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Outside, he found a sharper and almost crystal-clear view. Birds chirped and squawked, soaring from the woods down to the coast and circling the boardwalk for scraps.
Captain John Marcus had known what he was doing when he built the Gardenia House on this plot of land.
“I haven’t seen this kind of rooftop deck on many houses.” He indicated the platform and railing.
“It’s called a widow’s walk,” Bee said. “The architectural feature was often used in captains’ and sailors’ houses in coastal New England. Since John was from Maine, it makes sense that he’d incorporate one into the architecture of his own house. The wives of the sailors and ship captains would walk along the platform, looking out to sea as they waited for their husbands to come home. Unfortunately, the men often didn’t come home, so these became known as widows’ walks.”
“Interesting.” Adam leaned his hands on the splintered railing and looked out at the ocean. “But you said John wasn’t married.”
“No, he wasn’t. He probably figured he would be married at some point, so I’m sure he built the house with the idea of living here with his wife and family.”
“Isn’t it a little grim to have included a widow’s walk in his design?”
Bee smiled. “I suspect he included it more for architectural tradition than because he was expecting his wife to pace around up here, waiting for him to return from sea. But either way, he certainly expected to marry one day. Most men of that era did.”
He turned to find her watching him curiously. The sunlight spilled over her hair, burnishing the strands with gold. Though Adam had never been a romantic, he was struck with another image of her as a Victorian woman, standing outside the cupola ofherhouse while admiring the view.
“Why are you asking?” She lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her face.
“About Marcus?” Adam shrugged. “All of ourHex or Hoax?episodes include a story about why the ghosts are haunting the site. People usually say that the ghost is trapped. They haven’t moved on to the next plane or whatever because they still have unfinished business. Sometimes, the story is that the ghost is there because of a traumatic event causing a sudden death, like a murder or an accident.”
“Captain Marcus’s death was certainly sudden, but I don’t think that’s why he’s still here,” Bee said. “And his ghost isn’t a negative presence at all. He’s not angry or bitter about not being able to move on…at least, not that I’ve been able to tell.”
“So why is he still hanging around the Gardenia House?” Adam asked. “What’s his unfinished business?”
Bee pursed her lips in thought. “I don’t think he has unfinished business.”
He leaned on the railing, his gaze narrowing on her. Was her complete earnestness and her lack of guile all part of an act? Or was she this unaffected all the way to her bones?
Adam found it hard to believe she was acting, but at the same time, she did have a reason to. Bee needed everyone—himself included—to accept and believe in the story she was spinning.
Everyone on the crew would find it hard to debunk her ghost theories when presented with such sincerity. And from such a beauty.
He cleared his throat. “So why is his ghost still here?”
“Because this is his home.” She spread her hand out to indicate the house. “He loved the Gardenia House and Bliss Cove so much that he hasn’t wanted to leave.”
“You think hewantsto be here?” Adam was almost surprised. In all the episodes ofHex or Hoax?he’d been involved with, he couldn’t remember anyone claiming that a ghost was there voluntarily.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Bee replied. “He’d invested a lot of time and money into this house, he had strong ties to the town, his family was still here…it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to leave.”
“But his immediate family has been gone for at least half a century now, if not longer,” Adam pointed out. “And even I think it’d be pretty lonely for a ghost to rattle around an old house by himself. People who believe in the paranormal always say that ghosts retain their personalities, so if someone was caring and decent in life, their ghost will be a kind presence. Or if a person is mean or vindictive, their ghost will be that way too.
“So if John Marcus really was a gregarious, generous man who enjoyed being with his family and among people, then why would he choose to be alone in the afterlife? And stuck in this house, no less? He was a sea captain, so adventure was in his blood. He wouldn’t want to spend the rest of eternity trapped in a house.”
Bee crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly as she studied him. “For someone who’s out to debunk ghosts, you sure know a lot about them.”
“I’ve heard every story you can imagine over the years. If a site doesn’t have a good story, we don’t film an episode there, or we make the story up.” He pushed away from the railing. “The stories are what make the show so compelling. Even more than the hexed or hoaxed gimmick.”
“But you think the stories are lies.”
“They are.”
Bee shook her head. “You have a very cynical view of the world.”
“I have a realistic, science-based view of the world.”
She arched an eyebrow. “So why do you make a living with a show that producesliesand perpetuates fantasies about the paranormal?”
