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He blinked and made his deep-throated meowing noise.
“Destiny isn’t always right, you know,” Bee muttered. “I mean, Scott Farnsworth and I are friends, and we had a fine time talking aboutSpot’s Fire EngineandA Day at the Fire Station, but beyond that, we don’t have anything in common. I started telling him about the Dewey Decimal System, which is obviously fascinating, but I caught him stifling a yawn when I got to the classification of Old English Literature. So clearly, Destiny’s matchmaking was totally off the mark. Besides, Scott is aVirgo.”
And Adam was a Capricorn who’d asked her to come with him to Washington, DC.
Her stomach twisted with a combination of excitement and anxiety. If she thought too hard about what she’d agreed to, she would get all jumbled up with nerves. Not to mention, she would fall into the rabbit hole of worrying about what her “attachment” to Adam actually meant.
Puffalump started pacing, his tail upright like a sword. Bee glowered at the cat, as if her dilemma was his fault, before turning away with a little huff of annoyance.
Ray was coming downstairs with a stack of books, which he placed on the shelving cart.
“You need anything else?” He picked up the small duffel bag he always brought to work.
“Nope, you’re free to go.” She walked with him to the front doors. “Hey, do you know if Lincoln has finished the ghost map for the Spooktacular Festival yet?”
“Oh, yeah, he had it printed out last week.” Ray pushed open the door and stepped outside. “Why? You want an advance copy?”
“No, I’ll get one at the festival. I was just wondering if there have been any new sightings.”
“If there were, he’ll have them on the map.”
After she closed and locked the doors behind him, she checked on the crew—who were all crammed into the cupola trying to film and complaining about the glitches with the equipment. Even Adam seemed frustrated, his face dark with a scowl as he peered through the camera lens to set up a shot.
Bee descended the spiral staircase to the mezzanine and gave the dim room a scolding look.
“Now you just stop it.” She put her hands on her hips, infusing a stern note into her voice. “I need your help. I know you don’t like them, butHex or Hoax?is our best bet for saving the Gardenia House. You need to prove you’re here by showing up on camera and audio, not by messing around with their equipment. If they can’t film properly, they can’t shoot the episode, and if they can’t shoot the episode, we don’t stand a chance of getting this house any publicity. So let them do their jobs, okay? And work with me here. Give them some indisputable proof of your existence on camera.Hauntthem.”
This time, the captain didn’t respond, but Puffalump streaked by like a little white rocket. He skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs and jumped onto his favorite chair.
“Please,” Bee added to the darkened room.
Still no response, but it would have to do for now.
She went back to her office to peruse the letters and journals, but a slight misgiving began gnawing at her. All this time, she’d been convinced that the captain wanted to save the Gardenia House as much as she did. After all, he’d designed and built the place. It had been his home.
But if it was true that Captain Marcus was trapped here involuntarily, if he really did want to be free, then maybe he wasn’t that invested in saving it after all.
Maybe that was why he was mucking around with the camera equipment and interfering in her and Adam’s romance. Maybe he was actually on Marilyn’s side. After all, the captain had been ahead of his time.
No. Shaking the thought out of her head, she brought the letters and journals down to the basement archives. She spent the next few hours reading and taking notes, so by the time Adam came searching for her at eleven, she’d unraveled a big part of the story.
“Not only was M definitely Millicent Pepper—” she turned the journal toward him and pointed out the woman’s name“ —but I think Captain Marcus was planning to ask her to marry him.”
“Why do you think that?” Adam scanned the journal page.
“He wrote to his brother about speaking to Millicent’s father, and there’s a whole journal page about how he longs for family to fill the rooms of the Gardenia House. But I don’t think he’s talking about his existing family or his nieces and nephews. I think he’s talking about his own future children, the ones he envisioned having with Millicent. He built the house with the idea of having his own big family one day.”
“So what happened? Did he ever ask her?”
“I don’t think so.” Bee frowned and leafed through several old letters. “But they met each other at a dinner party on Halloween, before he started holding his own party. That’s why he talks about her so much in his October entries…that was the anniversary of their meeting.”
“How long did they know each other?”
“He mentions M for four years after 1891.” A twinge of sorrow went through her. “But his ship went missing in 1895, so the last journal we have is dated in August of that year. His last voyage was in September. He was supposed to return in October, but he never did.”
“So no one knew about Millicent?” Adam asked.
“I think people probably knew, but more than likely, Captain Marcus wanted to wait until they were engaged before making their relationship public,” Bee explained. “For propriety’s sake and all. That was why he referred to her as M—in case anyone read his journals, no one would immediately think of the schoolteacher. So her reputation would be safe. But their relationship also explains why Millicent wanted to save the Gardenia House after Captain Marcus went missing and why she continued to advocate for all of his causes. She was carrying on his legacy, but she’s the only one who knew the reason.”
