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“That’s the thing,” Ben said. “This house was apparently always haunted, but now it’s gotten worse. Elizabeth said in her email that they don’t go a single day without some sort of weirdness happening. She said if we accept, she’s got more stories for us, from childhood imaginary friends to things happening as an adult. This town and this castle are full of history. With this family at the center of it all.”
“Where would we stay?” I asked around a bite. His smile widened and he looked at each of us for dramatic effect. Give Ben some history and a good location and he apparently got dramatic.
“That’s the thing,” Ben said. “She’s offering us an entire wing at this castle, and it’s fully staffed, so we won’t have to worry about food or cooking for ourselves. All we have to do is stay, and then we get to set up our equipment as we want. There won’t be any guests outside of the staff, and they’ll make sure to be out by dinnertime, so from evening to breakfast time, it’ll be empty except for us.”
“What about her? We’re not going to kick her out of her home.”
“Oh, she’s willingly going,” Ben laughed “She’s going to take a Caribbean vacation from the sound of it. ‘Anywhere warm, with sun, a beach, no snow, and no ghosts,’ were her exact words.”
“The opposite of what we’re looking for,” I snorted.
“And it gets better,” Ben continued. “You remember our first competition where they offered us 10K? She’s offering us a month at this castle for 10K a week.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed out. “That’s insane.”
Even Lincoln couldn’t come up with something to complain about with that kind of money involved.
“I’ll call Mom and make sure she can help keep an eye on the house and Onyx,” Lincoln said.
“You know she’s just going to come pick her up and take her home with her,” Ryker pointed out.
“I’ll pack her stuff up then,” Ben said. He was so excited he was willing to do anything to push this along faster. “Everyone needs to pack. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can do this. If everyone is in, I’ll contact her now. It looks like it’ll be one hell of a drive to get there.”
“We’re in,” I said for everyone since not one person had protested. With that kind of money and this location, we’d be crazy to turn this down.
“I’m going to dig out my winter clothes. I haven’t needed them this year, so they’re shoved in the back of my closet,” I said with a grin.
I couldn’t even keep the smile off my face. This entire town screamed snow and winter, all the stuff I hadn’t gotten at home.
I loved our place, but apparently, snow was not in the cards this winter for Shadow Ridge. The most snow we’d gotten were a few flakes that melted within half a day. I wanted a fluffy, big snow we could actually enjoy.
Ben hurried off to make arrangements while the rest of us went upstairs to our rooms. If we were staying at the castle, we wouldn’t need the RV, meaning I’d have to pack light.
That wouldn’t be easy for an entire month-long investigation.
I pulled my biggest suitcase out from the closet and started throwing in an array of sweaters, hoodies, boots, gloves, hats, and the works because there was no way in hell I was just staying inside this castle the entire time.
The entire town of Bellmore looked adorable, and I couldn’t wait. It wasn’t only a vacation, but I was definitely going to treat it like one as well—the best of both worlds.
I quickly moved on to my laptop, a few books, my tablet, and my favorite pair of streaming glasses. Ryker would handle the rest.
Two hours later, I had everything I needed for the trip packed up and moved on to helping Ry with equipment.
With that kind of money involved, we couldn’t play around. It had to be a great investigation.
My stomach was already knotted despite my excitement. We’d done plenty of investigations, but lately, we’d been sticking to quick, local ones. After a crazy investigation at a lighthouse and the insanity of the mines, I was ready for something new, but also understandably hesitant.
I just hoped it wouldn’t be full of danger this time.
This was exactly why we’d settled on never having kids. I couldn’t imagine a life where I couldn’t just pack up at the drop of a hat, put everything I owned into a few suitcases, and head out for a month.
Sure, we had a home base that I adored. This manor that we claimed as our own meant the world to me. But so did my job. The Darklings hadn’t gotten a solid investigation in far too long.
Wanting to tease my viewers a little bit, I pulled out my phone and downloaded a few pictures of castles and ghosts from my go-to stock site, making a post that only said, ‘Last-minute destination, who has a guess?’
Chuckling to myself, I pressed enter and then tossed my phone aside, laughing as the notifications started blowing up immediately, one after the other. The constant dinging only made me laugh harder.
That was how Lincoln found me a few minutes later as I was helping wind up extension cords. Ryker was too busy using his checklists in the storage room to even ask about my evil laughter.
