Ghost Ship: A Port Chatham Mystery by P. J. Alderman Read Free Book Online Page A

I hope they get away with it. In fact, I’ll hold a damn block party in their honor.”
    Jordan watched her stalk out, stunned. She opened her mouth to ask Darcy more about her, but stopped when she got a good look at her friend’s face. She was alarmingly pale, her eyes dull with pain. Her movements, when she picked up her beer mug to take a sip, were sluggish.
    “I’m dead on my feet,” Jordan told Jase, cocking her head slightly in Darcy’s direction, silently telegraphing her concern. “You okay with me heading out?”
    “Go ahead,” he told her. “Bill and I can manage.”
    “Can you give me a lift?” she asked Darcy.
    “Sure. I need to be up early, anyway.”
    “All right if I come by in the morning to chat about the work on the house?” Tom asked Jordan.
    Damn . She sighed, then nodded.
    “I’d like to drop by your offices at the wharf tomorrow, if that’s okay with you,” she told Bob. “Ask more questions about the Henrietta Dale .”
    She could have sworn he hesitated before shooting her a grin. “Caught your fancy, has she?”
    “She’s a beautiful ship,” Jordan admitted.
    Bob’s smile slid a little. “Pardon?”
    “I said, she’s a gorgeous ship. Whoever refurbished her did a wonderful job. I’d love to take a tour of her.”
    Bob exchanged a look with Tom.
    “What?” Jordan demanded.
    “The Henrietta Dale broke up in the surf that night in 1893,” Bob carefully explained, “which is why so many people died. There’s no way anyone could have refurbished her.”
    “That can’t be right.” Jordan frowned. “Unless the gardener was mistaken, she identified the ship by that name.”
    “You saw the gardener? ” Darcy asked, perking up.
    “You owe me twenty bucks,” Jase informed her. “Three o’clock, on the nose.”
    “Crap.” Darcy pulled out the bill and slapped it onto the bar. “Jordan, the gardener was living out there at the time of the wreck. So I’d believe her if she said it was the Henrietta Dale .”
    “Well, I couldn’t have seen a ship that no longer exists.” Jordan wondered if Darcy was so tired she was no longer lucid.
    “Oh, now, that’s not necessarily true …” Bob murmured.
    “Where did you see the ship?” Tom asked.
    “She sailed toward the spit, then at the last minute, turned and went to the north past the lighthouse.” Jordan’s exasperation with them was growing.
    He nodded sagely. “That makes sense, since that’s roughly where she went down. The course she would’ve taken if she hadn’t run aground—in other words, if she’d succeeded in turning and avoiding the rocks—is exactly as you described.”
    Jordan stared at them, chilled.
    Tom merely grinned, then turned to address the room at large. “Hey, folks? Looks like we’ve got ourselves the first confirmed sighting of a Pacific Northwest ghost ship.”
    Amid widespread applause and cheers, Darcy told Jordan, “ Seriously cool. Your powers are expanding.”

Chapter 4
    J ORDAN gripped the edge of the bar sink. “You mean to tell me that instead of just the occasional ghost here and there, I’m now seeing entire ghost ships ?”
    “Looks like,” Bob replied cheerfully. “What’s the problem? It’s not as if sightings like yours haven’t been fairly common—just not so much in these waters.”
    “Why is she out there?”
    “She’s probably repeating her voyage at the time of the shipwreck.”
    Jordan conjured up an image of what she’d seen. “So your supposition is that the ghost of a wrecked ship forever sails the waters, running the same course over and over, but as a spectral …  whatever , gets to avoid running onto the rocks?”
    “Depends on the ghost ship. Some are seen sailing the waters successfully, righting the old wrong; others are doomed to forever repeat their captain’s mistakes.”
    Jordan concentrated on what was becoming her favorite pastime—breathing.
    “Ever heard of the Flying Dutchman ? Or the Mary Celeste ?” Tom asked her.