“What is it?” Lisa eagerly asked him. She had no idea how he got a clue so quickly considering he was exposed to this ghostly dilemma not so long ago, but if he had any insight into the matter, she would have greatly appreciated it! Any tidbit that moved them forward even in the slightest iota would have given her a tremendous boost!
Before Delron could give her an answer, the front door opened! Lisa and Delron assumed that it was Melanie coming back for something she forgot, but to their shock, it was somebody much taller than her! “Woah! We have a customer?” Delron reacted in bewilderment.
A voice that carried a strong and soothing tone that Lisa instantly recognized responded to Delron, “Yeah… Why is that so weird?”
Lisa’s heart fluttered when Adam came into view! She felt relieved to know that the strange encounter at the Dennison fire hadn’t scared him off completely, but she also reveled in basking in the beauty that this man emanated! Delron filled him in, “Everyone’s afraid of setting foot into this place! Some people venture outside of it, but most won’t even go within a block of Brigfell!”
“Wow! I knew a lot of individuals were spooked by this library, but I didn’t realize they were that spooked by it!” Adam shook his head in dismay. “I guess I shouldn’t point out how close Blackthorn Orchard is to Harvest Moon Hollow- the Halloween Hoedown would probably be a ghost town if they ever found that out!” Adam laughed, but Delron and Lisa couldn’t bring themselves to do it. They each smiled at him when he looked in their direction though. “Well, anyways, I came to see if you had any rockabilly music to use for the party. I have some Halloween CD’s, but you can’t exactly square dance to that!”
“Sure! I’ll grab some for you!” Delron volunteered.
As Delron disappeared behind a shelf, Lisa found herself feeling awkward again as she stood alone with Adam! She met a few celebrities in the past, but this was the first time she truly felt starstruck! She wasn’t totally sure why either! His handsomeness definitely played a role in that, and his niceness helped, but there was something else that really drew her to him… “You’re welcome to come, just so you know!” Adam offered.
Lisa hadn’t realized that she had fallen into a torpor until he said that! She felt embarrassed that she had acted so carelessly, and she hoped he hadn’t noticed how goofy she behaved! She also hoped that her cheeks weren’t reddening as she gave him a reply, “Welcome to what?”
“The Halloween Hoedown,” Adam clarified. “I sent invitations out weeks ago, but everyone in town is invited.”
“Oh, the whole town is coming?” Lisa strove to hide how crestfallen that made her become. She recalled how Melanie told her that Adam was the most popular guy in Melas, and with all of the gossip coming from her neighbors, she wasn’t certain she wanted to attend! She couldn’t imagine herself having very much fun if jerks like JT would be there, or worse, Abby and her two crones!
Adam commented, “Well, I dunno if the whole town will be there, but they’re certainly invited! No one is turned down at Harvest Moon Hollow!” He paused and added, “You should come! It’ll be fun!”
Lisa bit her lip. With the majority of the population turning against her like they had been, she wondered if they requested her presence there in order to pull some sort of vile prank! If nasty pieces of work like JT and Abby admired him, how could she trust him? She wasn’t sure what to tell him, but fortunately for her, she didn’t have to because Delron resurfaced and proclaimed, “Here! I found a couple of collections that should do the job!”
“This looks great! Thanks, guys!” He threw them a grin prior to turning around and heading towards the exit. Before he left, he halted in his tracks and circled back to them. He then gingerly brought up, “Have either of you seen anything odd going on around here?”
“It’s Melas at Halloween time, of course we’ve seen odd things!” Delron nervously chuckled.
Adam clarified, “Okay, odder than usual then.”
Lisa and Delron hesitated in their reply. Lisa hadn’t discussed this with Delron yet, but her judgment of this issue was to keep it secret so that they could continue their investigation unimpeded, but it may not have been so obvious to Delron. He seemed to have followed her cue at the Board of Tourism meeting, but would he relent to Adam before she could warn him not to do it? Adam was very charming, so Lisa esteemed that Delron would give in eventually, so she opted to speak up and hopefully head off any release of information that should have stayed secret! “I’m new in this city, so I don’t know what’s considered normal here, but the grocery store flooding and the random house-fire does seem a tad abnormal…”
“It’s abnormal even by our standards!” Adam relayed to her. “But speaking of the Dennison fire, you know that mist hanging over some of the houses that day? I saw it over Blackthorn Orchard!”
“Really? When did this happen?” Lisa’s muscles tightened up upon hearing this- she simply couldn’t handle another apparitional attack that day! She had dealt with two yesterday, but at last they were spread out to give her hours of a break! Never contending with more attacks again would have been preferable, but if she had to vie with more, she at least wanted a period of rest so she could plan things out! Actually, she really aspired to resolve this catastrophe prior to the next incident occurring at all, so she crossed her fingers that his revelation didn’t signify that anything else was imminent!
Adam reported, “It was yesterday afternoon. I was working in the yard when I saw it. I drove by the property to ensure everything was alright, and the area was just as quiet as it typically was. It left after dinner, and as far as I know, nothing went on over there. Maybe the mist was nothing and I’ve lost my mind!”
