Read Online Madison Johns - Agnes Barton Paranormal 01 - Haunted Hijinks by Madison Johns - Free Book Online Page B

tell you. Maybe.”
    That really didn’t help much. “They might think I’m off my rocker, too.”
    “You are that, Agnes. Have your partner, Eleanor, ask the questions, since she’s perceived as a brick short of a full load already.”
    I frowned. “Oh, come on. Eleanor might be a little impulsive, but she’s more sane than most. I can’t ask her to do that without telling her the whole story.”
    “You mean she doesn’t also see the ghost?” Anna asked.
    “No, and she doesn’t know I see one, either. It’s so hard to keep this all to myself.”
    “Yes, it’s important not to tell anyone, but you do need to figure out who she is at some point. Ghosts often want something and you need to figure out what it is.”
    I pointed out the crystal ball. “Can’t you see something in that globe of yours that might help?”
    Leotyne looked into the crystal ball and shook her head. “It’s all fogged up.”
    “Let me try,” Anna said. She then leaned toward the globe, putting her fingers on it. “Yes, all fogged up. She might not want us to tell you who she really is.”
    The ghost shook her head.
    “Do you even know who you really are?” I asked the ghost. When she only shrugged, I added, “I just don’t understand. Can either of you at least tell me something about the woman who died at the mansion, Katherine Clark?”
    Leotyne once again looked into her ball. “Beware of the three o’clock hour.” She then stared at me. “It’s not safe for you to stay at the mansion. It’s a very dangerous place, with many angry spirits.”
    “Why angry?”
    “That’s all I see.”
    “Anna, you try, please. I have to know.”
    Anna smiled sadly. “Sorry, that’s all there is to know. Try back in a few days and maybe we can see something more.”
    I stood up, more aggravated than ever, just as Eleanor waltzed into the trailer. When she spotted me, she clutched her chest. “Oh, thank the heavens above. I was so scared when I couldn’t find you.”
    “Oh, come now. You had to have known I’d be here.”
    Eleanor’s eyes darted around nervously. “I suppose. Hello, Leotyne. Where’s your hellhounds?”
    “I had only one hound and he’s met an unfortunate end.”
    I gulped. “Run over by a car?”
    “Nope, old age. Let me just say that he was an old dog.”
    “What did she tell you?” asked Eleanor.
    “Nothing much. You know, another riddle: ‘Beware the three o’clock hour’ and something about ‘the mansion being dangerous.’”
    “I knew it. We shouldn’t be there.”
    “Well, we’re not there right now, so don’t worry. I’m not about to be chased from the mansion … not in this case. Let’s go.”
    Eleanor and I made our way back to where Martha was turning hot dogs with a fork on her grill. “About time you turned up, Mother. I was about ready to gather together a search party.”
    Just then, a trashcan was tipped over as a ferocious bark was heard. It came from Leotyne’s dearly departed hellhound that was now in ghostly form, chasing my ghost up a nearby tree.
    “What on earth,” Eleanor began. “What tipped that trash can over?”
    “Oh, probably a squirrel.”
    “I didn’t see any squirrel.”
    “W-Well, you know it must have darted away fast, is all.”
    “Hot dogs or no hot dogs?” Martha asked as she tapped her fork on the grill to get our attention.
    “Sure, I’m starving.”
    Soon we were all digging in and the men left to go swimming, informing us they had already eaten. They laughed when I told them to wait an hour after they ate to go swimming.
    “So what’s your case about?”
    I quickly gave Martha a run-down about how Eleanor and I had found yet another body and what Jack had told us.”
    “Wow, you two sure manage to find a lot of bodies. It’s like your specialty.”
    Between bites, Eleanor asked me, “Do you think Jack offed Katherine?”
    “You know, I’m not sure. He sure had reason to, but he seemed to believe that he might just get that money