Free Grave Danger by K.E. Rodgers Page B

grounded. And right now she needed to be
grounded, or be swept away by despair.
    Lizzy helped Eleanor finalize her selections and
pick out some much needed outfits for the city’s newest citizen,
Clarissa. The woman was strangely unique though at first it wasn’t
noticeable. It would be interesting to find out more about her.
Lizzy, like Eleanor had a talent for sensing the paranormal
currents on a higher level than the others. Clarissa was a soul
they hadn’t seen in quite some time.
     
    Chapter 5-
     
    “ What are you daydreaming about over there?”
Richard waved his hand in front of Clarissa’s face bringing her
attention back to him and Eleanor. They were having lunch at The Boneyard Grill , a barbeque joint
just off of San Marco Ave. It was one of Richard’s favorite places
to eat that served red meat specifically.
    “ Clarissa, anyone home in there?” Richard was
sitting across from her, Eleanor on her right in a booth by the
window which overlooked the street. It was after lunch hours now
and the place was a ghost town, literally, with only a few ghosts
occupying seats in the restaurant.
    They had, upon Richard’s insistence, ordered each a
two inch slab of medium rare sirloin. If you didn’t know better,
you might think it had actually come from a cow. Clarissa had
barely made a dent in her steak. Her mind was too preoccupied to
enjoy her food, but she couldn’t deny it wasn’t delicious. Clare
had some competition with the owner and barbecue expert Frederick
Vern; Dead Fred to his friends. He served up some of the best
barbecued beef and pork; it would be a sin to cover it in sauce. If
you even tried to put ketchup on one of his creations you were
swiftly booted out the front door.
    “ You are felling all right, sugar? You don’t
look so good.” Eleanor placed her hand over Clarissa’s, feeling the
inner turmoil within the young ghost’s soul. “Whatever it is, you
know you can confide in us.”
    “ Yeah, you look like death warmed over.”
Richard stuffed his mouth with more of his steak. “Maybe you need
to see a doctor or something. It could be life threatening. How
about an exorcist or voodoo priestess? That might work.” He eyed
her plate with interest. “Are you going to eat your
cornbread?”
    “ No, go ahead.” Clarissa answered, staring out
the window. Cars zoomed by, pedestrians lining the sidewalks and
just beyond that she could make out the Old Jail House. Now just a
tourist stop and ghost hunters’ destination, it had once housed
hardened and toughened criminals. Yet even now, the living claimed
that some inmates had yet to leave their cells. It was fun for them
to imagine a ghost peeking at them from a second story window, or a
lady dressed in old fashioned clothes walking up and down a
deserted highway, there and then gone. That rush of adrenaline that
the living got from believing they say a real ghost was addicting
and even in these modern and scientific times, still an unsolved
mystery. The paranormal world was an exciting adventure that
science was just beginning to unravel.
    “ What are those ghosts doing over there?”
Clarissa asked her companions as she watched a couple of ghosts
follow in line behind a group of tourists on a ghost tour. “Why are
they walking with those livings on the tour?”
    “ Oh, they’re tourists too, out-of-town
ghosts.” Eleanor answered, looking out the window and across the
street as the group stopped in front of the jail. They were too far
away to hear what the tour guide was saying, but she could make out
the faces of the tourists as they switched between looking at the
jail to turning their attention back on the guide. One of the
ghosts brought up his camera from a strap around his neck and
snapped a photo of the building.
    “ They’re on the tour as well, I would imagine.
They look like tourists to me,” Eleanor took note of their attire,
“Northerners, just from the look of their outfits. The snow-ghosts
always come down around