Lisa couldn’t in good conscious allow him to question his sanity when his instincts had drawn him so close to the truth! She reassured Adam, “I don’t think you’ve lost your mind!”
“Thanks!” Adam beamed at her, and she could have melted by this gesture! He appeared to have gotten bolstered by her vote of confidence, and it buoyed her spirits to have had that sort of effect on him! Plus, he seriously looked dreamy when he gazed at her like that! It was almost tempting to beckon him in for a kiss, and she swore in that instance she could have been successful in that endeavor… Adam abruptly cleared his throat, and then he reminded her, “Don’t forget to join us at the Halloween Hoedown!”
“Sounds like a blast!” Lisa lied. As he departed, she recalled that his relationship to some of her adversarial figures may put her in jeopardy, and she pondered if he aimed to toy with her emotions for a sinister purpose…
Lisa noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye, and she glimpsed over to it only to see Delron trying to light up a cigarette! “Delron!” she snapped.
Delron swiftly stashed it away, and he apologized, “Sorry! This whole day has been stressful though! I don’t like keeping secrets!”
“You won’t have to for long ‘cause we’re gonna nip this problem in the bud!’ Lisa avowed. “So, tell me what clue you found out! I’m dying to hear it!”
“Oh! Well, you were the one who shared it with me!” When Delron observed her startlement over that assertion, he explained, “You said she wanted to especially target you ‘cause you had family in Melas, so if we can trace your ancestors, we could learn her identity! It’s not much, but my history professor husband always says if you want to know what will happen in the future, you must study the past! If we can learn her story, then maybe we can learn her motivation for this violence and use that knowledge to put a stop to it!”
Lisa initially felt surprised by this notion since she expected him to divulge information about how to combat a dangerous entity, but his logic in learning what happened to this villainess while she was still alive made total sense! In any case, she had no other leads to go on, so she deemed it worth a shot! “I’m on board! Ooh, I’ve always wanted to do one of those ancestry sites!”
Delron asserted, “I’ve got more access to historical records than they do! Tell me the name of one of your grandfathers.”
“My dad’s dad was named Hawthorne,” Lisa stated.
“Hawthorne Bassett… His father was Matthew Bassett, and he lived in Botwulfshire most of his life. His father, Clifford, also Botwulfshire. Clifford’s father, Nathaniel…” Delron’s brows furrowed as he studied his phone’s screen.
Lisa’s interest piqued at this juncture! Did he discover something about her great-great-grandfather that pertained to their phantom predicament? He didn’t say anything else, and that was unacceptable to her! If he found anything that could help them defeat this supernatural enemy, he definitely had to spill the beans! “What is it?”
Delron disclosed, “It shows Nathaniel moving to Botwulfshire in eighteen fifty six, but it doesn’t have any other records besides that, not even a birth record! It’s like this guy came out of nowhere!”
“Woah!” Lisa expressed as she witnessed this irregularity for herself. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this ghost says I’m related to someone who played a part in her murder and one of my ancestors has no record! Something transpired that he wanted to hide from the world!”
“He must have changed his name,” Delron surmised. “Did you hear about any other names that your relatives went by?”
Lisa mulled it over for a minute, and then she notified Delron, “I can’t come up with anything! Maybe my cousin knows something…” Delron shrugged, and as Lisa pulled Lydia up in her contacts, she prayed that she was privy to that vital data! “Hey there, Lydia!”
With a children’s show blasting in the background and the sound of food cooking prominently protruding into her ear, Lydia greeted her, “Hi, Lisa! What’s the matter?”
“Nothing’s the matter!” Lisa fibbed. “What made you believe that?”
“You usually text me! You only call when a catastrophe is afoot,” Lydia pointed out.
Lisa put as much cheer into her speech as possible as she addressed her, “Everything’s great! My coworker and I… got bored, and since his husband’s a history professor, he can easily trace people’s lineages. He was doing our dads’ side, and we reached a dead end. Nathaniel Bassett has a record of arriving in Botwulfshire, but after that, it’s blank! We’re assuming he changed his name, so I was just curious to see if you knew about any other names that run in our family…” Lisa tried to convey complete casualness, but inwardly, her heart was pumping wildly at the possibilities of her response!
Lydia went silent for a few seconds, and then she apprised Lisa, “Actually, I remember seeing Granpda Hawthorne’s baby book, and someone wrote in it with his last name misspelled. His great grandpa scribbled it out and wrote, ‘Never forget the second t!’ in all caps. Try Bassett with one t.” A kid started crying, so Lydia briefed her, “I gotta go! ‘Kay, bye!”
With a flood of excitement coursing through her veins, Lisa turned to Delron to review this news. He appeared to have been ten steps ahead of her, and his face grew pale at what he gazed at! “What’d you find?” she inquired with burning intrigue.
“I’ve located your Melas ancestor…” Delron professed. “And I think I figured out what fate the ghost endured…”