Page 26 of All You Want
Linx rolls her eyes. “You don’t really believe in ghosts, do you?”
“Of course, I don’t. But the biographies of the residents are gruesome.” I’m getting animated, and my fingers flutter like I’m typing in the air. “I found several diaries stuck inside the walls. Since they didn’t have banks or safe places to store their loot, the working girls had to hide their gold and personal effects underneath floorboards or behind fake walls.”
“You find any skeletons in the closets?”
It’s my turn to give her an enigmatic smile. “I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
“Then tell me the stories of your resident ghosts,” she suggests. “Are you sure people would want to stay in their rooms?”
“Of course, they do.” I put the picnic basket into her refrigerator and pick up my keys. “Let’s see if we can catch a glimpse of Pickaxe Polly or the Weeping Widow.”
In the car, I give her the rundown of my resident spirits. “Polly Armstrong is nicknamed Pickaxe Polly. She’s a real battle axe, if you know what I mean.”
“Pun intended?” Linx asked, leaning the seat back as much as she could. “I’ve been so tired lately.”
“Everything okay?” I dart a glance at her, wondering if she could possibly be pregnant. She’s been withdrawn since Grady left to go to Australia, and I worry that she’s not taking care of herself.
“I’m fine. Tell me more about Polly and the rest of the ghouls.”
“Polly was a tough babe. Her husband died on the way out west. Rather than turn around and go home, or take in laundry or cook, she put on his pants and boots and went digging for gold.”
“I like her,” Linx says. “Did the men complain?”
“Oh, yes, they tried to arrest her for cross-dressing, but it was more to get her away from the gold. She was built like a sailor, and she knew how to wield that pickaxe.” I lower my voice and make it sound spooky. “It’s said she threw those she killed into the mineshafts, and some were left to die deep below the surface. If on a dark night, you hear their cries coming from within the earth…”
“What about that flying angel? The one who caused the construction accident?” Linx asks.
“That’s Baja Angel. When she got pregnant, she put a curse on all the men who slept with her if they didn’t pay her in gold. She was seen flying away like a white comet streaking across the sky the night her baby was born.”
“Did she leave with her baby, or did it die?” Linx asks.
I shrug, turning the steering wheel toward the bridge. “No one knows, but they say her baby’s spirit haunts the basement.”
“Remind me not to go down to the basement.” Linx gives an exaggerated shiver. “What’s the story on the Weeping Widow?”
“Kate Pennyworth’s her name. She was a relatively prosperous woman who came from back east. Her husband was a judge or magistrate who was decades older than her. Some say she killed our husband; others say he was shot in a duel. All we know for sure is that he cheated on her, and she never got over him. She was beautiful, of course, and attracted many men. But she wanders the hills and valleys, wearing a wedding dress, weeping and wailing.”
“Doesn’t sound scary at all.” Linx looks out the window at the towering trees and craggy ridges. “A lovesick widow wandering the wilderness.”
“Ah, but there’s a catch.” I slow down as my Harrowing Haunts Hotel comes into sight. Pointing toward the forest behind the property, I say, “She’s so irresistible, and the sounds of her weeping is so hypnotizing, that men follow her through the deep, dark woods, over rivers and across lakes, and deep into the snowy caves to disappear and never be seen again.”
“Sounds like the type of woman my brother Scott would be interested in.” Linx frowns as I park in front of my spooky hotel. “Except he’s smart enough to take a bloodhound with him.”
We get out of my car. It’s deathly quiet, now that the workers are gone, and the lot is deserted. Low clouds partially cover the moon, and a chill breeze blows a scattering of leaves in circles on the path leading to the grand entrance.
Since my hotel is not open for business, no lights are left on inside or out, and the lone streetlamp across the road throws out just enough light to cast stark shadows.
I tap Linx on the shoulder, causing her to startle. “Doesn’t it look even freakier in the dark?”
“Don’t do that.” She hugs her coat and tiptoes underneath the gables leading to the front lobby. “I almost expect bats.”
“Great idea. Let me ask Evan if he can set that up too.”
“What do you know about Evan?” she asks, darting me a suspicious glance. “Molly says Todd’s having him investigated.”
“Investigated?” My jaw drops at the impertinence of the sheriff. “Whatever for?”
She shrugs and stops in front of the stained glass which portrays a soiled dove, a blond woman wearing a turquoise-blue dress with a dove in her lap. Instead of an olive branch, the dove clutches a red rose, and the woman’s hand is pricked with a drop of blood.
