Read Online Dead Demon Walking by Linda Welch - Free Book Online

guests
see?”
    “ Furniture tipping over,
objects flying across the room.”
    No, definitely not right. I puffed out
a breath through pursed lips, sucked one in. “Whatever you have up
there, I don’t think it’s a ghost.”
    “ Poltergeist?” from
Royal.
    I let my gaze wander to the wallpaper.
Poltergeist? Maybe. I dropped my chin and frowned at Plowman. “Were
there children among your guests? I’ve heard they can unwittingly
instigate this sort of paranormal activity.”
    Plowman shook his head. “No
children.”
    “ And she was
murdered?”
    “ Yes. Royal said you can
communicate with murder victims.”
    “ Not just them, anyone who
died a violent death. This woman, what happened to her
killer?”
    “ Caught, convicted and
spent two years in prison until another inmate killed
him.”
    I rubbed at my scalp “Doesn’t make
sense. For a start, she shouldn’t still be here after her killer
died. She definitely couldn’t hurl solid objects - there are
rules.”
    “ Like those Lindy Marchant
broke when she left her apartment to look for you?” Royal said,
brows arcing.
    I have encountered a few
rule-breakers, and Lindy Marchant topped the list. Shades should
remain at their place of death until their killer dies, but Lindy
walked two blocks to my house because she wanted me to find her
little boy. To further complicate matters, Lindy wasn’t murdered;
she died a natural death and should not have lingered.
    “ Whatever it is, it has to
stop.” Plowman looked agitated; his knuckles rapped the table.
“This manifestation threw a vase at a guest. We were nearly
embroiled in a lawsuit and I no longer dare offer the
suite.”
    “ Okay,” I conceded. I
grimaced at Plowman. He was letting us stay in a luxury suite at no cost. “I
suppose I could look at this ghost.”
    ***
     
    Muted voices and muffled footfalls
drifted up the staircase. Unlike the foyer, the floors above
boasted thick carpet in hallways and the back staircase. We took
the stairs because the elevator to the top floor had broken down,
again. Plowman said it did so regularly. He attributed that to the
shade, but I doubted it. From what he said, the shade was confined
to the suite, else peculiarities would have been noticed in the
rest of the hotel
    I paused on a small landing to look
out the window. The hotel had a large formal garden with neatly
clipped box hedges, flower beds and geometric shrubbery shapes here
and there. Coins glinted in a small pond as a fountain in the
middle blew misty water in the air. Several people read or relaxed
in wickerwork chairs, and two played a board game at a
table.
    I followed the guys up.
    We came out in a long, narrow
corridor. The ceiling hung lower; in fact if it were any lower we
three would need to duck our heads. I saw two doors widely spaced
apart.
    Plowman’s gaze roved from one end of
the corridor to the other. “The rooms up here housed hotel staff in
the early days, but live-in staff is a thing of the past, so we
decided to use the space. There are two guest suites. Our problem
is with one, but we closed both. I dare not risk putting someone up
here and the disturbance spreads to the other suite.” He gestured
to the door nearest us. “In there.”
    I stared at the door. “Information
first, please. What’s her name and how did she die?”
    “ Rosa Talby. Her lover
strangled her.”
    Throttling must be a preferred method
when the killer is male, the victim female, because of the female
victims I know, I would say fifty percent were
strangled.
    I felt her as a strong, angry,
throbbing presence. I walked to the door, put my hand on the
doorknob and smiled at Royal. “I hope this won’t take
long.”
    He gave me a vague, uncertain smile.
“Be careful.”
    I like to be alone when I encounter a
shade for the first time. I don’t know how they’ll behave, how
they’ll react to what I say. Or how I will react. For me, it’s a
very private moment. Royal understands this, but he wasn’t