The Ghost and The Haunted Mansion: A Haunted Bookshop Mystery

doing work on a ‘property’ to turn it into a B and B. I think that property is Todd Mansion, and she’s arranging to either scare Seymour out of it or kill him so the property will legally fall to her and she can sell it for a million dollars to the Lindsey-Tilton group.”
    “Wait, Pen. I think you’re wrong about Mrs. Ingram. You need to see this.”
    “What?”
    Fiona handed me a sheet of paper. “The preservation society e-mailed me a copy of the latest deed to Todd Mansion.” The photocopy wasn’t the best, but the signatures were legible. “Along with Gideon Wexler, the house’s owners were Timothea Todd and Wilomena Field.”
    “Oh, my God. Mrs. Fromsette’s maiden name is Field!”
    Fiona nodded. “And her first name is Wilomena.”
    “So Mrs. Fromsette is the mysterious sister?” I said. “But she has a different name.”
    “She’s a half-sister—” Fiona said.
    “She’s also active in a spiritualist community,” I broke in. “Mrs. Fromsette must be the one who arranged the manipulation of the ghosts in that house! She has the most to gain by her sister’s and Seymour’s deaths.”
    Milner shook his head. “But spooks don’t sabotage brakes.”
    “And no spirit put poor Rachel in the hospital,” Fiona reminded me.
    “If Mrs. Fromsette had inherited the house in the first place, none of this would have happened,” Aunt Sadie said. “I wonder what could have come between the sisters to estrange them so?”
    “I believe I know the answer to that!” Fiona proudly declared. She produced a copy of an old black-and-white photo from the preservation society’s files. It showed Gideon Wexler flanked by two adoring young women. The three of them stood in front of the open wrought-iron gates of Todd Mansion.
    “That must be Timothea on the right!” Sadie cried. “I saw her wearing that very tiara once.”
    Fiona nodded. “The other woman is Wilomena Field—the future Mrs. Arthur Fromsette. This photo came from a pamphlet about Gideon Wexler’s spiritualist society. In the caption, the women are identified as Timothea Todd and her half-sister , Wilomena Field! Both met Gideon in Newport and clearly fell under his spell. Just look at the way those young women are gazing up at the man. Look at the way his arms are around them both. I think there may have been a love triangle. I think Miss Todd and her sister may have fought over Gideon Wexler’s attentions, and that’s why the sisters had their falling-out.”
    “I guess Miss Todd got her man—or got his ghost, anyway,” Milner said.
    Sadie shuddered. “You wouldn’t take this so lightly if you heard Miss Todd’s tape recordings.”
    Brainert practically jumped out of his seat. “You’ve heard the tapes?”
    Sadie nodded. “I’ve been listening to them all day.”
    “For heaven’s sake, play them for all of us!” Brainert said.
    Milner, Linda, and Fiona nodded with fascinated interest.
    Sadie brought out the tapes and played them back through the Community Events PA system. In stereo, coming through recessed speakers around us, the creepy, unnatural sounds were even more unsettling. Sadie cued up some of the most dramatic sections. They obviously left an impression on the skeptical group.
    As Sadie fast forwarded through the final tape, she stopped too soon and the room filled with a familiar, high-low rumble.
    “That again,” Sadie said, annoyed. “At first I thought it was part of the supernatural phenomena because it’s on every tape. Then I realized it was just traffic noise.”
    “Play that again, Aunt Sadie,” I said.
    Sadie did, and my suspicious were confirmed.
    “That’s Leo Rollins’s Harley!” I realized.
    “Sure is,” Milner said. “That’s his customized engine. I’d recognize it anywhere. And didn’t you say that Leo was at the séance, too?”
    “Yes,” I said.
    Milner nodded. “Like I said. No spirit slugged that medium.”
    “But Leo’s got no stake in this property fight,” I said. “And it was Mrs. Fromsette who was seated inside the séance circle. She was closer to Rachel than Leo—”
    “Pen, Mrs. Fromsette comes into our bakery all the time. And I can tell you that old woman could hardly give someone a black eye, let alone knock them out.”
    “But I don’t think Leo could have been close enough to do it. The room was pitch-dark after the candle was knocked over. How could he have found Rachel to punch her?”
    “Actually, Leo served with the 160th Special