AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a raccoon,” she said. “And a raccoon is not a ghost.”
“That is my point.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. She wobbled, and he realized that Cara was still a lot more tipsy than he was. “I mean, if it had been a raccoon the whole time, then they would’ve seen it. But it wasn’t a raccoon the whole time. It was a ghost the rest of the time. And it’s just a raccoon now.”
“Whatever. I would’ve preferred a ghost, because then we could just have an exorcism or some shit, but it’s a raccoon, and now I need to chase it out.”
“I want it to be my pet.”
“It can’t be your pet. Don’t be ridiculous.” He kept watch on the creature, which was staring at him with beady eyes, and he reached into the corner of the pantry and picked up her broom. “I will use this on you,” he said.
“Are you cleaning up the town, Sheriff?” Cara asked.
“You’re drunk. Get out of here.”
He supposed that he should feel better knowing that she was drunk. Maybe she had been teasing. About the whole virgin thing. That couldn’t be true. She worked at a bar. She looked like... Like that.
And she sure as hell had to have been teasing about... Him.
“All right,” he said, talking to the raccoon again as he extended the broom. “Get outta here.”
It snarled and leaned forward, chewing on the bristles.
“Get out,” he said, brushing at its face.
It growled again, but leaped out of the flour sack, shaking itself off like a dog after a bath, and sending white dust everywhere.
It started to come toward the door of the pantry, and he put his arm out over Cara, moving her to the side as the snarling beast loped out of the pantry and through the kitchen.
“And open the door,” he said.
“I mean, the question is, how did it get in?”
“That’s a good question, but we need to get it out first.”
“He’s just going to come back.”
“Fine. We’ll work on raccoon prevention once we’ve done raccoon eradication.”
He went to the side door off the kitchen and propped it open with the doorstop, then took the broom and pushed it against the raccoon’s rear.
It growled again, but picked up the pace, scampering out the door and disappearing into the night.
“For God’s sake.” He lifted up the doorstop and shut the door. “I was not expecting that.”
“No. That was ridiculous.”
“Really, really ridiculous,” he said.
“But cute.”
“It wasnotcute.”
“I disagree.”
“So, you might not have a ghost in the hotel, but you might have raccoons. And, we don’t know how they’re getting in, which is going to require some kind of a fix. This place is a death trap,” he said.
“It is not a death trap. I just wish that I had evidence that it’s haunted.”
