The Ghost of Marlow House (Haunting Danielle Book 1) Read Free Page A

Walt
snapped.
    “Do you…umm…. live here alone?”
Danielle wondered if there were any other spirits floating around nearby.
    “I live here with my wife. I’m not sure
why that’s any of your business.”
    “Is she here now?” Danielle glanced
around.
    “I said I will ask the questions!” The
truth was Walt couldn’t recall the last time he had seen Angela.
    “I tell you what…” Danielle glanced back
out the window and saw Lily come up the walk. “My friend is…well, is kind of
shy. So I don’t imagine she’ll want to talk to you. We’ll have a quick look
through your house—you can watch, make sure we don’t steal the silver—and then
we’ll leave. I’ll come back later and we can have a nice little chat.”
    “What exactly do we have to chat about?” he asked.
    “I got down to the car and remembered
you had your phone. Remember you checked it for the time. You probably stuck it
in your purse,” Lily said as she walked into the house.
    “I’m sorry Lily, I just looked in my
purse, and you’re right. I was just coming to tell you.”
    “You’re lying to your friend,” Walt
accused.
    “That’s okay. You ready to check out the
rest of the house?” Lily asked cheerfully.
    “I can’t wait.” Danielle flashed Walt a
smile and then looped her arm through Lily’s, guiding her down the hallway.
    “You aren’t going to scream again, are
you?” Lily asked.
    “I hope not.” Danielle glanced over at Walt
who trailed beside them.
    They came to a set of double doors.
Letting go of Lily’s arm, Danielle reached for the doorknobs.
    “It’s the library,” Walt explained. “I
don’t like people going in there.” He let out a little grunt when Danielle
opened the library doors and the pair went into the room. Annoyed, he followed
them inside and asked them not to touch anything.  Lily ignored his request and
picked up a bisque figurine, turning it over in her hand.
    “That’s quite breakable, please put it
down,” Walt said impatiently.
    “This is beautiful,” Lily said as she
examined the figurine. “I expected the house to be empty, not all this furniture,
those books…it’s like someone still lives here.”
    “Someone does live here, now please put
that down,” Walt insisted.
     “It’s quite amazing this house hasn’t
been vandalized over the years,” Lily said as she set the figurine back down on
its table and went to take a closer look at the floor to ceiling book shelves
lining two of the four walls in the dark paneled room. Leather bound books
filled the shelves.
     “Yes…quite…” Danielle glanced from Lily
to Walt, noting the look of frustration on Walt’s face. He really has no
idea she can’t see him , Danielle thought.
     “And it’s all yours!” Lily walked to a
portrait hanging on the far wall.
    “Yes, it is all mine and please don’t
touch anything else,” Walt ordered, following Lily to the portrait. Danielle
trailed behind Walt, wishing she’d come to the house alone so she could have a
real conversation with him. If she tried to do that now, her friend would think
she’d lost her mind. Danielle Boatman learned at a young age to conceal the
fact she occasionally saw spirits. When having what appeared to be one sided
conversations with imaginary friends, people around you tended to want to lock
you up in a cozy room with padded walls.
    “Oh my god…I wonder who he was,” Lily
asked in awe as she studied the life size portrait.
    “It’s Walt Marlow,” Danielle said,
looking up at the enormous painting. “His grandfather built this house.”
    “I thought you didn’t know about the
house’s early history?”
    “Umm…well I don’t know much. It’s
something I just…just remembered.” Danielle glanced nervously at Walt who stood
silently at Lily’s side. He was obviously the subject of the portrait, and if
in fact he was Walt Marlow—then this house was named for his family.
    “He was certainly a handsome man …no hot .
I mean wow