone might overhear his next words. "Not only that, but those lids were kept stacked, and they interlocked in such a way that one could not possibly have come loose by itself."
Sophie stared at him.Should I tell them what I saw? Will anyone actually believe me this time?
Maybe Daniel hadn’t actually seen the ghost, but it sounded like he’d experienced enough weirdness that he might not think she was crazy if she told them what she’d seen last night.
"You never told me about anything about that," Chris said in an accusing tone.
"Didn't want to sound crazier than I normally do, Junior," Daniel retorted dryly. “Besides, half of my staff are already spooked out of their minds and are fixing to quit. Rafael promised not to mention it to anyone, and I didn’t want to throw gas on the fire.”
"I believe you, Daniel," Caitlyn said. "I mean, I don’t necessarily believe in ghosts, but I believe that you experienced something you couldn't explain." She paused, as if thinking, then asked, "The young man who was injured last night, is he going to be all right?"
Daniel nodded. "Javier's a shifter, so he'll heal fast. I had to perform an emergency tracheotomy before the ambulance arrived, though. Dr. Nika told me later that his larynx was crushed, and his neck badly bruised."
It sounded bad.Reallybad. Sophie bit her lip.
Daniel’s mouth twisted. "A few broken dishes and spilled spice jars that we can't explain are one thing, but Javier came real close to dying last night, and we have absolutely no idea what happened." He let out a gusty sigh. “After the ambulance came and went last night, Antonio—he’s my Food and Beverages Manager—told me that Javier had mentioned wanting to quit because of some weird stuff that had happened to him earlier in the week.”
Sophie's ears perked up as she listened to Daniel.Maybe it wasn’t just a random attack. Maybe that thing was targeting Javier. But why?
“I see,” Caitlyn said, thoughtfully. Her gaze moved to Chris. “Chris, you were in the dining room last night during the, ah, incident. What did you see?”
“Nothing.” Chris’s brows furrowed. “I was standing maybe ten feet away from Javier, and I didn’t see anything. I heard Sophie yell something like, ‘Stop, you’re hurting him,’ and Javier just…fell over.” He paused. “Not like he passed out and collapsed. More like someone…or something tackled him. It was weird.”
Weird. Sophie hated that word. It had been the bane of her high school existence.
It was then her turn to fall under Caitlyn’s analytical gaze. “Yousaw something.” It wasn’t a question.
Sophie tried not to flinch.I have to tell them about the monster. Before someone gets hurt again.
“I—” Her mind went blank.Stop it,she ordered herself.You can trust Caitlyn, Daniel, and Chris. You know you can. “Yes, I did.”
Caitlyn nodded, her expression softening. “Go on.”
Haltingly at first, Sophie told them about the monster, and how she thought that it had been searching for something specific in the restaurant. Caitlyn typed furiously as she spoke.
