Ghost Killer by Robin D. Owens Read Free Book Online Page B

1904.”
    “Still a helluva string of events stretching back and forward.”
    “Yes.”
    “We still need more info,” Zach stated.
    I suppose I must help you a little more,
the Other said disapprovingly.

FIVE

    SINCE ZACH STIFFENED in the luxurious chair beside her, Clare knew he heard the Other, too. Whether the
     spirit’s voice echoed hollowly in his mind like it did hers, she didn’t know.
    “Thank you,” she said aloud and humbly, trying to
feel
humble and squashing all irritation. The Other could read her emotions easily.
    In the form of Enzo, the Other stalked up and down the short aisle, appearing more
     interested in its surroundings than Clare or the project.
    It snapped its head toward Clare in no move a living dog would make, pierced her with
     its icy gaze. The phantom dog nostrils widened as if she smelled bad.
Listen closely. You must discover the ghost’s core identity and address it by name,
     so that you can destroy it. You must find the trigger that caused the core identity
     to reach critical mass and begin to devour other phantoms.
    “Core identity?” Zach asked.
    But the Other turned to mist and dissipated, not even leaving Enzo.
    “Well, that was weird,” Zach said.
    Clare sighed. “Yes. Short and not so sweet, but at least we have goals.”
    “Tell me about this core identity business.”
    She tapped the blue journal in front of her, one of her great-aunt Sandra’s. She’d
     spent time flipping through the pages of loopy penmanship to find a half-page story
     about an evil ghost Sandra had easily dispatched with the knife in a couple of hours.
     Clare reckoned she wouldn’t be so lucky.
    “I’m still not sure about the nature of ghosts,” she said slowly. “How much of the
     real spirit of deceased people is really there.”
    Zach grunted. “The previous ones you helped, Jack Slade and J. Dawson Hidgepath, seemed
     like real people.”
    “Yes, but there are also fragments.” She waved a hand. “That might not matter. Anyway,
     from what I understand, a powerful evil ghost is a magnet of negativity, perhaps a
     challenged individual—”
    “No political correctness crap,” Zach interrupted. “I believe there are bad people,
     evil people.”
    Clare lifted her chin. “There are also confused people who make bad choices.”
    “And some of those bad choices can make them into vile folks, irredeemable, who like
     doing horrible things to good people.”
    She swallowed at that thought—because Zach had sure seen a lot more of such people
     than she.
    Clare said, “All right. I agree.” Like all the other conversations this morning, this
     wasn’t a discussion she cared to have. “Whether the person was evil or not, sometimes
     the worst of a person can linger, and the ghost can turn bad—”
    “I remember that was a concern. Will it always be a concern?”
    “I think so. Because the . . . limbo . . . that ghosts survive in is awful.”
    “Got it. Keep going.”
    “The original ghost or negative shade—”
    Zach snorted.
    “—acts as a magnet for all sorts of other stuff and gets bigger and bigger—”
    “Like a wad of flypaper.”
    “I suppose so.”
    “All right. I think I got it. So there will be a bunch of ghosts, probably from your
     time period, and we’ll have to figure out who was the first.”
    “Or just one ghost with layers, but we must discover his name.”
    “Huh. As for the trigger, Caden gave it to us.”
    “He did?”
    “He mentioned a murder.” Zach shook his head. “But I don’t think it could be that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Creede has been around for at least a century, right? No matter how small and sleepy
     a town is, it probably had a murder in all that time—at least in the general area
     of the ghost.”
    “I suppose.” She thought. “Caden said, ‘a murder-suicide.’”
    “Yeah, I recall, but I’m thinking that might not be enough to trigger something that
     eats little boys, either.”
    “No?”
    “People kill,