Read Online The Ghoul Next Door by Victoria Laurie - Free Book Online Page A

before the show starts up again.”
    Heath had agreed to spend the summer with me in Boston even though his mom and family were back in New Mexico. And it hadn’t even been my idea—he’d offered. It’d meant the world to me.
    He backed up and turned me around to face him. “You’d come to Santa Fe again to hang out?”
    The last time we’d been in Heath’s neck of the woods, it’d been a wee(
eeeeeeee
) bit intense.
    “I would,” I said, reaching up to pull him in for a kiss. “If I get enough clients, we could relax about our cash flow for a change.” We’d been paid well by the network that hosted our ghostbusting show, but living in Boston was superexpensive and I always worried about my long-term finances.
    “Okay, babe,” Heath said. “But the minute it gets to be too much for you, stop, okay?”
    I grinned. “I’ll be fine,” I assured him.
    Heath left and I checked my phone. I had a message from Courtney. Trying her back, I was relieved to reach her. “Have you come up with a plan to help us?” she asked.
    “We’re working on one,” I told her. “But before we jump in, we’ll need to know exactly what we’re up against. We’d like to sit down with your brother and interview him, if he’s open to it.”
    “He will be,” she said quickly, and I could feel her relief vibrating through the phone. “Would you three like to come over to my place tonight? Steven and I are both off in a few hours.”
    “Actually, we’d prefer to interview Luke in a public setting.” Courtney was quiet and I knew she must have been wondering why I didn’t want to talk with Luke someplace private, so I explained our concerns. “The three of us have dealt with some of the nastiest, most dangerous spooks on the planet, Courtney,” I told her. “And we’ve learned to be cautious when dealing with something that doesn’t act like your run-of-the-mill spook.”
    “There are run-of-the-mill ghosts?”
    I chuckled. “Yes. Most spooks are actually quite harmless. They just get stuck between worlds, and their confusion can sometimes make them disruptive. Usually all it takes to deal with them is some gentle coaxing.”
    “But you don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with here,” she said.
    “No,” I confessed. “I think we’re dealing with something much darker. And because of that, I think that Heath and I could be vulnerable. This spook has attached itself to a person, and these types of spirits can be very fickle. Because Heath and I are mediums, we could be quite appealing to a spook like the one haunting your brother, and until we know more about who or what this shadow man is, neither Heath nor I am willing to risk having the ghost latch onto us.”
    Courtney was quiet again.
    “I know that may seem cold,” I said, hearing the words I’d said echo in my mind. “But, Courtney, something like this ghost could really become an issue for us, and we’ve taken so many risks in the past couple of months with the scariest, most demonic spirits you could ever imagine that Heath and I have to set some clear boundaries. We’re no longer willing to put our lives or our sanity on the line.”
    “I understand,” she said, and I felt that she did. “Where and when would you like to meet Luke?”
    I turned in a half circle to eye the clock over the stove. “Would five o’clock at the hospital work for you?”
    “That’d be perfect,” she said. “Luke is here in the waiting room trying to take a nap. I think he’ll be thrilled to talk to someone who understands what he’s going through.”
    “Good.”
    We finalized where to meet and then I called Gilley.
    “I’ve been trying to call you!” he yelled the moment he picked up the line on his end.
    That took me by surprise. “Why? What’s happened?”
    “I’ve got a reporter calling the office nonstop!”
    My eyes widened. Uh-oh. “Which reporter?”
    “A Kendra something . . . I don’t know,” Gil said impatiently. “She was full